July 24, 2024, presidential campaign news

Staff has now moved out to the Rose Garden to greet President Joe Biden who plans to come outside after the remarks, according to a White House official. 

A source watching with the staff said there were many tears over the course of the remarks, which ended with a cheer of support for President Biden.

Notable senior staff in attendance at the reception over the course of the evening were Jeff Zients, Jake Sullivan, John Podesta, Tom Perez, Gene Sperling, Ben LaBolt, Karine Jean-Pierre, and Natalie Quillian. 

“Very powerful and moving,” one senior White House official said. 

White House officials watched President Joe Biden’s speech tonight explaining his decision to leave the 2024 race with high emotions. 

One White House official said many around them had “tears in their eyes because they really love him.”

The speech, they said, was “beautiful – he’s really given his heart and his soul.”

“He’s a really good man,” the official said.

One senior White House official said watching the president speak was “bittersweet.”

Honoree, writer, historian Jon Meacham speaks on stage as National Archives Foundation honors Jon Meacham at The National Archives on November 17, 2021 in Washington, DC.

Jon Meacham, a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and presidential biographer, helped President Joe Biden craft tonight’s capstone Oval Office address, a source familiar with the matter told CNN.

Meacham has been on hand for many of the most consequential addresses Biden has delivered during his candidacy and presidency – including, but not limited to, his November 2020 acceptance speech and his January 2021 inauguration speech.

Meacham assisted Biden and his team with both the content and the delivery of the speech, in which the president described a nation at an inflection point where history will be cemented.

President Joe Biden addresses the nation from the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, DC, on July 24, about his decision to drop his Democratic presidential reelection bid. 

President Joe Biden offered praise to Vice President Kamala Harris, whom he endorsed Sunday, in his first official public appearance since dropping out of the presidential race.

“In just a few months, the American people choose the course of America’s future,” Biden said in a rare Oval Office address Wednesday.

Harris quickly consolidated the party’s support and became the presumptive Democratic nominee earlier this week.

President Joe Biden laid out his priorities for his final six months in office during his rare Oval Office address Wednesday night – including “defending” the right to vote and the right to choose, as well as “calling out hate extremism.”

“The next six months will be focused on doing my job as president,” Biden said. 

“That means I’ll continue to lower costs for hard-working families, grow our economy. I’ll keep defending our personal freedoms and our civil rights, from the right to vote to the right to choose. I’ll keep calling out hate extremism, make it clear there is no place — no place in America — (for) political violence, or any violence, ever, period,” Biden continued, highlighting the domestic policies he will work on. 

The president also highlighted his international priorities, which include both working to end the war in Gaza and stopping Russian President Vladimir Putin in Ukraine.  

“I am going to keep working to end the war in Gaza. Bring home all of the hostages and bring peace and security to the Middle East and end this war,” Biden said.  

“We’ll keep rallying a coalition of proud nations to stop Putin taking over Ukraine,” the president said.

“We’ll keep NATO stronger and more powerful and more united than at any time in all of our history.”

President Joe Biden in his Oval Office address on Wednesday spoke about the “promise and possibilities” that make the United States special.

“My fellow Americans, it’s been privilege of my life to serve this nation over 50 years. Nowhere else on Earth could a kid with a stutter from modest beginnings in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Claymont, Delaware, one day sit behind the resolute desk in the Oval Office as president of the United States. But here I am,” he said.

“That’s what’s so special about America. We’re a nation of promise and possibilities, of dreamers and doers, of ordinary Americans doing extraordinary things,” he added.

Biden said he has given his heart and soul to the country and has been blessed a “million times in return for the love and support of American people.”

President Joe Biden addresses the nation from the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on Wednesday, July 24, about his decision to drop his Democratic presidential reelection bid.

President Joe Biden said Wednesday night during his address that the United States has “come so far” since his inauguration in 2021, recovering from “the worst pandemic in a century, the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, the worst attack on our country since the Civil War.”

President Joe President said in his Oval Office address Wednesday that Americans must unite to protect the country.

“This sacred task of perfecting our union is not about me. It is about you. Your families. Your futures. It is about ‘We the people,’” he said.

“We are a great nation because we are good people. When you elected me to this office, I promised to always level with you, to tell you the truth. The truth, the sacred cause of this country, is larger than any one of us,” he said. “We must unite to protect it.”

President Joe Biden addresses the nation from the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on Wednesday, July 24, about his decision to drop his Democratic presidential reelection bid.

President Joe Biden in his Oval Office address Wednesday framed the 2024 election as a fight to save democracy, and said that nothing can come in its way.

“So, I’ve decided the best way forward is to pass the torch to a new generation. That’s the best way to unite our nation,” he added.

President Joe Biden speaks from the Oval Office of the White House on July 24 in Washington, DC.

President Joe Biden said Wednesday that Americans will have a multitude of choices in the presidential election this fall:

President Joe Biden addresses the nation from the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on Wednesday, July 24, about his decision to drop his Democratic presidential reelection bid.

President Joe Biden addressed his decision to step aside from his campaign Wednesday, framing the 2024 election as a choice “between moving forward and backward, between hope and hate” and casting his decision as a matter of democracy. 

Biden began his speech by talking about his love for America and the honor of serving as president.

“This sacred task of perfecting our union – it’s not about me. It’s about you, your families, your future. It’s about ‘We the People.’”

The speech marks Biden’s first official public appearance since announcing he would not seek reelection. 

President Joe Biden.

President Joe Biden is now speaking about his decision over the weekend to not seek reelection.

He announced this decision on Sunday via a letter on his official account on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. “I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term,” he said.

Tonight he is expected to elaborate on the decision.

“I have decided the best way forward is to pass the torch to a new generation. That is the best way to unite our nation,” he will say, according to excerpts obtained by CNN.

When President Joe Biden addresses the nation Wednesday night to explain his decision to drop out of the 2024 race, he is not expected to mention former President Donald Trump by name, according to a senior official who has seen an earlier draft of his remarks. 

The remarks will be “high level,” the official said, given the significance of the moment for the president as well as the nation. 

But, based on excerpts that have already been made public, it’s clear that Biden will make apparent the grave threat that he sees in his predecessor — however implicit the reference. 

And one person Biden is certain to mention by name, according to the same official: His vice president, Kamala Harris, to whom he is trying to pass the presidential torch.

President Joe Biden addresses the nation from the Oval Office of the White House on July 14.

President Joe Biden has delivered an address to the nation from the Oval Office only three times since becoming president. 

He will do so again this Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET following his announcement over the weekend that he would not run for reelection. Biden endorsed his Vice President Kamala Harris to succeed him. 

Oval Office addresses are rare, especially in recent history with Barack Obama, Donald Trump and Biden only using the medium a handful of times. 

Here’s a list of Oval Office addresses since 2008: 

Biden:

 Trump:

 Obama:

Before Obama, the Oval Office address — while rare — was a far more frequent staple with George W. Bush addressing the nation that way 6 times during his presidency and Bill Clinton doing so 15 times. Ronald Reagan holds the record with 29 addresses during his two terms. 

President Joe Biden withdrew from the 2024 campaign three days ago. He returned to the White House one day ago, after testing negative for Covid-19. 

But his aides planned his primetime speech for tonight — 28 hours after his return — to allow Biden’s voice to regain its strength after his bout with Covid-19, a senior adviser told CNN. 

The Oval Office address is anticipated to be a defining moment in Biden’s one-term presidency, which caps off a decades-long career in public service. The White House built in that extra recovery time for Biden, so that he could deliver his address with the force, strength and conviction they believe the moment commands. 

While still recovering from Covid-19 earlier in the week, Biden phoned into his former Wilmington, Delaware, campaign headquarters mere hours after he exited the race and tapped Vice President Kamala Harris to replace him on the ticket. The call, in which Biden expressed his unwavering support for Harris and her candidacy, was marked by a somewhat raspy delivery and a few intermittent coughs. 

And the halting, soft-spoken performance at the June presidential debate while he battled a cold then resulted in his being rejected by the party he’s represented since 1972. 

But with the weight of this moment – and the message he plans to deliver to voters, that he has six critical months of work left to do – will require a president who can deliver that argument with certitude and vigor. 

White House staff are planning to gather for a watch party as President Joe Biden delivers remarks from the Oval Office about his decision to leave the 2024 race, a source familiar with the plans said.

The gathering, which will take place in the White House, is open to all staff working for the president and in Vice President Kamala Harris’ office and could draw hundreds of attendees, the source said.

Separately, several outside groups, led by Climate Power, are organizing a rally in Lafayette Square White House around the Biden’s remarks to show their appreciation for the president.

In his first public campaign event since Vice President Kamala Harris became the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party, former President Donald Trump called his likely opponent a “radical left lunatic” at a rally in North Carolina on Wednesday.

Trump launched a series of attacks on Harris’ record, arguing that everything she touches “turns into a total disaster.” He accused the vice president of casting the tie-breaking votes for laws that “created the worst inflation in a half a century, decimating middle class families.”

After a launching a series of attacks on Harris, Trump told the audience he “was supposed to be nice,” alluding to his unity comments after the assassination attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania earlier this month.

 “They say something happened to me when I got shot: I became nice,” Trump said. “If you don’t mind, I’m not going to be nice,” as the crowd roared. 

President Joe Biden will say this evening that his decision to not run for reelection was because he wanted to pass the torch to a new generation, according to excerpts of his remarks. 

He will underline that his goal is defending democracy, according to the excerpts.

“The defense of democracy is more important than any title. I draw strength, and find joy, in working for the American people. But this sacred task of perfecting our union is not about me. It’s about you. Your families. Your futures. It’s about ‘We the People,’” the president is expected say. 

 He will add later, according to the excerpts: “The great thing about America is here, kings and dictators do not rule. The people do. History is in your hands. The power is in your hands. The idea of America – lies in your hands.”

 In his address at 8 p.m. ET from Oval Office, Biden will also say that over the next six months he will be focused on his job as president, from working to grow the economy to “defending our personal freedoms.”

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker did not deny being asked to submit paperwork to be vetted as Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate.

While declining to discuss private conversations, he told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Wednesday “it’d be hard to resist a call” to join her on the Democratic ticket. 

His comments mark a shift from his answer in an interview on MSNBC on Tuesday, where he said he had not been asked to submit paperwork to be vetted by the Harris campaign. 

Vice President Kamala Harris is less than two weeks away from naming her own running mate.

That’s the timeline she has given to a team of lawyers and advisers who are conducting one of the most accelerated vice presidential searches in modern American history, people familiar with the process tell CNN, with a goal of announcing a nominee before Aug. 7.

Democrats close to the process say the roster of leading contenders being vetted still includes Gov. Roy Cooper of North Carolina, Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania and Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona. 

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who has developed a close relationship with Harris and has also been previously vetted and confirmed by the Senate, is also under consideration, along with Gov. Andy Beshear of Kentucky and Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, sources say.

Former Attorney General Eric Holder is leading a team that is poring through financial documents, family histories, public statements, published documents, voting records, campaign experience and social media postings. Tony West, the former associate attorney general under Holder who is also Harris’ brother-in-law, is also playing a central role in the search.

 CNN has also learned that Democratic pollsters have been asked to test how Harris and any of the prospective candidates would fare in their home states — and key battlegrounds — in hypothetical matchups against Donald Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio.

Doug Emhoff, the second gentleman who often serves as a sounding board to Harris, is also playing an unofficial role in the search, people familiar with the process say, along with other top advisers to Harris.

In the first rally of her presidential campaign on Tuesday, presumptive Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris wrongly described parts of the conservative Project 2025 blueprint for a potential second Donald Trump presidency.

The 920-page Project 2025 blueprint was organized by The Heritage Foundation think tank and developed in significant part by people who served in Trump’s administration; Trump has publicly distanced himself from the initiative, calling unspecified Project 2025 ideas “seriously extreme.” Project 2025’s proposals for right-wing policies and a radical reshaping of the executive branch have become frequent targets of Democratic criticism.

At Harris’ rally in Wisconsin, she criticized Trump and “his extreme Project 2025 agenda,” then said: “Can you believe they put that thing in writing? Read it. It’s 900 pages. But here’s the thing. When you read it, you will see Donald Trump intends to cut Social Security and Medicare. He intends to give tax breaks to billionaires and big corporations and make working families foot the bill. They intend to end the Affordable Care Act. And take us back, then, to a time when insurance companies had the power to deny people with pre-existing conditions.”

A Harris campaign official said the campaign has “made a deliberate decision to brand all of Trump’s policies” as “Project 2025,” since they believe “it has stuck with voters.”  

Mary Vought, a spokesperson for Project 2025 and the Heritage Foundation, said, “Harris should follow her own advice and read the book instead of promoting lies and misinformation.”

Read more on the fact check on Harris’ claims about Project 2025

Former Georgia Republican Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan on Wednesday said he is voting for Vice President Kamala Harris after previously endorsing President Joe Biden before he suspended his reelection bid. 

In May, the Georgia Republican and CNN contributor wrote an op-ed in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution where he announced he would vote for President Joe Biden in November, arguing that Trump “has disqualified himself through his conduct and his character.”

Democrats on Wednesday adopted the rules the party will use to choose their presidential nominee, with voting to officially nominate Kamala Harris likely to begin August 1.

Under the rules approved by the Democratic National Convention’s rules panel Wednesday, presidential hopefuls have until Saturday evening to formally declare their candidacies and until Tuesday, July 30, to submit signatures from at least 300 delegates, with not more than 50 from a single state counting towards the threshold.

Voting will be conducted by electronic ballots sent to convention delegates. If only one candidate meets the petition requirements, which is likely considering how quickly the party has coalesced around Harris, voting is expected to begin on August 1, although it will be up to party leaders to set the times for voting to begin and end. If more than one candidate were to meet the requirements, party leaders can set a period of no more than five days for candidates to make their case to delegates.

The party has said its goal is to nominate its presidential and vice presidential candidates by August 7 to avoid the possibility of litigation over ballot access in Ohio. While the state has pushed its deadline for political parties to submit their official nominees to September 1, the new law won’t take effect until the end of August.

While all delegates will receive ballots, votes cast by superdelegates – senior Democrats who serve as delegates by virtue of their current or past positions – will be counted on the first ballot only if one candidate has the support of enough pledged delegates to make up a majority of the full Democratic convention. That could be determined by a candidate either winning enough votes during remote balloting or gathering a sufficient number of signatures.

After a presidential candidate is nominated, the rules allow the nominee to name a running mate without the need for additional remote voting. 

The rules also call for ceremonial votes for president and vice president, as well as a vote on the party platform, during the Democratic convention, which is scheduled to take place in Chicago from August 19-22. While the ceremonial presidential vote will be conducted as a roll call, the vote for vice president is likely to be a voice vote.

Attendees cheer and clap as Vice President Kamala Harris delivers the keynote speech at Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.'s Grand Boulé in Indianapolis on Wednesday.

Vice President Kamala Harris made the case to mobilize Black women voters as a presidential candidate during Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.’s boule’ in Indianapolis.

She emphasized to thousands of members of the sorority the role Black women played in President Joe Biden’s path to the White House in 2020 and expressed the importance of their votes in November.

“Your leadership continued in 2020 when during the height of a pandemic, you helped elect Joe Biden president of the United States and me as the first woman vice president of the United States, and I thank you. Now in this moment, our nation needs your leadership,” Harris said.

President Joe Biden has “no regrets” about the way Vice President Kamala Harris has ascended to become the presumptive Democratic nominee for president after his shock departure from the race, the White House said Wednesday. 

Jean-Pierre noted that Harris had been a senator and the attorney general of California before serving in the administration and had been a “partner to this president, critical partners” for “unprecedented record” of accomplishments as president. 

Support among prominent Democrats quickly coalesced around Harris despite the formal primary process being dominated by Biden’s run for reelection.

White House staff are planning to gather this evening for a watch party as President Joe Biden delivers remarks from the Oval Office about his decision to leave the 2024 race, a source familiar with the plans said.

The gathering, which will take place in the White House, is open to all staff working for the president and in Vice President Kamala Harris’ office and could draw hundreds of attendees, the source said.

Separately, several outside groups, led by Climate Power, are organizing a rally in Lafayette Square White House around Biden’s remarks to show their appreciation for the president. 

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Wednesday that the suggestion from some questioning whether President Joe Biden should resign from office after he announced he won’t seek reelection are “ridiculous.”  

She added: “He didn’t step down from campaign, or from running, because he didn’t believe he can serve in a second term.”

Jean-Pierre also said “absolutely” that Biden believes he can see out the rest of his term. 

Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.

Fox News has proposed a presidential debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris on September 17. 

The debate invitation from the right-wing cable network would take place in the swing state of Pennsylvania, with anchors Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum serving as moderators, it said Wednesday.

In letters to the Trump and Harris campaigns, Fox News President Jay Wallace and Vice President of Politics Jessica Loker said it is “open to discussion on the exact date, format and location – with or without an audience.”

The letter also noted that “despite not having a Democratic debate” in 2016 or 2020, the network “was able to secure town halls with Democratic candidates,” including with Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg, Julian Castro, Amy Klobuchar and Kirsten Gillibrand.

The network also attached statistics and ratings which it said pointed to its “strength with key demographics such as independents in swing states.”

Trump and President Joe Biden’s campaign had previously agreed to two debates this year, one hosted by CNN in June and another to be hosted by ABC on September 10. It’s not clear if that debate will still take place now that Biden has dropped out of the race.

Trump has also expressed displeasure at ABC and has previously posted that he wants Fox News to host the debate instead of the Disney-owned network. An ABC News spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

In a conference call with reporters on Tuesday, Trump said he “absolutely” wants to debate Harris, and “would be willing to do more than one debate, actually.”

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, left, and Vice President Kamala Harris speak to the pressin Philadelphia on July 13.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said any politician who wanted to jump into the Democratic race could have, but that Vice President Harris was the one who did and earned the support.

Given the timing of President Joe Biden exiting the 2024 race, it was questionable whether a new presidential candidate could have been anyone but his running mate.

“Anyone could have jumped into this process,” Shapiro said. “Anyone could. It was an open process.”

“The vice president jumped in. I endorsed her immediately, as of course did President Biden,” he added.

Elaborating more on his contact with Harris, Shapiro said Sunday that she asked for his endorsement, and they spoke about how to defeat former president Donald Trump. He said they have not spoken since then.

While Harris met the threshold of delegates to secure the Democratic Party’s nomination for president on the first full day of her campaign, she is not yet officially the nominee.

Sen. JD Vance speaks at a campaign rally in Radford, Virginia, on Monday.

Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance said he wouldn’t be surprised if Democrats changed the top of the ticket again if Vice President Kamala Harris shows signs of struggling against former President Donald Trump.

“Even though I do think Kamala’s gonna be the nominee, I wouldn’t be shocked if they tried to do another switch-a-roo, if her poll numbers don’t get a lot better,” Vance said on The Charlie Kirk Show. “It’s clear these guys don’t actually care about democracy. They don’t care about the will of the voters. They just care about power.”

As CNN reported, Harris met the threshold of delegates to secure the Democratic Party’s nomination on the first full day of her campaign.  

Vance argued the Democratic Party is the one that represents a threat to democracy after Biden handed the reins to Harris — which he called “profoundly anti-democratic.”

During the first Pennsylvania news conference by the Harris campaign since Vice President Kamala Harris took over as the presumptive nominee from President Joe Biden, senior Democratic leaders and campaign officials said the race hasn’t changed in the key battleground state. 

“The vice president was on the ticket two weeks ago, she’s on the ticket today,” continued White, who held the same position in Biden’s campaign.

“Our path to victory in Pennsylvania and across this country hasn’t changed.”

At a North Philadelphia campaign office, White reiterated that what has changed is a swell of enthusiasm since the nominee shift: the campaign said 2,500 people in Pennsylvania signed up to volunteer in the 24 hours after Harris was endorsed by Biden, which was four times bigger than their prior best volunteer day.

White added that he expects Biden to be back in Pennsylvania stumping for Harris at some point.

“Vice President Harris is an exciting candidate that changes the dynamic of the ability to make history, but the race is the same. The race is still prosecuting the case that Donald Trump is unfit to be president,” he added.

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a Zeta Phi Beta Sorority event in Indianapolis on Wednesday.

Vice President Kamala Harris praised President Joe Biden’s legacy during remarks at a Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. event ahead of his Oval Office address tonight on his decision not to seek reelection.

Harris is in Indianapolis to address the Black sorority in an effort to engage Black women voters.

Democratic House members were quick to denounce comments from Republicans calling Vice President Kamala Harris a “DEI hire” as she seeks the Democratic nomination for president. 

Here’s what some lawmakers said:

Meanwhile, House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters Wednesday he encouraged Republican members to stick to the “message” that Harris is an inferior presidential candidate to former President Donald Trump because of her liberal policies, not because of her race.

Johnson said a more beneficial comparison of the two candidates than that of their “personalities,” is of their “policy” and “record,” a comparison he said is “very much in the benefit of the Republicans.” 

“The most surprising part of this is that (Johnson) is actually asking his caucus to cease that,” said Rep. Lee, the Democrat from Pennsylvania. “I hope they will be very vocal about that and also hope that when they see it, they will nip it in the bud and call it what it is.”

FBI Director Christopher Wray arrives at the Rayburn House Office Building to testify before the House Judiciary Committee at a hearing titled "Oversight of the Federal Bureau of Investigation" on July 24, 2024 in Washington, DC.

Speaking to the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday, FBI Director Christopher Wray revealed more details about the recent assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.

The hearing is still ongoing. Here’s what Wray has said during so far:

The Republican Jewish Coalition is highlighting Vice President Kamala Harris’ decision not to attend Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to the joint session of Congress through a new digital ad in battleground states. 

The digital ad says: “Kamala Harris is choosing to snub Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s critical address to Congress. Instead, she is going to a sorority luncheon. Yes, you read that right. What a shanda.”

The ad does not mention that Harris is set to meet separately with Netanyahu on Thursday.

The likely 2024 presidential election campaign between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump begins with no clear leader, according to a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS after President Joe Biden ended his bid for reelection.

Trump holds 49% support among registered voters nationwide to Harris’ 46%, a finding within the poll’s margin of sampling error. That’s a closer contest than earlier CNN polling this year had found on the matchup between Biden and Trump.

The survey finds voters widely supportive of both Biden’s decision to step aside and his choice to remain in office through the end of his term. Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters are broadly enthusiastic about Harris and willing to coalesce around her as the new presumptive nominee, even as they remain deeply divided on whether Biden’s Democratic successor should seek to continue his policies or chart a new course.

The poll, conducted online July 22 and 23, surveyed registered voters who had previously participated in CNN surveys in April or June, both of which found Trump leading Biden by 6 points in a head-to-head matchup. Checking back in with the same people means that shifts in preferences are more likely to reflect real changes over time and not just statistical noise.

And the new poll finds some critical movement in these early days of a Harris-Trump race.

Harris hangs on to 95% of those who earlier said they supported Biden, while Trump retains the support of a slightly smaller 92% of his previous backers. Those who previously said they would support neither Biden nor Trump in a two-way matchup now split 30% for Harris and 27% for Trump, with the rest saying they’d vote for someone else or opt out of this year’s election.

Half of those who back Harris in the new poll (50%) say their vote is more in support of her than against Trump. That’s a dramatic shift compared with the Trump-focused dynamic of the Biden-Trump race. Among Biden’s supporters in CNN’s June poll, just 37% said their vote was mainly to express support for the president.

About three-quarters of Trump’s supporters (74%) say their vote is to express support for him rather than opposition to Harris. That’s an increase in affirmative support for him compared with the June CNN poll (66%), which came before an assassination attempt on Trump’s life and the Republican National Convention at which the former president formally accepted his party’s nomination. The poll finds Trump’s favorability rating ticking up to 43%, higher than it’s been since 2020 in CNN polling.

Read more about the new CNN poll here.

Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly repeatedly dodged questions on if he would accept the vice president spot on Kamala Harris’ ticket if selected.

“This is not about me. This is about the future of this country,” he told CNN when asked directly if he would accept if offered.

Kelly also dodged on if it would be helpful to have an Arizonan on the ticket.

He repeatedly slammed what he called the damages Donald Trump did to the country: “We do not need to go back to that.”

Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign has outlined its view of the presidential race, laying out a more bullish view of the electoral path forward following President Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw and making the case that the shift in the race has created an “expanded universe” of swing voters.

The Harris campaign believes that the vice president not only has proven support from voters who were key to the Biden-Harris coalition in 2020, including Black, Latino, women and young voters, but is also positioned to expand the coalition they built four years ago. 

Specifically, the campaign believes that Harris taking over the race as the presumptive Democratic nominee after Biden stepped aside means that the vice president is in a position to swing undecided voters in her favor. 

The campaign also outlined its view of their electoral path to victory, painting a much more optimistic picture beyond the so-called “Blue Wall” states to the battleground states of the Sun Belt. It’s a notable change from where the campaign was just weeks ago, with a then-Biden campaign memo from earlier in July acknowledging that states like Georgia, Nevada, Arizona, and North Carolina were no longer as competitive.

FBI Director Christopher Wray testifies before the House Judiciary Committee in the Rayburn House Office Building on July 24 in Washington, DC. 

FBI Director Christopher Wray said in his opening statement before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday that he would do his best to give members of Congress information on the ongoing investigation into the assassination attempt of Donald Trump.

Wray noted that he has been warning of the high threat environment in the US, saying “we are living in an elevated threat environment.”

“The shooter may be deceased, but the FBI’s investigation is ongoing,” Wray added.

During his testimony, Wray said that the would-be assassin flew a drone around the area of Pennsylvania rally just hours before Trump took the stage.

Wray revealed to lawmakers that “it appears that around 4 p.m.,” and said the shooter “was flying the drone around the area” of the rally about 200 yards from the stage. The drone was in the air for about 11 minutes, Wray said.

The FBI director added that investigators “think” the shooter was watching a live feed from the drone on his phone during the flight before the rally.

More background: The FBI took over the investigation into what happened on July 13 soon after the rally shooting. The investigation is running on two different fronts, officials have said — both as an attempted assassination and as a potential act of domestic terrorism. Investigators say that the shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, fired approximately eight times from an AR-style rifle at the former president before being killed by a US Secret Service counter sniper.

FBI officials have repeatedly asserted that they believe the shooter acted alone, and used a rifle purchased legally by his father. On Tuesday, Wray reiterated that there is no evidence of co-conspirators, while saying the investigation is ongoing.

The hearing comes just a day after former US Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned. Cheatle faced intense scrutiny during House hearing on Monday, after which there were bipartisan calls for her to step down from her position.

You can read more about the ongoing hearing with FBI Director Wray here.

Sen. Mitt Romney speaks with CNN's Manu Raju on Wednesday.

Republican Sen. Mitt Romney told CNN that President Joe Biden “did the right thing,” by choosing to step aside.  

Romney refused to weigh in on whether Biden should resign from office, unlike many of his GOP colleagues who have called on Biden to immediately step down. “I’m not in a position to make that assessment. There’s a constitutional process for those kinds of things, and that’s not where I am,” he added.

Pressed about Republican attacks on Vice President Kamala Harris as a “DEI hire,” Romney called that rhetoric a “mistake.”

“Let’s elevate the politics to a place where we talk about issues and a view for the future,” he said. “And both candidates are going to be doing that, as opposed to taking personal swipes.”

The Utah Republican refused to say who he would vote for in November — but insisted that he is still not planning to vote for former President Donald Trump.  

“I’m not going to be talking about who I’ll be supporting in the election,” he told reporters. “I’m not going to be voting for President Trump. I’ve said that, no change in that regard. But how I vote will be private.” 

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks at the Libertarian National Convention on May 24 in Washington, DC. 

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. submitted paperwork required to gain ballot access in Louisiana on Tuesday, a listing on the Secretary of State’s website shows.

Independent presidential candidates are required to pay a $500 fee to apply for ballot access, but do not need to submit signatures.

CNN has reached out to the Louisiana Secretary of State’s office to determine the status of Kennedy’s petition.

Kennedy has qualified for the ballot in 11 states:

His campaign has either gained ballot access, submitted paperwork or finished collecting signatures in 29 states. 

Some context: As Kennedy pushes to gain ballot access in all 50 states, Democrats are ramping up their efforts to block the independent presidential candidate by filing legal challenges seeking to get his ballot petitions thrown out in several states.

The Democratic National Committee and Clear Choice PAC, a super PAC that is focused on countering third party candidates, have objected to Kennedy’s ballot access in four states in the last month.

Donald Trump will step out onto the campaign trail today to an entirely new race and a political landscape once again irrevocably altered by an unprecedented election year.

The former president’s rally here is his first since President Joe Biden abruptly ended his reelection bid, setting off a chain of events that appears destined to end with Trump facing Vice President Kamala Harris in November.

Now, Trump and his campaign are working to reimagine a playbook and operation launched to take on an unpopular 81-year-old incumbent.

In a campaign already marked by extraordinary events – a significant civil judgment against Trump, a felony conviction, an indictment dismissed and another delayed by a scandal in the Georgia prosecutor’s office, Biden’s confidence-shattering debate performance and an assassination attempt on the former president – the latest twist has plunged the presidential race deeper into uncharted territory.

Trump’s team insists it was prepared for a change at the top of the Democratic ticket long before Biden officially dropped out, pointing to an internal memo from May laying out scenarios that would result in an open convention and another Democrat as the nominee.

Senior Trump advisers continue to suggest that a campaign against Harris would largely center on the same issues once used to criticize Biden: crime, immigration and inflation. As Biden’s second in command, Harris played a key role in shaping the administration’s approaches to those topics, they will argue.

But some individuals close to Trump acknowledge the uncertainty brought on by Harris’ candidacy, specifically what new Democratic enthusiasm could mean for turnout in November.

Read the full story.

President Joe Biden delivers a nationally televised address from the Oval Office of the White House on July 14 in Washington, DC. 

President Joe Biden will give one of the most historic speeches in his half-century life in politics today as he addresses the nation from the Oval Office about his decision to drop out of the 2024 presidential race.

His 8 p.m. speech will be his first extensive remarks since his announcement Sunday that he was not running and was endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris — a stunning moment that capped off weeks of Democratic anxiety about the top of the ticket.

Harris, who quickly secured the backing of enough delegates to win the Democratic nomination, hit the campaign trail Tuesday in the key battleground state of Wisconsin, where she sought to draw a contrast with Donald Trump.

The former president will hold his first campaign rally since Biden dropped out in North Carolina on Wednesday.

Read more ahead of Biden’s Oval Office address here.

Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.

Former President Donald Trump said Tuesday he wants to debate Vice President Kamala Harris but hasn’t yet agreed to any specific debates.

He said that the previously agreed to September debate hosted by ABC was supposed to be a debate with President Joe Biden, who has since dropped out of the race. 

Trump said he would be open to participating in more than one debate with Harris and said he thought it was “important” to have presidential debates.  

Trump criticized ABC — the network that is scheduled to hold a presidential debate on September 10 — and said he was “not thrilled with ABC.”

He said he took particular issue with the network’s coverage of Biden dropping out of the race and claimed they were “trying to make a hero out of Joe Biden.”

Trump had previously said on Truth Social he wanted Fox News to host that debate instead of ABC. 

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks to supporters during a campaign rally at West Allis Central High School on July 23, 2024 in West Allis, Wisconsin.

Kamala Harris stands on the threshold of history.

If elected to succeed President Joe Biden, Harris – the daughter of a Jamaican father and an Indian mother – would not only be the first woman, but the first Indian American, the first Asian, the first Black woman and the first person of Jamaican descent to ascend to the office.

And Democratic-aligned donors from all those worlds are eager to help Harris get there.

“Her multiple identities is actually her superpower in this moment,” said Glynda Carr, the CEO of Higher Heights for America, a group focused on growing Black women’s political power.

Carr, like Harris, is a part of the storied Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., whose members swiftly donated checks in amounts of $19.08 to Biden’s campaign in 2020 to signal their approval of his vice-presidential pick. That figure marks the year of the sorority’s founding at Harris’ alma mater, Howard University.

Her sorority sisters are messaging with their money once again: More than 1,500 contributions of exactly $19.08 each have hit the campaign’s accounts between Sunday afternoon – when Biden exited the 2024 presidential race – and Monday evening, according to a source familiar with Harris’ fundraising.

Carr suspects that “all the founding dates” of the Divine Nine – as the country’s historically African American sororities and fraternities are known – will be represented on checks this year.

Political fundraisers around the country say they’ve witnessed a breathtaking financial turnaround for Democrats since Biden’s withdrawal effectively ended a donor blockade in the aftermath of the president’s poor debate performance last month.

Read the full story.

Rep. Pat Ryan speaks during the 2023 Concordia Annual Summit at Sheraton New York on September 18, 2023 in New York City.

Democratic Rep. Pat Ryan — who represents a battleground district in New York — argued that Vice President Kamala Harris leading his party’s ticket boosts the electoral prospects of Democrats up and down the ballot. 

“What she is able to do, and we’ve seen this to great effect in the last 48 hours, is draw such a sharp, clear, and energizing contrast and remind people of the choice, the stakes, the consequences, the existential nature of the choice,” Ryan told Kasie Hunt on “CNN This Morning.”

Ryan, one of the first members of Congress to call on President Joe Biden to withdraw from the presidential race, encouraged Harris to “take the reins” in managing challenges like the crisis at the southern border soon. 

Asked who Harris should pick as her running mate, Ryan advocated for Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. 

“I am and forever have been a Pete Buttigieg fan,” the congressman said. “I think he has just knocked it out of the park.”

Hillary Clinton, former Secretary of State who ran for president in 2016, outlined her support for Vice President Kamala Harris in a New York Times op-ed Tuesday, arguing that the Democratic Party’s presumptive nominee was a “a savvy former prosecutor and successful vice president” who can “offer a hopeful, unifying vision” to the American people. 

Both Clinton, and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, endorsed Harris on Sunday shortly after Biden announced that he would drop out of the race.

Clinton also addressed the challenges she believes Harris will face as the campaign kicks into high gear. 

“Ms. Harris will face unique additional challenges as the first Black and South Asian woman to be at the top of a major party’s ticket. That’s real, but we shouldn’t be afraid. It is a trap to believe that progress is impossible,” Clinton wrote. 

Though Harris campaign was launched just days ago, some Republicans zeroed in on the former California senator’s racial background in attacks. In an interview with CNN Tuesday, Tennessee Rep. Tim Burchett suggested President Joe Biden selected Harris as his running mate solely because she is Black. 

 “One hundred percent she is a DEI hire,” he said, referring to diversity, equity and inclusion. “Her record is abysmal at best.”

Clinton, who became the first woman to win a major party’s nomination in 2016, recalled having to “fight through the sexism and double standards of American politics.” 

Clinton also praised Biden, describing his decision to step down “was as pure an act of patriotism as I have seen in my lifetime.”

While isolating in his Rehoboth Beach house before returning to Washington on Tuesday, President Joe Biden began drafting his Oval Office address to the nation, senior officials told CNN, preparing a speech that will no doubt be one of the most consequential of the president’s decades-long political career. 

Biden and his longtime communications aide, Mike Donilon, began early work on the speech after the president went public with his decision to exit the race, after three weeks of mounting intra-party pressure and despite Biden’s insistence he’d stay on the ticket. (Donilon, a former pollster, played an instrumental role in presenting the data that informed the president’s decision to step aside.)

Those weeks — followed a halting debate performance by Biden that shook the Democratic party to its core — have now been followed by mere days that have seen that same party band behind its new candidate with unprecedented speed, resulting in an influx of money, foot soldiers and endorsements. 

This address occupies a unique place in the presidential narrative, as it marks the beginning of the end of Biden’s presidency. Sources told CNN the president intends to use the primetime remarks to reveal to the American people how he arrived at the painful decision to drop out of the 2024 race, which he said in his official letter he believed was “in the best interest of my party and the country.”

Biden himself is expected to turn his attention in the coming days and weeks to the legacy of his one-term presidency. But as one source told CNN, with the decision to drop out of the 2024 still only two days old, and such discussions have not begun in earnest.

Vice President Kamala Harris laid out her vision for the country during her first campaign rally in Wisconsin as the presumptive Democratic nominee, offering some rhetorical differences from the Biden administration that prompted a galvanized response from the crowd.

“Wisconsin, this campaign is also about two different visions for our nation: One where we are focused on the future. The other — focused on the past. We believe in a future where every person has the opportunity, not just to get by, but to get ahead,” she said Tuesday in the battleground state. 

She also highlighted how the state is key in her path to victory. “You all helped us win in 2020. And in 2024, we will win again,” Harris said.

Here are key moments from Harris’ remarks:

Read more key lines from Harris’ rally in Wisconsin.

CNN’s Betsy Klein and Samantha Waldenberg contributed reporting to this post.