2024 Election Update: Harris Raises $310M, Few Trust Secret Service

Vice President Kamala Harris‘ campaign announced Friday that it raised $310 million last month, an eyepopping sum showing that donors who once seemed spooked about the prospects for November’s election with President Joe Biden are now offering mountains of cash to boost his former No. 2.

The haul by Harris, the Democratic National Committee and affiliated entities far outpaced Republican former President Donald Trump, whose campaign and assorted committees said they took in $138.7 million for July.

Meanwhile, most Americans have doubts about the Secret Service’s ability to keep presidential candidates safe after last month’s attempt on Trump’s life, a new poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds.

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Here’s the Latest:

Kyle Rittenhouse says he’s not voting for Trump in November

Kyle Rittenhouse, who was embraced by Trump after shooting three men during a 2020 protest against police brutality in Wisconsin, won’t be returning the favor with his vote this fall.

The 21-year-old, who was acquitted of all charges in the Kenosha shootings, said he plans to write in a libertarian candidate instead — former U.S. Rep. Ron Paul.

“Unfortunately Donald Trump had bad advisers making him bad on the Second Amendment, and that is my issue,” Rittenhouse said in a video posted on the social platform X. “If you cannot be completely uncompromisable on the Second Amendment, I will not vote for you and I will write somebody else in.”

Some pro-Trump influencers online shared their disgust at Rittenhouse, saying he owed Trump more for defending him after the shootings.

Rittenhouse killed two men and wounded a third in the protest. In court, he argued he opened fire in self-defense after the men attacked him. The case became a flashpoint in the debate over guns, vigilantism and racial injustice in the U.S.

Trump defended Rittenhouse at the time of the shootings and congratulated him after the verdict, saying, “If that’s not self defense, nothing is.”

Biles appears to clap back at Trump’s comment about “Black jobs”

Olympic gymnastics champion Simone Biles has appeared to enter the 2024 U.S. political fray, with a post that appears to clap back at Donald Trump’s comment about “Black jobs.”

“I love my black job,” Biles posted on the social platform X on Friday, in response to a post from singer Ricky Davila, who had said: “Iconic photo of the GOAT mastering her black job and collecting Gold Medals.”

The exchange came hours after Biles held off Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade to win the all-around Paris Olympics gymnastics finals, taking home her ninth gold medal.

Trump has been criticized for arguing initially during his debate with President Joe Biden last month that migrants were taking “Black jobs” and “Hispanic jobs” from Americans, angering critics who called it a racist and insulting attempt to expand his appeal beyond his white conservative base.

When pushed by moderators on what constituted a “Black job,” Trump told attendees at this week’s National Association of Black Journalists conference that “a Black job is anybody that has a job,” drawing groans from the room.

Trump’s campaign did not immediately return a message seeking comment on the message from Biles, whose representatives also did not immediately return messages seeking further comment on her post or her thoughts generally about the 2024 U.S. presidential election.

Trump-backed candidate wins crowded Arizona GOP congressional primary

Abraham Hamadeh has defeated Blake Masters in the Republican primary for a U.S. House seat that saw a rare dual endorsement from former President Donald Trump. Hamadeh has a good chance of winning the seat in November because the northwest Phoenix district leans conservative.

Elsewhere, a critic of Arizona’s voting operations in 2020 and 2022 has unseated an incumbent election official in Maricopa County in a GOP primary. And a Republican candidate vulnerable because of abortion politics has clenched her party’s bid in a state legislative race. In the U.S. Senate race, Kari Lake has secured the GOP nomination for an open seat. Primaries in two congressional races are still too early to call.

‘Tennessee Three’ Democrat wins primary

Tennessee state Rep. Gloria Johnson has won the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate and will face off against Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn in November, pitting a survivor of a Republican-led expulsion effort over a gun control protest against a close ally of former President Donald Trump.

Johnson defeated three primary opponents, including Marquita Bradshaw, a Memphis community activist and organizer who notably won the Democratic Senate nomination in 2020 and then lost to Republican Bill Hagerty by a wide margin. Tennessee’s primary will also determine whether Republican Rep. Andy Ogles will be able to defeat a well-funded opponent, Nashville council member Courtney Johnston, as he pursues a second term in Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District.

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