Election 2024 latest news: Biden wrapping up lucrative New York fundraising swing

President Biden has another campaign event scheduled in New York on Friday before heading to Camp David in Maryland for the weekend. On Thursday night, Biden appeared at a star-studded fundraiser that included two former presidents — Bill Clinton and Barack Obama — and an array of entertainers.

Here’s what to know

• Biden’s event Thursday night raised more than $25 million, according to the campaign. It’s a hefty sum in a presidential contest where the incumbent already holds a sizable cash advantage.
• Former president Donald Trump spent about a half-hour Thursday visiting with the family of a slain New York Police Department officer on Long Island. He spoke to reporters for about two minutes and did not take questions.
• A federal court ruled Thursday that time has run out to draw a new congressional district in South Carolina and that the state would have to proceed this fall with an existing election map that the court had deemed illegal.
• Sign up for our elections newsletter, The Campaign Moment, by Aaron Blake.

8:13 AM: Many GOP billionaires balked at Jan. 6. They’re coming back to Trump.

Election 2024 latest news: Biden wrapping up lucrative New York fundraising swing

The day after a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, billionaire and GOP megadonor Nelson Peltz called the attempted insurrection a “disgrace” and expressed remorse for voting for Donald Trump. “I’m sorry I did that,” Peltz said of supporting Trump in 2020.

But earlier this month, Peltz had breakfast with Trump and other billionaires — including hotelier Steve Wynn, Tesla and X CEO Elon Musk and former Marvel chairman Isaac Perlmutter — at Trump’s luxurious Palm Beach oceanfront mansion, according to people with knowledge of the meeting, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the private gathering.

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By: Josh Dawsey, Jeff Stein, Michael Scherer and Elizabeth Dwoskin

7:53 AM: Biden marks ‘painful anniversary’ of Evan Gershkovich’s detention in Russia

U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich, arrested on espionage charges, looks out from inside a defendant’s cage before a hearing to consider an appeal of his extended pretrial detention, at the Moscow City Court on Feb. 20.

President Biden on Friday marked the first anniversary of Russia’s detention of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, vowing to continue working to secure his release. Gershkovich, who covered Russia for the Wall Street Journal, was arrested there last March on espionage charges that his newspaper and the U.S. government have vehemently denied.

“Today we mark a painful anniversary,” Biden said in a statement. “Journalism is not a crime, and Evan went to Russia to do his job as a reporter — risking his safety to shine the light of truth on Russia’s brutal aggression against Ukraine.”

Biden noted that, shortly after Gershkovich was detained, he drafted a letter to his family from prison that sought to reassure them: “I am not losing hope.”

“As I have told Evan’s parents, I will never give up hope either,” Biden said. He added a message directly to Gershkovich, as well as to Paul Whelan, a former Marine who was sentenced to 16 years in a Russian prison in 2020 after being convicted of spying.

“To Evan, to Paul Whelan, and to all Americans held hostage or wrongfully detained abroad: We are with you. And we will never stop working to bring you home,” Biden said.

In January, a Moscow court again extended Gershkovich’s detention, this time until at least late June.

By: Amy B Wang

7:37 AM: Andy Kim says he didn’t expect the New Jersey Senate race to open up for him

Rep. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) is suing to get the state’s ballot design changed ahead of the Democratic primary in June.

The path for Rep. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) winning the seat held by Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) got a lot easier on Sunday when his chief rival in the Democratic primary, Tammy Murphy, unexpectedly dropped out of the race rather than wage “a very divisive and negative campaign” against Kim.

Murphy, who is married to New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D), had locked up the support of much of the state’s Democratic establishment. Kim ran in part on frustration with New Jersey politics, including the state’s “county line” system, which allows candidates endorsed by a county chairman or committee to appear together on the ballot. Kim sued last month to overturn the system, calling it “fundamentally unjust and undemocratic.”

The Early 202 talked with Kim about what Murphy’s exit means for the race. This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.

The Early: How surprised were you that Murphy dropped out?

Kim: I didn’t see it coming. I was so locked in for [the] June 4 [primary] and prepared to run the most intense stretch of campaigning I’ve ever done in my life. I’m still kind of processing it.

Read more about what Kim had to say.

By: Theodoric Meyer and Leigh Ann Caldwell

7:18 AM: Analysis from Toluse Olorunnipa, White House Bureau Chief

President Biden’s star-studded fundraiser in New York on Thursday night was not without controversy. After Biden and former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton took the stage, pro-Palestinian protesters began shouting and disrupting the event before being ushered out. A large crowd of demonstrators also gathered outside the venue to express their displeasure with Biden’s handling of the war in Gaza, some of them clashing with police.

7:00 AM: Tensions over Israel-Gaza war shape heated Democratic primary in New York

Westchester County executive George Latimer attends a menorah lighting ceremony at Chase Park in White Plains, N.Y., on Dec. 12, 2023.

Earlier this month, a powerful pro-Israel group gathered donors at a summit outside Washington, where organizers played a video montage of some top targets for defeat in this year’s Democratic primaries. It ended with a clip of Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) — and a surprise in-person appearance from his primary challenger, George Latimer. The crowd erupted in applause as a QR code appeared on a screen behind Latimer for donors to give to his campaign.

The appearance at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee gathering, which two attendees with knowledge of the event described on the condition of anonymity to speak about a private meeting, showed the frictions at the heart of the Democratic primary in New York’s 16th Congressional District, one of the highest-profile tests of the divisions and evolving attitudes in the party over the Israel-Gaza war.

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By: Colby Itkowitz

6:45 AM: Court rejects claim challenging North Carolina map for diluting Black vote

The North Carolina State Legislative Building reviews copies of a map proposal for new state House districts during a committee hearing at the Legislative Office Building in Raleigh, N.C., on Oct. 19.

A federal appellate court on Thursday rejected an emergency challenge to North Carolina’s Republican-drawn legislative map, all but ensuring that elections will go forward this year under contested lines drawn up in late 2023 that Democrats and voting rights advocates say were created to weaken Black representation.

That means 2024 elections will go forward with a map that experts say will help Republicans retain a supermajority in the state legislature that can block North Carolina’s Democratic governor from vetoing bills. The new maps are also expected to give Republicans at least three more seats in Congress.

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By: Rachel Weiner and Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff

6:30 AM: Biden raises $25 million in ‘historic’ fundraiser with Obama, Clinton

President Biden and former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton attend a campaign fundraising event at Radio City Music Hall in New York on Thursday.

In a show of force that his campaign is calling the “most successful political fundraiser in American history,” President Biden raised more than $25 million during a New York event Thursday featuring former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton.

More than 5,000 people attended the sold-out event at New York’s Radio City Music Hall, Biden’s campaign said, with guests paying anywhere from $225 to $500,000. The massive haul comes as Biden and his allies seek to present their growing financial advantage in the race against former president Donald Trump as a broader sign of strength and momentum.

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By: Toluse Olorunnipa

6:15 AM: Jack Ciattarelli to again run for governor of New Jersey

Jack Ciattarelli campaigned for governor in 2021 and said he’d run again following his loss.

Jack Ciattarelli, the former New Jersey Republican state legislator who came surprisingly close to ousting the state’s Democratic governor in 2021, will run for governor next year, according to a person familiar with Ciattarelli’s plans who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private discussions.

Ciattarelli will formally announce his candidacy on April 9 in Freehold, N.J., the person said. That location is an area where Republicans picked up legislative seats when Ciattarelli was at the top of the ticket.

Term limits bar Gov. Phil Murphy (D) from seeking reelection next year. He was elected governor in 2017, beating his Republican opponent that year by 14 percentage points. Four years later, public polling showed Murphy again with a comfortable lead over Ciattarelli, his Republican challenger. But Murphy won by only about three percentage points, after a lengthy ballot-counting process. Ten days after Election Day, Ciattarelli conceded to Murphy and told reporters, “I see no proof that this election was stolen.” Ciattarelli also said, “I’m running for governor in four years.”

Republican state Sen. Jon Bramnick and three Democrats — Newark Mayor Ras J. Baraka, Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop and former state legislator Stephen Sweeney — have announced their candidacies.

By: Azi Paybarah