of undercutting the broader of what you try to's day goes >> in the third round of time at this point but we will reconvene and a half an hour. would in thanking [applause]anrg/podcasts.

>> this week, 2024 campaign trail was on the road in texas where independent presidential candidate robert f. kennedy, jr.

with voters and continued his quest to get on every states ballot. and from new york city, remarks from potential runni mates and former president donald trump showing their support during another week of his criminal trial. and vice president harris met with voters in wisconsin and michigan. at the top polibiden and trump have agreedo two debates. one on june 27 hosted by cnn and another on september 10 hosted by abc. the agreement by the candidates means they will be skipping the dates previously planned by the nonpartisan commission on presidential debates for september and october of this year. the agt came after president biden posted this short video to his social m >> donald trump two debates for

in 2020. now he's actiik t debate me again. will make my day, -- well make myay, pal. >>sident trump posted this video in response. ♪ >> we want trump.

we want trump. ♪ [crickets] ♪ >> alsohelines in the past week, the results of the may 14 primaries. in west virginia, outgoing governor jim justice beat congressman alex mooney to clinch the gop u.s. senate nomination. he's now the favorite to win in the general election. the cook political report rated thrawest virginia attorney genel patrick morrisseyoutwo candidates from longtime political families.he's now then against democrat steve williams,

who was unopposed in his primary. and in maryland, congressman david tron lost the state's democratic u.s. senate primary'e who bested him by nearly 14 $60 million of his own money into the race. she now faces former maryland governor larry hogan, a republican in the general election. next some of the conversation from c-sn's washington journal program on the result of the over control of the senate. >> there was a very closely watched democratic primary in maryland to succeed ben cardin. we saw twoajor candidates, pg county executive angela also brooks and western maryland congressman david tron vying for the nomination. he spent 60 $2 million of his own money. he is verylthy.

on this race. is more than anybody has ever self-funded on a primary in american history. also brooks spent just a fraction of that on her campaign and yet when all the votes were tallied, she ended up winning by about 12 points. quite the stunning result looking at just the financial picture. on the republican side, former governor larry hogan won the republican nomination. he's going to make maryland whicis democratic state a top-tier senate race come the fall. >> let's go back to the pri the. why do you think that was given how much money david trone spent. why do you think she was successful? >> i think it's a couple things but the underlying factor is you can have t in the world, but if voters are not buying what you're selling, '

not going to get you all the way they are. i think ultimately he foun out that he hit a dimisng marginal return on every additional $1 million he put on tv. everybody already knew who he was and what he was about. andhey dn't want to vote for him. elections are choices. once also brooks really spun up her operation and voters knew they had a choice, they felt they would rather go with her. saying maryland very much leans democratic, why do you think this could be competitive? >> because of hogan's we saw him win two elections. comparatively a landslide victory in 2018. in maryland, hogan was really able to appeal to independents d thetate.

he is as popular in some cases, yb now, but a year ago he was probably as popular among deatas republicans. he has significant supportmong black voters which are traditionally democratic. he has very hiindependents and o the table. that makes him competitive. it do' the favorite. we know even governors who are very popular in their own states when they try and run for senate oftentimes aren'>> west virginie manchin hounced his retirement. what are you looking at? >> this state iuc the senate map because it is by far republicans best pickup opportunity. the senate is split. 59 democrats, 41 republicans. if trump wins the presidency, all the republicans need is to flip seat in the senate in

order to reclaim majority. and rightf we just look at the map as it is and move west virginia, that is a 50-50 senat if the election were held today, i think it's clear have a very good shot at winning. democrats are really on their heels in the senate. it's going to be very difficult for them to maintain their majority and it's basically going to be impossible for them to maintain a majority if trump wins the p trump got a big boosn steek. one from the new york times, inquirer and siena college showed the presumptive republican nominee with leads in five of six key battleground states. in two, georgia and nevada, his lead was double digits and

outside the margin of error. the pulling has the trump campaign active in states like new jeyse has a chance of winning this year. next, som t held in the seaside resort town of wildwood, new journey. >> we are expanding the map because we are going to officially play in the state of new jersey. we new jersey. got a great group of people with us. we are also looking really great in the state of minnesota which hasn't been won since 1952 and we are leading in the polls. in the state of virginia and actually many other states. it could be all of them. this guy is so damn bad it could be all of them. he is so bad, i think we are going to win them all. all across america of millions of and so-called blue states are

joining our movement based on love, intelligence and a thing called common sense. it's time to set other differences aside and come together, get the job done for america. we are going to make america great again and we are going to do it fast. and we are going to look at biden, i am s nobody ever saw the apprentice. that was our big hit. that was a big powerful hit. but i'm going to look at that guy and i'm going to say joe biden, you are the worst ever. joe biden, you are fired. get out of here. you're fired. get out of here, joe. we are going to straighten out our country. we are not going to destroy it. he's destroying it. ofne thing that's better. you look at the afghanistan disaster, the border, the economy. the reale economy. everything they touch turns to what?

>> the former president was also back in a manhattan courtroom. in recent days, he has brought along a series of high-profile entourages including one counting in its ranks rumored vice presidential picks. burgum of north dakota, congressman byron donalds of florida and entrepreneur vivek ramaswamy. >> we have all known this was a shriwhen you have the opportunio see it up close and personal, you can see it's a scam trial. when you have a judge that is a donor to biden, prosecutors that are supporters of ben and then you've got relatives of the judg areenefiting financially directly from this trial and then you've got the star witness is a serial perjurer, you have to ask this all about. i think the only cclusion is its election interference and

tying up the president from being out on the campaignrail. where's the crime? there is no crime. the only crime happening here is this democrat judge and the democrat party procung their political rival right in the middle of a presidential election. the crime here is that the issues facing our nation are not being addresby democrats but they want to go after donald trump and there's nothing wrong. there is nothing tt has been wrong here, the only thing being done wrong is by this judge. thiis garbage. that is the best proof that you have. it's dammed i do, dammed if you don't. this is a sham. this is not the united states of this is some vertebrate banana republic. i am ashamed as an american citizen to sit here in a courtroom watching the former leader of the free world and likelyexthe free world sitting with the indignity

in this dingy third-rate court room at a for rate lawyer on the stand as a witness who actually is violating attorney-client privilege left and right, nobody is talking about that. this is a shame. stronger because of who ultimatelyasts the vote on this case? y at home. if you are at home, and you don't agree with everything donald trump has ever said. whether you are demo orepublicar gay or straight or man oran, our justice system should be to politics. regardless of whether your last name is biden or, you get a fair shake in our legal system . and when you have a prosecutor who campaigned on the pledge of going trump.

when you have a judge whose kids are collecting money from democratic operatives by fundraising over they that judge is presiding over and then telling t he is subject to a gag order, that is not justice. it is the best organization of what this country is founded on. >> vice president harris made her way once again to the midwest battlegrounds of michigan and wisconsin. some of herisit■1■'o an event for entrepreneurs and students in milwaukee. >> i'm heecr engagement in the state. we do creative art. all the stuff to help artists find ways to monetize their passion.

>> i know gugreat media -- are r with their work? >> i was not familiar. >> this is why i'm doing this. so that entrepreneurs like you can have access to information about folks like these leaders to make sure that we are getting you everything that you really to know, it's our job to make sure you know. did you get one of these? >> i'm getting more. when she was a senator, she fought for money. >> i helpe get 12 billion more dollars. that's the kind of work that we have done so thatntrepreneurs

like you can benefit. >> i do want to ask you one more question. what is the most frequently t?keuestion that you guys what are you fine people are curious about? >> people are just really curious about resources. there was a young woman here who was like i'm a little overwhelmed, i don't here to start. if w't lp you, we will try our best to connect you with another individual. >> are you finding a lot of people you're interacting with

actually did not know? >> government and a lot of different ways. so we are r supportive to reinvesting in the community. >> thank you gyou are making nac opportunities. [overlapping chatter] >> independent presidential candidate robert f. kennedy, jr. added a number of states to the

roster where he is officially gained ballot access. those are the 14s and dark purple on this map. among texas. next, some of our rally he heldg th petitioning the threshold and deadline. >> we had a historicjust uer 200 signatures. that's more than any presidential candidacy in the history of texas. and in the history of our country. the texas leglature changed the rules. that doubled the number of because they thoughtd to be

nobody would ever be able to do it. but the pundits, you heard them from the beginning of this campaign were saying it would be impossible for us to get on the and we got on the ballot in texas and you can get on in texas, we can get on everywhere. taxes only gave us 45 days to collect 100 13,000 signatures. we got more than double that. an was just upstairs talking to the team, i was just completing the signature and they said we are on the way to new york tonight because new york is the next one for us. we have 10 days now. we had 45 days. the hardest states areew york

and texas. we've already got more than we need in new york. the dnc has done everything in their power to stop us and they ll continue to do that, but we are going to get on the ballot in evein state and i want to thank all of you who are part of ts. >> democratic senator bob casey is trying for his fourth term representing pennsylvania. here is katie my, government editor and reporter at spotlight pa. what has been going on in the race? >> one of the things we are seeing already is a lot of money. this iso be a very expensive race. the 2022 race between john fetterman and mehmet oz has also

beer what we have seen so far is really significant support from the democratic establishment. mccormick with some of his own money, he is a wealthy guy. also with major donationsm other wealthy people that have gone to a super pac spendon his behalf. super pacsirreny has more on hand in his campaign about. mccormick has t on. we are talking tens of millions of dollars as of the first quarter of this year. ■it's not donors, if this several dozen and most of them don't live in pennsylvania, a big school choice advocate. pennsylvania is one of those states that the senate campaign coy fosing

on. not all of the money is on hand. those are some of the financial dynamics you areg. >> the primary race this year wasn't terribly exciting on either side. >> not really. the field has been clearing out for these candidates. mccormick had already run in the primary and lost pretty narrowly. as as e gop establishment was who would be able to mount a good campaign again. and casey, you would be facing tough odds run against him in pennsylvania in the democratic primary. he has ay n the state, he is a scranton guy whose dad was governor. he has close ties to biden.

>> what has been the early strategy from these candidates? >> very dof what they are focusing on. casey is more of a fighter member of the senate. he's not a really flashy guy. oehamuch. he has really stressed that he guide, he has been part of the mipartisan noncontroversial bills passing. one of his bags -- big focuses has been consumer protection, allowing the ftc to penalicompa. it is something biden has talked about. you can seeiohip there, focusing on things voters are really going to feel good about that are not goibe t controversial. mccormick tied himself to trump, he has she trump

and that has been his approach. ing for him.b he talked a lot about the border, which has a for republicans. his big thing is don't touch the southern border. in one of his recent ads, he was talking about palestinian immigrants. the white house had a proposal that would allow p egypt to immigrate to the u.s. if they had family here and that was something he kind of tied casey to the biden administration. r dynamic i would have to mention is that mccormick has lived in connecticut forany years. his career has taken him all over the place. the ceo of bridgewater. he's a wealthy guy for many years did not live in pennsylvania and that was a huge issue for himndr u.s. senate, 'o be an issue again this year, it

already is. he has been doing a bus tour nd pennsylvania for the early part of the race. he goestoonnecticut a lot. he has two houses, one in pittsburgh.>> you mentioned ther he's doing around pennsylvaa. oe campaigns using. >> a lot of advertising. i mentioned the super pac that is supporting mccormick. i haven't even put a dent into the large amount of money they have on hacasey has spent a lite money out of his own campaign accountsame thing for him, sortf reintroducing himself to voters. higher so that the story is a big part of mccormick's strategy

. a big goal is to set himself apart. usually pe casey in pennsylvania. democrats are going to be having a hard time. issues like ■finflation are goig to be top of mind. that consumer protection angle ometng he's really focused on. >> pennsylvaniaong large in the presidential race. what is the interaction between the senate race in the presidential race in pennsylvania this year? >> it's one of those things that is unavoidable. whatever happens at the top of the ticket affects what happens down ballot. with casey and mccormick, they are not trying to re themselves from the candidate at the top of the ticket. in casey's case it wou be really hard for him to do that.

he and biden have known each other for many years. i think so far in pennsylvania, we see a lot of ads. it's already starting. in the primary youeq mentioned t was quiet for the u.s. senate race, it was qaid. there was the uncommitted movement did see some traction here. pennsylvania has a the fields were well-settled by the time it haen we are still seeing everything kicked into motion here. the major action is still going to happen. >> katie meyer, thank you so much for your time and expertise. >> one last stop on this week's 2024 campaign trail. in washington state, democratic attorney general bob ferguson is considered a top contender in this year's gubernatorial race. partly because of his statewide name recognition.

two other boberguson's also filed to run but eventually pulled out of the race. next, details on the three bob's -- bobs. >> t o nam ecretaryuson have backed their of state's 5:00 withdrawal deadline. that was after bob ferguson the attorney general threatened those other bob ferguson's with a felony if they ran for vern and that's why they decided to end their unusual campaign. 'in a name? >> i have known this bob ferguson. >> my nameboon >> this bob doesn't lthhatwo oto named ferguson filed friday to run for government. >> robert benjamin ferguson. thei

to mislead voters and split my supporters three to depress my vote total. >> he was flanked by the analso cited the revised code of washington a crime. >> this is a class b felony with a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. >> glenn morgan tookt for recruiting the other bobs■1 who both lists this olympia ups store as their campaign headquarters graham said he will back out after g and desist letter from the bob who is attorney general. >> i'm a little man, i do not have the means to combat this. i served in the u.s. army. who knew the biggest personal threat i would face would be from the attorney general of the at with the harassment and threats i received from him. >> and the other bob who posted

a handwritten sign on his door saying he was busy running for governor has backed out, too. >> this is a threat to our election system. >> it's also about protecting the name of a free, clear and fair election. reminder, this program and all of c-span's