Morning Report — Harris gets Obamas’ endorsement; gains on Trump

by Alexis Simendinger and Kristina Karisch - 07/26/24 6:37 AM ET

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Nearly a week into Vice President Harris’s unexpected campaign for the White House, she nailed down endorsements from major players, raised hundreds of millions in campaign dollars and closed some of President Biden’s gaps in the polls against former President Trump.

But with 102 days until voters cast their ballot, can Democrats maintain their upward swing?

A new boost came this morning in the form of an endorsement from former President Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama, the last major Democrats to throw their support behind Harris. The former president and Harris have known one another for years, and he remains one of the party’s most popular figures. On the campaign trail, the Obamas are a force for moving votes and mobilization.

The Obamas’ call to Harris came Wednesday, and the former president said the Democrats would be “underdogs” in November but pledged to support her election.

“Kamala has more than a résumé. She has the vision, the character, and the strength that this critical moment demands,” the Obamas wrote in a joint statement. “There is no doubt in our mind that Kamala Harris has exactly what it takes to win this election and deliver for the American people. At a time when the stakes have never been higher, she gives us all reason to hope.”

Other recent endorsements include several labor unions, and 40 former Justice Department officials who served presidents of both parties. In a letter, they warned that “the fabric of the nation, the rule of law and the future of the Democracy are at stake in this election … Former President Trump presents a grave risk to our country, our global alliances and the future of democracy.”

The vice president will head to Atlanta for a campaign event Tuesday, and Harris’s campaign said it will host events aimed at reaching voters in battleground states, featuring Democratic Party leaders whose names have been floated as potential running mates.

Harris is doing better than Biden was against the former president in the latest New York Times/Siena College poll, in which the match-up is within the margin of error among likely voters. It’s a jump from early July, when Biden lagged by 6 points in the aftermath of his poor debate performance.

As for debate number two, Harris told reporters Thursday she’s up for the challenge, needling Trump after he suggested he may not want to participate in an event hosted by ABC News, as previously planned.

“I have agreed to the previously agreed upon Sept. 10 debate. He agreed to that previously,” Harris said. “Now, here he is backpedaling, and I’m ready, and I think the voters deserve to see the split screen that exists in this race on a debate stage, and so I’m ready. Let’s go.”

The Trump campaign said Thursday it would not agree to a debate with Harris “until Democrats formally decide on their nominee,” claiming in a statement that there “is a strong sense by many in the Democrat Party … that Kamala Harris is a Marxist fraud who cannot beat President Trump, and they are still holding out for someone ‘better.’”

HALT HARRIS: The former president’s team was caught off guard by the timing of Biden’s exit, Axios reports, and the former president is facing a novel challenge: He has lost his grip on the news cycle and — temporarily at least — his message. Instead of commanding a bulk of media attention, he and his allies suddenly are now actively reacting to their opponents (The New York Times).

Trump allies are pouring another $32 million into attack ads aimed at defining Harris as an architect of the administration’s immigration and border security mistakes before she has time to respond as the likely Democratic nominee.

Harris has yet to pick her vice-presidential candidate, but the campaign has reportedly sent vetting documents to several candidates. Experts predict a likely pick would come from a swing state, have a strong leadership record — and be a white man.

SECOND THOUGHTS: Trump has made his VP pick, but is Sen. JD Vance (Ohio) ready for his close-up? Republicans initially thought so, but the grumbling on Capitol Hill has grown louder. Some criticize the first-term senator’s foreign policy ideas, lack of national experience, dedication to ultra-MAGA messaging tied to Trump and a history of shape-shifting personal packaging.

“He was the worst choice of all the options. It was so bad I didn’t even think it was possible,” one House Republican told The Hill’s Mychael Schnell. “Anti-Ukraine, more of a populist. He adds nothing to the Trump ticket. He energizes the same people that love Trump.”

Early polling suggests that as Americans learn more about Vance, he is perceived more unfavorably, albeit amid national partisan divisions. House Republicans, eager to expand their majority next year, may find it easier to blame Vance than Trump if something goes wrong in November.

“The prevailing sentiment is, if Trump loses, [it’s] because of this pick,” another lawmaker added. “It doesn’t help.”

3 THINGS TO KNOW TODAY

▪ ⛺California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) on Thursday ordered state officials to begin removing homeless outdoor encampments, a move that divides Democrats in many states. The Supreme Court last month paved the way for Newsom’s action.

▪ ✈️Southwest Airlines is ending its 53-year-old open-seating policy because it says customers want assigned seats.

▪ 🎂The Carter Center in Georgia, focusing on former President Carter’s 100th birthday Oct. 1, issued a public invitation this week to contribute to a mosaic of photos, videos, memories and tributes “to his life and legacy” to mark the event. Carter remains in hospice care.

LEADING THE DAY

CAMPAIGN POLITICS

HELPING HARRIS: Future Forward, which was the main super PAC backing Biden’s reelection campaign, announced Thursday it will spend $50 million in six battleground states over the next three weeks on ads supporting the vice president. The super PAC’s first 30-second ad tells Harris’s political biography, tracing her career from the San Francisco district attorney’s office to the vice presidency.

The ads will appear in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin through Aug. 18, with more than half the airtime during Olympics broadcasts. Future Forward previously announced $250 million in advertising reservations set to begin after the Democratic Party meets next month in Chicago.

Meanwhile, EMILY’s List, which backs female candidates who support abortion rights, released the first pair of ads in a $2 million ad buy promoting Harris for president by targeting female voters under 40 in Arizona, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

2024 Roundup

▪ Practiced warrior: Second gentleman Doug Emhoff has proven he can go to bat for Harris as the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. He has challenged Trump over attacks made on his wife, criticized the former president as a “known antisemite” and slammed the GOP nominee as “toxic.”

▪ Harris would enter the White House with working ties with some allied heads of state — other relationships she’d have to build.

▪ New Yorker analysis by Jessica Winter: Vance’s sad, strange politics of family.

▪ A Vance-aligned think tank is challenging conservative thinking about free markets.

ADMINISTRATION

Biden met Thursday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office to press again for completion of an agreement between Israel and Hamas that would result in a cease-fire in Gaza, free hostages and get additional humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people.

Biden says ending the war remains a top priority during his final months in office. “I’m going to keep working to end the war in Gaza, bring home all the hostages, and bring peace and security to the Middle East and end this war,” he said Wednesday during a national address focused on his decision to withdraw from the presidential contest.

The negotiating parties are closer “than we’ve been before” to a deal, White House spokesperson John Kirby told reporters Thursday, echoing comments from Biden and other top officials in the past month.

Harris, now the Democrats’ likely presidential nominee, met separately with Netanyahu late Thursday and later forcefully summarized her position, emphasizing that she told the prime minister Israel must act to halt humanitarian suffering.

“It is time for this war to end, and in a way where Israel is secure, all the hostages are released, the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza ends, and the Palestinian people can exercise their right to freedom, dignity and self-determination,” she said.

With no policy daylight between her stance and Biden’s, the vice president reinforced the administration’s support for a two-state solution, which Netanyahu opposes.

The prime minister, covering all his bases while in the U.S., plans to meet with Trump today.

After a meeting among hostage families at the White House with Biden and Netanyahu, one participant told reporters the president repeated his public assurances that he believes “something will happen in the coming days” related to the hostages taken by Hamas on Oct. 7 (The Times of Israel).

There are thought to be 111 hostages in Gaza, including the remains of 39 confirmed dead, out of the 251 people abducted nearly 10 months ago.

WHERE AND WHEN

The House will meet for a pro forma session at 11:30 a.m.

The Senate will convene Monday at 3 p.m.

The president will receive the President’s Daily Brief at 11 a.m. White House advisers will brief Biden at 2:45 p.m. on issues related to artificial intelligence. He will depart for Camp David early this evening.

The vice president has no public schedule today.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is traveling through Aug. 3 to Laos, Vietnam, Japan, the Philippines, Singapore and Mongolia.

First lady Jill Biden will attend a reception in France at the Élysée Palace ahead of the Summer Olympics as the guest of President Emmanuel Macron and wife Brigitte Macron. The first lady will attend tonight’s Olympics opening festivities in Paris.

ZOOM IN

CONGRESS

FUNDING WOES: House Republicans failed to pass 12 full-year funding bills and will be out of Washington until after Labor Day. The debate becomes whether to fund the government into the next fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1, in order to avoid being jammed with a massive measure under a lame-duck Democratic president.

Conservatives want a stopgap measure, also known as a continuing resolution, that would prevent funding from lapsing early next year, The Hill’s Aris Folley and Emily Brooks report. Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.), a spending cardinal and member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, said he and other Republicans view the prospect of a trillion-dollar-plus omnibus bill a “danger.”

“If the Democrats want to negotiate in good faith in December, we could always negotiate something in good faith,” he added. “But I’d rather not see a December deadline.”

Meanwhile, Senate negotiators on Thursday passed their second batch of government funding measures, clearing seven of the 12 full-year spending bills for fiscal 2025 (The Hill).

House Republicans used their slim majority Thursday to pass a resolution criticizing Harris on immigration, a theme of Trump’s revised campaign. The vote was 220-196, with six Democrats supporting the resolution and no Republicans opposed. GOP conference Chair Elise Stefanik (N.Y.) was the sponsor. Democrats who backed the rebuke of the vice president: Reps. Jared Golden (Maine), Yadira Caraveo (Colo.) Don Davis (N.C.), Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (Wash.), Henry Cuellar (Texas) and Mary Peltola (Alaska) (The Hill).

While Sens. Joe Manchin (I-W.Va.) and John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) finally reached an agreement on energy permitting reform this week, their effort still could face significant hurdles. They’ll need to convince leadership and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle and in both chambers to support their effort — and to give them floor time at the end of the year.

Roll Call: Big corporations and upper-income households could soon be “feeling the Bern,” as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) hinted at throwing his hat in the ring for the soon-to-be-open Senate Finance Committee seat.

ELSEWHERE

© The Associated Press / David Zalubowski | Consumers contributed mightily to a higher-than-expected increase in the gross domestic product in the second quarter, the government reported Thursday, despite inflation.

ECONOMY

Here’s a persistent question: Are economic experts throwing darts in the dark? The nation’s output surprised analysts by expanding appreciably in the second quarter. A 2.8 percent increase in the gross domestic product, reported Thursday, is chalked up to continued robust consumer spending.

But, but… Consumers who rely on credit cards are struggling to pay down their debts. The share of credit card balances that are past due reached the highest level ever in the first quarter, according to data the Philadelphia Federal Reserve has tracked since 2012.

“The fact that we see more people carrying balances for a longer period of time, and now more people falling behind, is evidence of the struggle that millions of households are engaged in just trying to make ends meet,” Greg McBride, chief financial analyst at the personal finance company Bankrate, told NBC News.

Faced with steep interest rates and rising debt burdens, some consumers are thinking twice. They are tapping the brakes. The mood change is showing up in fewer new credit card account applications and a drop in mortgage demand.

The mosaic of economic news will become more politically important in September, when the Federal Reserve is widely expected to cut rates and voters start to lock in their personal appraisals of presidential candidates based on their gauge of inflation and their own economic wellness.

McBride told NBC it will take a while for consumers to feel relief.

“Interest rates took the elevator going up, but they’re going to take the stairs going down,” he said. “Interest rates are not going to fall fast enough to bail you out of a bad situation.”

OPINION

■ Biden reset the race. Is it better late than never? by Will Marshall, opinion contributor, The Hill.

■ The Kamala Harris report card, by David Brooks, columnist The New York Times.

THE CLOSER

And finally … 👏👏👏 Congratulations to this week’s Morning Report Quiz winners! The Summer Olympics begin today in Paris, which inspired our puzzle. We pulled most of our questions from a recent USA Today article.

🥇This week’s gold medalists, including those who nabbed a *bonus point: Mark Roeddiger, Gale Whitehurst, *Robert Bradley, John Ciorciari, Jay Rockey, Linda L. Field, *Fowler Tillie, *Jeff Gelski, *Mary Anne McEnery, *William D. Moore, Joan Domigues, Tim Burrack, Jack Barshay, *Steve James, *JA Ramos and Chuck Schoenenberger.

The U.S. will have at least one athlete competing in 31 of the 32 sports in the Summer Olympics. Team handball is the exception.

The oldest U.S. Olympic team member is 59-year-old Steffen Peters, an equestrian.

The most decorated athlete on the U.S. team is swimmer Katie Ledecky with 10 Olympic medals (many readers thought the answer was gymnast Simone Biles, who has seven).

NBA superstar LeBron James was selected to be flag bearer for the United States during the opening ceremony in Paris.

* Bonus point: Former lawmakers who participated in the Olympic Games, according to Ballotpedia’s list, include Sen. Bill Bradley (D-N.J.), Rep. Bob Mathias (R-Calif.), Rep. Jim Ryun (R-Kan.), Rep. Ralph Metcalfe (D-Ill.), Sen. Wendell Anderson (D-Minn.), Ben Nighthorse Campbell (who competed in judo and served Colorado in the House and Senate and switched parties along the way) and Rep. Tom McMillen (D-Md.).

(P.S. Here’s a guide to viewing the summer games through Aug. 11.)

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