Kamala Harris, Donald Trump shake hands again at 9/11 anniversary ceremony
(NEW YORK) — Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump shook hands again Wednesday morning as they arrived at the 9/11 anniversary ceremony in downtown Manhattan.
Harris, who was standing between New York Sen. Chuck Schumer and President Joe Biden, reached over the president to shake hands with Trump, who was standing next to former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
The greeting came less than 12 hours after Harris and Trump met for the first time at a presidential debate in Philadelphia, hosted by ABC News.
(NEW YORK) — Authorities are looking for a man in connection to a burglary at the Trump for President 2024 campaign office in Ashburn, Virginia, the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office announced Monday.
Sheriff’s deputies said they were alerted to the break-in at approximately 9:00 p.m. ET, but the suspect was gone before officials arrived on the scene.
Surveillance video provided by officials showed the suspect — an adult male — wearing dark clothing, a dark cap and a backpack.
The investigation is ongoing and the sheriff’s office did not indicate if anything was taken or left at the scene.
“It is rare to have the office of any political campaign or party broken into,” Sheriff Mike Chapman said in a news release. “We are determined to identify the suspect, investigate why it happened, and determine what may have been taken as well as what may have been left behind.”
The campaign office, which is leased, also serves as the headquarters of the Virginia 10th District Republican Committee, officials said.
(CHICAGO) — For much of the 2024 campaign, President Joe Biden could easily see himself taking the stage at the Democratic National Convention to accept the party’s nomination — a victory lap as he sought a second term in the White House.
But now, Biden’s prime-time speech in Chicago on Monday night will mark a bittersweet moment for his legacy and for the party.
It comes after a rapid shuffle catapulted Vice President Kamala Harris to the top of the ticket as Biden exited the race amid Democrats’ concerns about his age and ability to campaign reached a boiling point.
“This is extraordinary in a lot of ways in politics because sitting presidents don’t often turn over the reins,” said Jim Kessler, co-founder of the center-left think tank Third Way.
The scene will be a study in political contrasts, he says.
“In a way, it feels like a Hall of Fame athlete that’s making the tour to stadiums in the final season. But it’s also a torch passing and the Harris campaign is about the future,” Kessler said. “The needle I expect Biden will thread is celebrating the past and focusing on the future.”
Biden is slated to speak on the opening night of what will be a four-day gathering of prominent Democrats from across the nation culminating in Harris and her running mate Gov. Tim Walz celebrating her history-making rise to become the party’s nominee.
Asked by a reporter on Sunday how he was feeling about his Monday night keynote, he responded, “Good, real good.”
The White House said last week Biden was looking forward to addressing not only Democrats but the nation about what’s at stake this election and to call for unity.
“He understands this is an incredibly important moment,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters. “He’s still very much the leader of the party, right? And he takes that very seriously. And he’s also very proud of his vice president.”
First lady Jill Biden, his strongest advocate, will speak before him, and afterward the couple heads to California, not planning to stay for Harris’ speech Thursday night.
Biden endorsed Harris minutes after he announced he would no longer run for reelection. At their first joint appearance since then, an event last Thursday to tout lower prescription drug prices, Biden said she would make “one hell of a president” as he was met by the crowd with chants of “Thank you, Joe!” — a rallying call that could very well emerge at the DNC.
But the road from his poor debate performance against Donald Trump in late June to his bowing out of the race was rocky, as he initially remained defiant against calls for him to step aside. With a growing drumbeat of Democratic lawmakers publicly urging him to drop out, private pressure from Democratic leaders such as Nancy Pelosi and polls showing the gap between he and Trump widening, Biden officially withdrew on July 21.
“All signs pointed to him wanting to have delivered that acceptance speech but the road was closed by funders, by the public, by the media, by key power brokers within the party, and so he’s having to switch up and it’s awkward,” said William Howell, an American politics professor at the University of Chicago.
Still, observers expect Biden to receive a resounding hero’s welcome at the convention.
“There will certainly be some callouts to his accomplishments, which aren’t trivial,” Howell said.
Biden is likely to tout some of his policy achievements, including the Inflation Reduction Act, which led to Medicare price negotiations and climate change investments; the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the first major piece of federal gun reform in decades; and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which included $550 billion in new spending for highways, bridges, public transit and more.
“He will paint himself as a unique president that served at a time when the nation needed someone who could stabilize the important institutions and who was able to get things done inside these institutions that are often strained because of partisanship,” said Brandon Rottinghaus, a professor of political science at the University of Houston who focuses on the presidency.
“He has a record that would reelect an incumbent,” said Kessler. “What stood in the way was voters concerned about his age.”
Kessler added, “There’s a luxury to giving a speech when you don’t have to convince voters to vote for you. So there’s an aspect to his address on Monday that’s freeing.”
But much of Biden’s legacy may rest on what happens with the Democratic Party going forward, starting with Harris’ candidacy.
In an Oval Office address explaining his 2024 decision, Biden said that personal ambition couldn’t get in the way of saving democracy and that it was time to usher in the next generation.
“In 2024, he stepped aside so that she and the party could succeed. That magnanimous act is only complete if it’s fully successful,” Rottinghaus said. “Harris winning would be a legacy-defining moment for a president who said that he was going to be a bridge between the past and the future.”
(WASHINGTON) — Democratic vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz is getting a more positive public reception than his Republican counterpart: More Americans see Walz favorably than unfavorably, contrary to JD Vance, and more approve of Walz’s selection for the nation’s No. 2 job, according to new ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll.
Thirty-nine percent in the poll have a favorable impression of Walz as a person, while 30% see him unfavorably. That compares with an underwater favorable-unfavorable rating for Vance, 32%-42%.
There is room to move. Sizable shares in this poll, produced for ABC by Langer Research Associates with fieldwork by Ipsos, have no opinion of either candidate — 31% for Walz, the governor of Minnesota, and 26% for Vance, a U.S. senator from Ohio.
By another measure, 52% approve of Vice President Kamala Harris’ choice of Walz, compared with 45% who approve of former President Donald Trump’s selection of Vance. Forty-four percent disapprove of the Walz pick, compared with 50% disapproval for Trump’s choice.
Other vice-presidential candidates have been better received. While available data are spotty, approval reached 67% (among registered voters) for the selection of Jack Kemp (who ran with Bob Dole) in 1996 and was an initial 60% for John McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin in 2008, although she later widely was seen as a liability for his campaign. For Harris, in 2020, 54% approved.
Groups
In their native Midwest, more approve of the selection of Walz than of Vance by a substantial 15 percentage points, 55% vs. 40%, and more see Walz favorably, 39% vs. 29%. That’s even though Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents and Republicans and GOP leaners are evenly matched in the region, with 46% in each group.
Despite a dispute over Walz’s characterization of his military service, his favorability rating is similar from veterans (41%) and non-veterans (39%) alike. Vance’s favorability rating is 48% among veterans, and 56% of veterans approve of his selection, as do 50% for Walz (not a significant difference given the sample size). Veterans are 12 points more likely than non-veterans to be Republicans or Republican-leaning independents.
Approval of the vice presidential picks breaks along expected partisan and ideological lines. Eighty-two percent of Republicans and 77% of conservatives approve of the Vance pick. For Walz, it’s a rosier 92% approval among Democrats and 87% among liberals.
Approval of Vance for vice president drops to 42% among independents, potential swing voters in presidential elections, compared with 49% for Walz.
On favorability, Vance’s rating peaks among those who voted for Trump in 2020 (75%), Republicans (68%) and conservatives (65%). It’s also higher among white evangelical Protestants (59%), military veterans (48%, as noted) and rural residents (45%), all groups Trump won by double-digit margins in 2020, than among their counterparts.
Walz, for his part, is seen most favorably by 2020 Biden voters (82%), Democrats (77%) and liberals (78%). He’s also seen favorably by 53% of college graduates and 50% of Black people.
Methodology
This ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll was conducted online via the probability-based Ipsos KnowledgePanel® Aug. 9-13, 2024, in English and Spanish, among a random national sample of 2,336 adults. Partisan divisions are 29%-29%-29%, Democrats-Republicans-independents. Results have a margin of sampling error of 2 percentage points, including the design effect, for the full sample. Sampling error is not the only source of differences in polls.