Election 2024 updates: Harris VP pick expected as campaign touts ground game

(WASHINGTON) — Vice President Kamala Harris secured enough Democratic Party delegate votes to become the party’s nominee, according to the Democratic National Committee. She is set to name her running mate soon, with the two scheduled to embark Tuesday on a seven-state trip of some of the biggest battleground state in the election, according to her campaign.

President Donald Trump and his vice presidential pick, Sen. JD Vance, are set to speak to voters through scheduled rallies and events throughout the week, too. Vance will also be visiting the same battleground states as Harris and her newly minted vice presidential pick.

Here’s how the news is developing:

Harris grows Pennsylvania volunteers

Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign is touting its robust ground game in Pennsylvania, saying it’s taking “nothing for granted” in the state, ahead of her running mate reveal, which is expected on Tuesday.

About 33,000 people signed up to volunteer for the campaign in Pennsylvania in the last 15 days, according to a campaign memo. The campaign boasts nearly 300 staffers across three dozen offices in the state, the memo said.

The campaign also said it was “doing the work to make inroads in historically-safe Republican areas.”

The campaign sought to contrast Harris’ record with former President Donald Trump’s, citing the vice president’s time as a prosecutor and saying she “is committed to keeping our communities safe and locking up dangerous crooks, criminals, and predators.”

“With only three months until Election Day, Trump’s campaign still lags far behind in the infrastructure needed to win with just three offices in Pennsylvania,” the Harris campaign memo said. “He’s shown he doesn’t want these voters.”

Kamala Harris earns majority of Democratic roll call votes

Vice President Kamala Harris has officially gotten the vast majority of delegate votes in the virtual roll call that nominates her as the Democratic presidential nominee, the Democratic National Committee said in a statement released late Monday.

The roll call, which concluded on Monday evening, still needs to be certified by Convention Secretary Jason Rae, according to the statement, but the announcement makes Harris’s historic nomination effectively official.

Sens. Sanders, Warren join Progressives for Harris Call: ‘We have to beat Trump in November’

On a three-hour organizing call with over 100,000 attendees, numerous high-profile progressive democrats came out to support Vice President Kamala’s Harris’ presidential bid.

Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, Reps. Joaquin Castro, Ro Khanna, Ilhan Omar and Jamie Raskin and UAW President Shawn Fain all showed up as well as members of the uncommitted movement who had not yet endorsed Harris but strongly hope she’ll win them over in the next few months.

“The energy and the momentum in this election is on our side. And I am so inspired by the organizing in support of Vice President Harris, starting with the win with black women that mobilized a massive zoom call. And now here tonight, we have progressives coming together,” Warren said on the call.

Sanders, who has not officially said he endorses Harris — although he has encouraged voters to go out and support the candidate — told attendees that “Trump must be defeated” and Harris “must be elected.” He noted that it’s “imperative that Democrats gain control over the House and the Senate.”

“And we in the progressive movement must do all that we can to make that happen,” he added.

“I don’t know if I can add to what has already been said tonight, but my message is pretty clear, and that is all of us together must do everything that we can to defeat Donald Trump and elect Kamala Harris as our next president,” said Sanders.

Harris campaign selling yard signs without revealing running mate’s name

Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign is promoting pre-orders for a campaign yard sign with a mockup image featuring her last name and tape and question marks over where her yet-to-be-announced running mate’s last name would be.

“Be one of the first to proudly display your support for Kamala Harris and her running mate,” the campaign said on its website.

JD Vance to also give remarks in same states as Harris this week

Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance is scheduled to give remarks in the same states on the same days as Vice President Kamala Harris this week, the Trump-Vance campaign announced, as Harris embarks on a battleground state tour.

Vance is scheduled to speak at noon ET in Philadelphia on Tuesday. The event comes as Harris is set to hold a rally with her yet-to-be-announced running mate Tuesday night in the city.

On Wednesday, he is scheduled to deliver remarks in the Detroit suburb of Shelby Township, Michigan, and Eau Claire, Wisconsin, as Harris also campaigns in those states then.

Then on Thursday, he is set to speak in Raleigh and Oakboro in North Carolina, aligning with Harris’ scheduled visit to the state.

-ABC News’ Hannah Demissie

Bon Iver to campaign with Harris in Wisconsin

Bon Iver will join Harris and her running mate on Wednesday in Eau Claire, Wisconsin — where the Grammy-winning indie folk band was founded — for a “special performance” as part of the campaign’s battleground state tour, the Harris campaign announced on Monday.

-ABC News’ Gabriella Abdul-Hakim, Fritz Farrow, Will McDuffie and Isabella Murray

Harris still deliberating on VP pick: Source

At this moment, Vice President Harris has not decided on a running mate and is still deliberating, according to a source.

More than 10K people expected at Harris’ Philly rally: Source

More than 10,000 people are expected to attend Harris’ rally Tuesday night in Philadelphia, where she’ll be joined by her new running mate, according to a source familiar with the plans.

That would make this the biggest event yet for the Harris campaign.

Harris is looking to build off her momentum. Pennsylvania kicks off her swing through seven battleground states in five days.

The pace of her campaign is in stark contrast to Trump’s, which has only one rally scheduled this week — in Montana on Friday.

Usha Vance says husband’s ‘childless cat ladies’ comment was a ‘quip’

In her first interview since her husband was named former President Donald Trump’s running mate, Usha Vance sat down with Fox & Friends where she discussed her husband’s “childless cat ladies” comment that has gained attention recently — calling it a “quip.”

“The reality is, JD made a quote – I mean, he made a quip, and he made a quip in service of making a point that he wanted to make that was substantive,” Usha Vance said of the comments her husband made in 2021. “And I just wish sometimes that people would talk about those things and that we would spend a lot less time just sort of going through this three-word phrase or that three-word phrase.”

She continued, “What he was really saying is that it can be really hard to be a parent in this country, and sometimes our policies are designed in a way that make it even harder.”

She added that her husband “would never ever ever want to say something to hurt someone who was trying to have a family who really was struggling with that.”

JD Vance has called the comments “sarcastic.”

“Let’s try to look at the real conversation that he’s trying to have and engage with it and understand for those of us who do have families, for the many of us who want to have families, and for whom it’s really hard,” Usha Vance said on Monday. “What can we do to make it better? What can we do to make it easier to live in 2024?”

-ABC News’ Kelsey Walsh, Hannah Demissie, Lalee Ibssa and Soorin Kim

Pelosi says she spoke with Biden ahead of his withdrawal ‘asking for a campaign that would win’

Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, in an interview with Good Morning America anchor George Stephanopolous on Monday morning, said that she spoke with President Joe Biden ahead of his withdrawal from the 2024 presidential race “asking for a campaign that would win.” She also said Biden was “the only person that I spoke to” about Biden possibly withdrawing.

“The only person that I spoke to about this was the president. Other people called me about what their views were about it, and — but I rarely even returned a call, much less initiated one,” Pelosi said.

Later, she added, “I wasn’t asking him to step down. I was asking for a campaign that would win, and I wasn’t seeing that on the horizon.”

-ABC News’ Oren Openheim

Harris VP pick ‘most important’ decision, Pelosi says

Vice President Kamala Harris’ choice for her running mate is a the “most important” decision she has to make as her campaign gets started, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said.

All of her choices appear to be good, Pelosi added.

“It’s a difficult decision because they are all so great,” she told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos on Good Morning America on Monday. “It is the most important decision for her to make. Not just about who can help win, but who can help serve and lead and whose confidence she trusts.”

Harris and to-be-announced running mate to launch seven-state tour Tuesday

Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, who is yet to be named, will go on tour, hitting seven battleground states in five days, the Harris campaign said Monday.

The tour will be an effort to “introduce the new Democratic ticket” and “speak directly with voters in their communities and cement the contrast between our ticket and Trump’s,” campaign said.

The tour, which kicks off Tuesday in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, will feature rallies in cities and stops at college campuses, including HBCUs, union halls, family-owned restaurants and their field offices, the campaign said.

The tour will continue through Eau Claire, Wisconsin; Detroit, Michigan; Durham, North Carolina; Savannah, Georgia; Phoenix, Arizona; and Las Vegas, Nevada, the campaign said.

Harris interviewing top VP contenders today at her residence: Source

Vice President Harris is meeting with top running mate candidates Sunday at her residence at the Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C., according to a source familiar with the matter.

Harris is meeting with at least three leading contenders — Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, according to the source.

The meetings were earlier reported by The New York Times.

Sen. JD Vance says he wears VP pick criticism as a ‘badge of honor’

In a Fox News interview Sunday, Sen. JD Vance responded to criticism of him being picked as former President Donald Trump’s running mate, saying he takes it as a “badge of honor.”

“All I can do is go out there and prosecute the case against Kamala Harris to remind people that things were more prosperous and more peaceful when Donald Trump was president,” Vance said. “Look, I recognize there are a lot of folks even in the GOP establishment and certainly on the far left who don’t like the fact that Donald Trump picked me, I actually take their criticism as a badge of honor.”

Vance also hit back at Democrats who’ve called him “weird,” calling it “a lot of projection.”

“They can call me whatever they want to. The middle school taunts don’t bother me,” he said. “What offends me is what Kamala Harris has done to this country over three and a half years.”

Harris campaign launches ‘Republicans for Harris’ outreach program

Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign announced Sunday that it would be launching a “Republicans for Harris” program aimed at reaching Republican voters who could be convinced to vote for Harris. The program will include digital advertising, phone banking, events and other initiatives, according to the campaign.

The program — and Harris herself — have been endorsed by a number of Republican figures, including former Trump White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham.

“I might not agree with Vice President Kamala Harris on everything, but I know that she will fight for our freedom, protect our democracy, and represent America with honor and dignity on the world stage,” Grisham wrote in a statement released by the Harris campaign.

The “Republicans for Harris” program will hold kickoff events starting this week, per the campaign.