Candidates for President in 2024

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Biden digs in

Biden officials are telling Democratic critics that President Biden is eager to prove them wrong — and plans to hit the campaign trail once he recovers from COVID, with potential trips to Georgia and Texas in coming days, Axios' Hans Nichols and Alex Thompson report.

• Why it matters: As he battles COVID in his Delaware beach house, Biden appears immune to the calls from his own party, including from the Senate's two most endangered Democrats, to drop out of the race.

⚡ Split screen: In public and in private, Biden campaign manager Jen O'Malley Dillon made a forceful case for why he is going to stay in the race, with some frank talk for her staff: "Don't watch cable news all the time ... The people that the president is hearing from are saying: 'Stay in this race and keep going and keep fighting,' and 'we need you.'"

• Outside Biden's bubble, the calls for him to bow out grew louder, with Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) saying: "I think the President should end his campaign."

💥 The big picture: The president and his inner circle are on a collision course with the party he leads.

• Senior Democratic officials are urging Biden to make a decision on his future this weekend, with many of them peppering Biden's most trusted advisers with arguments for why he should bow out for the good of the party.
• "It's a fairly universal sentiment internally that we have reached the end of the road," said a Biden aide — though they added they weren't sure the president and some select aides feel the same way.

👀 Steve Ricchetti, one of Biden's core advisers, traveled to Delaware yesterday to be available for face-to-face conversions with Biden when his COVID status allows it.

• Since the debate, Ricchetti has been in close contact with lawmakers, donors and party leaders — many of whom have explained why they think Biden should bow out of the presidential race.
• While Ricchetti has challenged some of their assumptions, he also makes it clear that he's interested in hearing, and digesting, their views, according to people familiar with the matter.

Ricchetti frequently spends the weekends with Biden in Rehoboth, and Biden typically has a core group of aides who travel with him.

• "When the president travels, the White House always includes several members of senior staff. Annie Tomasini and Steve Ricchetti, who often travel with the President, will have the shift in Rehoboth," said Saloni Sharma, a White House spokesperson.

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🎤 What Trump didn't say

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Donald Trump's rally yesterday was Classic Trump: a two-hour, rambling mix of word salads, boasting and false claims.

• It was also clear that Trump has tweaked his message for broader appeal, Axios' Sophia Cai reports.

Why it matters: For the second time in 48 hours, Trump delivered a long speech without mentioning Jan. 6 or his supporters who stormed the Capitol — those he's called "patriots" and legal "hostages" for much of the past 3½ years.

• Earlier in the campaign, Trump's rallies began with a recorded version of the national anthem by the "J6 Prison Choir," a group of people jailed for their actions on Jan. 6.
• Yesterday's rally in Grand Rapids — Trump's first with his new running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) — began with a traditional performance of "The Star-Spangled Banner."

Between the lines: Trump also now spends time at his rallies trying to distance himself from the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 agenda, a 922-page plan for radical change in the federal government.

• At least 140 former Trump administration officials contributed to Project 2025, CNN has reported.
• "Some on the severe right came up with this Project 2025 ... they're very, very conservative," Trump said. "They're kind of the opposite of the radical left. They're the radical right."

Keep reading.

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Beyond Biden, Democrats are split over who would be next

As Democrats churn over whether President Joe Biden should stay in the 2024 race, the party turmoil is deepening over whether his Vice President Kamala Harris is next in line for the job or if a “mini primary” should be quickly launched to choose a new nominee before the party’s August convention. Read more.

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WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden announced Sunday that he will end his presidential re-election campaign, bringing an abrupt and humbling conclusion to his half-century-long political career and scrambling the race for the White House less than four months before Election Day.

Biden, 81, could not reverse growing sentiment within his party that he was too frail to serve and destined to lose to Donald Trump in November. He backed Vice President Kamala Harris to replace him as the Democratic nominee.

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⚡️ Harris blitz mode

Vice President Kamala Harris is moving with lightning speed to make her nomination a foregone conclusion after President Biden ended his campaign today.

• Harris is calling party leaders and elected officials to lock down her party's presidential nomination, according to people familiar with the matter.

Why it matters: Harris' team knows that time is the enemy. Many party leaders are extremely leery about having an open process 3½ months before the election.

• In short order, Harris received endorsements from President Biden, former President Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

👀 But former President Obama doesn't plan to endorse her, according to a person familiar with the matter.

• "Just like he did in 2020 once Joe Biden earned the nomination, President Obama believes he will be uniquely positioned to help unite the party once we have a nominee, lift up that candidate, and do everything he can to get that candidate elected in November," the person said.

Zoom out: Despite the days of speculation that Biden would bow out, the party was stunned when he finally did.

History via a tweet. Screenshot: X

Between the lines: Now some party leaders and major donors are trying to create a sense of inevitability around Harris.

• "With Biden out, the party has just one candidate who has run for national office previously — she is proven on the campaign trail, in the situation room and in the Oval Office," former White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain told Axios.
• "It's time to unite behind our outstanding vice president, Kamala Harris."

Zoom in: The Democratic National Committee has not clarified the process for selecting its party's presidential nominee.

• State party leaders, who have some control over the nearly 4,000 delegates who will formally pick the nominee, scheduled a call for 5pm ET today to discuss their next moves.
• Party officials are in the dark on whether the DNC plans to stick with its plans to hold a virtual roll call in early August or at the actual convention in Chicago two weeks later.

The bottom line: "We have 107 days until Election Day. Together, we will fight. And together, we will win," Harris said in a statement this afternoon.

 

Congress lines up for Harris

On Capitol Hill, the leaders of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, the center-left New Democrat Coalition and the Congressional Black Caucus all quickly endorsed Harris.

Between the lines: Harris' emerging support on Capitol Hill transcends many of Democrats' traditional dividing lines, with frontliners, progressives, moderates, white, Black and Hispanic lawmakers all backing her.

• "I know she is already in conversation with members," Rep. Gabe Amo (D-R.I.) told Axios. "I've spoken to folks who have spoken to her … today."
• "Her team is fully activated.… Our California delegation is coalescing very rapidly, so I'm sure that's happening in other delegations in real time," said Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), one of the dozens of House Democrats who had pressed Biden to exit the race.
• A House Democrat who hasn't endorsed Harris told Axios: "She's getting a ton of support/endorsements from members on our various Signal chats."

Go deeper.

 

✍️ How Biden called it quits

Biden's exit announcement came together in a late-night writing session, according to reporting from Axios' Hans Nichols and the N.Y. Times.

Yesterday: Biden worked on his letter exiting the race with top aides Steve Ricchetti, Annie Tomasini and Mike Donilon at his Rehoboth Beach, Del., home.

• Biden's family and closest aides learned that he was leaving.

Today: Biden, in separate calls, told VP Harris, his White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients and his campaign manager Jen O'Malley Dillon shortly ahead of the public announcement.

• Biden told his other top staffers one minute before his tweet.
• Zients convened the Cabinet for a virtual session shortly after the announcement to share the president's decision.

 

👀 24 days changed everything

Chart: Axios Visuals Go deeper.

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Biden drops out of the 2024 race and endorses Kamala Harris The unprecedented announcement on Sunday, delivered less than four months before the election, immediately upended a campaign that both political parties view as the most consequential in generations. Read more.

Key developments: The president — intent on serving out the remainder of his term in office — quickly endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to take on Donald Trump and encouraged his party to unite behind her. Many prominent Democrats immediately backed Harris, including the Congressional Black Caucus, and the Clintons.   Vice President Harris says she’s honored to have Biden’s endorsement and that she intends to “earn and win this nomination.” She released a statement calling Biden’s decision to end his campaign a “selfless and patriotic act.” Harris faces a staggering political to-do list in the coming days: securing the votes of delegates to claim her party’s nomination, picking a running mate, and pivoting a massive political operation built to reelect Biden.   Not every Democrat praising President Biden has offered Harris an endorsement. Democratic Sens. Jon Tester of Montana and Peter Welch of Vermont stopped short of throwing their support behind Harris. Welch said in an interview with The Associated Press that he thinks the party needs to “take a little pause and express our appreciation for the president.”

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Biden’s decision to drop out crystallized Sunday. His staff knew one minute before the public did   Harris could become first Black woman and first person of South Asian descent to be president   Biden’s legacy: Far-reaching accomplishments that didn’t translate into political support

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Trump’s campaign is quickly pivoting to Harris Donald Trump’s campaign has spent the last year-and-a-half viciously attacking Joe Biden and relishing a rematch they felt they were winning. But they have also spent weeks preparing for the possibility that Biden might exit the race, readying a bevy of attacks against Kamala Harris that they unleashed as soon as Biden made his stunning announcement Sunday. Read more.

Why this matters: Trump will now face a new, yet-to-be-determined opponent at a time when voters have made clear that they are frustrated by their current choices and desperate for new, younger options. Until recently, Trump’s team had been focused on contrasting the former president’s vigor and mental acuity with Biden’s.   At 59 years old, Harris would be a marked generational contrast to Trump, who turned 78 last month. She would also be the first Black woman and the first person of South Asian descent to serve as president — a potentially barrier-breaking candidacy that could draw new support from women, minority voters and younger voters.   Though Trump aides had wanted Biden to remain in the race, they have argued a campaign against Harris wouldn’t be all that different from their race against Biden. They will try to tie her to what they see as the Biden administration’s failures, saying Harris is complicit in everything that occurred under Biden’s watch.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Takeaways from a day that fundamentally changed the presidential race   The Secret Service acknowledges denying some past requests by Trump’s campaign for tighter security   JD Vance makes solo debut as GOP vice presidential candidate with Monday rallies in Virginia, Ohio

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The chaos campaign

One candidate was shot in the ear — an assassin's bullet putting him inches from death. The other quarantined with COVID — then quit his campaign, reluctantly, abruptly.

• That was just eight days of the wildest and weirdest presidential campaign of our lifetime, Mike Allen and Jim VandeHei write in a Behind the Curtain column.

Why it matters: America is tossed into tumult unseen since the '60s.

⚡ State of play: Republicans want President Biden to resign now, and for Vice President Harris to be held complicit for concealing his condition.

• Many Democrats want to simply and swiftly coronate Harris, pair her with a swing-state moderate like Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro or Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), and make age and abortion the two preeminent topics of a new 2024 campaign.

⏰ Democrats have four weeks to pick a new ticket and completely reboot their campaign against a former president riding post-convention momentum.

• The Democratic convention opens in Chicago 28 days from today. Election Day is 106 days away.

How it happened: We told you Thursday in a breaking "Behind the Curtain" column that top Democrats were privately telling us they expected President Biden to decide to drop out of the presidential race, as soon as this weekend.

• It happened right on schedule yesterday with a 1:46 p.m. ET tweet — one minute after a video call where he told senior staff of the White House and campaign. Harris, White House chief of staff Jeff Zients and campaign chair Jen O'Malley Dillon had gotten earlier heads-up calls.

The Biden campaign formally changed its name to Harris for President within hours. Screenshot: CNN

A Biden friend, pointing to the president's rage over last week's leaks, barbs and lectures from Democrats at all levels, told us: "It was fury for a while. Then he surrendered to reality. He's a professional."

• In the end, it was the data, including grim polling from swing states. "No one was able to produce data points that showed him winning," said a Democratic insider who has been at the center of the party's frantic conversations since Biden's debate debacle 25 days ago. "They tried everything. There was no path."

The man who'd spent 50 years as a fingertip politician — a longtime hugger — was unusually alone as he threw in the towel, isolated with COVID at his beach house in Rehoboth Beach, Del.

• A source says Biden began coming to a decision Saturday evening. With him in Rehoboth Beach were chief campaign strategist Mike Donilon, counselor Steve Ricchetti, White House deputy chief of staff Annie Tomasini and Anthony Bernal, senior adviser to the first lady.
• "The whole party is breathing a sigh of relief," the Democratic insider said.

🎨 The big picture: As N.Y. Times columnist Nick Kristof presciently put it over the weekend, this "feels like August 1914, a fulcrum in the sweep of events. These days may have moved the arc of America and the world, with history lurching in competing directions in ways that may shape our course for decades."

• Column continues below.

 

🏎️ Part 2 — "You can just feel it: Let's go"

Data: The Miller Center at the University of Virginia. Chart: Simran Parwani/Axios President Biden quickly endorsed Vice President Harris for the nomination, as did the Clintons. But the Democratic Party is leaving open the possibility of a competitive nomination process, Mike and Jim write. Former President Obama held off on an endorsement, saying: "We will be navigating uncharted waters in the days ahead." Between the lines: As we told you in a column two weeks ago, Harris will be almost impossible to beat for the nomination, thanks to endorsements, money, optics and 2028 politics. Given the Democratic base, are you really going to take down the first Black American, the first South Asian American and the first woman to be elected vice president? Sen. Joe Manchin (I-W.Va.) is making noises about re-registering as a Democrat to take on Harris. There may be other flurries around Democrats who know talk of challenging Harris would bring huge publicity. ⚜️ James Carville, who two weeks ago had advocated for regional town halls to help determine a nominee, now tells us it's too late for such a process. "You can just feel it: Let's go," he said. "I don't have any sense there's time or appetite." Harris immediately enjoyed "broad, swift consolidation" among major Democratic donors, who are feeling optimism for the first time in weeks, the N.Y. Times reports. But Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont, the first Democratic senator to call for Biden to drop out, told CBS' Norah O'Donnell during yesterday's breaking coverage that Harris would "be strengthened by a process that's seen as open." He said the party should "take advantage of the extraordinary energy that's been unleashed by the president's decision ... and show that we're confident about engaging everyday Democrats to participate." A campaign sign with President Biden's name cut out in Northwood, N.H., yesterday. Photo: Holly Ramer/AP Carville said the expected convention photo of Harris with Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff and their large blended family will send a message of "change, youth, vigor, different — every f***ing word that counts is in that photograph." "The most thunderous sound in politics is the sound of a turning page," Carville added. 👂 What we're hearing: Many top Democrats have reservations about Harris, including the fact that few loyalists have risen with her — a rarity in politics. Two months into the administration, Biden named her to lead diplomatic and other efforts to reduce illegal migration at the Southwest border — one of the top issues former President Trump will try to use against her. Watch for Trump to claim the fix is in by the "real powers"— an argument Elon Musk made mere minutes after Biden's announcement. Some of the claims are contradictory. David Sacks, a top Silicon Valley venture capitalist who spoke at the GOP convention in Milwaukee, yesterday took to Musk's X to assert that Harris had "staged a coup." Threat level: Democrats tell us Harris instantly puts reproductive rights at the center of the campaign — a potential game-changer. Harris — age 59, making her 19 years younger than Trump — will try to turn the age and fitness issue on the GOP. And as a former San Francisco district attorney and California attorney general, she'll push a "prosecutor vs. convicted felon" frame. Trump officials know there's danger for him in debating a woman with historic status. "When women confront Trump, he can be impolitic and imprudent, and say politically dangerous things," one GOP insider told us. So Trump could alienate women and many other non-MAGA voters the campaign is eyeing. Plus Harris could look better-versed on reproductive rights, and more evocative of the future than the past. Via Truth Social 🥊 The other side: Republican officials won't admit it publicly, but they know they were better off running against Biden. The Atlantic's Tim Alberta wrote in a lengthy article before the convention that they're "all but praying that he remains their opponent." Chris LaCivita, co-manager of Trump's campaign, told us his candidate "survived an assassin's bullet. The last thing we are worrying about is Laffin' Kamala" — the nickname Trump recently gave her. "You can move the chairs on a sinking boat all you want ... doesn't change the result," LaCivita added. We obtained a 12-page internal memo showing the Trump campaign was preparing for the possibility of a Biden alternative back in May — with section headings that include "Act of God," "Insider Rebellion" and "Popular Uprising." The bottom line: If Harris loses, history will likely be harsh on Biden for running again, on aides who concealed his condition, and on Democrats who wanted to coronate Harris rather than letting a process play out. Share this column ... Alex Thompson contributed reporting. Go deeper: Jon Meacham sketches in the N.Y. Times the story that "history will tell of Joe Biden. With American democracy in an hour of maximum danger ... [h]e staved off an authoritarian threat at home, rallied the world against autocrats abroad, laid the foundations for decades of prosperity, managed the end of a once-in-a-century pandemic ... History and fate brought him to the pinnacle in a late season in his life, and in the end, he respected fate — and he respected the American people." (Gift link)   📜 Harris' day of history   Front pages of today's Washington Post, N.Y. Times. A person familiar with Vice President Harris' day tells reporters she "had multiple phone conversations with the president prior to his announcement that he would not be seeking reelection and would instead endorse her." 📱 "Surrounded by family and staff at the Vice President's Residence, she spent more than 10 hours Sunday placing calls to over 100 party leaders, Members of Congress, governors, labor leaders, and leaders of advocacy and civil rights organizations. On each of those calls, the Vice President made clear that she was extremely grateful for the President's endorsement, but plans to work hard to earn the Democratic nomination in her own right." "One of the calls was to her pastor, Amos C. Brown, who, along with his wife [Jane E. Brown], prayed over her," the person added. 🍕 "Throughout the day, the Vice President wore a hooded Howard University sweatshirt, workout sweats and sneakers. Amid the many calls, she took time to arrange both lunch and dinner for the assembled aides. The menu was salad and sandwiches for lunch, and pizza and salad for dinner. The Vice President's pizza came with anchovies, her go-to topping." 💰 Stat du jour: The Harris campaign has raised $49.6 million since Biden endorsed her.

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💡 The new veepstakes

Chart: Axios Visuals A core group of six Democrats has been floated as possible running mates for Vice President Harris if she secures the nomination, Axios' Erin Doherty writes. Go deeper: What to know about six big contenders.

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⚡️ All eyes on Kamala

By Hans Nichols

Photo: Chris duMond/Getty Images

Vice President Kamala Harris is moving with lightning speed to make her nomination a foregone conclusion after President Biden ended his campaign yesterday. Harris is calling party leaders and elected officials to lockdown her party's presidential nomination, according to people familiar with the matter. Why it matters: Harris' team knows that time is the enemy. Many party leaders are extremely leery about having an open process 3½ months before the election. In short order, Harris received endorsements from President Biden, former President Clinton, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. 👀 But former President Obama doesn't plan to endorse her, according to a person familiar with the matter. "Just like he did in 2020 once Joe Biden earned the nomination, President Obama believes he will be uniquely positioned to help unite the party once we have a nominee, lift up that candidate, and do everything he can to get that candidate elected in November," the person said. Zoom out: Despite the days of speculation that Biden would bow out, the party was stunned when he finally did. History via a tweet. Screenshot: X Between the lines: Now some party leaders and major donors are trying to create a sense of inevitability around Harris. "With Biden out, the party has just one candidate who has run for national office previously — she is proven on the campaign trail, in the situation room, and in the Oval Office," former White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain told Axios. "It's time to unite behind our outstanding vice president, Kamala Harris." Zoom in: The Democratic National Committee has not clarified the process for selecting its party's presidential nominee. Party officials are in the dark on whether the DNC plans to stick with its plans to hold a virtual roll call in early August or at the actual convention in Chicago two weeks later. The bottom line: "We have 107 days until Election Day. Together, we will fight. And together, we will win," Harris said in a statement Sunday. Go deeper: Who could be Kamala Harris' vice presidential pick

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Biden drops out

 

President Joe Biden has ended his reelection bid and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to succeed him. "It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President," Biden wrote in a letter. "While it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down," he added. Biden said he will finish his term and speak to the nation later this week in more detail. In a follow-up post, Biden praised Harris and urged Democrats to unite behind her. "It's time to come together and beat Trump. Let's do this," Biden wrote. His departure marks the first time a US president has dropped out of a reelection run in decades, recalling memories of President Lyndon Johnson deciding against seeking a second full term in 1968.

 

Harris ascends

 

Vice President Harris said in a statement that she was "honored" to receive President Biden's endorsement and intends to "earn and win" the Democratic nomination. While it remains unclear if Harris will go unchallenged, she has already received a groundswell of support from Democratic lawmakers backing her ascension to become the first Black woman and first Asian American to lead the ticket of a major political party. The makeup of the ticket now rests with the roughly 4,700 delegates who will vote for a new standard-bearer at the Democratic National Convention in August. CNN has so far been able to identify more than 500 endorsements for Harris from Democratic delegates — and analysts say that number will grow as the party tries to coalesce around her 2024 campaign.

 

VP speculation

 

With the election less than four months away, Harris must now quickly narrow her focus on a handful of potential running mates. Democratic Rep. Jim Clyburn, a close ally of President Biden's who has endorsed Harris, weighed in on several possible options for her to select as a running mate if she gets the nomination. The South Carolina Democrat said he likes Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and noted that North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper is in play. Some Democrats hope there will be an open race for Harris' running mate with a focus on other Democratic governors, including Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. Speculation is also swirling around Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who joined a campaign staff call for Harris on Sunday night, sources told CNN.

 

Trump reaction

 

Minutes after President Biden announced his exit from the race, former President Donald Trump described him as going "down as the single worst president by far in the history of our country." Trump's campaign managers echoed his remarks with a blistering statement tying Harris to the Biden administration's policies. Trump went on to suggest that the next debate move from the agreed-upon host network, ABC, to Fox News. Sources say Trump's team is planning a series of negative advertisements going after Harris' record — not only under the Biden administration but also during her time as a prosecutor and attorney general in California. Trump's campaign and allies also plan to argue that Harris is the person in the administration responsible for the border crisis, a key theme in GOP messaging this year.

 

Campaign cash

 

Vice President Harris has raised $49.6 million in grassroots donations for her campaign since Biden endorsed her Sunday, campaign spokesperson Lauren Hitt said. Additionally, the Biden-Harris campaign amended filings with the FEC to rename its principal committee and declare Harris a candidate for president — meaning Harris could take control of the Biden-Harris campaign account, which had nearly $96 million cash in hand at the end of June. However, newly filed campaign reports show the Trump team entered July and the general election showdown with a bigger war chest of available cash. Still, Trump on Sunday issued an urgent fundraising appeal calling on donations from "one million pro-Trump patriots." The message blasted out via text said: "If we're going to win back the White House, it will all be because of the momentum we built at this very moment — right here, right now!" 

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Dems line up behind Harris

Democrats are quickly consolidating around Vice President Harris' brand-new presidential bid.

• Speaker emeritus Nancy Pelosi endorsed Harris today.
• "Kamala Harris as a woman in politics is brilliantly astute — and I have full confidence that she will lead us to victory in November," Pelosi said in a statement.
• So did all of the Democrats who had been floated as potential challengers — California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.
• Sen. Joe Manchin (I-W.Va.) also said today that he will not run for president, after all.

🔮 What's next: The party is still figuring out the formal process through which Harris would become the nominee, but hardly anyone is actively pursuing any other outcome.

• She has already raised $81 million since Biden dropped out.

 

Harris claims most of the delegates she needs for the nomination, sets new fundraising record

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris was closing in Monday on securing the Democratic delegates she needs to become her party’s nominee and set a new fundraising record in her first 24 hours as a presidential candidate, as top Democrats rallied to her in their bid to defeat Republican Donald Trump.

https://apnews.com/article/harris-biden-presidential-candidate-election-withdraw-9fbd153493cb3f088994854fe61a73e9?

Harris shock and awe

Vice President Kamala Harris has effectively sewn up the nomination, even if the coronation won't happen until the Democratic National Convention opens in Chicago on Aug. 19.

• Harris traveled today to the former Biden-Harris campaign HQ in Wilmington, Delaware — now with signs simply saying, "Harris for President" and "Kamala."
• In remarks at campaign HQ, Harris said Biden campaign heads Jen O'Malley Dillon and Julie Chávez Rodríguez have agreed to run the Harris presidential campaign.

Why it matters: In roughly 24 hours, Harris hauled in $81 million in new fundraising, was endorsed by her likeliest Democratic competitors and picked up the keys to a fully staffed presidential campaign office.

🚨President Biden called into HQ ahead of Harris' remarks.

• "I know yesterday's news was surprising ... but it was the right thing to do," he said.

The ultimate signs it's over: Potential Democratic rivals are lining up to hint they'd love to be her running mate. Republicans are unveiling their strategies to attack a Harris-topped ticket.

• Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said he'll "do everything I can to support her" and he's "flattered" to be floated as a potential VP pick.
• Senate Republicans are urging their candidates to hit Harris for being too liberal, at fault for the border crisis and "weird," according to a memo scooped by Axios' Stef Kight.

✍️ Harris is waiting on endorsements by the top two Democrats in Congress, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

• The backbenchers are clearly on board. And former speaker Nancy Pelosi came out strongly for Harris.

Data: Axios research; Chart: Axios Visuals

P.S. Sound familiar? Harris' team has embraced the potential of memes to break through with a younger, perpetually online demographic, Axios' Ivana Saric reports.

 

Harris' vetter

Former Attorney General Eric Holder will lead the last-minute rush to vet running mate candidates for Harris, Reuters scoops.

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Editorial: Joe Biden’s selfless act alters the arc of history

Joe Biden has been as good a president as any and better than most. Based on his record, he has earned a second term. Yet he stood down from his re-election campaign to allow someone younger and more the picture of vigorous health to finish the work of keeping the nation, and the world, safe from Donald Trump.

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2024/07/22/joe-bidens-selfless-act-alters-the-arc-of-history-editorial/?

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Harris has enough delegate support to win nomination: AP survey Vice President Kamala Harris has secured the support of enough Democratic delegates to become her party’s nominee against Republican Donald Trump, according to an Associated Press survey, as top Democrats rallied to her in the aftermath of President Joe Biden’s decision to drop his bid for reelection. Read more.

Why this matters: The quick rally behind Harris marked an attempt by the party to put weeks of internecine drama over Biden’s political future behind them and to unify behind the task of defeating Trump with just over 100 days until Election Day.   Several state delegations met late Monday to confirm their support for Harris, including Texas and her home state of California. By Monday night, Harris had the support of well more than the 1,976 delegates she’ll need to win on a first ballot, according to the AP tally.   But the AP is not calling Harris the new presumptive nominee. That’s because the convention delegates are still free to vote for the candidate of their choice at the convention in August or if Democrats go through with a virtual roll call ahead of that gathering in Chicago.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Kamala Harris smashes fundraising record with stunning $81 million haul over 24 hours   Black voters feel excitement, hope and a lot of worry as Harris takes center stage in campaign   Harris steps into the limelight. And the coconut trees and memes have followed   Inside Kamala's sprint It's over. Why it matters: Because it never began. The Democratic establishment, with breathtaking speed, pushed Joe Biden out of the race. Now, Kamala Harris is locked in, Axios' Hans Nichols writes. Why it matters: This show of overwhelming force reflects the party's feral approach to survival in 2024 — and fear of a second Trump presidency. With Biden officially sidelined, relief — and money — coursed through the Democratic Party yesterday. Donors roared approval by directing more than $100 million to Harris' team since Sunday afternoon. ⏰ At 9:45 p.m. ET — 32 hours after Biden's shock announcement — AP declared Harris has secured the support of enough delegates to become the Democratic nominee (well more than the 1,976 she'll need on a first ballot). 🔬 Zoom in: Harris' deftly choreographed rollout involved hundreds of calls by Harris' team to senators, House members and governors. Just 30 hours after Biden announced he was dropping his run for reelection, 186 Democratic House members, 43 senators and 23 governors had endorsed Harris. Another 23 lawmakers — including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, both New York Democrats — hadn't endorsed Harris but had released encouraging statements. Statement at 11:06 p.m. ET That push to gain commitments from a majority of the nearly 4,000 Democratic delegates across the nation quickly became a formality. Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi gave Harris, a fellow Californian, a boost last evening when she led her state's nearly 500 delegates to unanimously endorse Harris. 🎨 The big picture: More than 333 million people live in America. But one man controls the Republican Party. And a few dozen top Democrats urgently redirected its nomination process. After Biden's disastrous debate performance on June 27, it took three agonizing weeks for him to bow out. A few elected Democrats talked about a deliberate nominating process that wouldn't be decided until the party's convention a month from now in Chicago. Now, Democrats just need to finish the paperwork — and prepare for the pageantry of Harris' coronation in Chicago, beginning Aug. 19. 🔮 What's next: Harris is heading to the Milwaukee area today for her first rally since Biden stepped aside. State-by-state delegate tally ...

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JD Vance slams Kamala Harris during his solo campaign debut as the GOP vice presidential nominee

RADFORD, Va. (AP) — Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance used his first solo campaign rallies Monday to throw fresh barbs at Vice President Kamala Harris a day after President Joe Biden threw the presidential election into upheaval by dropping out and endorsing his second-in-command to lead Democrats against Donald Trump.

https://apnews.com/article/jd-vance-trump-virginia-ohio-a814f31dffb066e8a6e2335ba81032bb?

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🗳️ Dems on age: Bring it on!

Democrats' rapid consolidation behind Vice President Harris has set the stage for an election of astonishing contrasts, beginning with age — the very issue that drove President Biden from the race, Axios' Zachary Basu writes.

• Why it matters: Never before has a party's biggest vulnerability been so suddenly neutralized — then weaponized. At age 78, Trump is now the oldest presidential nominee in U.S. history, and the candidate known for mixing up names.

Via X

State of play: Beyond the age question, Democrats are salivating at the obvious contrasts between Trump and Harris.

1. Trump is a 78-year-old white male with a white male running mate half his age in Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio). Harris is the first Black, Asian American and woman vice president in U.S. history.
2. Trump is a convicted felon who has been found liable for sexual abuse. Harris prosecuted alleged sexual abusers as district attorney and later served as California's attorney general.
3. Trump has boasted about appointing three justices who helped the Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade. Harris has made abortion rights her signature issue.

Keep reading.

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🏛️ Harris' D.C.

From Howard University to the White House, Vice President Kamala Harris has a deeper history with local D.C. than most Beltway politicians.

Why it matters: If nominated, Harris' warm embrace of everyday Washington will stand in stark contrast to former President Trump's arm-distanced view of a city he says is in need of a federal takeover.

The big picture: Harris has lived in D.C. for years: She was previously a California senator before becoming vice president and lived here as a Howard University student in the '80s.

• She's married to lawyer Doug Emhoff and is "Momala" to his two children from a previous marriage, Ella and Cole Emhoff.

State of play: Harris currently lives in the vice president's residence at the Naval Observatory. There she's hosted events like an AAPI Heritage Month celebration featuring local restaurants such as Moon Rabbit and Tiger Fork.

• But before that, Harris lived in a two-bedroom West End condo, which she and Emhoff sold in 2021 for $1.85 million. She used to hit up the nearby Trader Joe's and Bluestone Lane (Harris would get the avocado smash, Emhoff the green baked eggs).

But Harris' D.C. roots stretch far beyond her political days — she graduated from Howard University in 1986.

• While there, she protested apartheid outside the South African embassy, was a sorority member of Alpha Kappa Alpha, listened to jazz at Georgetown's Blues Alley, and attended local events like Georgia Avenue Day.

Zoom in: Harris orbits the usual D.C. power spots — Cafe Milano, Le Diplomate — but her tours of the local restaurant scene run wider, starting with her years at Howard noshing at near-campus favorites like Florida Avenue Grill, Ben's Chili Bowl, and Popeye's.

• As Veep, she's spotted frequently with the second gentleman, often sharing Italian food, brunching at woman-owned Centrolina in CityCenter, or grabbing takeout at LGBTQ+ friendly Floriana in Dupont Circle (then decked out in "Kamala-la la la" holiday decor).

👀 The intrigue: Most recently, Harris dropped by Tyra Banks' D.C. ice cream shop on opening day with her nieces — which some tea leaf readers took as a sign that she was ready to take over from scoop-obsessed Biden.

Keep reading.

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Presidential race

 

Vice President Kamala Harris has the support of enough Democratic delegates to win the party's nomination for president, according to CNN's delegate estimate. The vice president is now marching toward the Democratic nomination as broad swaths of the party lined up behind her bid to take on former President Donald Trump. Harris, who will hold a campaign event in Milwaukee today, staked her claim as the party's standard-bearer with an electric speech Monday in Delaware. In her first day as a candidate, Harris raised $81 million, the campaign announced, calling it a "historic outpouring of support." Meanwhile, Trump on Monday said that the wound on his ear from the Pennsylvania assassination attempt was "getting much better." His political operation is also readjusting to the new reality of a potential Trump v. Harris matchup and sharpening its attacks on the vice president.

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Dems' split screen

Vice President Harris leaned heavily into her experience as a prosecutor today in her first campaign rally since becoming the presumptive Democratic nominee barely 48 hours ago.

• ⚡️ Her coronation is now effectively complete. She secured support from a majority of delegates yesterday. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries and Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leaders in the House and Senate, endorsed her today.
• 📈 Harris' fundraising is off to an unprecedented start, and a new nationwide Reuters/Ipsos poll released today showed her ahead of former President Trump.

🎤 "I took on perpetrators of all kinds. ... Hear me when I say I know Donald Trump's type," Harris said at her Wisconsin rally, echoing a line from her appearance with campaign staff last night and clearly foreshadowing one of the major themes of her campaign.

• The election is "a choice between freedom and chaos," she said.

📸 President Biden was seen in public today for the first time since Wednesday night, shortly after his COVID diagnosis was announced.

• He tested negative today and his symptoms have resolved, the White House said.

Biden is heading back to Washington from his beach house in Delaware. He plans to deliver an Oval Office address tomorrow at 8 p.m. ET about his decision not to seek re-election.

 

Kamala Harris faces a major test as she looks for a running mate for her White House run

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris is zeroing in on four potential candidates as she races to choose a running mate for her fledgling campaign, fast-tracking a process that usually takes months but must be finalized in only a few weeks.

https://apnews.com/article/kamala-harris-vice-president-cooper-beshear-kelly-shapiro-7c968f2f7ed9471223bd00d909383902?

Harris' case against Trump

What a difference a few days make.

• Hope is abundant tonight among Democrats, who've been invigorated by Vice President Kamala Harris' tag-in as the Democratic presidential nominee.

Why it matters: Much can change before Election Day, but Harris has eased fears among Democrats that their nominee would be unable to vigorously go after former President Trump.

• In a nod to 2008, one group at today's Wisconsin rally had signs that spelled out "Yes we Kam!", the N.Y. Times reports.
• "Lock him up," rallygoers chanted after Harris referenced Trump's conviction on 34 felony counts in New York.

Harris tied Trump to Project 2025, saying the project staffed with many Trump allies would hurt the middle class. (Trump has disavowed the 900-page policy proposal from more than 100 conservative groups).

• "And we who believe in reproductive freedom will stop Donald Trump's extreme abortion bans," Harris said.

Zoom in: Harris has raised $100 million since she launched her presidential campaign Sunday afternoon.

• Expect fireworks: Trump said today he's "absolutely" willing to debate Harris.
• Trump and President Biden were scheduled for their second debate Sept. 10 on ABC.

The bottom line: In the hours after Biden's withdrawal from the race, the group Win With Black Women organized a Zoom call to mobilize support for Harris.

• More than 44,000 people, mostly women, joined the call and the group raised more than $1.5 million in under three hours.
• A similar call organized yesterday by the nonprofit Win With Black Men brought in $1.3 million in four hours and attracted some 232,000 participants, the nonprofit announced today.

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GOP mulls shaky legal action

Republicans have yet to follow through on their threats to take Democrats to court over Harris becoming the new presumptive presidential nominee after Biden's last-minute withdrawal.

• Trump took a step in that direction today. The campaign filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission over the transfer of campaign cash from Biden to Harris, the N.Y. Times reports.
• The complaint might not be resolved before Election Day and lacks the teeth of a court challenge, the Times notes.

Why it matters: The GOP is trying to peg Democrats as a "threat to democracy" for replacing their nominee after primary voters had their say. But it's unlikely legal action would get very far.

• Any legal path would be tricky to begin with — and made even more difficult by Democrats' plans to officially nominate Harris by Aug. 7, as Axios has reported.
• "There's nothing to those threats," Ben Ginsberg, an attorney who has long represented Republicans, told Axios. "A convention naming a candidate who then gets ballot placement in every state is the normal course of business."

Go deeper

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The Harris doctrine

Photo illustration: Gabriella Turrisi. Photo: Brendan Smialowski/AFP, Jim Vondruska via Getty Images

Vice President Kamala Harris has used her first days as the Democrats' likely nominee for president to make it clear that she'll pursue big — and expensive — parts of Joe Biden's domestic agenda that never made it across the finish line, Axios' Hans Nichols writes. Why it matters: Harris is signaling that even as Democrats play defense on Biden's mixed economic record, she's eager to go on offense for the next four years. Her plans include pushing for nearly $2 trillion to establish universal pre-K education and improve elderly care and child care — as well as a permanent tax cut for working-class families. Her instincts are to go further than Biden's attempt to raise corporate taxes to 28%, according to people familiar with the matter who recall that Harris backed raising them to 35% in 2020. 💥 Driving the news: Harris previewed her economic priorities when she dropped by her campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Del., on Monday, and then again at her rally in the Milwaukee area yesterday. "We believe in a future where no child has to grow up in poverty," she said in Wilmington. "And where every person has access to paid family leave and affordable child care." That's music — and code — to progressives' ears. Zoom out: In the 2020 Democratic primary, Harris campaigned as a progressive. She supported Medicare for All, before she was against it. She supported a fracking ban before walking back on that position once she was Biden's running mate. "She's a classic progressive who is skeptical of trade but doesn't want to go as far as Trump in terms of imposing blanket tariffs," a former Biden administration official said. 🔭 Between the lines: Weeks into her term as vice president, she called JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan to press them to issue more loans to minority and low-income communities under the Paycheck Protection Program. Her message was clear: We're willing to work with you, but we're also watching you.   New campaign math     Photo illustration: Shoshana Gordon/Axios. Photo: Peter Zay via Getty Images   The campaigns are focusing on three key groups as they scramble to figure out how Vice President Kamala Harris is shaking up the race — young voters, Hispanics and Black men, Axios' Erin Doherty and Hans Nichols write. Why it matters: To beat Donald Trump, Harris will likely need to win all three "Blue Wall" states (Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin) — without "Scranton Joe." Republicans are bracing for a little Harris bump, or a "Honeymoon," as Trump's pollster Tony Fabrizio wrote yesterday. His prediction proved prescient: Reuters/Ipsos later gave Harris a 2-point lead: 44%-42%. Yahoo showed the head-to-head race tied: 46%-46%. NPR/Marist had Trump up by 1 point: 46%-45%. In a four-page "Path to Victory" memo out this morning, the Harris campaign argues that she's positioned to expand Biden's winning coalition from 2020. "Her net favorability is 19 points higher than Trump's among white, college-educated voters, and 18 points higher than Trump's among voters over 65," the Harris campaign writes. It also claims that the roughly 7% of voters who remain undecided are "disproportionately Black, Latino and under 30." Read the memo ...   💡 V.P.'s massive network Vice President Kamala Harris is quickly galvanizing a massive and politically powerful network of Black women who have long been described as the "backbone" of the Democratic Party, Axios' Kristal Dixon and Justin L. Mack write. Why it matters: About 93% of Black women who voted in 2020 supported Biden, according to an AP survey of 110,000 voters. But this marks the first time the top of the ticket reflects the important demographic — and Harris is already benefiting from Black women's organizing power. Case in point: Within hours of Sunday's bombshell, 90,000+ tuned into a call organized by #WinWithBlackWomen to support Harris. Organizers said they raised $1.5 million in three hours. A similar call by Win With Black Men on Monday drew 232,000 participants and raised $1.3 million within hours, per organizers. 👀 What we're watching: Harris will speak at Zeta Phi Beta's national convention in Indianapolis today. Keep reading. Go deeper: How the Divine Nine — a group of Black fraternities and sororities — is boosting Harris, a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha.

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Biden passes the torch in a solemn speech about defending democracy Insisting that “the defense of democracy is more important than any title,” President Joe Biden used his first public address since his announcement Sunday that he was stepping aside to deliver an implicit repudiation of former President Donald Trump. The 10-minute address also gave Biden a chance to try to shape how history will remember his one and only term in office. Read more.

Why this matters: It was a moment for the history books — a U.S. president reflecting before the nation on why he was taking the rare step of voluntarily handing off power. It hasn’t been done since 1968, when Lyndon Johnson announced he would not seek reelection in the heat of the Vietnam War.   Biden announced that it was time to hand off power to a younger generation — and he embraced it. “I’ve decided the best way forward is to pass the torch to a new generation. It’s the best way to unite our nation,” he said, even as he believed his presidency was deserving of a second term.   The president sought to use the address to outline the stakes in the election, which both Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have framed as a choice between freedom and chaos. “The great thing about America is here, kings and dictators do not rule,” Biden said. “The people do. History is in your hands. The power is in your hands. The idea of America — lies in your hands.”

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Trump turns his full focus on Harris at first rally since Biden’s exit from 2024 race   Harris is starting to vet potential running mates. Her initial list includes nearly a dozen names   The fight to define Harris is on. And for now, Republicans are dominating Democrats on the airwaves

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The new 2024 campaign foretold

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

The new 2024 campaign is only days old, but the contours are crystal clear, Jim and Mike write in a Behind the Curtain column: Donald Trump will argue Kamala Harris is too liberal, too weak, too weird. Harris will argue Trump is too corrupt, too risky, too old. Why it matters: They'll unleash their attacks in seven states, but believe three will decide the winner — Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. The target audience, swing voters, amount to only a few hundred thousand voters inside a tiny sliver of America — basically 6% of six or seven states. They're disproportionately young people, Black men and Hispanic. Many are seen as Trump-curious, but not Trump-sold. The Harris campaign is also anxious to re-engage Democratic voters who were down on Biden and might have stayed on the couch. 🖼️ The big picture: Watch politics through this lens to understand what Trump and Harris do and say in coming months. The tiny universe of truly persuadable voters is the reason Harris is very likely to pick a moderate white male as her running mate. Look for Trump to visit — or talk incessantly about — the border during the Democratic National Convention, which opens in Chicago next month. Top Democrats close to her campaign tell us that, at least for now, she's in a virtuous cycle in which she can feed off the euphoria of crowds — the opposite of Biden's predicament — while money and endorsements roll in. 👀 What we're watching: Both candidates expect a small but significant Harris bump coming out of her convention — leveraging her post-announcement momentum, cinematic moments and celebrities to appeal to the swing voters in the swing states above. One top Democratic operative said the switch to Harris had been "like a shot of adrenaline to the heart" for the beleaguered troops of the former Biden-Harris campaign in Wilmington, Del. 🔎 Behind the scenes: A top Trump adviser told us Harris is "the only other human being you can 100% tie to Biden and his record." The adviser said the "central reason" Vance was picked was his ability to help the ticket in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan — a calculus Harris doesn't change. The adviser pointed us to a viral video out yesterday from Dave McCormick, the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania, calling Harris "The Most Liberal Nominee In U.S. History," with rat-a-tat clips of her past statements. "That is the playbook right there," the adviser said. Keep reading.

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🎙️ Biden passes torch

A wistful but proud President Biden used last night's Oval Office address to explain to the American people why he deserved a second term — but chose, in the end, not to seek one, Axios' Zachary Basu writes.

• Why it matters: With 180 days remaining in office, Biden delivered what's likely to be remembered as the most consequential speech of his presidency.

4 takeaways:

1. Keeping the republic: Biden, whose speeches often bear the fingerprints of historian Jon Meacham, spoke in sweeping terms about the looming "inflection point" that will decide America's fate "for decades to come." He never mentioned Trump by name.

2. Harris, the torch-bearer: Biden gave a forceful defense of his record and accomplishments as president, but said it was time to "pass the torch" to Harris, whom he described as an "incredible partner and leader."

3. What he didn't say: Biden did not speak in detail about his health or why exactly he was stepping down — or whether Republicans are right to raise questions about his ability to continue as president for the next six months.

4. Lame-duck priorities: A ceasefire in Gaza and a broader Middle East peace deal.

• Supreme Court reform.
• Pushing for his "cancer moonshot."

Keep reading.

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👀 Exclusive poll: Young voters boost Harris

Chart: Generation Lab Vice President Harris is significantly more popular among America's youngest voters than President Biden, Axios' Erica Pandey writes from an Axios/Generation Lab poll fielded after Biden stepped aside Sunday. Why it matters: Former President Trump had appeared to be chipping away at Democrats' decades-long hold on the youth vote. But Harris could be extending the gap once again. 🧮 By the numbers: In a Biden-Trump race, Biden held a 6-point lead among voters aged 18 to 34. In a Harris-Trump contest, the same group is 60% for Harris and 40% for Trump — a 20-point lead for Harris. Between the lines: It's not just the memes. "[T]his data actually does suggest that Harris could run up the score with young voters in a major way," says Cyrus Beschloss, CEO of Generation Lab. Share this story. ⚡ New this morning: Labor activist Dolores Huerta — a hugely influential voice among the Latino voters Harris needs to win over — formally endorsed the vice president, Axios' Astrid Galván scoops.