With Election Day less than 100 days away, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are in a sprint to decide a race that was recently transformed by President Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw his bid for reelection.
Trump’s allies gleefully predicted a landslide victory during a Republican National Convention that felt more like a coronation for a nominee who had just survived an assassination attempt and was promising to unite the country. Democrats, desperate and listless, feared the worst as a diminished Biden clung to his party’s nomination.
But over the last seven days, a week unlike any other in American history, the 2024 presidential contest has been transformed.
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Here’s the Latest:
FBI: Gunman in Trump assassination attempt looked up mass shootings, power plants, explosive devices
The FBI says the gunman in the assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump looked online for details about mass shootings, power plants and improvised explosive devices.
Thomas Matthew Crooks also searched for information about the attempted assassination earlier this year of Slovakia’s prime minister. That’s according to Kevin Rojek, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Pittsburgh field office.
The FBI has also says Crooks looked for information about how far away Lee Harvey Oswald was from President John F. Kennedy during the November 1963 assassination.
FBI: Trump agrees to be interviewed as part of investigation into assassination attempt
The FBI says former President Donald Trump has agreed to be interviewed as part of the investigation into the assassination attempt in Pennsylvania earlier this month.
It’s customary for federal agents to seek to interview victims of crimes during the course of their investigation.
Kevin Rojek, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Pittsburgh field office, says investigators want to get Trump’s perspective on what happened July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The FBI said Friday that Trump was struck by a bullet or a fragment of one during the assassination attempt.
DNC says it’s investing at $8.3 million in state parties around the country
The Democratic National Committee says it’s investing at least $8.3 million in state parties around the country this cycle, which it says is 25% more since 2020.
In a memo released Monday detailing its strategy with Election Day now less than 100 days away, the DNC said those investments include nearly $2 million being sent to state party officials in Colorado, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington and elsewhere with an eye toward boosting down ballot races.
The party is also concentrating on a program to boost Democrats in traditionally Republican states, and said it has spent $4.5 million-plus on the initiative, which included key 2023 races — like Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s reelection in Kentucky.
Beshear is now being mentioned as a possible running mate for Vice President Kamala Harris, who’s poised to formally clinch the Democratic presidential nomination in a matter of days.
Harris raised $200 million in first week of White House campaign and signed up 170,000 volunteers
Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign has raised $200 million since she emerged as the likely Democratic presidential nominee last week, an eyepopping haul in her race against the Republican nominee, former President Donald Trump.
The campaign, which announced its latest fundraising total Sunday, said the bulk of the donations — 66% — comes from first-time contributors in the 2024 election cycle and were made after President Joe Biden announced his exit from the race and endorsed Harris.
Over 170,000 volunteers have also signed up to help the Harris campaign with phone banking, canvassing and other get-out-the-vote efforts.
Harris quickly pivots to convincing Arab American voters of her leadership
Osama Siblani’s phone won’t stop ringing.
Just days after President Joe Biden withdrew his bid for reelection and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for the Democratic presidential nomination, top officials from both major political parties have been asking the publisher of the Dearborn-based Arab American News if Harris can regain the support of the nation’s largest Muslim population located in metro Detroit.
His response: “We are in listening mode.”
Harris, who is moving to seize the Democratic nomination after Biden stepped down, appears to be pivoting quickly to the task of convincing Arab American voters in Michigan, a state Democrats believe she can’t afford to lose in November, that she’s a leader they can unite behind.
Community leaders have expressed a willingness to listen, and some have had initial conversations with Harris’ team. Many had grown exasperated with Biden after they felt months of outreach had not yielded many results.
