Politics

(WASHINGTON) — Michigan’s presidential primary on Tuesday offers both the most visible test yet of electoral anger with President Joe Biden for his response to the Israel-Hamas war — and another test of voter interest in former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley’s waning GOP campaign.

Critics of the president who say he’s been too lenient on Israel in its bombardment of Gaza as it fights against Hamas are urging voters to cast “uncommitted” primary ballots to express their displeasure and push for the White House to be less supportive of Israel’s tactics.

Biden’s campaign has met with community leaders in Michigan, which has a notable Arab population, and the president has suggested that he wants Israel to change course while still backing them against Hamas militants in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attack. But protests have continued as the death toll in Gaza rises.

Meanwhile, Haley is seeking a strong showing in the state as she tries to chip away at former President Donald Trump’s gargantuan primary lead — an advantage that was underscored by his 20-point win in her home state over the weekend.

Here are three things to watch in Michigan on Tuesday night:

How big will the ‘uncommitted’ vote be?

Biden has sought to walk a fine line over the war in Gaza, criticizing Israel’s operations there as being “over the top” while declining to condition further aid to Israel on steps like a permanent cease-fire or negotiations with the Palestinians.

That strategy has earned him detractors on both sides — with Republicans saying he should be less critical of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and progressives and Arab Americans pushing for a tougher stance.

On Tuesday, that displeasure will be quantifiably measured.

The president’s victory is not particularly in question in the primary, given that he faces no major opponents and has seen large victories in the early nominating races so far. However, Michigan is an incredibly narrowly divided swing state, and any drop off could spell trouble for November.

The state also has the largest population of people of Middle Eastern or North African descent of all the battlegrounds, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Wayne County, home to Dearborn and Detroit, has the largest percentage of any county.

Trump won Michigan by under 11,000 votes in 2016, and Biden won the state by about 154,000 votes in 2020. More than 300,000 people in Michigan cite ancestry from the Middle East and North Africa, according to the 2020 census, easily exceeding the last two margins of victory in the state.

The Biden campaign has recognized the backlash. A spokesperson said in a statement, in part, that he is “working hard to earn every vote in Michigan.”

High stakes for Whitmer

Biden isn’t the only Democrat who could be affected by the results on Tuesday.

The state’s governor, Gretchen Whitmer, is frequently cited as a possible presidential candidate in 2028 after winning her seat in 2018 and then romping to reelection in 2022, proving her ability to handily win one of the most important states in the Electoral College.

Her wins were fueled by support from moderates, suburbanites and Black voters — all constituencies Biden will need to shore up if he wants to win this November.

Whitmer is also one of eight national co-chairs of Biden’s reelection campaign, and her ability to help turn out voters for him in the state later this year could help pad her resume — and burnish her goodwill in the party — ahead of what will almost certainly be a crowded primary in 2028.

The governor has increased her appearances on the trail on Biden’s behalf, though she too has gotten flak both for statements that were considered too supportive of Israel or not supportive enough.

What’s going on with the Republican primary?

Republicans are holding their own primary Tuesday — and it’s confusing.

That’s because the party is also hosting a nominating convention on March 2. Sixteen delegates will be awarded based on Tuesday’s results and 39 will be awarded next month, when only elected party officials can vote.

The split was produced when the Democratic-controlled state government moved up the primary date to comply with Biden’s preferred overall primary calendar. However, the Republican Party’s rules prevent certain states from holding contests before March 1, so the Michigan GOP implemented a hybrid system to avoid being penalized by the national party.

State Republicans are also grappling with heightened uncertainty in the midst of a power struggle over the Michigan GOP.

Former Chair Kristina Karamo was ousted from her position earlier this year, with the Republican National Committee recognizing former Rep. Pete Hoekstra as the new state party leader. However, Karamo insists she’s still in charge and is suing.

Overall, however, Trump is the heavy favorite to win the primary. Haley has banked on possible crossover support, given that Democrats and independents can vote in the GOP primary, but the greater focus on Biden could draw their votes to that contest instead.

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(JUPITER, Fla.) — Donald Trump Jr., the eldest son of former President Donald Trump, received and opened a letter containing an unidentified white powder Monday evening, sources tell ABC News.

A hazmat team visited Trump Jr.’s home in Jupiter, Florida, after he received the piece of mail, a source with knowledge of the incident told ABC News.

“The test results of the substance came up inconclusive on what it was exactly, but officials on the scene do not believe it is deadly,” a spokesperson for Trump Jr. said in a statement to ABC News.

The Jupiter Police Department did not immediately return ABC News’ request for comment.

This is the second known incident where the younger Trump has received an envelope containing a suspicious white powder.

In 2018, during the Trump’s presidency, Donald Trump Jr.’s then-wife Vanessa opened an envelope addressed to him and was rushed to the hospital as a precaution. A man from Massachusetts was subsequently arrested and sentenced to five years of probation in connection to sending numerous threatening letters containing suspicious powder to multiple high-profile individuals, including Trump.

The police said at the time that a preliminary test showed the substance was not dangerous.

Donald Trump Jr. has been on the campaign trail with his father, speaking at events in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina in recent months.

He is also slated to appear at a major fundraiser for his father in Washington, D.C., next month alongside Trump’s allies in Congress, including House Speaker Mike Johnson and Sens. Steve Daines, Tim Scott and JD Vance.

The Daily Beast was the first to report the incident.

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(WASHINGTON) — Artificial Intelligence will be the “defining technology of our generation,” when it comes to the future of technology, but specifically the advancement of semiconductors in the United States, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said Monday.

“You can’t lead on AI if you don’t believe in making leading-edge chips,” Raimondo said in remarks at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “And so our work in implementing chips have just got a whole lot more important.”

The Commerce Department is tasked with implementing the CHIPS and Science Act — which spends nearly $53 billion to spur research in and development of America’s semiconductor industry. It is intended to address a nearly two-year global chip shortage that stemmed from supply chain issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Semiconductors are not only vital to everyday life used in household items like dishwashers and refrigerators, but also national defense items.

Raimondo said it takes “tens of thousands” of “leading edge semiconductor CHIPS” to train a large language model like ChatGPT.

In order for the United States to keep up with demand, the U.S. has to think not only short-term but long-term as well, Raimondo said.

“We need to make these chips in America, we need more tablets available in America,” she said. “We need more research and development in America. And we take a lot more manufacturing and scale.”

Other countries, like China, “aren’t shy” about the ambitions they have about making CHIPS.

“The Chinese are taking an increasingly ambitious role in increasing their own chip production,” she said.

The Secretary admitted that conversations with CHIP company CEO’s gunning for federal money aren’t always easy and that out of the 600 statements of interest they received, not everyone will get federal money.

“Our job is to make targeted investments in relentless pursuit of achieving our national security objectives,” she said.

Raimondo also said the Commerce Department is prioritizing CHIPs projects that’ll be operational by 2030.

“It’s not responsible to give money to a project that will come online you know, 10 or 12 years from now,” she said.

She said she is confident that the United States will make 20% of the world’s semiconductors by the end of the decade.

Raimondo said she wants to start training kids to manufacture chips starting in High School.

“We’re going to make building hardware sexy again,” she said.

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(WASHINGTON) — Congress started to return to Washington on Monday facing a familiar predicament: its back against the wall as the clock ticks down to renew funding for several key government agencies before a Friday deadline.

Absent action from both chambers, Congress is staring down a partial government shutdown at the end of the day Friday — its fourth time in as many months.

Funding for several key agencies will run out on Friday night, including the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Transportation Department and the Veterans Administration. One week later, on March 8, funding for the remaining eight government agencies will expire if Congress fails to act.

Lawmakers still have time to intervene, and it’s not uncommon to reach a last-minute compromise.

But for the moment, there’s no clear plan for how to pass government funding bills as House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer remain at an impasse over how to proceed, despite ongoing talks between the two.

There was hope the parties would find government-funding clarity over the weekend. However, on Sunday night, with no plan yet it in place to prevent a Friday partial shutdown, congressional leaders instead issued statements sniping at one another.

“While we had hoped to have legislation ready this weekend that would give ample time for members to review the text, it is clear now that House Republicans need more time to sort themselves out,” Schumer wrote in a letter to his colleagues. “With the uncertainty of how the House will pass the appropriations bills and avoid a shutdown this week, I ask all Senators to keep their schedules flexible, so we can work to ensure a pointless and harmful lapse in funding doesn’t occur.”

Within hours of Schumer issuing his letter, Johnson shot back, calling out Schumer for using “counterproductive rhetoric” to get his message across. Johnson said the “the House has worked nonstop” to reach an agreement with the Senate on government funding bills ahead of the March 1 and 8 deadlines.

“This is not a time for petty politics. House Republicans will continue to work in good faith and hope to reach an outcome as soon as possible, even as we continue to insist that our own border security must be addressed immediately,” Johnson said in the statement.

At issue this time around: a House Republican desire to include certain policy provisions in the government funding bills that Democrats find objectionable — such as blocking the Biden administration’s climate-related initiatives and cutting funding for the World Health Organization and other United Nations’ agencies. Johnson was insistent that some of their provisions would make it in to the package after he conceded to an overall cost of the government funding bills that many in his own conference rejected.

But it’s not yet clear how the leaders will navigate through this standoff, and with just days left to act, lawmakers will likely have to pass another short-term funding bill if they hope to prevent a shutdown.

This is the fourth time since October that Congress has stared down a government-funding deadline. Congress has already passed legislation to buy itself more time to negotiate long-term funding bills on three separate occasions since then.

But each passing deadline ups the stakes. Ukraine aid, border security provisions, and Kevin McCarthy’s speakership have all been causalities of previous government-funding snafus.

This most recent government funding deadlock is the latest consequence of heightening political tensions in an election year.

Already, Johnson and Schumer are at loggerheads over a massive Ukraine aid package that the Senate passed earlier this month but that Johnson has said he won’t take up for consideration on the House floor, despite the fact that the legislation likely has the votes to pass the lower chamber.

With both issues now halting progress in Congress, President Joe Biden has called the top congressional leaders from both chambers to the White House on Tuesday.

The meeting is expected to focus both on the looming shutdown and on the funding bill for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.

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(GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.) — Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley keeps losing to Donald Trump by double digits but the fact that the former president has only managed to reach 60% of the vote in the contested races so far should be taken as a warning sign, Haley said on Monday.

“Donald Trump as, technically, the Republican incumbent did not win 40% of the vote,” she said in a gaggle with reporters while on the trail one day before Michigan’s Republican primary. “So, what you are looking at is something is shifting and this has been happening for a while.”

Haley was reiterating an argument she has been making more and more, including the previous night in Troy, Michigan: that even though she has yet to win a state in the race for the Republican presidential nomination and her path to catching Trump looks all but gone, a notable minority of conservative voters are signalling that they want someone other than Trump and they deserve an alternative.

“I know 40% is not 50%, but I also know 40% is not some tiny group,” she said on Saturday after losing her home state of South Carolina.

“In the next 10 days, another 21 states and territories will speak. They have the right to a real choice, not a Soviet-style election with only one candidate,” Haley said then. “And I have a duty to give them that choice. We can’t afford four more years of [President Joe] Biden’s failures or Trump’s lack of focus.”

In Michigan on Monday, Haley pointed to the struggles the GOP has had in winning key state races in recent cycles and blamed Trump.

“The party is completely divided. And that’s not just Michigan. We are seeing that all over the country that the Republican Party is fully divided,” she said.

“You can’t win a general election if you don’t acknowledge the 40% of Republicans who are saying we don’t want Donald Trump,” she said.

“I am giving you every red flag I possibly can about the direction that the country is going,” Haley told reporters. “Now I just need people to hear it. I need states that are voting to act on it. And I need to see that we can stop this sinking ship before it takes off.”

The highest vote share Trump has gotten in a contested nominating race in a state so far this year was in South Carolina, with 60%. (He got 74% in the U.S. Virgin Islands caucuses.)

But in the New Hampshire and South Carolina primaries, Haley got at least 40%.

While she has vowed to stay in the race, Trump — who emerged from a much more bruising 2016 primary fight to win the White House that year — has increasingly focused on a likely general election rematch against Biden.

“There’s never been a spirit like this,” he said on Saturday after winning in South Carolina. “And I just want to say that. I have never seen the Republican Party so unified as it is right now.”

Asked on Monday if she could name a state she could win in the nominating race, Haley deflected, saying: “wait and see.”

“We have 21 states and territories that are getting ready to happen. Why don’t we wait and see what happens? We don’t have to have a crystal ball and say this is going to happen or that’s going to happen,” she said.

Haley has several fundraisers happening in the days before Super Tuesday on March 5. Asked if that’s a sign she’s planning to stay in the race beyond that day, she touted her fundraising numbers.

“I can tell you that we raised $1 million in 24 hours after the election in South Carolina, that we are continuing to see the dollars come in because Americans want to voice and we’re giving them that voice,” she said, “and as long as Americans want me to be that voice, I will continue to fight for them as long as we think that there is an option.”

Asked by ABC News if her voters would go to Biden or not vote at all in the general election if she is not the Republican nominee, Haley made a blunt prediction.

“I think that if I’m not an alternative in this race, I think that Donald Trump will lose. It’s that simple,” she said.

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(WASHINGTON) — No one will be reprimanded for keeping Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s hospital stays a secret — including the secretary himself or his chief of staff — after an internal Pentagon review of the matter concluded there was no indication of “ill intent or an attempt to obfuscate” the situation.

An unclassifiedhttps://media.defense.gov/2024/Feb/26/2003400135/-1/-1/1/UNCLASSIFIED-S… text to link… of the Pentagon’s findings says concerns about medical privacy and a rapidly changing situation were mostly to blame. But the summary didn’t answer key questions about when individual members of his staff became aware of his condition and whether the defense secretary himself was advised to alert the White House but chose not to.

The Pentagon has provided additional classified details to Congress, officials said.

“As a learning organization, we will continue to learn and adjust,” Austin wrote in a memo to his staff.

The findings didn’t satisfy critics on Capitol Hill who say Austin and his top advisers had a duty to notify Congress, the White House, and the public when the secretary was unable to fulfill his duties.

Austin is expected to testify Thursday before the House Armed Services Committee.

“Unsurprisingly, the review of Sec Austin’s actions, conducted by his own subordinates & subject to his approval, HELD NO ONE ACCOUNTABLE,” tweeted Rep. Mike Rogers, the Alabama Republican chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, following release of the review. “This is why we are conducting our own investigation. We will seek answers at our hearing w/ Sec Austin on Thursday.”

The defense secretary underwent a minimally invasive surgical procedure for prostate cancer Dec. 22, which led to a urinary tract infection and serious intestinal complications. He was hospitalized again on Jan. 1, but the White House didn’t learn about either event until Jan. 4. He was released Jan. 5.

Austin’s deputy was granted authority over the Defense Department at various points, but she wasn’t told why she had been put in charge, according to a detailed account provided to lawmakers.

Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters on Monday that there was never any gap in authority, and that it was clear who was in charge at every point during those two hospital stays.

“This was an unprecedented situation and the staff was using the process and procedures that they have employed previously, and again to the best of their abilities, ensuring … that there were no gaps in command and control,” Ryder said at a briefing Monday.

When pressed on the point that no one was going to be held accountable, Ryder said Austin has already accepted responsibility. Austin has said previously that he called the president to apologize but never at any point considered resigning.

Austin “recognizes that we should have done a much better job notifying those who should have been notified. I will say that the Secretary is very proud of the team that he has supporting him,” Ryder said.

The delay in informing President Biden and top administration officials of his hospitalization remains under investigation by lawmakers and the Pentagon’s inspector general, which is expected to release a separate report later this year. President Biden publicly faulted Austin for not informing him earlier, telling reporters last month he still had confidence in Austin, but noted it was a lapse in judgment.

Austin told reporters earlier this month that his cancer diagnosis was a “gut punch” and that his first instinct was to keep it private. That was a mistake, he said.

“We did not handle this right. I did not handle this right,” Austin said.

ABC’s Matt Seyler and Luis Martinez contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — Are Facebook, Instagram and YouTube more like newspaper publishers or telephone companies?

The Supreme Court on Monday was wrestling with that question in a pair of cases being called the most important tests of the First Amendment in the internet era.

The justices’ answer could be critical to setting the terms of online speech for generations.

Florida and Texas each passed laws in 2021 ordering social media platforms to limit content moderation (e.g. removing or devaluing certain posts, at their discretion) and requiring them to issue notice and explanation any time a user’s content is removed or account suspended.

Both laws were enacted following the platforms’ decisions banning then-President Donald Trump after Jan. 6 and conservatives’ longstanding concerns about the sites’ censorship of content based on politics.

The states argue that social media platforms are akin to “common carriers,” like utility companies, which are subject to government regulation, and must accept all users’ content regardless of viewpoint.

But the internet companies insist they have the right to set their own standards, like any other publisher, and cannot be forced to host messages on their platforms that they don’t support, such as hate speech, misinformation and other malicious content.

Federal appeals courts have divided on the question: one striking down Florida’s law as a violation of the First Amendment, another upholding Texas’ law as permissible government intervention.

The nation’s high court is expected to deliver a decision in the cases by the end of June.

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(WASHINGTON) — Americans For Prosperity Action, an advocacy organization backed by billionaire Charles Koch and his network of wealthy conservatives supporting Nikki Haley in the Republican presidential primary, will no longer spend money on behalf of her campaign.

Following Haley’s defeat in the early primary states — including her home state of South Carolina, on Saturday night — AFP has decided to refocus its mission on United States Senate and House races, according to an internal staff email sent by Americans For Prosperity CEO Emily Seidel and reviewed by ABC News.

Seidel wrote that AFP remains confident in its endorsement and still supports Haley but recognizes the challenges moving forward into the next primary states.

“She has made it clear that she will continue to fight and we wholeheartedly support her in this effort,” Seidel wrote. “But given the challenges in the primary states ahead, we don’t believe any outside group can make a material difference to widen her path to victory.”

Reacting to the news, the Haley campaign thanked the group for being an “ally in the fight for freedom and conservative government.”

“We thank them for their tremendous help in this race,” the statement from Haley’s campaign continued. “Our fight continues, and with more than $1 million coming in from grassroots conservatives in just the last 24 hours, we have plenty of fuel to keep going. We have a country to save.”

AFP had a hefty infrastructure in place to combat Haley’s rival, former President Donald Trump, which primarily focused on door-knocking and digital advertisements.

Seidel characterized their grassroots operations as a “force to be reckoned with” and congratulated staff for engaging with over 3 million voters.

The Koch-backed group stayed out of the 2016 and 2020 presidential cycles but utilized significant resources to try and boost Haley’s campaign. It is unclear how much money was spent over the last four months since its endorsement, but the group had cash on hand. It reported raising over $70 million in its last public filing in June, with $25 million coming from Koch himself and another $25 million from one of his nonprofit groups.

As the group turns its efforts to down-ballot races, Seidel suggested the “most important and hardest challenge” will be convincing independent voters who refuse to cast a ballot for Trump to support their Republican candidates.

Politico was first to report the news of AFP suspending funding for Haley.

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(WASHINGTON) — After seven years at the helm of the GOP, Ronna McDaniel will step down from her post as chair of the Republican National Committee on March 8, she said in a statement obtained by ABC News.

McDaniel’s resignation is expected to take effect after Super Tuesday on March 5.

McDaniel said that she would resign at the party’s spring training meeting in Houston, Texas, so as to “allow our nominee to select a Chair of their choosing.”

Hand-picked by Donald Trump to serve in the role shortly after his 2016 election, McDaniel is reported to have arranged her departure with the former president, who is far ahead of his sole primary challenger, Nikki Haley, in the delegate fight for the 2024 nomination.

“The RNC has historically undergone change once we have a nominee and it has always been my intention to honor that tradition,” McDaniel said. “I remain committed to winning back the White House and electing Republicans up and down the ballot in November.”

Trump endorsed current North Carolina GOP Chair and RNC general counsel Michael Whatley in early February to replace McDaniel as the new chair of the RNC. He endorsed his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, to replace current RNC co-chair Drew McKissick. RNC party rules mandate that their chair and co-chair must be of opposite sexes.

Trump also endorsed one of his senior advisers, Chris LaCivita, for chief operating officer. There is no one currently serving in that role for the RNC. When he announced his slate of RNC leadership endorsements, Trump predicted that the shakeup would come following the South Carolina GOP primary election, which he won on Saturday.

During remarks at his victory party in Columbia, Trump forecasted the election of Whatley, a strong supporter of his baseless claims of voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election. It “looks to me like he’s going to be going on to the national Republican party,” Trump said.

“That’s my kind of guy. He had hundreds of lawyers … to make sure they didn’t cheat and they didn’t cheat in North Carolina [during the 2020 election],” Trump said Saturday.

McDaniel’s resignation will take effect just days ahead of Super Tuesday, when a number of delegate-rich states vote in their presidential primaries, and over a week after her home state of Michigan will decide on a Republican nominee.

McKissick, who was also floated as a potential option to replace McDaniel as chair, dodged a question from ABC News on Saturday over whether he’d go against Whatley for the position, instead insisting he’s focused on working with the Trump campaign and the party on electing and supporting former President Donald Trump.

“I’m a team guy,” said McKissick, who was at Trump’s South Carolina victory party Saturday night, when asked about a possible bid against Whatley. “I’m going to work with the campaign and the RNC. Period. End of discussion.”

Some members of the RNC told ABC News over the weekend they expected the announcement of McDaniel’s resignation to come ahead of Michigan’s primary on Tuesday.

Haley has blasted Trump and his campaign for what she calls an attempt to take over the party, endorsing his political allies and family members for executive positions in the RNC and accusing the former president of planning to use the organization as a way to pay his legal bills.

On the day of the South Carolina GOP primary, when asked who she would endorse as chair of the RNC, Haley said, “it wouldn’t be a family member of a candidate.”

“I would hope that the people in the RNC know that they have the responsibility to put in people in the RNC who are going to look out in the best interest of all of the Republican Party, not just one person,” Haley said to reporters.

McDaniel’s resignation comes at a critical time for the national party. Following the former president’s endorsement of his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, she said in an interview that “every single penny” of RNC funds will be devoted to reelecting her father-in-law. Lara Trump’s statement led many to believe that there could be a possibility the RNC could pay some of the former president’s legal fees.

ABC News news previously reported that the former president’s campaign insists that RNC funds won’t cover his legal fees.

But some members of the RNC are working behind the scenes to ensure that does not happen.

Draft resolutions have been circulated to Republican National Committee members, which, if approved, would prevent the organization from covering his legal fees and would prohibit the party from treating him as the presumptive presidential nominee until he secures the required majority of 1,215 delegates, which is likely to take several more weeks.

McDaniel, the niece of Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, has shepherded the Republican party through seven years of profound transformation, including most of Trump’s tenure in the White House, the 2020 general election, the 2022 midterm elections, and the 2024 presidential primary, including early state voting in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina.

“It has been the honor and privilege of my life to serve the Republican National Committee for seven years as Chairwoman to elect Republicans and grow our Party,” McDaniel said in her statement.

“Some of my proudest accomplishments include firing Nancy Pelosi, winning the popular vote in 2022, creating an Election Integrity Department, building the committee’s first small dollar grassroots donor program, strengthening our state parties through our Growing Republican Organizations to Win program, expanding the Party through minority outreach at our community centers, and launching Bank Your Vote to get Republicans to commit to voting early,” she said.

Because McDaniel is stepping down from her role, the next step to elect a new chair and co-chair would be a vote from the majority of the 168 RNC members present at their next gathering, according to party rules, which would be the spring training meeting on March 8.

To have their names placed in nomination, a candidate should have at least the majority vote of the RNC in each of three states.

ABC News’ SooRin Kim and Lalee Ibssa contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — The annual Conservative Political Action Conference has long been a proving ground for would-be presidents, launching the political aspirations of heavyweights like Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump.

This year, all eyes were on who could be No. 2.

Former President Trump has handily dispatched nearly all of his 2024 primary rivals, with only former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley hanging on while trailing by yawning polling margins and losing by double digits in every state that’s voted so far.

With the GOP nomination all but determined, speculation over Trump’s potential running mate is skyrocketing in the party — and many of the lead contenders gathered at CPAC at the same time in what was viewed by some political observers as a tryout of sorts.

“CPAC is an opportunity for the VP hopefuls to make their case to the MAGA base. At the end of the day, Trump will probably have an ‘Apprentice’-like audition for the VP slot,” said one senior GOP strategist in Trump’s orbit, who asked not to be quoted by name to speak more freely. “CPAC is a good venue because it is the most MAGA of the base — the true believers.”

“I think it’s wide open,” this person added. “Trump keeps his cards very close.”

Florida Rep. Byron Donalds, Arizona Senate candidate Kari Lake, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, New York Rep. Elise Stefanik and Ohio Sen. JD Vance all spoke at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, offering a chance to test different messages to Trump’s most loyal enthusiasts and for the party to see how much their rhetoric resounds with the GOP base.

The schedule of participants was so packed that conservative activist Tom Fitton, the head of Judicial Watch, remarked right after Lake’s speech: “It feels like I’m the only one here not running for vice president.”

Donalds focused his speech largely on foreign policy, urging U.S. allies to invest more in shared defense and declaring, “Decide Joe Biden, which country matters more to you, the border of the United States or the border of Ukraine?”

Lake focused on the border, too, calling fentanyl a “weapon of mass destruction while praising Trump as “exactly the man we needed in 2015, and he’s exactly the man we need today.”

Noem touted populist policies implemented in her state as a blueprint for America, sparking applause by declaring, “I was the only governor in this country who never once closed a single business” during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ramaswamy leaned into culture battles, warning of a “war between those of us who love the United States of America and our founding ideals and a fringe minority who hates this country and what we actually stand for.”

Stefanik echoed Trump in warning that his enemies would “stop at nothing” to “steal this next election,” a line that resounded with the crowd.

And Vance heaped praise on Trump while vilifying many lawmakers’ eagerness to further aid Ukraine in fending off Russia’s invasion rather than focusing more on domestic issues. “If the thing you care most about is a conflict 6,000 miles away, you should not be a leader in this country,” he said.

The speeches also featured subtle snipes, including Noem wondering “why did all these other people and candidates get in the race,” apparently referring to Ramaswamy and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, two former 2024 candidates who are now being floated as potential Trump running mates.

Still, one thing that united everyone who spoke was their admiration for Trump’s time in office.

Before the conference was in full swing, another source in Trump’s orbit, who likewise didn’t want to be quoted by name to be candid, told ABC News that they expected as much.

“I think what you’re going to see at CPAC is a number of people who are trying to impress upon the crowd that they are as MAGA as Trump, that they are the best person to be his running mate,” this person said on Wednesday. “You’ve got a number of people who are going to come out and try and convince what is a very conservative crowd that their Trump bona fides are sufficient enough.”

Underscoring the focus on the “veepstakes,” CPAC added to its straw poll a question of who attendees want Trump to pick as his No. 2, the first time in at least a decade that was included in the well-known — but unscientific — survey.

The poll of 1,478 CPAC attendees showed a tie, with Noem and Ramaswamy knotted up at 15%, followed by former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard at 9%, Stefanik and Scott tied at 8%, Donalds at 7% and Lake at 6%.

Conversations with more than a dozen attendees reflected those results and showed an array of preferences, with many talking about their choices with adjectives like “tough” while others said they’re remaining open to several of the floated names.

“I just think she’s tough,” said Pat Thomas, a retired hay farmer from North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, explaining why she’d like Noem to run with Trump.

“I love Byron Donalds. He was just up on the stage. He’d be an excellent VP candidate. Throw my weight behind him,” Thomas Siens, an economist from Fort Worth, Texas, said shortly after Donalds spoke to the crowd.

“I like Kristi Noem. I like Ramaswamy. JD Vance, some of the ones that I would like to see. But it’s a big decision. I think there’s a lot of really good options for them,” said Mark Wehrum, a physician from Orlando, Florida.

“I think there’s a lot of people who are auditioning,” said Jonathan Grier, a physician from Altoona, Pennsylvania. “I think CPAC is a good barometer for who’s who.”

But at the end of the day, the pitch to be Trump’s running mate has only one real audience: him. And there are still months to go before the GOP convention this summer, with the second source in Trump’s orbit skeptical that CPAC could make or break any one person’s chances for promotion this year.

“My guess is Donald Trump will not watch one speech at CPAC and will show up only to give his speech and then to leave,” this person said.

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