| | | | |  | | By Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza and Rachael Bade | | Presented by |  | | | With help from Eli Okun, Garrett Ross and Bethany Irvine
| | | |  | DRIVING THE DAY | | | 
VP Kamala Harris needs choose her running mate before a joint rally planned in Philadelphia on Tuesday. | AP | THE BIG MO’ — This morning, KAMALA HARRIS’ presidential effort announced that it raised a massive $310 million in July — two-thirds of which came from first-time donors — and has $377 million in cash on hand. More from Elena Schneider What that means, vis-a-vis DONALD TRUMP:
- Harris outraised Trump massively. In July, Trump and his affiliated committees pulled in $138.7 million. Harris and her allied groups more than doubled that.
- Harris has more cash on hand. Trump and allies have a massive $327 million warchest. But Harris and allies have the edge by $50 million. More on Trump’s haul
EYES EMOJI — SIMONE BILES, posting to X this morning, a day after winning her ninth Olympic medal: “I love my black job ��” ZEROING IN ON A NUMBER TWO — Running mates are generally subjected to a lengthy and intrusive process measured in months. Harris is doing it in two weeks. ERIC HOLDER’s team at Covington & Burling wrapped up the vetting process and turned over its materials to Harris yesterday, per the NYT. Harris will meet with finalists this weekend. A top Harris campaign official who talked to several of Harris’s running mate prospects said, “They thought the process was quick but thorough.” Harris needs to make her choice before a joint rally planned in Philadelphia on Tuesday. As with the president, Harris is not known for lightning fast decisions. Some people who have worked for her think the tight deadline is a blessing. “She likes to deliberate,” said a senior White House official who has spent many hours with her. “So the fact that she has this super-compressed window is going to force her to only focus on what really matters here.” WHAT MATTERS: In conversations on Thursday with White House officials, Harris campaign aides, Democratic senators and members of Congress, a few themes emerged about what Harris values in this process. — Winning. The overwhelming sentiment among Democrats is that Harris will be ruthless about picking someone to help her defeat Donald Trump. “The No. 1 criterion is, can you help the ticket win?” said the campaign official. “This is a cycle where you have to consider the electoral consequences.” That may sound obvious, but even progressive Democrats said that the emphasis on winning frees Harris from being overly concerned with interest-group special pleading and the potential hurt feelings of Democratic Party constituencies. Teachers unions have raised concerns about Pennsylvania Gov. JOSH SHAPIRO’s position on school vouchers. United Auto Workers President SHAWN FAIN grumbled Thursday about “troubling” positions taken by Shapiro and Arizona Sen. MARK KELLY. But these are seen as idle threats. “There are a few activists that are pains in the ass,” said a member of Congress close to labor. “But I don’t hear any serious threats.” The UAW leader conceded Harris had free rein, telling the Detroit News the union would back the ticket no matter what: "At the end of the day, we have to defeat Donald Trump," Fain said. Several Democrats noted that they just 86ed their struggling nominee, and Harris this week fully embraced the Senate border bill despised by the left. The party, they say, is organized around one idea: making sure Trump doesn’t return to the Oval Office. With that in mind, they argue that Harris looks to be on a path to pick a moderate with the least baggage of the cultural left — a thought exercise that often leads those guessing back to Shapiro and Kelly. — Playing against type. A common argument from Harris aides and ex-aides is that her reputation as a leftie comes almost entirely from the 2020 presidential primaries, when she took several positions that Trump has seized on but which she has abandoned. “That primary was a distorting experience for a lot of people,” said the senior White House official. Starting in her 2003 DA race in San Francisco, Harris was the choice of the establishment running against opponents on the left. Her decision to become a prosecutor was itself a surprise to some who knew her at the time — and a disappointment to some East Bay activists. “She likes the imagery of playing against type, zigging when she’s expected to zag,” the White House official argued. “Knowing that the No. 1 attack on her is ‘California liberal,’ I could see her finding appeal in balancing herself with a genial southern white governor with an accent.” They meant Kentucky Gov. ANDY BESHEAR, but a similar logic could apply to Kelly and Shapiro. On this measure, the moderates in contention (Beshear, Shapiro and Kelly) have the edge over the liberals (Govs. JB PRITZKER of Illinois and TIM WALZ of Minnesota). — ‘A good vibe.’ The Democrats who know Harris best focus more on her comfort level with a potential running mate as the ultimate deciding factor. Sen. LAPHONZA BUTLER (D-Calif.), a longtime Harris friend and adviser, told the NYT, “it’s going to come down to who can she have a relationship with, who can have the hard conversations with her.” She added, “you got to do more than just tolerate them. There has to be some genuine like and care and a good vibe.” That makes this weekend’s interviews crucial. “She likes to feel comfortable with the most important staff people around her,” said the White House official. “And that’s a challenge because it's not like she's super close with any of these guys.” THE PLAYBOOK INTERVIEW: ROY COOPER — The potential running mate who Harris knew the best took himself out of the process. On this week’s episode of Deep Dive, the North Carolina governor, who served as attorney general of North Carolina when Harris was AG of California, explains why he didn’t want to be vetted by the Harris team.
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| “In North Carolina, we have in our Constitution — back from the wagon wheel days — a provision that says when the governor leaves the state, the lieutenant governor becomes the acting governor,” Cooper said. “[Lt. Gov.] MARK ROBINSON, the Republican nominee [for governor], is the most extreme statewide candidate in the country right now. I was on a recruiting trip to Japan; he did claim he was acting governor. He did a big proclamation and press conference while I was gone. It was something about support for the state of Israel … obviously to make up for all of his anti-Semitic comments that he’d made — his denial of the Holocaust — that he'd made over the years. … “Our concern was that in this race for governor, he likes attention. He likes to get extremist contributions from all of the country. If I were to be out of state at a campaign event, if I had been the vice presidential nominee, he could claim he was acting governor. The attention he would get would be times 10, and it would be a distraction to the presidential campaign. … And that was part of the calculation that I looked at in making the decision.” Listen here or on Apple Podcasts or Spotify Happy Friday. Thanks for reading Playbook. Drop us a line: Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza.
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|  Evan Gershkovich hugs his mother, Ella Milman, at Joint Base Andrews following his release as part of a 24-person prisoner swap between Russia and the United States on Thursday. | Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Photo | |  Alsu Kurmasheva, hugs her husband Pavel Butorin and daughters Miriam Butorin and Bibi Butorin at Joint Base Andrews following her release on Thursday. | Alex Brandon/AP Photo | Evan speaks: “It was great to get on that bus today and see a lot of not just Americans and Germans but Russian political prisoners,” EVAN GERSHKOVICH told reporters after landing at Joint Base Andrews. “Today was a really touching moment to see all of them.” (h/t Guardian’s Andrew Roth) How it happened: “‘That had to be bittersweet’ — how Biden managed a historic prisoner swap as his campaign was disintegrating,” by Erin Banco, Jonathan Lemire and Adam Cancryn ABOUT LAST NIGHT — Yesterday, Tennessee held a rare round of Thursday primary elections — and we (separately) finally got results in a pair of outstanding races that were closely watched. Here’s a roundup of the notable results … — TN-SEN: State Rep. GLORIA JOHNSON, a member of the so-called “Tennessee Three,” won the Democratic Senate primary and will face a steep uphill battle to oust GOP Sen. MARSHA BLACKBURN this fall. More from The Tennessean — TN-05: GOP Rep. ANDY OGLES “warded off a well-funded challenge from Metro Council member COURTNEY JOHNSTON in Thursday's GOP primary, likely cementing his grip on Tennessee's newly-drawn Republican leaning 5th Congressional District,” the Tennessean’s Vivian Jones and Evan Mealins report. — AZ-01: “Former Arizona state Rep. AMISH SHAH has won the Democratic primary for a congressional district covering parts of northeastern Phoenix and three affluent suburbs, setting up a competitive November election against seven-term incumbent Republican DAVID SCHWEIKERT,” AP’s Jacques Billeaud, Gabriel Sandoval and Sejal Govindarao write. — Good’s riddance: A recount finalized yesterday confirmed that state Sen. JOHN McGUIRE defeated Rep. BOB GOOD (R-Va.), the chair of the House Freedom Caucus, by just a few hundred votes in their June primary matchup. “It is a stunning defeat,” Ally Mutnick and Olivia Beavers write. “Good was taken down by neither personal scandal nor an ideological challenge but because of his caustic approach toward his fellow members as well as his alienation of Trump. His loss is even more striking because House Republicans have moved to the right in recent years. But the Virginia firebrand had made too many foes too quickly.” TALK OF THIS TOWN — Michael Schaffer pens his latest Capital City column: “Trump Critic Max Boot Wanted the Feds to Bust Foreign Agents. Then His Wife Was Accused of Being One: A shocking indictment against a policy insider — and what it says about how foreign influence in the Beltway.”
| | | | A message from Wells Fargo:   Wells Fargo is proud of the role we play for our customers, communities and the U.S. economy. What we say, we do. See how. | | | | | WHAT'S HAPPENING TODAY | | On the Hill The Senate and the House are out. What we’re watching … The Senate took its last vote yesterday until Sept. 9, and it was also Sen. BOB MENENDEZ’s final opportunity to vote before his promised Aug. 20 resignation. The disgraced New Jersey Democrat did not take it; the New Jersey Globe’s David Wildstein calculates that he missed the final 62 votes of his 31-year congressional career. Menendez is pledging to appeal his federal bribery conviction, but his reputation is already in tatters: What was once Robert Menendez Elementary School near his hometown of Union City has been renamed “School No. 3,” and by the time the Senate returns next month New Jersey Gov. PHIL MURPHY will have appointed another Democrat to fill his seat. At the White House Biden will travel to Wilmington, Delaware, in the morning. At noon, he will receive the President’s Daily Brief. Harris will receive briefings and conduct internal meetings with staff.
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|  Donald Trump has made a barrage of shocking and baseless claims about Kamala Harris’ racial and ethnic heritage over the last two days. | Jamie Kelter Davis for POLITICO | THE MESSAGING MESS — Any notion that a “new” Trump was in the offing after his near-assassination was quickly dispelled by the barrage of shocking and baseless claims he’s made about Harris’ racial and ethnic heritage over the last two days. Apparently, this wasn’t part of the plan. “SUSIE WILES, a top adviser to Trump’s campaign, told surrogates on Wednesday morning [before the NABJ conference] that hammering their latest talking points — hitting Harris as ‘weak, failed, and dangerously liberal’ — would be their messaging priority until advised otherwise,” Natalie Allison, Meridith McGraw and Alex Isenstadt report in a look at how Trump’s comments have jolted the race. The response: Democrats have been quick to hammer Trump’s statements, one expression of a realization for the party that “it’s not 2016 anymore,” Myah Ward and Megan Messerly write, “and Democrats assert that the lessons learned from Trump’s campaign eight years ago guide their strategy now: Respond aggressively, use his attacks to bolster the campaign’s message and don’t let them distract from the issues.” His running mate was out playing cleanup during an appearance on the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona that likely was intended to produce headlines drawing contrasts on immigration. JD VANCE said Trump’s comments were “totally reasonable,” and that he was simply saying Harris “pretends to be somebody different, depending on the audience she’s talking to,” per CNN’s Eric Bradner and Kit Maher. Trump also tried on a new defense against Dems’ “weird” labeling: “They’re the weird ones. Nobody’s ever called me weird. I’m a lot of things, but weird I’m not,” Trump said in an interview with CLAY TRAVIS. “And he’s not either, I will tell you. JD is not at all. They are.” More from Irie Sentner The latest unearthed controversial comments from Vance come from a 2021 podcast interview he did with Spectrum News, where he seemed to characterize pregnancies resulting from rape or incest “inconvenient.” Asked whether such pregnancies should be carried to term, Vance said: “My view on this has been very clear, and I think the question betrays a certain presumption that’s wrong. It’s not whether women should be forced to bring a child to term, it’s whether a child should be allowed to live even though the circumstances of that child’s birth are somehow inconvenient or a problem to the society.” Listen to the full interview Another one: “JD Vance’s ‘Weakest Moment’ Remark About Simone Biles Draws New Scrutiny,” by NYT’s Neil Vigdor More top reads:
- Harris’ appeal to certain segments of voters in Nevada has provoked excitement across the Democratic Party, but “winning a state that the Biden campaign had all but acknowledged had slipped out of reach will not happen easily,” NYT’s Jennifer Medina writes.
- Spoiler alert: CHARLES GANTT, a prominent GOP campaign-finance lawyer, has set up a new super PAC “to attack ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR” as a liberal on abortion rights in an effort to boost his support on the left and cost Harris votes, NYT’s Teddy Schleifer reports.
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There was a snapshot period in the lead-up to the shots fired where local officers spotted Thomas Crooks on the roof before the July 21 attack in Butler, Pennsylvania. | Scott Goldsmith for POLITICO | ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT FALLOUT — While there are still many questions about how exactly the events leading up to the shooting at Trump’s Butler, Pennsylvania, rally came to be, it is clear that the Secret Service had the necessary tools to squash the attempt — as even acting Director RONALD ROWE JR. admitted this week. There was a snapshot period in the lead-up to the shots fired where local officers spotted THOMAS CROOKS on the roof. “It was urgent news that should have instantly traveled to a command center shared by the local police and the Secret Service, and then to agents close enough to throw their bodies in front of Mr. Trump. They still had time to disrupt an assassination attempt,” NYT’s Eric Lipton and David Fahrenthold write. “But the radio message never got to the Secret Service, and 30 seconds later Mr. Crooks unleashed his first shots. That dropped communication was one of several instances where technologies that might have protected Mr. Trump from getting shot on July 13 did not — either because they malfunctioned, were improperly deployed or the Secret Service decided not to use them in the first place. “The Secret Service, for instance, turned down offers to use a surveillance drone at the Butler Farm Show rally site. The agency also did not bring a system to boost the agents’ device signals in an area with poor cellular service. And some of the equipment the agency did bring, including a system to detect drone use by others, did not work when it was most needed. Quite the summation: “The result was that a 20-year-old gunman had a technological advantage over a $3 billion federal agency.” More top reads:
CONGRESS MAJORITY RULES — Two of Senate Democrats’ top leaders are sounding downright pollyannaish about their prospects of holding (or even expanding) their control of the chamber. Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER, in an interview with NBC’s Sahil Kapur, said that Democrats will make Supreme Court reform a “very big priority” if they retain control. (Of course, the effort would need a clean sweep of the Senate, House and White House.) Meanwhile, DSCC Chair GARY PETERS (D-Mich.) said it’s “very possible” that Democrats could increase their majority in the Senate to 52 seats, he told NBC’s Kapur, citing the energy flowing down from the top of the ballot with Harris as the newly minted presidential candidate. As for which tough-to-get states he’s putting in play, Peters offered Florida and Texas, noting that Republicans’ “flawed” candidates make the states pick-up opportunities. TAX DAY COMES AND GOES — The Senate, as expected, by a 44-48 vote blocked a once-promising $78 billion tax package yesterday in the chamber’s final vote ahead of the August recess, Benjamin Guggenheim writes. The blow-by-blow: “The vote came a full six months after the House passed the legislation by an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 357-70 — and greatly reduces any chance that Congress will put together any major tax legislation before lawmakers have to reckon with the expiration of the trillions of dollars of the Trump tax cuts in 2025.” AMERICA AND THE WORLD VENEZUELA LATEST — The U.S. has officially recognized EDMUNDO GONZÁLEZ as the winner of Venezuela’s presidential election, ratcheting up the pressure on the country’s electoral authority “to show proof backing its decision to declare President NICOLÁS MADURO the winner,” AP’s Gabriela Sá Pessoa, E. Eduardo Castillo and Regina Garcia Cano report from Caracas. “Government officials from Brazil, Colombia and Mexico have been in constant communication with Maduro’s administration to convince him that he must show the vote tally sheets from Sunday’s election and allow impartial verification, a Brazilian government official told The Associated Press Thursday.” On the ground: “Fears of violence rise in Venezuela as diplomatic efforts to pressure Maduro intensify,” by NBC’s Nicole Acevedo MEDIAWATCH BRO-ING OUT — “While ‘Pod Save America’ Tries to Unite Democrats, Its Staff Rebels,” by Bloomberg’s Ashley Carman TV TONIGHT — PBS’ “Washington Week”: Anne Applebaum, Elisabeth Bumiller, Steve Inskeep and Vivian Salama. SUNDAY SO FAR … FOX “Fox News Sunday,” guest-anchored by Jacqui Heinrich: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) … Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.). Panel: Bob Cusack, Rich Lowry, Catherine Lucey and Meghan Hays. Sunday Special: Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch. CNN “State of the Union”: Sen Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) … Sen. Laphonza Butler (D-Calif.). Panel: Ashley Allison, Geoff Duncan, Shermichael Singleton and Scott Jennings. MSNBC “Inside with Jen Psaki”: Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.). ABC “This Week”: Chris Christie, Donna Brazile, Susan Page and Jonathan Martin. NewsNation “The Hill Sunday”: William Cohen … Michael Meehan … Whit Ayres. Panel: Olivia Nuzzi, Noah Rothman, Domenico Montanaro and David Drucker.
| | | | DID YOU MISS IT? On Tuesday, POLITICO and McKinsey convened three conversations in D.C. with policymakers and space experts, including NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. The discussions also featured a panel of experts, an interview with Sens. John Hickenlooper (D-CO) and Jerry Moran (R-KS) and an executive conversation with McKinsey's Ryan Brukardt.
The conversations focused on the next great innovation frontier – the space industry, including deeper discussion around which sectors of the global economy see their growth arc in space and what the role of government leaders is in expanding and regulating the growing number of orbital ideas. CATCH UP AND WATCH HIGHLIGHTS HERE | | | | | | | PLAYBOOKERS | | Doug Emhoff is getting his own merch. Tammy Baldwin is a proud childless cat lady. Johnny Cash will be immortalized in Statuary Hall on Sept. 24. Jeffrey Clark’s law license could be suspended for two years, if a D.C. disciplinary panel gets its way. Kamala Harris’ entry into the presidential race has coincided with a roughly 23% drop in Trump Media’s share price. IN MEMORIAM — “Tom Korologos, guru of Senate confirmation crossfire, dies at 91,” by WaPo’s Brian Murphy: “Tom Korologos, a Republican political adviser and White House confidant who carved out a powerful niche as a guide for Senate confirmation hearings, counseling more than 300 nominees for positions including key Cabinet posts and Supreme Court seats, died July 26 at his home in Washington. He was 91. The cause was complications from heart problems, said his son, Philip.” OUT AND ABOUT — Tammy Haddad’s Washington AI Network hosted an event at the House at 1229, where Haddad interviewed DHS’ Rob Silvers on a range of topics, including tensions in the Middle East, AI, cyberattacks and U.S.-China relations. SPOTTED: Nicoletta Giordani, Pamela Brown and Adam Wright, John McCarthy, Jared Lang, Liz Johnson, Cynthia Bailey-Lee, Arun Gupta, Gerry Petrella, Megan Smith, Courtney Lang, Ellen Nakashima, Sumi Somaskanda, Joseph Gedeon, Ed Luce and Niamh King, Evan Hollander, TW Arrighi, Uttara Sivaram, Oceane Thieriot and Adele Smith. TRANSITIONS — Rachel Fersh is joining Third Way as senior adviser to the Moderate Power Project. She most recently was a strategic consultant for the Center for Democracy Innovation at the National Civic League. … Andrew Miller is joining the Center for American Progress as a senior fellow for Middle East policy. He previously was deputy assistant secretary of State for Israeli-Palestinian affairs. … … Aisha Johnson is now PR manager for Amazon Web Services. She most recently was director of media relations at the SEC. … Murray Bessette is joining the Alexander Hamilton Society as director of academic programs. He previously was an associate professor of government at Morehead State University and co-director of the Bluegrass State Intelligence Community Center of Academic Excellence. HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Sens. JD Vance (R-Ohio) (4-0) and Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) … Rep. Burgess Owens (R-Utah) … D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser … White House’s Betsy Lawrence … Matthew Rosenberg … Gigi Sohn … Fox News’ Rich Edson … Kevin Walling … Peter Mihalick … CBS’ Caitlin Huey-Burns … Emily Gershon … Sarah Bittleman … Camille Gallo … Geneva Fuentes … Jeff Ballou … Patrick Ruffini of Echelon Insights … Michael Manganiello … Jack H. Jacobs … Brynn Barnett … former Reps. Nancy Boyda (D-Kan.) and Dan Boren (D-Okla.) … Laura Nasim … former Treasury Secretary John Snow … Brian Montgomery … The New Yorker’s Lawrence Wright (77) … Dennis Prager … Nick Ballas … Steve Tebbe … Sim Khan ... Seng Peng … Erin Wilson … NewsNation’s Kellie Meyer … Whit Blount of Invariant … Kolby Lee … Stephen Cox Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here. Send Playbookers tips to playbook@politico.com or text us at 202-556-3307. Playbook couldn’t happen without our editor Mike DeBonis, deputy editor Zack Stanton and Playbook Daily Briefing producer Callan Tansill-Suddath.
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