The prosecutor vs. the felon. Democrats see winning contrast between Harris and Trump.
(WASHINGTON) — “I know Donald Trump’s type,” Vice President Kamala Harris said Monday to cheers at her first stop as a presidential candidate.
Speaking to staff and supporters at her campaign headquarters in Delaware, Harris cast herself, as she has before, as a tough prosecutor with a winning record prior to becoming a Washington politician.
“Before I was elected as vice president, before I was elected as United States senator, I was elected attorney general, as I’ve mentioned, to California,” she said. “Before that, I was a courtroom prosecutor. In those roles, I took on perpetrators of all kinds.”
“Predators who abused women, fraudsters who ripped off consumers, cheaters, who broke the rules for their own gain,” Harris continued. “So, hear me when I say I know Donald Trump’s type. And in this campaign, I will proudly put my record against his.”
She used the same, well-timed attack line against Trump — almost word for word — at her first rally in battleground Wisconsin on Tuesday, where it again garnered applause and even chants of “Lock Him Up!”
As Democrats rallied around Harris in the 24 hours after Biden’s stunning announcement he would not seek reelection, her prosecutorial background has generated party enthusiasm as a stark point of contrast against Trump, who was convicted of 34 felony counts in May.
Trump is set to be sentenced in his criminal hush money case in New York on Sept. 18, which will be in the height of the general election campaign. The former president has vowed to appeal the guilty verdict.
“It’s a beautiful split screen,” said Maria Cardona, a Democratic strategist and former senior adviser to Hillary Clinton and former communications director for the Democratic National Committee.
“She went after bad people who hurt the people that she was representing and that’s exactly what she’s doing now,” Cardona said of Harris.
Harris was elected San Francisco District Attorney in 2004 and several years later became California’s attorney general. She was the first female, Black and South Asian attorney general in the state’s history.
Brian Brakow, who managed Harris’s 2010 attorney general campaign, said Democrats should lean into the narrative of Harris representing the rule of law and that her prosecutorial background could give her a big advantage in a presidential campaign.
“I think she learned to be tough as nails,” he said. “She is someone who prepares and takes her job responsibilities very seriously. I mean, when you’re a prosecutor, one little mistake can cost you, you know, a verdict. And so she’s somebody who has always done the work and not shied away from tough fights or tough opponents.”
Those skills served her well in the Senate, where she frequently made headlines for her forceful questioning of Trump officials and court nominees appearing before her and the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh froze for several seconds when Harris pressed him about reproductive rights during his confirmation hearing, asking him: “Can you think of any laws that give government the power to make decisions about the male body?” The moment made the rounds on late night shows and on social media.
“If you look at why she ran for president in the first place, it’s because she was a star in the Senate in that environment where she’s having an adversarial conversation with someone across the witness stand,” said Jim Kessler, the co-founder of center-left think tank Third Way.
But much of that style was lost in her first years as vice president as she struggled to find her footing and reports of dysfunction plagued her office. At one point not too long ago, columnists and pundits questioned whether Biden should drop her from the ticket.
Both Cardona and Brakow attributed her early stumbles to the inherent complications involved in being number two to the president, noting she took on tough tasks on politically unpopular issues like immigration — which Republicans continue to attack her over, claiming she failed as “border czar” when, in fact, she was assigned to address the root causes of migration in Central and South America.
“I think she came away from those assignments with some bruises, but also a lot of valuable experience and knowledge,” Brakow said.
After Roe v. Wade was overruled, though, Harris seemed to find her stride as the face of the administration’s fight for reproductive rights and abortion access, traveling the country to speak forcefully on the issue. Earlier this year, she visited an abortion clinic in Minnesota, a trip believed to be the first of its kind for any president or vice president.
“I think she’s been unleashed,” said Cardona.
Going forward, strategists stressed Harris not only needs to make the case against Trump but also for the agenda and achievements of the Biden administration — two issues Democrats were most concerned Biden wouldn’t be able to communicate forcefully enough on the trail after seeing his poor debate performance against Trump.
“I think this is phase one, where they’re going to show her as that prosecutor and make the case against criminal Donald Trump that maybe some folks feel Biden didn’t think strongly enough,” Kaivan Shroff, a Democratic strategist, said on ABC News Live.
“But they’re also going to have a different phase of this campaign, and I think they’re going to be somewhat concurrent, which is making the case on policy: the wins of the Biden-Harris administration and what is on the table. She’s going to be talking about Roe, she’s going to be talking about Project 2025,” referring to the conservative blueprint for a second Trump term she has called extreme.
The Trump campaign is already pivoting their attacks toward Harris, who they argue “owns all of the bad policies of the Biden administration.”
Many Republicans, including Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung, are trying to paint her as “soft on crime” through her record as attorney general implementing some criminal justice reforms and more recent support for bail reform.
Harris defended her record as being “smart on crime” during her 2020 campaign, when she faced not only Republican attacks but also criticism from progressives who said she was too tough on issues like the death penalty or her anti-truancy program.
Recently, Trump himself has taken to amplifying his recent victories in delaying his other legal cases and adding Harris to his attacks on the justice system.
“All of these Biden/Harris cases against me are a Weaponization of Justice against their Political Opponent, Me,” Trump wrote on his social media site on Monday.
(WASHINGTON) — Vice President Kamala Harris is moving full steam ahead in her bid for the White House, with her campaign saying Sunday it has raised more than $200 million in less than a week.
Former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, have several campaign events set up this week as they aim their attacks on Harris.
Harris has secured commitments from enough delegates to become the presumptive nominee if they all honor their commitment when voting, according to ABC News reporting.
Here’s how the news is developing:
Harris launches $50 million ad campaign
Vice President Kamala Harris rolled out an aggressive $50 million, three-week advertising blitz for the first ad of her presidential campaign on Tuesday, in which she introduces herself to voters, highlights her career and takes hits at former President Donald Trump.
“The one thing Kamala Harris has always been: fearless,” a narrator says at the start of the minute-long ad, as pictures of Harris over the years — from a toddler to college graduate to vice president — flash on screen.
“As a prosecutor, she put murderers and abusers behind bars,” the narrator continued. “As California’s attorney general, she went after the big banks and won $20 billion for homeowners. And as vice president, she took on the big drug companies to cap the cost of insulin for seniors. Because Kamala Harris has always known who she represents.”
The spot then leads into laying out Harris’ vision and attacking Trump, using footage from her first rally of the campaign last week in a high school gym just outside Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
“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,” Harris said in the footage from the rally. “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,” she added.
Harris campaign chair, Jen O’Malley Dillon, said in a statement that because of Harris’ prosecutorial, congressional and vice-presidential experience, the vice president is “uniquely suited to take on Donald Trump, a convicted felon who has spent his entire life ripping off working people, tearing away our rights, and fighting for himself.”
‘White Dudes for Harris’ raises over $4 million in 3 hours
The “White Dudes for Harris” livestream held on Monday night raised over $4 million over three hours in support of Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential bid, organizers said.
The event featured participants from politics and a parade of celebrities — including “The Dude” himself, The Big Lebowski’s Jeff Bridges — all making their own call to action for other white men to step up in their support for Harris.
Over 190,000 people tuned into the Zoom call, organizers of the unofficial event said at the conclusion of the stream.
Among the recognizable faces that cropped up during the livestream were Star Wars icon Mark Hamill, Supernatural alum Misha Collins, The West Wing alum Bradley Whitford, Frozen’s Josh Gad and singer Josh Groban. Several potential running mates for Harris also joined the event, including North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, who withdrew from contention for vice president on the Democratic ticket around the time he spoke at the meeting. He did not mention his withdrawal on the call.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Michigan Sen. Gary Peters, all still in the running for Harris’ vice-presidential pick, were also part of the “White Dudes for Harris” meeting.
JD Vance said Democratic ticket switch to Harris was ‘sucker punch’: Report
Sen. JD Vance, running mate to former President Donald Trump, said over the weekend that Kamala Harris moving to the top of the Democratic ticket was a “sucker punch,” according to the Washington Post.
“All of us were hit with a little bit of a political sucker punch,” Vance said to donors over the weekend in Minnesota, per an audio recording the paper said it had obtained. “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.”
When asked about the report and Vance’s “sucker punch” comment, a spokesperson for the vice presidential contender took aim at Harris.
“Poll after poll shows President Trump leading Kamala Harris as voters become aware of her weak, failed and dangerously liberal agenda. Her far-left ideas are even more radioactive than Joe Biden, particularly in the key swing states that will decide this election like Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin,” Vance spokesperson William Martin said in a statement.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper will not be Kamala Harris’ VP pick
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper issued a statement on Monday night signaling that he’s removed himself from contention as a vice presidential running mate for presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
“I strongly support Vice President Harris’ campaign for President. I know she’s going to win and I was honored to be considered for this role. This just wasn’t the right time for North Carolina and for me to potentially be on a national ticket,” he said in a post on X.
“As l’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,” he added.
Trump says he’ll ‘probably end up debating’ Harris
Former President Donald Trump seems to be one step closer to formally agreeing to debate his opponent for the presidency, Vice President Kamala Harris.
During an interview on The Ingraham Angle Monday night, Trump told the Fox News host that he will “probably end up debating” Harris. In his remarks, though, he also appeared to downplay the necessity of debates.
“I want to do a debate, but I also can say this. Everybody knows who I am. And now people know who she is,” he said.
“If you’re going to have a debate, you gotta do it, I think, before the votes are cast. I think it’s very important that you do that. So, the answer is yes, but I can also make a case for not doing it,” Trump said.
A short while later, a spokesperson for Harris’ campaign issued a statement on Trump’s comments on Fox, insisting that the vice president will be at the next debate no matter what.
“Why won’t Donald Trump give a straight answer on debating Vice President Harris? 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. Vice President Harris will be on the debate stage September 10th. Donald Trump can show up, or not,” the statement said.
Megan Thee Stallion to perform at VP Kamala Harris’ campaign rally in Atlanta: Source
Rapper Megan thee Stallion will give a special performance at Vice President Kamala Harris’ rally in Atlanta, Georgia, on Tuesday, a source familiar confirmed to ABC News.
In addition to Megan thee Stallion, Georgia Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock and former Rep. Stacey Abrams will be in attendance, supporting Harris’ 2024 presidential bid.
The news was first reported by Billboard.
Marianne Williamson suspends her Democratic presidential bid, again
Democratic long-shot nominee Marianne Williamson has suspended her campaign for president, announcing on X Monday that it is “time to let go” of her bid for the White House.
Williamson said she failed to register for the Democratic National Convention’s candidate directory by Saturday evening’s deadline.
Harris will be at ABC News debate with or without Trump, her campaign says
Vice President Kamala Harris will be at ABC News’ Sept. 10 debate with or without former President Donald Trump, her campaign communications director said Monday.
“As Vice President Harris said last week, the American people deserve to hear from the two candidates running for the highest office in the land and she will do that at September’s ABC debate,” her campaign communications director, Michael Tyler, said in a statement first reported by the Hill. “If Donald Trump and his team are saying anything other than ‘we’ll see you there’ — and it appears that they are — it’s a convenient, but expected backtrack from Team Trump. Vice President Harris will be there on September 10th — we’ll see if Trump shows.”
While Harris has previously affirmed her intention to be at the debate, this statement takes it a step further by saying she’ll show up regardless of Trump’s presence.
Trump accepted the debate when Biden was still the presumptive Democratic nominee, though his campaign has since said they’re waiting until there is an official Democratic nominee before agreeing to debates.
Election content on social media ‘could be propaganda’ for foreign adversaries: ODNI
Content about the election on social media “could be propaganda” for foreign adversaries, officials with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence warned on Monday.
“The American public should know that content that they read online, especially on social media, could be foreign propaganda, even if it appears to be coming from fellow Americans or originating in the United States,” an ODNI official said on a conference call with reporters on Monday. “In short, foreign influence actors are getting better at hiding their hand and using Americans to do it.”
Russia is still pervasive in this space and remains the biggest threat to the election, according to the officials.
The officials also warned that the influence operators will use the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump “as part of their narratives portraying the event to fit their broad goals.”
-ABC News’ Luke Barr
DNC says it raked in $6.5M in grassroots donations in 24 hours after Biden endorsed Harris
The Democratic National Committee is claiming it has raised $6.5 million in grassroots donations in the 24 hours after President Biden’s endorsement of Vice President Harris on July 21.
The DNC said $1 million was donated in the 5 p.m. hour alone for what they’re claiming is a record for its best online fundraising day of all time.
The DNC is making a significant push in battleground states, investing an additional $15 million into those crucial states this month to fund new field offices, build data infrastructure, mobilize volunteers and strengthen coordinated campaigns.
“Democratic voters, volunteers, and grassroots donors are fired up,” chairman Jaime Harrison said in a memo. “We are confident that in our battleground states, Democrats will win up and down the ballot in November.”
-ABC News’ Gabriella Abdul-Hakim
5:28 PM EDT Gov. Andy Beshear rallies for Harris in Atlanta, calls out JD Vance
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear spoke on Sunday at the opening of Kamala Harris’ campaign office in Forsyth County, Georgia.
The possible VP pick for Harris has been an effective surrogate for the vice president’s White House bid over the weekend, coming to the metro Atlanta event fresh off of a stump in Iowa on Saturday night.
The red-state governor introduced himself to the Southern audience on Sunday while boosting Harris’ candidacy and taking a number of swipes at Trump’s Vice Presidential pick, JD Vance.
“Are you ready to beat Donald Trump? Are you ready to beat JD Vance? Are you ready to elect Kamala Harris president of the United States of America” Beshear asked the crowd, adding, “Let’s win this race,”
“Let me tell you just a bit about myself,” Beshear said. “I’m a proud pro-union governor. I’m a proud pro-choice governor. I am a proud pro-public education governor. I am a proud pro-diversity governor and I’m a proud Harris for president governor,” he added.
Calling out Vance, Beshear said, “Just let me be clear. JD Vance ain’t from Kentucky. He ain’t from Appalachia. And he ain’t gonna be the vice president of the United States.”
-ABC News’ Isabella Murray
2:18 PM EDT Former Vice President Al Gore endorses Kamala Harris
Former Vice President Al Gore endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris on Sunday.
“As a prosecutor, [Kamala Harris] took on Big Oil companies — and won. As [VP], she cast the tie-breaking vote to pass the most significant investment in climate solutions in history, the Inflation Reduction Act. That’s the kind of climate champion we need in the White House,” he wrote on X.
“With so much at stake in this year’s election — from strengthening democracy in the US and abroad, to expanding opportunity for the American people, to accelerating climate action — I’m proud to endorse Kamala Harris for President,” he added.
-ABC News’ Oren Oppenheim
July 28, 2024, 10:42 AM EDT Vance says Trump ‘doesn’t care’ about his past criticism
During a quick stop at a diner in Minnesota on Sunday morning, Sen. JD Vance on Sunday spoke about his past criticisms of former President Donald Trump.
When asked by ABC News if he and Trump have talked about his past criticism of the former president, Vance said yes, adding that Trump “doesn’t care about what I said eight years ago.”
“I mean, look, President Trump and I have talked a lot about this,” Vance said. “In fact, I sometimes joke that I wish that he had the memory of Joe Biden, because he’s got a memory like a steel trap, and he certainly remembers criticisms that people have made.”
“But this is where the media, I think, really misses Trump — Donald Trump accepts that people can change their mind, and you ask, ‘Why did I change my mind on Donald Trump?’ Because his agenda made people’s lives better,” Vance said.
“This whole thing is not about red team versus blue team or winning an election for its own sake. It’s about getting a chance to govern so that you can bring down the cost of groceries, close that border and stop the fentanyl coming across our country for four years,” Vance continued, saying he was “wrong” about Trump.
“He did a better job of that than anybody that I’ve ever seen as president in my lifetime. So I changed my mind, because he did a good job. And that’s what you do when people do a good job and you’re wrong. I’ve talked to President Trump a lot about it, but look, he, I mean, he just, he doesn’t… He doesn’t care about what I said eight years ago. He cares about whether we together [and] can govern the country successful.”
When asked again if the two have talked about the subject, specifically in the last week since his comments have resurfaced, Vance admitted that they haven’t spoken about it and their conversations have focused on the race ahead.
-ABC News’ Kelsey Walsh, Soorin Kim and Hannah Demissie
(WASHINGTON) — Democrats succeeded in pressuring President Joe Biden to end his presidential campaign. Now, they’re debating how best to utilize him to help Vice President Kamala Harris’ bid for the White House.
Some want to see him out on the stump, both with Harris and by himself, as well as in ads and high-profile White House addresses. Others want to see him focus on governing, arguing that being the best president he can be is the greatest way to help after flubbing the race’s highest-profile moment in last month’s debate led to his electoral downfall.
The decision marks just one of several unprecedented factors for Democrats as they look to reinforce Harris’ budding campaign, balancing establishing her as a candidate in her own right with her role as the No. 2 to an unpopular president who the party still credits with delivering a muscular record and making a “selfless” decision.
“That is a delicate balance, because this administration is far from over, and she’s a part of that administration,” said former Sen. Doug Jones, D-Ala., an ally of both Biden and Harris.
“She has got to step out and be her own person at this point and do it in a way that’s sensitive to anything ongoing in the administration, but also with an eye toward not just the election, but her own administration,” he added.
Some Democrats told ABC News the best way to do that is to blitz the campaign trail herself and leave Biden in the Oval Office.
Biden has at times shined on the stump, though he has consistently struggled in public, including at June’s debate but also in media interviews and news conferences. Making that gamble again as Harris looks to get her candidacy off the ground with just about 100 days to Election Day isn’t worth it, those Democrats argued.
“I don’t think you need him out there making appearances,” said one informal adviser to the campaign. “The reason he’s not running is because he doesn’t have the gas in the tank to do it.”
Other Democrats weren’t as blunt, but they did say that some physical distance between Biden and Harris during the campaign could offer the vice president a reprieve from poll numbers that had shown most voters trust Biden less than former President Donald Trump on key policy issues.
One source familiar with the Harris campaign’s thinking said Biden would “probably” be better off in situations where he wouldn’t be speaking live.
“I think it’s important that she demonstrate that she has her own unique vision and agenda,” the person said, though they added that, “I do think that there are ways that [Biden] could be used,” including in ads.
One of those ways could be making progress on his own initiatives while in office — and show that Harris is at his side.
“It’s almost not on the campaign trail, but in the White House. What are they doing to showcase her, to give her leadership opportunities, to take full advantage of communicating to the country that she is, in fact, the vice president of the United States?” said Democratic donor and Harris supporter Steve Phillips.
“There’s a power in cultivating and conveying images regarding the transfer of leadership within the Oval Office, within the White House, within this iconic building in our country.”
Other Democrats said Harris’ campaign should be less restrictive with how Biden is used and rejected the idea that there needs to be distance placed between the two of them.
Core administration policies, like raising taxes on the wealthy and protecting abortion rights, remain popular with voters. And several Democrats who spoke to ABC News said that they expect opinions of Biden will improve after dropping out of the race.
“I wonder now that he has passed the torch, does that make people view him more favorably and just recognize how powerful it is what he did,” said one Democratic strategist close to Harris’ team. “It may mean that people actually have better appreciation for what he’s accomplished, what they’ve accomplished. And certainly, I think he is a great validator for the Biden-Harris record.”
Rather than stay off the stump, some Democrats argued, Biden should instead hit the campaign trail as much as he likes.
His stops would likely generate massive media coverage, and he could offer a defense of his record — and Harris’ part in it — while letting his vice president focus on the future of her own administration.
“When the president shows up in a community he dominates the media. So, the president can probably keep as much of a travel schedule as they feel comfortable,” said Jamal Simmons, Harris’ former communications director in the Biden administration. “He can tell the story of the Biden-Harris administration as well as anyone, and she can tell the story of what the Harris administration will do.”
Those rallies could be held by himself or jointly with Harris — “there’s no reason for the vice president to shy away from him,” Simmons said.
Logistically, Biden would likely be deployed in ways that could maximize his strengths and allow Harris to expand her voter base.
Democrats boasted that he could appeal to working-class voters, seniors and independents — all demographics he performed well with in 2020 who would need to be kept in the fold as Harris regains ground with younger voters and voters of color who were drifting away from Biden.
“He can help in the Midwest, some of the blue-collar workers, some of the places where he’s got a unique relationship to those voters with the ‘Scranton Joe’ kind of thing. And older voters love him,” said the strategist with ties to Harris’ team.
Biden also retains goodwill “among a lot of independents and even moderate Republicans who may have questioned his age but not his ability and his sincerity,” Jones argued.
For his part, Biden has indicated he’s ready to campaign for Harris. And while the campaign did not specify how he’ll be deployed, spokesperson Lauren Hitt told ABC News in a statement the president will be “an effective advocate for the Vice President on the campaign trail.”
“My expectation is that he will play whatever role the vice president asks him,” said Mitch Landrieu, the former New Orleans mayor and Biden administration official.
“Everything and anything, any and all, repeat and rinse,” Landrieu added when asked exactly what that looks like. “The president’s going to be in it to win it for her.”
(JOHNSTOWN, Penn.) — Vice President Kamala Harris told reporters she was “feeling very good about Pennsylvania” while campaigning on Friday in the key battleground state, even as both supporters and detractors came out for the occasion.
In an unannounced stop to Classic Elements, a cafe and bookstore in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Harris told reporters, “I am feeling very good about Pennsylvania, because there are a lot of people in Pennsylvania who deserve to be seen and heard.”
“I will be continuing to travel around the state to make sure that I’m listening as much as we are talking,” Harris said. “And ultimately, I feel very strongly that — got to earn every vote, and that means spending time with folks in the communities where they live. And so that’s why I’m here.”
She added, “We’re going to be spending a lot more time in Pennsylvania.”
Harris and former President Donald Trump remain locked in a tight race in Pennsylvania, with 538’s presidential polling average for Pennsylvania showing less than a percentage point between the candidates as of Friday afternoon.
Both campaigns will look to win the state, which Biden won by about a 1% margin in 2020 — four years after Trump won by slightly less 1%.
Before she spoke with the media, Harris chatted with the store’s owner while Democratic Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman and his spouse Giselle Fetterman looked on.
Harris spoke about a small business owner neighbor she had growing up who was a “second mother” to her. Harris also praised the staff for their work.
When Harris went into the main seating area of the cafe, a patron called out, “Kamala, we love you!” to which Harris responded, “I appreciate you, thank you” to applause and comments of “Madame Vice President.”
Speaking to the patrons, Harris said, “We’re doing it together. But I wanted to come to Johnstown … I wanted to come and visit this small business — you know, a lot of the work I care about is about building community, right? There are many ways to do that … one of them is our small businesses.”
But Harris encountered both supporters and detractors outside of the bookstore.
Near the bookstore, people behind temporary fencing held signs that were both supportive of Harris and supportive of Trump.
One person could be heard chanting “USA!” while another chanted “We’re not going back” — which can often be heard at her campaign events.
And one person could be seen holding up a sign that said, “Even my dog hates Trump.”
Earlier, when she landed in Johnstown, there was a large crowd gathered at the airport hanger; Harris was greeted by the Fettermans and Johnstown Mayor Frank Janakovic.
As the motorcade drove to the bookstore, some healthcare workers lined a street holding up middle fingers and a sign that said, “Harris sux.”
The visit came ahead of a Friday evening rally Harris is set to hold in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and amid a battleground-state swing by Harris, running mate Gov. Tim Walz, and others launched after the ABC News presidential debate on Tuesday.