Harris tied with Trump in polls, Wisconsin rally draws 3,000 fans

Harris has been a proponent for affordable housing policies both during her tenure as Biden’s vice president and as senator.

As senator, Harris presented the Housing is Infrastructure Act alongside Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., in 2019. The bill would allocate funds toward building and renovating public housing.

Harris has been involved in Biden’s broader housing policy and “hammering home” on issues of affordability, new construction and potential tax breaks to help lower costs for mortgage borrowers, said Jacob Channel, senior economist at LendingTree.

“We’ll probably continue to see the Kamala Harris campaign do the exact same thing,” said Channel.

— Ana Teresa Solá

With trillions in tax breaks expiring after 2025, taxes and the federal budget deficit will be key issues for Harris to address as part of her platform, experts say. Without action from Congress, more than 60% of Americans could see higher taxes, according to the Tax Foundation.

Biden has called for higher taxes on the wealthy and corporations to fund tax break extensions for those making less than $400,000 only. But one big question is whether Harris will adopt Biden’s pledge not to raise taxes on those making under $400,000, said Andrew Lautz, associate director for the Bipartisan Policy Center’s economic policy program.    

“That’s a big one with significant consequences” for future Democratic tax proposals and TCJA negotiations, he said.

— Kate Dore

Rep. Andy Ogles, a Tennessee Republican, introduced articles of impeachment against Harris in the House of Representatives over her purported failure to uphold U.S. immigration laws.

Ogles’ impeachment move has little, if any chance, of being approved by the House, and no chance of winning a conviction of Harris in the Senate, which is controlled by her fellow Democrats.

— Dan Mangan

Harris is painting her election battle against Trump as a choice between the future and the past, underscoring one potential advantage she has over Trump, who is 20 years her senior.

“This campaign is also about two different visions for our nation,” Harris cried out to an energized crowd in Milwaukee. “One, we are focused on the future. The other focused on the past.”

Harris pointed to Project 2025, the roughly 900-page wish list for a second Trump term from the right-wing Heritage Foundation, saying it was rife with “failed economic policies” that the U.S. has tried before.

After several months of waning voter enthusiasm for the Biden-Trump rematch, Harris is working to position herself as a forward-looking candidate, unburdened by the baggage of incumbency.

“We are not going back. We are not going back and I’ll tell you why. We’re not going back because ours is a fight for the future,” she said.

— Rebecca Picciotto

Harris is gaining on Trump with voters, though the race remains tight, according to new polls taken shortly after President Biden dropped out of the race.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll released Tuesday showed Harris leading Trump 44% to 42% in a head-to-head matchup, though that two-point lead is within the poll’s three-point margin of error. The poll was conducted from July 22 to July 23.

A Morning Consult poll of 4,001 registered voters taken in the 24 hours after Biden dropped out also found that Harris had narrowed the voting gap with Trump, lagging him by just two points in contrast to Biden’s six-point deficit. The two-point difference between Harris and Trump was within the poll’s two-point margin of error.

Though these polls represent respondents’ knee-jerk reaction, they are key metrics to gauge whether the past few days of Harris hype will translate to a strong campaign in the longer term.

— Rebecca Picciotto

The National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare has endorsed Harris. This is only the second presidential race in which the group has made an endorsement.

Social Security Works is also endorsing Harris, its president Nancy Altman said. “I think she’s going to be even better” than Biden, she said of Harris’ policies for seniors.

In the past, Democrats have had a significant lead in polls on Social Security. But voter support is now spread more evenly between the parties, said Democratic pollster Jeff Liszt, partner at Impact Research.

“Social Security is a battleground issue,” Liszt said.

— Lorie Konish

Harris is taking aim at Trump’s relationship with billionaires and corporate America, and drawing a contrast with her campaign.

“Donald Trump is relying on support from billionaires and big corporations, and is trading access in exchange for campaign contributions,” Harris said to a fired-up crowd in the battleground city of Milwaukee.

“On the other hand, we are running a people-powered campaign,” Harris roared. “Building up the middle class will be a defining goal of my presidency,” she declared.

Harris’ remarks echoed the pro-worker, pro-consumer sentiment that characterized President Biden’s economic platform.

— Rebecca Picciotto

Harris took aim at income inequality during her first presidential bid in 2020 and as a senator.

As a member of Congress, one of Harris’s signature proposals, known as the Lift the Middle Class Act, would have given workers additional financial support with an annual tax credit of up to $6,000 for lower- and middle-income households, on top of the benefits they already receive. Harris proposed repealing the Trump tax cuts to pay for it.

In 2019, she also unveiled a plan to tackle the gender pay gap at work.

Companies with 100 or more employees would be required to report pay and total compensation for men and women, as well as the percentage of women in leadership positions to obtain an “Equal Pay Certification.” Businesses without that certification would be fined at 1% of their average daily profits during the last fiscal year.

Women earn just 84 cents for every dollar earned by men, according to an analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data by the National Women’s Law Center, although the pay gap worsens significantly for Black and Latina women.

— Jessica Dickler

Harris started the first rally of her 2024 presidential campaign with a shower of compliments for President Biden.

“Joe’s legacy of accomplishment over his entire career, and over the past three and a half years is unmatched in modern history,” the vice president said in Wisconsin, a key election battleground, after taking the stage with Beyonce’s “Freedom” playing in the background.

“He has already surpassed the legacy of most presidents who served two terms in office,” she added, thanking him for giving her his endorsement after dropping out of the race on Sunday.

— Rebecca Picciotto

University of Virginia Center for Politics Director Larry Sabato has some advice for the Harris campaign when it comes to picking a vice president: “Don’t get cutesy.”

“Lots of worthy observations, suggestions, and arguments. Clearly, @VP is not going to be able to please everyone,” he added in a post reply.

— Isabel Engel

Democratic megadonor and Galaxy Digital Holdings founder Mike Novogratz believes Harris will “make the race a lot tougher” for Trump, and he has some advice for the vice president.

“If she shows up as presidential, reads the temperature of the country and moves to the center, I think the Democrats are going to have a really good election,” he said in a new interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”

After donating more than $1 million to help defeat Trump in 2020, Novogratz declined to back Biden this cycle.

“I worked hard in 2020” for Biden, Novogratz told CNBC late last year. This time around, he thinks Biden is “too old. I think Trump is too old, too. We need fresh people.”

— Mariapaula Gonzalez

Harris’ husband Doug Emhoff quipped “That’s all he got?” when a reporter asked about Trump’s name-calling of Harris.

“We’re going to prosecute the case against Donald Trump,” said Emhoff, whose wife was called “Lying Kamala Harris” by the Republican nominee in a social media post.

Emhoff’s clapback came during a visit to a reproductive health clinic in McLean, Virginia.

“Kamala Harris has united the party. She’s going to unite the country. She’s going to earn this nomination,” the second gentleman said.

— Dan Mangan

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries are enthusiastically endorsing Harris after what they described as a “grassroots, bottom-up” process.

“When I spoke with her Sunday, she said she wanted the opportunity to win the nomination on her own, and to do so from the grassroots up, not top down. We deeply respected that,” Schumer said. “Now that the process is played out, from the grassroots bottom up, we are here today to throw our support behind Vice President Kamala Harris.”

“Kamala Harris is a commonsense leader who knows how to deliver real results for hardworking American taxpayers,” Jeffries said. “Kamala Harris is a courageous leader who has worked hard throughout her entire career to keep our communities safe. Kamala Harris is a compassionate leader who will build an affordable economy that makes life better for everyday Americans.”

“Kamala Harris will fight for our freedom. Kamala Harris will fight for our families, Kamala Harris will fight for our future,” the minority leader said.

— Josephine Rozzelle

Biden has tested negative for Covid-19, nearly a week after testing positive for the virus in Las Vegas.

“The President’s symptoms have resolved,” wrote White House doctor Kevin O’Connor in a letter released as Biden left his beach home in Rehoboth, Delaware, where he had been isolating after testing positive for Covid-19 last Wednesday, to head back to the White House.

“Over the course of his infection, he never manifested a fever, and his vital signs remained normal, to include pulse oximetry. His lungs remained clear,” O’Connor wrote.

“BINAX rapid antigen testing is negative. He will continue to be monitored for any recurrence of illness.” 

— Dan Mangan

Two Black voter groups, Win With Black Men and Win With Black Women, collectively raised more than $2.8 million for Harris on separate fundraising Zoom calls Monday night.

Roughly 17,000 donors raised $1.3 million on the Win With Black Men video call, according to Roland Martin, one of the hosts of the call. He said nearly 54,000 people tuned in.

The Win With Black Women video call raised more than $1.5 million in three hours, the organization announced on social media. It said 44,000 people attended the call.

— Rebecca Picciotto

A majority of all delegates to the Democratic National Convention have endorsed Harris’ candidacy for the party’s presidential nomination.

The backing from at least 2,540 pledged delegates makes Harris the de facto Democratic nominee. She has drawn no significant opposition to her candidacy.

— Dan Mangan

Harris’ campaign hammered Vance over signing on as Trump’s running mate, years after Vance had indicated he believed Trump had sexually assaulted women.

“Vance is enthusiastically running with someone he believed committed sexual violence so they can enact their cruel Project 2025 agenda together,” Harris’ campaign said in a statement, hours after CNN published a report on Vance’s past statements about Trump and allegations of sexual assault against him.

In October 2016, a month before Trump was elected president, Vance tweeted in a since-deleted post, “What percentage of the American population has @realDonaldTrump sexually assaulted?”

That same month, Vance addressed the claim by Jessica Leeds that Trump had groped and kissed her against her will on a flight during the 1970s.

“At a fundamental level, this is sort of a ‘he said, she said,’ right?” Vance said on MSNBC. “And at the end of the day, do you believe Donald Trump, who always tells the truth? Just kidding. Or do you believe that woman on that tape?”

— Dan Mangan