Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.
Democratic governors vow to stand with Biden after shaky debate performance
The Democratic governors of New York, Minnesota and Maryland on Wednesday said they would support President Joe Biden's reelection bid after a candid discussion with him about his weak performance in last week's debate. "The president has always had our backs. We're going to have his back as well," Maryland Governor Wes Moore told reporters after a meeting with Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris at the White House that included 24 Democratic governors and the mayor of Washington, D.C., some joining online.
Biden rejects growing pressure to abandon his campaign, vows to stay 'to the end'
U.S. President Joe Biden vowed to stay in the 2024 presidential race during calls with campaign staff and meetings with Democratic lawmakers and governors on Wednesday, as he sought to shake off calls for him to drop out after his shaky debate performance last week. Biden dialed in to a call with worried members of his campaign team and told them he wasn't going anywhere, according to two sources familiar with the call.
Trump leads Biden in new polls by New York Times, Wall Street Journal
Donald Trump has established a sizable lead over President Joe Biden in the White House race since the two candidates debated last week, according to separate opinion polls published on Wednesday by the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. Biden vowed to stay in the 2024 presidential race during a call with campaign staff on Wednesday and sought to reassure top Democrats on Capitol Hill that he is fit for reelection, despite his halting, shaky debate performance last week.
Trump allies intensify Harris attacks as Biden replacement talk builds
Donald Trump's campaign and some of his allies have launched a pre-emptive political strike on Vice President Kamala Harris, moving swiftly to try to discredit her amid talk among some of her fellow Democrats that she might replace President Joe Biden atop the party's 2024 presidential ticket. On social media and in a flurry of statements over the past 48 hours, Trump's campaign and his Republican allies appear to be laying the groundwork for an all-out assault on Harris should the 81-year-old Biden decide to end his re-election bid following his feeble debate performance last week.
VP Harris top choice to replace Biden in election race if he steps aside, sources say
Vice President Kamala Harris is the top alternative to replace U.S. President Joe Biden if he decides not to continue his reelection campaign, according to seven senior sources at the Biden campaign, the White House and the Democratic National Committee with knowledge of current discussions on the topic. Biden's fumbling, sometimes-incoherent and widely-panned first-debate performance against Republican rival Donald Trump last week set off a wave of panic within the Democratic party over concerns that he may not be fit enough to serve a second term, and prompted calls for top aides to resign.
Alaska sues to challenge new NPR-A oil and gas leasing rules
The state of Alaska on Wednesday said it has filed a lawsuit challenging new federal regulations imposed for oil and gas leasing in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A). In April, President Joe Biden's administration took steps to limit both oil and gas drilling and mining in Alaska.
Jill Biden a fierce advocate for Biden remaining in the race
When a group of visiting political advisers sought to persuade then-Senator Joe Biden to run for president in 2004, his wife Jill sat poolside at their home, fuming. Finally, she took action. She drew the word "NO" in ink in large letters on her stomach and "marched through the room in my bikini," she wrote. He decided against running that time around.
Biden's July 4th party kicks off events that may reassure Democrats
If President Joe Biden is going to survive pressure to abandon his re-election campaign after a poor showing in his debate with Donald Trump, he needs to ace a gauntlet of events in the coming days. As calls grow from some of his own Democrats to step aside, and support coalesces around the idea of Vice President Kamala Harris taking his place in the November election, Biden needs to demonstrate stamina and mental acuity to voters and donors.
Fourth of July scorcher set for a quarter of the United States
A huge swath of the United States will experience dangerously high temperatures on Wednesday - just ahead of the long Fourth of July weekend - meteorologists said, while a fast-moving California wildfire has forced thousands of residents to evacuate their homes. Some 110 million people in 21 states across the West, the southern Plains and the Mid-Atlantic will spend their holiday under heat-related advisories and warnings. Temperatures were expected to soar well past 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius) over the next several days, the National Weather Service said.
US Supreme Court's Barrett asserts conservative power, but favors narrower approach
Conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett in a March public appearance alongside liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor said that one way to promote compromise on the U.S. Supreme Court is by issuing narrower rulings rather than sweeping ones. "Not everything has to be decided in an opinion," Barrett said.