Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are painting much different pictures as they meet with voters on the campaign trail. Harris, by turns, is pushing “joy” — branding the Democratic ticket, which includes her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, “as joyful warriors.”
Trump, meanwhile, has promoted a gloomier view for Republicans, saying at a news conference last week that, “We have a lot of bad things coming up.”
Voters will more from both candidates and their running mates in the days ahead.
Walz will hold his first solo events this week, traveling on Tuesday to Los Angeles to speak at the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees convention, before attending a series of fundraisers around the country.
Trump is set to do a live interview Monday on X, the social platform from which he was banned for nearly two years following the Jan. 6, 2021, storming of the U.S. Capitol.
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Here’s the Latest:
Trump reportedly used a slur against Harris in private conversations
Former President Donald Trump reportedly has used a slur often targeted at women to describe Vice President Kamala Harris during at least two private conversations. His campaign denies it.
The New York Times cited two people who, on different occasions, heard Trump call Harris a “b——.” The people were granted anonymity to describe private discussions.
In response, Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said, “That is not language President Trump has used to describe Kamala and it’s not how the campaign would characterize her.”
Trump, a Republican, has a history of making derogatory statements about women and his political opponents. He has called Harris, the Democrats’ presidential candidate, and other women, including 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, “nasty,” and he bragged about grabbing women’s genitalia in the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape.
▶ Read more here.
From Biden to Gabbard, here’s what Harris’ past debates show before a faceoff with Trump
Vice President Kamala Harris has repeatedly taunted her opponent’s seeming reluctance to debate, telling a series of raucous audiences about Donald Trump’s criticisms of her: “As the saying goes, if you’ve got something to say, say it to my face.”
After first backing out of an agreement, Trump reversed himself and said he’d meet Harris on Sept. 10 for an event hosted by ABC. That sets up a long-anticipated faceoff between the Democratic and Republican nominees — and, indeed, the chance for both of them to deliver their attack lines directly at one another.
Sharing a stage with Trump presents a critical chance for Harris to define herself and her opponent in a truncated campaign, with many open questions about her policy positions. But it also sets up a major test — one that President Joe Biden failed badly enough that he ended his campaign and made way for her.
▶ Read more about Harris’ past debates.
Democrats launch first paid ad campaign for the Harris-Walz ticket in battleground states
With a solidified presidential ticket stumping across the country and a massive amount of money to spend, the Democratic Party is targeting seven critical battleground states with paid advertising for Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
The Democratic National Committee announced the Harris-Walz advertising push on Monday, which includes more than 70 billboards across the key battleground states: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. It’s the ticket’s first paid advertising blitz since Walz joined the campaign — and the first of many to come in areas that are poised to determine the outcome of the presidential election in November.
The billboards will be in several key urban areas across the battleground states, such as Atlanta, Detroit, Charlotte and Philadelphia, according to the DNC. Many are set up along major interstates and highways, including Interstate 95 and Interstate 10.
▶ Read more about the ad campaign.
Will Trump’s and Harris’ mismatched moods matter?
At the top of his first speech as her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz turned to Vice President Kamala Harris and declared, “Thank you for bringing back the joy.” The next day, Harris took the theme a step further, branding the Democratic ticket “joyful warriors.”
Contrast that with former President Donald Trump, who opened a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida a few days later by saying, “We have a lot of bad things coming up,” and predicting the U.S. could fall into an economic depression unseen since the dark days of 1929 or even another world war.
Two-thirds of Americans reported feeling very or somewhat pessimistic about the state of politics, according to polling by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research from last month. Roughly 7 in 10 said things in the country are heading in the wrong direction.
But Jason Miller, a senior adviser to the former president, said people don’t care about “vibe checks.”
“That’s not making gas or food or housing less expensive,” Miller said.
▶ Read more about whether the mismatched moods matter.
Vance hails Trump’s Fed idea and pushes back against criticism over past words on American families
Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance used a round of Sunday news show appearances to disparage the Democratic ticket and promote Donald Trump’s record and second-term plans and defend himself from criticism over past remarks that have become a campaign issue.
The Ohio senator, in a series of taped interviews, said there was merit to Trump’s suggestion that presidents have more control of U.S. monetary policy and kept up the GOP line that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democrats’ vice presidential candidate, had exaggerated his military record.
Vance, who shadowed Vice President Kamala Harris and Walz during their recent visits to several battleground states, was quizzed about abortion and his past comments about American family life, among other topics.
▶ Read more about some of his other appearances.
Trump campaign says its emails were hacked
Former President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign said Saturday that it had been hacked and suggested Iranian actors were involved in stealing and distributing sensitive internal documents.
The campaign provided no specific evidence of Iran’s involvement, but the claim comes a day after Microsoft issued a report detailing foreign agents’ attempts to interfere in the U.S. campaign in 2024.
It cited an instance of an Iranian military intelligence unit in June sending “a spear-phishing email to a high-ranking official of a presidential campaign from a compromised email account of a former senior advisor.”
Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung blamed the hack on “foreign sources hostile to the United States.” A spokesperson for the National Security Council said in a statement that it takes any report of improper foreign interference “extremely seriously” and condemns any government or entity that attempts to undermine confidence in U.S. democratic institutions, but said it deferred to the Justice Department on this matter.
▶ Read more here.
Walz to hold first solo events as Harris’ running mate
Tim Walz is holding his first solo events as Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate, traveling on Tuesday to Los Angeles to speak at the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees convention, before attending a series of fundraisers around the country.
After his speech in Los Angeles, the Minnesota governor will hit five states in three days, beginning with a fundraiser in Newport Beach, California.
He will headline two more fundraisers on Wednesday in Denver and Boston. He’ll speak at fundraisers in Newport, Rhode Island, and Southampton, New York the following day.
Harris introduced Walz as her running mate during a joint rally last week in Philadelphia, and the pair then campaigned together in Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona and Nevada. The vice president is set to campaign with Biden in Maryland this week, and also has promised to detail her policy proposals on the economy.
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