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Hey, good morning, Playbookers. I'm Rugu Minovalin. It's Thursday. In today's show,

what you need to know about today's democracy summit. This is your Politico Playbook Daily Briefing.

Former Representative Renee Olmer announced on Twitter Wednesday that she's running for Congress again in North Carolina's 4th District and sent the House Chopee gossip mill into overdrive.

Elmer, as you'll recall, lost her primary in 2016 after allegations that she was having an affair with Kevin McCarthy.

You might remember he lost his bid for Speaker around that time in part due to the controversy.

Both denied the allegations, and oddly enough, her foray back into politics comes as

McCarthy is in his best position yet to get the job he's wanted for years.

Yet the plot thickens.

McCarthy met Wednesday with Bo Heinds, a former football player and Trump loyalist, who's

currently running in another North Carolina district, but is considering switching to run

against Elmer's instead.

It's unclear whether McCarthy would endorse in this race, but it's a safe bet that House

Republicans will be watching this primary closely.

Here's what you need to know about the two-day summit for democracy that begins today.

Over 100 countries are participating.

Building the list of invitees has been a fraud process run by Biden, Anthony Blinken,

and Jake Sullivan, who added a new

NSC position, coordinator for democracy and human rights, filled by former journalist

Chanty Kulthel. The list includes some of the most committed democracies, Finland and New Zealand,

some questionable cases like Serbia, and some places where democracy is slipping, like Poland, the Philippines,

and, well, the United States. On some difficult calls, like Brazil and India, large democracies

...