July 31, 2024

Wednesday, July 31, 2024. Annette’s News Roundup.

---

Kamala is always busy.

First major ad from Harris Campaign

$50 million buy before August 7.

Touch to watch. 👇 https://x.com/MacFarlaneNews/status/1818240863002067294

First major rally in Georgia. #GeorgiaBlue2024

Kamala Harris Speech LIVE: Megan Thee Stallion Stumps For Kamala Harris In Atlanta.

Megan Thee Stallion has taken the stage at the Harris rally, performing her biggest hits, “Hot Girl” and “Mamushi,” with her and her background dancers clad in blue suits. It’s the clearest illustration yet of just how different the Democratic presidential campaign is under Harris — and how much she’s energizing a part of the Democratic coalition that had been checked out. (New York Times).

Watch our Democratic Nominee in front of 10,000+ in Georgia (in a stadium supposed to hold 8,000).👇

Thousands in Atlanta rally for Harris in battleground that Dems feared unwinnable with Biden.

ATLANTA (AP) — Little more than a week ago, Georgia appeared to be slipping out of the Democrats’ reach: President Joe Biden’s campaign pledged to concentrate more on holding the Midwestern “blue wall” states and indicated they might be willing to forsake “Sun Belt” battlegrounds.

But now that Biden has bowed out of the race and Kamala Harris is the likely nominee, Democrats are expressing new hopes of an expanded electoral map and welcoming the vice president to the state that delivered Biden his narrowest victory margin in 2020 with a show of political force intended to signal a new landscape against Republican Donald Trump.

The roughly 8,000-capacity basketball arena at Georgia State University was filled to its rafters with thousands of voters waving signs, dancing to the Harris campaign soundtrack and celebrating an atmosphere that would not have been possible just 10 days ago, with the party reeling over whether the 81-year-old Biden would remain in the race after a dismal performance magnified concerns about his age and abilities.

“This is like Barack Obama 2008 on steroids for me,” said Mildred Hobson Doss, a 59-year-old who came downtown from suburban Lilburn. “I would have voted for President Biden again. But we are ready.”

Harris is hoping a large rally, featuring a performance by hip-hop star Megan Thee Stallion, will help affirm her campaign’s momentum. The campaign argues that Harris’ appeal to young people, working-age women and non-white voters has scrambled the dynamics in Georgia and other states that are demographically similar, from North Carolina to Nevada and Arizona.

“The energy is infectious,” said Georgia Democratic Chairwoman Nikema Williams, a congresswoman from Atlanta. “My phone has been blowing up. People want to be part of this movement.”

In a strategy memo released after the president left the race, Harris campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon, who held the same role for Biden, reaffirmed the importance of winning Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, a trio of industrial states that have formed the traditional Democratic blue wall.

But she also argued that the vice president’s place atop the ticket “opens up additional persuadable voters” and described them as “disproportionately Black, Latino and under 30” in places like Georgia.

“This campaign is about freedom,” said Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock, who was there with his fellow Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff. “So the question is, do you want to be free? Or do you want to go back?”

“When you show up, we win.”

Republicans, who still control Georgia’s state government, counter that Biden’s lagging popularity and concern over higher consumer prices and immigration will transfer to Harris in the historically conservative state.

But they concede that the landscape suddenly looks much closer to 2020 – when Biden won by about 0.25 percentage points — than when Trump was riding high after the Republican National Convention and surviving an assassination attempt.

“Trump was going to win Georgia. It was over,” said Republican consultant Brian Robinson. “The Democrats have a chance here for a reset.”

And Trump is not taking chances. Earlier Tuesday, the former president announced that he would come to Atlanta on Saturday for a rally in the same Georgia State arena.

Robinson said Harris still has plenty of liabilities, including the progressive positions she took in her failed 2020 primary campaign and her various rhetorical stumbles. But he said Harris so far in this campaign has been “in command,” and if that continues, “we have a new ballgame and she will be competitive in Georgia.”

Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt dismissed Harris as “just as weak, failed and incompetent as Joe Biden” and said the vice president would have to explain her support of Biden administration policies that “hurt working families in Georgia over the past four years.”

The Harris campaign and Georgia Democratic officials have 24 offices across the state, including two added last weekend in metro Atlanta. Trump and the Republican National Committee opened their first Georgia offices only recently.

Democrats are betting that a combination of high turnout among traditional, core Democratic constituencies, as well as a strong showing in the suburbs and small pickups elsewhere, can be enough for Harris to carry Georgia.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, said in a recent interview that the best GOP campaigns can win comfortably in Georgia but bad efforts — combined with strong Democratic campaigns — lose. Kemp, for example, won reelection by 7.5 percentage points in 2022 over national Democratic star Stacey Abrams. Yet in the same election cycle, Georgians reelected Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock over his Republican challenger Herschel Walker, who was endorsed by Trump.

In recent elections, Democrats have held wide advantages in the core of metro Atlanta, where Jayapal spoke. The party also performed well in Columbus and Savannah, as well as some rural, majority-Black counties. But Republicans dominated in other rural areas and small towns and cities –- where Trump has held multiple rallies in recent years.

The fast-growing, diversifying Atlanta suburbs and exurbs offer the most opportunity for swings, especially from GOP-leaning moderates disenchanted with Trump.

For Harris, that means depending on voters as varied as Michael Sleister, a white suburbanite, and Allen Smith, a Black man who lives not far from downtown Atlanta.

Sleister, who considers himself an independent, has lived in Forsyth County for 35 years. “I’ve voted Republican many times in my life,” he said, but not since the GOP took a rightward turn during President Barack Obama’s administration.

“Now I see the Republican Party as representing a direct threat to my grandchildren,” he said, adding that he sees Trump “as just a horrible person.”

Smith is a 41-year-old Atlanta native who has become a first-time campaign volunteer since Harris became the likely nominee.

“I was driving when I heard the news about President Biden endorsing her, and I started pounding my fist — I decided right then I would do whatever I could to help her get elected,” Smith said. (Associated Press).

One more thing.

How do you help Kamala win Georgia? The whole trinity of elections.

1. Donate

2. Volunteer

3. Register Voters and Get out the Vote.

What 18 year old rising college freshmen do YOU know in Georgia?

---

Who will be Kamala’s Vice President?

Kamala Harris is said to be planning to campaign next week with her running mate.

Vice President Kamala Harris is planning to travel to six battleground states with her yet-to-be-named running mate over four days next week, according to two people briefed on the plans.

Aides to Ms. Harris are penciling in travel for the new Democratic ticket beginning next Tuesday and running through Friday, according to the two people, who insisted on anonymity to discuss sensitive plans that have not been finalized.

The draft travel schedule suggests that Ms. Harris will name her running mate no later than next Tuesday, earlier than the deadline on Aug. 7 that her campaign set last week to have the vice-presidential nominee in place. Reuters was first to report that she was scheduled to campaign with her running mate next week.

Details on which states Ms. Harris and her running mate will visit first, or on which day, were still being worked out Tuesday afternoon. Draft schedules indicate she plans to travel to Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, according to a person who viewed them and relayed their contents.

While the vice president’s team began the search for a running mate by seeking vetting materials from a dozen people, just five are said to remain in serious consideration: Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona; Governors Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, Tim Walz of Minnesota and Andy Beshear of Kentucky; and Pete Buttigieg, the transportation secretary.

Gov. Roy Cooper of North Carolina removed himself from consideration last week, when he declined to participate in the vetting process.

Ms. Harris’s aides have blocked off time for her in the coming days to contemplate her choice, which is considered to be one of the most important decisions a presidential candidate makes, and to conduct additional interviews with finalists.

But tonight, she is scheduled to appear at a campaign rally in Georgia. Campaign aides are expecting a crowd of several thousand people.

Ms. Harris’s search for a running mate has moved at remarkable speed. She has compressed a process that typically plays out over many months into two weeks. Auditions that in past cycles have taken the form of joint-campaign appearances are instead playing out on cable television or with would-be running mates holding campaign stops for her on their own. (New York Times).
— —

Sen. Gary Peters emerges as Harris VP dark horse pick

Organized labor is leading a quiet push for Vice President Kamala Harris to consider Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) as her running mate, Axios has learned.

Why it matters: Michigan is viewed as a must-win battleground state for Democrats, and strong support from unions could make Peters an attractive strategic option for Harris.

Labor leaders have had discussions with the Harris campaign about including Peters in the vice presidential selection process, one senior Democratic source told Axios.
A Michigan Democratic Party official told Axios Peters is interested in the nomination and has been working to drum up support.

And several House Democrats from Michigan suggested to Axios that Peters' name is in the mix.
The big picture: Peters has raised his national profile by leading the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Senate Democrats' campaign arm, after winning a competitive Senate seat in 2014.

He was the only non-incumbent Democrat to win a Senate election that year.

Peters has won praise from fellow Democrats for helping the party retain its Senate majority in 2022 despite historical headwinds that favored Republicans.

The intrigue: There could be a Michigan-sized hole in Democrats' roster of potential vice presidential contenders now that Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has effectively taken herself out of the running.

Securing the Midwest state's 15 electoral votes will be an important part of any path to victory for Harris in November.

What they're saying: A senior advisor for Peters told Axios that "the Vice President has many strong options for her running mate and we want to respect her process. "

"I know for sure that one of the reasons his name is in the mix is that labor really wants to have somebody who is undoubtedly pro union, and Gary fits that definition quite well," said Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.).

Rep. Hillary Scholten (D-Mich.) said she has "definitely heard through the grapevine that Senator Peters is in the mix," saying he would "fantastic" due to his ties with labor and his chairmanship of the Senate Homeland Security Committee.

Wayne County Commissioner and Michigan's 13th District Democratic Chair Jonathan Kinloch told Axios that Peters "would be a great Vice President — he has extensive experience in both state and federal government." (Axios).

---

This Congressional Seat in Louisiana may turn the House blue in 2024.

Democrats look to longtime state Sen. Cleo Fields to flip Louisiana congressional seat blue

Democrats in Louisiana are backing state Sen. Cleo Fields to flip a once reliably GOP congressional seat in an election year that will decide if Republicans hang on to their slim U.S. House majority.

The recording was used as evidence in Edwards’ 2000 federal corruption trial, in which Fields was named as an unindicted co-conspirator but was not charged with any crime. Edwards was convicted of accepting payoffs from riverboat casino applicants and spent eight years in prison.

Quentin Anthony Anderson, a political newcomer and Democrat who is running against Fields, brought up the scandal when qualifying for the election earlier this month. The executive chairman of a social justice nonprofit said that among things voters should consider this election cycle are “who we are as Louisiana” and “what politics we want to project on a national stage.”

“Do we want to harken back to the ‘vote for the crook’ era of Louisiana politics, or do we want to move forward?” Anderson said.

Fields was unavailable for an interview, but his campaign said in a statement that he “has been vetted by the voters of this state many times.” Fields has long said that he did not violate any laws, that he returned the money and that he was not a public official when the recording was made.

While some question Fields' integrity, others point to his continued success at the polls — he has been elected to the state Senate four times — and wonder if a nearly 30-year-old scandal will have an impact election day.

BATON ROUGE, La. -- Poised to flip a once reliably Republican congressional seat in Louisiana, Democrats’ are placing their hopes with state Sen. Cleo Fields, who has been a fixture in state politics for more than three decades and is looking to return to Congress.

Political experts say the path to Washington seems to be paved for Fields as he runs in a recently redrawn 6th District, which became the second majority-Black district in the state. Its makeup favors a likely Democratic victory, swaying GOP incumbent Rep. Garret Graves not to seek reelection.

Fields, 61, has quickly gained the endorsement of the Louisiana Democratic Party and amassed a significant financial advantage on the campaign trail.

“Cleo is the clear frontrunner in this race,” said Robert Hogan, chair of Louisiana State University’s political science department. “Simply given his financing for the campaign, his statewide name recognition and the fact that he is a prominent African American who has gotten a lot of attention for his work in the Legislature.”

But Hogan also noted that Fields' prominence is linked to “some negative stuff,” an old scandal that opponents have been quick to point to: Specifically, a grainy FBI video from 1997 showing Fields handling a bundle of money in former Gov. Edwin Edwards ’ office.

“It may matter to me, but I don’t know that it will matter to others or if people know or remember it,” said Republican state Rep. Michael T. Johnson, who had considered running for the congressional seat.

Fields, who currently represents Baton Rouge, entered politics when he was just 24 by winning election to the Louisiana Senate. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1992 and served two terms.

At the time, Louisiana had two majority-Black congressional districts. After the electoral map for Fields' district was thrown out as an unconstitutional gerrymander, he opted not to seek reelection.

In January of this year, lawmakers passed a new congressional map restoring a second majority-Black district to the state, a win for Democrats and civil rights groups after a nearly two-year legal and political battle. The new 6th District boundaries stretch across the state in a narrow and diagonal path, from the state capital, Baton Rouge, to Shreveport in the northwest corner. Black residents account for 54% of its voters, up from 24% previously.

A lower court ruled that the new map was an illegal racial gerrymander, but in May the Supreme Court ordered Louisiana to use it in this year’s congressional elections — boosting Democrats’ chances of gaining control of the closely divided House.

“I think that it was unjust that years ago the district was redrawn to, essentially, draw him out of the seat,” said Democratic state Rep. Edmond Jordan, who has endorsed Fields and chairs the Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus. “It is time to right a wrong.”

Republicans have thrown their support behind Elbert Guillory, 80, a former state senator who is the only GOP candidate. Noticeably absent from the campaign is the incumbent, Graves, who announced last month that he would not seek reelection.

Joining Fields, Anderson and Guillory in the race are two lesser-known Democrats, Wilken Jones Jr. and Peter Williams. Under Louisiana’s open primary system, candidates of all parties appear on the same ballot Nov. 5, and if no one gets 50% of the vote, the top two finishers advance to a Dec. 7 runoff. (ABCNews)

---

Important Alert: Update on Project 2025

This afternoon, Project 2025 director Paul Dans stepped down at the Heritage Foundation. Reportedly, the Trump campaign applied pressure to stop Project 2025. They’ve been taking a shellacking over it since early voices (like ours here at Civil Discourse) that were focusing on it caught on fire. Recently, there’s been mention of it everywhere, including from both President Biden and Vice President Harris.

We know from studying it that Project 2025 has something in it for everyone to hate, and with all of the attention being paid to it recently, the Trump campaign seems to have figured it out too.

In what appeared to be a closely related action to Dans departure, the Trump campaign disavowed Project 2025, claiming in a press release that they had “nothing to do” with it and that it wasn’t “associated with the campaign or the President in any way.”

Despite the campaign’s claim that “Reports of Project 2025’s demise would be greatly welcomed,” the goals of Project 2025 still align closely with Trump’s own plans. Politically speaking, Project 2025 had become such an albatross around his neck that he had to find a way to distance himself. And perhaps it’s a convenient opportunity to reassert control over personnel for his new administration. The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 website said that it was in charge of vetting people for political appointment. So Trump may have killed two birds with one stone here. But don’t be deceived, whatever Trump’s public reaction to the massive negative publicity Project 2025 has generated, it’s unlikely his plans for the country have changed.

In the July 18 edition of the newsletter, we learned that Kevin Roberts, the president of the Heritage Foundation, said he knew Trump was lying about Project 2025.

Reporter Judd Legum has noted that of the 38 people responsible for writing and editing Project 2025, 31 were appointed or nominated to positions in the Trump administration and transition. That’s just over 81%. Many of its policy positions are closely echoed in Trump’s own Agenda 47, which is posted on the campaign website. Recently, video leaked of Trump’s pick for Vice President, J.D. Vance, thanking Heritage for their work on banning abortion and cutting Social Security.

Today’s news looks like political maneuvering, not a substantive disavowal of the policies Trump has advocated for up until now.

https://substack.com/redirect/76004680-2e04-4dd4-a7a1-f698e5ac8915?j=eyJ1IjoiMWRoMTYifQ.IThS_IYKF60fZWHnc5VGtFTlI47SQE-8cOjsvPU0T88

Here’s an example. Project 2025 calls for reclassifying tens of thousands of civil servants as political appointees, seeking to strip them of civil service labor protections so “the next conservative president” could replace them with political loyalists. That aligns with Trump’s announced plans.

In fact, he’s done it before. I wrote about it in our first newsletter discussing Project 2025 last November, Frogs Boiled: What Trump is planning for a Second Term. In October of 2020, before the last election, Trump signed an executive order that stripped out the protections that prevent a president from firing civil servants without cause, in other words, for reasons like he doesn’t think an individual is loyal to him. The order was characterized by people in the know as a “stunning attempt to politicize the civil service and undermine more than a century of laws aimed at preventing corruption and cronyism in the federal government.” At least 50,000 federal employees would be affected by the creation of this new “schedule F” unprotected status for any employee who has a role that could be loosely defined as involving policymaking. One of the first steps Joe Biden took after being sworn in was to rescind Trump’s executive order.

Trump’s Agenda 47, clearly states that he will reimpose schedule F on Day one. Despite his claim he doesn’t agree with Project 2025, his plans are the same. What a coincidence. (Civil Discourse, Joyce Vance).

— —

Trump doubles down on the end of need for Christians to vote.

No attempt to quiet the uproar.

Mr. Trump repeated his recent assertion that Christians will never have to vote again if they cast their ballots for him in November, brushing aside several requests to walk back or clarify the statement in a Fox News interview televised on Monday night. Mr. Trump’s initial comments, to a group of Christian conservatives on Friday, were interpreted by many Democrats as evidence he would end elections. (New York Times)

---

Your Daily Reminder.

Trump is a convicted felon.

On May 30th, he was found guilty on 34 felony counts by the unanimous vote of 12 ordinary citizens.

The Convicted Felon Donald J. Trump was scheduled to be sentenced on July 11. He will now be sentenced sometime around September 18th.

---

Olympic update.

Then there was Simone Biles.

For the second time at the Paris Olympics, the most exciting win is for a bronze.👇

The game clock stopped but in American Women’s Team Rugby Game vs. Australia, Alicia Sedrick had already started running down the field, and scored a goal which tied the score. Then she kicked a field goal for her team to win bronze.

Watch it all here.👇

---