Vice President Kamala Harris nears the end of search for running mate — with the choice in her hands

(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.

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(WASHINGTON) — As voters prepare to head to the polls in November, inflation, foreign policy and reproductive rights have dominated the national conversation, with environmental policy failing to emerge as a major ballot issue.

But with climate change fueling more damaging and deadly weather events, experts question if the effects of global warming have fallen victim to over-politicization on the national stage.

“There’s no innate reason that addressing climate change should be a partisan issue, but unfortunately, it has become one,” Gregory Dotson, former chief counsel of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and current environmental law professor at the University of Oregon, told ABC News.

“This is an extremely consequential election with regard to climate change,” Dotson added.

National polls from the Pew Research Center released in Feb. 2024, found that Americans on both sides of the political aisle rank climate change initiatives as a far lower policy priority than other ballot issues.

Between party lines, however, Democrats are substantially more likely than Republicans to prioritize protecting the environment (63% vs. 23%) and dealing with climate change (59% vs. 12%), according to the survey.

Still, these findings may underestimate the public’s support for climate initiatives despite not being a top voting priority.

“The large majority of Americans would prefer government action on climate change, but that doesn’t mean that they prioritize the issue when they’re going into their polling place and voting,” Nathaniel Stinnett, executive director of the Environmental Voter Project, told ABC News.

Stinnett referred to the general public’s concern over environmental issues as “a mile wide and an inch deep,” meaning there is general awareness, but it’s not pushing the needle one way or the other politically.

The campaign for the White House this election sees Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on the Democratic ticket and former President Donald Trump and Ohio Sen. JD Vance as the Republican nominees.

Among the several issues that contrast the parties is their approach to climate.

Trump and Vance have been vocal about domestic oil production on the campaign trail, vowing to reverse clean energy projects “on day one” and denouncing the Green New Deal as a “scam.”

Trump claimed at the Republican National Convention in July that an increased domestic production of oil and gas would lead to a “large-scale decline in prices,” for Americans at the gas pump.

The U.S. averaged a record-breaking 12.9 million barrels of crude oil production per day in 2023 under President Joe Biden’s tenure, breaking the previous global record set in 2019 under Trump’s leadership, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

“We can look at what the previous administration did on environmental policy, and they did not think this is something that was important and worth addressing,” Dotson said of Trump’s administration.

Trump has said his motivation behind withdrawing from climate initiatives, such as the Paris Climate Accord, is driven by economic needs and the push for energy independence.

“If Vice President Harris wins, I don’t think you would anticipate major changes, major reversals to address climate change,” Dotson added, specifically referencing the Inflation Reduction Act, which offers funding, programs and incentives to accelerate the transition to a clean energy economy.

Harris and her newly announced running mate, Walz, bring a history of progressive environmental measures to the race, with nonprofit climate groups dubbing the Democratic nominees a “winning ticket on climate.”

As a U.S. senator, Harris was an early co-sponsor of the Green New Deal and in 2019, as a candidate for president, Harris unveiled a plan to spend $10 trillion to reduce greenhouse gas emissions with a goal of getting to a zero-emissions economy by 2045.

As governor, Walz has pushed for climate action and growth in renewable energy. In 2019, he signed an executive order calling climate change an “existential threat,” and in 2023, he championed a budget bill requiring Minnesota to reach 100% of electricity from carbon-free resources by 2040.

In the countdown to the election, wildfires are raging across the West, tropical storms have threatened the East and unprecedented temperatures are affecting much of the nation.

The frequency and severity of these weather events are increased by the rise in greenhouse gas emissions, primarily through the burning of coal, natural gas and oil. The U.S. is the world’s second-largest emitter of greenhouse gases after China.

“There is nothing that’s going to affect people’s health, livelihood and safety more than environmental issues,” Paul Anastas, a professor in Yale University’s School of the Environment and former chief scientist in the Environmental Protection Agency, told ABC News.

“That is not the way it’s being addressed publicly, but I think it needs to be,” Anastas added, maintaining that if climate change were characterized as a health and safety issue, it wouldn’t be as divisive among party lines.

Anastas, who co-founded the Green Chemistry Institute and has won the Nobel Prize for his work in sustainability, fears that the conversation surrounding climate change is missing an integral piece – the solutions.

If the country is going to transition to clean energy, Anastas believes the existing oil and gas infrastructure is the best fit to make that a reality.

His work includes research on producing green hydrogen and alternate, nonpolluting ways to produce sustainable aviation fuels with carbon dioxide.

“No one has the infrastructure today better to make and transport that hydrogen than the oil and gas industry,” Anastas said. “The people who are making money off causing the problem are probably going to need to make money off advancing the solution,” he added.

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(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden on Monday visited the LBJ Presidential Library to mark the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act and gave remarks on his new proposals to reform the U.S. Supreme Court.

The remarks were Biden’s first major speech since his Oval Office address last week on his decision to exit the 2024 race.

In Austin, Texas, he discussed his administration’s work to protect civil rights and his calls for reforms to the nation’s highest court, including term limits and an enforceable code of conduct for justices as well as a constitutional amendment against presidential immunity, all of which face long-shot odds of congressional approval with a Republican-controlled House and closely divided Senate.

“In recent years, extreme opinions that the Supreme Court has handed down have undermined long established civil rights principles and protections,” Biden said.

“I have respect for institutions and the separation of powers laid out in the Constitution, but what’s happening now is not consistent with that doctrine of separation of powers. Extremism is undermining the public confidence in the court’s decisions,” he continued, checking off recent decisions that he said led him to the reform proposals, saying those decisions have “undermined long established civil rights principles and protections.”

“And most recently and most shockingly, the Supreme Court established in Trump vs. the United States a dangerous precedent,” Biden said. “They ruled, as you know, that the president of the United States has immunity for potential crimes he may have committed while in office, immunity. This nation is founded on the principle that there are no kings in America. Each of us is equal before the law. No one is above the law!”

The setting for Monday’s remarks was also significant, as Biden is the first sitting president since Lyndon B. Johnson to not seek reelection.

In stepping away from the campaign trail, Biden’s focus is now shifted to how to “finish the job” in the final few months of his presidency and cement the legacy of his decades-long political career.

“The president is focused like a laser beam on making sure that the next six months matter to the American people,” Stephen Benjamin, the director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, told reporters on Monday. “He is soliciting the ideas and thoughts of the best and brightest people in this administration, but also from across the country, asking people, ‘What is left undone, what else do we need to work to secure?'”

Benjamin said he expects the president to continue to work on accountability for the Supreme Court, fortifying the economy, lowering prices for American families and more.

On his 18-year term limit proposal, Biden said this will help ensure that the court changes with some regularity and would remove “an extreme court attacking the confirmation process.”

“That would make timing for the court’s nomination more predictable and less arbitrary. And reduce the chance that any single presidency imposes undue influence on generations to come,” he said.

Republicans in Congress signaled they are ready to challenge Biden’s agenda.

House Speaker Mike Johnson slammed the proposed Supreme Court reforms, which Biden is floating after several court controversies this term, as “dangerous” and said they are “dead on arrival in the House.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell also argued in floor remarks that the administration is pushing for reform because they don’t agree politically with the court’s recent decisions.

“Why is the Biden Harris administration so willing to put the crown jewel of our system of government, the independent judiciary, to the torch? Because it stands in their way,” McConnell said.

In closing, Biden spoke about Vice President Kamala Harris who supports his court reforms and who has now taken the torch from Biden as the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination.

“I’ve made clear how I feel about Kamala,” Biden said. “She has been a champion of rights throughout her career. She will continue to be an inspiring leader and project the very ideal of America.”

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