Welcome to the online version of From the Politics Desk, an evening newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s latest reporting and analysis from the campaign trail, the White House and Capitol Hill.

In today’s edition, we report on Act I of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s revenge tour. Plus, senior political editor Mark Murray breaks down the polling gap between Joe Biden and Donald Trump on compassion and toughness.

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Kevin McCarthy’s first target in his revenge tour: Nancy Mace

By Ali Vitali, Bridget Bowman and Kyle Stewart

DANIEL ISLAND, S.C. — Rep. Nancy Mace is no stranger to an intraparty battle. Now, her role in a big Republican fight last year — the ouster of Kevin McCarthy as House speaker — is complicating her primary on Tuesday.

Mace, who is both a candidate seeking her third term and her own campaign manager, has earned the ire of the highest ranks of Republicans in the few short years she’s been in Washington. In 2022, it was former President Donald Trump — though they’ve since patched things up. Then, a year later, she voted in historic fashion to boot a House speaker from her own party. 

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In fact, McCarthy is the first thing Mace points to when asked about the stakes of her latest political fight against a primary challenger running with McCarthy’s support.

“It’s about revenge,” Mace told NBC News in an interview at her campaign headquarters. “It’s also about honesty and integrity. And my vote to oust Kevin McCarthy was about trust.”

Mace says she doesn’t regret the vote. McCarthy, for his part, has said his support of GOP candidates challenging several of “the crazy eight,” as he calls the Republicans who voted against him, has nothing to do with political vendetta. Sources close to McCarthy point out he’s limited in what he can do directly, outside of giving money and advice. His spokesperson did not respond to a request for an interview. 

But operatives aligned with McCarthy are directing big money into these races through outside groups. Tuesday’s challenge to Mace is the first test, followed by House Freedom Caucus chair Bob Good’s primary in Virginia next week. Two other anti-McCarthy voters — Reps. Eli Crane of Arizona and Matt Gaetz of Florida — are also facing primary challengers this summer. 

In South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District, Catherine Templeton said Mace’s vote against McCarthy was “absolutely” what sparked her to run against Mace. Templeton is also a Trump backer and served as labor secretary in then-South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley’s Cabinet.

Before launching her bid, Templeton met with Brian O. Walsh, a GOP political strategist and McCarthy ally. But she told The Post and Courier newspaper in Charleston that she has not talked to McCarthy “about taking out Congresswoman Mace, but I have asked him to help raise money.” McCarthy contributed to Templeton’s campaign through his leadership PAC.

Yet Templeton also downplayed the former speaker’s role in the race. 

“Her antics have consequences,” Templeton said of Mace, defining the race as larger than one action, though clearly tied to that historic vote. “All due respect to Kevin McCarthy, who is, I’m sure, a wonderful man: Nobody’s paying attention to Kevin McCarthy in the Low Country of South Carolina.”

Read more ahead of tomorrow’s primary →

An emerging 2024 dynamic: Trump’s toughness vs. Biden’s compassion

By Mark Murray

The latest national CBS News/YouGov poll has an illuminating set of numbers on the 2024 election that go beyond the horse race (it’s still super close) and attitudes about Trump’s recent felony conviction (majorities say it was fair, but also that it won’t factor into their vote). 

The eyebrow-raising finding in the poll: 66% of registered voters said they view Trump as “tough,” while only 28% of voters said the same of President Joe Biden. 

Meanwhile, a majority of voters — 52% — described Biden as being “compassionate,” compared with just 37% who said that about Trump.

Call it Trump’s toughness vs. Biden’s compassion. 

That frame plays out in NBC News’ own national polling from earlier this year. Trump held a 35-point lead over Biden on the question of which candidate better secures the border and controls immigration. Yet Biden was ahead by 17 points on the question of which candidate better treats immigrants humanely and protects immigrant rights. 

It’s also reflected in focus groups, such as one NBC News recently observed of Latino voters in Arizona who had unfavorable views of both Biden and Trump. Their descriptions of Biden: “Too old,” “useless” and “incompetent.” As for Trump? “Rude,” “arrogant” and “ridiculous.”

And it’s a helpful way to distill the chief perceived vulnerabilities of both Biden and Trump. For Biden, it’s questions about his age. In addition to the 28% of voters who said they view the president as “tough,” just 26% saw him as being “energetic” in the CBS News/YouGov poll.

And for Trump, his weaknesses are his rhetoric and his legal challenges, which include his conviction in the New York hush money case, as well as his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. 

What do swing voters want more from their president — toughness or compassion? The answer to that question could very well decide who wins in November.

That’s all from The Politics Desk for now. If you have feedback — likes or dislikes — email us at politicsnewsletter@nbcuni.com

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