JD Vance attacks childless teachers in newly resurfaced remarks

Republican vice-presidential candidate criticizes ‘leaders on the left’ and Randi Weingarten in 2021 clip

JD Vance, the Republican vice-presidential candidate and US senator from Ohio, attacked teachers who do not have children in newly resurfaced remarks from 2021.

In the resurfaced clip, Vance, who was speaking at a forum held by the Center for Christian Virtue, attacks “leaders on the left” and Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, for not having children.

Continue reading...

RFK Jr faces call for investigation into claim he chainsawed whale’s head off

Activists say Kennedy could’ve committed felony violation for allegedly driving with whale skull strapped to car roof

His independent White House campaign has fizzled, but the flow of bizarre stories of Robert F Kennedy Jr’s unorthodox handling of the carcasses of wild mammals has experienced no similar suspension.

An environmental group is calling for a federal investigation into the former presidential candidate for an episode in which he allegedly severed the head of a washed-up whale with a chainsaw – and drove home with it strapped to his car’s roof.

Continue reading...

Republicans accuse Kamala Harris of flip-flopping on border wall policy

Vice-president once called the border wall ‘un-American’ but now is trying to revive an immigration deal that funds it

Republicans have accused Kamala Harris of a policy flip-flop after she embraced an immigration crackdown that would involve expanding the controversial US southern border wall, which she once called “un-American” and “a medieval vanity project”.

Harris committed to reviving a bipartisan immigration deal that collapsed in the Senate earlier year at last week’s Democratic national convention.

Continue reading...

Ex-Democrat Tulsi Gabbard endorses Donald Trump in 2024 presidential race

Former 2020 Democratic candidate backs the Republican nominee and accuses Harris of ‘abuse of power’

Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman, has endorsed the Republican nominee, Donald Trump, in the US presidential election.

Gabbard, who served in the military in Iraq, ran for president in the Democratic primary in 2020. She quit the party two years later and has become a fixture at conservative conferences and in rightwing media.

Continue reading...

Democrats sue Georgia officials over election rules that could ‘invite chaos’

Lawsuit alleges new rules that could let local state boards delay certification of presidential election are illegal

Democrats sued Georgia state election officials on Monday, alleging new rules that could allow local officials to delay certification of November’s presidential results were illegal.

The lawsuit was filed in the superior court of Fulton county by local Georgia Democratic politicians, the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic party of Georgia. It says the rules approved by the Republican-controlled Georgia state election board this month were intended to give individual county election officials the ability to delay or cancel the certification of votes.

Continue reading...

Special counsel appeals dismissal of Trump classified documents case; Harris endorsed by former Republican staffers – as it happened

This live blog is now closed. For the latest on the 2024 US election, you can read our full coverage here.

Donald Trump’s visit to the Arlington national cemetery in Virginia today comes after comments earlier this month that the Presidential Medal of Freedom – a civilian award – was “better than the Medal of Honor given to service members.

Trump was talking about giving Miriam Adelson, a wealthy Republican donor, the Medal of Freedom, which he said was “actually much better” than the Medal of Honor “because everyone (who) gets the congressional medal of honor, that’s soldiers,” adding:

They’re either in very bad shape because they’ve been hit so many times by bullets, or they’re dead.

Continue reading...

Donald Trump threatens to pull out of 10 September presidential debate

Republican nominee calls ABC ‘fake news’ and sows further doubt over appearance at debate with Kamala Harris

Donald Trump has expressed doubt that he will participate in a scheduled televised debate with Kamala Harris next month, hurling a trademark “fake news” slur at the network that had agreed to host it.

The former president and Republican nominee threatened to pull out of the 10 September meeting with Harris, the vice-president and Democratic nominee for November’s election, in a post on his Truth Social network on Sunday night.

Continue reading...

‘Georgia’s ours to lose’: Trump and Harris camps zero in on swing states

Amid close race, Harris to go on tour in Georgia as Trump surrogate insists state’s governor will back ex-president

As Kamala Harris and Donald Trump brace themselves for what promises to be an ugly and bruising sprint to the finishing line in November, both presidential candidates’ campaigns are turning their sights back on the handful of desperately close swing states where the battle is likely to be decided.

Georgia is coming into view as a critical battleground for both leaders as they struggle to gain voters’ attention in an epochal election. On Wednesday, the vice-president will travel from the White House to southern Georgia to hold her first campaign event in the state with her recently anointed running mate and former high school football coach, Minnesota governor Tim Walz.

Continue reading...

Robert F Kennedy Jr’s brother ‘heartbroken’ over Trump endorsement

Max Kennedy says endorsement is ‘inconceivable’ and implores public to ignore his sibling’s decision

Max Kennedy, the brother of Robert F Kennedy Jr, has implored the public to ignore his sibling’s decision to drop out of the 2024 presidential election and endorse Donald Trump’s campaign to return to the White House.

In an op-ed for the Los Angeles Times, Max Kennedy said “Trump was exactly the kind of arrogant, entitled bully” that his father, former US senator and attorney general Robert F Kennedy, stood against before he was assassinated in 1968 as he pursued the Democratic presidential nomination.

Continue reading...

Harris campaign raised $540m amid surge during Democratic convention

Trump has also proved to be a formidable fundraiser but appears to be outpaced in Harris’s month-old campaign

Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign says it has now raised $540m for its election battle against Donald Trump.

The vice-president’s campaign has had no problems getting supporters to open their wallets since Joe Biden announced on 21 July he was ending his run for re-election to the White House and quickly endorsed Harris. The campaign said it saw a surge of donations during last week’s Democratic national convention in Chicago where Harris and her vice-presidential running mate, Minnesota governor Tim Walz, accepted their nominations.

Continue reading...

Tactical ad breaks and lies: rightwing coverage of DNC is exactly as expected

Hard-right hosts resurrect racist Obama birther conspiracy theory and lament Democrats’ treatment of Joe Biden

As the Democratic party enjoys the afterglow of an exuberant national convention, the rightwing media has settled on consistent counter-programming: complaining about “joy”, hyping up pro-Palestinian protests and expressing a newfound concern for the treatment of Joe Biden.

The coverage, which has at times avoided the more pointed Democratic criticisms of Trump by cutting to ad breaks, has also including the criticism of women both for smiling too much and not smiling enough, and the coining of a new name for Barack Obama: “Barack-Stabber”.

Continue reading...

Trump hails RFK Jr as ‘great person’ after 2024 endorsement – as it happened

This blog is now closed. You can read our latest story here

Merrick Garland announced this morning that the justice department has filed an anti-trust lawsuit against the real estate software company RealPage.

The DoJ alleges that RealPage’s algorithm provided landlords with recommended prices for rentals that allowed them to align their rents.

Continue reading...

RFK Jr voters on ‘frustrating’ suspension of campaign: ‘He’s playing politics’

Kennedy supporters bitterly disappointed as independent props up two-party system by endorsing Donald Trump

Robert F Kennedy Jr, the arguable black sheep of one of America’s biggest families in politics, has suspended his campaign for president and endorsed Donald Trump – and it has rocked some of his supporters.

On Facebook, where Kennedy groups have amassed thousands of members across the country, some expressed bitter disappointment. In their view, Kennedy was a way to buck, and even break, the two-party system in the US – and while the end of his campaign hurt, backing one of the major party candidates was seen as far worse.

Continue reading...

Harris’s convention speech sparks live rant from outraged Trump

Ex-president’s 48 posts during speech confirm his trouble in maintaining discipline on the campaign trail

Kamala Harris’s Democratic national convention speech provoked a torrent of outrage from Donald Trump as the former US president fired off a volley of ripostes, rebuttals and angry calls to TV stations.

Trump posted 48 times on his Truth Social network during Harris’s 37-minute presidential acceptance speech, which was nearly an hour shorter than his own effort at the Republican convention last month.

Continue reading...

Harris urges America to choose ‘freedom and fairness’ over Trump extremism – as it happened

This blog is closing now, thanks for following along. You can find all of our US elections coverage here.

Now comes Pat Ryan, who represents a New York battleground district in the House of Representatives.

He hit out at Donald Trump for his reported insults towards military veterans, then obliquely referenced the newfound optimism Democrats are feeling since Joe Biden ended his bid for a second term:

These last few weeks have felt like a new day in America, when we are waking up, rising up, patriots, to demand a president who does not just treat our veterans with respect, but everyone with respect.

We do not retreat, we are the United States of America, we lead!

Continue reading...

Kamala Harris pledges to ‘chart a new way forward’ as she accepts nomination

Democratic nominee makes sweeping convention speech and promises to prosecute case against Donald Trump

Kamala Harris accepted the Democratic presidential nomination Thursday with a sweeping, pointed speech in which she vowed to prosecute the case against Donald Trump and carry the country to a brighter and fairer future.

In an address that balanced optimism with scathing criticism of her opponent, Harris acknowledged her “unlikely” path to the nomination and extended her hand to voters of all political ideologies who believe in America’s promise. Harris would make history if elected – as the first woman, first Black woman and first Asian American woman to serve as president – but she instead focused on the history that the country could change in November.

Continue reading...

Democratic convention fails to meet uncommitted delegate deadline for Palestinian speaker

Ceasefire movement staged sit-in after weeks of unsuccessful attempts to get representative on main stage

After a daylong sit-in, uncommitted delegates entered the United Center to take their seats among their state delegations on the Democratic national convention floor.

The Democratic convention failed to make a 6pm CT deadline that the ceasefire delegates had set for a final decision on allowing a Palestinian American to speak from the main stage.

Continue reading...

Harris prepares for convention keynote as Trump and Vance focus on immigration message – live

Harris will formally accept her party’s historic presidential nomination while Trump and Vance will hold separate battleground state events

Democratic vice-presidential nominee Tim Walz is dropping by the Minnesota delegation’s breakfast meeting in Chicago this morning, according to reports.

Walz and his wife, Gwen, are expected to thank delegates at the breakfast for their support of the Harris-Walz ticket.

Continue reading...

Woman caught in awkward ‘childless cat ladies’ DNC camera pan attacks Vance

Teresa Woorman takes moment in limelight in her stride after cameras cut to her during Oprah Winfrey speech

When the cameras panned over from Oprah Winfrey calling out “childless cat ladies” at the Democratic national convention, they landed on an unsuspecting woman who nodded along to Winfrey’s words and prompted plenty of reactions online – and a response from the woman herself.

During Winfrey’s speech on Wednesday, the cameras awkwardly cut to the audience member Teresa Woorman, a delegate from district 16 in Maryland.

Continue reading...

‘That’s my dad’: Gus Walz moved to tears as father Tim accepts VP nomination

Walz’s 17-year-old son touched DNC viewers with his emotional display during father’s widely praised speech

Tim Walz’s 17-year-old son Gus stole the show with an emotional display of family fealty as his father delivered his acceptance speech at the Democratic national convention in Chicago.

After the elder Walz described the painful process of starting a family using fertility treatment, television cameras focused on Gus as he stood up, with tears pouring down his face, and pointed to the stage mouthing: “That’s my dad.”

Continue reading...