Election 2024 updates: Harris interviewing top VP contenders Sunday, source says

Harris is expected to announce her running mate in the coming days.

Last Updated: August 4, 2024, 2:58 PM EDT

Vice President Kamala Harris has secured enough Democratic Party delegate votes to become the party's nominee when voting ends on Monday, according to the Democratic National Committee. And Harris is just days away from naming her running mate.

Former President Donald Trump and his vice presidential pick, Sen. JD Vance, have spoken to voters across the country this past week as they sharpen their attacks on Harris.

Jul 30, 2024, 9:23 PM EDT

Vice President Kamala Harris becomes presumptive Democratic nominee, DNC announces

Vice President Kamala Harris was the only candidate to qualify for the Democratic party's presidential nominating ballot, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) announced Tuesday night.

The virtual roll call to make Harris the official Democratic nominee will begin Thursday, Aug. 1, and will end on Monday, Aug. 5.

Across the country, 3,923 delegates petitioned to make Harris the Democratic nominee, according to the DNC, which noted Harris secured the support of 99% of participating delegates.

Jul 30, 2024, 7:00 PM EDT

Vance says time to 'load the muskets' in Project 2025 leader's book: Report

Republican Vice Presidential candidate JD Vance said it was "time to circle the wagons and load the muskets," in a forward to a book penned by Project 2025's leader, according to a report.

The New Republic obtained the forward to "Dawn's Early Light," the book written by the Heritage Foundation leader Kevin Roberts, where Vance claims "explores many of the themes I’ve focused on in my own work."

"Never before has a figure with Roberts’s depth and stature within the American Right tried to articulate a genuinely new future for conservatism. The Heritage Foundation isn’t some random outpost on Capitol Hill; it is and has been the most influential engine of ideas for Republicans from Ronald Reagan to Donald Trump," Vance wrote in the forward, according to the report published Tuesday.

Kevin Roberts, president of The Heritage Foundation, at an interview during the Republican National Convention (RNC) near the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, July 18, 2024.
David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Vance claims "Roberts sees a conservatism that is focused on the family," and "cultural norms and attitudes matter."

The senator ended his forward with an analogy about a garden that "needs to be recultivated."

Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance speaks during a campaign event, July 30, 2024, in Henderson, Nev.
Ellen Schmidt/AP

"As Kevin Roberts writes, 'It’s fine to take a laissez-faire approach when you are in the safety of the sunshine. But when the twilight descends and you hear the wolves, you’ve got to circle the wagons and load the muskets,'" Vance wrote, according to the report. "We are now all realizing that it’s time to circle the wagons and load the muskets. In the fights that lay ahead, these ideas are an essential weapon."

-ABC News' Soo Rin Kim

Jul 30, 2024, 5:53 PM EDT

Harris to lay out path to strengthen middle class during Atlanta rally: Official

Vice President Kamala Harris is set to take the stage in Atlanta Tuesday night for her largest campaign rally to date.

Among the guests will be Megan Thee Stallion and Quavo.

During her speech, the vice president will lay out how she will prioritize the strengthening of middle-class families as president, according to a Harris official.

She will say a key to this is recognizing that prices remain too high for many essentials that families rely on, and she will lay out her plans to lower costs.

She will also discuss the state of the race, reiterating that she is the underdog in this race but has real momentum and grassroots enthusiasm at her side, and she is expected to call out former President Donald Trump for refusing to honor his commitment to debate, the official said.

Following her remarks, Harris will join a national campaign organizing call to thank volunteers for their support and talk about more ways to get involved with the campaign, the official said.

-ABC News' Gabriella Abdul-Hakim, Frtiz Farrow, Isabella Murray and Will McDuffie

Jul 30, 2024, 5:53 PM EDT

Biggest Harris donors push for Shapiro, Kelly, Beshear as VP picks: Source

The overwhelming majority of the largest Democratic donors are pushing for Vice President Kamala Harris to pick Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly or Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, a top adviser to major Democratic donors told ABC News.

The source says many of them are making their views known to Harris’ team and have been pushing to have a say in the process after surging large amounts of money into her campaign.

The donors say Shapiro would make a good choice because he has massive charisma and is a political talent at "Obama level," he’s got a great brand in Pennsylvania and has chastised both Democrats and Republicans for being too extreme, according to the source.

Kelly's popularity among the donors comes from the fact that he's a veteran with real toughness, can talk about political violence from his personal perspective and has major name recognition and credibility in Arizona, the source said.

Beshear is popular among the donors because he’s a centrist southern Democrat who has successfully won in Kentucky two times, according to the source.

-ABC News' Selina Wang

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