The energy Vice President Kamala Harris has brought to the Democratic Party since President Joe Biden dropped out and endorsed her last month is reportedly spreading to down-ballot races. Politico reported Saturday that Democrats in both the House of Representatives and the U.S.
Senate are feeling especially bullish about their chances in November thanks to the momentum Harris has been providing with her ascendancy. While House Democrats in battleground districts were hesitant about tying their brands to Biden, they're now reportedly vying to have the opportunity to stump with her as they hit the home stretch of their own respective campaigns. One unnamed member of Congress from a swing district speaking anonymously to Politico said that Biden's approval rating was roughly 30% among their own constituents despite winning it in 2020 and feared they would have to outrun the Democratic ticket in order to prevail this November.
Now, that member says they are "feeling damn good" about their chances at winning another term. READ MORE: 'The entire electoral pool has changed': Top GOP pollster says Harris may deliver Dem trifecta According to the outlet, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) warned Republican members of Congress in a private call earlier this week that the "numbers are ominous" for the GOP this November. Currently, Johnson barely holds the gavel due to a razor-thin two-member majority.
His speakership has been tarnished as multiple House Republicans have announced they were no longer seeking another term in office — including high-ranking committee chairs and member from safe Republican districts. Rep. Richard Hudson (R-North Carolina), who chairs the National Republican Congressional Committee, has issued similar warnings to his party as Democrats continue to outpace Republicans in the campaign money race.
Politico reported that Hudson said Democrats are "peaking really at the right time" with less than three months to go before Election Day. Derek Tran, a Democrat who is running against Rep. Michelle Steel (R-California), said he had trouble breaking through with donors when Biden was still on the ticket.
Despite Biden narrowly winning Steel's district in 2020 by six points, polls showed him trailing former President Donald Trump in the district by the same amount this year. Steel is reportedly just one of 16 Republicans serving in districts Biden won four years ago, making her seat particularly vulnerable this fall. “It’s been like a 180 from what it was before,” Tran said told Politico.
“The types of conversations I was having with donors and constituents out there was just, ‘We’re done. We don’t want to be part of this. This is stupid.
’ As opposed to when we saw the change at the top of the ticket, it was electrifying." READ MORE: Yet another House Republican announces retirement – and says 'dysfunction' has 'taken a toll' Rep. Annie Kuster (D-New Hampshire), who announced her decision to not seek another term in Congress prior to Biden dropping out of the race, runs the centrist New Democrat Coalition.
Her group is made up of 20 incumbent members of Congress and 40 other Congressional hopefuls. She told the outlet that prior to Biden's decision to retire, Democrats' trajectory was "unsustainable," and that her party was "losing ground all across the board in every part of the country." Now, she says polls are trending in favor of the New Democrat Coalition's members.
After Biden exited the race in late July, Harris went on to raise roughly $300 million in a matter of weeks and enlist more than 170,000 campaign volunteers. Republican pollster Frank Luntz, who conducts focus groups with swing state voters, said the energy from her campaign has led to undecided voters leaning Democrat , and Trump-leaning voters now saying they're undecided. While Democrats need to flip just a small handful of Republican House seats in order to win back control of the lower chamber of Congress, their task is more difficult in the U.
S. Senate. After Sen.
Joe Manchin (I-West Virginia) announced his retirement earlier this year, his seat is expected to flip to GOP control in the ruby-red Mountain State. Republicans need to flip just one Democrat-held seat in the competitive states of Arizona, Montana, Ohio or Pennsylvania to win back the majority assuming Manchin's seat flips. Click here to read Politico's report in full.
Reflecting on changes in Donald Trump's campaign leadership structure, a former official who worked in the ex-president's administration predicted heads will roll because his re-election chances are now seriously in doubt. Appearing on MSNBC's "The Weekend," Olivia Troye, one of leaders of Republicans Against Trump , admitted that she is surprised Vice Presidential candidate J.D.
Vance (R-OH) hasn't been cast aside. Speaking with co-host Michael Steele, Troye began. "Watching the campaign, I think it's imploded.
" "What has happened here is they were caught flat-footed," she continued. "I think they have nothing to counter this powerful ticket of two relatable people who are out there actually campaigning, talking to voters everyday showing that they they truly identify with the challenges they face." ALSO READ: Donald Trump deep in debt while foreign money keeps coming: disclosure "What does Donald Trump have?" she asked.
"I guess, you know, I don't know, country club owner, maybe, lots of bankruptcies, convicted felon. Then you have J.D.
Vance, who denigrates women and talks about menopausal women, childless cat and dog ladies, I don't know where they're going with this." 'I think you're seeing a lot of turmoil there," she continued. "I wonder how long some of these people are going to stay in their roles .
.. I think Trump is grasping here, trying to figure out what to do because he really does have no plan, no actual policy objectives and it is just a bunch of mudslinging.
" "You know, I'm surprised he still has J.D. Vance on the ticket, I keep wondering if he's going to bump him off," she added.
Watch below or at the link - YouTube youtu.be Donald Trump's decision to make President Joe Biden's age a centerpiece of his re-election bid has now come back to haunt him after Biden gracefully stepped aside for much younger Vice President Kamala Harris to take her spot at the top of the Democratic ticket. According to a report from Politico's Megan Messerly and Myah Ward, the former president went to great pains to portray Biden as a "doddering old man" and, with the 59-year-old Harris running an upbeat and energetic campaign, the former president's latest public efforts have led to his earlier age attacks to bounce back and attach themselves on him .
As the report notes, the Harris campaign has focused on talking about the future and, combined with rally chants of "We're not going back," Trump increasingly looks like a relic of "a past that the country can’t afford to return to." ALSO READ: Donald Trump deep in debt while foreign money keeps coming: disclosure "Some Democrats are relishing the fact that they can finally make an attack based on age after months of being forced to defend a historically old nominee. Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz , 60, veered into overt attacks on Trump’s age at a fundraiser in Newport Beach, California , this week.
He called Trump 'low energy,' 'tired' and the 'guy that needs to get a little rest on the weekend,'" Politico is reporting. According to one Democratic pollster, Trump's age is the "cherry on top" for the Harris campaign. “You already thematically want to go to the future, but now you’re able to also point to a very real thing, which is how much confidence do you have in this guy’s mental acuity, energy, overall health?” Paul Maslin suggested.
“Yeah, he can still play a decent game of golf. Okay, we’ll give him that. Is that enough?” You can read more here .
Former President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner is planning to build a luxury resort in Albania. But the proposed development has been attacked by critics in both the Balkan country and the U.S.
Kushner — who launched his private equity firm Affinity Partners after Trump was voted out of office — has been working with Richard Grenell , who was Trump's acting Director of National Intelligence, on plans to develop in both Albania and Serbia. According to a new Washington Post report , the two have been working closely with Albania's "very transactional" prime minister, Edi Rama on plans to develop a section of protected land in the southern European nation. However, environmentalists say Kushner's plans to raze protected acreage in the coastal area of Zvernec could prove to be dangerous to rare flora and fauna and tip the ecosystem out of balance.
This includes Patagonia CEO Ryan Zellert, who told the Post he has "huge concerns" about the development. READ MORE: Jared Kushner blasted over new $500 million 'present' from Serbian government "It is a stunning area, unique across the Mediterranean," he said. "And the idea of them developing this, particularly in the absence of a master plan, is a really bad idea.
" Albania's minister of tourism and the environment, Mirela Kumbaro, told the outlet that "all of Albania is open for potential development." She dismissed concerns from environmentalists, saying that they want the government to "abandon the region forever and to have only the birds. She added that Albania couldn't afford to sacrifice economic progress and leave protected land untouched, particularly as the acreage under environmental protection makes up roughly 21% of Albania's total area.
But ornithologist Joni Vorpsi suggested the ecosystem could be significantly harmed by the development, as the vegetation would suck the area dry without birds to feed on it. He reminded the publication that Kushner's resort would require access roads and additional infrastructure throughout the construction process, and all the traffic that comes with it. “It can’t coexist,” he said.
“Even if you try to be cautious, there is just so much disturbance.” READ MORE: Senate Dems open investigation into Jared Kushner's 'lucrative' foreign business deals Aside from the concerns raised by environmentalists, anti-corruption activists are also sounding the alarm about the development. Sen.
Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) accused Kusher — who is married to Trump's eldest daughter, Ivanka — of trading on his relationship to the former president in order to fuel his own business interests. In a June letter , Wyden asked an Affinity official to shed light on the ex-president's son-in-law, writing that he had concerns about the high percentage of Kushner's business coming from foreign sources. He added that it "creates an appearance that Affinity’s investors are motivated not by commercial interests of seeking a return on investment, but rather by strategic considerations of foreign nationals seeking to funnel money to U.
S. individuals with personal connections to former President Trump ." Kushner has countered that nothing about what he's done is illegal under statutes in both the U.
S. and the Balkan nations he does business with, and that soliciting foreign investment isn't inherently corrupt. "A lot of people [leave the public sector and] they kind of sell their services, you know, based on their relationships," Kushner told the Post .
I" didn’t want to do that. I’ve always been an investor.” READ MORE: 'Corrupt': Jared Kushner's overseas business deals under fire as Trump runs for president.
