Live updates: Kamala Harris picked as Biden's VP

S E E D E D   C O N T E N T

By Melissa Macaya, Meg Wagner, Mike Hayes, Veronica Rocha and Elise Hammond, CNN

Updated 4:20 p.m. ET, August 11, 2020 10 Posts Sort byLatestOldestDropdown arrow 1 min ago

Joe Biden has selected Kamala Harris as his running mate

From CNN's Jeff Zeleny, Dan Merica and MJ Lee

Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, has announced Kamala Harris as his vice presidential running mate.

The announcement comes following a search that was conducted under strict secrecy, with most campaign aides, donors and even many longtime Biden friends intentionally kept in the dark.

"I have the great honor to announce that I've picked Kamala Harris," Biden tweeted. He called Harris a "fearless fighter" for the "little guy."

Biden and Harris will formally accept their nominations next week during the Democratic National Convention, which will be conducted via video from various locations because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Read Biden's tweet:

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Stacey Abrams informed she is not the pick

From CNN's Dan Merica

Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams was informed today that she is not Joe Biden's vice presidential pick, a source familiar with the matter tells CNN.

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Biden told Karen Bass she won't be his VP, source says

From CNN's Dana Bash, Jeff Zeleny and Dan Merica, Kate Sullivan and Eric Bradner

The Biden campaign has informed some of the women the former vice president's team vetted about his choice of running mate, three sources familiar with the matter tell CNN

Rep. Karen Bass of California was told by Joe Biden himself that she was not the pick, a source familiar tells CNN.

Bass had a relatively low-profile relative to the other VP contenders under consideration. She is serving her fifth term representing California's 37th Congressional District, which is based in Los Angeles County, and is the current chair of the Congressional Black Caucus.

She was first elected to Congress in 2010, and represented the state's 33rd Congressional District for two years before redistricting occurred. In addition to chairing the CBC, Bass serves on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, where she is the chair of the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations, and the House Judiciary Committee. She is also the founder and co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on Foster Youth.

Prior to serving in Congress, Bass represented the 47th District in the California State Assembly from 2005 to 2010 and became the first Black woman to serve as Speaker of the California Assembly. She previously served as the Assembly Majority Whip and Majority Leader.

Before running for office, Bass spent several years working as a physician assistant in one of the nation's largest trauma centers in Los Angeles.

The other contenders: The former vice president has spoken directly to the final contenders, according to people familiar with the process, through either face-to-face meetings or remote conversations.

Officials would not say which of the candidates visited Biden in person, but CNN confirmed last week that Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer had flown to Delaware for a meeting. California Sen. Kamala Harris and former Obama national security adviser Susan Rice are among the others seen as the most serious contenders.

CNN had previously reported that Biden was also believed to be considering Bass, chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, people familiar with the search say.

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Biden team dismisses possible Trump campaign attacks ahead of VP announcement

From CNN's Sarah Mucha and Betsy Klein

The Joe Biden campaign sent along this statement from campaign spokesperson Andrew Bates, preemptively dismissing any attacks from the Trump campaign ahead of the announcement of his running mate:

"The Trump campaign has already discredited their attacks before we're even out of the gate by announcing that regardless of who Joe Biden nominates, they'll strain to depict the VP candidate as 'radical' — just like they've tried and failed to do with Biden himself for months. In other words, they've flat out admitted they will lie."

In a wide-ranging interview this morning on Fox Sports Radio, President Trump declined to weigh in on who Biden should pick as his running mate, suggesting it's not that important but quickly backtracking to defend his own vice president.

"I will say this, people don't vote for the vice - you know, this is history. This isn't necessarily me, this is history because we have a great Vice President. Mike Pence has been incredible, actually. He's been a great Vice President and, a really, really good job in everything I've given him and, but people don't vote for the Vice President, they really don't," he said.

As for Biden, he said, "I don't think it's going to matter. Joe's gonna have to stand on his own two feet," but later suggested "maybe with him it probably matters much more than it does for the obvious reason," an apparent reference to Trump's continued attacks on Biden's mental acuity.

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What a presidential candidate's running mate says about them

Analysis from CNN's Stephen Collinson

Potential presidents say a lot about themselves while choosing a number two.

A party nominee might choose a vice president who doubles down on their own appeal — like when Bill Clinton chose the youthful, centrist Southerner Al Gore — or to counter their own weak spots: John F. Kennedy picked Lyndon Johnson, balancing his Northeastern liberal credentials with a conservative Southerner who could deliver his home state of Texas. The last three vice presidents, Dick Cheney, Joe Biden and Mike Pence, offered governing experience to balance out relatively green presidents. The devout Pence also reassured evangelical voters about Donald Trump's hardly pious behavior.

Biden, after 50 years in Washington, doesn't have to worry about inexperience — but youth could certainly be a consideration. He's already promised to pick a woman, reflecting palpable anger in the Democratic Party over Hillary Clinton's defeat and a sense that sexism was partly to blame.

Going with one of several Black candidates for vice president could offer further historical redress. But for ideological balance, he could choose someone like Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, a champion of the left, to set against his own moderate credentials.

Then there are the practical considerations : Biden would be the oldest president inaugurated for a first term, and he has acknowledged the possibility that his vice president could be called upon to take over. That's one reason why a super-capable White House insider like Susan Rice, who would be a controversial political pick, has seen her star rise. It also helps if presidents and vice presidents get along, which usually means the number two stifling their own ambitions. Sen. Kamala Harris of California, long one of the favorites for Biden's vice president spot, rejects claims that she might be a little too interested in the 2024 nomination.

Above all, Biden must avoid damaging his own hopes. In 2008, Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona shocked the political world by choosing a little-known Alaskan named Sarah Palin. It worked great when the self-described "pit bull" gave an electrifying convention speech. But soon she was being lampooned on late-night TV. Few saw her as a potential president, and the ticket soon lost to Barack Obama and his more effective pick — Biden.

Read the full analysis here.

Editor's note: This was excerpted from the Aug. 3 edition of CNN's Meanwhile in America, the daily email about US politics for global readers. Click here to read past editions and subscribe.

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Here's what the VP pick's staff will look like

From CNN's Arlette Saenz, Jeff Zeleny and Dan Merica

With an announcement expected as early as today, a Joe Biden campaign official told CNN on Tuesday that they have assembled the staff for Biden's future running mate.

Here's who will be on the staff:

• Karine Jean-Pierre, who joined the Biden campaign as a senior adviser in May, will lead the running mate's team as chief of staff. Jean-Pierre had previously worked for Barack Obama and Martin O'Malley's presidential campaigns.
• Two veterans of the Obama-Biden administration are also joining the team. Liz Allen, who served as deputy communications director for Biden as vice president as well as deputy communications director in the White House, is joining as communications director to the running mate.
• And Sheila Nix, who was chief of staff to Biden's reelection campaign in 2012 and served as Jill Biden's chief of staff in the White House, will be a senior adviser to the running mate and spouse. The vice presidential pick is expected to also add a few of her own advisers to the team.

Whoever Biden settles on will be a history-making choice in her own right, becoming only the third woman to be nominated as a vice presidential candidate for a major party's ticket.

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Biden has selected his running mate and could announce as early as today

From CNN's Jeff Zeleny

Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, has selected his running mate, revealing to top advisers on Tuesday the woman he will invite to join his ticket, two people familiar with the matter tell CNN.

He is poised to make the announcement as early as today.

Watch:

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What we know of Biden's search for a running mate

From CNN's Jeff Zeleny, Dan Merica and MJ Lee

Joe Biden's search for his vice presidential running mate was conducted under strict secrecy, with most campaign aides, donors and even many longtime Biden friends intentionally kept in the dark.

People close to the process said it was heavily influenced by the nation's reckoning on racism.

Biden said July 21 that he was considering four Black women to be his running mate, and had been receiving extensive vetting briefings about each potential candidate.

"I am not committed to naming any (of the potential candidates), but the people I've named, and among them there are four Black women," Biden told MSNBC's Joy Reid on "The ReidOut."

Biden said he was getting a "two-hour vetting report" on each of his potential picks, and that he and his team have gone through "about four candidates" so far.

"Then, when I get all the vetting done of all the candidates, then I'm going to narrow the list, and then we'll see. And then I'm going to have personal discussions with each of the candidates who are left and make a decision," Biden said.

CNN previously reported that Sen. Kamala Harris of California, Rep. Val Demings of Florida, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, former Obama administration national security adviser Susan Rice and Rep. Karen Bass of California were among the Black women being considered.

Biden had announced that he would choose a woman as his running mate.

Separate teams of lawyers assigned to each of the contenders neared the closing stages of reviewing three distinct types of records — written, financial and medical — in their background checks, according to people involved in the process.

The search was a dynamic one, though, which has evolved significantly from when it started. The goal was to have an array of options for Biden, particularly if an early favorite runs into complications.

With reporting from CNN's Kate Sullivan and Sarah Mucha

Watch:

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Here's why the 2020 election actually starts in less than a month

Analysis from CNN's Harry Enten

Election day 2020 is now less than three months away. In reality, however, the election starts in less than one month; on September 4, North Carolina will begin sending absentee ballots to voters.

The fact is that we no longer have one election day in this country, especially in the age of coronavirus. And with a record number of voters saying they'll be voting via absentee (or mail) or early in-person, it could mean that President Trump has less time to make up his deficit against former Vice President Joe Biden.

North Carolina is one of many states that starts sending its absentee ballots out more than a month before Election Day actually occurs. In fact, states containing more than a combined 350 electoral votes will begin shipping absentee ballots out to voters a month or before the election begins.

This list of states includes a number of contests that, at this point, look to be competitive on the presidential level: Florida, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas and Wisconsin.

All of these battleground states except for Texas have no excuse absentee or mail-in voting. In fact, Texas is the only battleground state overall that won't have no excuse absentee voting or allow coronavirus as an excuse to cast a ballot by mail.

Read the full analysis here.

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