2024, presidential campaign news | CNN Politics (2024)

Vice President Kamala Harris intends to make her first appearance with her Democratic running mate on Tuesday night in Philadelphia and hopes to keep her selection under wraps “until as close to then as possible,” a person familiar with the search told CNN.

The whirlwind search for a vice presidential candidate entered its final hours Sunday after a working weekend inside Harris’ residence at the Naval Observatory in Washington.

She interviewed three final contenders – Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania and Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona – and weighed her choice with advisers out of public view for three straight days. An extraordinary campaign for and against the candidates broke out across the spectrum of the Democratic Party.

It was was not clear late Sunday whether Harris had made a final decision, people familiar with the search said, because it was her campaign’s intention to officially announce the choice through an online message to supporters before her rally in Philadelphia. The timing of her big reveal — whether Monday or Tuesday — remained unclear.

It was four years ago this week that Joe Biden announced his decision to choose Harris as his running mate. He did so on August 11, 2020, through a text message and email to his supporters. Harris was hoping to make her choice known in the same manner, aides said, with the aim of building anticipation and a massive campaign list.

“I want you to be the first to know who I am selecting to serve alongside me as Vice President,” Harris wrote in a campaign email to supporters last week. “Add your name to this exclusive list of supporters who will be notified immediately when the news breaks.”

Former President Donald Trump reiterated his promise to eliminate taxes on Social Security benefits but did not specify how he would pay for the proposal in an interview that aired Sunday.

Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo asked Trump how he would offset the revenue lost by his plan to eliminate the levy. He responded by saying he would focus on eliminating waste in the federal government.

“Well, you know, one of the things good about that is, that’s when people will make a deal.… But we’re going to take care of Social Security, we’re not going to do anything to hurt our seniors,” Trump said when asked how he would preventthe tax cutsfrom accelerating the insolvency of Social Security. “There’s so much waste in this government. There’s so much fat in this government.”

Trump did not say what “waste” and “fat” he would cut.

This year, taxes on Social Security benefits are expected to raise about $94 billion, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. Currently, seniors don’t owe taxes on their benefits if they earn less than $25,000 per individual (or $32,000 for married couples) of so-called combined income.

Above that threshold, they may have to pay income tax on up to 50% of their benefits, with the revenue going to the Social Security retirement trust fund.

Eliminating the tax would increase federal deficits by between $1.6 trillion and $1.8 trillion through 2035, if Congress doesn’t come up with a way to replace the lost tax revenue, a committee analysis found. The Social Security retirement trust fund would be depleted more than a year earlier, and Medicare’s hospital insurance trust fund would run dry six years earlier.

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. attends a press conference in New York on May 1.

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Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a video posted to social media on Sunday that he once drove a dead bear cub carcass from upstate New York and placed it in New York’s Central Park 10 years ago. Kennedy also said the New Yorker had contacted his campaign about the incident for an upcoming article.

In the video, posted to his X account, Kennedy tells actress Roseanne Barr that he was traveling through New York’s Hudson Valley to go hawking and came across a “young bear” that had been hit and killed by another driver. He says in the video he decided to put the dead bear in his car.

Kennedy then tells Barr that he spent the day hawking before driving to New York City for a dinner with the bear still in his car. At the end of the dinner, Kennedy said, he had to go to the airport and couldn’t take the bear back to his home. He said he broached the idea to friends of taking the bear to Central Park and making it appear as if a biker had hit it.

Kennedy said the bear’s discovery appeared on “the front page of every paper,” drawing media coverage and prompting investigations from law enforcement, which he said “worried” him because he’d left behind fingerprints. Kennedy suggested he was not blamed for the incident at the time.

Kennedy appeared to acknowledge the upcoming story may portray him in a negative light.

Some of the details Kennedy describes in the video appear to align with anOctober 2014 incidentin which a dead bear cub was discovered in Central Park, attracting media coverage from major news outlets around the country. The woman who discovered the beartold reporters at the timethat she found it with its head resting on a bike.

A day aftergetting the election subversion caseagainst Donald Trump back, the presiding federal judge rejected another effort by the former president to have the case dismissed and set an August 16 hearing date to consider how the case will proceed.

Earlier this summer, theSupreme Court granted Trumpsweeping immunity for official acts aspresident, and the case, brought by special counsel Jack Smith, is now back in the hands of Judge Tanya Chutkan in Washington, DC.

On Saturday, Chutkan tossed out arguments by Trump’s attorneys that Smith was unfairly prosecuting the former president, noting that Trump’s alleged actions went far beyond merely questioning the results of the elections, as the former president has claimed.

United Auto Workers (UAW) President Shawn Fain speaks at a UAW vote watch party in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on April 19.

As Vice President Kamala Harris draws closer to selecting her running mate, United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain on Sunday reiterated his support forKentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, while expressing reservations about Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly.

In contrast, Fain expressed concerns about Shapiro’s support for school vouchers and Kelly’s position on the union-friendly PRO Act. Kellytold HuffPostlast month that he would vote in favor of the legislation if it came to the floor; he had previously cited reservations about a provision that would extend collective-bargaining rights to independent contractors.

Fain has criticized former President DonaldTrump’s lack ofsupport for union workers and his courting of big donors instead of blue-collar workers. The United Auto Workers formally endorsed Harris last week, and the union remains a political force in the critical battleground state of Michigan.

Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance speaks at a campaign rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on July 20.

Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance on Sunday brushed off recent criticism of his selection as Donald Trump’s running mate, calling it a “badge of honor.”

Vance also responded to being called “weird” by supporters of presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, calling the put-down “a lot of projection.”

Asked about Harris’ potential running mate, Vance replied “I think whoever she chooses, the problem is going to be Kamala Harris’ record and Kamala Harris’ policies,” adding: “I don’t really care who she chooses as a running mate.”

GOP Rep. Byron Donalds, a close ally of former President Donald Trump, on Sunday sought to dismiss the controversy surrounding Trump’s comments on Vice President Kamala Harris’ racial identity.

“This is really a phony controversy,” the Florida congressman said on ABC’s “This Week.” “I don’t really care, most people don’t, but if we’re going to be accurate, when Kamala Harris went into the United States Senate, it was AP that said she was the Indian American United States senator.”

“It was actually played up a lot,” Donalds continued, citing an Associated Press article from 2016 that called Harris both the first Indian woman elected to a Senate seat and the second Black woman.

“Why do you keep questioning her identity?,” Stephanopoulos asked. “She’s always identified as a Black woman. She is biracial. She has a Jamaican father and Indian mother. She’s always identified as both.”

The two went back and forth in a heated exchange before Donalds said Trump’s speech Saturday wasn’t about the controversial take.

“He talked about it on the stage yesterday in Atlanta for what, two minutes,” Donalds responded, adding that Trump “spent more than 35, 40 minutes going after her record.”

Sen. Laphonza Butler speaks during a Senate hearing in Washington, DC, on June 18.

Democratic Sen. Laphonza Butler called former President Donald Trump’s false suggestions about Vice President Kamala Harris’ race “an insult” and “despicable.”

Butler’s remarks were in response to Trump falsely saying Harris “happened to turn Black”a few years ago, and that “all of a sudden, she made a turn” in her identity during remarks he made Wednesday at the National Association of Black Journalists convention in Chicago.

Butler, a close ally to Harris, is the only Black woman presently serving in the Senate after being appointed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom last year to fill the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s seat.

Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin is pictured during an interview with CNN on August 4.

Republican Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin, a staunch ally of former President Donald Trump, said he does not believe rioters on January 6, 2021, who attacked police officers should be pardoned, despite Trump’s recent comments stating that he would pardon rioters at the Capitol, including those who attacked police officers, if he becomes president.

Mullin added that he believes it was wrong that many of the January 6 rioters were labeled as domestic terrorists by the “FBI and the media.”

Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.

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A CNN Poll of Pollsaverage of recent national polling finds a close general election race with no clear leader between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.

Trump holds 49% support in the average of four recent polls testing the matchup, while Harris holds 47%.

The Poll of Polls includesa CBS News/YouGovpoll released Sunday that finds no clear leader nationally, with Harris taking 50% and Trump taking 49% among likely voters. That marks an improvement for the Democratic ticket from the final CBS/YouGov poll prior to President Joe Biden’s exit from the race, in which Biden trailed Trump by 5 percentage points.

In the CBS poll, similar shares of Democratic registered voters (85%) and Republican registered voters (88%) say they’ll definitely vote this year, narrowing the partisan gap on that metric. In mid-July, 90% of GOP registered voters and 81% of Democratic registered voters said they would definitely vote.

Most registered voters now say they’re either excited about (36%) or satisfied with (31%) their choices for president.

Overall, 78% of registered voters in the CBS poll say they already know enough about Harris to make a voting decision, while 22% say they want to know more about her. And 64% of registered voters say that they think Harris’ views and policy positions are mostly the same as Biden’s, with 18% saying they’re entirely the same, and 18% that they’re mostly or entirely different.

About two-thirds (68%) in the CBS poll say they think America is ready to elect a Black woman president, while 32% say that the country is not.

What is the Poll of Polls? The poll of polls includes the four most recent national polls measuring the views of registered or likely voters in a 2024 presidential general election between Harris and Trump.

John Kirby, a spokesperson for the White House National Security Council, told Fox News on Sunday that Vice President Kamala Harris was “absolutely” part of the decision to send additional military assets to the Middle East as the region braces for Iran to retaliate following the killing of a Hamas leader in Tehran.

Jon Finer, White House deputy national security adviser, told CNN on Sunday that the US and Israel were preparing for “every possibility” after the Pentagon sent the additional military assets to the Middle East.

With two presidential candidates fighting over a mere 538 Electoral College votes, a tie scenario is more than possible. It’s actually kind of surprising there has only been one tied election so far, in 1800, between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr.

That tie was the result of a failure of coordination by Democratic-Republicans, but it led to the nation’s first “contingent election,” decided in the House of Representatives.

Could a tie actually happen this year?

Yes. While a tie is not a likely outcome, it is something to be ready for. Here is one plausible scenario for the 2024 election:

If Vice PresidentKamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic nominee, wins Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona and Nevada and a single electoral vote in Nebraska, all of which President Joe Biden won in 2020, but she loses Pennsylvania and Georgia, there’s a tie, 269-269.

The website270 to Winalso has more tied-election scenarios.

What happens if there’s a tie?

If there’s a 269-269 tie, or if a third party or independent candidate wins electoral votes and keeps a candidate from reaching an Electoral College majority of 270, the next step is the same. It’s called a “contingent election.”

According to the12th Amendment, enacted in the wake of that divisive 1800 election, if no candidate gets a majority of the Electoral College votes, the new Congress, which would have just been sworn in on January 3, chooses the president. The Senate would choose the vice president.

Have a look at what a tie could look like in maps, and what that could mean here.

Former President Donald Trump arrives to speak at a campaign rally in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on July 31.

A 17-day stretch with few parallels in American history has upended what looked toDonald Trump’s campaign likeaclear path to victory when the former president stepped onthe Republican conventionstagein Milwaukee.

In that moment, a unified Republican Partyhad rallied around Trumpafter he survived an assassination attempt. His opponent,President Joe Biden, faced sagging poll numbers, sluggish fundraising and intraparty concerns over his own viability that were reaching a fever pitch.

And then the 2024 presidential race was turned on its head.

Trump went off-script and into attack mode inhis Thursday night speechto close theGOP convention, delivering sharply partisan remarks that undercut the calls for unity thathadpreceded him. Three days later, Bidenexited the race. By that Monday evening, Democrats had so quickly coalesced around Vice PresidentKamala Harristhat she had effectively cemented the nomination – and was well on her way to shattering fundraising records.

Amid the newfound enthusiasm among Democrats, Trump’s campaign found itself grappling withunwelcome scrutinyover past comments his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, had made disparaging “childless cat ladies.”

At the same time, Trump’s campaign was struggling to find a consistent line of attack against Harris – a challenge that culminated withTrump’s appearanceat the National Association of Black Journalists’ convention in Chicago on Wednesday.

Read more about how Harris has changed the campaign race here.

Vice President Kamala Harris visits an abortion clinic in Saint Paul, Minnesota, on March 14.

As she ramps up her nascent presidential campaign, Vice PresidentKamala Harrisis revealing how she will address the key issues facing the nation.

Here’s where she stands on some of those issues:

Read more about where she stands on key issues here.

The groupknown asRepublicans for Bidenis officially relaunching Sunday asRepublicans for Harris,andaideson the revamped Democratic campaignare hoping that a much different candidate will be able to deliver on whathad beena key part of Joe Biden’s electoral promise.

The rollout will include outreachfrom Republicans to Republicans, targeted ads and themed events as aides aim to convince voters that Kamala Harris is not a “San Francisco radical”and thatDonald Trump and others havechanged.

In an electionthat isonce again looking tight, the Harris campaign ishoping that Republicans repelled by Trump and independent moderates can help makea difference for the vice president in critical states.

On Monday,the new groupwill holdkick-offevents in Arizona, Pennsylvania and North Carolina, aides toldCNN. Already signing on as supporters: former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld (the 2016 Libertarian nomineefor vice presidentwho then challenged Trump in the 2020 Republican primary), former New Jersey Gov. Christie Todd Whitman, Kinzinger, former Virginia Rep. Denver Riggelman, former Illinois Rep. Joe Walsh (who also challenged Trump in the 2020 primary) and former Trump press secretary Stephanie Grisham.

Read more here.

Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris speaks at Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority Inc.'s 60th International Biennial Boule in Houston, Texas, on July 31

Vice PresidentKamala Harrismet with her vetting team Saturday for a series of in-depth presentations on each of the finaliststo be her running mate, according to a source familiar with the process.

Each briefingwas expected to last about 60 to 90 minutes, but could have been shorter or longer depending on what needed to be discussed, how complicated the vetting was, andany follow-up questions Harris may have had, the source said.

As CNN previously reported, the finalists includePennsylvania Gov.Josh Shapiro, Minnesota Gov.Tim Walz, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, Transportation SecretaryPete Buttigiegand Illinois Gov. JBPritzker.

According to multiple sources, the presentations Saturday may have resulted in reducing the number of candidates whom Harris will invite for final interviews scheduled to take place Sunday. Most, if not all, of those interviews are expected to be in person.

Former Attorney GeneralEricHolder, whose law firm is conducting the vetting process, was seen arriving at the Naval Observatoryon Saturday morning.

Considering the importance of the vice presidential pick as the presumptive Democratic nominee’s first big decision,the team expected Harris to “drill down and ask a lot of questions” Saturday as she is accustomed to do, the source familiar with the vetting process said.

Vice President Kamala Harris walks to her motorcade at the White House in Washington, DC, on July 30, 2024.

Leaps of faith aren’tKamala Harris’ style. But she’s about to have to take one.

The vice president likes to take her time with decisions. However much data she has, she tends to ask for more and go over it all again — and again. Then check again if there’s more data.

Harris is hunkered down for a weekend of deliberations on running mate prospects at the Naval Observatory in Washington, where the vice president’s residence is located.

Her ultimate choice will shape her historic campaign and the Democratic Party – and potentially her presidency and the country. Yet she doesn’t have the kind of ample time she prizes.

Multiple people who have worked with Harris tell CNN they doubt that she’s fully comfortable with the rush as she does her final interviews.

But they agree that it’s just another aspect of this accelerated and abbreviated campaign that may end up benefiting the vice president by limiting opportunities for the kind of pitfalls that have plagued her in the past.

“It’s like a European-style election!” Harris joked to donors in Houston about the sprint to Election Day, according to one person who heard her at the event Wednesday night.

Running mates often become political afterthoughts once they’re picked. But the Harris campaign knows that with so many Americans still getting to know her, her choice will offer a key and early window into who she is, how she thinks, what sort of politics she is going to practice and her sense of what the electoral weaknesses she needs to account for are.

Here’s more insights from inside Harris’ running mate deliberations.

Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.

Far from the boring rematch that had many Americans tuning out politics, the 2024 presidential election has had wild twists and scary turns.

Here’s what to expect in the sprint to Election Day:

August: Nominating Harris, picking a vice president and a convention in Chicago

September: Debates? A Trump sentencing?

October: Voting is underway

November: Election Day

Read more about what to expect beyond Election Day.