By The Associated Press
The running mates of former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are coming under greater scrutiny as the presidential election heats up.
Republican Ohio Sen. JD Vance winds down several unsuccessful charities that he started after the successful publication of “Hillbilly Elegy,” while the DUI arrest of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, from nearly 30 years ago has attracted attention, particularly from his detractors.
Meanwhile, members of Congress are pressing Pentagon leaders to ensure the military is not swept up in politics during the presidential election and that active-duty troops are not used illegally as a domestic police force.
The 2024 presidential race is the first since the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 aimed at preventing President Joe Biden’s victory from being certified.
Follow the AP’s Election 2024 coverage at: https://apnews.com/hub/election-2024.
Here’s the Latest:
Maine Democrat who is up for reelection won’t endorse in presidential race
A Democratic congressman from Maine who is fighting to retain his seat in a Trump-friendly district said he will not endorse any candidate in this year’s presidential race.
Rep. Jared Golden is a moderate Democrat who has a history of breaking from his party. He is seeking a fourth term and faces a challenge from Republican Austin Theriault, a state lawmaker.
Golden issued a statement on Thursday that he said followed “persistent requests” for a comment on the presidential race. He said he will not issue an endorsement because he is “running to represent all the people of this district, regardless of who they vote for at the top of the ticket.”
Golden represents Maine’s mostly rural 2nd Congressional District, in which former President Donald Trump has twice won an electoral vote. Maine’s other district is heavily democratic, and the state at large has gone blue in every presidential election since 1992.
Trump, anticipating second term, forms transition committee
Trump has formed his official transition committee, which will oversee preparations for a possible second term.
The work will be overseen by Linda McMahon, who formerly led the U.S. Small Business Administration, and now works for America First Policy Institute, and Howard Lutnick, the CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald.
Assisting the effort will be Trump’s vice presidential pick, JD Vance, as well as his two eldest sons: Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump.
Trump in a statement says in a statement that he has “absolute confidence the Trump-Vance Administration will be ready to govern effectively on Day One.”
The Presidential Transition Act of 1963 lays out steps the federal government must take to prepare for a potential transfer of power, including things like providing office space to campaigns.
Prominent 2020 election denier seeks GOP nod for Michigan Supreme Court race
A Donald Trump ally who faces felony charges of trying to illegally access and tamper with voting machines is seeking the Republican nomination for the highest court in Michigan, an epicenter of efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
In June, attorney Matthew DePerno announced his intent to run for the state Supreme Court, almost one year after he was charged and arraigned.
Delegates will vote on nominees Saturday, Aug. 24, at the Michigan GOP party convention for two state Supreme Court seats in a battleground state where the court has the potential final say in Michigan election matters.
Michigan Supreme Court races are officially nonpartisan — meaning candidates appear on the ballot without party labels — but candidates are nominated at party conventions. Democratic-backed justices currently hold a 4-3 majority. Republican nominees would have to win both seats to take back majority control while Democrats stand to gain a 5-2 favorability.
Why the progressive ‘Squad’ is getting smaller after defeats this primary cycle
The “Squad,” a group of progressive lawmakers in the House, is set to shrink next year after two members suffered primary defeats this election cycle following an unprecedented deluge of special interest spending.
The primary losses for Reps. Cori Bush in Missouri and Jamaal Bowman in New York came over the summer and dealt a blow to the progressive faction, which had amassed considerable clout within the Democratic Party since its initial rise in 2018.
The cohort of Black and brown lawmakers — including Reps. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez of New York and Summer Lee of Pennsylvania — became the target of pro-Israel PACs like the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, late last year after members criticized Israel’s response to the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas.
Eight months later, AIPAC’s super political action committee, United Democracy Project, helped unseat Bush and Bowman after pouring nearly $25 million combined into those races.
A look at claims made at Trump’s rambling NJ press conference
Yesterday, Trump gave his second news conference in as many weeks as he adjusts to a newly energized Democratic ticket ahead of next week’s Democratic National Convention.
At his New Jersey golf club, he blended falsehoods about the economy with misleading statements and deeply personal attacks about his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris.
“As a result of Kamala’s inflation, price hikes have cost the typical household a total of $28,000. … When I left office, I left Kamala and crooked Joe Biden a surging economy and no inflation. The mortgage rate was around 2%. Gasoline had reached $1.87 a gallon. … Harris and Biden blew it all up.”
However, the claims were either exaggerated or misleading. Prices did surge during the Biden-Harris administration, though $28,000 is far higher than independent estimates. Moody’s Analytics calculated last year that price increases over the previous two years were costing the typical U.S. household $709 a month. That would equal $8,500 a year.
Marijuana, the death penalty and fracking: A look at Harris’ shifted positions
Politicians often recalibrate in the face of shifting public opinion and circumstance. Across two decades in elected offices, Vice President Kamala Harris is no exception.
She has staked out expedient and – at times — contradictory positions as she climbed the political ladder.
In addition to reversing course on fracking and cash bail, Harris has changed tack on issues including health care (she supported a plan to eliminate private health insurance before she opposed it), immigration and gun control.
JD Vance to dissolve last vestige of mothballed charity
The Trump-Vance campaign says the Republican vice presidential nominee is preparing to dissolve what’s left of the modest charitable effort he launched to help people in Appalachia after writing “Hillbilly Elegy.”
Vance formed two nonprofits starting in 2016 to address problems in Ohio and other “Rust Belt” states.
They were primarily supposed to focus on boosting job opportunities, improving mental health treatment and combating the opioid crisis.
The original organization folded within five years and Vance put the other on hold when he ran successfully for the Senate in 2022.
What to know about Tim Walz’s 1995 drunken driving arrest
Now that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is Vice President Kamala Harris ′ running mate, his drunken driving arrest from 1995 in Nebraska — long before he entered politics — is getting renewed scrutiny.
Walz was a 31-year-old teacher when he was stopped the night of Sept. 23, 1995, near Chadron, Nebraska. He pleaded guilty in March 1996 to a reduced charge of reckless driving.
Lawmakers ask Pentagon leaders to commit to keeping the military out of presidential election
Members of Congress are pressing the Pentagon’s top two leaders to ensure the military is not swept up in politics during the presidential election and that active-duty troops are not used illegally as a domestic police force.
In a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Gen. CQ Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, lawmakers asked the defense leaders to reaffirm that U.S. law prohibits forces from being used for civilian law enforcement and that they should not carry out unlawful orders.
The concerns come as the campaign heats up — the first presidential vote since the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, aimed at preventing Joe Biden’s victory from being certified.
Trump continues to claim that fraud cost him the 2020 election even though his own attorney general, recounts and investigations found no evidence of that. And he still faces charges of illegally conspiring to undo the results of the election.
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