Highlights from the 2024 presidential election campaign: July 19

Former President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke on the phone Friday, nearly five years to the day after another call between the two led to Trump’s first impeachment.

Both men described the call as positive on X, the website formerly known as Twitter. Trump said it was “very good” while Zelenskyy wished Trump “strength and absolute safety.”

The phone call comes a day after Trump officially clinched the Republican nomination for president at the RNC in Milwaukee and as questions still remain as to whether a second Trump term would continue to support military aid for Ukraine as it battles its yearlong war with Russia.

Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown has become the latest Democrat to call for President Biden to end his campaign for reelection. The longtime senator is facing a tough reelection himself in one of several critical states for Democrats if they plan to maintain control of the Senate.

Citing topics like job growth and protecting Social Security, Brown said, “At this critical time, our full attention must return to these important issues. I think the President should end his campaign.”

The longtime senator represents a conservative state and is in a competitive race against Republican Bernie Moreno, who is endorsed by Trump.

Today, a dozen members of Congress have called for Biden to step aside.

National security adviser Jake Sullivan said Friday that President Joe Biden is “more than up to the job of being president.” He cited the night of April 13, when Biden oversaw an hourslong U.S. operation to shoot down unprecedented Iranian airstrikes on Israel.

“I’ll tell you, when 110 ballistic missiles are in the air” and must be shot down, “you get to see in living color in real time the capacity of your commander in chief.”

The U.S., Israel and other allies that night downed what Israel said was 99% of about 300 missiles and drones that Iran launched at Israel.

Sullivan said he walked out after that night “thinking I am damn glad we have that guy at the head of the table in the situation room.”

The Congressional Black Caucus prides itself on its authority among Democrats and its influence with President Joe Biden in particular. So far, only one of its roughly 60 members have joined calls for Biden to drop his reelection bid due to concerns over his age and ability to win.

But the caucus’ broad backing of the president varies widely, ranging from enthusiastic support to outright skepticism. And a small but growing number within the group are publicly expressing doubts about Biden’s candidacy.

Black voters are widely credited with helping Biden clinch the Democratic nomination four years ago and then defeat Republican Donald Trump. Whether Black lawmakers stick with the president now, and how fervently they do so, could be critical in the coming days as pressure builds from the highest levels of the Democratic Party for Biden to end his campaign.

▶ Read about Black lawmakers’ relationship with the president

For better or worse, former President Trump had a large audience watching him deliver his nomination acceptance speech at the RNC on Thursday.

An estimated 25.4 million people watched the final night of the convention on one of 14 networks that were covering it, the Nielsen company said on Friday. Viewership peaked at 28.4 million between 10:45 and 11 p.m. Eastern, at the beginning of Trump’s speech, Nielsen said.

That would be good news for the ex-president. The early part of his speech, where he spoke dramatically about last Saturday’s attempt on his life, was generally regarded as its most effective. As it dragged on past the 90-minute part and past midnight on the East Coast, Trump largely went off-script for remarks that resembled his typical stump speech.

Fox News Channel had 9.4 million viewers during Trump’s speech, comfortably ahead of any other network. An estimated 72 percent of the viewers were aged 55 and up, Nielsen said.

It was the most-watched night of the convention, which is typical for the evening when the presidential nominee speaks.

The total number of representatives and senators calling for Biden to exit the race Friday has swelled to 11.

Rep Morgan McGarvey of Kentucky called Biden an “incredibly effective and empathetic leader,” praising his record on job growth and climate issues. However, he said that the party could not “risk the focus of the campaign being anything other than Donald Trump” and his ilk.

New Mexico Rep. Gabe Vasquez said that while Biden is “an honorable public servant who has dedicated his career to bettering the lives of all Americans,” he believes there is too much at risk in the election and said he should “step aside.”

Vasquez is running for a second term in a swing district along the U.S. border with Mexico where partisan control has flipped in each of the last three elections.

Democratic Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey, a longtime Biden ally who is in the middle of his own campaign for reelection, said this week that while he still supports Biden at the top of the ticket, he understands his constituents are concerned.

“I’ve stated my opinion. At the same time, I’ve talked to a lot of people around the state that have had concerns ever since the debate, and I think those things are concerns that I need to take into consideration,” Casey said Thursday at an event in Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania.

“My position has been very clear and I think the president will do what he’s always done best, and that is put the interest of the country first,” said Casey, who grew up on the same street as Biden in Scranton and whose families have known each other for decades.

Contacted Friday, Casey’s office referred The Associated Press to his remarks a day earlier.

Utah’s Republican governor — a longtime skeptic of Donald Trump — said Friday that “God had a hand” in saving the former president from an attempted assassination.

Gov. Spencer Cox, who is up for reelection in November, said he’s decided to back Trump’s campaign after recently facing criticism within his party for being too moderate.

Just last week, Cox told an interviewer that he planned to write in a candidate for president in November.

But in a letter to Trump released by Cox on Friday, the governor offered fawning words of support and said Trump has an opportunity to bring the nation together.

“I know we have some differences and you probably don’t like me much. And that’s OK. I get it,” Cox wrote, adding, “I will do my best to help and support you.”

Earlier this year, Cox joined Biden at a White House event in which they called for less bitterness in politics and more bipartisanship. Cox had also expressed a desire for a different Republican presidential nominee.

Minnesota Rep. Betty McCollum, a Democrat who has served in the U.S. House since 2001, has joined others in her party in calling for President Biden to step aside and explicitly endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to take his place.

“To give Democrats a strong, viable path to winning the White House, I am calling upon President Biden to release his delegates and empower Vice-President Harris to step forward to become the Democratic nominee for President,” McCollum said in a statement.

McCollum also suggested that Harris would need a “strong Midwestern running-mate” and encouraged her to select Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.

McCollum’s endorsement of Harris and her mention of Walz are among the first public signs that some Democrats are beginning to look beyond Biden, focusing on potential candidates who they believe can effectively challenge Trump in November.

Gen. CQ Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, resisted wading into the politics of the presidential race during a session at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado on Friday.

But when asked how the president was when he last spoke with Biden, Brown replied, “All the times I’ve engaged with the president, he’s been engaged. He’s asked very pointed questions and made decisions.”

Brown said he last engaged with Biden last week, which would have been during the NATO summit in Washington, D.C.

White House doctor Kevin O’Connor said the president still has a dry cough and hoarseness, but that his COVID-19 symptoms have improved.

O’Connor said Friday in his latest update on the president’s health that subsequent testing confirmed the coronavirus infection. He said Biden’s other vitals, such as his pulse, blood pressure and temperature, are normal and that he is tolerating treatment well.

Biden is being given the drug Paxlovid and is isolating at his home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.

A swath of Americans watching President Biden is seeing something beyond debate-stage stumbles and prime-time miscues: Themselves.

Debate about the 81-year-old Democrat’s fitness for another term is especially resonating with other older Americans who, like him, want to stay on the job.

“People were telling me I should retire too,” says 89-year-old D’yan Forest, a New York comedian. “But you’ve got to keep working, no matter what.”

People 75 and older are the fastest-growing age group in the U.S. workforce. All told, about one in five Americans aged 65 and older are employed, according to the Census Bureau. Many older adults are wary of seeing a peer shoved aside because of his age and, like Forest, insist it should be up to each individual when they decide to exit the workplace.

▶ Read more about older Americans’ relationship with Biden

Seven Democratic state senators in heavily Democratic-leaning Massachusetts have penned an open letter calling on Biden to withdraw from the presidential race.

While crediting Biden for “a lifetime of distinguished public service to our nation,” including his defeat of Trump, the senators say it’s time to pass the torch to the next generation of Democratic leaders.

“Most Americans, including the majority of Democrats, now believe that President Biden is not capable of vigorously campaigning and serving as president for another four years,” the senators wrote in a letter release Thursday evening. “He is unable to effectively prosecute the case against Donald Trump, who represents a grave threat to the future of this country and the world.”

To borrow a favorite phrase from the man himself, President Biden is at an inflection point.

Is his on-the-ropes reelection campaign about public service or his ego? About securing his legacy or shaping the future? Such opposing forces of American politics have been clashing with each other since his awful debate with former President Trump.

Biden now is weighing whether to bow to the mounting pressure to step aside. His decision will be based not just on this moment but on his long history in public life and the extraordinary personal struggles he has endured since the dawn of his political career.

▶ Read more about Biden’s inflection point

Rep. Greg Landsman, a Democrat from Cincinnati, has joined fellow legislative colleagues in asking for Biden to step aside after what he called “weeks of consideration and hundreds of conversations with constituents.”

He said Biden cares deeply about the country, democracy, freedom and working people, but is no longer the best person to make the case against Donald Trump.

“It is time for President Biden to step aside and allow us to nominate a new leader who can reliably and consistently make the case against Donald Trump and make the case for the future of America.” Landsman won Ohio’s closely divided 1st Congressional District in 2022 by just 5.6 percentage points.

California Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a senior House Democrat who is close to former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, has written a letter to President Joe Biden and asked him to step aside from his reelection campaign.

Lofgren wrote that she is “aware that you have been provided data indicating that you in all likelihood will lose the race for president” and says his loss could potentially impact down-ballot races.

Lofgren, who was a member of the House Jan. 6 committee that investigated the 2021 attack on the Capitol by Trump’s supporters, said, “I know, perhaps as well as anyone, how unsuitable Donald Trump is to be President.”

Lofgren is the 8th Democrat to come out and ask Biden to step aside on Friday. More than two dozen Democrats have publicly called on him to exit the race.

From his vacation home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, where he’s recovering from COVID-19, Biden signals that he’s not going anywhere when it comes to the presidential race.

In a statement Friday responding to Trump’s RNC address, Biden said he would be back on the campaign trail next week to “continue exposing the threat of Donald Trump’s Project 2025 agenda” while contrasting it with his own record.

As for the speech, Biden said it was the “same Donald Trump” that voters rejected in 2020.

“For over 90 minutes, he focused on his own grievances, with no plan to unite us and no plan to make life better for working people,” Biden said. “He avoided mentioning his Project 2025 agenda, but still proudly flaunted the worst of MAGA extremism.”

Pressed on whether Biden should drop out of the presidential race, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said that ultimately it’s up to the president to decide if he wants to continue his campaign.

“The ticket that exists right now is the ticket that we can win on. There is of course work to be done, and that in fact is the case because we are an evenly divided country,” Jeffries said in an interview on WNYC radio on Friday.

Asked if he owes voters a clear answer on whether he thinks Biden should exit the race, Jeffries said: “The decision is one that can be made by only a single individual, the president of the United States of America, who has had an incredible 50-plus-year career in public service that includes the last three years in terms of legislative accomplishments, which are transformational, and incredible leadership on the global stage.”

“President Biden is correct when he says that he went through a primary process and 14 million or so voters gave him the Democratic nomination. It’s his decision to make,” he added.

Jeffries declined to divulge details of a closed-door meeting he had with the president on Thursday.

U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico on Friday called on Biden to exit the race, making him the third Senate Democrat to do so.

“By passing the torch, he would secure his legacy as one of our nation’s greatest leaders and allow us to unite behind a candidate who can best defeat Donald Trump and safeguard the future of our democracy,” said Heinrich, who is up for reelection this fall.

The director of the U.S. Secret Service will appear Monday to answer questions in front of a congressional panel about the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.

That’s according to a message posted Friday on the social platform X by Anthony Guglielmi, a spokesman for the Secret Service.

“We are committed to better understanding what happened before, during and after the assassination attempt of former President Trump to ensure it never happens again,” he said.

The House Oversight and Accountability Committee scheduled the hearing for Monday and the Department of Homeland Security initially suggested other dates that Director Kimberly Cheatle could appear in a letter to the committee but the committee rejected those dates.

Freshman Michigan Rep. Shri Thanedar, a Democrat from Detroit, acknowledged internal party tensions regarding President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign during a phone interview with The Associated Press on Friday but said it was “too late” to consider changing candidates.

Thanedar, whose district could prove critical in Biden’s reelection campaign, reaffirmed his support for Biden but added that some of his constituents in recent days have expressed concerns about the president’s age.

“In the end, it is President Biden’s decision. Nobody else can make that decision. He certainly has a right to step down if he so chooses to, but he has — in my personal conversations with him — indicated he has no intention to do that,” Thanedar said.

Four more House Democrats representing a wide swath of the caucus have called on Biden to step aside from the race.

“It is now time for you to pass the torch to a new generation of Democratic leaders,” they wrote. “We must defeat Donald Trump to save our democracy.”

The letter released on Friday is from U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman of California, who leads the House task force fighting the far-right Project 2025 agenda; U.S. Rep. Mark Veasey of Texas and a member of the Congressional Black Caucus; U.S. Rep. Chuy Garcia of Illinois and part of the Hispanic caucus; and U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, a leader of the progressive caucus.

The president of the United Auto Workers is slamming what he called an “attack” on the union from former President Donald Trump during the Republican’s acceptance of his party’s nomination at its convention in Milwaukee.

“Our union isn’t the problem. The working class isn’t the problem. Corporate greed and the billionaires’ hero, mascot, and lapdog Donald Trump, are the problem,” UAW President Shawn Fain said in a statement Friday. “Don’t get played by this scab billionaire.”

Trump has long slammed UAW leadership, arguing that rank-and-file members support him despite the union formally endorsing President Joe Biden’s reelection bid.

“Donald Trump always has and always will side with the billionaire class against the working class,” Fain said. “He doesn’t want to protect American autoworkers. He wants to pad the pockets of the ludicrously wealthy auto executives.”

U.S. Sen. Chris Coons, the chairman of Biden’s reelection campaign, on Friday called reports that Biden was stepping down over the weekend “nonsense.”

Asked if he were recommending that Biden step down, he told The Associated Press, “I’m not commenting on that. I’m also not recommending that.”

President Joe Biden’s campaign chair is acknowledging that he has “seen some slippage in support” but that he is “absolutely” still in the race and can still beat former President Donald Trump.

Biden reelection campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon told MSNBC on Friday that the growing calls for Biden to leave the race have made for difficult moments. But she insisted Biden isn’t dropping out and “we have multiple pathways to victory.”

The campaign has “seen some slippage in support, but it has been a small movement,” O’Malley Dillon said of the weeks since the president’s shaky debate performance late last month. That has caused many in his own party to urge Biden to bow out before November’s election.

O’Malley Dillon said that, after he recovers from COVID, Biden would be out campaigning next week. She urged Democrats to unify behind him and against Trump.

Former President Barack Obama has a delicate balance to strike: how to weigh the mounting opposition to President Joe Biden continuing his campaign with his loyalty to his former running mate.

In recent days, Obama has taken calls from congressional leaders, Democratic governors and key donors in which he has shared their unease about the prospect of Biden’s campaign following his calamitous June 27 debate performance against his predecessor, Donald Trump.

But even as Obama has listened to Democrats’ concerns, he has insisted that the decision to remain in the race is only for Biden to make, according to several people familiar with the matter who requested anonymity to discuss the private conversations.

▶ Read more about how Obama is responding to the debate over Biden’s candidacy

Tucker Carlson returned to Fox News’ airwaves 15 months after being unceremoniously fired, seen Thursday in its coverage of a Republican National Convention speech that highlighted his growing influence in Donald Trump’s world.

Carlson called the Republican nominee to return as president a changed man who effectively “became the leader of this nation” following last Saturday’s assassination attempt.

His 11-minute speech in Milwaukee also highlighted changes in the media personality, who had said privately following the 2020 election that he “truly can’t wait” to ignore Trump. Before being given the prime-time role on the convention’s climactic night, he’d been seen throughout the convention and reportedly lobbied Trump to select Ohio Sen. JD Vance as his running mate.

Fox News aired Carlson’s speech in prime time, during the same hour he had once ruled as cable television news’ most popular personality. CNN and MSNBC did not carry it.

“That was Tucker Carlson,” his Fox replacement, Jesse Watters, said. “You may remember him from the 8 o’clock hour here.”

▶ Read more about Carlson’s return to Fox airwaves

The sometimes contradictory branding continued with the choice of speakers in the final hours of the convention.

Earlier in the week, Trump deployed females to soften his image: his former press secretary and Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders; former White House counselor Kellyanne Conway; his 17-year-old granddaughter, Kai Trump.

But on the RNC’s biggest night, Trump lined up a number of figures from the world of professional fighting, including Hulk Hogan, a telling choice for someone who has long admired traditional masculinity, praised tough guys and embraced a combative, no-holds-barred style of politics.

That image of toughness is one that Trump summoned immediately after the attempt on his life days ago, when, right after he was shot and injured, he thrust his fist into the air and mouthed, “Fight!” — a call his supporters have taken up as a chant.

▶ Read more takeaways from the final night of the RNC

On Friday, the Democratic National Committee‘s rulemaking arm expects to meet to discuss plans for the virtual roll call nominating the president in early August, ahead of the party’s convention later that month.

Campaign officials say Biden was even more committed to staying in the race even as the calls for him to go mounted. And senior West Wing aides have had no internal discussions or conversations with the president about Biden dropping out.

But there is also time to reconsider. Biden has been told the campaign is having trouble raising money, and key Democrats see an opportunity as he is away from the campaign for a few days to encourage his exit. Among his Cabinet, some are resigned to the likelihood of him losing in November.

Republicans are wrapping a nominating convention that has celebrated former President Donald Trump not just as a party leader but a living martyr who survived a would-be assassin’s bullet and is ready to work for everyday Americans after a sweeping victory in November.

The unified portrayals sought to erase the image of a man whose presidency often swirled in chaos and infighting and ended with a violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Democrats have repeatedly wielded images of that day to try to thwart his return and spotlighted his recurring use of inflammatory and hardline rhetoric.

There’s plenty of campaigning left between now, early voting windows and Election Day. So the effectiveness of the messaging effort remains to be seen. But it’s been a striking four days for a Republican Party that over three presidential elections has been reshaped by Trump’s personality and his politics.

▶ Read more takeaways from the closing stanza of the GOP gathering in Wisconsin

Trump, the name and the man, has been ubiquitous for decades. Americans and the world recognized those gold letters, T-R-U-M-P, and watched him say, “You’re fired!” on his hit show “The Apprentice” long before Trump first ran for president. He took over the GOP and won the presidency in 2016 as the unapologetically bombastic political outsider. He was engaging in the same kind of rhetoric and showmanship last Saturday when he was nearly assassinated in Pennsylvania.

But over four days in Milwaukee, speaker after speaker pitched the former president as a softer, more compassionate man who helps people individually and is determined to help Americans across the country in another White House term.

On Thursday, ahead of Trump’s nomination acceptance speech, those who spoke described a different version of Trump from the finger-pointing, podium-pounding figure who rails through stemwinding rally speeches about his political opponents and recirculates his lies that President Joe Biden’s victory in 2020 was fraudulent.

▶ Read more takeaways from the RNC

Republicans made a point not just of blasting Biden, but also Vice President Kamala Harris. It’s an obvious move to position the party for the possibility that the 81-year-old Biden ends his campaign and Democrats turn to Harris.

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo listed Biden and Harris as joint owners of various bad policies. “He and Vice President Harris are providing appeasement to the pro-Hamas radicals” in the U.S., Pompeo said at one point, naming the No. 2 Democrat but not the president.

Those kinds of rhetorical efforts stood out even further because of the relatively few mentions early Thursday of Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance. The Ohio senator gave his acceptance speech Wednesday and was welcomed as a potential Trump successor in the “Make America Great Again” movement. But it’s Trump’s movement.

▶ Read more takeaways from the RNC

At least 10 speakers — from friends and employees of Trump to political leaders, religious voices and family members — claimed that Trump’s failure to suffer greater injury or death during the shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania, was no less than divine intervention.

“It was a millimeter miracle that saved his life,” said the Rev. Lorenzo Sewell, a Detroit pastor. “If President Trump had moved just a miracle, we would not be here tonight hearing how he’s going to make America great again.”

“Could it be Jesus Christ that preserved him for a time such as this?” Sewell said, prompting one the largest ovations of the evening before Trump took the stage.

The theme started immediately when Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley of North Carolina opened the proceedings plainly. “It is a miracle that we are here tonight,” Whatley said. “It’s proof we are all protected by the mighty hand of God.”

And Trump’s son Eric also acknowledged the divine, “By the grace of God, divine intervention and your guardian angel, you survived.”

Some people who attended Trump’s speech were struck by the difference in tone from Trump, but appreciated what they heard to be a message of unity they say is sorely needed.

“I thought it was sincere. I thought it was passionate. I thought it was from his heart,” said Stacey Malloy, a lawyer from Weathersfield, Vermont.

She, like many in the audience and speakers Thursday, said she believed Trump felt a higher power protecting him on Saturday, which has changed him.

“I feel he knows perhaps there was a greater force in the world that was at work,” Malloy said.

Rebecca Pratt of Dallas, Texas, put it more simply. “This is a man who was changed. You could tell by the way he discussed the shooting. It was very thoughtful.”

Trump spoke for more than an hour, touching on a plethora of topics, but there were a number of highly anticipated subjects that the former president did not touch.

The biggest of them was the issue of reproductive rights. Abortion is one of Republicans’ most difficult campaign issues. Trump takes credit for overturning national abortion rights with his appointment of three Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn Roe, but he says he wants to leave the issue to the states to set their own laws and has said he would not sign a national abortion ban.

Also not mentioned was Vice President Kamala Harris, who in recent weeks has become the target of Trump’s criticism. As Democratic upheaval over President Biden’s debate performance grows, there are rumors that Harris would lead the top of the ticket if Biden were to step down. Trump’s campaign and allies have been adamant that Biden must remain on the top of the ticket.

And lastly, Trump did not mention the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021. Some of his many legal battles and dozens of other Justice Department cases against his supporters center on the incident. It is a day that Democrats have used for several years to document what they say is a candidate who is a clear and present danger to democracy. Trump has mentioned the insurrection in many of his previous political speeches, but it was a topic left untouched at the RNC.

Speaking on a wide range of national security issues at the Republican National Convention, Mike Pompeo, secretary of state under Trump, criticized Biden as being silent on Americans held hostage in the Gaza Strip by Hamas: “President Biden won’t even talk about the fact that Americans are still being held there by the Iranian regime,” he said.

But that’s not accurate. Biden has spoken multiple times about the Americans who were among the 240 people taken hostage by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023. Eight Americans are reportedly still in captivity, including three who were killed.

For example, three days after the attack that started the Israel-Hamas war, Biden said, “We now know that American citizens are among those being held by Hamas.” Soon after, on October 20, 2023, he said, “As I told the families of Americans being held captive by Hamas, we’re pursuing every avenue to bring their loved ones home.”

Biden released a statement on Jan. 14, 2024, that described the day as “a devastating and tragic milestone — 100 days of captivity for the more than 100 innocent people, including as many as 6 Americans, who are still held being hostage by Hamas in Gaza.” And more recently, on April 27, he wrote in a post on his official Facebook page: “I will not rest until every hostage, like Abigail, ripped from their families and held by Hamas is back in the arms of their loved ones. They have my word. Their families have my word.”

▶ Read more AP Fact Checks

As people filter out of the convention center, the streets are largely quiet, save for a few helicopters whirring overhead and occasional chants in support of Trump.

There is no sign of major protests currently — a rarity for conventions, where tense clashes often erupt between opposing camps. Earlier in the week, some protesters suggested the assassination attempt against Trump had dimmed the likelihood of major demonstrations against the Republican nominee.

Party Chairman Michael Whatley has adjourned the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

A group of delegates and alternates from Texas stood on a balcony following Trump‘s balloon drop and asked people below to bat the large golden orbs up to them.

As President Biden faces a growing drumbeat of pressure to drop his reelection bid, a majority of Democrats think his vice president would make a good president herself.

A new poll from the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that about 6 in 10 Democrats believe Kamala Harris would do a good job in the top slot. About 2 in 10 Democrats don’t believe she would, and another 2 in 10 say they don’t know enough to say.

Since Biden’s debate debacle on June 27, many Democrats have privately and even openly looked to Harris to step in and succeed Biden as the party’s presidential nominee, believing she has a better chance against GOP nominee Donald Trump. For her part, Harris has remained completely loyal to Biden, being one of his toughest defenders in the aftermath of the disastrous debate performance.

Trump’s grandchildren look like they’re having a ball kicking and throwing around the blue, red, white and gold balloons that have been landing on stage.

The night ended with an opera singer serenading conventiongoers with “America the Beautiful.” It starkly contrasted the end of Trump’s first Republican National Convention eight years ago, when party divisions and discontent marked the event. That convention closed out with the Rolling Stone’s “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.”

Trump concluded his speech after more than an hour and a half, leading the crowd in a change to “Make America Great Again” as he closed it out.

Melania Trump joined him on stage after he finished, and the band struck up, “Hold On, I’m Coming,” a song Trump frequently plays at the end of his campaign rallies.

The Trump family is now joining him on stage, including his daughter, Ivanka, and son-in-law, Jared Kushner. While they joined him at the White House, the couple has not been a part of his campaign.

Red, white and blue balloons are dropping over the convention.

Trump made a brief mention of the hostages held in the Gaza Strip by Hamas and hinted that he would take an aggressive stance on the Israel-Hamas war, if he were elected president.

“We want our hostages back, and they better be back before I assume office or you will be paying a very big price,” he said.

U.S. officials have been working since October to try to arrange a cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas that would see the release of hostages.

Trump has been speaking for roughly 90 minutes, which is typical for his long campaign rallies but a long stretch for a national appearance in prime time.