August 17, 2024, presidential campaign news | CNN Politics (2024)

Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign is significantly staffing up its legal team ahead of what it expects will be aggressive legal challenges to the election outcome in November.

The new team includes two former White House counsels — Dana Remus and Bob Bauer — along with Marc Elias, one of the Democratic Party’s top election lawyers.

Remus and Bauer are expected to provide overall strategic direction to the legal apparatus, according to a campaign official.

Both bring extensive experience in election issues. Remus was a White House counsel to President Joe Biden. Bauer served in that role under President Barack Obama, and has recently served as Biden’s personal attorney. He also played Trump in Biden’s debate practice this summer.

Others involved in the effort are Maury Riggan, the campaign’s general counsel and lead in-house lawyer, and Meredith Horton, the campaign’s national voter protection and access director.

Elias will lead recounts and advise the campaign on recount strategy.

The New York Times was first to report on the the changes.

The Harris campaign describes the legal effort as the largest voter protection program in American presidential history.

Donald Trump speaks during a campaign event in Wilkes-Barre Township, Pennsylvania, on Saturday.

Former President Donald Trump said Saturday he thought he was “much better looking” than Vice President Kamala Harris.

Trump said he heard a commentator argue that Harris has an advantage over Trump because she is a “very beautiful woman.”

Donald Trump takes the stage during a campaign rally in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania.

Former President Donald Trump on Saturday criticized Vice President Kamala Harris’ newly unveiled economic agenda and questioned why she hadn’t implemented her proposals while she was already in office.

Trump said, “So this is Day 1305, we’re at thirteen hundred and give, so why isn’t she doing it now? Why doesn’t she get away from her nice little place with her wonderful husband, go to Washington and do it now? You could do it right now.”

Trump said Harris’ plan is “very dangerous because it may sound good politically, and that’s the problem, and we have to be very careful because when somebody gets up and says, ‘We’re going to give you everything, $25,000 for a house, we’re going to give you all sorts of little goodies, free health care, we’re going to give you everything, universal health care,’ it sounds so beautiful.”

Harris on Friday proposed a new plan to provide tax relief for more than 100 million middle-class and lower-income Americans, and her new economic agenda includes measures aimed at making housing, groceries, health care and child rearing more affordable.

“She’s promising to hand out things she can’t deliver. She can never deliver them; she will never get them approved,” Trump said.

“The things that she said yesterday don’t work. They have never worked,” he added.

Trump again falsely claimed that implementing a tariff “doesn’t affect our country.”

CNN has previously fact checked thatstudyafterstudyincludingone from the federal government’s bipartisan US International Trade Commission, have shown that American consumers and industries bear almost the entire cost of US tariffs, including those duties previously imposed by Trump. When the US puts a tariff on an imported good, the cost of the tariff comes directly out of the bank account of an American importer when the foreign-made product arrives at a US port. It’s possible that some foreign manufacturers lowered their prices to stay competitive in the US market after Trump raised tariffs – but not enough to keep the cost paid by American importers the same as before.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz celebrated a homecoming at a Saturday campaign rally in Nebraska, the state where he grew up, where he met his wife — Minnesota first lady Gwen Walz — and where he began his teaching career.

Walz acknowledged his former colleagues and former students from Alliance High School in Alliance, Nebraska, amid the hundreds gathered in La Vista to hear him speak, telling the audience, “it feels good to be home,” while sharing the values he learned growing up in the state.

Walz referenced local Nebraska landmarks and cultural touchstones throughout his remarks, often as a means of contrasting his Midwestern roots with former President Donald Trump and Ohio Sen. JD Vance.

At another point, Walz took a swipe at Vance for claiming Midwestern roots, while suggesting Vance isn’t familiar with a local delicacy, to the delight of the Nebraskans in the crowd.

Following his remarks, Walz stopped at a Runza and picked up an order of hamburgers, sandwiches and other items totaling over $600, a restaurant employee told CNN.

Gwen Walz preceded the governor at the rally and shared a story of the two of them teaching together in Nebraska, highlighting how the couple “huddled” to come with a play to improve the reading of a student athlete that allowed him to continue playing football and ultimately graduate high school.

More on the electoral landscape: Nebraska is one of two states – along with Maine – that divide Electoral College votes by congressional district, rather than statewide, winner-take-all rules. Omaha’ssingle electoral vote could impact the outcomeof the presidential race.

President Joe Biden carried the electoral vote from the state’s 2nd Congressional District in 2020. Former President Donald Trump has been pushing Nebraska Republicans to change the state’s election law.

Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz attend a campaign rally in Philadelphia on August 6.

Vice PresidentKamala Harrisand her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, will roll through Pennsylvania on a bus tour Sunday, dropping in on thecrucial battleground statejust days before the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

It’s a move that underscores how aggressively the Harris-Walz ticket plans to compete for Pennsylvania and its 19 Electoral College votes. The pair’s first rally shortly after Walz was announced as Harris’ running matewas in Philadelphia, the commonwealth’s largest city, and they embarked on a dayslong tour of battleground states shortly after.

Sunday’s tour, which is scheduled to begin in Pittsburgh, will mark the first time that Harris, Walz and their respective spouses – second gentleman Doug Emhoff and Minnesota first lady Gwen Walz – will appear on the campaign trail together since they shared the stage in Philadelphia. The goal, according to the campaign, is to have a cluster of intimate events with voters, ranging from canvass kick-offs to stops at local retail shops.

The campaign has 36 coordinated offices and 300 staffers in Pennsylvania, which Harris has already visited seven times this year. The campaign has touted a robust volunteer operation: Some 43,000 people have signed up to volunteer in the Keystone State since Harris announced her candidacy last month.

Read more about the bus tour through Pennsylvania.

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks in Raleigh, North Carolina, on August 16.

Vice President Kamala Harris has committed to participate in a roundtable with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, her campaign and the union confirmed Friday, as she continues to court working class voters heading into November’s election.

The Teamsters, a union with 1.3 million members, is among the last major unions to offer an endorsem*nt in the 2024 race with a decision on whether to back either candidate expected after the conventions. Some Democrats have expressed frustration with Sean O’Brien, the union president, who spoke in a primetime slot at the Republican National Convention while seeking a similar role at next week’s Democratic National Convention.

The union is expected to have a presence on stage at the convention, but O’Brien is not expected to speak at the Democratic confab, a source familiar with convention planning said.

Teamsters leadership invited Harris to participate in a roundtable shortly after she became the presumptive Democratic nominee, writing in a letter to her campaign, “Teamster members want to hear your vision on issues that affect their families.”

Lauren Hitt, a spokesperson for the Harris campaign, said the vice president “has received and gladly accepted an invitation by IBT leadership to participate in a candidate roundtable to discuss her record of fighting for Teamsters and their families and to highlight her vision for the future. The campaign looks forward to scheduling the roundtable in the near future.”

Kara Deniz, a spokesperson for the union, said the union just received notice Harris has accepted the invitation but a date has yet to be set.

Former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden each participated in roundtables with the Teamsters earlier this year.

A pro-Palestinian protester attempted to interrupt Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s remarks at a rally in La Vista, Nebraska, on Saturday.

The protester shouted at Walz during the beginning of his remarks. Members of the audience attempted to quiet the protester. Walz did not appear to acknowledge the protester, who unfurled a Palestinian flag before being escorted out of the venue by staff.

Prior to the event, approximately a dozen protesters waving Palestinian flags and signs condemning US support of Israel’s military operation in Gaza gathered steps away from the line of attendees waiting to enter the rally.

One banner in front of the group read “Justice for Palestine.” Others called for a ceasefire and an arms embargo with Israel. A piece of plywood in front of the group read “Shame on those complicit in genocide.”

The protesters reflect a lingering tension for Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign as she continues to navigate the political dynamics of the Israel-Hamas war. Harris has been interrupted at multiple campaign rallies by pro-Palestinian protesters since taking over the Democratic ticket.

On Thursday, Harris campaign officials met with Arab American community leaders in Michigan, the latest outreach effort to the sizeable constituency in a key battleground state.

This post has been updated with additional reporting on Walz’s event.

Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.

Thefirst presidential debate of 2024upended the race for the White House, effectively terminated thereelectionaspirations of President Joe Biden and perhaps forever altered the direction of the country.

With so much potentially atriskatnext month’s debate on September 10—which will be the first timeformer President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harrisencounter each other at close range— the planning for the high-stakes showdown has already begun. ABC, the network hosting the debate, announced Friday it will be held at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.

Harris held her first formal debate training session earlier this week at Howard University, the historicallyBlackcollege in Washington,DC,she attended nearly four decades ago. A team of Democratic advisers joined her there earlier this week, including Philippe Reines, a longtime aide to Hillary Clinton, who is reprising his role playing Trump at the request of the Harris campaign, several people familiar with the planning told CNN.

Karen Dunn, another longtime Clinton adviser who helped Harris prepare for her vice presidential debate in 2020, is also taking part in the preparation efforts, people familiar with the planningsaid.Former Harris aides Rohini Kosoglu and Sean Clegg are also involved with the effort, according to a person familiar with theprep.

Trump, meanwhile, has enlisted one of the vice president’s ex-rivals to help with the preparations:Tulsi Gabbard,the former representative from Hawaii who ran for presidentas a Democratin 2020 in a crowded field that also included Harris. He has revived the approach deployed ahead of his June debate with Biden, engaging in less formal policy sessions with close aides, advisers and allies in between campaign appearances and rounds of golf.

Trump’s interest in Gabbard as he prepares to face Harris next month stems in part from the notable exchanges the former congresswoman had with the vice president during their 2020 race. Seen mostly as a gadfly and an oddity during her Democratic primary run in 2019,Gabbard’s attack on Harris’ recordas a prosecutor may have been her largest direct impact on the race.

Read more about how the candidates are preparing to face off.

Second gentleman Doug Emhoff is scheduled to deliver a marquee address Tuesday night at the Democratic National Convention to help introduce Vice President Kamala Harris to the nation.

A convention adviser tells CNN that Emhoff, who could become the nation’s first first gentleman if Democrats win in November, has been given a prominent speaking slot on the second night of the convention to paint a personal portrait of Harris.

His speaking role, perhaps, is one of the biggest examples of how the convention schedule has shifted dramatically with Harris at the top of the ticket.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi leaves a Democratic Caucus meeting at the Capitol in Washington, DC, on July 23.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is expected to speak at the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday evening, a source familiar with her schedule tells CNN.

CNN has previously reported that former President Bill Clinton and vice presidential nominee Gov. Tim Walz will both deliver remarks on Wednesday as well.

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump at the Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in Bedminster, New Jersey, on August 15.

Former President Donald Trump will hold a series of what his campaign is internally calling “messaging events” in several battleground states next week, a source told CNN, in counterprogramming to the Democratic National Convention.

These events will be at smaller venues and will focus on the economy, crime and immigration, three issues the former president’s campaign believe could help Trump win in November.

Trump will hold an event in Pennsylvania on Monday, the same day the DNC kicks off in Chicago. His remarks will focus on the economy, according to a statement.

And on Tuesday, Trump will deliver remarks on crime and justice in Howell, Michigan, the campaign announced. His running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, will also hold a rally focused on crime the same day in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

The following day, Trump and Vance will deliver remarks on national security in Asheboro, North Carolina.

He is also expected to visit Arizona next week.

This post has been updated with more details on Trump’s and Vance’s events.

The interior of the United Center, the host venue of the Democratic National Convention, in Chicago on August 16.

Protective fencing is up, street closures are beginning and local and federal law enforcement officials say Chicago is prepared as Democrats begin to descend on the city for the party’s convention.

The convention is kicking off just five weeks after the Republican nominee, former President Donald Trump,survived an assassination attemptat a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania — a moment that raised concerns about the security at Democrats’ gathering in Chicago as well as Republicans’ convention in Milwaukee last month.

Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling said Thursday on CNN that the attempted assassination “did heighten our awareness here” as law enforcement planned for “any possibility.”

“Comparing Butler to a national special security event — you can’t compare it,” Secret Service Special Agent in Charge Derek Mayer told reporters this week. “This is a whole of government approach — we’ve been planning for this convention for well over a year.”

Also looming as Chicago prepared for the convention has been the memory of 1968, when violent clashes between law enforcement and protesters erupted amid protests over the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War.

Snelling said Chicago police have “taken corrective action on those past mistakes” — including efforts to prevent a repeat of 1968 in 2012, when Chicago hosted heads of government at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit.

Street closures were set to begin Friday and Saturday as the city prepares to host about 50,000 visitors — including DNC delegates, an international media contingent, dignitaries, elected officials and more.

“There will be traffic delays, but that’s Chicago. We always have traffic delays in the city,” Snelling said.

Read more abouthow Chicago is prepping for the DNC.

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks during a campaign rally in Phoenix on December 20.

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign submitted signatures to gain ballot access in three states this week, including battleground Arizona, the campaign announced today.

Kennedy’s campaign announced it submitted 110,000 signatures to Arizona’s elections office on Friday, more than double the 42,303 signatures required from Independent candidates to qualify for the state’s ballot.

The petition filing in Arizona comes after Kennedy’s campaign submitted signatures in Montana on Wednesday and Alabama on Thursday, the campaign said. Kennedy’s campaign announced last month it had collected enough signatures to qualify.

Kennedy is currently on the ballot in 19 states. He’s eligible to receive 236 potential electoral college votes.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz attends a campaign rally in Philadelphia on August 6.

Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz is returning to his Nebraskan roots Saturday for a rally right outside of Omaha, where a single electoral vote could impact the outcome of the presidential race.

The Omaha-anchored 2nd Congressional District is a blue dot in a sea of Nebraska red, and the state is one of two – along with Maine – that divide Electoral College votes by congressional district, rather than statewide, winner-take-all rules.

Saturday’s event marks the first time Walz, a Nebraska nativewho moved to Minnesota nearly three decades ago, has visited the state since joining Harris on the Democratic ticket.

Of this year’s presidential battlegrounds, if Vice President Kamala Harris carries the so-calledblue wall statesof Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania and former President Donald Trump wins Georgia, Arizona and Nevada, the outcome of Nebraska’s 2nd District could likely tip the balance and keep the race from ending in an electoral tie.(In the case of a tie, the House of Representatives would decide the winner.)

President Joe Biden carried the electoral vote from the state’s 2nd Congressional District in 2020. And Trump has been pushing Nebraska Republicans to change the state’s election law.

Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen, a Republican, has said he was open to calling a special legislative session dedicated to making his state’s presidential contest a winner-take-all affair — with the caveat that he has sufficient support in the legislature —which would all but assuring that Trump would collect the full lot of electoral votes.

Nebraska Republican officials have not closed the door to trying to change the rules this year, even with less than three months remaining untilElection Day.

Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.

Locked in a tight race for the White House, Vice PresidentKamala Harrisand former PresidentDonald Trumpare eager to show voters how they’ll handle the economy if elected.

Both campaigns have a populist bent, but the candidates have differing visions for helping Americans contending with the high living expenses that remain even as the recent spike in inflation has largely passed.

Here’s how Harris and Trump compare on key economic platforms:

Read more about the candidates’ economic plans.

People sit under a screen displaying text against Vice President Kamala Harris at a campaign rally for former President Donald Trump in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, on August 17.

New electronic signs targeting Vice President Kamala Harris are on display inside the Mohegan Sun Arena in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, ahead of former President Trump’s rally there on Saturday.

A full-screen electronic sign reads, “Kamala is lying to you” and has a link to a site paid for by the Republican National Committee that “fact-checks” Harris’ past statements and encourages visitors to contribute to the GOP campaign.

Another rotating LED display claims that “Kamala is responsible for a broken economy,” foreshadowing attacks on Harris’ economic policies during Trump’s upcoming speech, which is slated to start at 4 p.m. ET.

Harris on Friday unveiled a populist economic platform— which includes measures aimed at making housing, groceries, health care and child rearing more affordable — in a speech in battleground North Carolina.

People attend a campaign event for Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz in Detroit on August 7.

Democrats and Republicans have fought each other to a draw on battleground airwaves amid a flood of presidential advertising in the four weeks since President Joe Biden dropped out and transformed the presidential race.

According to AdImpact data, seven key battleground states — Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia, Wisconsin, Arizona, North Carolina and Nevada — have seen $241.1 million worth of presidential advertising since July 21, when Biden withdrew, including reservations through Sunday, August 18. Those seven states account for more than 70% of all presidential advertising during that period.

And over that four-week span, Democrats and Republicans have spent almost exactly the same amount on advertising in those states: $118.8 million from Democrats to $118.2 million from Republicans. This includes spending from both campaigns and outside groups, and ads on TV, digital, and other platforms.

Former President Donald Trump holds a campaign rally inHarrisburg, Pennsylvania, on July 31.

Where parties are putting in money: The parties, however, have placed slightly different emphases on some of these key states during that period. Democrats have invested significantly more in Michigan than Republicans, $24.5 million to $18.3 million, while Republicans have invested more in Georgia, $21.4 million to $15.1 million from Democrats. Democrats have also invested more in Wisconsin, while Republicans have spent more in Arizona.

Both parties agree that Pennsylvania is the top target. In total, Pennsylvania has been bombarded with more than $76 million of presidential advertising in this four-week stretch. Democrats and Republicans have leapfrogged each other in the advertising lead there, with Democrats currently holding a small edge, $39.1 million to $37.5 million.

Several Indian American women recently gathered at Vineeta Gupta's Maryland home to write postcards encouraging South Asian voters to support Kamala Harris and the Democrats in November.Editor's note: CNN has blurred portions of this photo to protect individuals' identities

Since Vice President Kamala Harris’ ascension thepastseveral weeks, national and grassroots political organizers from the Indian American community say they’ve seen a groundswell of support and energy for the Harris campaign.

Aunties and uncles are exchanging “LOTUS for POTUS” memes in WhatsApp group chats (Kamala means lotus in Sanskrit).TheIndian American Impact Fund saidthe South Asian womenZoom callraised more than $275,000, and leaders from theadvocacy groupreport an influx of small-dollar donations and volunteer sign-ups.

At least part of the Indian American enthusiasm for Harris stems from pride in a shared identity.

Harris’latemother,Shyamala Gopalan,was born in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and immigrated to the US in 1958 to attend a doctoral program at the University of California, Berkeley. Harris has sharedchildhood memories of visiting her grandfatherin Chennai and has spoken about how her Indian heritage has influenced her life and career.

This presidential election could mark a turning point for Indian American voters. With the Indian American populationmore than doublingin key battleground statesbetween 2010 and 2020,some organizers say a fired-up electorate could makea difference come November.

An estimated 4.8 million people in the US identify as Indian Americans–a relatively small slice of the US electorate – andmore than 2.1 million of themareeligible voters, according to the research and policy organizationAAPI Data.

Indian Americans tend to be a reliably Democratic voting blocwith high turnout rates:55% of Indian American votersidentifiedasDemocratsorleanedDemocratic, and 91%saidthey plan to vote in November, an AAPI Data surveyconducted before Biden’s departure from the racefound.

Read more about how Indian Americans are getting involved.

Vice President Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden appear at a campaign event in Largo, Maryland, on August 15.

The Democratic torch is set to be passed Monday night in Chicago, with Vice President Kamala Harris expected to make her first appearance on the opening night of the Democratic National Convention after President Joe Biden delivers his marquee speech to the party faithful.

As Democrats put the finishing touches on a far different convention than imagined only a month ago, several people familiar with the planning tell CNN that Harris is poised to appear alongside Biden before the party begins to look forward toward the November election.

The whirlwind change to the Democratic ticket – with Harris replacing Biden as the party’s nominee – is giving way to something of a slow motion series of appreciations for Biden. Their joint appearance on Thursday in Maryland, where Biden arrived to a hero’s welcome, was seen as the prelude to the big finale on Monday.

The moment will amount to the end of a long political arc for Biden, who attended his first Democratic National Convention as a 29-year-old candidate for Senate in 1972. Then, he was running to be the country’s youngest senator. He’ll walk onstage Monday as it’s oldest sitting president.

Biden has watched with genuine pride as the party coalesces around Harris, people familiar with his thinking say, and he has voiced relief that a prolonged battle for the nomination was avoided after he swiftly endorsed her following his decision to withdraw.

Harris, meanwhile, has taken pains to venerate Biden in public. “I could speak all afternoon about the person that I’m standing on this stage with: our extraordinary president Joe Biden,” she said Thursday.

Vice President Kamala Harris attends a campaign rally in Glendale, Arizona, on August 9.

Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign says it has reserved $370 million in television and digital advertising through November’s election, including what the campaign says is the largest-ever digital ad buy in US political history.

The massive ad buy represents a historic shift: $200 million will go toward digital ads, while $170 will go to traditional television spots. Reaching voters online or on their phones has become a new imperative for campaigns as they seek an advantage.

The campaign says reserving the ad space early allows for more choice placement on highly rated programs, including sports and entertainment. They are also advertising on Fox News, “particularly during day-time programming which reaches a more moderate audience,” the memo states.

The ad spots already reserved also include placement during the season premiers of “Grey’s Anatomy” and the “Golden Bachelorette.”

The campaign said the ad buys represent significant increases from four years ago, doubling the 2020 Biden campaign purchase in Pennsylvania, investing four times as much in Georgia and six times as much in Nevada.

Vice President Kamala Harris’ Caribbean roots are coming into focus for the millions of Americans getting acquainted with her after she was suddenly thrust to the top of the Democratic ticket a month ago.

Already, her Republican rival, former President Donald Trump, has sought to question her Black identity as the two vie for support among African American voters in states such as Michigan and Georgia, which could determine the outcome of this fall’s race.

“I don’t know, is she Indian or is she Black?” Trump asked in widely derided comments at a gathering of Black journalists last month.

Harris is both. She’s the daughter of an Indian-born mother, Shyamala Gopalan, and a Jamaican-born father, Donald Harris.

Donald Harris hails from a family that stretches back for generations in Brown’s Town, a market town in St. Ann Parish — a place that Harris readily claims and one that proudly claims her.

Read more about Harris’ Jamaican roots here.

Tim Walz and JD Vance during their time in the military.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz enlisted at 17 and served 24 years in the National Guard before retiring in 2005 to run for Congress, launching a political career that ultimately led to his selection as the Democratic nominee for vice president.

Like Walz, Ohio Sen. JD Vance enlisted in the military after high school, spending four years in the Marines and serving a tour in Iraq in 2005 as a combat correspondent. Even back then, his fellow Marines thought Vance, now the Republican vice presidential nominee, was destined for a career in politics.

While they’re on opposite sides of the political spectrum, Walz and Vance share a key attribute that is increasingly rare in politics today: For the first time in nearly 30 years, two enlisted military veterans will square off as their party’s respective vice presidential candidate.

Both Vance and Walz enlisted in the military as a springboard, attending college with the help of the GI Bill.Signs of their political aspirations, talent and leadership skills were clearly evident to those who knew them best in the military. In interviews with more than a dozen veterans who served with either Walz or Vance, a picture emerges of two men who exhibited attributes while in uniform that would guide their political careers.

Though the details of their service vary, and neither one saw combat, both Walz and Vance left the military clear-eyed about the missteps the US made during the global war on terror. That skepticism would be a feature of their first political campaigns, 16 years apart. Walz expressed opposition to the US invasion of Iraq while running for the House in 2006, while Vance’s time in the Marines informed his isolationist views toward US engagement in Iraq and Afghanistan — as well as involvement in Ukraine — that arose in his 2022 Senate campaign.

At a time when fewer Americans have military experience, the fact Walz and Vance both served stands out.

Read more about their military service.

Here’s where the candidates are on Saturday:

Donald Trump: The former president is set to hold a campaign rally in the battleground state of Pennsylvania this afternoon. The event is scheduled to begin in Wilkes-Barre at 4 p.m. ET.

Gov. Tim Walz: The Democratic vice presidential nominee will headline a campaign rally in Nebraska on Saturday at 4 p.m. ET, shining a light on the fight for the state’s one swing electoral vote. (Nebraskais one of two states — along with Maine — that divide Electoral College votes by congressional district rather than statewide winner-take-all rules.) The Minnesota governor, aNebraskanative who moved to Minnesota nearly three decades ago, is scheduled to visit Omaha for the rally.

Looking ahead: Vice President Kamala Harris and Walz will embark on a bus tour on Sunday in western Pennsylvania ahead of the Democratic National Convention, which kicks off Monday in Chicago.

President Joe Biden steps off of Air Force One in Hagerstown, Maryland, on August 16.

PresidentJoe Bidenis spending the weekend readying his speech for the opening night of theDemocratic National Convention, a moment markedly different than what he had prepared for just a few weeks agobeforethe Democratic Partycoalesced around a new presidential nominee.

The president’s keynote speech Monday will provide Biden with one of the most high-profile moments he has left to address the American people as his more than five decades in politics begins to wind down.The remarks will come nearly one month after Bidenbowed out of the 2024 raceand threw his support behindVice President Kamala Harrisas his chosen successor.

Biden will make his case for why Harris should be elected president in front of thousands of Democratic delegates and party members at the United Center in Chicago just weeks after many in his own party publicly and privatelyclamored for him to end his presidential bid.

Biden’s aides believe he now enters the convention having earned the goodwill of the Democratic Party following a productive single term in the White House and his move to pass the torch to Harris.

The president is expected to use his speech to lay out hisargumentfor Harris, describe the record they’ve achieved togetherand stress the need to defeatformer President Donald Trump, who he believes poses a threat to democracy, Biden aides said.

As he prepared to board Marine One to fly to Camp David on Friday, the president was asked by reporters about his message for Democrats at the convention.

The president answered:“Win.”

Keep reading about Biden’s expected message at the DNC.

New polling from The New York Times and Siena College suggests a tight race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump in four Sun Belt states, with no clear leader in Arizona, Nevada or North Carolina, while Trump holds the edge in Georgia.

Among registered voters, Trump leads in Georgia 51% to 44%, but in the rest, the margin falls within each poll’s margin of error: 49% Harris to 45% Trump in Arizona, 49% Harris to 46% Trump in North Carolina, and 48% Trump to 46% Harris in Nevada.

The results suggest some differences between the battleground states across the country’s southern tier, including among key demographic groups state-to-state:

Female voters: In Arizona and North Carolina, Harris has opened up wide leads among women, topping Trump 60% to 35% in Arizona and 57% to 39% in North Carolina. Those margins are more narrowly in her favor in Georgia (53% Harris to 42% Trump) and Nevada (51% Harris to 43% Trump).

Latino and Black voters: Harris fares better among Latino voters in Arizona (56% Harris to 38% Trump) than she does in Nevada (45% Harris to 44% Trump). And her support among Black voters is significantly broader in North Carolina (85% Harris to 9% Trump) than it is in Georgia (73% Harris to 20% Trump).

White voters: Trump holds a wider edge among White voters without college degrees, a key part of his coalition, in the Southern states in this batch of polls than the Western ones. That group splits 79% Trump to 18% Harris in Georgia, and 67% Trump to 30% Harris in North Carolina, but breaks more narrowly in his favor in Nevada (59% Trump to 37% Harris) and Arizona (56% Trump to 40% Harris).

Younger voters: Voters younger than 30 break in Trump’s favor in Georgia, 51% Trump to 44% Harris, while breaking more decisively toward Harris in the other three states, 52% Harris to 36% Trump in Arizona, 53% Harris to 39% Trump in Nevada, and 56% Harris to 39% Trump in North Carolina.

On the issues: Across all of these states, Trump holds a significant advantage over Harris as being more trusted to handle the economy (56% Trump to 41% Harris when results from all four states are combined), while Harris has a slightly larger edge on handling abortion (56% Harris to 38% Trump). On immigration, voters split 53% Trump to 43% Harris, and they break the other way by a similar margin, 52% Harris to 43% Trump, on handling democracy.

Vice President KamalaHarrisspeaks at an event in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Friday, August 16

Vice PresidentKamala Harrison Friday unveiled a populisteconomicagenda, proposing a new plan to cut taxes for more than 100 million middle-class and lower-income Americans as she builds out the details of her governing agenda weeks after locking down the Democratic presidential nomination.

The vice president proposed her economic platform— which includes measures aimed at making housing, groceries, health care and raising children more affordable — in a speech in battleground North Carolina. It comes as her Republican rival, former President Donald Trump, seeks to pin blame on Harris for inflation since she and President Joe Biden took office.

Here are more details:

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

Nobody expected President Joe Biden’scampaign to implode in less than a month, from the shock of his performance at CNN’s debate in late June to his decision to step aside in the race in late July. Democrats went from literally freaking out about his candidacy to a new excitement about Vice PresidentKamala Harrisas his replacement.

Nobody expected anassassination attempt against former President Donald Trump, an event that unified Republicans around him and has many in his party showing a sort of divine reverence for his near-death experience.

So we don’t knowspecificallywhat will happen in thesprint toElection Day on November 5, or what could come after, when the country’s unique Electoral College process gets going. But we do have some idea of what to expect:

Click here for more of what to expect in the months ahead.

Vice President and Democratic Presidential candidate Kamala Harris speaks in Indianapolis, Indiana, on July 24.

Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign is launching a new radio ad this weekend targeting Black voters in six battleground states as it seeks to mobilize the key demographic.

Thead, titled “Foundation,” leans into Harris growing up in a middle-class family and her efforts to lower prices of everyday costs to ensure Americans “not only get by, but get ahead.”

The 60-second spot is part of a seven-figure paid media buy for the remainder of August. It will air across six swing states: Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and Nevada.

The ad, along with an additional 30-second spot, will air on national radio stations and popular radio shows including “The Breakfast Club,” “The Morning Hustle,” Urban One radio network, Steve Harvey, DL Hughley, Rickey Smiley and Erica Campbell.