Like Trump, Vance to campaign behind bulletproof glass at Michigan rally
(BIG RAPIDS, Mich.) — Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance will deliver remarks on the economy on Tuesday in Big Rapids, Michigan, at an outdoor farm — during which he will speak from behind bulletproof glass, the first time there has ever been one at a solo event for Vance
It’s similar to the new safety measures in place for former President Donald Trump’s outdoor rallies following his assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July.
Vance did have bulletproof glass in Asheboro, North Carolina, last week, but that was a joint event with the former president.
The U.S. Secret Service made arrangements for Trump to resume outdoor campaign rallies by surrounding his podium with bulletproof glass, multiple sources told ABC News earlier this month.
The Secret Service recommended Trump stop holding outdoor rallies last month after a gunman in Butler, Pennsylvania, fired at him from a rooftop 400 feet from the stage, hitting his ear. A man in the crowd was killed in the attack.
Between July 13 and Aug. 20, Trump held nearly a dozen campaign events, all of them indoors.
However, since being announced as Trump’s running mate on July 15, Vance has held several outdoor campaign events without bulletproof glass.
(WASHINGTON) — Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, D, brushed off concerns about Vice President Kamala Harris’ short-lived 2020 campaign as she ramps up her presidential campaign this year.
“This Week” co-anchor Martha Raddatz pressed Moore on if anything “gives you pause” after Harris’ 2020 campaign ended before any primary votes were cast.
“I also know it was pretty long ago,” Moore said. “Since then, we’ve had an entire administration that people have had a chance to see her work. Throughout that time, we’ve had an entire period where people can see where we have historically low unemployment rates throughout our country. I think people are now seeing what a Harris leadership can look like and what it can bring to the future of the country.”
Moore also swatted away Republican attacks on Harris, many of which have focused on stances she took during her 2020 run.
Among the policies she adopted during that campaign included ending the filibuster to adopt a “Green New Deal,” starting from “scratch” on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and making it a civil offense rather than a criminal one to cross the border illegally.
“I think she needs to continue putting together her vision for the future,” Moore said. “First of all, it’s remarkably disingenuous to call someone who was a prosecutor for her entire career, someone who is soft on crime or someone who believes in ‘defund the police,’ she’s never believed in defund the police.”
Early signs indicate an improvement in the way Americans view Harris. A new ABC News/Ipsos poll released Sunday showed her approval rating jumping from 35% to 43% in a week.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, D, also expressed optimism on Sunday that Harris’ campaign could resonate with voters even after Harris’ lackluster 2020 bid.
“Look, the electorate is energized. Democrats are ready to go, you’ve seen hundreds of thousands of people signing up to volunteer, plus our candidate is the Energizer Bunny. She’s been everywhere all the time over the last several days. And we’re excited about that, to get to see her in the battleground states and all over the country, and her message is one that I think resonates with people,” Pritzker told “This Week.”
Raddatz also pressed Pritzker on immigration — the root causes of which Harris was tasked with handling and which Republicans are hammering her on, though Pritzker largely laid the blame on former President Donald Trump for walking away from a bipartisan agreement to clamp down on the border.
“An enormous problem,” Pritzker said. “Guess what, Republicans were willing to work with Democrats to get something done. And who knows who blew that up, who blew up the opportunity for border security? It was Donald Trump.”
Pritzker, who has been discussed as a possible running mate for Harris, declined to say if he’s been asked for vetting materials. “Well certainly I’ve talked to Kamala Harris last week, of course as things were evolving, had a great conversation with her and I pledged her that no matter what the outcome of this process, that I’d be working hard for her and making sure that she wins in November,” he said.
And while he is competing against several other contenders from battleground states, he said the focus should be on someone who can deliver a cogent message.
“Winning those battleground states is most important. There’s no doubt,” he said. “But I think we’ve seen over the last, well, decades, that who you pick as your vice president doesn’t determine whether you’re going to win a state or not. What it does determine is whether you’ve got the message right across the board.”
Harris’ ascendance to her status as the likeliest nominee for Democrats comes after Democrats persuaded Biden that he no longer had a path to defeating Trump after last month’s debate and that he should drop out.
Moore was a public ally of Biden’s but said Sunday there were “real concerns.”
“I had private conversations with the president, and I’m a big believer that when you care about somebody, you tell them the truth. And I had private conversations where I was telling the president the truth. I also know that the president deserved better than people [who] were running around and going into public and demanding that the president of the United States step down,” he said.
“I think the truth is that there were real concerns. There are real concerns that I know that people had felt, but also that people were telling me that they had felt,” he added. “I’m a loyalty person. And I believe that you can have proper conversations and tell people the truth and be able to tell them what you’re hearing without also then turning around and publicly then trying to embarrass them.”
(ST. LOUIS.) — Progressives are on the short end of a spending war with pro-Israel and other establishment Democratic forces. And they know it.
Missouri Democratic Rep. Cori Bush’s primary loss Tuesday at the hands of St. Louis County prosecutor Wesley Bell put into stark relief once again how progressive lawmakers are at risk of getting swarmed by gobs of outside money if they become targets of well-heeled advocacy groups. Bell focused much of his race on local issues and congressional legislation, but he was backed by more than $8 million from the pro-Israel United Democracy Project.
Liberals for years have lamented lax campaign finance laws that allow outside groups to flood races with millions in spending. But until those laws are changed, the rules of the electoral road stand — and even progressives say they probably can’t catch up.
“You can try to out-organize it, the classic left formula of getting enough people at the doors and in the community as the antidote. But how do you do that to scale?” asked progressive Democratic strategist Angelo Greco. “You can’t match that unless you have your own fundraising operation, and we’re not organized at that level just yet.”
Progressives, who had been on an upswing since 2016, found themselves playing defense after Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel on Oct. 7 and the ensuing war in the Gaza Strip.
UDP, which is affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, and newer groups such as Democratic Majority for Israel, dumped millions into races to defeat candidates or lawmakers perceived as critical of Israel.
Bush’s defeat followed New York Democratic Rep. Jamaal Bowman’s loss to Westchester County Executive George Latimer. Latimer and UDP outspent Bowman and his allies by a nearly 5-to-1 margin, and Bush and her allies were outspent by Bell’s allies (including UDP) by a roughly 3.5-to-1 margin, according to AdImpact.
The attacks on Bush and Bowman largely didn’t focus on Israel, instead homing in on issues like their opposition to President Joe Biden’s infrastructure bill. But the two lawmakers’ criticism of Israel opened the door to the spending — and neither Bush nor Bowman could keep up on the airwaves.
“If she had just enough money to be on the air, they could have countered it,” said Joseph Geevarghese, the head of Our Revolution, a progressive group. “We’re not saying you’ve got to match dollar-for-dollar, but you’ve got to be able to have a presence.”
To be certain, not every liberal lawmaker is facing such daunting opposition. Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, one of the highest profile House progressives, is outspending her rivals in her Minneapolis primary, according to data from AdImpact.
But the Bowman and Bush losses have progressives confronting their inferior financial footing, all while still railing against campaign finance laws they deem too loose, experts said.
Some progressives said the best strategy is making such hefty outside spending unappetizing in Democratic politics and that investing more money of their own, even for progressives, shouldn’t be the objective.
“The goal should not be, how can we turn $20 million Democratic primaries into $40 million Democratic primaries. That is a race to the bottom for our democracy,” said Usamah Andrabi, a spokesperson for the progressive group Justice Democrats.
“We should force more members of Congress to stand up to these interests and make taking this money toxic,” he added. “Part of it is educating voters about who these special interest groups are … and why they’re advancing those interests.”
One avenue progressives eyed is triggering a legal challenge.
A petition in Maine would limit contributions to super PACs, vehicles that can spend unlimited sums. The goal is to trigger a court battle that makes its way to the Supreme Court, hoping to convince the justices that the 2010 Citizens United decision — which limited what campaigns themselves can raise, but not super PACs due to their perceived independence — is too permissive in today’s politics.
Other operatives pointed to progressives’ overall structure as an area for improvement.
The movement is highly fractured, with multiple advocacy groups with their own origin stories and policy niches all competing for a slice of the money pie. That’s on top of the candidates themselves running their own races.
Cooperation could be key, given that not all races are considered competitive and outside groups’ goals end up overlapping.
The tactic was tried once already this year, with Michigan Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a progressive without a serious primary challenger this year, donating $500,000 from her campaign to Justice Democrats’ “Squad” protection branch to help Bowman. And while the move didn’t save the New Yorker in the end, it could offer a precedent for greater collaboration.
“There needs to be a convening among progressives from different organizations, different leaders, to talk about the challenge, because what happened to Jamaal Bowman and what happened to Cori Bush is going to continue to happen,” Geevarghese said.
Beyond cooperation, some progressives also urged a more discerning strategy.
Some candidates have raised mounds of dough for safe races. Others have raked in cash for challenges to incumbents who are fairly well insulated. And still others have raised decent money but, as in the case of Bowman and Bush, adopted a more defensive posture, responding to attacks that defined them in voters’ eyes rather than establishing their own brands.
That, operatives said, has to change.
“Organizationally, we can do better about picking and choosing where to deploy those resources,” Greco said, adding that candidates and campaigns need to be better about “anticipating those attacks.”
“Cori Bush, actually as a Squad member, progressive member, if maybe more resources were put into telling the story that … she was a champion for the president’s agenda, instead of getting smeared as someone who was a detractor.”
Progressives’ critics, for their part, insisted that money isn’t the problem and that liberal lawmakers they targeted are just unpopular.
“I think the whole spending disparity issue, the way it’s being raised, is fundamentally insulting to voters. We provide voters with information that they may not otherwise have had. It’s up to them to decide whether that information is important,” said Democratic Majority for Israel President Mark Mellman.
And progressives conceded that the movement’s problems can’t be entirely chalked up to spending disparities.
Bowman, beyond being critical of Israel, floated false theories that sexual assault and rape did not occur during Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, and he drew negative headlines after pulling a fire alarm in the Capitol ahead of a House spending bill vote. Bush found herself in hot water after the Justice Department launched an investigation over her campaign’s spending on security services that included work by her husband.
And both voted against Biden’s signature infrastructure bill, a vote they chalked up to the legislation not fulfilling the president’s original promise, but that helped critics tag them as unserious legislators.
“Tactically, the campaign was messy. It was not a well-run campaign, and she had some unforced errors,” one progressive operative said of Bush’s reelection bid.
“Could they have been less principled and voted with everyone else? Sure, probably might have saved their careers. But that’s not the type of people we try to send to Congress,” the person added of the infrastructure votes.
But strategists expressed confidence that progressives could pick themselves up off the mat and that the movement’s fire hadn’t been doused by the recent losses.
“I have no doubt that does dissuade people from potentially running and dissuade them from speaking their conscience. So yeah, there’s concern about that,” Faiz Shakir, a prominent liberal operative, said of the spending against progressives. “But as long as there’s a beating heart of progressives out there to call attention to it, I believe that at least you’ll hear a debate and discourse about it.”
(WASHINGTON) — Former President Donald Trump will spend the week traveling to battleground states — a way of counterprogramming the Democratic National Convention, which kicks off on Monday — starting with remarks on the economy and energy in York, Pennsylvania, just a few hours before key speakers take the stage at the DNC.
On Monday, Trump will further highlight his economic proposal, following dueling remarks on the topic from both Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris last week.
Trump spoke about the economy at two separate events — one in North Carolina followed by one in Pennsylvania — during which he went back and forth between on-topic messaging, non sequiturs and personal attacks aimed at Harris and former President Joe Biden.
The former president and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance will continue to hold issue-centered campaign events throughout the week in states including Wisconsin, North Carolina, Arizona, Nevada and Georgia. The Trump campaign suggests that they are “dividing and conquering” with their ticket spread across the nation in the highly-contested states.
Each campaign stop will focus on a key election issue, Trump’s campaign said.
After economy-centered events in Pennsylvania on Monday, the campaign will focus on crime and safety on Tuesday, national security on Wednesday, immigration on Thursday — when the former president is expected to visit the southern border — and then will round out the week with “no tax on tips” events on Friday to highlight the policy Trump has advocated for.
The campaign’s schedule uptick comes as the Harris campaign criticized Trump’s lack of swing-state events in recent weeks. Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz barnstormed key swing states earlier this month.
As Trump’s campaign continues to accuse Harris of dodging the press, it has offered the media several opportunities to talk with Trump’s surrogates — with the presumed expectation that either Trump or Vance will take questions too.
Harris has not sat down for an official interview since the evening of the first presidential debate with Biden.
Trump allies including Sen. Ron Johnson, Sen. Rick Scott and Rep. Byron Donalds will travel to the convention host city of Chicago to host press conferences every day of the convention. In addition, the Trump campaign has teased a “special guest” on Thursday ahead of Harris accepting the Democratic Party’s nomination at the DNC.
“As they meet Americans where they are in battleground states across the country, President Trump and Senator Vance will remind voters that under their leadership, we can end inflation, protect our communities from violent criminals, secure the border, and Make America Great Again,” Trump Campaign Senior Advisers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles said in a statement.
The campaign suggests their strategy is being with everyday Americans and telling their stories — whereas they claim Harris and Democrats will roll out big names at the Democratic National Convention from “yesteryear,” including former President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former President Barack Obama and President Joe Biden.
In the evening, during the DNC’s primetime programming, Trump is scheduled to participate in fundraisers and media engagements, according to the campaign.
“Our goal and message that we’re trying to send other than continuing to define Kamala Harris and Tim Walz is a very clear signal that there’ll be no free shots on goal,” a campaign official said, pivoting to suggest that Harris’ “honeymoon” period is over.
“We believe that we have the winning message. We believe that the Democrats have the losing message,” the campaign official said.