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      Black Sororities and Fraternities Line Up Behind Kamala Harris

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      A united “Divine Nine” could be a formidable political advantage as the vice president, a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha, looks to shore up the Democratic base. She’ll address another Black sorority on Wednesday.As Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign rushes to shore up its base, its efforts will be bolstered by a ready-made coalition: the more than two million members of Black Greek-letter organizations who have quickly united to mobilize Black voters nationwide.Before Ms. Harris had even hosted her first official campaign event as the de facto Democratic nominee, the heads of the “Divine Nine,” the country’s nine most prominent Black sororities and fraternities, were planning a giant voter organization effort. When President Biden announced on Sunday that he was stepping aside and endorsing Ms. Harris, excitement over her ascent spread swiftly among these groups’ members in group chats, Facebook groups and conference calls.After all, Ms. Harris, a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha since her undergraduate days at Howard University, is one of them.“Greek letter organizations who have worked in the trenches, some for over 100 years, never received any kind of publicity, any kind of notoriety,” said Representative Frederica S. Wilson of Florida, who is also a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha. Once Ms. Harris ran for president, in 2020, she said, that changed. “The A.K.A.s shouted to the highest hills, ‘That’s our soror! That’s our sister!’”On Wednesday, Ms. Harris is expected to address members of the Zeta Phi Beta sorority at their Boulé, or annual national gathering, in Indianapolis — her first such event as the Democratic Party’s likely standard-bearer. Members of Alpha Kappa Alpha cheer for Vice President Harris during the Boulé in Dallas, on July 10, 2024.LM Otero/Associated PressWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Trump Demands Equal Airtime in Light of Biden’s Planned Address

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      President Biden is set to address the nation on Wednesday night from the Oval Office to discuss the end of his re-election bid.Ahead of President Biden’s planned prime-time address from the Oval Office on Wednesday night, former President Donald J. Trump and his campaign sent a letter to ABC, NBC and CBS on Tuesday demanding that Mr. Trump be given equal airtime.Mr. Biden is expected to address his decision to end his re-election campaign and outline his plans for the rest of his time in office. In a social media post, he wrote that he would discuss “what lies ahead, and how I will finish the job for the American people.”But in the letter, which was obtained by The New York Times, the Trump campaign’s general counsel, David Warrington, asserted in advance of Mr. Biden’s speech that it would most likely address Mr. Biden’s endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris as his successor.Based on that assumption, Mr. Warrington wrote, “it appears that President Biden’s speech will not be a bona fide news event, but rather, a prime-time campaign commercial.” Citing the Federal Communications Commission’s “equal time” rule, Mr. Warrington insisted that Mr. Trump be given similar time on air, arguing that Mr. Biden’s address was a “campaign speech,” even as Mr. Biden is no longer technically a candidate for the presidency.None of the broadcast networks responded to a request for comment on Tuesday night. A Trump campaign spokesman did not immediately respond to request for comment.The Trump campaign’s letter was a throwback to an earlier, pre-cable era in television, when the broadcast networks were held to strict “public interest” standards to ensure that their local stations aired all sides of the issues and gave candidates equal access to the airwaves.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Super PAC Tied to Elon Musk Is Being Guided by Ex-DeSantis Aides

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      Two Republican operatives who played senior roles helping the presidential campaign of Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida have taken on leadership roles in a new pro-Trump super PAC that could spend tens of millions of dollars in the presidential race and has ties to Elon Musk.The aides, Generra Peck, who initially managed the DeSantis campaign, and Phil Cox, a former head of the Republican Governors Association who ran the DeSantis political operation in the years before his run, are quietly guiding the group, America PAC, according to three people briefed on the matter who were not authorized to discuss it publicly.The super PAC has acquired an air of mystery in the Trump orbit, with other outside groups largely in the dark about its plans. The involvement of Mr. Cox and Ms. Peck may help legitimize it within the Republican establishment as it aims to become one of the leading groups on behalf of Mr. Trump. Ms. Peck and Mr. Cox are two of the party’s most prominent operatives and now lead a public affairs firm, P2 Pathway Public Affairs, and their involvement also helps unify the DeSantis and Trump orbits even further.Also involved, according to a separate person briefed on the matter, is Charlie Spies, a senior election lawyer for the Republican Party. Mr. Spies, Ms. Peck and Mr. Cox declined to comment.The group has taken pains to be secretive. Joe Lonsdale, an Austin-based tech entrepreneur, has played a key role in the group, recruiting many of his friends — including the Jimmy John’s founder, John Liautaud; Antonio Gracias, a former director of Tesla; and the Craft family of Kentucky — to help fund the effort. Mr. Musk, who recently endorsed former President Donald J. Trump and is a friend of Mr. Lonsdale, has described himself as having “created” the group and is expected to donate, but the amount remains unclear.Ms. Peck rose to prominence as the initial campaign manager for Mr. DeSantis’s bid. By the end of the Republican primary race, she had drawn criticism for the Florida governor’s failure to live up to expectations. Mr. Cox worked for outside groups backing Mr. DeSantis during the primary contest.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Renuncia la directora del Servicio Secreto después del atentado contra Trump

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      Kimberly Cheatle renunció este martes a su cargo tras los fallos de seguridad que permitieron que un hombre armado disparara contra el expresidente Donald Trump en un mitin al aire libre.[Estamos en WhatsApp. Empieza a seguirnos ahora]La directora del Servicio Secreto, Kimberly Cheatle, renunció el martes, después de las fallas de seguridad relacionadas con el intento de asesinato contra el expresidente Donald Trump y los llamados por parte de legisladores de ambos partidos para que renunciara al cargo.En un correo electrónico enviado al personal del Servicio Secreto el martes, Cheatle dijo que uno de los principales deberes de la agencia es proteger a los líderes de la nación y que “no cumplió con esa misión” al no proteger de la manera adecuada un mitin de campaña de un hombre armado el 13 de julio.“No quiero que las solicitudes de mi renuncia sean una distracción del gran trabajo que todos y cada uno de ustedes hacen en favor de nuestra misión vital”, dijo Cheatle en el correo electrónico, que fue revisado por The New York Times.Cheatle decía que estaba profundamente comprometida con la agencia, pero añadía: “A la luz de los acontecimientos recientes, he tomado con gran pesar la difícil decisión de renunciar como directora de ustedes”.En un comunicado divulgado el martes, el presidente Joe Biden le agradeció a Cheatle que respondiera a su llamado para dirigir la agencia. “Como líder, se necesita honor, valentía y una integridad increíble para asumir la plena responsabilidad de una organización encargada de uno de los trabajos más difíciles en el servicio público”.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      For Dean Phillips, Biden’s Withdrawal Offers ‘Unfulfilling’ Vindication

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      For Dean Phillips, the modern Cassandra of American politics, this I-told-you-so moment brings no joy. A little vindication, yes. Sadness, too, and sympathy for a man who gave his life to public service and deserved a better finale.But when it comes down to it, Mr. Phillips did tell everyone so, even though no one listened. He said early and often that President Biden was too old to run again, that he could not win, that the Democrats should find someone else to lead them into the election. When no one else picked up the mantle, he tried himself, only to be alternately ignored or pilloried.So when Mr. Biden stunned the world by pulling out of the race on Sunday, it was a bittersweet moment. Mr. Phillips could tell himself that he had tried to warn the party and at least some people remembered. By the end of the day, his phone had blown up with 1,276 text messages. He could not help wondering what would have happened had Mr. Biden made this decision 18 months ago. “Vindication,” he said, “has never felt so unfulfilling.”The story of Dean Phillips certainly looks different today than it did even a month ago. Until the world saw a frail and fumbling president on the debate stage on June 27, Mr. Phillips was a little-known third-term congressman from Minnesota whose long-shot challenge of Mr. Biden in the Democratic primaries had been dismissed as a quixotic exercise. Now it looks a little more prophetic.The point, he said, was to raise the alarm, not to advance his own ambitions. “My mission was to be a Paul Revere, not a George Washington,” he said. “I think that’s been accomplished.”Mr. Phillips sat down at a Washington hotel on Sunday to discuss his journey just 90 minutes before Mr. Biden announced that he was pulling out. The congressman had just come from the studio of CBS News, where he appeared on “Face the Nation” and discussed his opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal suggesting a secret vote of confidence on the president by House Democrats.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Secret Service Director Resigns After Trump Assassination Attempt

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      Kimberly A. Cheatle gave up her post Tuesday after security failures that allowed a gunman to shoot at former President Donald J. Trump at an open-air rally.The director of the Secret Service, Kimberly A. Cheatle, resigned on Tuesday, after security failures surrounding the attempted assassination of former President Donald J. Trump and calls for her to step down from prominent Republican lawmakers.In an email to Secret Service agents on Tuesday, Ms. Cheatle said that one of the Secret Service’s foremost duties is to protect the nation’s leaders and that the agency “fell short of that mission” in failing to secure a campaign rally from a gunman on July 13.“I do not want my calls for resignation to be a distraction from the great work each and every one of you do towards our vital mission,” Ms. Cheatle said in the email, which was reviewed by The New York Times.She said she was deeply committed to the agency but added that, “in light of recent events, it is with a heavy heart that I have made the difficult decision to step down as your director.”President Biden, in a statement Tuesday, thanked Ms. Cheatle for answering his call to lead the agency. “As a leader, it takes honor, courage and incredible integrity to take full responsibility for an organization tasked with one of the most challenging jobs in public service.”Mr. Biden said he would appoint a new director soon.The resignation is a rapid fall for the agency veteran who protected Dick Cheney and Mr. Biden in their vice-presidential tenures and was publicly supported by Biden administration officials after the gunman shot at Mr. Trump. The glaring security mistakes before the shooting, however, and the heated criticism that Ms. Cheatle faced in the days since had left her position increasingly in doubt.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Kamala Harris recibe cifra récord de donaciones para su candidatura

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      Tan solo la oleada de donaciones en línea alcanzó un máximo de 11,5 millones de dólares en una sola hora el domingo por la noche.[Estamos en WhatsApp. Empieza a seguirnos ahora]La vicepresidenta Kamala Harris recaudó 81 millones de dólares en las primeras 24 horas desde que anunció su candidatura a la presidencia, informó su campaña, una cifra récord mientras los demócratas daban la bienvenida a su candidatura con una de las mayores avalanchas de dinero de todos los tiempos.Su campaña declaró que 888.000 donantes habían contribuido en su primer día, el 60 por ciento de los cuales estaban haciendo su primera contribución durante la contienda de 2024. La campaña dijo también que había inscrito a 43.000 de esos donantes para aportaciones recurrentes.La campaña de Harris no desglosó qué parte de los 81 millones de dólares se recaudó en línea mediante donaciones de pequeño importe frente a las de grandes donantes.Pero ActBlue, el portal digital de donaciones para los demócratas, había procesado más de 90 millones de dólares en el mismo periodo de 24 horas, según un análisis del New York Times de las contribuciones en línea de la plataforma.La oleada de donaciones en línea alcanzó un máximo de 11,5 millones de dólares en una sola hora el domingo por la noche.El partido se está uniendo rápidamente en torno a Harris. Las donaciones ayudarán a reconstruir un fondo que corría el riesgo de agotarse en las semanas de incertidumbre tras el mal debate del Biden, luego de que los grandes donantes pausaran sus aportes.Una de las fuentes de dinero fue una llamada el domingo por la noche con un grupo llamado Win With Black Women (Gana con las mujeres negras), que la campaña de Harris dijo que había recaudado 1,6 millones de dólares.En total, el domingo fue el tercer día de mayor recaudación en la historia de ActBlue. El máximo histórico se produjo el día después de la muerte de la jueza Ruth Bader Ginsburg en septiembre de 2020, cuando ActBlue procesó unos 73,5 millones de dólares. El segundo día más alto fue el día después del primer debate entre Biden y el expresidente Donald Trump, que coincidió con un plazo límite clave de recaudación de fondos.El lunes iba camino de ser otro gran día para las donaciones, con ActBlue superando los 30 millones de dólares procesados a media tarde. El contador de ActBlue incluye todas las donaciones en línea realizadas en la plataforma, incluidas las destinadas a candidatos a la Cámara de Representantes y al Senado, así como a organizaciones sin fines de lucro de izquierda.Shane Goldmacher es un corresponsal de política nacional y cubre la campaña de 2024 y los principales sucesos, tendencias y fuerzas que moldean la política estadounidense. Se le puede contactar en shane.goldmacher@nytimes.com. Más de Shane Goldmacher More