Election 2024 highlights: Harris unveils part of her emerging economic platform at North Carolina rally
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris appeared together for the first time Thursday since she replaced him as the Democratic presidential nominee.
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Vice President Kamala Harris unveiled her economic agenda in a speech Friday in Raleigh. She laid out her plans, including a proposal for a federal ban on price gouging on groceries. She also is proposing $25,000 in down payment help for certain first-time homebuyers and tax incentives for builders of starter homes, among other things.
In a media call on Friday, some of Donald Trump’s economic advisers warned against Harris’ coming economic policy. Trump campaign spokesman Brian Hughes calling her plans representative of “the most socialist and authoritarian model.”
What to know:
- DNC preparations: Four days before the Democratic National Convention opens in Chicago, the party’s proposed platform names the wrong candidate for president. The Democratic platform has not been updated since a draft was released July 13, eight days before President Joe Biden dropped out of the race.
- VP debate: Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Ohio Sen. JD Vance have agreed to debate each other on Oct. 1, setting up a matchup of potential vice presidents as early voting in some states gets underway for the general election.
- What the polls are saying: Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign is launching a $90 million advertising effort over the next three weeks to introduce the Democrat to voters and sharpen the contrast with Republican Donald Trump.
Vice President Kamala Harris announced a sweeping set of economic proposals Friday meant to cut taxes and lower the cost of groceries, housing and other essentials for many Americans, declaring, “Look, the bills add up.”
During a speech in the battleground state of North Carolina, Harris said “building up the middle class will be a defining goal of my presidency” while promoting her plan for a federal ban on price gouging on food producers and grocers. She also proposed $25,000 in down payment assistance for certain first-time home buyers and tax incentives for builders of starter homes.
She stressed tax breaks for families, as well as middle- and lower-income people, and lower health insurance premiums through the Affordable Care Act.
A spokesperson for Republican Donald Trump’s campaign called Harris’ plans representative of a “socialist and authoritarian model.”
In her speech, Harris offered stark contrasts with Trump’s economic proposals, including his call for steep tariffs on foreign goods. She said her opponent “wants to impose what is, in effect, a national sales tax on everyday products and basic necessities that we import from other countries.”
Michigan’s Department of State disqualified him as a presidential candidate for the upcoming general election because the affidavit of identity he submitted wasn’t properly notarized.
West was informed Friday in a letter that Michigan won’t certify him as a candidate following a challenge and review of the affidavit he submitted June 17. West failed to submit a response to the challenge by an Aug. 2 deadline, Elections Director Jonathan Brater wrote.
West is running as an Independent.
Michigan election law requires affidavits of identity for candidates filing to run for president and vice president without party affiliation by submitting petition signatures. West’s affidavit was notarized in Colorado but didn’t conform with that state’s law. Michigan says the affidavit contained unfilled blanks, the notary certificate failed to identify where it was notarized and did not include the notary public’s title of office. The notary public’s stamp also was on a separate sheet of paper and not included on the notary public’s certificate.
“Your affidavit of identity was not notarized in compliance with the laws of the state where it was notarized (Colorado), and therefore is not a valid notarization under the Michigan Law on Notarial Acts,” Brater wrote to West.
Vice President Kamala Harris received a large welcome party of North Carolina Democrats as she arrived in Raleigh for a rally on her emerging economic platform.
The welcome party included North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper and Attorney General Josh Stein, as well as members of the state’s congressional delegation including Reps. Alma Adams, Kathy Manning, Valerie Foushee and Wiley Nickel. The mayors of Raleigh, Morrisville and Durham and chair of Durham County’s board of commissioners were also present.
Harris hugged Cooper upon touching down in the Tar Heel State and chatted with each member of the welcome party. Foushee wore a Delta Sigma Theta-themed shirt, a Black sorority that has rallied for the vice president, as she embraced Harris. The vice president chatted with Durham County Commissioner Nida Allam while holding the commissioner’s three-month-old.
In a media call Friday, some of Trump’s economic advisers warned against Harris’ coming economic policy, with Trump campaign spokesman Brian Hughes calling her plans representative of “the most socialist and authoritarian model.”
Kevin Hassett, a former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors, called it “completely preposterous” for the government to play a role in setting food prices, a reference to Harris’ proposed federal ban on “corporate price-gouging” for food and groceries.
Stephen Moore, who’s advised Trump on economic issues, argued that inflation increases under the Biden administration have been “catastrophic,” adding the situation is “one of the problems that has been created by Biden and Harris that couldn’t possibly be blamed on Trump, although they try to blame a lot of the problems that they’ve created on Trump.”
Former President Donald Trump owns more than $1 million worth of cryptocurrency and up to $250,000 in gold bars along with the portfolio of golf courses and real estate properties that have made him a billionaire, according to newly released financial disclosures.
The details come from documents filed by Trump as part of his Republican presidential bid that were released Thursday night.
The more than 200 pages of paperwork give a limited picture of the real estate developer-turned reality TV star-turned-president’s money and investments. In accordance with federal law, most assets’ values are listed in a range, though Trump reports the precise figure for some of his income. The document doesn’t detail the former president’s business losses, making it impossible to determine how much of a profit any of his myriad holdings provides.
▶ Read more about Trump’s financial disclosures.
During a Friday event in Milwaukee, Vance was asked about blowback Trump has received for characterizing the Presidential Medal of Freedom as “better” than the military’s top honor, the Congressional Medal of Honor.
Vance, who served in the U.S. Marine Corps, said “the veteran community is very much behind Donald Trump.”
During an event at his New Jersey golf club on Thursday, Trump said the Medal of Freedom is “much better” than the top military honor because the servicemen and women who receive it have “been hit so many times by bullets or they’re dead.”
Trump was talking about the award after an introduction from GOP mega donor Miriam Adelson, to whom he gave the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2019. Trump went on to call Adelson “a healthy, beautiful woman, and they’re rated equal.”
“I don’t think him complimenting and saying a nice word about a person who received the Presidential Medal of Freedom is in any way denigrating those who received military honors,” Vance said Friday.
Speaking at the Milwaukee Police Association on Friday, Vance was asked if Trump should instead focus more on policy than making pointed criticism of foes, such as Harris.
“I don’t think the president needs to pivot, and if I told him that, I can guess what he’d say,” Vance said, also noting that he felt he and Trump were far more transparent about their policy ideas than Harris.
“I think that the reason that President Trump has been so successful connecting with Americans is, even when they disagree with something that he might say, they know that he just is who he is,” Vance said.
Much of Vance’s remarks focused on Harris’ record on crime, saying her policies make the job of police officers “harder” and that the vice president is “trying to redefine her record as a tough on crime prosecutor” but her actions are “the opposite of tough on crime.”
Before her election to the U.S. Senate and service as vice president, Harris served as a prosecutor in San Francisco and as California’s attorney general.
The network says Friday that it will host the debate Sept. 10 at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.
“World News Tonight” anchor David Muir and ABC News Live “Prime” anchor Linsey Davis are slated to serve as moderators.
In terms of qualifying for the debate, ABC News says participants must reach at least 15% support in four separate national polls of registered or likely voters that meet the network’s standards. Polls must be conducted between Aug. 1 and Sept. 3 for candidates to qualify.
ABC News announced last week that both Harris and Trump had accepted its invitation to participate in the Sept. 10 debate. Other debates have been proposed on other networks, but Harris has said she’ll consider others after she faces off with Trump on Sept. 10.
If you’re not looking too closely, some recent Kamala Harris ads may give the false impression that some leading news organizations are taking sides in the campaign for president.
The advertisements, which have turned up in some Google search feeds, include links to legitimate news stories but feature — in words that appear to be headlines from the originating news organizations — pro-Harris messages written by the Democrat’s campaign. They were revealed in an article by Axios this week.
Google and the campaign defend the practice as legitimate and legal, used in the past by both Democrats and Republicans. But it has raised concern from some of the outlets and others.
Said Jane Kirtley, a media ethics professor at the University of Minnesota: “What it’s about is confusion and deception.”
▶ Read more about Harris’s latest ad campaign
In a message sent to supporters Friday, Vice President Kamala Harris recalled the “bittersweet” feeling of winning her Senate seat representing California, but learning Donald Trump had defeated Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in the presidential race.
Relating a story she’s told before, Harris said she ripped up her acceptance speech and instead told supporters, “We will fight.”
Afterward, Harris said she went home, sat on her couch, opened up a family-size bag of Doritos and “watched the TV with utter shock and dismay.”
Of the current moment, Harris noted in the email, “Two things are true eight years later: I still love Doritos, and we still have not stopped fighting.”
Campaign officials say they’ll be hosting more than 2,800 events across the country in what they’re terming a “Weekend of Action” with organizers, surrogates and supporters making their case to voters.
The campaign says it will offer traditional events like phone banking and canvassing, a well as organizing booths at cultural events. Along with surrogates including Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia and Rep. Pramila Jayapal, officials say more than 10,000 volunteers have signed up for shifts across the weekend.
Rep. Jared Golden is a moderate Democrat who has a history of breaking from his party and is fighting to retain his seat in a Trump-friendly district. He’s seeking a fourth term and faces a challenge from Republican Austin Theriault, a state lawmaker.
Golden issued a statement Thursday that he said followed “persistent requests” for a comment on the presidential race. He said he won’t issue an endorsement because he’s “running to represent all the people of this district, regardless of who they vote for at the top of the ticket.”
Golden represents Maine’s mostly rural 2nd Congressional District, in which former President Donald Trump has twice won an electoral vote. Maine’s other district is heavily democratic and the state at large has gone blue in every presidential election since 1992.
The work will be overseen by Linda McMahon, who formerly led the U.S. Small Business Administration, and now works for America First Policy Institute, and Howard Lutnick, the CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald.
Assisting the effort will be Trump’s vice presidential pick, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, as well as his two eldest sons: Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump.
Trump says in a statement that he has “absolute confidence the Trump-Vance Administration will be ready to govern effectively on Day One.”
The Presidential Transition Act of 1963 lays out steps the federal government must take to prepare for a potential transfer of power, including things like providing office space to campaigns.
A Donald Trump ally who faces felony charges of trying to illegally access and tamper with voting machines is seeking the Republican nomination for the highest court in Michigan, an epicenter of efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
In June, attorney Matthew DePerno announced his intent to run for the state Supreme Court, almost one year after he was charged and arraigned.
Delegates will vote on nominees Saturday, Aug. 24, at the Michigan GOP party convention for two state Supreme Court seats in a battleground state where the court has the potential final say in Michigan election matters.
Michigan Supreme Court races are officially nonpartisan — meaning candidates appear on the ballot without party labels — but candidates are nominated at party conventions. Democratic-backed justices currently hold a 4-3 majority. Republican nominees would have to win both seats to take back majority control while Democrats stand to gain a 5-2 favorability.
The “Squad,” a group of progressive lawmakers in the House, is set to shrink next year after two members suffered primary defeats this election cycle following an unprecedented deluge of special interest spending.
The primary losses for Reps. Cori Bush in Missouri and Jamaal Bowman in New York came over the summer and dealt a blow to the progressive faction, which had amassed considerable clout within the Democratic Party since its initial rise in 2018.
The cohort of Black and brown lawmakers — including Reps. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez of New York and Summer Lee of Pennsylvania — became the target of pro-Israel PACs like the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, late last year after members criticized Israel’s response to the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas. Eight months later, AIPAC’s super political action committee, United Democracy Project, helped unseat Bush and Bowman after pouring nearly $25 million combined into those races.
FILE - Vice President Kamala Harris is reflected in a table as she speaks while meeting with state legislators about protecting reproductive rights, Friday, July 8, 2022, in her ceremonial office inside the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House complex in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
Harris is zeroing in on high food and housing prices as her campaign previews an economic policy speech Friday in North Carolina, promising to push for a federal ban on price gouging on groceries and laying out plans to cut other costs as she looks to address one of voters’ top concerns.
Five summers ago, Donald Trump’s running mate JD Vance took the stage at a conservative conference and tackled the United States’ declining fertility rate.
“Our people aren’t having enough children to replace themselves. That should bother us,” Vance told the gathering in Washington.
His criticism then of Vice President Kamala Harris, now the Democratic presidential nominee, and other high-profile Democrats as “childless cat ladies” who didn’t have a “direct stake” in the country have drawn particular attention since Trump picked him as his running mate.
His rhetoric could threaten the Republican ticket’s standing with women. But it’s delighted those in the pro-natalist movement.
▶Read more about Vance’s views on birth rates
Politicians often recalibrate in the face of shifting public opinion and circumstance. Across two decades in elected offices, Vice President Kamala Harris is no exception.
She has staked out expedient and – at times — contradictory positions as she climbed the political ladder.
In addition to reversing course on fracking and cash bail, Harris has changed tack on issues including health care (she supported a plan to eliminate private health insurance before she opposed it), immigration and gun control.
▶Read more about Harris’ shifting policy positions
The Trump-Vance campaign says the Republican vice presidential nominee is preparing to dissolve what’s left of the modest charitable effort he launched to help people in Appalachia after writing “Hillbilly Elegy.”
About $11,000 remains in the Our Ohio Renewal Foundation’s account, although the nonprofit has been inactive since 2022.
Members of Congress are pressing the Pentagon’s top two leaders to ensure the military is not swept up in politics during the presidential election and that active-duty troops are not used illegally as a domestic police force.
In a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Gen. CQ Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, lawmakers asked the defense leaders to reaffirm that U.S. law prohibits forces from being used for civilian law enforcement and that they should not carry out unlawful orders.
Now that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate, his drunken driving arrest from 1995 in Nebraska — long before he entered politics — is getting renewed scrutiny.
Former President Donald Trump blames Vice President Kamala Harris for massive price hikes that have left Americans are struggling. Harris “broke the economy, broke the border and broke the world, frankly,” Trump said.
Yesterday, Trump gave his second news conference in as many weeks as he adjusts to a newly energized Democratic ticket ahead of next week’s Democratic National Convention.
At his New Jersey golf club, he blended falsehoods about the economy with misleading statements and deeply personal attacks about his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris.