PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania — Joe Biden is mounting a more aggressive offense against President Donald Trump with a rare public appearance Monday declaring that a second term for Trump will mean more violence in America’s streets. “Does anyone believe there will be less violence in America if Donald Trump is reelected?” Biden said in a speech
Continue ReadingWASHINGTON, DC — President Donald Trump’s efforts to build his appeal and define his opponent at the Republican National Convention, using pageantry and the White House as the backdrop, had little apparent impact on the electorate’s impressions of both him and former Vice President Joe Biden, a new ABC News/Ipsos poll finds. Trump’s week of
Continue Reading
EL PASO, Texas — Coronavirus concerns didn’t inhibit a crowd from being staged for President Donald Trump’s finale to the Republican National Convention. It was a scene never before seen at the White House: About 1,500 people packed tightly together Thursday night on the South Lawn so Trump could accept his party’s nomination for re-election in
Continue ReadingWASHINGTON, DC — President Donald Trump blasted Joe Biden as a hapless career politician who will endanger Americans’ safety as he accepted his party’s renomination Thursday on the South Lawn of the White House. While the coronavirus kills 1,000 Americans each day, Trump defied his own administration’s pandemic guidelines to speak for more than an
Continue Reading
BALTIMORE, Maryland — President Donald Trump made a surprise appearance at Baltimore’s Fort McHenry following Vice President Mike Pence’s speech at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday night. The president, first lady, Pence and Pence’s wife stood on stage with their hands over their hearts as country music star Trace Adkins performed “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
Continue ReadingWASHINGTON, DC — First lady Melania Trump portrayed her husband as an authentic, uncompromising leader in a Rose Garden address Tuesday night as President Donald Trump turned to family, farmers and the trappings of the presidency to boost his reelection chances on the second night of the scaled-down Republican National Convention. Mrs. Trump offered a
Continue Reading
WASHINGTON, DC — President Donald Trump highlighted the pardon of a Nevada man convicted of bank robbery as part of the second day of programming at the Republican National Convention. In a video that aired Tuesday evening, Trump says that the story of Jon Ponder is a “beautiful testament to the power of redemption.” Ponder
Continue Reading
CHARLOTTE, North Carolina — Two of the Republican Party’s rising stars, both people of color, offered an optimistic view of President Donald Trump’s leadership on Monday night, closing the opening night of the GOP’s scaled-back convention with a positive message at odds with the dark warnings that dominated much of the night. While other Republicans
Continue Reading
WASHINGTON, DC — Former Vice President Joe Biden said in an exclusive interview with ABC News on Friday that as president, he would shut the country down to stop the spread of Covid-19 if the move was recommended to him by scientists. “I would shut it down; I would listen to the scientists,” Biden said Friday, sitting alongside
Continue ReadingWILMINGTON, Delaware — Joe Biden vowed to unite an America torn by crisis and contempt Thursday night, accepting the Democratic presidential nomination and achieving a pinnacle in an unfinished quest that has spanned three decades and been marred by personal tragedy, political stumbles and more dynamic rivals. The past hurdles fell away as Biden addressed
Continue Reading
MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin — Kamala Harris made history Wednesday night as the first Black woman to accept a spot on a major party’s presidential ticket. In her highly anticipated address capping the third night of the virtual Democratic National Convention, Harris mixed her polish as a former prosecutor with deeply personal tales of her upbringing to
Continue ReadingMILWAUKEE, Wisconsin — Democrats formally nominated Joe Biden as their 2020 presidential nominee Tuesday night, as party officials and activists from across the nation gave the former vice president their overwhelming support during his party’s all-virtual national convention. The moment marked a political high point for Biden, who had sought the presidency twice before. At
Continue Reading
EL PASO, Texas — Texas Democrats, and more specifically El Paso Democrats, are playing roles in the 2020 Democratic National Convention. But one says he’s frustrated with the lack of representation on the national stage. Former El Paso Congressman Beto O’Rourke made an appearance Monday on night one in a video showcasing the large group
Continue Reading
MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin — Democrats opened their mostly virtual convention in Milwaukee Monday evening under the theme of unity, with speakers who represented both the party’s progressive and traditional platforms. RELATED STORY: Opening night convention summaryUsually, political conventions are painstakingly choreographed live productions that are planned years in advance. But the coronavirus pandemic has reduced the
Continue Reading
WASHINGTON, DC — A welcome reception for Sen. Kamala Harris and rising enthusiasm for Joe Biden mark President Donald Trump’s challenges in the 2020 election, as do two realities on the ground: just 14% of Americans in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll say the coronavirus pandemic is under control, and two-thirds say the economy is
Continue ReadingWASHINGTON, DC — More Americans approve than disapprove of Joe Biden’s choice of U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris for the 2020 Democratic ticket by a 25-point margin, 54-29%, in a new ABC News/Washington Post poll released Sunday. Approval of the pick ranges from 86-8% among Democrats to 25-55% among Republicans — notable that one in four Republicans approves.
Continue Reading
WASHINGTON, DC — Former Vice President Joe Biden named his former campaign trail rival, Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., as his running mate on Tuesday. She will appear with Biden for the first time as his running mate at an event Wednesday near his home in Wilmington, Delaware. In announcing the pick, Biden called Harris a “fearless fighter for the
Continue ReadingHistory professor Allan Lichtman is used to being right. He has correctly predicted the winner of each presidential race since Ronald Reagan’s reelection victory in 1984 using his “13 keys” system. (It’s worth mentioning that in 2000, Lichtman predicted that Al Gore would win the election. Although Gore won the popular vote, he ultimately lost
Continue Reading
WASHINGTON, DC — U.S. intelligence officials believe that Russia is using a variety of measures to denigrate Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden ahead of the November election and that individuals linked to the Kremlin are boosting President Donald Trump’s reelection bid. That’s according to a rare public statement Friday from the country’s counterintelligence chief, William
Continue ReadingMILWAUKEE, Wisconsin — Joe Biden will not travel to Milwaukee to accept Democratic presidential nomination, officials said Wednesday, in the latest and strongest sign that the Democratic National Convention will be almost entirely virtual due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Biden will instead accept the Democratic nomination for president from his home state of Delaware,
Continue Reading
OTERO COUNTY, New Mexico— The leader of Cowboys for Trump said the re-election campaign for President Donald Trump is distancing itself from the group after the leader posted a video saying some Black athletes should “go back to Africa.” Cowboys for Trump founder Couy Griffin told The Associated Press that a Trump campaign representative contacted
Continue ReadingSANTA FE, New Mexico — Michelle Lujan Grisham has not received the attention of many higher-profile candidates under consideration to be Joe Biden’s running mate. But she has a resume that few of them can match. The New Mexico governor has executive experience and served in the U.S. House and as her state’s health secretary. Tested by the coronavirus
Continue Reading
WASHINGTON, DC — President Donald Trump is for the first time floating a “delay” to the Nov. 3 presidential election, as he makes unsubstantiated allegations that increased mail-in voting will result in fraud. The dates of presidential elections — the Tuesday after the first Monday in November in every fourth year — are enshrined in
Continue Reading
MIDLAND, Texas — President Donald Trump took sweeping digs at “crazy left radical Democrats” on a trip Wednesday to the fracking fields of West Texas, launching unsubstantiated claims that a Democratic administration would destroy everything from the country’s suburbs to the U.S. energy industry. Trump, speaking in front of stacked oil barrels, also played down
Continue Reading
WASHINGTON, DC — President Donald Trump says he has scrubbed his planned Republican National Convention scheduled for Florida next month, citing a “flare-up” of the coronavirus. Trump’s formal renomination will still go forward in North Carolina. Trump said Thursday of Jacksonville, “To have a big convention is not the right time.” Trump moved parts of
Continue ReadingCOLUMBIA, South Carolina — Kanye West will not make an appearance on the presidential ballot in South Carolina this year. The announcement comes after the rapper held his first presidential campaign event in the state on Sunday. A South Carolina Election Commission spokesperson said West failed to submit the necessary 10,000 signatures on Monday. South
Continue Reading
WASHINGTON, DC — President Donald Trump is refusing to publicly commit to accepting the results of the upcoming White House election, recalling a similar threat he made weeks before the 2016 vote, as he scoffs at polls showing him lagging behind Democrat Joe Biden. Trump says it’s too early to make such an ironclad guarantee.
Continue ReadingCHARLESTON, South Carolina — Kanye West kicked off his first presidential campaign event in South Carolina on Sunday night, a day before the state’s deadline to file signatures as an independent candidate. The rapper appeared at the Exquis Event Center rally with the numbers “2020” in his hair. West invited a couple of young women from the
Continue Reading
WASHINGTON, DC — The new ABC News/Washington Post poll is the latest to show former Vice President Joe Biden on a roll. He leads President Donald Trump 55% to 40% among registered voters. It’s a slightly tighter 54% to 44% among likely voters. Public preference for Biden over Trump in trust to handle the coronavirus pandemic has soared since March, boosting Biden – along with
Continue Reading
EL PASO, Texas — Joe Biden’s campaign debuted its first general election television ad in El Paso on ABC-7 over the weekend, dipping its toes in a state long considered a Republican stronghold and one that’s seen an uptick in Covid-19 cases in recent weeks. The minute-long coronavirus-focused spot, titled “Tough,” is part of a new mid-six figure broadcast and digital
Continue Reading