Harris's campaign: July was best grassroots fundraising month in presidential history
Here are some more details surrounding Kamala Harris’s campaign’s latest fundraising cycle, as per her campaign statement released on Friday:
July was the best grassroots fundraising month in presidential history.
Team Harris raised more across grassroots channels in the four days following president Biden’s endorsement of vice-president Harris than Trump’s big donor reliant operation raised in the entire month.
More than 3 million donors made over 4.2m contributions – with more than 2 million donors making their first donation this cycle.
This month, 94% of all our donations were under $200, and teachers and nurses continue to be among the most common donor occupations.
The campaign also announced several other achievements, including:
Compared to June, we saw more than 10 times the number of gen Z donors, and more than eight times the number of millennial donors.
Sixty per cent of all donors in July were women.
Coalition groups that organized calls since launch – like Black Women for Harris, Latinas for Harris, and White Dudes for Harris – raised more than $20m for Team Harris.
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Harris to meet with VP contenders this weekend – report
Kamala Harris is expected to meet with her top vice-presidential contenders this weekend, CNN reports, citing a source familiar with the matter.
Among Harris’s reported top contenders are Minnesota governor, Tim Walz, the Pennsylvania governor, Josh Shapiro, the Illinois governor, JB Pritzker, the Kentucky governor, Andy Beshear, the Arizona senator Mark Kelly and transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg.
According to the source, most of the meetings are expected to be in person but some will be conducted virtually. The source added that it is possible that additional candidates could be added to the schedule and that Harris has not yet made her choice.
Two other sources said that once factor Harris is considering is “how and where a vice-presidential candidate will help with independents and swing voters, especially in battleground states”, CNN reports.
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Joe Biden has spoken with Kamala Harris about her vice-presidential picks, according to White House pool reports.
When asked whether he has spoken with Harris about her running mate selections, Biden replied: “Yes.”
Upon being asked about what key qualities she should consider as part of the decision-making process, Biden replied: “I’ll let her work that out.”
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Donald Trump has appeared to have lost a fan – Kyle Rittenhouse, the 21-year old white man who was acquitted after shooting and killing two men while injuring another during racial justice protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, four years ago when he was 17 years old.
In a video posted on X, Rittenhouse, who since his controversial acquittal has been a chief proponent of the second amendment, said:
A lot of people are upset that I said I’m going to be writing in [former Texas congressman] Ron Paul for president of the United States and that is true. I will be writing in Ron Paul.
Unfortunately Donald Trump has bad advisers making him bad on the 2nd Amendment and that is my issue. If you cannot be completely uncompromisable on the 2nd Amendment, I will not vote for you and I will write somebody else in. We need champions for the 2nd Amendment or our rights will be eaten away and eroded each day.”
You must stand by your principles. https://t.co/EHSOxPxez4
— Kyle Rittenhouse (@ThisIsKyleR) August 2, 2024
Rittenhouse, who has been embraced by rightwing Republicans as a mascot – was charged with first-degree intentional homicide, first-degree reckless homicide, attempted first-degree intentional homicide and two counts of first-degree recklessly endangering safety.
His closely followed trial in 2021 was seen as a test case for the US, as it appeared to illustrate contrasting attitudes of law enforcement when confronted with white men or teens who claimed to be acting as vigilante-style informal security personnel, armed with assault rifles, and Black members of the public or those protesting in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Following his acquittal – which was met with widespread outrage among civil rights organizations and gun control groups, Trump called Rittenhouse a “really nice young man” during his visit to Trump’s home in Mar-a-Lago.
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For-profit universities are funding lawmakers who led attacks on top universities over campus protests surrounding Israel’s deadly war on Gaza.
The Guardian’s Tom Perkins and Will Craft report:
As antisemitism hearings on college campuses ignited late last year, US representatives Elise Stefanik and Virginia Foxx seized the spotlight, relentlessly attacking Harvard, Columbia and other top universities, portraying them as unsafe and incompetent.
“We must DEFUND the rot in America’s higher education,” Stefanik insisted in December, while co-authoring a bill that would withdraw federal funding from universities that do not participate in plans to curb campus protests. Foxx made similar calls.
A little-considered group of Stefanik and Foxx political allies and donors quietly benefited: the “for-profit” college industry.
For-profit schools, such as Keiser University, have drawn intense congressional and administrative scrutiny for predatory practices that frequently leave students with worthless degrees while enriching shareholders in recent decades. The industry is composed of schools that either are for-profit and have shareholders, or are formerly for-profit schools that became non-profits to evade regulations, but which still maintain relationships with for-profit entities.
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Donald Trump refused to be fact-checked live at the NABJ conference earlier this week and thus stalled his appearance, according to a new scoop from Axios.
Speaking to the outlet, NABJ president Ken Lemon said:
[Trump’s team] said, ‘Well, can you not fact-check? He’s not going to take the stage if you fact-check.’
He said that even though there were indeed audio problems – for which Trump blamed his lateness – they were “resolved very quickly”.
“The bigger problem was his threat not to take the stage when he had agreed to go on. He did not want to be fact-checked, but we could not let him on the stage without fact-checking,” Lemon added.
He went on to add that the delay was so long that he was prepared to go on stage to deliver a statement on why Trump refused to go on stage because of fact-checking.
As Lemon was drafting the statement, Trump walked on stage, Axios reports.
Meanwhile, the Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung told the outlet on Friday that they waited for “close to 40 minutes while audio/technical issues were fixed by NABJ”.
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Trump campaign launches 'Rural Americans for Trump' coalition
With Kamala Harris gaining momentum, Donald Trump’s campaign has launched a new coalition called Rural Americans for Trump.
In a statement released on Thursday, the campaign said:
Rural America deserves a President that serves the interests of families in the Heartland and empowers them to be the most successful and prosperous versions of themselves. President Trump has proven that he will fight for rural Americans, stand up to China, support our farmers, ensure fair trade deals for workers, and defend our ideals across the globe.
A similar coalition has been set up for Harris called Rural Americans for Harris.
On its sign-up page, the coalition for Harris wrote:
Rural America is ready to help get vice president Kamala Harris elected to the White House! Together, we aren’t going to sit around and let the MAGA crowd bully our neighbors and continue to let stereotypes that Trump and JD Vance perpetuate go unanswered or unchecked about our strong rural communities … The Trump Republicans have weird obsessions and outdated ideas about our reproductive health, public schools, immigrants, and veterans. We know our towns better than the consultants propping up Vance and Trump and that is why we endorse Kamala AND are committed to turning out 5% more rural voters for Democrats up and down the ballot!
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Harris to campaign in seven states over five days
A busy schedule is lined for Kamala Harris as the vice-president is set to continue the campaign trail next week by visiting seven states over five days.
Next Tuesday, Harris will return to Philadelphia, which will be her seventh visit to Pennsylvania this year. Harris is expected to announce her running mate by next Tuesday.
On Wednesday, Harris will visit Wisconsin – her sixth visit to the state this year and will then stop over at Detroit – her fifth visit to Michigan this year.
On Thursday, Harris return to Raleigh, North Carolina, which will be her eighth visit to the state this year.
On Friday, Harris will travel to Savannah, Georgia, marking her seventh visit to the state this year before going to Phoenix, Arizona – her fourth visit to the state this year.
Harris will end next week’s campaign blitz in Las Vegas, marking her seventh visit to Nevada this year.
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Harris campaign brings in $310m in July
Kamala Harris’s campaign has brought in a staggering $310m in July, more than double the $137m that Donald Trump’s campaign raised last month, according to a new report.
On Friday, Politico reported that Harris’s campaign and other affiliated committees have $377m in cash on hand, marking a $50m advantage over Trump’s total funds of $327m.
Since her entry into the race following Joe Biden’s re-election bid withdrawal, Harris has galvanized Democrats across the country, with a new Associated Press poll revealing that about eight in 10 Democrats say they would be somewhat or very satisfied if she became the Democratic nominee for president.
Moreover, according to a new poll from the conservative group Competitiveness Coalition, Harris is leading Trump in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin by 48% to 45%, as well as 48% to 46% respectively. The two opponents are also tied 45% to 45% in the swing state of Michigan.
With Harris gaining momentum, the vice-president will travel to major swing states including Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada over the course of five days next week for campaign events. Harris is expected to announce her running mate by Tuesday next week, with the Minnesota governor, Tim Walz, the Pennsylvania governor, Josh Shapiro, the Illinois governor, JB Pritzker, the Kentucky governor, Andy Beshear, the Arizona senator Mark Kelly and transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg, as reported finalists.
Here are other developments in US politics:
Biden and Harris greeted released Americans including the Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich at Andrews air force base following the largest prisoner swap with Russia since the Cold War.
JD Vance attacked Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for her “sociopathic attitude” towards children and family in remarks to a Catholic group in 2021, new reports revealed.
The Courage Tour, a travelling tent with self-styled prophets, is visiting swing states to rally Christians to vote for Trump, a new Guardian report reveals.
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