The 2024 election becomes a 2-man race as Trump and Biden prepare for a rematch

The race for the White House is officially a two-man race as the most recent occupants of the office clinch their party nominations and prepare for a 2020 rematch. To help unpack Trump’s path forward, and whether Biden can appeal to disaffected Republicans, we speak to Doug Heye, the former communications director to House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and the Republican National Committee.
Geoff Bennett:
The race for the White House is officially a rematch contest, as the two most recent occupants of the Oval Office clinch their party’s nominations and prepare to face off of the 2020 election.
Joe Biden, President of the United States: Hello, Milwaukee.
Geoff Bennett:
On his first day as the presumptive Democratic nominee, President Biden in the battleground state of Wisconsin touting his administration’s accomplishments.
Joe Biden :
My predecessor, who failed the most basic duty any president owes the American people, the duty to care, just to care.
(Applause)
Joe Biden :
In my view, that’s unforgivable. I came to office determined to uphold the duty that gets us through one of the toughest periods in our nation’s history. And we have. And now we’re building a future America full of possibilities.
Geoff Bennett:
The general election matchup is now official.
Donald Trump , Former President of the United States (R) and Current U.S. Presidential Candidate: We’re the official nominee of the Republican Party.
Geoff Bennett:
After sweeping four states yesterday, Donald Trump secured enough delegates to become the GOP nominee for the third election in a row.
Donald Trump :
We have to get back to work, because we have the worst president in the history of our country.
Geoff Bennett:
It’s a rematch that some voters say they don’t want.
Jill Wemer, Georgia Voter:
I would love to see our country represented not by someone in their 80s who’s a white man.
Nichole Snyder, Georgia Voter:
We don’t have exceptional candidates right now, so it was a difficult decision.
Joe Biden :
Hey, buddy.
Geoff Bennett:
President Biden won 95 percent of the vote in Georgia last night and 87 percent of the vote in Washington state, even as nearly 50,000 Democrats there voted uncommitted.
Ben McAllister, Washington Voter:
I didn’t feel comfortable giving him my support again. So I wanted to vote uncommitted today to send that message that people aren’t just going to continue voting for whoever’s in office as a Democrat regardless of the action or inaction that they perform.
Geoff Bennett:
But other Democrats say the stakes are too high for symbolic protest votes.
Dawn Clement, Georgia Voter:
I’m voting for Joe Biden all the way through. It really is an important election this year, probably the most important our country has ever had.
Geoff Bennett:
Donald Trump ‘s die-hard supporters also see the choice as critical.
Faye Bowling, Georgia Voter:
I have never in my lifetime seen this economy as bad as it is now. And I’m all for Donald Trump , and I want everybody to get out and I want a red wave come November.
Donald Trump :
Go out and vote.
Geoff Bennett:
The now-presumptive GOP nominee will spend at least part of his time in the coming days off the campaign trail.
Mr. Trump will be back in federal court in Florida on Thursday, facing charges of mishandling classified documents and obstructing justice. And his hush money trial begins later this month in New York.
For both candidates, the focus will soon turn to those few battleground states where the final outcome could be measured in just thousands of votes in what will be the longest general election campaign in modern history.
Let’s bring in Doug Heye. He’s the former communications director to House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and before that the Republican National Committee.
It’s great to have you here.
Doug Heye, Republican Strategist:
It’s good to be with you.
Geoff Bennett:
So, Donald Trump , as you well know, he lost Georgia by fewer than 12,000 votes back in 2020. Nikki Haley last night won more than 77,000 votes, even though she quit the race last week.
Doug Heye:
Yes.
Geoff Bennett:
We should say that a lot of those folks voted early. Georgia has early voting.
But a significant number of that vote, that was a protest vote against Donald Trump . How alarmed should the Trump campaign be?
Doug Heye:
They should take this very seriously.
And what we see with this is something I learned the week before in North Carolina. I happened to have been down in Chapel Hill at my alma mater, UNC. We’re going to win the ACC Tournament this weekend.
(Laughter)
Doug Heye:
And I went to a Nikki Haley event nearby in Raleigh. And what I saw was a room that was jammed. They had to move it to two separate larger venues to handle the crowd size.
And there was something real going on in that room. And what I saw were a lot of people wearing T-shirts that said “Permanently Barred.” Now, some of those people are probably temporarily barred. They will ultimately vote for Donald Trump .
But if you’re looking at a state like Georgia, if 20 percent of those who voted for Nikki Haley decide to not support Donald Trump , well, there’s your 12,000-vote margin. It’s a real problem for the Trump campaign. And pushing people away is not going to be the answer.
Politics should be about addition, not subtraction, whether you’re in partisan politics or congressional politics. Donald Trump needs to learn that lesson this week and moving forward.
Geoff Bennett:
Well, on that point, I mean, for all of the hand-wringing, Doug, on the Democratic side about Joe Biden ‘s political standing and his poll numbers, Donald Trump has not shown an ability or even a willingness to expand his base of support outside of his people who already support him.
I mean, he has an unusually strong floor of support, but he has also an unusually low ceiling of support. And that’s problematic. How does he deal with that?
Doug Heye:
Well, if you look at the polling trend for years now, Donald Trump has been relatively flat. And it’s because of, as you say, there’s a low ceiling, but also a high floor. There’s not a lot of places that he can go.
What we’re going to see Donald Trump do is two things, essentially. One, try to start to appeal to some of those voters that he very proactively turned off. Again, you are proactive — you are permanently banned. We don’t want you. Well, he’s going to have to say, we want you, come and join.
How many of those listen are going to be a problem. The other is going to those people who don’t like Donald Trump , but also don’t like Joe Biden , aren’t happy with the direction of the country, and think that Trump is better on a whole host of issues, whether that’s the economy and jobs, inflation, certainly, and the border.
Those issues and a whole lot more, where Joe Biden is really deeply underwater, you’re going to hear Trump talk about those more and more. Problem is, though, he’s still Donald Trump . And so he’s going to talk about those issues, but overshadow himself by talking about two-tiered system of justice, this judge hates me, that judge is unfair, this woman, that woman, insulting as many people as he can.
That turns off those very voters that he needs.
Geoff Bennett:
I want to draw on your experience at the RNC, because Donald Trump , as you well know, he has cemented his control of the Republican National Committee.
The group’s members voted to affirm all of his hand-picked leaders, including his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, who’s now co-chair. It’s unusual, not unheard of. Ronald Reagan’s daughter was elected co-chair back in 1987.
Doug Heye:
Yes.
Geoff Bennett:
Still, though, with an RNC that is newly organized to support Donald Trump , what does that mean for Republicans who are running downballot?
Doug Heye:
Well, I think that’s where the concern will be.
Lara Trump said, our number one priority is electing Donald Trump . In fact, that’s our only priority.
Well, if you’re running for Senate or governor or House or other offices, you need to be concerned about that. But that’s where you have the other party committees, the Congressional Committee, the Senatorial and the RGA, working with the RNC to make sure that money is flowing to states in all directions.
So, unless you’re from North Carolina, with Michael Whatley being the North Carolina state party chair and Lara Trump being there, you do have concerns about, if money is going to be spent on other activities, whether it’s legal bills or what have you, does that come at my expense?
This makes the congressional committees and the RGA that much more important.
Geoff Bennett:
When you look at how the RNC has been hollowed out, mass layoffs, the installation of loyalists, including lawyers who worked for him who helped spread lies about the election, all of that, one of whom has just been named the senior counsel for election integrity at the RNC, Christina Bobb, what does any of that suggest about the way Donald Trump would govern if he has a second term?
Doug Heye:
Well, some of that is business as usual. I have never seen a story that talks about Jaime Harrison being a Biden loyalist.
Of course he’s a Biden loyalist. When you’re the DNC chair, you’re a loyalist to your party and certainly your president. So a lot of this is very normal and is what happens when — or happened when Mitt Romney became the nominee or John McCain became the nominee.
Some of this, though, a hollowing out of staff, does cause concerns. We need to see more about, are they going to be smart with how they now redirect their money? Sean Cairncross is somebody who has come on board with the RNC. He is in charge of making sure the trains run on time and that there’s money for those trains.
I have worked with him. He was at the Senatorial Committee when I worked with the RNC. He is a pro’s pro and somebody who’s going to be very effective in that job.
On the issue of election integrity, I think it’s interesting. We often hear about polling that shows that voters are concerned about democracy. A lot of those are Democratic voters. Of course, a lot of those are Republicans who think wrongly, but think the election was stolen from them.
So it doesn’t surprise me that Donald Trump is going to hire people who sort of subscribe to that world view. That’s what happens in politics.
Geoff Bennett:
Doug Heye, thanks, as always. Great to see you.
Doug Heye:
Thank you.