Category Archives: Democrats

Kamala Harris earns enough delegate support to become Democratic nominee

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Support of California delegation puts vice-president over threshold needed when party meets at Chicago convention

More Democrats come out for Harris – live

Kamala Harris has said she is looking forward to “formally accepting the [presidential] nomination” of the Democratic party after she earned enough support from delegates including hundreds from her native California.

“When I announced my campaign for President, I said I intended to go out and earn this nomination,” she said in a statement late Monday.

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‘The baton is in our hands’: Harris closes in on nomination as Biden voices support

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Vice-president receives backing from top figures and rakes in $81m in 24 hours, before giving rousing speech to staff

Kamala Harris was closing in on the Democratic party’s presidential nomination on Monday after the former House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, joined a slew of Democratic heavyweights endorsing her run for the White House – and the vice-president gave a rousing evening speech to campaign staff, with Joe Biden calling in by phone to support her.

Speaking in Wilmington, Delaware, Harris acknowledged the “rollercoaster” of the last several weeks, but expressed confidence in her new campaign team.

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Ukraine targets bipartisan support to avoid being dragged into US election

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Kyiv indicates it will keep reaching out to Republicans and Democrats, as Zelenskiy pays tribute to Biden

Ukraine will continue to reach out to Republicans and Democrats and avoid being sucked into US internal politics, and a bruising probable contest between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, officials in Kyiv indicated on Monday.

Its president, Volodymyr Zelenksiy, paid a warm tribute to the departing Joe Biden on Sunday, thanking him for his “unwavering support”. He praised the US president’s “bold steps” taken in response to “challenging times” and Russia’s 2022 invasion.

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Key Democratic donors back Harris but others warn against ‘coronation’

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Some top backers throw weight behind Harris amid flood of grassroots donations but others pointedly decline to do so

Top Democratic donors helped end Joe Biden’s re-election bid in the past weeks by publicly and privately calling on him to stand aside, and threatening to pull their funds.

In the hours after he withdrew from the campaign, some of the party’s highest-profile backers promptly threw their weight behind Kamala Harris. Others pointedly did not.

Joe Biden drops out and endorses Kamala Harris

Democrats praise Biden and Republicans go on the offense

Who will replace Biden? How does the process work?

A look back at Joe Biden’s life in politics

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Biden withdrawal throws spotlight on to role of Democratic delegates

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With a month to go until the convention in Chicago, there’s much to sort out – and some sense a mounting anxiety

It’s been more than 50 years since delegates to a Democratic national convention haven’t known their nominee as they walked through the door. Now, in the wake of Joe Biden’s decision on Sunday not to seek re-election, there’s a mad dash.

Delegates are due to convene in Chicago on 19 August, and while the Democratic party seems to be coalescing around Kamala Harris, there’s no guarantee that she will be the nominee, and others could still throw their name into contention.

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Joe Biden withdraws from presidential race after weeks of pressure to quit

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President endorses Kamala Harris to lead Democratic ticket just four months before November election

Joe Biden has withdrawn from his presidential re-election race and endorsed Vice-President Kamala Harris to take his place at the top of their party’s ticket, an extraordinary decision upending American politics that plunges the Democratic nomination into uncertainty just months before the November election against Donald Trump – a candidate Biden has warned is an existential threat to US democracy.

“While it has been my intention to seek re-election, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and focus solely on fulfilling my duties as president for the remainder of my term,” Biden said in a letter announcing his decision.

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Read Kamala Harris’s full statement: ‘My intention is to earn and win this nomination’

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Vice-president posts statement thanking the president for his leadership and endorsement

Joe Biden announced he would not stay in the 2024 presidential race, throwing his supporting behind his vice-president, Kamala Harris.

In his letter, Biden called Harris an “extraordinary partner” and said choosing her to serve as vice-president was “the best decision I’ve made. Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year.”

On behalf of the American people, I thank Joe Biden for his extraordinary leadership as President of the United States and for his decades of service to our country. His remarkable legacy of accomplishment is unmatched in modern American history, surpassing the legacy of many Presidents who have served two terms in office.

It is a profound honor to serve as his Vice President, and I am deeply grateful to the President, Dr. Biden, and the entire Biden family. I first came to know President Biden through his son Beau. We were friends from our days working together as Attorneys General of our home states. As we worked together, Beau would tell me stories about his Dad. The kind of father—and the kind of man—he was. And the qualities Beau revered in his father are the same qualities, the same values, I have seen every single day in Joe’s leadership as President: His honesty and integrity. His big heart and commitment to his faith and his family. And his love of our country and the American people.

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Biden’s selfless decision to drop out sets stage for an entirely different election

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The president will be remembered for steering the US to recovery and giving his party a chance to beat Trump again

Legend has it that when King George III heard that George Washington, the first US president, had decided to retire after his second term, he remarked: “If he does that, he will be the greatest man in the world.”

Joe Biden, 81, holed up at a Delaware beach house with a bad cough after a Covid-19 diagnosis, ended his presidential re-election campaign on Sunday. It was a selfless decision that put the country’s interests before his own – an act of grace that many see as vividly contrasting with the narcissism of his opponent Donald Trump.

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Kamala Harris spurs meme frenzy on social media as Biden endorses her

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Vice-president is favorite to replace president as Democrats’ nominee and the prospect is inspiring creativity online

As President Joe Biden announced he would be ending his bid for re-election and endorsed Vice-President Kamala Harris as his successor, social media did what social media is best known to do.

Truth to be told, social media users had been enthusiastically imagining Harris’s ascension to the top of the Democratic ticket since Biden’s disastrous debate performance at the end of June. Harris dancing. Harris laughing. Endless clips of her comments about a coconut tree.

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‘Impactful and selfless’: Democrats heap praise on Biden after he quits race

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Obama and party leaders highlight president’s lifetime of service as some begin to back Kamala Harris

Joe Biden withdrew from the presidential race on Sunday after weeks of pressure from other Democrats to step down after his disastrous debate in late June.

Democratic leaders quickly heaped praise on the president for his lifetime of service.

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Biden continues to resist Democratic calls to end re-election campaign

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Latest high-profile name to call on president to step aside is Sherrod Brown, the embattled senator from Ohio

Democrats were caught in an apparent stalemate on Saturday as a dug-in Joe Biden continued to endure high-profile calls to end his re-election campaign after a week of astonishing party moves to unseat the president in favor of a candidate many hope will be more likely to beat Donald Trump.

In the weeks since his disastrous debate performance against Trump, the 81-year-old Biden has attempted to fight off calls for him to step down from the top of the ticket amid concerns that his age and mental acuity are no longer up to the job. But a series of interviews, a press conference and speeches have done little to quell party nerves.

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Democratic congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee dies aged 74, family says

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Jackson Lee, who was first elected to Congress almost 30 years ago, had said she was being treated for pancreatic cancer last month

US representative Sheila Jackson Lee, a strong progressive voice in the Democratic party who was outspoken on African American and women’s rights, has died, her family posted on X late on Friday.

Jackson Lee, of Texas, announced last month she had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and was undergoing treatment. She was 74 and had also previously had breast cancer.

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Pressure mounts on Biden as tally of Democrats urging withdrawal passes 30

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US president reportedly feeling ‘angry and betrayed’ as speculation swirls that announcement could be imminent

A beleaguered Joe Biden entered potentially the most decisive weekend of his 50-year political career on Friday as the growing list of Democratic members of Congress calling on him to step aside surpassed 30, with the latest being the Ohio senator Sherrod Brown.

Biden is recovering from Covid-19 in self-isolation at his home in Delaware and reportedly feeling “angry and betrayed” by allies and speculation mounted that he might be preparing to announce his withdrawal from the race.

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More Democrats call for Biden to exit 2024 race as president vows to return to campaign trail – as it happened

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This live blog is now closed. For the latest on Biden’s campaign, you can read:

The report is consequential because Biden relies heavily on his family to make major political decisions. They are his inner circle and his brain trust and include his wife, Jill Biden, his only living son, Hunter Biden, and his sister, Valerie Biden.

Behind the scenes, those close to Biden, his family and top allies, are reportedly seething over the way he is being treated. They believe the effort to dislodge him from the campaign has been “backhanded and disrespectful” according to the NBC report, which says the family is “distraught and moving through the stages of anger and grief over how people they perceived to be friends have treated the president”.

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Biden reportedly open to 2024 rethink as Pelosi steps up pressure campaign

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Former House speaker has reportedly told colleagues president could be persuaded to leave race soon

Joe Biden has reportedly become more open in recent days to hearing arguments that he should step aside as the Democratic presidential candidate, and former House speaker Nancy Pelosi has reportedly told Democratic colleagues that he could be convinced to leave the race soon.

The Washington Post reported that Pelosi has taken a prominent role in passing messages from House Democrats to the White House, relaying concerns that Biden is incapable of beating Donald Trump in November, and has said she thinks Biden is close to making a decision to end his campaign.

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In Dearborn, home of largest Arab American community, despair and apathy dominate

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The Michigan city’s residents ask ‘where is the humanity?’ as war in Gaza rages on. Some won’t vote this fall in protest

Abu Bilal sits quietly on a stool in Oriental Fashion, a clothing store he owns on Dearborn’s Warren Avenue, listening to the radio. It’s hard to ascertain whether his tone when talking about the war in Gaza is one of near-complete defeatism or seething anger.

“Ninety people were killed today; hundreds were injured,” he says, referencing an Israeli airstrike that killed dozens of Palestinian civilians in Khan Younis on Saturday.

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Donald Trump to give RNC speech as Joe Biden faces ongoing pressure to stand aside – US politics live

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Former president to address RNC after his running mate JD Vance gave populist-tinged speech on Wednesday

Sidney Blumenthal, former senior adviser to President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, has written a column for the Guardian, arguing that Trump’s near assassination transformed his theology, giving the decidedly earthly ex-president a powerful spiritual sheen.

The attempted assassination of Donald Trump has transformed the theology of Trump. He has long portrayed himself as an innocent lamb falsely accused, the target of slings and arrows to bear the suffering of believers. Now the bullet and the blood of Butler, Pennsylvania, have sanctified him for the faithful and brought forth a new gospel.

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Biden hasn’t done enough to ease age concerns, former top Obama adviser says – live

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David Axelrod, former top Obama adviser, says the question of whether Biden can survive is ‘entirely in his hands’

Today’s theme at the Republican national convention will be “Make America Strong Once Again,” and many of the speeches are expected to focus on foreign policy.

“Each one of these has a theme, like last night was ‘bend the knee and grovel’ apparently,” Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota, said at a Democratic press conference in Milwaukee. “And today is ‘celebrate Russia day,’ I guess.”

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Democrats’ rift widens as Nancy Pelosi reportedly joins calls for Biden to quit

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Tensions amid party members rise as Biden tests positive for Covid and will be in self-isolation in Delaware

Pressure for Joe Biden to step aside as the Democrats’ presidential pick to face Donald Trump had eased since the Republican survived an assassination attempt last weekend, but began to rise again on Wednesday.

The tension rose as Biden was diagnosed with Covid and cancelled events to self-isolate at his home in Delaware.

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Adam Schiff says Biden should ‘pass the torch’ and bow out of 2024 US election

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California Democrat and US Senate candidate calls on Joe Biden to end his campaign, stating he has ‘serious concerns’

Adam Schiff, the high-profile California Democrat and US Senate candidate, on Wednesday called on Joe Biden to end his presidential campaign, stating he had “serious concerns” about the president’s ability to beat Donald Trump in November.

In a statement to the Los Angeles Times, the Los Angeles-area congressman joined almost 20 other congressional Democrats in asking the president to step aside. Biden “has been one of the most consequential presidents in our nation’s history”, Schiff said, but it was time “to pass the torch”.

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