Happening this Friday: U.S. launches strikes on Iranian-linked targets in Syria… Manhunt continues for Maine mass shooting suspect… Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., enters 2024 presidential race and is already airing his first TV ad in New Hampshire… And GOP field, including Donald Trump, addresses Republican Jewish Coalition gathering in Las Vegas on Saturday.
But FIRST… Dean Phillips, as a sitting Democratic member of Congress, represents the most serious primary challenger that President Joe Biden has received for 2024.
After all, neither Marianne Williamson nor RFK Jr. (before he switched to run as an independent) had ever served in elected office prior to their candidacies.
Still, Phillips isn’t going to be a serious challenger to win the Democratic presidential nomination — New Hampshire’s delegates won’t count if the state (as expected) goes before South Carolina does, and Phillips has already missed the deadline to file for Nevada’s primary.
Yet Phillips’ bid sends an important signal about Biden’s biggest vulnerability in his bid for re-election.
His age.
“My real call to action right now is not about me. The call to action is to ask the president to pass the torch,” Phillips said on “Meet the Press” in August, when he was calling for a primary challenge to Biden.
(Notably, Phillips wasn’t referring to Biden passing the torch to Vice President Kamala Harris — but instead to rising Democratic governors across the country.)
As our colleague Chuck Todd has noted, Democratic concerns about Biden’s age boil down to one thing: They’re nervous that, at age 80 and after the pandemic, Biden won’t be able to effectively barnstorm across the country next year and interact with voters.
“The best way to disprove the age and ability issue is to run an active campaign, something Biden has yet to do,” Todd wrote.
So Biden now has a primary challenger with real credentials.
And he now has the chance to show voters he’s up to the task of mounting a vigorous campaign in response.
Headline of the day
The number of the day is … 18
That’s how many people were killed in Maine after a gunman opened fire at a bowling alley and bar on Wednesday evening.
The suspect in the shooting is still at large and as of Friday morning, and officials were engaged in a multistate manhunt to find him.
Residents of the city of Lewiston, where the shooting occurred, and nearby Auburn, are being urged by officials to shelter in place while the suspect remains at large. Most schools and businesses in the area were closed Thursday.
After the shooting, Maine Democratic Rep. Jared Golden, who represents Lewiston, his hometown, reversed his position on a ban on assault rifles. Golden called his previous opposition a “failure.” He is one of five Democrats representing a district former President Donald Trump won.
For more on the shooting, including live updates from the state, visit NBCNews.com.
Eyes on 2024: Redistricting battles shakes up House fight
It’s not an exaggeration to say every seat will matter in the fight for control of the House next year, since Democrats need a net gain of just five seats to take control of the chamber. And ongoing redistricting battles continue to shake up these pivotal House races.
On Wednesday, a federal judge in Georgia ruled that the state’s current congressional map violates the Voting Rights Act, writing in his ruling that “in certain areas of the state, the political process is not equally open to Black voters.” The judge ordered the state legislature to draw new congressional district boundaries by Dec. 8.
And earlier this week in North Carolina, the Republican-controlled legislature approved a new congressional map that favors Republicans, potentially shifting four seats in their favor.
That has shaken up some House races. On Thursday, Democratic Rep. Jeff Jackson announced that he would run for state attorney general after his district became much more Republican-leaning.
Politico reports that the new North Carolina map “would likely lock in 10 Republicans and three Democrats, with one competitive battleground seat that Democratic Rep. Don Davis currently holds.”
Davis does already have a Republican challenger: retired Army Col. Laurie Buckhout. She recently told NBC News she would take on Davis regardless of where the new congressional lines ended up.
Buckhout is among a trio of GOP recruits who launched their campaigns amid the chaos in the House as Republicans tried to agree on the speaker. Buckhout and the two other candidates said the infighting did not deter them from running, arguing that they can bring some change to the House as political outsiders.
In other campaign news:
Biden campaign theory: NBC’s Matt Dixon, Dasha Burns and Alex Tabet explore a conspiracy theory gaining ground among Republicans that powerful Democrats will replace President Joe Biden as the party’s nominee before the general election next year.
Tense moment: In a video obtained by NBC’s Jonathan Allen and Allan Smith, tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy confronted Iowa GOP Sen. Joni Ernst about comments she made criticizing his position on the war between Israel and Hamas.
Shrinking primary field: Conservative radio host Larry Elder ended his longshot campaign for president on Thursday, and endorsed former President Donald Trump in the contest.
Pence’s point: Former Vice President Mike Pence’s presidential campaign is struggling, but NBC’s Sarah Dean writes that running for president has also been about redefining his legacy, and not allowing it to be defined by former President Donald Trump.
Junior vs. Junior: At an appearance in Iowa, Donald Trump Jr. criticized Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s independent presidential campaign, calling it, “a Democrat plant to hurt the Trump thing.”
Retirement alert: Rep. John Sarbanes, D-Md., announced Thursday that he won’t seek re-electionin his safe Democratic seat after almost 18 years in office, the Baltimore Sun reports.
Facing expulsion: House Republicans from New York are forcing a vote to expel Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., from the House amid an ongoing ethics probe and pending criminal charges against Santos for wire fraud, identity theft and more. Santos would only be expelled from the House following a two-thirds majority vote in favor of the resolution, NBC’s Rebecca Kaplan, Kyle Stewart and Dareh Gregorian report.
‘War with itself’: NBC’s Mike Hixenbaugh explores the internal strife within the Texas Republican Party — and what it could mean for the future of the GOP nationally.
ICYMI: What ELSE is happening in the world
Newly elected Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La. and President Biden met at the White House on Thursday.
U.S. Capitol Police Officer Caroline Edwards testified Wednesday in a federal bench trial against five defendants about the injuries she sustained during the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
