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The key dynamics shaping a busy month of primaries: From the Politics Desk
Welcome to the online version of From the Politics Desk, an evening newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team's latest reporting and analysis from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail. We may be entering the summer of an off-year, but June is still shaping up to be a big election month. Steve Kornacki breaks down what to watch in the New Jersey, Virginia and New York City primaries in the coming weeks. Plus, Scott Wong talks to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries about his 'more is more' strategy for taking on President Donald Trump — and whether Democrats' message is breaking through. Sign up to receive this newsletter in your inbox every weekday here. — Adam Wollner Have a question for the NBC News Politics Desk about Trump's 'big, beautiful bill,' this month's elections or anything else happening on the world of politics? Send your questions to politicsnewsletter@ and we may answer them in a future edition of the newsletter. The next three weeks will bring primaries in the three most closely watched races of 2025. Here are the key dynamics to watch: New Jersey: Both parties will nominate gubernatorial candidates in the Garden State on June 10. Barring a complete shock, this will serve as a coronation for Republican Jack Ciattarelli, who was already leading by wide margins in the polls when President Donald Trump endorsed him several weeks ago. The Democratic contest isn't as clear-cut, but there is a favorite: Rep. Mikie Sherrill has separated herself from the six-candidate field in the most recent polling and enjoys strong backing from the state's still-powerful (though probably not as much as before) county political machines. The combination of Trump's surprising strength in New Jersey last year and Gov. Phil Murphy's unexpectedly close re-election in 2021 has Democratic leaders apprehensive about their November prospects. Many concluded that Sherrill, a Navy veteran who flipped a GOP-held district to win her House seat in 2018, would be their most electable option. Worth keeping an eye on, though, is a pair of mayors. Jersey City's Steve Fulop is portraying his candidacy as a war against political bossism and has aligned with local anti-establishment candidates. And Newark's Ras Baraka will try to couple support from Black voters (over 20% of the primary electorate) with appeal to the party's broader progressive base, especially after his high-profile arrest at an ICE detention facility. But both have lagged in polling and their overlapping appeal to progressives only complicates each other's path. Once the matchup is set, the general election will feature a clash of two long-term trends. On the one hand, New Jersey has only elected a governor from the party that controls the White House once in the last nine races — an ominous harbinger for the GOP. But it also hasn't handed the same party power in Trenton for three straight elections since 1961 — a feat Democrats are trying to pull off this year. Something will have to give. Virginia: On June 17, Virginia Democrats and Republicans will officially set their slates for the fall. Both gubernatorial nominations are already settled: Lt. Gov. Winsome Earl-Sears for the Republicans and Rep. Abigail Spanberger for the Democrats. And the general election picture already looks clearer in Virginia than in New Jersey. Polling has consistently shown Spanberger — who, like Sherrill, flipped a Republican seat en route to Congress in 2018 — ahead of Earl-Sears. And in 11 of the last 12 gubernatorial races, Virginians have sided against whichever party controlled the White House at the time. New York City: And then there's the mayoral primary in the Big Apple on June 24, the city's first with a ranked-choice voting system. Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo is the front-runner on the Democratic side, but the two most recent polls show Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani emerging from the crowded field as his main competition. Mamdani, a democratic socialist, has tapped into support from voters who tend to be younger, college-educated and progressive. He also runs significantly better with white voters than nonwhite voters. While certainly large, Mamdani's coalition is not broad enough demographically to win the primary — at least not yet. But his rapid rise presents some interesting potential scenarios. If Mamdani ends up toppling Cuomo, the former governor could still run in the general election anyway, on the ballot line of a party he just created. It's a move that his father, Mario Cuomo, tried back in 1977, after he fell short in the Democratic mayoral primary. There's also the leftist Working Families Party, which also has its own general election ballot line. Its leaders have indicated they have no plans to let Cuomo have that line even if he wins the Democratic primary. More recently, the party formally recommended that voters rank Mamdani as their top choice in the Democratic primary. If Mamdani misses narrowly in the Democratic primary, could he still run this fall as the WFP's candidate? Would someone else? On top of all of this, New York City Mayor Eric Adams is still officially running. He's bypassing the Democratic primary but has ballot lines of his own for the general election. Few think Adams can actually win in November, but his potential to grab a sizable chunk of votes could make a third-party bid more enticing for another candidate. In the chaotic opening weeks of President Donald Trump's second administration, Democrats debated whether to push back on every norm-shattering executive action, or pick and choose their spots and hope Trump would prove to be his own worst enemy. That debate has been settled, with Democrats aggressively taking on Trump in the courts, in the streets and on social media. At the center of that messaging strategy is House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., who privately has been urging his members to be more visible in their districts and on digital media, and has stepped up his own activity in recent weeks. Rather than his regular, once-a-week news conference in the Capitol, Jeffries now holds as many as three press briefings with reporters each week in Washington. He is also making weekly appearances on popular podcasts outside the traditional political media circuit, including those hosted by Stephen A. Smith, Tony Kornheiser, Jon Stewart, Katie Couric and Scott Galloway. 'We are in a 'more is more' environment. These aren't ordinary times, and they require an extraordinary response,' Jeffries said in a phone interview with NBC News on Tuesday, one of roughly two dozen digital media interviews he has participated in since February. After suffering a bruising defeat in the last presidential election and still years out from the next one, Democrats are without a clear national leader. And the party's base has displayed a hunger for a new and younger generation of voices to take charge. That has opened the door for Jeffries, 54, to assume an even bigger role in the party, even as he is still coming into national prominence and — less than three years removed from succeeding Nancy Pelosi as House Democrats' leader — not yet a household name. The flood-the-zone strategy is a marked change for a politician with a reputation for being cautious and calculated. But if that game plan pays off and Democrats manage to win control of the House in next year's midterm elections, Jeffries would be the favorite to become speaker — and the party's most powerful member in Washington. 'He's meeting the moment,' Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., an influential progressive in the party, told NBC News in an interview. 'And that's why I say he's, right now, the leader of the Democratic Party.' Read more from Scott → 👀 With friends like these: Days after his White House send-off, Elon Musk slammed the GOP's massive bill for Trump's agenda as a 'disgusting abomination.' Read more → ✂️ Rescissions: The White House sent congressional leaders a request to claw back $9.4 billion in approved spending, codifying DOGE cuts to USAID, NPR and PBS, among other areas. Read more → ⏱️ Clock's ticking: Trump's ambitious plan to broker dozens of trade deals with some of the United States' closest trading partners has begun to show cracks, with his 90-day pause for most country-specific tariffs winding down in just over a month. Read more → 🔵 Succession: Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas officially jumped into the race to be the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, setting up a generational battle to succeed the late Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va. Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin also set the special election to fill the seat previously held by Connolly for Sept. 9. ⚖️ In the courts: Newark Mayor Ras Baraka is suing interim U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Alina Habba, alleging she violated his constitutional rights and defamed him when he was arrested at a federal immigration detention center last month. Read more → ➡️ Phase two: Democratic attorneys general from California, Massachusetts and New Jersey laid out their plans for the next phase of the legal battle against Trump in an interview with NBC News. Read more → 🌀 Just kidding: Acting Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator David Richardson was joking when he said he was not aware of the upcoming hurricane season, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement. Read more → Follow live politics updates → That's all From the Politics Desk for now. Today's newsletter was compiled by Adam Wollner. If you have feedback — likes or dislikes — email us at politicsnewsletter@ And if you're a fan, please share with everyone and anyone. They can sign up here. This article was originally published on
NBC News
7 days ago
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The key dynamics shaping a busy month of primaries: From the Politics Desk
Welcome to the online version of From the Politics Desk, an evening newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team's latest reporting and analysis from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail. We may be entering the summer of an off-year, but June is still shaping up to be a big election month. Steve Kornacki breaks down what to watch in the New Jersey, Virginia and New York City primaries in the coming weeks. Plus, Scott Wong talks to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries about his 'more is more' strategy for taking on President Donald Trump — and whether Democrats' message is breaking through. — Adam Wollner 🗣️ We want to hear from you! Have a question for the NBC News Politics Desk about Trump's 'big, beautiful bill,' this month's elections or anything else happening on the world of politics? Send your questions to politicsnewsletter@ and we may answer them in a future edition of the newsletter. The key dynamics shaping a busy month of primaries By Steve Kornacki The next three weeks will bring primaries in the three most closely watched races of 2025. Here are the key dynamics to watch: New Jersey: Both parties will nominate gubernatorial candidates in the Garden State on June 10. Barring a complete shock, this will serve as a coronation for Republican Jack Ciattarelli, who was already leading by wide margins in the polls when President Donald Trump endorsed him several weeks ago. The Democratic contest isn't as clear-cut, but there is a favorite: Rep. Mikie Sherrill has separated herself from the six-candidate field in the most recent polling and enjoys strong backing from the state's still-powerful (though probably not as much as before) county political machines. The combination of Trump's surprising strength in New Jersey last year and Gov. Phil Murphy's unexpectedly close re-election in 2021 has Democratic leaders apprehensive about their November prospects. Many concluded that Sherrill, a Navy veteran who flipped a GOP-held district to win her House seat in 2018, would be their most electable option. Worth keeping an eye on, though, is a pair of mayors. Jersey City's Steve Fulop is portraying his candidacy as a war against political bossism and has aligned with local anti-establishment candidates. And Newark's Ras Baraka will try to couple support from Black voters (over 20% of the primary electorate) with appeal to the party's broader progressive base, especially after his high-profile arrest at an ICE detention facility. But both have lagged in polling and their overlapping appeal to progressives only complicates each other's path. Once the matchup is set, the general election will feature a clash of two long-term trends. On the one hand, New Jersey has only elected a governor from the party that controls the White House once in the last nine races — an ominous harbinger for the GOP. But it also hasn't handed the same party power in Trenton for three straight elections since 1961 — a feat Democrats are trying to pull off this year. Something will have to give. Virginia: On June 17, Virginia Democrats and Republicans will officially set their slates for the fall. Both gubernatorial nominations are already settled: Lt. Gov. Winsome Earl-Sears for the Republicans and Rep. Abigail Spanberger for the Democrats. And the general election picture already looks clearer in Virginia than in New Jersey. Polling has consistently shown Spanberger — who, like Sherrill, flipped a Republican seat en route to Congress in 2018 — ahead of Earl-Sears. And in 11 of the last 12 gubernatorial races, Virginians have sided against whichever party controlled the White House at the time. New York City: And then there's the mayoral primary in the Big Apple on June 24, the city's first with a ranked-choice voting system. Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo is the front-runner on the Democratic side, but the two most recent polls show Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani emerging from the crowded field as his main competition. Mamdani, a democratic socialist, has tapped into support from voters who tend to be younger, college-educated and progressive. He also runs significantly better with white voters than nonwhite voters. While certainly large, Mamdani's coalition is not broad enough demographically to win the primary — at least not yet. But his rapid rise presents some interesting potential scenarios. If Mamdani ends up toppling Cuomo, the former governor could still run in the general election anyway, on the ballot line of a party he just created. It's a move that his father, Mario Cuomo, tried back in 1977, after he fell short in the Democratic mayoral primary. There's also the leftist Working Families Party, which also has its own general election ballot line. Its leaders have indicated they have no plans to let Cuomo have that line even if he wins the Democratic primary. More recently, the party formally recommended that voters rank Mamdani as their top choice in the Democratic primary. If Mamdani misses narrowly in the Democratic primary, could he still run this fall as the WFP's candidate? Would someone else? On top of all of this, New York City Mayor Eric Adams is still officially running. He's bypassing the Democratic primary but has ballot lines of his own for the general election. Few think Adams can actually win in November, but his potential to grab a sizable chunk of votes could make a third-party bid more enticing for another candidate. By Scott Wong In the chaotic opening weeks of President Donald Trump's second administration, Democrats debated whether to push back on every norm-shattering executive action, or pick and choose their spots and hope Trump would prove to be his own worst enemy. That debate has been settled, with Democrats aggressively taking on Trump in the courts, in the streets and on social media. At the center of that messaging strategy is House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., who privately has been urging his members to be more visible in their districts and on digital media, and has stepped up his own activity in recent weeks. Rather than his regular, once-a-week news conference in the Capitol, Jeffries now holds as many as three press briefings with reporters each week in Washington. He is also making weekly appearances on popular podcasts outside the traditional political media circuit, including those hosted by Stephen A. Smith, Tony Kornheiser, Jon Stewart, Katie Couric and Scott Galloway. 'We are in a 'more is more' environment. These aren't ordinary times, and they require an extraordinary response,' Jeffries said in a phone interview with NBC News on Tuesday, one of roughly two dozen digital media interviews he has participated in since February. After suffering a bruising defeat in the last presidential election and still years out from the next one, Democrats are without a clear national leader. And the party's base has displayed a hunger for a new and younger generation of voices to take charge. That has opened the door for Jeffries, 54, to assume an even bigger role in the party, even as he is still coming into national prominence and — less than three years removed from succeeding Nancy Pelosi as House Democrats' leader — not yet a household name. The flood-the-zone strategy is a marked change for a politician with a reputation for being cautious and calculated. But if that game plan pays off and Democrats manage to win control of the House in next year's midterm elections, Jeffries would be the favorite to become speaker — and the party's most powerful member in Washington. 'He's meeting the moment,' Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., an influential progressive in the party, told NBC News in an interview. 'And that's why I say he's, right now, the leader of the Democratic Party.'
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Business
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Obama's orbit loses altitude: From the Politics Desk
Welcome to the online version of From the Politics Desk, an evening newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team's latest reporting and analysis from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail. Happy Tuesday and welcome back from the long weekend. In today's edition, we explore how Barack Obama's political orbit is losing some of its clout. Plus, Steve Kornacki breaks down where New Jersey's traditionally powerful Democratic county parties stand in the state's crowded gubernatorial primary. Sign up to receive this newsletter in your inbox every weekday here. — Adam Wollner Have a question for the NBC News Politics Desk about Republicans' 'big, beautiful bill' as it makes its way through Congress, next month's elections in New Jersey, or anything else happening in the world of politics? Send your questions to politicsnewsletter@ and we may answer them in a future edition of the newsletter. There's a growing sentiment across a Democratic Party searching for a path forward: Team Obama's bloom may be falling off the rose. More Democrats are openly criticizing former President Barack Obama's strategists and consultants — including David Plouffe, who played a key role in Kamala Harris' 2024 campaign — who were long treated as the high priests of their party's politics. Democratic National Committee officials at a news event last month blamed Obama's lack of investment in state parties over his two terms for setting back local organizing, with the party still feeling the effects. The so-called Obama coalition of voters — less politically engaged voters, younger voters and voters of color — is no more. In 2024, each of those groups shifted toward Donald Trump in high numbers. Going forward, it could mark a clean slate for a party whose course for nearly two decades cascaded from decisions Obama had made. It was Obama who chose Joe Biden as his vice president, offering him the elevated perch that set up his 2020 election and his aborted 2024 re-election campaign. Obama selected Hillary Clinton as his secretary of state, then anointed her for the Democratic nomination in the 2016 race against Trump. The operatives Obama and his top aides empowered have carved out leading, decision-making roles at the top of the Democratic Party since then. Obama himself remains a force in the party, filling stadiums and commanding the attention of major donors. Indeed, the DNC is in talks with New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy to host Obama for a fundraiser at his home, according to two people with knowledge of the planning, which is still in its early stages. But even the former president's luster was showing signs of fading last fall, a phenomenon that threatens to persist as the next crop of young voters ages into adulthood. When the 2028 presidential election arrives, it will be 20 years since Obama's first victory. At that point, more voters will have come of age in the era of Trump than in the era of Obama. Read more from the team → Democrats in disarray, cont.: 1-vote victory for Trump's big bill inflames Democratic clash over aging leaders, by Sahil Kapur One metric has traditionally been all but definitive when it comes to New Jersey Democratic contests: the county line. And by that metric, one candidate is running circles around the others ahead of the June 10 gubernatorial primary: Rep. Mikie Sherrill. Sherrill has won endorsements from 10 of the state's 21 county Democratic organizations, including three of the four largest. Only two of the other five candidates in the race, Rep. Josh Gottheimer and former state Senate President Steve Sweeney, have notched any county endorsements. The counties in which Sherrill has won support account for nearly 60% of all registered Democrats in the state. They include the county in which her 11th Congressional District is based, Morris, and the two others that it touches, Passaic and Essex. Gottheimer, whose 5th District is based in Bergen, also represents part of Passaic and Sussex. And Ras Baraka is the mayor of Newark, the largest city in Essex (and the state). Sweeney, the only candidate from South Jersey, has largely swept that region, where the county organizations typically act as a bloc. What has traditionally made these endorsements so meaningful is the preferred ballot position that came with them. An endorsed candidate would run at the top of the Democratic county organization's official line, an official-looking and impossible-to-miss column that would also include a host of familiar local names running for lower offices. Names of the other candidates would be listed by themselves, often in the far reaches of the ballot. The results were predictable: Candidates running off the line almost never won and generally got blown out. The last open Democratic gubernatorial primary was essentially settled a year before any votes were cast, when the largest county organizations threw their support to now-Gov. Phil Murphy. But a successful lawsuit last year and a new law signed by Murphy in March have changed the game. The line is gone and county parties can no longer list all of their endorsed candidates in a special column. Primary ballots now list candidates by the office they are seeking. One of the questions heading into June's primary is how much this has diminished the power of county endorsements. Read more from Steve → 🏫 Trump vs. Harvard: The Trump administration plans to ask all federal agencies to seek ways to end their contracts — worth an estimated $100 million — with Harvard University. Read more → 📻 Trump vs. NPR: National Public Radio sued Trump over his effort to cut the nonprofit broadcaster's federal funding. Read more → 💉 New sheriff in town: Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that the CDC is no longer recommending routine Covid vaccines for healthy pregnant women and children. Read more → 📝 Pardon politics: Trump pardoned Paul Walczak, who had pleaded guilty to tax crimes, weeks after his mother attended a fundraising dinner that cost $1 million per person for a political group that backs the president, The New York Times reports. Read more → 📈 Market mania: Stocks climbed following Trump's announcement that he was postponing the deadline to impose tariffs on the European Union. Read more → ☀️ I have confidence in sunshine: A survey finds consumer confidence was higher in May than April amid optimism about potential trade deals. Read more → ⚖️ SCOTUS watch, part 1: The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to make it easier for officials to deport convicted criminals to 'third countries' that are not their nations of origin. Read more → ⚖️ SCOTUS watch, part 2: The Supreme Court declined to hear a student's challenge to his middle school barring him from wearing a T-shirt that read, 'There are only two genders.' Read more → ⚖️ SCOTUS watch, part 3: The Supreme Court also rejected an appeal from Native Americans who said a new copper mine project would violate their religious liberties, arguing that the project would destroy a sacred site for ceremonies. Read more → ⬅️ Back to the future: FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino said the bureau will direct more resources to Biden-era cases, including allegations of cocaine use at the White House and a leaked Supreme Court opinion, as well as the pipe bombs found in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021. Read more → 🗳️ Put me in, coach: GOP Sen. Tommy Tuberville, a former Auburn football coach, officially launched his campaign for Alabama governor. Read more → Follow live politics updates → That's all From the Politics Desk for now. Today's newsletter was compiled by Adam Wollner and Bridget Bowman. If you have feedback — likes or dislikes — email us at politicsnewsletter@ And if you're a fan, please share with everyone and anyone. They can sign up here. This article was originally published on
NBC News
27-05-2025
- Politics
- NBC News
Obama's orbit loses altitude: From the Politics Desk
Welcome to the online version of From the Politics Desk, an evening newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team's latest reporting and analysis from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail. Happy Tuesday and welcome back from the long weekend. In today's edition, we explore how Barack Obama's political orbit is losing some of its clout. Plus, Steve Kornacki breaks down where New Jersey's traditionally powerful Democratic county parties stand in the state's crowded gubernatorial primary. — Adam Wollner 🗣️ We want to hear from you! Have a question for the NBC News Politics Desk about Republicans' 'big, beautiful bill' as it makes its way through Congress, next month's elections in New Jersey, or anything else happening in the world of politics? Send your questions to politicsnewsletter@ and we may answer them in a future edition of the newsletter. Obama world loses its shine in a changing — and struggling — Democratic Party By Natasha Korecki, Jonathan Allen and Allan Smith There's a growing sentiment across a Democratic Party searching for a path forward: Team Obama's bloom may be falling off the rose. More Democrats are openly criticizing former President Barack Obama's strategists and consultants — including David Plouffe, who played a key role in Kamala Harris' 2024 campaign — who were long treated as the high priests of their party's politics. Democratic National Committee officials at a news event last month blamed Obama's lack of investment in state parties over his two terms for setting back local organizing, with the party still feeling the effects. The so-called Obama coalition of voters — less politically engaged voters, younger voters and voters of color — is no more. In 2024, each of those groups shifted toward Donald Trump in high numbers. Going forward, it could mark a clean slate for a party whose course for nearly two decades cascaded from decisions Obama had made. It was Obama who chose Joe Biden as his vice president, offering him the elevated perch that set up his 2020 election and his aborted 2024 re-election campaign. Obama selected Hillary Clinton as his secretary of state, then anointed her for the Democratic nomination in the 2016 race against Trump. The operatives Obama and his top aides empowered have carved out leading, decision-making roles at the top of the Democratic Party since then. Obama himself remains a force in the party, filling stadiums and commanding the attention of major donors. Indeed, the DNC is in talks with New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy to host Obama for a fundraiser at his home, according to two people with knowledge of the planning, which is still in its early stages. But even the former president's luster was showing signs of fading last fall, a phenomenon that threatens to persist as the next crop of young voters ages into adulthood. When the 2028 presidential election arrives, it will be 20 years since Obama's first victory. At that point, more voters will have come of age in the era of Trump than in the era of Obama. New Jersey governor's race tests the staying power of Democrats' county machines By Steve Kornacki One metric has traditionally been all but definitive when it comes to New Jersey Democratic contests: the county line. And by that metric, one candidate is running circles around the others ahead of the June 10 gubernatorial primary: Rep. Mikie Sherrill. Sherrill has won endorsements from 10 of the state's 21 county Democratic organizations, including three of the four largest. Only two of the other five candidates in the race, Rep. Josh Gottheimer and former state Senate President Steve Sweeney, have notched any county endorsements. [table] The counties in which Sherrill has won support account for nearly 60% of all registered Democrats in the state. They include the county in which her 11th Congressional District is based, Morris, and the two others that it touches, Passaic and Essex. Gottheimer, whose 5th District is based in Bergen, also represents part of Passaic and Sussex. And Ras Baraka is the mayor of Newark, the largest city in Essex (and the state). Sweeney, the only candidate from South Jersey, has largely swept that region, where the county organizations typically act as a bloc. What has traditionally made these endorsements so meaningful is the preferred ballot position that came with them. An endorsed candidate would run at the top of the Democratic county organization's official line, an official-looking and impossible-to-miss column that would also include a host of familiar local names running for lower offices. Names of the other candidates would be listed by themselves, often in the far reaches of the ballot. The results were predictable: Candidates running off the line almost never won and generally got blown out. The last open Democratic gubernatorial primary was essentially settled a year before any votes were cast, when the largest county organizations threw their support to now-Gov. Phil Murphy. But a successful lawsuit last year and a new law signed by Murphy in March have changed the game. The line is gone and county parties can no longer list all of their endorsed candidates in a special column. Primary ballots now list candidates by the office they are seeking. One of the questions heading into June's primary is how much this has diminished the power of county endorsements.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
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JD Vance's papal diplomacy: From the Politics Desk
Welcome to the online version of From the Politics Desk, an evening newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team's latest reporting and analysis from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail. In today's edition, Henry J. Gomez interviews Vice President JD Vance in Rome. Plus, Steve Kornacki breaks down the latest polling showing Andrew Cuomo in the lead in the Democratic primary for New York City mayor. Sign up to receive this newsletter in your inbox every weekday here. — Adam Wollner Have a question for the NBC News Politics Desk about Trump's 'big, beautiful bill' as it makes its way through Congress? Or next month's elections in New Jersey and New York City? Send your questions to politicsnewsletter@ and we may answer them in a future edition of the newsletter. ROME — Vice President JD Vance shuffled between presidents and prime ministers this week, tending to complicated relationships with U.S. allies and puzzling over two wars. But it was his meeting Monday with newly installed Pope Leo XIV that could prove to be most consequential on the world stage, Vance said in an interview with NBC News. Vance, who is Catholic, said he found the pope to be 'extremely sweet.' He described their conversation as substantive — a promising sign given how Leo had, in his previous service as a cardinal, signaled disapproval of Trump administration immigration policies. Here are some of the highlights from our interview with Vance. Seeking a diplomatic partner: Vance spoke of Leo as a key potential partner in President Donald Trump's efforts to broker peace between Russia and Ukraine and in other conflict areas. 'We talked a lot about what's going on in Israel and Gaza. We talked a lot about the Russia-Ukraine situation,' Vance said of the nearly hourlong audience he and Secretary of State Marco Rubio had with Leo. 'It's hard to predict the future, but I do think that not just the pope, but the entire Vatican, has expressed a desire to be really helpful and to work together on facilitating, hopefully, a peace deal coming together in Russia and Ukraine.' An expanding portfolio: Vance has now been to Italy twice as vice president. He has also visited India, represented the White House at conferences in Paris and Munich and touched down in Greenland to reinforce Trump's interest in annexing the island from Denmark. And the White House nearly sent Vance from Rome on a last-minute mission to Israel, but said the logistics could not be worked out in time. 'I definitely think the president has a lot of trust in me, and I'm honored by it, and I think it makes me a more effective vice president,' Vance said. 'A lot of people always asked me between the election and the inauguration: What would my role be? I would always say … I think it'll be being an extra set of eyes and ears for the president, doing the things that he thinks that I need to do, and that's largely how it's worked out.' Relationship with Rubio: Vance's expansive role has placed him alongside Rubio, the administration's chief diplomat, as a face of Trump's foreign policy. But Vance dismissed any notion of competition or friction. 'My attitude is, if I do end up running in 2028, I'm not entitled to it,' Vance said. 'But I really think that Marco and I can get a lot done together over the next few years. That's how I think about our friendship and our relationship. And I would be shocked if he thought about it any differently.' Read more from the interview → By Steve Kornacki Andrew Cuomo's political comeback attempt is on track, at least for now. With just over a month until New York City's Democratic mayoral primary, the former governor retains a commanding lead over a crowded field of candidates. And he may stand to benefit further from the recent surge of one of his rivals, Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist who is drawing from a demographically narrow set of voters. The latest poll from Marist University shows Mamdani separating from the rest of the pack but still trailing Cuomo. Under New York City's ranked-choice system, voters are asked to list their preferred candidates in order on the ballot. After the initial votes are tabulated (and assuming no one crosses 50%), the lowest vote-getter is eliminated and his or her votes are reallocated based on second preference selections. Tabulation continues, round by round, until one candidate receives a majority of the votes. Usefully, Marist's poll asked respondents to rank their preferences and then simulated this process. Even though it took multiple rounds, the contours remained consistent: Cuomo and Mamdani remained in the top two slots in each round, with Cuomo about 20 points ahead of Mamdani, who himself remained well clear of the rest of the pack. Ultimately, Cuomo reached 53% in the fifth round, with Mamdani at 29%. This is similar to what unfolded in 2021, the first time New York used this system. In that year's Democratic primary, the final polling put now-Mayor Eric Adams ahead, with Kathryn Garcia and Maya Wiley duking it out for second place — the same dynamic that prevailed when the actual voting tabulations took place. In other words, while the ranked-choice system is certainly complicated, it doesn't mean that it produces chaos. And that makes the Marist poll even better news for Cuomo, since it suggests that Mamdani may be emerging as the clear second-place candidate. The 33-year-old Mamdani's rise is being powered by a coalition that's not well suited for victory. With voters under 45, he's running laps around the field. But the primary electorate skews much older, with more than two-thirds likely to be over 45. He has near-majority support from voters who call themselves very liberal, but they make up only a quarter of the electorate. And he fares best with white voters, who will most likely be outnumbered 2-to-1 by nonwhite voters in the primary. Cuomo, by contrast, is scoring with groups that typically deliver primary wins, faring best with older, working-class and less ideological voters. His giant margin comes from nonwhite voters, especially African Americans. No doubt, Cuomo's foes will spend the next month turning up the heat on him and reminding voters of his controversial handling of Covid as governor and the sexual harassment claims that knocked him out of office. Media scrutiny figures to intensify, too, and TV ads will feature prominently. It's also possible that a different Cuomo rival will gain traction, one with broader appeal than Mamdani, making Cuomo's path to 50% more perilous. But one month out, Cuomo's position appears as strong as it did when he entered the race.➡️ ️Bringing in the big guns: During a closed-door meeting, Trump pushed blue-state Republicans to relent on their SALT demands and warned conservatives, 'Don't f--- around with Medicaid.' But it's unclear if his trip to Capitol Hill managed to sway any of the House Republicans holding out on supporting the party's massive bill for his agenda. Read more → ☑️ Surprise vote: The Senate unexpectedly passed the 'No Tax on Tips Act' by unanimous consent after Sen. Jack Rosen, D-Nev., brought it to the floor. Read more → 🛡️Golden Dome: Trump officially announced his plans for a new missile defense system, saying it should be fully operational by the end of his term. Read more → 💸 Scaling back: Elon Musk said he plans to spend 'a lot less' on political causes after he was one of the biggest donors of the 2024 election. Read more → ⚖️ New Jersey fallout: The Justice Department charged Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-N.J., with two counts of assaulting, resisting and impeding law enforcement officials following a confrontation this month at a federal immigration detention facility in Newark. Read more → 🩺 Tone change: Trump's allies quickly shifted their comments on Biden's cancer diagnosis from well wishes to suggestions that the former president hid his condition while he was in office. Read more → 🪑 In the hot seat: Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. returned to Capitol Hill for his third congressional hearing in a week to face more heated questions from lawmakers about his department's drastic funding cuts. Read more → 👀 Pressure test: FBI leaders Kash Patel and Dan Boningo are under pressure from MAGA voters to act on their claims that the Biden administration and corrupt 'deep state' actors 'weaponized' the agency against Trump. Read more → 🗳️ 2026 watch: Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms became the highest-profile Democrat yet to enter the race for Georgia governor. Read more → 🗳️ 2026 watch, cont.: Democratic Rep. Jared Golden announced he is running for re-election in Maine's 2nd District, which Trump carried in 2024, squashing speculation that he would run for governor or the Senate. Read more →That's all From the Politics Desk for now. Today's newsletter was compiled by Adam Wollner and Bridget Bowman. If you have feedback — likes or dislikes — email us at And if you're a fan, please share with everyone and anyone. They can sign up . This article was originally published on
