It’s Tuesday. Not to jinx anything, but Capital Weather Gang says today should be the last day of stifling, oppressive heat for a while.🤞 Here’s what’s happening today: -
Harris made her VP pick — Tim Walz!
- Why was Walz was the safest pick for Harris? Keep scrolling to find out.
- Debby has been downgraded to a tropical storm but is slow-moving and drenching the Southeast with torrential downpours.
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Simone Biles had a hilariously petty reaction to Olympic judges’ questionable beam deduction.
I’m Cate Martel with a quick recap of the morning and what’s coming up. Send tips, commentary, feedback and cookie recipes to cmartel@digital-release.digital-release.thehill.com. Did someone forward this newsletter to you? Sign up here.
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🎵 To the windows, to the Walz!:
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Harris is done making all those calls! 🎵 Vice President Harris has chosen Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) as her running mate!
What to know about Walz in two sentences: The 60-year-old served in the military and was high school teacher before spending 12 years in Congress in a Republican-leaning district before being elected as Minnesota governor in 2018. He first called Republicans “weird” in a cable news interview, which raised his name recognition and became a line of attack adopted by national Democrats.
This will excite progressives: When the decision was reportedly down to Walz and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D), progressives strongly preferred Walz over Shapiro because of Shapiro’s stance on the Israel-Hamas war. House Democrats had also been hoping for Walz. What Republicans will likely seize on: Republicans are likely to use his policy positions on abortion and LGBTQ issues to paint him as a radical liberal.
Why Harris chose Walz: Reuters’s Nandita Bose listed six reasons she chose Walz, according to a source close to the process. -
The first reason: “He has executive experience with strong record of accomplishment for middle class families that models what Harris wants to do nationally (child tax-credit, junk fee ban, paid leave, gun safety, codifying Roe).”
- The second reason: “Has a bio that will appeal in key Midwestern states that Harris must win.”
📝 List of Harris’s four other reasons 🗨️ Live blog of updates on Harris’s VP pick |
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➤ THE FIRST CRITIQUE IS IN: |
Former President Trump’s campaign slammed Harris for choosing Walz, pegging him as a “West Coast wannabe.”
Trump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement: “It’s no surprise that San Francisco Liberal Kamala Harris wants West Coast wannabe Tim Walz as her running-mate — Walz has spent his governorship trying to reshape Minnesota in the image of the Golden State.” |
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Omg, this is a terrifyingly good point: New York Magazine’s Chris Smith noted that “[Tim Walz], chosen over [Josh Shapiro], is likely to make his first appearance as dem VP candidate today in Philly, a city that legendarily (apocryphally?) booed Santa Claus.” (Here’s that story if you don’t know it.)
Check out Walz on Harris’s campaign website: This is before Harris announced Walz, btw. What to know about Walz family: Via CNN: - Tim’s wife: “Gwen Walz has taught in public, alternative and migrant schools, as well as prisons.”
- His kids: “The couple have two children: Hope, a recent graduate of Montana State University, and Gus, who is in high school.”
Walz served in the House: Punchbowl’s Jake Sherman pointed out that “Tim Walz is the only person on either ticket this year to have experience in the U.S. House of Representatives. Walz flipped a GOP seat in 2006.”
Throwback: Presidential historian Michael Beschloss posted an old photo of former President Obama announcing then-Sen. Joe Biden as his VP pick. 📸 See the 2008 Blackberry message
Another throwback: CBS News’s Ed O’Keefe posted a screenshot of the 2004 cover of The New York Post that published the wrong pick as John Kerry’s running mate. 📸 The incorrect cover
I would love one of the outtakes: ABC News is reporting that Harris’s team had printed multiple versions of campaign signs so she could make the decision at the last minute. |
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The race had gotten pretty nasty: |
Democrats never got to have a presidential primary this year. Party elites almost immediately rallied around Vice President Harris when President Biden stepped aside, giving little opportunity for discussions over the policy direction of the top of the ticket. Well, Democrats hyper focused those discussions into Harris’s search for a running mate — and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) received the brunt of progressive critiques over his stances on the Israel-Hamas war and pro-Palestine protests.
Where Walz fits into this: Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is well-liked among Democrats and was a safer pick for Harris. Read Julia Manchester and Amie Parnes’s reporting on the nastiness of the VP battle. |
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Deb, you really need to leave: |
Tropical Storm Debby has been inching its way up the East Coast, bringing historic torrential downpours to the Southeastern U.S. this week.
The Weather Channel reports that more than 8 inches of rain has already fallen in Savannah, Ga., and nearly 6 inches of rain in parts of Charleston, S.C. A tornado watch is in effect in parts of North Carolina and South Carolina until 5 p.m.
Historic rain totals: The National Hurricane Center says that Debby could drop a catastrophic 10 to 25 inches of rain in some areas.
Where is Debby headed next?: Debby is expected to move out to the ocean where it will restrengthen. It’s then expected to slowly move up the East Coast. Flooding is possible in the mid-Atlantic and New England. 📸 Projections for the mid-Atlantic and New England
⌚ Debby’s timing and expected path |
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🍺 Celebrate: Today is National Root Beer Float Day! 🤸Simone’s brat summer: U.S. Olympic gymnast
Simone Biles received a questionable deduction on beam for not saluting the judges ~long enough~. So, when she competed on floor, she saluted judges for a laughable amount of time. She even walks off the floor with her hands still saluting. 💀 Keep in mind that she had already fallen on beam, so this deduction didn’t cost her a medal. 📹
Watch her beam salute 📹 And now her floor salute
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The House and Senate are out. President Biden and Vice President Harris are in Washington. Harris heads to Philadelphia later this afternoon. (all times Eastern) |
2:30 p.m.: White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre briefs reporters. 💻 Livestream
2:15 p.m.: Biden receives his daily briefing. 5:30 p.m.: Harris holds a campaign rally with her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) in Philadelphia. 💻 C-SPAN livestream 8:45 p.m.: Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff return to Washington.
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