Former New Zealand leader Jacinda Ardern to attend Democratic convention
Former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will attend the Democratic National Convention this week, The New Zealand Herald reported, citing a spokesperson.
Though she won’t speak on the main stage, Ardern will participate in a panel discussion on “healing the nation” organized by the Center for American Progress Action Fund, a progressive think tank. According to New Zealand media, she is the first former New Zealand prime minister to speak at the DNC.
Ardern, who became a global progressive icon after taking office in 2017, announced her resignation as prime minister early last year, saying she no longer had “enough in the tank to do it justice.”
She has been living in the United States after being appointed to multiple fellowships at Harvard.
March on DNC coalition leaders call out Harris ahead of pro-Palestinian march
Leaders from the March on the DNC coalition criticized Vice President Kamala Harris in a news conference ahead of their march to protest the convention in Chicago on Monday.
“Kamala Harris’ candidacy, while historic, does not alter the party’s ongoing support for the Israeli genocide,” said Omar Yunes, co-founder of Jisoor, a pro-Palestinian organization.
“At her rallies, she has attempted to silence pro-Palestinian protesters, and she, just like Biden, continues to be unwilling to listen to the outcries of the Palestinian people,” Yunes said in reference to Harris’ response to a protest during one of her rallies in Detroit on Aug. 7.
Hatem Abudayyeh, executive director of the Arab American Action Network, said he and his organization will take no responsibility if Harris loses the election in November.
“The responsibility is on ‘genocide Joe’ and on Kamala Harris and on the Democratic Party. If they lose this election to Trump, they are responsible only. Their policies around Palestine are responsible only, and nobody else,” Abudayyeh said.
The organizers also used their time to praise Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson for being sympathetic to their movement.
“We’re in a city in which we have a mayor who says I am from the movement, a mayor who says I am an organizer, a mayor who says that people have the right to protest and express their First Amendment rights,” he said, praising Johnson.
First lady is 'excited' to pay tribute to her husband, communications director says
Jill Biden's communications director, Elizabeth Alexander, told MSNBC that the first lady is "very excited to pay tribute to her husband, his character, his empathy, his leadership and how he has always put country first" in her speech tonight.
Alexander added, "She knows him better than anyone. She knows his capacity for empathy, but she’s also seen him on the world stage for those 50 years, so she’s seen his accomplishments up front."
Klobuchar: Harris is downplaying breaking the glass ceiling to focus on the merits of her candidacy
When asked about Harris' decision not to focus as much on breaking the glass ceiling if elected president as Hillary Clinton did in her 2016 presidential campaign, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., told MSNBC that Harris had decided to emphasize the merit of her candidacy, adding that it was the right choice.
"It's not to minimize that she'd be the first woman president. She's already been the first woman vice president," Klobuchar said, adding, "But I think this is her own decision to emphasize the merit of her candidacy as well as what she wants to do in the future."
"She is bringing the receipts," Klobuchar said in the interview. "She has been an international leader as well as a national leader. She has, as I noted, in just 28 days, done everything flawlessly, including picking an excellent running mate from the state of Minnesota, where we just love our vice presidents."
Biden heads to the Democratic convention with a large task and heaps of admiration from a party ready to move on
CHICAGO — It will not be the convention President Joe Biden planned.
A month ago, Biden was poised to conclude the Democrats’ party by accepting the nomination with bold pronouncements about how his second term would build on the successes of his first. Instead, he will open the convention Monday to make the case that Vice President Kamala Harris is the one to carry the torch.
It is a turnabout that Democrats are greeting with jubilation, melancholy, lingering hard feelings and, for some, outright anger.
The complicated dynamic has left convention planners and party leaders delicately navigating a display of respect to an outgoing president while building on newfound exuberance within the party over Harris’ ascent.
5 things to watch at the 2024 Democratic convention with Kamala Harris
The most unusual Democratic convention in generations is set to kick off Monday and make history by nominating Kamala Harris for president just one month after Joe Biden ended his re-election campaign.
Vice President Harris rapidly unified the party and locked up the nomination, even though she didn’t compete in any primaries at the top of the ticket — and her campaign has since surged into a statistical tie or narrow leads in national and battleground surveys against Donald Trump.
Harris campaign unveils more Monday speakers
While Biden will headline night one of the Democratic National Convention, several other prominent Democrats will speak this evening.
Sens. Chris Coons of Delaware and Raphael Warnock of Georgia; Reps. Jasmine Crockett of Texas and Grace Meng and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York; and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear will all take the stage Monday, Harris campaign spokesperson Quentin Fulks announced.
NBC News previously reported that Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state and 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, and first lady Jill Biden are also slated to speak tonight.
'This is what democracy looks like': Sen. Stabenow says uncommitted in Michigan should be heard
In an interview with Ana Cabrera on MSNBC this morning, Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., said the voices of uncommitted voters in Michigan should be heard.
During Michigan’s primary, more than 100,000 voters voted uncommitted in a symbolic effort to protest Biden’s handling of the war in Gaza.
"This is what democracy looks like. And I think people are more engaged with the Democrats because they know we govern and we care and we're working to make a difference," she said.
Vance has more than 20 campaign events under his belt in battleground barnstorm
As JD Vance rounds out just over a month on Trump’s presidential ticket, an NBC News tally of his public appearances shows a distinct focus on the upper Midwest and a busy travel schedule almost entirely independent of his running mate's.
In five weeks, the Ohio Republican senator has made at least 23 open-press stops, 20 of which were solo appearances separate from the former president. As the campaign and Vance himself have indicated was the plan all along, the Ohio Republican has spent the bulk of his time on the stump in “Rust Belt” states, with Wisconsin taking first place for total number of public appearances (helped in part by the Republican National Convention having been based in Milwaukee).
Vance has made seven appearances in the Badger State, followed by four in battleground Michigan, three in Pennsylvania, and two each in Arizona and Nevada.
Vance is expected to visit six states this week alone as Democrats gather in Chicago for their nominating convention, beginning with remarks on the economy in Philadelphia this afternoon. Also on his schedule for the week: his fourth joint appearance with Trump at an event billed as remarks on national security.
Walz says Biden is the 'best president of his lifetime' at Pennsylvania delegation breakfast
During the Pennsylvania delegation breakfast today, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, whom Harris tapped as her running mate, praised Biden ahead of his speech tonight at the Democratic National Convention.
"We get an opportunity tonight to say a thank you to the best president of my lifetime, that I’ve been able to witness, to someone who’s delivered time and time again, someone who made the selfless act of handing that torch to an incredible leader," Walz said.
During his remarks, he also included praise for Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and told attendees that the "blue wall is solid."