©  Jim Vondruska/Getty Images

Vice President Harris is expected to announce her running mate on Tuesday morning before hitting the road for a swing-state blitz that will touch down in all seven of the hottest battlegrounds.

Harris spent the weekend meeting with the finalists: Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, Sen. Mark Kelly (Ariz.), and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

Reuters reports that Harris is down to the final two: Shapiro vs. Walz.

WALZ, 60, is governor of a blue state that has turned purple during the Trump years:

• He has a rootsy, homespun style that connects with ordinary Americans.

• He defeated a moderate Republican to win reelection in 2022.

• He spent 12 years in the House, defeating a Republican in a traditionally red district to first take office in 2007.
• He’s not Ivy League educated, but rather graduated from state schools in Nebraska and Minnesota for his undergraduate and graduate degrees. He’s been a teacher and an officer in the National Guard.
• Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and United Auto Workers president Shawn Fain praised him this weekend as a stalwart representative of the Working Class.

SHAPIRO, 51, is the popular governor of the biggest swing state on the Electoral College map:

• He’s an effective communicator and a fast-rising party star. He has a reputation as a moderate with crossover appeal.
• He worked his way up through Pennsylvania politics, starting at the state House, then becoming chairman of the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners, and serving as attorney general.
• He easily defeated Trump-backed candidate Doug Mastriano in 2022 to become governor.
• Shapiro is Jewish and has vocally supported Israel following the Oct. 7 attacks while criticizing current Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu.

Conventional wisdom in Washington is that Shapiro comes with upside and downside:

• His views on Israel have angered the left, and he’s been a sharp critic of the anti-Semitic strains in the Pro-Palestinian protest movement. 
• VP decision aside, Democrats are anxious about the prospect their convention in Chicago could be disrupted by left-wing, anti-Israel protesters.
• But CNN election analyst Harry Enten said out of all the potential running mates, Shapiro is “clearly the best” from an electoral standpoint.
• He has a 61 percent approval rating in his home state. If he can help deliver Pennsylvania’s 19 Electoral College votes, Harris would likely win the White House.

Perspectives:

The New York Times: Why Shapiro would make such a difference for Harris.

Newsweek: Harris needs a populist. That’s Walz.

Read more: 

• Shapiro’s views on Israel-Hamas war under the spotlight.
• Harris seeks to learn from Clinton’s campaign.
• Dem Sen. Sherrod Brown (Ohio) will skip convention.
• Bon Iver to perform at Harris’s Eau Claire rally.
• Vance to make stops in same battlegrounds as Harris this week.

Welcome to Evening Report! I’m Jonathan Easley, catching you up from the afternoon and what’s coming tomorrow. Not on the list? Subscribe here.

• Hurricane Debby made landfall in Florida as a Category 1 storm. The life-threatening storm surge and floods could impact Georgia and the Carolinas. 
  
  

• Judge finds Google has illegal monopoly over online search.
  
  

• The U.S. has overtaken China to win the most medals in the Paris Olympics so far. World swimming records are tumbling down as the U.S. rules the pool. Paris created one of the world’s fastest tracks using mussel shells.

©  AP Photo/Richard Drew

Stock indexes suffered their biggest daily drop since 2022 following last week’s soft jobs report.

The Dow shed more than 1,000 points and the Nasdaq fell 3.4 percent.

Japan’s Nikkei saw its biggest stock sell-off since 1987. The plunge at the South Korean stock market triggered circuit breakers that temporarily halted trading in an effort to curb panic selling.

Shares of the Magnificent 7 suffered their worst market cap losses ever, with about $1 trillion in value wiped off the books.

• Goldman Sachs boosted recession probability odds by 10 percent. They put odds of a recession at 25 percent, but said the risk of a serious downturn is “limited.”
  
  

• The White House announced Monday that economic adviser Gene Sperling would leave the Biden administration. Sperling plans to join Vice President Harris’s campaign.

   

• The chief economist at Moody’s said the Fed erred in not cutting rates but will likely wait until September to respond. 
  
  
• There are fears the Fed waited too long to cut interest rates, but Chicago Fed Bank President Austan Goolsbee told CNBC that Americans shouldn’t read too much into the stock selloff.

“You only want to be that restrictive if you think there’s fear of overheating. These data, to me, do not look like overheating … as you see jobs numbers come in weaker than expected but not looking yet like recession, I do think you want to be forward-looking at where the economy is headed for making the decisions,” Goolsbee said.

Former President Trump took a victory lap on Truth Social, blaming the stock selling on the Biden administration’s economic policy.

“STOCK MARKETS CRASHING. I TOLD YOU SO!!! KAMALA DOESN’T HAVE A CLUE. BIDEN IS SOUND ASLEEP. ALL CAUSED BY INEPT U.S. LEADERSHIP!” 

Read more:

• Stocks plunge as weak jobs report, tech woes rattle Wall Street.
• What’s behind the massive selloff in tech stocks?
• GOP accuses Treasury of trying to juice economy before election.
• Are banks sweeping dud property loans under the rug?

New polls show Vice President Harris continuing her meteoric rise in the race for the White House.

• Harris has become the slight favorite in Nate Silver’s election model for the first time.
  
• The latest Morning Consult national poll finds Harris leading Trump by 4 points, 48 to 44 percent. Trump led the same poll 47 to 45 percent only two weeks ago.
• In Pennsylvania, which could be both campaign’s tipping point state, the GOP’s Early Vote Action survey finds the race is tied at 48 percent.
• Democratic polling outlet GQR Research finds Harris opening up a 4 point lead in Pennsylvania, 50 to 46 percent.

Still, There are soft spots in the polls for Harris.

• The latest CBS News poll, which found Harris leading 50 to 49 percent, found Harris with 81 percent support among Black voters. Biden won Black voters with 92 percent support in 2020.
• Trump is pulling 47 percent support among Hispanics in the poll, which would be a historic showing for a GOP candidate.

Democratic strategist David Axelrod warned Democrats that the race is far from over.

“She has a lot of momentum, but if you do look at the polling, this is still a really tight race. This is going to be a hard fight for either side. It’s based on the numbers we’re seeing right now. Look, I mean, there’s a lot of irrational exuberance … on the Democratic side of the aisle right now, because there was despair for some period of time about what November was gonna look like. Now people feel like there’s a chance.”

Will the candidates debate?

• Harris says she’s showing up to the ABC News debate next month whether Trump shows up or not. Trump agreed to debate Biden there, but says he won’t debate Harris on ABC.
• Trump accepted a debate invitation from Fox News on Sept. 4. The Harris campaign has not agreed to that debate.

Republicans are eager for Trump be more focused in his attacks.

• Over the weekend, Trump  attacked Brian Kemp, the popular GOP governor of Georgia, for not being sufficiently loyal to him. 
  
• Trump has been in a war of words with United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain, calling him a “stupid person.”
  
• Republicans are still debating Trump’s remarks about Harris’s race, with Rep. Byron Donalds (R-N.Y.) calling it a “phony controversy” and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) saying the racially motivated attacks are a distraction from the important issues.

Perspectives:

Intelligencer: Can Harris win just enough of the Working Class?

Read more:

• GOP senators say Trump ‘caught off guard‘ by Harris’s strength.
• Harris rattles Trump’s once-disciplined campaign.
• Bashing Project 2025 irks conservatives.
• Trump campaign gambles on new ground game capitalizing on loosened rules.

©  AP Photo/Susan Walsh

President Biden and Vice President Harris met with national security officials in the Situation Room on Monday as the Middle East moved closer to a broader regional conflict.

• The U.S. is sending fighter jets and warships to boost Israel’s defense capabilities, as fears grow Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon will retaliate after Israel assassinated top terrorist leaders in both countries.
  
  
• Over the weekend, the Israeli defense system Iron Dome intercepted several missile attacks from Lebanon.
  
  
• Secretary of State Antony Blinken reportedly told officials from the G7 countries this weekend that Iran and Hezbollah could strike as early as today, according to Axios.
  
  
• Iranian officials said Monday they intend to punish Israel but hope to avoid a full-scale war.
  
  
• The U.S. embassy in Lebanon told Americans in the country to take “any ticket available” to get out of the country.

…

IN OTHER NEWS: Questions abound after Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin revoked a plea deal that would have removed the possibility of the death penalty for three prisoners accused of planning the 9/11 attacks.

Austin said he was “surprised” by the announcement of the plea deal. He said that given the significance of the case, the final say should rest with him under the Military Commissions Act of 2009. 

• The Pentagon announced a surprise plea deal last week that would have imposed life sentences on the three accused 9/11 plotters, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
  
  
• The terms of the deal would also have moved the prisoners out of Guantánamo Bay.
  
  
• The plea deal was met with immediate blowback from Republicans and families of the victims.
  
  
• Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) praised the reversal, although Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, has promised to investigate.

Read more:

• UN fires 9 staffers over possible roles in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack.
• Prisoner exchange ignites debate over “steep price” to free Americans.

“Neil Gorsuch has a few thoughts about America today,” by David French for The New York Times. 

“Biden’s Supreme Court reform is serious business,” by Juan Williams for The Hill.

“The urban family exodus is a warning for progressives,” by Derek Thompson for The Atlantic.

14 days until the Democratic National Convention.

92 days until the 2024 general election.

168 days until Inauguration Day 2025.

Tuesday

• Harris holds a campaign rally in Philadelphia with her running mate.
• Primary elections in Kansas, Michigan, Missouri and Washington.

There a story you think should be getting more attention? Something people should be talking about? Drop me a line: jeasley@digital-staging.thehill.com

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