Election 2024 updates: Harris says she still hasn’t picked VP
(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:
Top Biden adviser Anita Dunn leaving White House to help pro-Harris super PAC
Anita Dunn, a top adviser to President Joe Biden, is leaving the White House next week to advise the largest super PAC supporting Vice President Kamala Harris, a source close to Dunn told ABC News.
This marks the first major shakeup to Biden’s inner circle since he announced he was dropping out of the presidential race. Dunn played a key role in Biden’s 2020 campaign and was previously a top adviser to President Barack Obama’s 2008 and 2012 campaigns.
“It’s been an honor and privilege to serve in this White House, with this President and this team, during this transformational term,” Dunn said in a statement shared with ABC News. “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.”
Dunn will be a senior adviser to the super PAC Future Forward and an adviser to its partner organization Future Forward USA. She will work on super PAC efforts that will coordinate with the Harris campaign, according to the source close to Dunn.
Biden said in a statement that he was grateful for Dunn’s work.
“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,” he said.
-ABC News’ Selina Wang
Schumer says he’s not worried about Senate majority if Harris picks senator for VP
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer brushed off concerns Tuesday about keeping the Senate majority if Kamala Harris were to select a Democratic senator as her vice presidential pick.
“I have total confidence that Vice President Harris will choose a great vice-presidential candidate,” Schumer said during his weekly press conference.
Schumer dodged a question about the possibility of a key swing state opening if Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly is chosen as Harris’ running mate.
-ABC News’ Lauren Peller
Harris says she still hasn’t picked VP
Harris told reporters she still hasn’t decided who her running mate will be as she boarded a plane Tuesday for a trip to Atlanta.
“Madam vice president, have you chosen your VP yet? Have you chosen yet?” ABC News’ Fritz Farrow asked.
“Not yet,” Harris said with a smile as she stopped midway up the steps of Air Force Two.
-ABC News’ Justin Gomez
Biden says he’s talking with Harris about VP choices
President Joe Biden told reporters Monday night after returning from a trip to Texas that he’s “talking” with Harris about her choices for vice president.
Biden was also asked about hitting the trail for Harris, and said he “did” with his trip.
-ABC News’ Molly Nagle
Vance, in 2020, said those without kids are ‘more sociopathic’
As Vance continues to face criticism for his 2021 comments about “childless cat ladies,” more of his previous comments about individuals without kids have resurfaced.
In a podcast from November 2020, Vance said those without kids — especially in America’s leadership class — were “more sociopathic” than those with kids and made the country “less mentally stable.”
Vance’s comments occurred on the podcast after he discussed the impact having children had on him.
Vance also added that the “most deranged” and “most psychotic” people on Twitter, now known as X, are people who don’t have kids.
“There’s just these basic cadences of life that I think are really powerful and really, really valuable when you have kids in your life, and the fact that so many people, especially in America’s leadership class, just don’t have that in their lives, you know, I worry that it makes people more sociopathic, and ultimately, our whole country a little bit less less mentally stable,” Vance said in the podcast.
“And of course, you talk about going on Twitter. Final point I’ll make is you go on Twitter, and almost always the people who are most deranged and most psychotic, are people who don’t have kids at home.”
CNN was the first to report on the podcast.
-ABC News’ Hannah Demissie
Trump out with $12M ad buy criticizing Harris on the border
Trump’s campaign is targeting Harris in its biggest television ad buy since at least January, reserving eight-figure dollar worth of airtime in six key battleground states, according to ad tracking firm AdImpact.
The 30-second ad zeroes in on the rhetoric that Harris “failed” in her role handling immigration issues in President Biden’s administration, calling her “weak” and “dangerously liberal.”
“This is America’s border czar, and she’s failed us. Under Harris, over ten million illegally here, a quarter of a million Americans dead from fentanyl, brutal migrant crimes, and ISIS now here,” a narrator in the ad says, followed by an interview clip of Harris appearing to admit she hasn’t visited the border.
Harris was assigned to address the root causes of migration in Central and South America. She made one visit to the southern border operations in June 2021.
The Harris campaign hit back that Trump was responsible for “killing the toughest border deal in decades” and accused him of misrepresenting her record.
“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,” said Harris campaign spokesperson Ammar Moussa.
-ABC News’ Soorin Kim and Gabriella Abdul-Hakim
Trump attempts to clean up Vance’s ‘childless cat ladies’ comments
Appearing on Fox News The Ingraham Angle on Monday night, Trump attempted to clean up his vice presidential pick’s previous comments about “childless cat ladies,” but didn’t really address the comments.
Instead, he rambled about how Vance is pro-family.
“He made a statement having to do with families. That doesn’t mean that people that aren’t a member of a big and beautiful family with 400 children around and everything else, it doesn’t mean that a person doesn’t have, he’s not against anything, but he loves family. It’s very important to him. 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,” Trump said downplaying Vance’s comments.
Gloria Steinem, Chelsea Clinton and more participate in ‘Women for Harris’ call
The Democratic National Committee held a “Women for Harris” call on Monday night.
Over the course of two-and-a-half hours, viewers heard from Chelsea Clinton, California Sen. Laphonza Butler, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Gloria Steinem, Ana Navarro and leaders of organizations like Emily’s List and Mom’s Demand Action.
Clinton lamented her mother’s loss in 2016 but told viewers that defeating the former president is even more important than it was in 2016 because Americans now have a “record” of things to hold him accountable for.
“My mom put a few more cracks in that glass ceiling. And Vice President Harris is going to obliterate that glass ceiling,” Clinton said.
The call included a host of organizations who support Harris, including Black women who held the first iteration of these pop up fundraising calls with the group Win with Black Women. Glynda Carr, founder of Higher Heights PAC, which supports Black women leadership, told attendees what made this call uniquely important was the realization that women from all walks of life are “stronger together.”
Another “Women for Harris” call is planned for Tuesday night.
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
(CHICAGO) — After an emotional tribute to President Joe Biden Monday night, the scene at the Democrats’ gathering on Tuesday shifts to appearances by former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama.
In their highly anticipated prime-time speeches, the Obamas are expected to help clearly “pass the torch” to Kamala Harris, who will be holding a rally in Milwaukee this evening ahead of her acceptance speech Thursday night.
Here’s how the news is developing.
Obama says Harris-Trump matchup will be a ‘fight’
“Now the torch as been passed,” Obama said, turning to Harris’ candidacy and her campaign against former President Donald Trump.
“Now it is up to all of us to fight for the America we believe in,” he added. “And make no mistake, it will be a fight.”
Obama went on to slam Trump as a “78-year-old billionaire who has not stopped whining about his problems since he rose down his golden escalator.”
“As we gather here tonight, the people who will decide this election are asking a very simple question: Who will fight for me? Who’s thinking about my future, about my children’s future, about our future together?” he asked. “One thing is for certain, Donald Trump is not losing sleep over that question.”
Obama takes a moment to reflect on Biden’s legacy
As Obama reminisced on accepting the party’s nomination 16 years ago, he spoke about choosing President Joe Biden to be his running mate.
“And looking back, I can say without question that my first big decision as your nominee turned out to be one of my best, and that was asking Joe Biden to serve by my side as vice president,” he said.
“Other than some common Irish blood, Joe and I come from different backgrounds,” he continued. “When we became brothers, and as we worked together for eight, sometimes pretty tough, years. What I came to admire most about Joe wasn’t just his smarts; his experience. It was his empathy, and his decency. And it’s hard earned resilience. His unshakable belief that everyone in this country deserves a fair shot. And over the last four years, those are the values America has needed most.”
Obama went on to praise Biden’s leadership as president and for putting the nation before his personal ambition by stepping aside.
“History will remember Joe Biden as an outstanding president who defended democracy at a moment of great danger,” Obama said. “And I am proud to call him my president, but I am even prouder to call him my friend.”
Barack Obama takes the stage, met with ‘Yes we can’ cheers
The former president received a warm welcome from the crowd in the United Center, who revived his iconic campaign slogan “Yes we can!”
“I’m feeling fired up!” Obama said. “I am feeling ready to go — even If I am the only person stupid enough to speak after Michelle Obama.”
Michelle Obama fires up crowd
Michelle Obama reminds everyone why she’s on of the Democratic Party’s most popular figures. She consistently polls as someone Democrats would like to see run for president — and this speech showed why.
-ABC News’ Tal Axelrod
Michelle Obama warns that election will be close
In her closing remarks, former first lady Michelle Obama warned that a handful of votes in select states would decide the election and pushed Americans to come out to the polls.
“So we need to vote in numbers that erase any doubt we need to overwhelm any effort to suppress us. Our fate is in our hands,” she said.
‘We cannot get a Goldilocks complex’: Michelle Obama
The former first lady warned that “we can not be our worst enemies” and not take things for granted in this election.
“We cannot get a Goldilocks complex about whether everything is just right,” Michelle Obama said to cheers.
“We cannot indulge our anxieties about whether this country will elect someone like Kamala instead of doing everything we can to get someone like Kamala elected,” she added.
Obama said she is confident that Harris would be a great leader but noted that there will be a lot of opponents who will put out lies about her.
“It’s up to us to remember what Kamala’s mother told her: Don’t just sit around and complain, do something,” she said. “So if they lie about her, and they will, we’ve got to do something.”
Michelle Obama takes jabs at Trump
The former first lady took several subtle and clear jabs at former President Donald Trump, contrasting his past scandals with Harris’ years of accomplishments.
“She understands that most of us will never be afforded the grace of failing forward we will never benefit from the affirmative action of generational wealth,” she said.
“If we bankrupt a business or choke in a crisis, we don’t get a second, third, or fourth chance,” she added.
Michelle Obama got more direct and noted that Trump “did everything in his power to try to make people fear us.”
“His limited and narrow view of the world made him feel threatened by the existence of two hardworking, highly educated, successful people who also happened to be Black,” she said.
“Who’s going to tell him that the job he’s currently seeking might just be one of those ‘Black jobs?'” Obama asked to a cheering crowd.
“It’s his same old con: doubling down on ugly, misogynistic, racist lies as a substitute for real ideas and solutions that will actually make people’s lives better,” she added.
Emhoff revives crowd
Emhoff sent the crowd into a tizzy after attendees had been lagging in energy.
The first gentleman told a story of his first date with Harris, prompting cheers when describing by an awkward voicemail he sent her.
-ABC News’ Tal Axelrod
Michelle Obama reflects on mom’s influence
Michelle Obama reflected on her mother’s memory and the values that she instilled in her from an early age.
“Kamala Harris and I built our lives on those same foundational values. Even though our mothers grew up an ocean apart, they shared the same belief in the promise of this country,” she said.
Obama continued to tout Harris’ skills, experience and temperament during her years of service.
“Kamala Harris is more than ready for this moment,” she said. “She is one of the most qualified people ever to seek the office of the presidency.”
Michelle Obama gets standing ovation; ‘America, hope is making a comeback’
The crowd at the United Center greeted former first lady Michelle Obama with a standing ovation as she took the stage as the penultimate speaker.
Michelle Obama said until recently she had mourned the “dimming” of hope felt in the country following the recent developments in the country and the loss of her mother.
However, she said she recently felt it spreading again.
“America, hope is making a comeback,” she said.
Second gentleman Doug Emhoff re-introduces himself in personal speech
Second gentleman Doug Emhoff re-introduced himself to America in a personal, down-to-earth speech as Harris makes a historic bid for the White House that, if elected, would make him the first-ever first gentleman.
He said he grew up the son of two Brooklynites and had a “typical suburban childhood.”
“The guys I grew up with are still my best friends. The group chat is active every day — and it’s probably blowing up right now,” he said.
He said he worked at McDonald’s in high school when money was tight and worked full-time so he could afford to go to college part-time.
“Thanks to partial scholarships, student loans and a little help from my dad, I got myself through law school and got my first job as a lawyer — which is also where I met the guys in my fantasy football league,” he said. “A lot has changed in our lives since the early ’90s, but my team name is still Nirvana — yes, after the band.”
He said he loved working as a lawyer, became a dad to Cole and Ella, got a divorce and then “something unexpected happened” — he was set up on a blind date with Harris. He said Harris saved his first bumbling voicemail to her “and she makes me listen to it on every anniversary.”
On Harris, he said she “finds joy in pursuing justice.”
“She stands up to bullies — just like my parents taught me to. She likes to see people do well — and hates when they’re treated unfairly. She believes this work requires a basic curiosity in how people are doing. Her empathy is her strength.”
He talked about Harris coming to synagogue with him and making a “mean brisket for Passover.” He said Harris encouraged him as second gentleman to fight against antisemitism.
On their blended family, he said that Harris has “always been there for our children, and I know she’ll always be there for yours too.”
“Kamala is a joyful warrior,” he said. “It’s doing for her country what she has always done for the people she loves. Her passion will benefit all of us when she’s our president.”
This Thursday, as Harris accepts the party’s nomination for president, will be their 10th wedding anniversary, he noted.
“Kamala was exactly the right person for me at an important moment in my life. And at this moment in our nation’s history, she is exactly the right president,” he said.
Alsobrooks gets lengthy speaking slot
Democrats picked Alsobrooks to to give a lengthier speech than others — and it’s no coincidence.
Alsobrooks is running for Senate in Maryland, a race that was once considered sleepy. But with popular former Republican Gov. Larry Hogan as the GOP nominee, the race is more competitive, and Democrats are desperate to keep the seat of outgoing Sen. Ben Cardin in their column.
-ABC News’ Tal Axelrod
Republican mayor addresses DNC in primetime spot
John Giles, the Republican mayor of Mesa, Arizona, got a prime-time spot at the DNC, during which he stressed putting country over party, “as my hero, John McCain, taught us.”
“I have a confession to make. I’m a lifelong Republican. So, I feel a little out of place tonight. But I feel more at home here than in today’s Republican Party,” Giles said at the top of his remarks.
He said the Republican Party has devolved into “the cult of Donald Trump,” whom he said made a lot of lofty promises as president but “couldn’t deliver a thing.”
Biden and Harris, meanwhile, reached across the aisle delivered for his conservative community and “countless more across the country,” he said, while calling on Americans to “put country first” and elect Harris and Walz.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth gets personal about IVF journey
The future of reproductive rights was again a strong topic at the convention with several speakers discussing their personal struggles with having children or finding an abortion.
Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth, expressed anger at Trump, Vance and Republicans over their proposals to limit fertility options and ban abortions.
“I take it personally when a five-time draft-dodging coward like Donald Trump tries to take away my rights and freedoms in return — especially when it concerns my daughters,” she said.
Duckworth a veteran and double amputee, was candid about IVF treatments used to conceive her daughters.
“My struggle with infertility was more painful than any wound I earned on the battlefield,” she said.
The senator spoke directly to would-be parents and said she would fight any attempts to restrict reproductive rights.
“We’ll send a message to Trump: Stay out of our doctors’ offices — and out of the Oval Office, too,” she said.
Reproductive rights are a key voter issue that both Harris and Trump are working to speak to voters about as November approaches.
Angela Alsobrooks, who is taking on popular former Gov. Larry Hogan in Maryland’s Senate race, spoke about her friendship with Harris and how she looked up to her as a mentor.
Alsobrooks said when she ran for state’s attorney in 2009, she discovered Harris’ work as district attorney piloting a program to help low-level offenders get job training, GED help and more.
“After reading about this super-bad district attorney, I talked non-stop about her on the campaign trail,” she said. “Two days after I won the election, my phone rings. It’s Kamala Harris, calling to congratulate me and ask how she could help. She helped me bring Back on Track to Maryland. Crime went down, and economic growth went up. Back on Track is now a national model.”
Alsobrooks went on to tout Harris’ prosecutorial record against big banks, gangs and more.
“Kamala Harris knows how to keep criminals off the streets,” she said. “And come November, with our help, she’ll keep one out of the Oval Office.”
After her remarks, the crowd erupted in “Angela” chants.
Alsobrooks’ race against Hogan is a high-stakes where Maryland could alter which party has control in the Senate.
Crowd gets subdued after roll call
Following roaring and upbeat moments during the roll call, the mood at the United Center became more subdued as several speakers, including Sens. Chuck Schumer and Bernie Sanders and Govs. J.B. Pritzker and Michelle Lujan Grisham.
New Mexico governor focuses on health care
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham drew a contrast between Harris and Trump on health care.
“Donald Trump and JD Vance want to dismantle our health care system, repeal the Affordable Care Act, and eliminate protections for preexisting conditions. Either these guys don’t get it, or they don’t care,” she said. “You know who gets it? Kamala Harris gets it and she cares.”
Harris, she said, has fought to improve the health care system, including working to get Medicare the ability to negotiate lower drug prices. She said that Trump, meanwhile delivered “junk plans, higher premiums and abortion bans.”
If voters don’t think a second term would under Trump would be worse, “then I’ve got a box of Trump Steaks to sell you,” she said to laughs.
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham drew a contrast between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump on health care.
New Mexico governor focuses on health care at the DNC
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham drew a contrast between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump on health care.
‘These guys aren’t just weird, they’re dangerous’: Pritzker
Pritzker repeated comments made by Democrats calling Trump and other Republicans “weird” over their rhetoric and actions.
He took the sentiment further citing instances when Black or brown-skinned Americans are “derided as a DEI hire for the sin of being successful while not white.”
“Let’s be clear, it’s not ‘woke’ that limits economic growth, it’s ‘weird,'” the governor said.
“These guys aren’t just weird, they’re dangerous,” Pritzker added.
The “weird” labeling of Republicans was first adopted by Walz and used widely as a tactic to label the party’s platforms and attacks.
Former AMEX CEO backs Harris on the economy — one of her biggest vulnerabilities
Kenneth Chenault, who led American Express for 17 years, voiced support for Harris’ economic platform.
“Kamala Harris’s vision for the economy serves us all. She has demonstrated throughout her career that she wants to serve all people, and wants all Americans to have the opportunity to work to achieve their own share of the American dream,” he said. “Our economy goes up and down. But the reason America is the strongest nation in the world is because of our commitment to something bigger than ourselves.”
His remarks come as polls show the economy is a weak point for Harris, who currently trails Trump on the issue. Trump leads Harris by 9 points, 46-37%, in trust to handle the economy, a recent ABC News survey found.
Pritzker fires back at Trump over Chicago comments
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker took jabs at Trump over the former president’s frequent attacks about Chicago.
“To quote a great Chicagoan who won six world championships on these very grounds, ‘We take that personally,'” the governor said paraphrasing a viral Michael Jordan quote.
Pritzker touted the state’s economic policies that he said brought jobs and helped working-class residents, such as eliminating a grocery tax and investing in green jobs.
“More than anything, Democrats want economic policies that are kind, not cruel. But Trump chooses cruelty every time,” he said.
Pritzker is a rising star in the party who has tapped into his vast personal wealth to support Democratic causes. He was once among the list of Harris’ potential vice presidential picks.
Bernie Sanders lays out progressive agenda
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent, highlighted some of the Biden-Harris accomplishments they made since coming to the White House in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, from expanding Medicaid to providing rent relief and mortgage relief to protecting union workers’ pensions.
“When the political will is there, government can effectively deliver for the people of our country,” he said. “We need to summon that will again — because too many of our fellow Americans are struggling every day to just get by — to put food on the table, pay the rent, and get the health care they need.”
“Bottom line: We need an economy that works for all of us, not just the greed of the billionaire class,” he said to applause.
He said, though, that more needs to be done and laid out a progressive agenda. At the top of that to-do list, he said, is to “get big money out of our political process.” He also called for the “disastrous Citizens United Supreme Court decision” to be overturned, increasing the minimum wage and more prescription drug cost cuts.
“I look forward to working with Kamala and Tim to pass this agenda,” he said. “And let us be clear. This is not a radical agenda. But, let me tell you what a radical agenda is. And that is Trump’s Project 2025. Giving more tax breaks to billionaires. Putting forth budgets to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Letting polluters destroy our planet. That is what is radical. And we won’t let it happen.”
He also called for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza and the return of hostages, to applause from the crowd.
Sanders, who was slower to endorse Harris for the presidency, ran for president himself in 2016 and 2020.
Schumer makes case Democrats will keep the Senate
In his remarks, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer praised Vice President Harris and said she will need a Democratic majority if she wins the presidency.
“She can’t do it alone,” he said.
Schumer predicted Democrats will perform well this November, calling back to the “red wave” prediction that didn’t materialize in 2022 and listing candidates he said are strong in closely-watched races in Montana, Arizona and Maryland.
“Ladies and gentlemen, my good friends at this convention: I am telling all of you now we’re going to hold the Senate again and we’re poised to pick up seats,” he said.
Schumer served alongside Harris in the Senate.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer praised Vice President Harris and said she will need a Democratic majority if she wins the presidency.
Police break up protest outside Israeli consulate in Chicago
Behind Enemy Lines, a pro-Palestinian group, gathered early evening Tuesday in front of the Consulate of Israel in downtown Chicago.
Initially there was a small group of about 25 people, but the numbers grew within an hour — enough for police in riot gear to hold a formation to prevent the group from moving farther down the block.
Behind the police line stood a pro-Israel group of about 100 demonstrators holding flags. Both groups were aware of the other and, at one point, each pressed against the police line from both sides.
No clashes took place.
Around 8 p.m. local time, the Israel group started dispersing.
At least five people were seen being taken into custody. The police didn’t initially report any arrests.
Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling was seen standing among the officers.
-ABC News’ Mark Guarino
Harris addresses Wisconsin crowd after roll call
Harris addressed the DNC crowd from a rally in Milwaukee and thanked the delegates for nominating her as the Democratic presidential nominee.
Harris spoke at the Fiserv Forum, where Trump accepted the nomination last month.
“This is a people powered campaign, and together we will chart a new way forward,” she said.
Read more about the Harris campaign’s decision to hold a rally in the battleground state of Wisconsin on the same night as the DNC here.
California delivers delegates to send Harris over the top in ceremonial roll call
California, Harris’ home state, delivered the delegates to send Harris over the top during the ceremonial roll call.
Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that the state is casting its 482 votes for Harris, whom he called a “bright star” whose star has gotten even brighter as she served as the state’s attorney general, a U.S. senator and now as vice president.
“Kamala Harris has always done the right thing, a champion for voting rights, civil rights, LGBTQ rights,” Newsom said. “It’s time for us to do the right thing — and that is to elect Kamala Harris as the next president of the United States of America.”
Harris is already officially the nominee after the DNC held a virtual roll call earlier this month. Still, the symbolism, and the relationship between Newsom and Harris, is significant.
Democrats showing diverse coalition through roll call
Through the ceremonial roll call, showcasing delegates from all corners of the U.S., the Democratic party is “making it clear they are the party that represents the country,” White House correspondent MaryAlice Parks told ABC News Live Prime anchor Linsey Davis.
“They are trying to make it clear that they are building a multi-generational, multi-racial coalition,” she said.
It’s a party in Chicago
Delegates are partying on the convention floor, with hot songs from artists from each state blaring as delegates are cast for Harris.
15,000 people at Harris rally, campaign says There are more than 15,000 people at the Harris rally in Milwaukee, which will broadcast into the DNC tonight, according to her campaign.
The crowd was going wild during Gov. Tim Walz’s remarks.
People are holding signs that say “Freedom” and some have brought their own handmade signs, including one that says “Choose joy.”
-ABC News’ Selina Wang
Protesters march outside Israeli Consulate in Chicago
A large group of pro-Palestinian protesters marched outside the Israeli Consulate in Chicago as the DNC roll call took place.
The exteriors were covered with barricades and several police officers were on hand.
There were no reports of arrests as of 8:45 p.m. ET.
-ABC News’ Ben Stein
A cameo-filled ceremonial roll call
The lively ceremonial roll call has so far featured some surprise cameos alongside more expected political leaders from their respective states.
Standing along the Indiana delegates was actor Sean Astin of “The Goonies” fame, while Louisiana native Wendell Pierce, an actor known for “The Wire,” joined his state’s delegates as they cast their votes for Harris.
The crowd was also treated to a surprise appearance by Lil Jon when Georgia delegates cast their votes.
Lil Jon makes appearance as Georgia delegates cast votes: ‘We’re not going back’
The crowd at the United Center was treated to a surprise appearance by Lil Jon when Georgia delegates cast their votes for Kamala Harris.
The rapper sang “Turn Down for What” to a roaring crowd, adding extra lines that repeated the theme: “We’re not going back.”
Harris’ Milwaukee rally asked to ‘bring the energy’ for DNC broadcast
At Harris’ rally in Milwaukee, the campaign announced in the arena that the vice president will be broadcast into the DNC and that they want the crowd here to “bring the energy.”
“I’m really going to need this energy when they broadcast this live, right?” said Jaliah Jefferson, Wisconsin deputy organizing director, Milwaukee. “VP Harris will be beamed into TVs all across the country.”
“So when it’s our moment, we need to get loud and leave no doubt that Wisconsin is going to send Kamala Harris and Tim Walz to the White House,” she added.
Crowds have been waiting for hours to enter the Fiserv Forum — where the RNC was held last month. The arena is packed with people and it’s a party vibe. The music has been pumping loudly, people are dancing and waving their light-up wristbands. The bass in the music is so loud the floor is vibrating.
-ABC News’ Selina Wang and Will McDuffie
Harris’ stepson talks about how she became ‘Momala’
Kamala Harris’ stepson Cole Emhoff paid tribute to his father, second gentleman Doug Emhoff, and how the vice president became part of their blended family, in a video posted on social media ahead of Emoff’s DNC speech tonight.
“In 2014, Kamala became Momala,” Cole Emhoff said. “She took over Sunday night dinners and taught Doug how to actually cook.”
Tonight, the Second Gentleman will be introduced by his son, Cole Emhoff, in a video tribute. In this excerpt of the video, Cole shares how Kamala became Momala to him and his sister, Ella. pic.twitter.com/tt2SvW6Vq2
“Our blended family wasn’t used to politics or the spotlight, but when Kamala became senator, we were all excited to step up — especially my dad,” Cole Emoff added. “Then, Kamala became vice president. It felt like Doug was a bit out of place on Capitol Hill. I thought: ‘What is my goofy dad doing here?'”
-ABC News’ Fritz Farrow
DNC roll call commences
The roll call for the DNC has begun.
State delegates will go in alphabetical order, with a DJ playing music related to each state.
Josh Shapiro: Harris showing ‘real momentum’
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro told ABC News Live Prime anchor Linsey Davis in an interview from the DNC that he is seeing “incredible enthusiasm” for the Harris-Walz campaign on the ground.
“Kamala Harris is showing up in communities that are oftentimes ignored and left behind,” Shapiro said, adding that she’s sending a message to Pennsylvanians that she cares about them.
“I think as this race progresses, you’re going to continue to see real momentum on her part,” he said.
Trump friends — and foes — on the ground in Chicago
Spotted at the United Center snapping selfies was Michael Cohen, Trump’s former attorney who was a star witness in his New York hush money trial.
The Trump campaign, meanwhile, continued to hold its daily press conference this morning just three miles away from the DNC site to “remind folks what Donald Trump is running for.”
At the press conference, which focused on the issue of crime, Rep. Byron Donalds sought to counter Harris’ prosecutor persona by painting her as soft on crime and pointing to some of her previous statements — including her previous call to “redirect resources” from police.
Donalds also pushed a familiar line of attack against the Harris campaign — that they are lacking in enough policy positions and instead are focusing on “joy and vibes.”
ABC News asked the Florida Republican what type of messaging he is looking to see from Trump on the campaign trail this week amid tightening polls.
“I think this election is really a choice election, it’s a contrast election, even more so than some others. We have very stark differences with Kamala,” Donalds said, while pointing to the subjects of immigration, crime and foreign policy.
-ABC News’ Olivia Rubin
Michigan Sen. Gary Peters brings dozens of retired Teamsters on stage
Michigan Sen. Gary Peters appeared on stage with dozens of retired Teamsters to highlight Harris-Walz’s commitment to unions.
“Kamala Harris and Tim Walz grew up just like me. And I know, I know they will fight for all of us,” Peters said. “They will make it easier to raise our families and to retire with dignity. Just look at the record. As vice president, Kamala Harris helped pass legislation that finally, finally allowed Medicare to negotiate and lower the cost of prescription drugs.”
Ken Stribling, president of the National United Committee to Protect Pensions, also addressed the crowd, saying, “As president, I know Kamala Harris will have our backs. She will fight for our retirement, Social Security and Medicare.”
-ABC News’ Brittany Shepherd
Former Trump official Stephanie Grisham speaks in favor of Harris
The DNC is highlighting several former supporters of former President Donald Trump this week, including everyday Americans who previously voted for him who are now backing Harris.
But Grisham, a former White House press secretary, is the first of several former Trump officials slated to speak at the convention. She described herself not only as a former supporter of Trump but as a “true believer” who has since changed her tune.
“He has no empathy, no morals and no fidelity to the truth,” she said of Trump.
“When I was press secretary, I got skewered for never holding a White House briefing,” Grisham added. “It’s because, unlike my boss, I never wanted to stand at that podium and lie. Now, here I am behind a podium advocating for a Democrat. And that’s because I love my country more than my party.”
Common performs: ‘Be fortunate, y’all, for Kamala Harris’
Rapper Common and gospel musician Jonathan McReynolds took to the stage.
Common changed up the lyrics to his song “Fortunate” for the DNC, rapping, “Be fortunate, y’all, for Kamala Harris.”
Jason Carter says Harris ‘carries my grandfather’s legacy’
Jason Carter, the grandson of former President Jimmy Carter, was the first speaker of the night.
“Kamala Harris carries my grandfather’s legacy,” he said. “She knows what is right and she fights for it. She understands that leadership is about service, not selfishness.”
Jimmy Carter, who is in hospice care and is nearing his 100th birthday in October, told his family he wants to make it to vote for Harris in November, Jason Carter said.
“Papa is holding on. He is hopeful, and though his body may be weak tonight, his spirit is as strong as ever,” Jason Carter said.
Patti LaBelle performs during in memoriam
Patti LaBelle, renowned as the “Godmother of Soul,” took to the stage to sing “You Are My Friend” while an in memoriam played behind her.
Those remembered included former first lady Rosalynn Carter and California Sen. Dianne Feinstein.
Night 2 of the DNC kicks off
The second night of the DNC is officially underway in Chicago.
Tonight’s theme is “A bold vision for America’s future” and will feature a keynote address by former President Barack Obama.
The convention will also hold a ceremonial roll call for Harris, who became the official Democratic presidential nominee following a virtual roll call earlier this month.
Israeli American Council hosts ‘Hostage Square’ art exhibition just blocks from United Center
A group of Israeli and American artists showcased their work throughout the day Tuesday to draw attention to the more than 100 hostages still being held by Hamas in Gaza.
The Israeli American Council (IAC), a nonprofit organization that advocates for the Israeli American community, held the pop-up exhibition it called “Hostage Square” in an empty lot about five blocks east of the United Center, where the DNC is being held through Thursday.
All the art was created in response to the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel, said Jeff Aeder, a Chicago-based real estate investor who put the exhibition together over the last four weeks.
The show “is a much more effective way at looking at a different narrative, opposed to two groups yelling at each other, to highlight the plight of the hostages and the trauma that has been felt by the Jewish world,” he said. “Art is a good way for people to tell these stories.”
Throughout the day Tuesday, about a thousand people visited the exhibition, according to Aeder, including Michael Herzog, Israeli ambassador to the U.S., and families of several hostages.
Aeder said he is determining if the art will travel to different locations. He said he is realistic, knowing “it’s very hard” to summon change through artwork. But he hopes the exhibition is one of “a thousand different points of contact” with the public to create awareness about the plight of the hostages and their families.
“We need to continually do everything we can to bring attention to it, because we never know what’s going to touch somebody,” he said. “Being silent is not an option.”
-ABC News’ Mark Guarino
Bernie Sanders to discuss economy in prime-time speech
Sanders is slated to speak in the 9 p.m. ET hour tonight, and according to released excerpts of his speech, he will focus on the economy.
The independent senator worked with the Biden-Harris administration to achieve price negotiations with Medicare on commonly used prescription drugs. The administration announced last week that a deal was reached to lower the cost of 10 medications.
“When the political will is there, government can effectively deliver for the people of our country,” Sanders will say. “We need to summon that will again — because too many of our fellow Americans are struggling every day to just get by — to put food on the table, pay the rent, and get the health care they need.”
“These oligarchs tell us we shouldn’t tax the rich; we shouldn’t take on price gouging; we shouldn’t expand Medicare to cover dental, hearing and vision; and we shouldn’t increase Social Security benefits for struggling seniors,” he’ll go on to say. “Well I’ve got some bad news for them. That is precisely what we are going to do, and we’re going to win this struggle because this is precisely what the American people want from their government.”
-ABC News’ MaryAlice Parks
Emhoff, Schumer, Sanders and more will speak tonight
Before the Obamas take the stage Tuesday, the DNC will feature speeches from second gentlemen Doug Emhoff, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Bernie Sanders, according to the convention’s schedule.
Maryland Senate candidate Angela Alsobrooks will deliver the keynote remarks.
Remarks are also expected from former Trump White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham, as well as Jason Carter and Jack Schlossberg, the grandsons of former Presidents Jimmy Carter and John F. Kennedy, respectively.
Rep. Frost on Gen Z’s excitement for Harris
Rep. Maxwell Frost, the youngest member of Congress, spoke with ABC News Live anchor Kyra Phillips about the enthusiasm Gen Z has for Kamala Harris.
“Young people are excited about Kamala Harris and I think it’s for many different reasons,” he said. “No. 1, it’s her authenticity. She’s been going viral on TikTok, online, Twitter and a lot of it has to do with her as a human, her as a person, the things she loves, who she is, and the things she says.”
Frost added that young people like Harris because “they hear her message, and then they see themselves represented in her and what she’s fighting for and all the amazing people that we have here today.”
Rep. Maxwell Frost, the first member of Generation Z in Congress, talks about the importance of Kamala Harris and the role of young Americans in politics.
-ABC News’ Isabella Meneses
Trump’s former press secretary Stephanie Grisham to speak tonight
Stephanie Grisham, former President Trump’s third White House press secretary, will speak tonight at the DNC, ABC News can report.
Protesters interrupt Tim Walz’s women’s caucus remarks
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s remarks Tuesday to the women’s caucus at the DNC were interrupted by pro-Palestinian protesters.
Walz was recognizing the role women had in aiding him as governor, and was praising former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vice President Kamala Harris before demonstrators started chanting, “Stop killing women in Gaza! Stop killing women in Gaza!”
They unfurled banners in the middle of the room as the audience tried to drown out their protest.
Walz briefly paused his remarks and looked at the protesters before continuing his speech, without acknowledging them.
The protesters were escorted out of the ballroom where they continued their calls for a cease-fire in Gaza and for the end of arms transfers to Israel.
A delegate, who only identified herself as Michelle and a New York delegate, fiercely countered the protesters, accusing them of helping Donald Trump by protesting.
-ABC News’ Fritz Farrow
10 arrests made during Monday’s DNC fencing breach
There were 10 arrests made during Monday’s fencing breach at the DNC, Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling told reporters on Tuesday.
“I couldn’t be more proud of how Chicago Police Department responded under those circumstances,” Snelling said. “We put on display the trainings and the preparation that we’ve been engaged in for over a year now. That being said, moving forward, we do expect to see, or protest or demonstrate tactics again. We’re up to the challenge.”
Snelling said there were 13 arrests total on Monday, which ranged from criminal trespass to battery on a police officer.
On reports that protesters were “assaulted” by police, the superintendent pushed back hard.
“Those police officers responded perfectly, and we got body cam footage to prove it. They were not hospitalized for injuries.”
-ABC News’ Luke Barr
Flashback: Obama calls Harris attractive
On Tuesday night, former President Barack Obama gives a highly anticipated speech in which he is expected to make a forceful case for electing Harris. It won’t be the first time that Obama spoke glowingly of Harris — in fact, he has gotten in trouble for it before. Back in 2013, he spoke at a fundraiser in California that Harris attended and said of the then-California attorney general, “She is brilliant and she is dedicated and she is tough, and she is exactly what you’d want in anybody who is administering the law, and making sure that everybody is getting a fair shake. She also happens to be by far the best-looking attorney general in the country.” The comment on Harris’s looks sparked a backlash for being sexist and inappropriate, and he apologized the next day.
—538’s Nathaniel Rakich
Obamas to share details of friendship, support for Harris
When former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama speak at the DNC on Tuesday, they will highlight their friendship with Harris that they say goes back 20 years, according to a source familiar.
The Obamas have been in regular touch with Harris over the years, providing counsel and being a sounding board, too, the source said. Over the last few months in particular, the Obamas have been in close contact with the vice president and supported her campaign in any way they are able, the source said.
Their remarks on Tuesday will turn the page from the Biden administration and focus on how Harris and Walz are the leaders the country needs right out, the source said.
The source highlighted how the Obamas have campaigned for Harris and worked to energize young voters.
-ABC News’ MaryAlice Parks
DNC will start half an hour earlier on Tuesday
The DNC will start its programming half an hour earlier than originally planned on Tuesday after Monday’s program had a delayed start that pushed President Joe Biden’s speech past prime time and cut short his farewell.
“We had so much energy and enthusiasm for our president, our ticket, from our speakers and the audience reaction that I recognize that did put us a little bit behind schedule, but we are working with — we made some real-time adjustments last night to ensure we could get to what the delegates and the viewers really came for, which, of course, is President Biden,” Alex Hornsbrook, the executive director of the convention, told reporters this morning.
“And we’re working with our speakers and making some other adjustments for this evening, including beginning at 5:30 to make sure that we stay on track for that tonight,” he added.
-ABC News’ Fritz Farrow
Obamas to make prime-time speeches
The attention on Day 2 of the Democrats’ gathering shifts from celebrating President Joe Biden to prime-time speeches from former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama. They’ll help pass the party torch to Kamala Harris.
The convention will also hold a ceremonial roll call to nominate Harris, which follows the party’s virtual process doing so earlier this month. Harris officially had the vast majority of delegate votes needed to secure her nomination when that process ended on Aug. 6.
It’s expected that California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Harris’ home state delegation will cast the vote putting her over the top.
(WASHINGTON) — Republican vice-presidential candidate JD Vance defended his past comments on women and families without children, the Trump campaign’s proposals to deport undocumented immigrants and more in a wide-ranging interview with “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl, which airs in full on Sunday morning.
Despite the race tightening in recent weeks as Vice President Kamala Harris has taken over the Democratic ticket, the Ohio senator emphasized that he and Trump are “extremely confident” in their chances of winning the election.
“I think we’re going to win. I also think that we have to work as hard as possible for the remainder of the election to try to persuade Americans to vote for us,” Vance told Karl. “That’s the name of the game.”
Vance elaborates on ‘pro-family’ views
The senator has come under fire for repeated comments made about childless Americans, including one during an interview in July 2021 with then-Fox News host Tucker Carlson where Vance described leading Democrats including Harris as “childless cat ladies.”
In a speech before a conservative group, the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, which preceded that interview, Vance also suggested that people with children should have extra votes.
“The Democrats are talking about giving the vote to 16-year-olds, but let’s do this instead,” Vance said in the speech. “Let’s give votes to all children in this country, but let’s give control over those votes to the parents of those children. When you go to the polls in this country as a parent, you should have more power.”
Vance told Karl his notion was a “thought experiment” in response to Democratic proposals to allow younger voters, and not a policy stance.
“Do I regret saying it? I regret that the media and the Kamala Harris campaign has, frankly, distorted what I said,” he said. “They turn this into a policy proposal that I never made. … I said, I want us to be more pro-family, and I do want us to be more pro-family.”
Vance added there are “policy positions behind my view that the country should become more pro-family.” He went on to talk about the economic struggles that families are facing, citing the increased cost of goods, rising medical bills and other costs.
The senator said that he and Trump have a plan to lower the cost of housing and food but didn’t provide details during the interview.
Trump said in an interview with Fox News last week that his solution to bringing down costs was, “We’re gonna drill, baby, drill.”
Trump has also advocated for more tariffs and tax cuts as part of his economic policies.
Vance responds to mass deportation plan: ‘Let’s start with 1 million’
The senator brought up the ongoing migrant crisis and again blamed Harris and the Biden administration’s policies, such as ending “Remain in Mexico.”
When asked how he and Trump would accomplish their stated goal of mass deporting as many as 20 million immigrants – a proposal experts previously told ABC News would be a “nightmare” — Vance said they would take a “sequential approach.”
“I mean do you go knock on doors and ask people for their papers? What do you do,” Karl asked.
“You start with what’s achievable,” Vance said. “I think that if you deport a lot of violent criminals and frankly if you make it harder to hire illegal labor, which undercuts the wages of American workers, I think you go a lot of the way to solving the illegal immigration problem.”
“I think it’s interesting that people focus on, well, how do you deport 18 million people? Let’s start with 1 million. That’s where Kamala Harris has failed. And then we can go from there,” Vance said.
Vance agrees with Trump that VP picks don’t matter to most voters During an interview at the National Association of Black Journalists conference in Chicago last month, and just a short time after Trump announced Vance as his running mate, the former president raised some eyebrows when asked whether Vance would be ready to be president “on Day 1” if needed.
“You can have a vice president who’s outstanding in every way, and I think JD is, I think that all of them would’ve been, but you’re not voting that way. You’re voting for the president. You’re voting for me,” Trump said, without addressing whether Vance would be ready on “Day 1.”
In the interview with ABC News, Vance said he agreed with Trump’s view.
“They’re voting for Donald Trump or for Kamala Harris, not for JD or Tim Walz,” he said. “I also think that he’s right that the politics of this really don’t matter that much.”
However, Vance stressed he’s “absolutely” sure Trump is confident he could step up as a commander in chief if needed.
“What I think that he does believe because he made it the main focus of his vetting process, is, ‘Do I think this person can be president on day one if, God forbid, something happens? Yes,'” Vance said.
Vance repeats false claims about Tim Walz’s policies
During a rally in Montana on Friday night, Trump pushed falsehoods about Democratic vice presidential candidate Gov. Tim Walz’s policies concerning transgender youth, accusing the Minnesota governor of signing “a law letting the state kidnap children to change their gender.”
Walz has signed legislation aimed at protecting the rights of transgender individuals to access gender-affirming care, which can include gender-affirming surgeries but also services like counseling and non-surgical medical procedures like hormone therapy and puberty suppressants. The law does not allow what Trump claimed.
Vance said he didn’t fully watch the late-night rally but repeated some of those false claims in the interview with Karl, saying Walz “supported taking children away from their parents if the parents don’t consent to gender reassignment.”
He referenced Walz’s recent statement at a rally accusing Republicans of not “minding their own damn business.”
“One way of minding your own damn business, Jon, is to not try to take my children away from me … if I have different world views than you.”
Karl pushed back, calling the “kidnapping” characterization “crazy.”
The April 2023 law that Walz signed in the wake of other states curtailing or banning access to gender-affirming care has been mischaracterized by Republicans.
The Minnesota law protects patients who come to the state to receive gender-affirming health care, even if the patients live in a state where such care is illegal. The law also specifically allows the state’s courts to assume “temporary emergency jurisdiction” in cross-state child custody disputes where a child has been unable to obtain gender-affirming care and is in Minnesota to do so.
The executive director of LGBTQ+ advocacy group OutFront told The Washington Post that under the law, courts can settle parental disputes over whether their child should get this care, but it doesn’t result in the parent against such care losing custody of their child.
Vance pushes back on white supremacist Trump once dined with who recently insulted his wife’s race
Karl also asked Vance about a racist attack targeting his wife, Usha, from white nationalist live-streamer, Nick Fuentes, who Trump dined with in November 2022.
In a recent livestream, Fuentes said, “What kind of man marries somebody named Usha Clearly, he doesn’t value his racial identity.”
“My attitude to these people attacking my wife is, she’s beautiful, she’s smart. What kind of man marries Usha A very smart man and very lucky man,” Vance said of his wife during the ABC News interview. “If these guys want to attack me or attack my views, my policy views, [or] my personality, come after me. But don’t attack my wife. She’s out of your league.”
Trump faced significant blowback for dining with Fuentes, along with rapper Ye (formerly Kanye West) back in November 2022 at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. At the time, Trump said he did not know who Fuentes was and that he was brought to the dinner by Ye. In a statement given exclusively to Fox News Digital, Trump said, “I had no idea what his views were, and they weren’t expressed at the table in our very quick dinner, or it wouldn’t have been accepted.”
But the former president has not denounced Fuentes’ white nationalist views beyond that, or the recent comments about Usha Vance.
In the interview, Vance contended Trump had “issued plenty of condemnations,” and did not question the former president’s dinner with Fuentes.
“The one thing I like about Donald Trump, Jon, is that he actually will talk to anybody. But just because you talk to somebody doesn’t mean you endorse their views,” Vance said, adding that Trump has been close and friendly with his family.
ABC News’ Quinn Scanlan contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — Vice President Kamala Harris is moving full steam ahead in her bid for the White House.
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:
Pete Buttigieg also cancels item on schedule
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has cancelled an item on his upcoming schedule amid reports he may be in the running to be Kamala Harris’ vice president.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro — also among the VP hopefuls — canceled fundraisers he had planned for the weekend.
Buttigieg, who has been traversing the Midwest this week in his official capacity, is scheduled to on Friday tour Ivy Tech Community College in Kokomo, Indiana. After remarks, the secretary will have a media availability.
“Secretary Buttigieg is here in Kokomo in his official capacity as Transportation Secretary. Federal law prohibits him from speaking about campaigns and elections,” his team wrote in email guidance.
He was slated to hold a roundtable discussion afterwards, which his team now says will no longer happen.
“I’m sorry to share that we will no longer be hosting the roadway safety roundtable due to some unforeseen scheduling constraints,” the guidance reads.
-ABC New’s Isabella Murrary
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker met with Harris’ VP vetting team: Sources
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker met with Harris’ vice presidential vetting team, according to sources familiar with the meeting.
-ABC News’ Isabella Murray
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz met with Harris’ VP vetting team: Sources
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz met with Harris’ vice presidential vetting team, according to sources familiar with the meeting.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro — who is reported to have met with Harris’ vetting team as he remains on the shortlist of her vice presidential options — has canceled the fundraisers he had planned in the Hamptons this weekend, ABC News has confirmed.
It’s unclear now what his weekend schedule entails.
“The Governor’s trip was planned several weeks ago and included several fundraisers for his own campaign committee. His schedule has changed and he is no longer traveling to the Hamptons this weekend,” Shapiro Spokesman Manuel Bonder told ABC News.
-ABC News’ Isabella Murray and Oren Oppenheim
Harris’ vetting team met with VP hopefuls Shapiro, Kelly
Harris’ vetting team met with Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly — two vice presidential hopefuls, according to sources familiar. The vetting team has met with other candidates as well, the sources added.
As meetings continue, the pool of vice presidential candidates has narrowed from a dozen, sources said.
Harris only has days to make a decision on her running mate. This process that normally takes months has been truncated and her team is doing it in weeks.
Harris is set to begin a tour of battleground states with her running mate on Tuesday.
-ABC News’ Selina Wang, Will McDuffie and Katherine Faulders
At the border, Vance says Harris kept the ‘promise’ to open the southern border
Vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance visited the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona Thursday morning. During his visit, Vance addressed the press, blaming Vice President Kamala Harris for what he claimed was a failure of the southern border.
“They started their administration, Kamala Harris came into office making promises, and she kept those promises, to open the American southern border,” Vance said. “They stopped deportations on Day 1, they stopped construction of the border wall on Day 1, we see the border wall sitting here ready to be completed behind us, and that can’t happen because of Kamala Harris’ administration.”
Vance has said that in a Trump-Vance administration, he would want to be influential in border policy. The border and immigration are a major issue for voters this election.
Vance and Trump have sought to attack Harris over her handling of the border — something President Joe Biden assigned her to oversee as vice president.
Vance often connects the border to the issue of drug trafficking and the fentanyl crisis, and he did it during his remarks Thursday.
“And the unfortunate truth is, because of the poison that Kamala Harris has let come into this country, there are a lot of those prayers that won’t be answered,” Vance said. “There are a lot of parents that won’t wake up because when you take fentanyl, you don’t wake up, it takes your life.”
But that is not true. The majority of fentanyl smuggled into the U.S. is through ports of entry, not through migrants.
Vance said the U.S. must implement “common sense policies” at the border.
“You’ve got to reimplement remain in Mexico. You’ve got to stop catch and release. You’ve got to force the asylum seekers to stay in Mexico while their claims are being adjudicated. And you’ve got to finish this border wall and reimplement deportations,” he said.
-ABC News’ Hannah Demissie
Vance said he feels Trump has confidence in him
Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance said he feels former President Donald Trump has confidence in him, according to an interview he did with NOTUS conducted on Wednesday and published Thursday.
“I think that any Republican who comes out of the gate as the new VP nominee is gonna get attacked. I have no doubt that the president is confident in the way that I’ve been doing things,” Vance said in the interview.
Vance said he and Trump have a “good relationship” and that it will keep on going through all the way to November, hopefully past that too.”
In the interview, Vance also said “there was a fallout in the aftermath of the November 2020 election.”
Vance said, “I think it’s weird to engage in hypotheticals given the law’s changed here” when asked how he would have handled a situation where Trump wanted him to act against the Constitution, as then-Vice President Mike Pence said he was asked to during the process of certifying the 2020 election.
This goes against what Vance said in an interview with “This Week” anchor George Stephanopolous in February. During that interview, Vance was willing to discuss what he would have done in 2020 — before some laws changed.
“If I had been vice president, I would have told the states, like Pennsylvania, Georgia and so many others, that we needed to have multiple slates of electors and I think the U.S. Congress should have fought over it from there,” Vance said then. “That is the legitimate way to deal with an election that a lot of folks, including me, think had a lot of problems in 2020. I think that’s what we should have done.”
-ABC News’ Hannah Demissie and Oren Oppenheim
Trump doubles down on false racial attack against Harris
In a social media post Thursday morning, former President Donald Trump shared a family portrait of Vice President Kamala Harris.
“Your warmth, friendship, and love of your Indian Heritage are very much appreciated,” Trump wrote as the caption.
His social media post doubles down on his false claim that Harris only emphasized her Asian-American heritage, something he mentioned during his interview at the National Association of Black Journalists convention on Wednesday.
During the interview, he falsely questioned Harris’ race. Harris is the daughter of a Jamaican father and an Indian mother.
“I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black and now, she wants to be known as Black. So, I don’t know, is she Indian or is she Black?” Trump said during the NABJ interview.
He went on to say that “she was Indian all the way, and then all of a sudden she made a turn, and she went — she became a Black person.”
-ABC News’ Lalee Ibssa, Soorin Kim and Kelsey Walsh
Vance visiting southern border in Arizona
Vice presidential candidate JD Vance is visiting the southern border Thursday morning in Cochise County, Arizona.
Vance and Trump have sought to attack Harris over her handling of the border — something President Joe Biden assigned her to oversee as vice president. The border and immigration are a major issue for voters this election.
Vance discussed the border and attacked Democrats during a rally in Arizona Wednesday night.
“They suspended deportations. They stopped building the wall. They reinstated catch and release. That’s how every state became a border state: They just release them into our country. They fly them first class wherever they want to go and put them up in fancy hotels,” Vance claimed. “You’re paying for that, too. Then they proposed amnesty for millions of illegal aliens.”
-ABC News’ Hannah Demissie
DNC’s virtual roll call underway
The Democratic National Committee’s virtual voting process is underway — a process that will formally designate Vice President Kamala Harris as the official presidential nominee of the Democratic Party.
Harris was already deemed the presumptive nominee by the DNC earlier this week after she emerged from a process, laid out by the party’s Rules Committee, as the only qualified candidate.
The virtual roll call began at 9 a.m. ET Thursday and will go until 6 p.m. ET on Monday, Aug. 5.
Vance defends Trump’s comments at NABJ, calls Harris a ‘chameleon’ and ‘fake’
Former President Donald Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, defended his comments at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) annual convention in Chicago Wednesday.
Ahead of his rally in Phoenix, Arizona, Vance told reporters he believes the media is “overreacting” to Trump’s remarks at NABJ, where he questioned his opponent Vice President Kamala Harris’ racial identity.
“I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black and now, she wants to be known as Black. So, I don’t know, is she Indian or is she Black?” Trump said at the convention.
Vance told reporters Wednesday he found Trump’s comments “hysterical” adding that he believes the former president “pointed out the fundamental chameleon-like nature of Kamala Harris.”
“She is not who she pretends to be,” Vance said of Harris. “She’s flip-flopped on every issue. She’s fake, she’s phony,” he added.
Harris reacts to Trump’s NABJ remarks: ‘Same old show — the divisiveness and the disrespect’
Vice President Kamala Harris spoke out on the campaign trail on Wednesday night, reacting to former President Donald Trump’s headline-making appearance at the National Association of Black Journalists earlier in the day.
While not calling out any specific comments, Harris said that Trump’s appearance at the conference “was the same old show — the divisiveness and the disrespect.”
“And let me just say, the American people deserve better,” Harris added as she addressed a Houston crowd at the Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority Inc.’s Boulé. “The American people deserve a leader who tells the truth; a leader who does not respond with hostility and anger when confronted with the facts; we deserve a leader who understands that our differences, do not divide us. They are an essential source of our strength.”
Sen. Kelly calls Trump ‘desperate scared old man’ over NABJ remarks
Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, a vice presidential short-lister, criticized former President Donald Trump’s comments at the National Association of Black Journalists Convention about Vice President Kamala Harris Wednesday evening.
“I think those are the comments of a desperate scared old man, who over the last week especially has been having his butt kicked by an experienced prosecutor,” he said.
“And his comments are not unexpected from him. We’ve seen this over since when, 2015 or so? So he’s done this before he is not going to change it’s pretty obvious to me why he is doing this,” the senator added.
When asked by ABC News if he felt that Trump’s comments were rooted in racism, Kelly responded, “I think it’s who he is.”
GOP Senate candidate Larry Hogan slams Trump’s NABJ Convention remarks
Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, who is running for Senate, came down on former President Trump’s comments about Vice President Kamala Harris’ race.
“It’s unacceptable and abhorrent to attack Vice President Harris or anyone’s racial identity. The American people deserve better,” he said in a statement released Wednesday afternoon.
-ABC News’ Rick Klein
‘Trump showing exactly who he Is at NABJ,’ Harris campaign says
Michael Tyler, a spokesman for Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign, released a statement Wednesday responding to former President Donald Trump’s interview at the National Association of Black Journalists Convention in Chicago.
“The hostility Donald Trump showed on stage today is the same hostility he has shown throughout his life, throughout his term in office, and throughout his campaign for president as he seeks to regain power and inflict his harmful Project 2025 agenda on the American people,” he said.
“Trump lobbed personal attacks and insults at Black journalists the same way he did throughout his presidency – while he failed Black families and left the entire country digging out of the ditch he left us in. Donald Trump has already proven he cannot unite America, so he attempts to divide us,” Tyler added.
“Today’s tirade is simply a taste of the chaos and division that has been a hallmark of Trump’s MAGA rallies this entire campaign. It’s also exactly what the American people will see from across the debate stage as Vice President Harris offers a vision of opportunity and freedom for all Americans. All Donald Trump needs to do is stop playing games and actually show up to the debate on September 10,” he concluded.
-ABC News’ Mary Bruce
White House press secretary calls Trump’s comments on Harris’ race ‘repulsive’
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre pushed back against former President Donald Trump on Wednesday after he questioned Vice President Kamala Harris’ race during a panel at the National Association of Black Journalists Convention in Chicago.
Trump refused to answer a question by ABC News’ Rachel Scott if Harris, who is Black and Indian, was a “DEI hire,” an argument floated by some Republicans last week.
“She was always of Indian heritage, and she was only promoting Indian heritage,” Trump said. “I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago, when she happened to turn Black, and now she wants to be known as Black. So I don’t know, is she Indian or is she Black?”
He later said, “I really don’t know, could be, could be, there are some.”
Jean-Pierre criticized those comments during the daily White House briefing that was going on at the same time.
“As a person of color, as a Black woman who is in this position, that is standing before you at this podium, behind this lectern, what he just said, what you just read out to me is repulsive. It’s insulting,” she said. “And no one has any right to tell someone who they are, how they identify. That is no one’s right. It is someone’s own decisions.”
Jean-Pierre added that Harris — who attended Howard University, an HBCU, and was a member of the Black sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha — is the vice president and said that people have to “put some respect on her name.”
“It doesn’t matter if it’s a former leader, a former president. It is insulting. And we have to put — she is the vice president of the United States, Kamala Harris. We have to put some respect on her name,” Jean-Pierre said.
-ABC News’ Michelle Stoddart
UAW endorses Harris
The United Auto Workers International Executive Board voted Wednesday to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential bid.
“Our job in this election is to defeat Donald Trump and elect Kamala Harris to build on her proven track record of delivering for the working class,” UAW President Shawn Fain said in a statement.
“We stand at a crossroads in this country. We can put a billionaire back in office who stands against everything our union stands for, or we can elect Kamala Harris who will stand shoulder-to-shoulder with us in our war on corporate greed. This campaign is bringing together people from all walks of life, building a movement that can defeat Donald Trump at the ballot box. For our one million active and retired members, the choice is clear: We will elect Kamala Harris to be our next President this November,” he added.
-ABC News’ Brittany Shepherd
Trump, Harris campaign trade barbs over NABJ appearance
Trump posted another statement on Truth Social expressing fury that Harris may talk to the National Association of Black Journalists Conference via Zoom.
“I am getting ready to land in Chicago in order to be there. Now I am told that she is doing the Event on ZOOM. WHAT’S GOING ON HERE?” he posted.
In response to former President Trump’s appearance at NABJ, the Harris campaign released a statement calling out all of the “lies” they claim Trump will mention about his record with the Black community.
“Not only does Donald Trump have a history of demeaning NABJ members and honorees who remain pillars of the Black press, he also has a history of attacking the media and working against the vital role the press play in our democracy.”
The campaign listed “skyrocketing Black unemployment,” his response to the pandemic, and “skyrocketing crime.”
-ABC News’ Gabriella Abdul-Hakim, Fritz Farrow, Isabella Murray and Will McDuffie
Harris fundraising off of her vice presidential selection process
The Harris campaign is fundraising off of the heightened interest in her selection process for her running mate.
The campaign shared a photo in an email Wednesday of President Joe Biden asking her to be his vice president, recounting how memorable of a moment it was for her before relaying she understands just how much of an “important” choice the decision is.
“Though I have not made my decision yet, it is important to me that grassroots supporters — like you — have direct updates about the state of the race,” Harris wrote. “The selection of my running mate is not something that I am taking lightly. It is an important choice,” the message read.
-ABC News’ Gabriella Abdul-Hakim, Fritz Farrow, Isabella Murray and Will McDuffie
DNC Chair Harrison, other convention leaders to participate in NABJ event
The Democratic National Convention Committee released their own National Association of Black Journalists plans Wednesday, which come as their now-presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris remains off the conference’s schedule.
On Thursday, top convention leaders including DNC Chair Jamie Harrison will participate in an on the record Q&A session with members of the NABJ Political Task Force, according to Democratic National Convention Officials.
The conversation will be moderated by Choose Chicago Chair Glenn Eden. Other participants include Democratic National Convention Chair Minyon Moore, Chicago 2024 Host Committee Executive Director Christy George and Chicago 2024 Host Committee Senior Advisor Keiana Barret, according to the officials.
“Convention leadership will discuss how President Biden, Vice President [Harris], and Democrats have delivered for Black Americans by lowering health care costs, investing $7 billion in HBCUs, canceling more student debt than any president in history, and building an administration that looks like America,” the officials said.
-ABC News’ Isabella Murray
Trump interview at Black journalists association convention sparks controversy
Former President Donald Trump’s scheduled interview Wednesday at the National Association of Black Journalists convention in Chicago has sparked criticism from some of its members.
Trump will be in conversation with ABC News Senior Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott, Fox News anchor Harris Faulkner and Semafor political reporter Kadia Goba at 1:30 p.m.
“While NABJ does not endorse political candidates as a journalism organization, we understand the serious work of our members, and welcome the opportunity for them to ask the tough questions that will provide the truthful answers Black Americans want and need to know,” Ken Lemon, the association’s president, said in a statement.
Some members have expressed criticism over the interview.
April Ryan, the Washington bureau chief of TheGrio who was awarded the NABJ’s “Journalist of the Year” back in 2017, wrote online that his invitation was “a slap in the face.”
Karen Attiah, the co-chair of the convention, resigned earlier this week after the NABJ announced Trump’s appearance. Attiah wrote in a post on X, “To the journalists interviewing Trump, I wish them the best of luck,” explaining that his appearance was only partly behind her decision and that it was “influenced by a variety of factors.”
Others, however, have defended the decision.
MSNBC host Symone Sanders-Townsend, who was formerly Vice President Kamala Harris’s spokesperson, wrote on X: “Some of the best journalists in the country are members of NABJ. So, why wouldn’t they interview Trump? He is the Republican nominee.”
-ABC News’ Alexandra Hutzler
Trump tries to downplay turnout at Harris rally
Former President Donald Trump attempted to pour cold water on the enthusiasm at Vice President Kamala Harris’ Tuesday night rally in Atlanta.
Trump claimed in a post on Truth Social Wednesday morning that the turnout was only high because artists performed ahead of her speech.
“Crazy Kamala Harris, voted the WORST Vice President in American history, needed a concert to bring people into the Atlanta arena, and they started leaving 5 minutes into her speech. I don’t need concerts or entertainers, I just have to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!” he said in his post.
-ABC News’ Lalee Ibssa, Soo Rin Kim and Kelsey Walsh
Mark Kelly defends Harris’ immigration record
Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, who is seen as a strong Democratic vice presidential pick, defended the vice president’s record on immigration and went on the attack against Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance, in an interview on “Morning Joe” on Wednesday.
“Donald Trump and Senate Republicans, what did they do several months ago? We had a bipartisan bill that we negotiated faithfully with the administration, both sides of the aisle, and Donald Trump said that Senate Republicans can’t vote for it,” Kelly said. “He wanted to talk about this issue instead of actually fix it and JD Vance and other Republicans, they ran away from it.”
He said Vance, who plans to visit the U.S.-Mexico border Wednesday, should instead be back in Washington passing legislation on the border.
“I mean, JD Vance is down here,” Kelly said. “I think he’s in Arizona today probably getting a photo op at the southern border. Kamala Harris is about solving problems. Donald Trump wants to take us, drag us back a decade.”
Kelly said, in contrast, Harris wants to address border and immigration.
Vance says time to ‘load the muskets’ in Project 2025 leader’s book: Report
Republican Vice Presidential candidate JD Vance said it was “time to circle the wagons and load the muskets,” in a forward to a book penned by Project 2025’s leader, according to a report.
The New Republic obtained the forward to Dawn’s Early Light, the book written by the Heritage Foundation leader Kevin Roberts, where Vance claims “explores many of the themes I’ve focused on in my own work.”
“Never before has a figure with Roberts’s depth and stature within the American Right tried to articulate a genuinely new future for conservatism. The Heritage Foundation isn’t some random outpost on Capitol Hill; it is and has been the most influential engine of ideas for Republicans from Ronald Reagan to Donald Trump,” Vance wrote in the forward, according to the report published Tuesday.
Vance claims “Roberts sees a conservatism that is focused on the family,” and “cultural norms and attitudes matter.”
The senator ended his forward with an analogy about a garden that “needs to be recultivated.”
“As Kevin Roberts writes, ‘It’s fine to take a laissez-faire approach when you are in the safety of the sunshine. But when the twilight descends and you hear the wolves, you’ve got to circle the wagons and load the muskets,'” Vance wrote, according to the report. “We are now all realizing that it’s time to circle the wagons and load the muskets. In the fights that lay ahead, these ideas are an essential weapon.”
Harris to lay out path to strengthen middle class during Atlanta rally: Official
Vice President Kamala Harris is set to take the stage in Atlanta Tuesday night for her largest campaign rally to date.
Among the guests will be Megan Thee Stallion and Quavo.
During her speech, the vice president will lay out how she will prioritize the strengthening of middle-class families as president, according to a Harris official.
She will say a key to this is recognizing that prices remain too high for many essentials that families rely on, and she will lay out her plans to lower costs.
She will also discuss the state of the race, reiterating that she is the underdog in this race but has real momentum and grassroots enthusiasm at her side, and she is expected to call out former President Donald Trump for refusing to honor his commitment to debate, the official said.
Following her remarks, Harris will join a national campaign organizing call to thank volunteers for their support and talk about more ways to get involved with the campaign, the official said.
Biggest Harris donors push for Shapiro, Kelly, Beshear as VP picks: Source
The overwhelming majority of the largest Democratic donors are pushing for Vice President Kamala Harris to pick Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly or Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, a top adviser to major Democratic donors told ABC News.
The source says many of them are making their views known to Harris’ team and have been pushing to have a say in the process after surging large amounts of money into her campaign.
The donors say Shapiro would make a good choice because he has massive charisma and is a political talent at “Obama level,” he’s got a great brand in Pennsylvania and has chastised both Democrats and Republicans for being too extreme, according to the source.
Kelly’s popularity among the donors comes from the fact that he’s a veteran with real toughness, can talk about political violence from his personal perspective and has major name recognition and credibility in Arizona, the source said.
Beshear is popular among the donors because he’s a centrist southern Democrat who has successfully won in Kentucky two times, according to the source.
Top Biden adviser Anita Dunn leaving White House to help pro-Harris super PAC
Anita Dunn, a top adviser to President Joe Biden, is leaving the White House next week to advise the largest super PAC supporting Vice President Kamala Harris, a source close to Dunn told ABC News.
This marks the first major shakeup to Biden’s inner circle since he announced he was dropping out of the presidential race. Dunn played a key role in Biden’s 2020 campaign and was previously a top adviser to President Barack Obama’s 2008 and 2012 campaigns.
“It’s been an honor and privilege to serve in this White House, with this President and this team, during this transformational term,” Dunn said in a statement shared with ABC News. “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.”
Dunn will be a senior adviser to the super PAC Future Forward and an adviser to its partner organization Future Forward USA. She will work on super PAC efforts that will coordinate with the Harris campaign, according to the source close to Dunn.
Biden said in a statement that he was grateful for Dunn’s work.
“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,” he said.
-ABC News’ Selina Wang
Schumer says he’s not worried about Senate majority if Harris picks senator for VP
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer brushed off concerns Tuesday about keeping the Senate majority if Kamala Harris were to select a Democratic senator as her vice presidential pick.
“I have total confidence that Vice President Harris will choose a great vice-presidential candidate,” Schumer said during his weekly press conference.
Schumer dodged a question about the possibility of a key swing state opening if Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly is chosen as Harris’ running mate.
-ABC News’ Lauren Peller
Harris says she still hasn’t picked VP
Harris told reporters she still hasn’t decided who her running mate will be as she boarded a plane Tuesday for a trip to Atlanta.
“Madam vice president, have you chosen your VP yet? Have you chosen yet?” ABC News’ Fritz Farrow asked.
“Not yet,” Harris said with a smile as she stopped midway up the steps of Air Force Two.
-ABC News’ Justin Gomez
Biden says he’s talking with Harris about VP choices
President Joe Biden told reporters Monday night after returning from a trip to Texas that he’s “talking” with Harris about her choices for vice president.
Biden was also asked about hitting the trail for Harris, and said he “did” with his trip.
-ABC News’ Molly Nagle
Vance, in 2020, said those without kids are ‘more sociopathic’
As Vance continues to face criticism for his 2021 comments about “childless cat ladies,” more of his previous comments about individuals without kids have resurfaced.
In a podcast from November 2020, Vance said those without kids — especially in America’s leadership class — were “more sociopathic” than those with kids and made the country “less mentally stable.”
Vance’s comments occurred on the podcast after he discussed the impact having children had on him.
Vance also added that the “most deranged” and “most psychotic” people on Twitter, now known as X, are people who don’t have kids.
“There’s just these basic cadences of life that I think are really powerful and really, really valuable when you have kids in your life, and the fact that so many people, especially in America’s leadership class, just don’t have that in their lives, you know, I worry that it makes people more sociopathic, and ultimately, our whole country a little bit less less mentally stable,” Vance said in the podcast.
“And of course, you talk about going on Twitter. Final point I’ll make is you go on Twitter, and almost always the people who are most deranged and most psychotic, are people who don’t have kids at home.”
CNN was the first to report on the podcast.
-ABC News’ Hannah Demissie
Trump out with $12M ad buy criticizing Harris on the border
Trump’s campaign is targeting Harris in its biggest television ad buy since at least January, reserving eight-figure dollar worth of airtime in six key battleground states, according to ad tracking firm AdImpact.
The 30-second ad zeroes in on the rhetoric that Harris “failed” in her role handling immigration issues in President Biden’s administration, calling her “weak” and “dangerously liberal.”
“This is America’s border czar, and she’s failed us. Under Harris, over ten million illegally here, a quarter of a million Americans dead from fentanyl, brutal migrant crimes, and ISIS now here,” a narrator in the ad says, followed by an interview clip of Harris appearing to admit she hasn’t visited the border.
Harris was assigned to address the root causes of migration in Central and South America. She made one visit to the southern border operations in June 2021.
The Harris campaign hit back that Trump was responsible for “killing the toughest border deal in decades” and accused him of misrepresenting her record.
“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,” said Harris campaign spokesperson Ammar Moussa.
-ABC News’ Soorin Kim and Gabriella Abdul-Hakim
Trump attempts to clean up Vance’s ‘childless cat ladies’ comments
Appearing on Fox News The Ingraham Angle on Monday night, Trump attempted to clean up his vice presidential pick’s previous comments about “childless cat ladies,” but didn’t really address the comments.
Instead, he rambled about how Vance is pro-family.
“He made a statement having to do with families. That doesn’t mean that people that aren’t a member of a big and beautiful family with 400 children around and everything else, it doesn’t mean that a person doesn’t have, he’s not against anything, but he loves family. It’s very important to him. 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,” Trump said downplaying Vance’s comments.
Gloria Steinem, Chelsea Clinton and more participate in ‘Women for Harris’ call
The Democratic National Committee held a “Women for Harris” call on Monday night.
Over the course of two-and-a-half hours, viewers heard from Chelsea Clinton, California Sen. Laphonza Butler, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Gloria Steinem, Ana Navarro and leaders of organizations like Emily’s List and Mom’s Demand Action.
Clinton lamented her mother’s loss in 2016 but told viewers that defeating the former president is even more important than it was in 2016 because Americans now have a “record” of things to hold him accountable for.
“My mom put a few more cracks in that glass ceiling. And Vice President Harris is going to obliterate that glass ceiling,” Clinton said.
The call included a host of organizations who support Harris, including Black women who held the first iteration of these pop up fundraising calls with the group Win with Black Women. Glynda Carr, founder of Higher Heights PAC, which supports Black women leadership, told attendees what made this call uniquely important was the realization that women from all walks of life are “stronger together.”
Another “Women for Harris” call is planned for Tuesday night.
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