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Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer is on CNN now. In an interview on Monday with CBS, Whitmer said that she has not been vetted by Harris’s office and expects Harris to announce her pick within the week, which would confirm the Democratic ticket at least two weeks before the Democratic national convention begins on 19 August in Chicago.
She has reiterated that now – she has not been vetted and will not be the pick. She says, instead, that she will be Harris’s “best friend” on the ground.
During the warmup to Kamala Harris’s appearance Tuesday in Atlanta, mayor Andre Dickens noted that this was the vice-president’s 15th time visiting the state since 2021. Harris has been in Atlanta so often that she may as well have rented a condo in Buckhead to save money.
For the last two years, Harris has been Joe Biden’s chief campaign surrogate in Georgia, making deliberate connections with campaign organizers and Black community leaders, a weapon in the Democratic arsenal that Republicans have not been able to match.
“Georgia is on everybody’s mind,” said Raphael Warnock, the senator and reverend, to a boisterous crowd. “And there’s a reason. Because of what you did in 2020, 2021, everybody knows that the road to the White House goes through Georgia.”
The fast-growing, diversifying Atlanta suburbs and exurbs offer the most opportunity for swings, especially from GOP-leaning moderates disenchanted with Trump.
For Harris, the AP reports, that means depending on voters as varied as Michael Sleister, a white suburbanite, and Allen Smith, a Black man who lives not far from downtown Atlanta.
Sleister, who considers himself an independent, has lived in Forsyth County for 35 years. “I’ve voted Republican many times in my life,” he said, but not since the GOP took a rightward turn during President Barack Obama’s administration.
“Now I see the Republican Party as representing a direct threat to my grandchildren,” he said, adding that he sees Trump “as just a horrible person.”
Smith is a 41-year-old Atlanta native who has become a first-time campaign volunteer since Harris became the likely nominee.
“I was driving when I heard the news about President Biden endorsing her, and I started pounding my fist — I decided right then I would do whatever I could to help her get elected,” Smith said.
The Associated Press has spoken to people at the rally:
The roughly 8,000-capacity basketball arena at Georgia State University was filled to its rafters with thousands of voters waving signs, dancing to the Harris campaign soundtrack and celebrating an atmosphere that would not have been possible just 10 days ago, with the party reeling over whether the 81-year-old Biden would remain in the race after a dismal performance magnified concerns about his age and abilities.
“This is like Barack Obama 2008 on steroids for me,” said Mildred Hobson Doss, a 59-year-old who came downtown from suburban Lilburn. “I would have voted for President Biden again. But we are ready.”
Harris is hoping the rally, which featured a performance by hip-hop star Megan Thee Stallion, will help affirm her campaign’s momentum. The campaign argues that Harris’ appeal to young people, working-age women and non-white voters has scrambled the dynamics in Georgia and other states that are demographically similar, from North Carolina to Nevada and Arizona.
“The energy is infectious,” said Georgia Democratic Chairwoman Nikema Williams, a congresswoman from Atlanta. “My phone has been blowing up. People want to be part of this movement.”
Here is Harris challenging Trump to debate her:
Kamala Harris just looked at the camera and spoke directly to Trump, "Well, Donald. I do hope you'll reconsider to meet me on the debate stage. Because as the saying goes, if
— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) July 30, 2024
you got something to say, say it to my face." pic.twitter.com/kUbsubCZQm
The novelty of Harris’s energy and charisma has not worn off. She is forceful, confident and responsive – unruffled by applause or unexpected chanting. It is striking compared to Biden’s slow, often quiet delivery.
Summary: Harris speaks at rally in Atlanta
Here is a recap of Harris’s speech in Atlanta:
“As many of you know, before I was elected vice president … I was an elected attorney general and an elected district attorney,” Harris said.
“Hear me when I say, I know Donald Trump’s type, and I have been dealing with people like him my entire career,” Harris added, touting her prosecution of fraudsters and cheaters and referencing Trump’s criminal convictions and the findings of fraud in his businesses.
This elicited chants of “lock him up!”
She noted Trump’s fraudulent school – well, Trump was found liable for committing sexual abuse. As an attorney general, I held big wall street banks accountable for fraud. Donald Trump was found guilty of fraud. In this campaign, I will proudly put my record against his any day, including on the issue of immigration.”
Harris spoke of walking underground tunnels at the California border and prosecuting traffickers, and pledged to bring back the border security bill that was tanked in congress by Republicans to preserve the issue in the campaign.
Referencing a Migos song -- popular as an Atlanta group -- she said “He does not walk it as he talks it.”
“Building up the middle class will be a defining goal of my presidency,” she said. “When our middle class is strong, America is strong. To keep our middle class strong, families need relief from the high cost of living so that they have a chance not to get by but to get ahead.”
She said she would go after price gouging and hidden fees by banks and other companies, and take on corporate landlords to cap unfair rent increases, and to cap prescription drug costs.
Trump won’t debate, but he and JD Vance have lots to say about her, she said. She described it as plain weird.
“As the saying goes, if you’ve got something to say, say it to my face,” Harris said, as the crowd exploded.
Georgia, today I ask you, are you ready to get to work.
'If you've got something to say, say it to my face,' Harris says as she challenges Trump to a debate
“There are signs Donald Trump is feeling” the competition, she says.
“You may have noticed he pulled out of the debate.”
She repeats the assertion made by her campaign in recent days that Trump is “just plain weird”.
“I do hope Trump will agree to meet me on the debate stage, because as the saying goes, if you got something to say, say it to my face.”
The crowd loses it.
“We who believe in reproductive freedom will stop Trump’s extreme abortion bans,” she says. She promises to sign into law a bill to protect abortion rights.
“November 5th is in 98 days,” she says. “And we have a fight in front of us. And we are the underdogs in this race. We are. But you see, this is a people-powered campaign. In fact after I announced my candidacy we saw the best grassroots fundraising in history.”
“We are not going back,” Harris says, and the crowd chants the words.
“Ours is a fight for the future, and it is a fight for freedom. And we are witnessing a full on assault from hard-won rights”.
She talks about the “freedom to love who you want, openly and with pride” to particularly loud cheers.
“And the freedom of a woman to make decisions about her own body, and not have her government tell her what to do,” Harris says forcefully, to the biggest cheers of the evening so far.
Now Harris talks about Project 25 – the words are met with loud boos.
“While inflation is down and wages are up, prices are still to high",” Harris says. “On day one I will take down price gouging and hidden costs.”
“We will take on corporate landlords and cap unfair rent increases,” she says to huge applause. “And we will take on big pharma to cap prescription drug costs for all Americans,” she says.
Harris repeats her message that building up the middle class will be a defining goal of her presidency.
Our story on that bill, from May:
As president I will bring back the border security bill that Trump killed and I will sign it into law, Harris says.
'“Donald Trump has been talking a big game about securing the border, but he does not walk the walk – or as my friend says, he does not walk it like he talks it.”
“As many of you know, before I was elected VP, I was elected attorney general,” Harris said. And lists her other roles. “And in those roles, I took on perpetrators of all kinds. Predators who abused women, fraudsters who ripped off consumers, cheaters,” she says, who broke roles for their own gain.
“I have been dealing with people like [Trump] for my entire career,” she says.
These are lines that Harris has used often in recent weeks – as well as in her 2020 campaign ad.
“Donald Trump was just found guilty of Fraud,” she says “34 counts”. The crowd chants “lock him up” and she appears to not respond, instead quickly starting to speak again.
The supporters standing behind Harris are wearing a lot of pink. Harris thanks former Georgia Representative Stacey Abrams.
Harris says the path to the White House “starts on this stage” and “you helped us win in 2020 and you’re going to help us win again.”
The crowd is, as they say, going wild. Harris is saying thank you, thank you everyone –they keep cheering.
Thank you all, thank you very much, thank you everybody, she says. “Oh it’s good to be back in Georgia.”
Harris is at the podium in Atlanta.
The Harris campaign has meanwhile responded to comments Trump made earlier about Harris and her husband.
Trump said in an interview that Harris “doesn’t like Jewish people” and seemed to agree with a radio host who called second gentleman Doug Emhoff ‘a crappy Jew.’”
The campaign says:
Donald Trump is hateful, despicable, and should not be our president.
He roots against America. He insults America. Why would we want to put him in charge of America?
Donald Trump thinks he can score points with Jewish voters by denigrating them. He is wrong.
It goes on to list various “crappy” achievements by the former president, and his “long history” of attacking Jewish people.
Kamala Harris is due to begin speaking shortly at a campaign event in Atlanta.
New York’s highest court heard arguments Tuesday in a Republican challenge of a law that allows any registered voter to cast a mail-in ballot during the early voting period.
The case, which is led by Representative Elise Stefanik and includes other lawmakers and the Republican National Committee, is part of a widespread GOP effort to tighten voting rules after the 2020 election.
Democrats approved the mail voting expansion law last year. The Republican challenge argues that it violates voting provisions in the state Constitution.
The hourlong arguments before the New York Court of Appeals in Albany hinged on technical readings of the Constitution, specifically whether certain passages would allow for the state Legislature to expand mail voting access.
At certain points in the hearing, judges quizzed attorneys on whether a constitutional provision that says eligible voters are entitled to vote “at every election” would mean a physical polling place or simply the election in general.
Michael Y. Hawrylchak, an attorney representing the Republicans, said that provision “presupposes a physical place” for in-person voting. Deputy Solicitor General Jeffrey W. Lang, who is representing the state, said the phrase “just refers to a process of selecting an office holder” and not any physical polling place.
Democrats first tried to expand mail voting through a constitutional amendment in 2021, but voters rejected the proposal after a campaign from conservatives who said it would lead to voter fraud.
Lower courts have dismissed the Republican lawsuit in decisions that said the Legislature has the constitutional authority to make rules on voting and the Constitution doesn’t require voting specifically to occur in person on election day.
It is unclear when the Court of Appeals will rule.
Arizona senator Mark Kelly emerged as one of the early favourites to be Harris’s running mate last week, after being asked to submit personal information in a vice-presidential vetting process:
Asked Sen. Mark Kelly about concerns his selection as VP could open up a Senate seat in a swing state in 2026, and Kelly said he doesn’t think it would be an issue.
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) July 30, 2024
“Democrats have been really good about winning statewide races in the state of Arizona. We figured this out. We… pic.twitter.com/6FEVFDLTyF
Meanwhile Joe Biden and Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, have jointly urged Venezuelan authorities to release full, transparent and detailed presidential election voting data.
The leaders spoke on the phone earlier today.
Updated
Here are some scenes from the Harris campaign rally in Atlanta, via NBC and Kamala HQ:
Thousands of voters are currently swag surfing at the Harris campaign rally. pic.twitter.com/ilxjpLxtBc
— Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) July 30, 2024
Sen Raphael Warnock at the Harris rally in Atlanta: Some days I feel bad for Republicans because they have to figure out how to run a criminal against a prosecutor. ... The American people are the jury and we are going to get the verdict right and send VP Harris to the WH.
— Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) July 30, 2024
Sen. @ReverendWarnock: Georgia, Donald Trump tried to steal your vote. Kamala Harris is trying to earn your vote pic.twitter.com/TUk03Vss0t
— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) July 30, 2024
We’re expecting Harris to speak in half an hour’s time, and will bring that to you live.
MSNBC producer Kyle Griffin reports that Harris is preparing to embark on a battleground tour next week. The Harris campaign has said it would name running mate by 7 August.
New on @MSNBC: Vice President Harris and her yet-to-be-named running mate will hit the campaign trail next week on a battleground state tour.
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) July 30, 2024
This is the latest indication that her vice presidential selection process is nearing its end.
Dunn has been a Democratic operative for decades. She worked in President Barack Obama’s White House and on multiple political campaigns. In a statement, she thanked Biden and Harris.
“It’s been an honor and privilege to serve in this White House, with this President and this team, during this transformational term,” she said. “I am grateful to President Biden and Vice President Harris for their leadership and giving me the opportunity to be part of what they have accomplished for the American people.”
The Washington Post was first to report Dunn’s exit.
A source familiar with the decision said she would be helping a super political-action committee that is working to elect Harris.
Biden campaign adviser Anita Dunn to leave White House
Anita Dunn, a longtime adviser to President Joe Biden who oversaw communications strategy and helped steer his 2020 election campaign, is departing the White House to work for a super political-action committee that is supporting Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign.
Dunn’s departure is the first and only so far among Biden’s senior staff in the aftermath of the president’s disastrous debate against former President Donald Trump last month that sparked a crisis within the Democratic Party and led to his exit from the 2024 race.
Dunn was one of the officials involved in decision-making about the debate; her husband, attorney Bob Bauer, reportedly played Trump in the debate prep sessions.
“Four years ago, when I launched my campaign for the battle for the soul of our nation, I was grateful Anita Dunn was right there with me,” Biden said in a statement on Tuesday.
“I deeply value her counsel and friendship and I will continue to rely on her partnership and insights as we finish the job over the next six months.”
Updated
Summary
Hello US politics blog readers, it’s been a lively day and soon Kamala Harris will speak at a campaign event in Atlanta, Georgia, as the latest opinion polls show support for her is growing.
We’re handing over to our colleague Helen Sullivan now. She’ll continue to bring you the news developments as they happen, including Kamala Harris’s speech in just under an hour’s time.
Kamala Harris has gained ground against Republican presidential rival Donald Trump in six of the seven swing states since Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race, according to a Bloomberg News/Morning Consult poll of registered voters published today.
Depending on which poll you read, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are neck and neck in the presidential race. That’s according to a new Reuters and Ipsos poll. The poll, which was completed on Sunday, showed that the vice-president was supported by 43% of registered voters while the former president was supported by 42%.
Kamala Harris will not attend the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) conference in Chicago, according to a source familiar with her schedule, citing logistical challenges getting to Chicago days after launching her campaign. Harris is heading to Houston this week to attend the funeral of the late Texas congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee as well as conducting a rapid search for her running mate.
Kamala Harris was asked if she had chosen her running mate yet while boarding a plane to Atlanta, Georgia. Harris replied: “Not yet.”
Paul Dans, the director of the Heritage Foundation’s 2025 presidential transition project, has stepped down from his role, according to reports. The move comes after pressure from the Trump campaign leadership, and an ongoing power rift over staffing control for a potential second Trump administration, the Daily Beast’s Roger Sollenberg writes.
The Secret Service’s acting director, Ronald Rowe, has told lawmakers he was “ashamed” by the attempted assassination of Donald Trump. Rowe, appearing before a meeting of the Senate judiciary committee and homeland security and governmental affairs committee, said he considered it indefensible that the roof used by the gunman was unsecured, during the former president’s campaign rally in Pennsylvania earlier this month.
Donald Trump on Monday repeated his weekend remarks to Christian summit attendees that they would never need to vote again if he returns to the presidency in November. Trump, in an interview with Fox News that aired last night, was asked to explain what he meant when he told a crowd on Friday to “get out and vote, just this time. “That statement is very simple, I said, ‘Vote for me, you’re not gonna have to do it ever again’,” he said.
Kamala Harris’s campaign has announced a $50m advertising blitz ahead of the Democratic national convention next month with a television ad that portrays the presumptive Democratic nominee as “fearless”. The 60-second ad will be the first in a series of paid media efforts ahead of the convention, which begins 19 August in Chicago.
A Zoom call meant to rally “white dudes” in support of Kamala Harris’s run for the White House raised more than $4m from about 190,000 participants, including numerous celebrities, according to the presumptive Democratic nominee’s campaign. Showing up were a bunch of top Democrats and stars including Jeff Bridges, Mark Hamill, Mark Ruffalo, and others.
Updated
Harris gaining ground in some key states - latest poll
Kamala Harris has gained ground against Republican presidential rival Donald Trump in six of the seven swing states since Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race, according to a Bloomberg News/Morning Consult poll of registered voters published today.
The poll – conducted online from 24–28 July – shows Harris leading Trump in Michigan by 11 percentage points, while in Arizona, Wisconsin and Nevada, she has a 2-point advantage, Reuters reports.
Trump is ahead of Harris in Pennsylvania by 4 points and in North Carolina by 2 points. They are on equal footing in Georgia.
Wisconsin is the only state of the seven where Trump has narrowed his deficit with Harris in comparison with Biden’s performance in a previous poll.
Tuesday’s poll has a margin of error of between 3 and 5 points, depending on the state.
In a Bloomberg/Morning Consult poll conducted 1–5 July, Trump was ahead of Biden in Arizona by 3 percentage points; in Georgia by 1 point; in Nevada by 3 points; in North Carolina by 3 points; and in Pennsylvania by 7 points. Biden led in Michigan by 5 points and in Wisconsin by 3 points, the poll showed.
Updated
Kamala Harris will announce her vice-presidential pick as early as Monday before embarking on a multistate battleground tour with her new running mate later in the week, two sources familiar with the planning said on Tuesday, Reuters reports.
The high-stakes decision on who will run with the current vice-president on her presidential ticket has taken center stage since she became the Democratic frontrunner for the 5 November election.
Updated
Harris to announce VP pick as early as Monday – report
Kamala Harris is expected to announce who will be her running mate in her campaign for president as early as Monday, the Reuters news wire is reporting this evening, as an exclusive, citing sources but as yet giving no more detail.
This echoes what Gretchen Whitmer, the governor of Michigan, said yesterday, that Harris would choose and announce “in the next six, seven days”, as we blogged earlier.
But anything that echoes or strengthens that prediction is fascinating, so we’ll watch closely.
Harris is the presumptive Democratic nominee for president in this election, after Joe Biden withdrew from his re-election campaign nine days ago and anointed Harris as his chosen successor at the top of the ticket.
At this rate, she can expect to be officially voted in as the nominee at the party’s national convention next month, in Chicago.
Updated
Kamala Harris will not attend the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) conference in Chicago, according to a source familiar with her schedule, citing logistical challenges getting to Chicago days after launching her campaign.
The vice-president is heading to Houston this week to attend the funeral of the late Texas congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee as well as conducting a rapid search for her running mate.
The source said Harris’s campaign offered to participate in a virtual fireside chat, or to host an in-person fireside chat with Harris at a later date, but the request was denied. The source said Harris’s team will continue to work toward a possible solution with the NABJ board.
Updated
On the sidelines of the centrist WelcomeFest in Washington DC, Will Rollins, the Democratic nominee in a competitive California House district, said Republicans would have a “tricky” time trying to paint Kamala Harris as “dangerously liberal”.
“Somebody who goes into law enforcement is not a leftwing ideologue,” said Rollins, a former prosecutor. Already he said she was having a positive impact on down-ballot races. His campaign alone raised a six-figure sum in the 48 hours after her ascent, he said.
Rollins noted that when Harris came up in California politics, she was criticized by activists as too conservative, despite the image Republicans are portraying of her as far-left.
“She in fact was branded as much too conservative for San Francisco. So I think as voters actually learned more about her actual record it’s going to work well for us,” he said.
To underline the point, Rollins said he first met Harris when she was the state’s attorney general at an event with the then Republican governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, whom he worked for at the time.
“That kind of proves or disproves their attempt to paint her as an extremist. Here you have this Democratic statewide attorney general, who was working with a Republican governor in California at the time,” he said. “I actually think that’s one of the more underreported parts of her background, what she was able to do across party lines.”
He also weighed in on who Harris might choose as her running mate. His choice was for fellow millennial, transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg, who he called an “incredible communicator”.
Updated
Harris and Trump neck and neck in new Reuters/Ipsos poll
Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are neck and neck in the presidential race, according to a new Reuters and Ipsos poll.
The poll, which was completed on Sunday, showed that the vice-president was supported by 43% of registered voters while the former president was supported by 42%.
Last week, a Reuters and Ipsos poll showed that Harris was leading by 44% to Trump’s 42%.
Reuters and Ipsos’s latest poll was conducted among 1,025 adults, including 876 registered voters, from 26 to 28 July.
Updated
The departure of Paul Dans as the leader of Project 2025 could indicate the project’s work is winding down or at least will not be taking such a public role in the lead-up to the November election, though the policy ideas outlined in its extensive conservative roadmap remain public.
Dans, a Donald Trump loyalist, worked in personnel-related roles in the first Trump administration, including as chief of staff at the office of personnel management.
Although Kevin Roberts, the president of Heritage Foundation, claimed the change was always intended and followed a set timeline, the move underscores the unpopularity of Project 2025 for Trump, who has for weeks attempted to distance himself from it.
Earlier this month, Trump claimed to “know nothing about Project 2025” and have “no idea who is behind it”. The disavowal from Trump came after Roberts said:
We are in the process of the second American revolution, which will remain bloodless, if the left allows it to be.
At a recent rally in Michigan, Trump quipped about the project: “I don’t know what the hell it is” and “they’re seriously extreme.” But the project includes many former Trump administration officials and its aims often align with Trump’s policy ideas, albeit with far more detail.
Updated
Chuck Schumer, the Senate majority leader, said he has “total confidence” in Kamala Harris’s running mate choice.
Asked whether he would support Mark Kelly, the Arizona senator, as Harris’s running mate, Schumer said:
I have total confidence that Vice President Harris will choose a great vice-presidential candidate.
Asked whether he was concerned about the prospect of a special election in Arizona, CNN reports that Schumer replied:
I have complete faith in Vice President Harris’ choice.
Updated
Not even a day after audio of JD Vance telling donors that Kamala Harris was a threat and a “sucker punch” was leaked to the Washington Post, Vance continued to make headlines on Tuesday, as a previously unseen video of Vance was published by the Harris 2024 campaign.
In the video, Vance can be seen telling an interviewer that not having “kids in your life” makes “people more sociopathic” and makes the US a little bit “less mentally stable”.
Unearthed video: JD Vance says people who don’t have children are “sociopathic,” “psychotic,” and “deranged” pic.twitter.com/jaqL6BsXXF
— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) July 30, 2024
This comes as Vance continues to face backlash over comments he made in 2021 that recently resurfaced where he criticized the vice-president and other Democrats as “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives”.
On Monday evening, Donald Trump sat down with Laura Ingraham of Fox News and defended Vance’s comments, telling the host that his vice-presidential candidate was simply trying to show how much he values family life.
Updated
Republican vice-presidential candidate, JD Vance, made headlines again on Monday evening, after an audio recording of Vance speaking privately to donors on Saturday about Kamala Harris was leaked to the Washington Post.
Vance reporedtly told donors that Harris was a threat and “a bit of a political sucker punch” to the Trump Vance campaign.
Vance also reportedly said:
The bad news is that Kamala Harris does not have the same baggage as Joe Biden, because whatever we might have to say, Kamala is a lot younger. And Kamala Harris is obviously not struggling in the same ways that Joe Biden did.
The comments contradict Donald Trump’s own statements on Harris since Biden withdrew from the race, as he has told reporters that he did not think switching out Biden for Harris “would make much difference”, adding: “I would define her in a very similar [way] that I define him.”
Even Vance himself has told reporters that there was in effect no difference in running against Biden versus Harris.
The Trump campaign has responded to the news of Project 2025 director Paul Dans’ departure. In a statement, it said:
President Trump’s campaign has been very clear for over a year that Project 2025 had nothing to do with the campaign, did not speak for the campaign, and should not be associated with the campaign or the President in any way.
Reports of Project 2025’s demise would be greatly welcomed and should serve as notice to anyone or any group trying to misrepresent their influence with President Trump and his campaign — it will not end well for you.
Updated
The work of Project 2025 will continue despite its director, Paul Dans, stepping down from his role, Politico reported, citing a source.
The report adds that the source said “the goal of Project 2025 was always to have their work done by the time of the Republican National Convention which ended in late July”.
Updated
Here’s more on the news that Paul Dans, the director of Project 2025, has stepped down from his role at the Heritage Foundation.
Kevin Roberts, the president of the conservative thinktank, has confirmed that Dans is leaving his post.
Dans “built the project from scratch and bravely led this endeavor over the past two years” but is now “moving up to the front where the fight remains”, Roberts said in a statement.
Under Paul Dans’ leadership, Project 2025 has completed exactly what it set out to do: bringing together over 110 leading conservative organizations to create a unified conservative vision, motivated to devolve power from the unelected administrative state, and returning it to the people.
Dans informed staff at the thinktank this week of his decision to step down, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Updated
Josh Shapiro, who is considered to be among the leading contenders for Kamala Harris’s vice-presidential running mate, said the vice-president “will make the best decision for her and her country”.
The Pennsylvania governor was asked about the significance of having a Jewish vice-presidential nominee amid Israel’s war with Hamas, NBC News reports. Shapiro replied:
It is a deeply personal decision for the vice-president to make, who she wants to run with, who she wants to govern with and who can help best move America forward. I think there are so many people within the Democratic party who are extraordinary people, extraordinary public servants, and she will make the best decision for her and her country.
Updated
Kamala Harris and Donald Trump released dueling campaign ads on Tuesday, as the reshaped presidential election began to grind into gear with 98 days to go.
The vice-president’s ad, Fearless, was her first since she became the de facto Democratic nominee, after Joe Biden halted his re-election campaign and endorsed her. “Donald Trump wants to take our country backward,” Harris said.
To give tax breaks to billionaires and big corporations and end the Affordable Care Act. But we are not going back.
The former president’s ad, I Don’t Understand, used a snippet of Harris answering a question about immigration policy to bolster a hardline message about drugs, crime, terrorism and the southern border.
Showing footage of her dancing, Trump’s ad called Harris “failed, weak, dangerously liberal”.
Harris says she has 'not yet' chosen her running mate
Kamala Harris was asked if she had chosen her running mate yet while boarding a plane to Atlanta, Georgia.
Harris replied:
Not yet.
As Vice President Kamala Harris boards AF2 for a campaign rally with Megan Thee Stallion in Atlanta Tuesday, reporters on the tarmac asked if she's chosen her own running mate.
— DJ Judd (@DJJudd) July 30, 2024
"Not yet," she said, per pooler @Emilylgoodin. pic.twitter.com/3Oknel9nQw
Head of Project 2025 steps down - reports
Paul Dans, the director of the Heritage Foundation’s 2025 presidential transition project, has stepped down from his role, according to reports.
The move comes after pressure from the Trump campaign leadership, and an ongoing power rift over staffing control for a potential second Trump administration, the Daily Beast’s Roger Sollenberg writes.
NEWS: Project 2025 director Paul Dans has stepped down at Heritage Foundation after pressure from Trump campaign leadership, ongoing power rift over staffing control for potential second Trump admin, per internal email. This suggests Project 2025 will likely shut down. Story TK.
— Roger Sollenberger (@SollenbergerRC) July 30, 2024
Semafor’s Kadia Goba reports that this does not mean that Project 2025 is shutting down.
Can confirm Project 2025 is not shutting down, from a source familiar https://t.co/FwmsiMgZW6
— Kadia Goba (@kadiagoba) July 30, 2024
Updated
Journalists at the White House media briefing have been hoping to draw the press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, about whether Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are discussing her forthcoming choice of who will be her running mate.
Now that the US president has passed the torch for the election campaign to his vice-president, making her the presumptive presidential nominee, with the support of the rest of the top echelon of senior Democrats, who’s she talking to about the second slot on the ticket for November?
Jean-Pierre said: “The president has been in public service for more than 54 years, he was vice-president for eight years, president for 3.5 years and six more months, and I think as a leader of the Democratic party he always offers up advice, a little bit of wisdom that he has, on multiple fronts.”
In her role as White House press secretary, Jean-Pierre cannot speak on election campaign matters, so is obliged to be careful and cryptic.
She added: “That’s a role he plays, as well, with the vice-president. I’m not going to speak to the campaign …When she became vice-president herself, he offered his advice as a mentor to her, but I’m not going to go beyond that.”
Updated
Roughly 7% of women of reproductive age in the US have attempted to induce their own abortions outside the formal healthcare system, a new study has found, up from 5% before Roe v Wade fell in 2022.
The study, published on Tuesday in the Jama medical journal, determined how many people reported ever “self-managing” their own abortion in 2021 and again in 2023 – a timeline that allowed researchers to examine how Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the supreme court case that overturned Roe, has affected self-managed abortions. People of color and LGBTQ+ people were more likely to report having ever attempted to end their own pregnancies.
“We think because it’s getting more difficult to access facility-based abortion, that self-managed abortion will increase,” said Lauren Ralph, the study’s lead author and an epidemiologist at Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health, a research group at the University of California, San Francisco. “It’s a really important piece of the puzzle, as we try to understand the full impact of the Dobbs decision on people’s reproductive lives.”
Since Dobbs, 14 states have enacted near-total abortion bans. On Monday, Iowa became the fourth state to ban the procedure past about six weeks of pregnancy, before many women even know they are pregnant. Full report here.
Interim summary
Hello US politics blog readers, it’s been a lively morning and there’s more to come, we’ll keep you up with the news as it happens. The White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, is about to brief the gathered media in the west wing.
Here’s where everything else stands:
Kamala Harris and her yet-to-be-named vice-presidential running mate will travel to a series of battleground states next week, Reuters is reporting, citing sources.
Andy Beshear, the governor of Kentucky, is being vetted by Kamala Harris’s campaign as a potential vice-presidential nominee pick, NBC is reporting, citing sources.
The Secret Service’s acting director, Ronald Rowe, has told lawmakers he was “ashamed” by the attempted assassination of Donald Trump. Rowe, appearing before a meeting of the Senate judiciary committee and homeland security and governmental affairs committee, said he considered it indefensible that the roof used by the gunman was unsecured, during the former president’s campaign rally in Pennsylvania earlier this month.
Trump on Monday repeated his weekend remarks to Christian summit attendees that they would never need to vote again if he returns to the presidency in November. Trump, in a n interview with Fox News that aired last night, was asked to explain what he meant when he told a crowd on Friday to “get out and vote, just this time. “That statement is very simple, I said, ‘Vote for me, you’re not gonna have to do it ever again’,” he said.
Kamala Harris’s campaign has responded to Trump’s first major ad attacking her handling of the issue of immigration.
Harris’s campaign has announced a $50m advertising blitz ahead of the Democratic national convention next month with a television ad that portrays the presumptive Democratic nominee as “fearless”. The 60-second ad will be the first in a series of paid media efforts ahead of the convention, which begins 19 August in Chicago.
A Zoom call meant to rally “white dudes” in support of Kamala Harris’s run for the White House raised more than $4m from about 190,000 participants, including numerous celebrities, according to the presumptive Democratic nominee’s campaign. Showing up were a bunch of top Democrats and stars including Jeff Bridges, Mark Hammill, Mark Ruffalo, and others.
Harris will announce her running mate “in the next six, seven days”, Gretchen Whitmer, the governor of Michigan, said.
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Republican primaries across Arizona today will test whether the far-right cadre focused on election denial still can win among their base, despite major losses in the 2022 primaries.
The state has been gripped with fights over elections for years, with candidates like Donald Trump and Kari Lake refusing to concede their respective races. These general election losses in 2020 and 2022 ended decades-long Republican dominance, delivering the governor’s office and other top spots to Democrats.
The results could foretell whether Arizonans, particularly Arizona Republicans, are ready to move on from election denialism and the far-right flank that controls the state party. And that lesson could carry into November in the swing state, which Biden narrowly won in 2020 in an upset.
Lake, who lost the governor’s race in 2022, is now running for Senate. She faces Mark Lamb, the sheriff of Pinal county, but she is expected to win the Republican contest on Tuesday. The winner will face the Democratic representative Ruben Gallego. The seat is open after senator Kyrsten Sinema left the Democratic party and decided not to run for re-election, making it a top race to watch nationally for control of the chamber.
Harris and her VP pick to tour battleground states next week – reports
Kamala Harris and her yet-to-be-named vice-presidential running mate will travel to a series of battleground states next week, Reuters is reporting, citing sources.
SCOOP: Harris and her yet-to-be named VP will hit the road next week on a battleground state tour, sources tell me and @nanditab1, signaling that the decision process is nearing a close.
— Jarrett Renshaw (@JarrettRenshaw) July 30, 2024
The exact details on which states – and when – Harris and her running mate have not yet been firmed up, CNN is also reporting.
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John Giles, the Republican mayor of Arizona’s third largest city and a previous thorn in the side of his party for endorsing Democrats, has thrown his support behind Kamala Harris for president.
Giles, who since 2014 has been mayor of Mesa near Phoenix, also rebuked Donald Trump in an opinion piece for the Arizona Republic published Monday.
Our party used to stand for the belief that every Arizonan, no matter their background or circumstances, should have the freedom, opportunity and security to live out their American Dream.
“But since Donald Trump refused to accept the outcome of the 2020 election, Republicans have yet to course correct,” he continued.
The Republican party with Trump at its helm continues down the path of political extremism, away from focusing on our fundamental freedoms.
Andy Beshear being vetted as possible Harris VP pick - report
Andy Beshear, the governor of Kentucky, is being vetted by Kamala Harris’s campaign as a potential vice-presidential nominee pick, NBC is reporting, citing sources.
The political analyst Cliston Brown reports that Beshear has gotten additional security detail protection:
My source in Kentucky informs me that Governor Andy Beshear has gotten additional security detail protection.
— CBPolitics (@ClistonBrown) July 30, 2024
Beshear’s unlikely position as a Democratic governor of Kentucky – a state that voted for Donald Trump by a margin of 25 points in 2020 – makes him a compelling running mate for Harris.
In office, Beshear has vetoed Republican bills banning abortions and gender-affirming care for transgender minors, although the GOP-controlled state legislature was able to override his vetoes in both cases.
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Acting Secret Service director Ronald Rowe, in his opening statement to lawmakers, said the attempted assassination of Donald Trump was a “failure on multiple levels”.
Rowe accepted blame for the Secret Service’s mistakes while also criticizing local law enforcement for not sharing information that a gunman had been spotted on a roof near the rally site in the minutes before the shooting, AP reported.
That information, Rowe said, had been kept “siloed” among the local officers on the scene. He said:
That information, he said, had been kept “siloed” among the local officers on the scene. We didn’t know that there was this incident going on.
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New Secret Service director says he is 'ashamed' over failures before Trump shooting
The Secret Service’s acting director, Ronald Rowe, has told lawmakers he was “ashamed” by the attempted assassination of Donald Trump.
Rowe, appearing before a meeting of the Senate judiciary committee and homeland security and governmental affairs committee, said he considered it indefensible that the roof used by the gunman was unsecured.
In his opening statement, Rowe said he had recently visited the site of the 13 July rally and “what I saw made me ashamed.” He told lawmakers:
As a career law enforcement officer and a 25-year veteran with the Secret Service, I cannot defend why that roof was not better secured to prevent similar lapses from occurring in the future.
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Trump repeats controversial ‘You won’t have to vote any more’ claim
Donald Trump on Monday repeated his weekend remarks to Christian summit attendees that they would never need to vote again if he returns to the presidency in November.
Trump, in an interview with Fox News that aired last night, was asked to explain what he meant when he told a crowd on Friday to “get out and vote, just this time”, adding that “you won’t have to do it any more. Four more years, you know what? It’ll be fixed, it’ll be fine, you won’t have to vote any more, my beautiful Christians.”
“That statement is very simple, I said, ‘Vote for me, you’re not gonna have to do it ever again,’” Trump told Fox News host Laura Ingraham.
It’s true, because we have to get the vote out. Christians are not known as a big voting group, they don’t vote. And I’m explaining that to them. You never vote. This time, vote. I’ll straighten out the country, you won’t have to vote any more, I won’t need your vote any more, you can go back to not voting.
Trump denied threatening to permanently stay in office beyond his second – and constitutionally mandated final – four-year term.
When Ingraham pointed out that many Democrats had interpreted his comments to mean there would never be another election again, Trump responded that he had not heard that and continued to talk about how lots of Christians tend to not vote.
Christians do not vote well. They vote in very small percentages. Why? I don’t know. Maybe they’re disappointed in things that are happening. I say, ‘You don’t vote.’ I’m saying, ‘Go out – you must vote.’
Donald Trump said he would “probably” end up debating Kamala Harris but said he could “also make a case for not doing it”, prompting the Harris campaign to say the former Republican president was “scared”.
Trump, in an interview with Fox News Channel that aired Monday night, was asked repeatedly whether he would commit to debating Harris.
I want to do a debate. But I also can say this. Everybody knows who I am. And now people know who she is.
Trump eventually said:
The answer is yes, I’ll probably end up debating … The answer is yes, but I can also make a case for not doing it.
Trump has skipped debates before, including all the 2024 Republican presidential primary debates.
The Harris campaign’s spokesperson, Ammar Moussa, said:
It’s clear from tonight’s question-dodging: He’s scared he’ll have to defend his running mate’s weird attacks on women or his own calls to end elections in America in a debate against the vice president.
Donald Trump and his running mate, Ohio senator JD Vance, will appear at a rally in Atlanta, Georgia, on Saturday, his campaign said.
Kamala Harris will be in Atlanta today for a rally featuring the rapper Megan Thee Stallion in a state that some Democrats now consider up for grabs in the November election.
Democrats are hoping that the fresh burst of energy and a surge in fundraising that kicked off following Joe Biden’s withdrawal and endorsement of Harris puts Georgia – the state that delivered Biden his narrowest victory margin in 2020 – a toss-up again.
The Ohio senator JD Vance’s rollout as Donald Trump’s running mate has not been smooth.
Under fire for misogyny including calling his opponents “childless cat ladies”, his past opposition to Trump – including calling him “America’s Hitler”, “cultural heroin”, a “morally reprehensible human being”, “a disaster” and a “bad man” – has also been widely reported.
Trump defended Vance’s “childless cat ladies” comments in an interview on Fox News that aired on Monday. Trump said:
He grew up in a very interesting family situation, and he feels family is good. And I don’t think there’s anything wrong in saying that.
Vance’s 2021 comments criticizing Kamala Harris and other Democrats as “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives” prompted a backlash and warnings from some political strategists that they could cost the Trump campaign valuable votes in a close election.
In the Fox interview, Trump said he did not place a higher value on people with families. He said:
You know, you don’t meet the right person, or you don’t meet any person. But you’re just as good, in many cases, a lot better than a person that’s in a family situation.
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In newly uncovered remarks from 2017, Donald Trump’s 2024 vice-presidential pick, JD Vance, said “some people who voted for Trump are racist and they voted for him for racist reasons”.
“Race definitely played a role in the 2016 election,” Vance said. The remarks were first reported by Mother Jones. Vance said:
I think that race will always play a role in our country. It’s just sort of a constant fact of American life. And definitely some people who voted for Trump are racist and they voted for him for racist reasons.
He was then a Trump critic. But Vance is now a hard-right Republican US senator from Ohio, this month named as Trump’s running mate for the November election.
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Harris campaign hits back at Trump immigration attack ad
Kamala Harris’s campaign has responded to Donald Trump’s first major ad attacking her handling of the issue of immigration.
A statement from the Harris campaign’s spokesperson, Ammar Moussa, reads:
After killing the toughest border deal in decades, Donald Trump is running on his trademark lies because his own record and ‘plans’ are extreme and unpopular. As a former district attorney, attorney general, and now vice-president, Kamala Harris has spent her career taking on and prosecuting violent criminals and making our communities safer. She’ll do the same as president.
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Donald Trump’s campaign also released its first television ad of the general election attacking Kamala Harris over her handling of the issue of immigration, and accusing the vice-president of being a failed “border czar”.
The 30-second ad attacks Harris as “failed”, “weak”, “dangerously liberal”.
Kamala is failed, weak, and dangerously liberal. pic.twitter.com/nspLTt6BLC
— Team Trump (Text TRUMP to 88022) (@TeamTrump) July 30, 2024
Harris campaign launches $50m ad buy ahead of Democratic national convention
Kamala Harris’s campaign has announced a $50m advertising blitz ahead of the Democratic national convention next month with a television ad that portrays the presumptive Democratic nominee as “fearless”.
The 60-second ad will be the first in a series of paid media efforts ahead of the convention, which begins 19 August in Chicago.
“This campaign is about who we fight for,” Harris says in the ad.
We believe in a future where every person has the opportunity not just to get by, but to get ahead. Where every senior can retire with dignity. But Donald Trump wants to take our country backward. To give tax breaks to billionaires and big corporations and end the Affordable Care Act. But we are not going back.
We believe in a future where every person has the opportunity not just to get by, but to get ahead. Where every senior can retire with dignity.
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) July 30, 2024
But Donald Trump wants to take our country backward.
We are not going back. pic.twitter.com/POhMKFIqZz
The ad will air on local and national television stations across battleground states, the campaign said. It will air during Olympics coverage, and during shows like Big Brother, The Daily Show, The Simpsons and The Bachelorette.
Donald Trump will attend the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) convention in Chicago this week, his campaign announced on Monday.
Trump will join a Q&A panel with political journalists including ABC News’s Rachel Scott, Fox News’s Harris Faulkner and Semafor’s Kadia Goba, according to a NABJ press release. A statement from NABJ president Ken Lemon said:
We look forward to our attendees hearing from former president Trump on the critical issues our members and their audiences care about most.
Trump will “engage in a Q&A with political journalists before an audience of registered convention attendees that will concentrate on the most pressing issues facing the Black community”, Trump’s campaign said in a statement.
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The “White Dudes for Harris” Zoom fundraising call came in the wake of similar, well-attended gatherings for Black women, Black men and white women supporting Kamala Harris.
There is also a “cat ladies for Harris” Zoom call being planned in response to comments from Donald Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, in which he insulted the vice-president as a “childless cat” lady. And there is a similar call in the works titled “Latino Men for Kamala”.
The white women for Harris call last Thursday raised nearly $8.5m for the vice-president and had more than 160,000 attenders.
The Black women for Harris Zoom call attracted about 90,000 participants. And the Black men for Harris streaming event, moderated by the journalist Roland Martin, saw more than 53,000 people register.
‘White Dudes for Harris’ raise $4m
A Zoom call meant to rally “white dudes” in support of Kamala Harris’s run for the White House raised more than $4m from about 190,000 participants, including numerous celebrities, according to the presumptive Democratic nominee’s campaign.
Guests on the call not only included contenders for Harris’s vice-presidential running mate: the Minnesota governor, Tim Walz, the Illinois governor, JB Pritzker, and the transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg.
They also included the actors Jeff Bridges – famous for portraying the Dude in The Big Lebowski – and Mark Hamill, who secured a $50,000 donation during the call by delivering his renowned Star Wars line: “I’m Luke Skywalker. I’m here to rescue you.”
Other celebrities on Monday’s call were Mark Ruffalo, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Paul Scheer, Josh Gad, Sean Astin, JJ Abrams and Bradley Whitford. The call lasted over three hours.
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Those rumored to become Kamala Harris’s running mate are all white men who govern in swing states that can decide the 2024 election.
They include: the Kentucky governor, Andy Beshear; the Minnesota governor, Tim Walz; the Pennsylvania governor, Josh Shapiro; and Arizona senator Mark Kelly.
While all four have been asked about their willingness to serve as Harris’s running mate if tapped, all have signaled that they would step up if asked but none have hinted at their engagements with her campaign.
Kelly told reporters on 25 July:
This is not about me. But I’ve always, always said when I’ve had the chance to serve, I think that’s very important to do.
Walz told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday:
Being mentioned is certainly an honor … I trust vice-president Harris’s judgement, she’ll make the best choice she’s going to … But one way or another, she’s going to win in November and that’s gonna benefit everyone … Either way it’s gonna be a win.
During a campaign stop for Harris in Pittsburgh, Shapiro said:
It’s a decision she needs to make who she wants to govern with, who she wants to campaign with, and who can be there to serve alongside her.
And Beshear, who has also been stumping for Harris in red and purple jurisdictions, told the Des Moines Register newspaper:
I’m honored to be considered and, regardless of what happens, I’m going to work every day between now and election day to make sure that Kamala Harris is the next president of the United States.
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The Pennsylvania governor, Josh Shapiro, who is considered to be among the leading contenders for the vice-presidential running mate to Kamala Harris, held a joint rally with the Michigan governor, Gretchen Whitmer, in the Philadelphia suburbs on Monday.
“I want a future that is cleaner and greener,” Shapiro told a crowd of about 1,000 supporters.
I want a future with better schools and safer streets, and I want a future full of freedom. I want to look the 47th president of the United States in the eye and say, ‘Madam President.’
Harris took a break from the campaign trail this weekend and held private conversations with several of the candidates, including Shapiro, according to Reuters, citing sources.
Shapiro, who took over the governorship of Pennsylvania just last year, is seen as a rising star in the Democratic party. Joe Biden won the state in his election victory over Donald Trump in 2020.
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Harris to announce VP pick in ‘next six, seven days’, says Whitmer
Kamala Harris will announce her running mate “in the next six, seven days”, Gretchen Whitmer, the governor of Michigan, said on Monday.
Whitmer, an influential Democratic campaign co-chair, told CBS yesterday:
I would imagine we’ll know who her running mate is, and we’ll get ready for the convention.
Whitmer told CBS she expected a “convention of happy warriors” in Chicago next month. She added that she was not under consideration herself.
I have communicated with everyone, including the people of Michigan, that I’m going to stay as governor until the end of my term at the end of 2026.
The North Carolina governor, Roy Cooper, 67, has known Kamala Harris since their overlapping days as state attorneys general and recently campaigned with her.
Cooper ran two successful gubernatorial campaigns in North Carolina, a battleground state, even as Donald Trump carried the state at the presidential level.
Three factors were cited for Cooper’s withdrawal from contention to become Harris’s running mate, Politico reported:
His desire to potentially run for Senate, his age and fears that North Carolina’s divisive Republican lieutenant governor would take over each time Cooper traveled out of state.
“From the get go, he was not a candidate for this,” a source told the outlet.
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The North Carolina governor, Roy Cooper, was asked last week by the Harris campaign to be vetted for vice-president but declined to participate, according to a report.
The Cooper team reached out to the Harris campaign a week ago on Monday – a day after Joe Biden left the race and endorsed Kamala Harris as his successor – to say he did not want to be considered, the New York Times reported, citing a source.
The report says that Cooper harbored concerns that Lt Gov Mark Robinson, a conservative Republican who is on the ballot this year to replace him, would mount a legal effort to usurp his executive authority while he was out of state. Cooper did not think Robinson would be successful but thought any such challenge would serve as a chaotic distraction had he been added to the ticket, the report says.
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Harris nears VP pick decision as North Carolina governor Roy Cooper bows out
Good morning US politics readers. Kamala Harris’s pool of potential running mates is narrowing after two Democratic lawmakers seen as strong contenders in the race, the North Carolina governor, Roy Cooper, and the Michigan governor, Gretchen Whitmer, ruled themselves out on Monday.
“This just wasn’t the right time for North Carolina and for me to potentially be on a national ticket,” Cooper said in a statement last night.
As I’ve said from the beginning, she has an outstanding list of people from which to choose, and we’ll all work to make sure she wins.
— Roy Cooper (@RoyCooperNC) July 30, 2024
Cooper’s withdrawal came hours after Whitmer said she was “not a part of the vetting” process for Harris’s running mate. In an interview with CBS, Whitmer said:
I have communicated with everyone, including the people of Michigan, that I’m going to stay as governor until the end of my term at the end of 2026.
Whitmer added that she expected Harris to announce her pick within the week, which would confirm the Democratic ticket at least two weeks before the Democratic national convention begins on 19 August in Chicago.
Others rumored to be potential running mates include: the Kentucky governor, Andy Beshear; the Minnesota governor, Tim Walz; the Pennsylvania governor, Josh Shapiro; and the Arizona senator, Mark Kelly.
Here’s what else we’re watching:
Kamala Harris will hold a rally this evening in Atlanta featuring a performance by rapper Megan Thee Stallion. Harris will be accompanied by both Georgia senators, the Atlanta mayor and other high-profile Democrats in the state.
Ronald Rowe Jr, the acting Secret Service director, will testify alongside the deputy FBI director, Paul Abbate, in front of a joint hearing of the Senate judiciary and homeland security and government affairs committees.
Republican primaries across Arizona today will test whether the far-right cadre focused on election denial still can win among their base, despite major losses in the 2022 primaries.
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