| | | | |  | | By Ryan Lizza, Eugene Daniels and Rachael Bade | | Presented by |  | | | With help from Eli Okun, Garrett Ross and Bethany Irvine
| | | |  | DRIVING THE DAY | | | 
The most notable non-endorsements of VP Kamala Harris yesterday came from four top Democratic leaders. | Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images | INSIDE THE HARRIS BLITZ — In a matter of hours yesterday, VP KAMALA HARRIS garnered endorsements of a majority of House Democrats (153 as of this morning), most Senate Democrats (32), and twelve of the nation’s 23 Democratic governors. Two key unions — SEIU and AFT — are on board, and four state delegations to the Chicago convention (New Hampshire, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee) have voted to back her. The widespread and immediate outpouring of support, which will continue to trickle in today, is a testament to the Democratic Party’s eagerness to move on from the last 25 days of infighting, as well as Harris’s own underrated skills as a backroom coalition builder. She put those chops to work yesterday: Harris had multiple phone conversations with President JOE BIDEN before he announced at 1:46 p.m. that he was stepping aside. Then she got busy. Harris spent the rest of Sunday at home with family and staff in the vice president’s mansion in her Howard University hoodie and sweats grinding through calls to over 100 Democratic leaders over the course of 10 hours. The speedy, unglamorous work seems to have scared most of the potential challengers out of the race. We’re told she dined on pizza with anchovies for dinner. Meanwhile, what is now the Harris for President campaign took in $49.6 million in grassroots donations since yesterday’s announcement, according to campaign spokesperson LAUREN HITT. That includes the proceeds from ActBlue’s biggest fundraising day of the 2024 cycle. SO IS IT OVER? As one Democratic senator suggested to us, most of the brand-name Democrats who were considered potential rivals seem to have decided that quickly endorsing Harris and making a play to be her running mate was a wiser course than challenging her for the nomination. Biden’s endorsement and the enormous war chest and campaign infrastructure she inherits from him makes any challenge daunting. All eyes will be on the prominent Democrats who didn’t back Harris yesterday. We’ll especially be watching Govs. JB PRITZKER (Illinois) and ANDY BESHEAR (Kentucky). Sen. JOE MANCHIN (I-W.Va.) is flirting with a run, but he will have to return to the Democratic Party to do it and then woo the 4,000 convention delegates who tend to be well to his left. But if Manchin goes forward we have no doubt his campaign will get a lot of attention. Nota bene: Manchin, Beshear and Gov. ROY COOPER, who has endorsed Harris, will be on “Morning Joe” later this morning. THE COMMITTEE OF FOUR: The most notable non-endorsements of Harris on Sunday came from the four Democratic leaders who did more to engineer Biden’s ouster from the campaign than anyone else: Senate Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER, former House Speaker NANCY PELOSI, House Minority Leader HAKEEM JEFFRIES, and former President BARACK OBAMA. The details of their efforts have become clearer in the last 24 hours. Pelosi was preparing to ramp up the pressure this week if Biden didn’t exit, per some great reporting by our POLITICO colleagues: “Senior Biden aides were bracing for [Pelosi] to go public this week and possibly even disclose Democratic polling clarifying Biden’s dire political straits. “‘Nancy made clear that they could do this the easy way or the hard way,’ said one Democrat familiar with private conversations who was granted anonymity to speak candidly. ‘She gave them three weeks of the easy way. It was about to be the hard way.’” In the Senate, some of the many Democrats who had held back from going public against Biden were preparing a show of force this week. New details are emerging, too, about how Schumer acted as a go-between shuttling among an anxious caucus and a reluctant president. Concerned that aides were not giving Biden the unvarnished views of his members, Schumer drove to Rehoboth Beach on Saturday, July 13, for a one-on-one conversation. Schumer “delivered a personal appeal that focused on three points: the Biden legacy, the future of the country, and the impact on Congress. He urged him to think about the Supreme Court,” according to a person familiar with the meeting. It lasted for 35 minutes and the two men hugged at the end. More from Ursula Perano THE NO-CORONATION STRATEGY: So why didn’t these four leaders of the rebellion endorse Harris? Here’s the explanation from a person familiar with the thinking of Obama, who has called for Democratic leaders “to create a process from which an outstanding nominee emerges”: "Just like he did in 2020 once Joe Biden earned the nomination, President Obama believes he will be uniquely positioned to help unite the party once we have a nominee, lift-up that candidate, and do everything he can to get that candidate elected in November.” One can quibble with that narrative given the subtle role Obama played in shaping the 2016 and 2020 Democratic presidential fields. But this tracks with what we’ve heard from the other three camps. The idea here is that Obama, Pelosi, Jeffries, and Schumer do not want to be seen as back-room party bosses engineering a Harris coronation. And if there’s a real challenge then they want to be able to unite the party again when there’s a nominee. Having said that, from our conversations on Sunday, we would not be surprised if one or more of the three congressional leaders (especially Schumer) gets on board with Harris this week. A RASH RUSH? There are shockingly few voices in the Democratic Party pushing to stress-test the notion that Harris is the strongest candidate to take on DONALD TRUMP, even though her approval ratings are hardly better than Biden’s, she polls only slightly better against Trump, she would be the Democrat most saddled with Biden’s heaviest baggage on issues such as immigration and inflation and her one campaign for president was not considered a success. Anti-Trump Republican strategist MIKE MURPHY, who has said he would support Biden, was a lonely voice for patience: “Kamala well on the way to locking everything up,” he wrote on X. “Did it in just hours. Dems would be well advised to slow down and think this through … but that seems very unlikely now.” Jonathan Martin’s new column also digs into the potential risks: “This has been the backstage chatter among Democrats ever since that fateful June 27 debate: which is riskier in swing states, a wounded Biden or a healthy Harris? … “‘She’s got to kill it out of the box, she can’t be defined by Trump before Chicago,’ said JAMES CARVILLE, the Democratic strategist. ‘Trump is not popular, but she’s just not known.’ “Harris’ ostensible allies also do her no favors by arguing for her nomination — or warning against denying it to her — on the grounds of race and gender. Such appeals only offer fodder to Trump and his allies, who are eager to portray her, as some already crudely have, as a ‘DEI Candidate.’ What her friends may think helps her in the summer will be weaponized against her in the fall.” Good Monday morning. Thanks for reading Playbook. Drop us a line: Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza.
| | A message from Capital One: Capital One recently announced our historic, five-year, $265 billion community benefits plan in connection with our proposed acquisition of Discover to advance economic opportunity and financial well-being. This plan is twice as large as any other community commitment developed in connection with a bank acquisition and demonstrates that the combined Capital One and Discover will create an opportunity to provide more lending, investment, and services for underserved communities than the institutions would undertake on a stand-alone basis. | | | MORE TOP READS …
- “How the Bet on an 81-Year-Old Joe Biden Turned Into an Epic Miscalculation,” by WSJ’s Rebecca Ballhaus, Siobhan Hughes, Annie Linskey, Andrew Restuccia and Erich Schwartzel: “How the Democratic Party came to the brink of nominating a candidate with an obvious flaw is a story of allies eager to look the other way, Biden advisers who worked to stamp out doubts about his vigor and a party apparatus that boxed out alternative candidates. The result is an epic, yearslong miscalculation that has Democrats racing to mount an uncertain reboot of their campaign against former President Donald Trump.”
- “9 possible running mates Kamala Harris could pick,” by Kierra Frazier, Hailey Fuchs and Heidi Przybyla: “Pennsylvania Gov. JOSH SHAPIRO, for instance, 'would be an excellent choice' to share the ticket, said Philadelphia Democratic Party chair and former Rep. BOB BRADY. Govs. ANDY BESHEAR of Kentucky and Gov. ROY COOPER of North Carolina are both being considered as running mates, according to a person familiar with the conversations. And a Democratic strategist close to the White House said that Sen. MARK KELLY (D-Ariz.) is also under consideration. … 'The question is: who can beat Trump in their home state?' said the Democratic strategist.”
- “Biden dropped out. This is how it happened,” by WaPo’s Michael Scherer, Tyler Pager, Josh Dawsey, Ashley Parker and Yasmeen Abutaleb: “As of Sunday afternoon, it was still unclear when exactly Biden would address the nation directly. He was still suffering from covid symptoms, including a hoarse voice, said one person familiar with the situation, and they suspected Biden and his team would wait until he sounded better for any public remarks.”
- “15 Experts Predict What Biden’s Dropout Means for the 2024 Election,” from POLITICO Magazine, with contributions from MONA CHAREN, CURT MILLS, BILL SCHER, CHUCK ROCHA, OREN CASS, ANGELA RYE and more: “Is Vice President Kamala Harris going to quickly consolidate support for the Democratic nomination or will the party fracture? Will an open process strengthen her or weaken her? If she is the nominee, can she beat Trump in a general election? Our experts differed, with some on the left and right bullish about their prospective standard-bearers. Only one group will be right.”
- “What a Kamala Harris foreign policy could look like,” by Eric Bazail-Eimil, Joe Gould, Miles J. Herszenhorn and Phelim Kine: “In most areas, Harris would likely continue many of President Joe Biden’s foreign policy objectives. … But regarding Israel’s war on Hamas, Harris has sounded more sympathetic to the plight of Palestinians, a stance that could mollify Arab-American voters and others who are troubled by Biden’s support for Israel’s war effort in Gaza.”
| | | | A message from Capital One:   | | | | | WHAT'S HAPPENING TODAY | | On the Hill The House will meet at noon. Secret Service Director KIMBERLY CHEATLE will testify before the Oversight Committee at 10 a.m. The Rules Committee will meet at 4 p.m to take up the Financial Services, Interior-Environment, Energy-Water and Agriculture-FDA appropriations bills. The Senate is out. 3 things to watch …
- Expect a tough day for Cheatle at the Rayburn Building: Members of both parties, starting with House Oversight Chairman JAMES COMER (R-Ky.), will have tough questions for the Secret Service chief after the assassination attempt on Trump — in particular, whether the agency had denied the former president’s requests for enhanced security. “While we give overwhelming thanks to the individual Secret Service agents who did their jobs under immense pressure, this tragedy was preventable,” Comer is set to say, according to prepared remarks. “The Secret Service has thousands of employees and a significant budget, but it has now become the face of incompetence.”
- For her part, Cheatle this morning will admit that “we failed” and will “take full responsibility for any security lapse” on July 13, according to her own prepared remarks. White pledging cooperation with various investigations, she also will express “full confidence in the men and women of the Secret Service” ahead of the hostile questioning that will include many calls for her resignation: “We must learn what happened and I will move heaven and earth to ensure an incident like July 13th does not happen again,” she will say. “Thinking about what we should have done differently is never far from my thoughts.”
- Relatedly: House leaders are teeing up a vote this week creating a bipartisan “task force” on the assassination attempt. The resolution posted yesterday would set up an 11-member body — six lawmakers appointed by Speaker MIKE JOHNSON, five by Minority Leader HAKEEM JEFFRIES — empowered with subpoena authority to “investigate and fully examine all actions by any agency, Department, officer, or employee of the federal government, as well as State and local law enforcement or any other State or local government or private entities or individuals,” delivering a final report and legislative recommendations no later than Dec. 13.
At the White House Biden will receive the President’s Daily Brief at 10 a.m. Harris will speak at 11:30 a.m. at a South Lawn event celebrating NCAA championship teams. On the trail Sen. JD VANCE (R-Ohio) will hold a rally in Radford, Virginia, at 6 p.m.
| | | | Live briefings, policy trackers, and procedural, industry, and people intelligence from POLITICO Pro Analysis gives you the insights you need to focus your policy strategy this election cycle. Secure your seat. | | | | | | | PLAYBOOK READS | | TRUMP CARDS
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House Homeland Security Chair Mark Green (R-Tenn.) called for Secret Service Connection Kimberly Cheatle to resign. | Andrew Harnik/AP Photo | ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT FALLOUT — As scrutiny mounts regarding security failures ahead of the Trump assassination attempt, House Homeland Security Chair MARK GREEN (R-Tenn.) called for Cheatle to resign, per Axios’ Juliegrace Brufke. DHS Secretary ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, who’s setting up a major independent panel to review what happened, laid out the bipartisan lineup yesterday, CNN’s Priscilla Alvarez, Evan Perez and Holmes Lybrand report. JANET NAPOLITANO, MARK FILIP, FRANCES TOWNSEND, DAVID MITCHELL and possibly others will take 45 days to examine the shooting and how to prevent such violence from happening again. But from Butler, Pennsylvania, The Atlantic’s Stephanie McCrummen has an eye-opening look at how political violence can become unsurprising, normalized or just another jolt in an endlessly shocking news cycle. “Already, the escalating threat of violence was being folded into day-to-day life. … People walked by eating ice cream and drinking beer. People talked about hearing gunshots and seeing blood. People chatted about their goldendoodle dogs and diving for cover.” JUDICIARY SQUARE GATHERING HUNTER — “Hunter Biden Drops Lawsuit Against Fox News,” by The Hollywood Reporter’s Alex Weprin: “HUNTER BIDEN dropped a bid of his own Sunday. … According to the filing, Biden dismissed the suit against Fox without prejudice, meaning that he could choose to re-file charges later on. … Biden had sued Fox earlier this month over a fictionalized miniseries on the Fox Nation streaming service called The Trial of Hunter Biden. Fox had pulled the miniseries back in April.”
| | A message from Capital One: Developed in partnership with a coalition of leading community groups, our five-year community benefits plan includes significant financial and programmatic commitments through community development, Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), philanthropy and pro bono, consumer card and auto lending, small business and supplier diversity, and bank access. These commitments will aim to expand economic opportunity for underserved consumers, including those in low- and moderate-income (LMI) neighborhoods, rural areas, and communities of color. It will also support increased access to best-in-class products and services for unbanked or underbanked consumers as well as consumers across the credit spectrum and expand access to capital and opportunity. | | | 2024 WATCH
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Sen. J.D. Vance's (R-Ohio) speech at a Michigan campaign rally last night was short, warming up the crowd for Donald Trump. | Photos by Jamie Kelter Davis for POLITICO | VANCE FINDS HIS PLACE — In his early days on the campaign trail as Trump’s running mate, Vance is playing a clear second fiddle to the former president, NYT’s Shawn McCreesh reports from Grand Rapids, Michigan. His speech at a campaign rally there was short, warming up the crowd for Trump, and focused on hyping up the top of the ticket. “In a pale imitation of the master, he trash-talked the press, and the crowd booed on cue.” But if he’s not playing a big role yet, his selection nonetheless signals a clear MAGA direction for not only the GOP ticket but the Republican Party writ large — and it’s one that cares about Wall Street less than it used to, WSJ’s Gregory Zuckerman reports. From tariffs to antitrust to the strength of the dollar, Vance’s policy stances don’t always align neatly with the financial industry. “The choice of Vance could mean tech executives will exert more influence on a Trump administration than financial titans. Some in the finance set see the first-term senator from Ohio’s selection as a sign Trump doesn’t care as much about appeasing them.” THE ECONOMY BANK ON IT — “Secret Bank Ratings Show US Regulator’s Concern on Handling Risk,” by Bloomberg’s Hannah Levitt and Katanga Johnson: “A key US regulator has privately found half of the major banks it oversees have an inadequate grasp of a broad swath of potential risks from cyber attacks to employee blunders … In the confidential assessments, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said 11 of the 22 large banks it supervises have ‘insufficient’ or ‘weak’ management of so-called operational risk.” AMERICA AND THE WORLD THIS WEEK’S BIG VISIT — When Israeli PM BENJAMIN NETANYAHU comes to Washington, many U.S. allies around the world will view the visit as a reminder of how ineffective Biden has been at bending Israel to his will, Bloomberg’s Ethan Bronner reports. Even apart from Biden dropping out of the presidential race, “the visit has the whiff of triumph for Netanyahu,” who’ll surpass WINSTON CHURCHILL for the most invitations to address Congress. Israel has pressed on with its war for months, killing 38,000 Palestinians, despite U.S. entreaties to stop fighting (and with major military aid from Washington). “Netanyahu is taking with him on his new executive jet to Washington relatives of hostages and former hostages,” per Bloomberg. But he’ll also encounter plenty of resistance stateside: Pro-Palestinian activists are expected to protest at the Capitol on Wednesday, Reuters’ Kanishka Singh reports. And plenty of Democratic members of Congress will boycott his speech. FROM RUSSIA, WITH LOVE — “Russia says it scrambled fighter jets to intercept U.S. bomber planes over Barents Sea,” AP
| | | | SUBSCRIBE TO GLOBAL PLAYBOOK: Don’t miss out on POLITICO’s Global Playbook, our newsletter taking you inside pivotal discussions at the most influential gatherings in the world. Suzanne Lynch delivers the world's elite and influential moments directly to you. Stay in the global loop. SUBSCRIBE NOW. | | | | | | | PLAYBOOKERS | | Joe Biden is getting “significantly” better on Paxlovid, per Kevin O’Connor. Frank Biden weighed in and got slapped down. Brian Schatz is coconut-pilled. Wolf Blitzer (briefly) enjoyed a Wolf Spritzer. OUT AND ABOUT — Mike and Jodi Rizzo’s family foundation hosted an event at MGM National Harbor that raised six figures to benefit underprivileged kids in D.C., with a blackjack tournament and barbecue party. SPOTTED: David Jones, Lyndon Boozer, Ashley Forrester, Mike Beezley, Chris Petersen, Bradley Beychok, Kendra Kojcsich, John Edgell, Rich Cranwell, Gerry Harrington, Virginia state Del. Mark Sickles, Ryan Zimmerman, Gerardo Parra, Patrick Corbin, CJ Abrams and Trey Lipscomb. TRANSITIONS — James Rogers is joining the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute as director of digital strategy and comms. He previously was senior account manager at Pinkston, and is a Betsy DeVos and John James campaign alum. … Holly Kilness is now director of virology policy at Gilead. She previously was director of HIV policy at GSK. HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Reps. John Larson (D-Conn.), Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.) and Seth Magaziner (D-R.I.) … The Boston Globe’s Sam Brodey … Erin Perrine … Judge Amy Berman Jackson (7-0) … former U.S. Ambassador to NATO Kay Bailey Hutchison … Caleb Smith … Port Side Strategies’ Will Fischer … POLITICO’s Blanca Begert and Alon Naor … CNN’s Terence Burlij … National Association of Counties’ Seamus Dowdall … Amanda Kules … Whitney VanMeter … Annie Lowrey … former Reps. Mike Ferguson (R-N.J.), Curt Weldon (R-Pa.) and George Santos (R-N.Y.) … Elise Shutzer of ExxonMobil … Arshi Siddiqui of Akin Gump … Mike DiRienzo of the Silver Institute … AJ Jorgenson … former VA Secretary David Shulkin … Brandt Anderson … Warren Bass … Joy Lee … Emily Carpeaux … NSC’s Tarun Chhabra … Nathan Naylor ... Soren Dayton … Travis Korson … Andrew Feinberg … State Department’s Leila Elmergawi … Ben Leubsdorf … John Shelton of Advancing American Freedom … MaryAsa England … Don Van Natta Jr. … Craig Howie 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. Correction: Yesterday’s special edition of Playbook incorrectly included Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) among a list of figures who had not yet endorsed VP Kamala Harris for president. Rosen endorsed Harris yesterday evening. | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois Playbook | Massachusetts Playbook | New Jersey Playbook | New York Playbook | Ottawa Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our political and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |
