Biden-Harris political shockwaves: See the latest updates
WASHINGTON - When President Joe Biden announced Sunday he is dropping his reelection bid against Donald Trump, the political tsunami threw an element of turmoil into the election just months before voters go to the polls.
Biden threw his behind Vice President Kamala Harris to be the Democrats’ new candidate, and she vowed to “earn and win” the nomination.
Here are some of the latest developments:
Democrats release more plans for nomination
The Democratic National Committee has released proposed rules that would give candidates until next week to vie for the party’s nomination. But the process will almost certainly end with Vice President Harris replacing President Biden at the top of the party’s ticket.
Candidates will have to qualify by the evening of July 30, according to draft rules released Tuesday.
The party previously announced proposed rules requiring that candidates submit electronic signatures of from at least 300 delegates to its national convention, no more than 50 of which can be from a single state.
If multiple candidates qualify, it could spark multiple rounds of voting over several days. But, if Harris is the only candidate, voting would be set to begin Aug. 1. The party said last week that it would not hold voting prior to the start of next month and that the process would be completed by Aug. 7.
Biden endorsed Harris when he left the race Sunday and no other major Democrat has announced plans to challenge her. An AP survey of delegates from states across the country found that she had already exceeded the threshold of needed to secure the nomination.
Alaska Democrat refuses to endorse
Alaska Rep. Mary Peltola, a Democrat, on Tuesday afternoon said on social media that she is not voting for former President Trump. “I’m not voting for Trump & I’m not endorsing anyone else either,” she wrote, hours after a news conference in which she said she was keeping an “open mind” about the presidential race.
“I won’t vote for a candidate who’s not pro-choice. I can’t ask Alaskans to vote for a candidate who’s not pro-energy,” she said on social media.
Trump insists he can end the war in Gaza, though offers no specifics
Donald Trump says it’s “pretty amazing” that Vice President Kamala Harris is, in the former president’s words, “refusing to meet” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his U.S. visit.
This is untrue. Harris is scheduled to meet with Netanyahu on Thursday.
Trump made his comments during a Newsmax telephone interview Tuesday evening and noted that he would be meeting with Netanyahu.
Host Sebastian Gorka, who worked in Trump’s istration, did not ask the former president why his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, would not be in attendance for Netanyahu’s speech before Congress.
Trump did not offer a specific plan to address the Israeal-Hamas war but told Gorka, “You got to get it settled. You got to get it finished. You got to get it over with. They’ve got to do their job.” He claimed the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel “would have never happened if we were there.”
House and Senate Democrats get a fundraising bump from Harris
It’s not just the Harris campaign that’s raking in donations for her presidential bid — the Democrats’ House and Senate campaign committees are seeing record-setting online tallies for their candidates for Congress.
In the first 24 hours since Harris was endorsed by Biden, the House campaign arm raised nearly $1 million online, according to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
It was the DCCC’s best fundraising day of the 2024 election cycle and among the best online fundraising days in history, the committee said.
Senate Democrats also saw back-to-back $1 million online fundraising days on Monday and Tuesday, their best days of the cycle as well, according to a Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee aide.
Trump again says Jewish Americans should not Democrats
As Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu prepares to speak before Congress, Trump is repeating his assertion that no American who is Jewish should Democrats.
Trump was asked during a Newsmax telephone interview Tuesday evening how bad Democrats’ agenda is for “international affairs and our allies, such as Israel.”
Here is the response from the former president and current Republican nominee:
“Well, it’s amazing actually, that they, that any Jewish person, any person that is Jewish, and frankly, that has even a little respect — because, you know, this country, a lot of Jewish people are not big fans of Israel, which is something that they’ve never been able to explain to me — but that any Jewish person or any person that believes in Israel and loves Israel can even think about voting for a Democrat.”
It’s not the first time Trump has made such sweeping statements about Jewish Americans and their political preferences.
What latest polling says about Trump’s chances
After President Joe Biden exited the 2024 presidential race and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to be the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee, Harris and Donald Trump are in a race that is too close to call, according to a new national poll.
The poll, released by Quinnipiac University, shows Trump receiving 49% and Harris receiving 47% . There is no clear leader as the lead is within the poll’s margin of error.
In a six-way hypothetical race that includes other candidates, Trump has a slight lead with 45% , Harris receives 41% , independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. receives 6% , Green Party candidate Jill Stein receives 2% , and Libertarian Party candidate Chase Oliver and independent candidate Cornel West each receive 1% .
Harris faces a major test as she looks for a running mate
Vice President Kamala Harris is zeroing in on four potential candidates as she races to choose a running mate for her fledgling campaign, fast-tracking a process that usually takes months but must be finalized in only a few weeks.
Eric Holder, the former U.S. attorney general, and a team of lawyers at his firm Covington & Burling are taking the lead on vetting potential choices, according to two people with knowledge of the matter who requested anonymity because the process is being closely held.
The political conversation has centered on an assortment of white men — Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper — who would provide demographic balance for the first major party ticket that would be topped by a woman of color. Three of them are from battleground states.
The list of possibilities could expand or shift. But Harris, who has locked up the delegates she will need to be the Democratic nominee, hopes to finish the process in time for delegates to also vote on her running mate when they hold a virtual roll call vote in the first few days of August, ahead of the Democratic National Convention. The goal, according to one of the people with knowledge of the matter, is to keep the process drama-free, as Harris and Democrats try to project confidence after an extraordinarily tumultuous few weeks for the party.
‘Do we believe in the promise of America? And are we ready to fight for it?’
Kamala Harris launched her campaign for president Tuesday, framing her race with Republican nominee Donald Trump as a choice between freedom and chaos.
From an event hall in suburban Milwaukee, Harris told a cheering crowd, “This campaign is not just versus Donald Trump. This is about who we fight for.”
“We believe in the sacred freedom to vote,” she said. “We believe that every person in our nation should have the freedom to live safe from the terror of gun violence,” she added, “and we trust women to make decisions about their own bodies.”
Trump, by contrast, she painted as someone found guilty of fraud, liable for sexual abuse and who conjures “chaos, fear and hate.”
“Do we believe in the promise of America? And are we ready to fight for it?” she said.
Trump says he still wants to debate Harris but isn’t ‘thrilled at ABC’
Former President Donald Trump said he’d like to debate Vice President Kamala Harris “more than once” but did not commit to appearing at the next scheduled debate in September on ABC.
On a Tuesday afternoon press call about Harris’ immigration record, Trump said he was “not thrilled at ABC” and may want another network to air the debate. He said he’d only agreed to debate President Joe Biden twice — during the June 27 debate that led to Biden bowing out of the race and then in September — not Harris.
But Trump said he still wants to debate Harris.
“I think debating’s important for a presidential race,” he said. “You sort of have an obligation to debate.”
Harris acknowledges generational change her candidacy represents
“We have to that the shoulders on which we stand, generations of Americans before us, led the fight for freedom,” she said. “And now, Wisconsin, the baton is in our hands.”
“We believe in the sacred freedom to vote,” she said.
“We believe that every person in our nation should have the freedom to live safe from the terror of gun violence,” she added, “and in reproductive freedom.”
The latter is an especially sharp point for Harris, who had been traveling speaking on behalf of reproductive freedom before Biden announced he would not seek reelection.
She pledged to “stop Donald Trump’s extreme abortion position because we trust women to make decisions about their own bodies.”
‘When our middle class is strong, America is strong,’ Harris says
Harris is not just beginning her campaign. She is beginning to form a campaign message, one with a middle-class theme not unlike the Biden istration’s.
“We believe in a future where every person has the opportunity not just to get by, but to get ahead, a future where no child has to grow up in poverty, where every worker has the freedom to a union,” she said Tuesday.
“So, all of this is to say building up the middle class will be a defining goal of my presidency,” she said. “Because here’s one thing. We all here, Wisconsin, know when our middle class is strong, America is strong.”
Democratic leadership endorse Harris for presidential nomination
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries have endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Schumer said in a news conference with Jeffries on Tuesday that President Joe Biden’s “selfless decision” not to run “has given the Democratic Party the opportunity to unite behind a new nominee.”
He said the leaders waited to endorse her until she had secured the of enough Democratic delegates to become her party’s nominee against Republican Donald Trump.
Biden said Sunday that he would not run.
Schumer said he spoke to Harris on Sunday and she wanted to win the nomination “on her own.” Jeffries added that Harris is “ready, willing and able to lead us.”
White House calls for Biden to leave the presidency are ‘ridiculous’
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre is dismissing Republican suggestions that President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the presidential race suggests that he’s no longer capable of finishing his term in the White House.
“I think that’s ridiculous. Seriously,” Jean-Pierre said Tuesday on ABC’s “The View.” “The president decided to not run for reelection. That’s it. That’s all he decided on. He wants to continue to do the work.”
She said the istration will “run through the finish line” and the end of Biden’s presidency in January.
Jean-Pierre argued that Biden’s leaving the race was him putting the country ahead of himself, saying, “This president was a public servant for 54 years.”
She quickly added, “We’re not done yet. He stepped down from being the nominee, but he’s still the president.”
New volunteers give Democrats a boost of optimism
After weeks of being downcast about the November election, Democrats in Congress have come back with a renewed sense of optimism as Vice President Kamala Harris has entered the presidential race.
They are especially encouraged by the boost in new volunteers.
Democrats hope that having Harris at the top of the ticket will give them a better chance of retaking a majority in the House and even potentially holding on to the Senate.
U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and one of the first Democrats to endorse Harris, said the turnout of tens of thousands of new volunteers would help turn the dynamics of the race.
“That is the juice behind the campaign,” Jayapal said. “That is the organizing. That is the door-knocking. That’s going to get people to care about the election and be able to see themselves in it.”
Biden will address nation on his decision
President Joe Biden will address the nation from the Oval Office on Wednesday evening on his decision to drop his 2024 Democratic reelection bid.
Biden posted on the social platform X that he would speak “on what lies ahead” and how he will “finish the job for the American people.” He will speak at 8 p.m. ET.
The president is scheduled to return to the White House on Tuesday after isolating at his Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, home after being diagnosed last week with COVID-19.
House Republicans pivot to Harris and her work on immigration
House Republicans are quickly pivoting their focus from President Joe Biden to his possible successor, Vice President Kamala Harris, and her work on the issue of immigration.
Rules Committee Chair Michael Burgess, R-Texas, said his will take up an emergency resolution Tuesday that focuses on the “failures of the position of the border czar and how that has negatively affected our fellow citizens around the country.”
The ’s action would tee up the condemnation resolution for a full House vote later this week.
Harris was tasked early in the Biden istration with tackling the migration challenges at the U.S. southern border and working with Central American nations to address root causes of the problem.
“She’s responsible for the biggest failure of this istration,” said House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La.
The Biden istration has been touting progress at the border. Arrests for illegally crossing the border from Mexico plunged 29% in June, the lowest month of Joe Biden’s presidency.
Harris gains enough delegates to become Democratic nominee
Vice President Kamala Harris has secured the of enough Democratic delegates to become her party’s nominee against Republican Donald Trump, according to an Associated Press survey taken in the aftermath of President Joe Biden’s decision to drop his bid for reelection.
Harris, who was endorsed by Biden minutes after he announced he would not accept the Democratic nomination, worked to quickly lock up the of her party’s donors, elected officials and other leaders, and has so far received from at least 2,214.
However, the AP is not calling Harris the new presumptive nominee. That’s because the convention delegates are still free to vote for the candidate of their choice at the convention in August or if Democrats hold a virtual roll call ahead of that gathering in Chicago.
For young voters, Harris is ‘far closer’ in age
Tatum Watkins, a 19-year-old college student from southwest Iowa and a delegate to the DNC, said she appreciates as a young woman that Harris is speaking out on issues like reproductive rights and is “far closer” in age to a whole new generation of voters.
“She is very much leaning into what’s popular right now,” Watkins said. “I’ve seen already her branding is what I can best describe as brat summer.”
Watkins said that has energized and excited her and other young Iowans, making what will be her first experience voting in a presidential election “even better.”
Harris sets new presidential donation record
Vice President Harris’ team has raised more than $81 million in the 24-hour period since President Biden announced his decision to step aside.
The massive fundraising haul represents the largest 24-hour fundraising sum by either party in the 2024 presidential campaign.
Trump reported raising more than $50 million in the 24-hour period after his felony conviction in the New York hush money trial. Biden reported $38 million in the four days after his disastrous debate performance.
Harris’ new total features donations from hundreds of thousands of first-time donors, the campaign said.
Speaker at JD Vance campaign event warns of ‘civil war’ if Trump loses election
While Republicans touted a unifying message last week and decried inflammatory language in the wake of the assassination attempt against Trump, one of the first speakers to introduce Vance on Monday in his hometown took a sharp departure from that message and suggested the country may need to come to civil war if Trump loses in November.
“I believe wholeheartedly, Donald Trump and Butler County’s JD Vance are the last chance to save our country,” said George Lang, a Republican state senator. “Politically, I’m afraid if we lose this one, it’s going to take a civil war to save the country, and it will be saved. It’s the greatest experiment in the history of mankind.”
Harris campaign spokesperson Ammar Moussa released the following statement:
“Donald Trump and JD Vance are running a campaign openly sowing hatred and promising revenge against their political opponents. It’s a feature, not a bug, of their campaign and message to the American people. That’s why a Republican official was empowered to predict a civil war while introducing these candidates.
“Trump and Vance pay lip service to unity, but their actions are more focused on dividing Americans than bringing us together. It’s the polar opposite of everything Vice President Harris stands for.
“Donald Trump and JD Vance should denounce George Lang’s calls for violence and apologize for platforming this kind of violence.”
Lang later apologized.
“I regret the divisive remarks in the excitement of the moment on stage,” he said on the same social network. “Especially in light of the assassination attempt on President Trump last week, we should all be mindful of what is said at political events, myself included.”
Vance calls Democrats ‘a threat to Democracy’ — not Trump
Sen. JD Vance also sought to deflect the criticism that Trump, who has refused to accept the 2020 election results and tried to overthrow his loss, is a threat to democracy by instead claiming that the Democrats were the threat.
“The idea of selecting the Democrat party’s nominee because George Soros and Barack Obama and a couple of elite Democrats got in a smoke-filled room and decided to throw Joe Biden overboard, that is now how it works,” Vance said. “That is a threat to democracy. Not the Republican Party.”
With Biden stepping aside, Democrats technically start with an open convention. But realistically, his endorsement of Harris pushes Democrats into murky territory. Harris has solidified among more than half of the almost 4,000 party delegates and 700 more so-called superdelegates.
Warnock endorses Harris for president
Georgia Democratic Sen. the Rev, Raphael Warnock has officially endorsed Kamala Harris for president
“I millions of Americans in thanking Joe Biden for a half century of public service!” Warnock said in an online post. “I’ve been proud to work alongside him & our very able Vice President, Kamala Harris. I am proud to endorse her candidacy to be the next President of the United States.”
On Sunday, there was speculation that Warnock might be a potential running mate for Harris if she gets the Democratic nomination. Or even if someone else does.
Copyright 2024 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.
