Political Jason

Kamala Harris has spent the better part of two decades in public life notching up a long list of things she was the first to achieve: the first Black woman to be elected district attorney in California history, first woman to be California’s attorney general, first Indian American senator, and now, the first Black woman and first Asian American to be picked as a vice presidential running mate on a major-party ticket. What do voters need to know about the…

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Joe Biden has selected Kamala Harris to be his running mate, elevating a charismatic blue-state senator, former prosecutor and onetime 2020 primary rival who has built a reputation as an unyielding antagonist of the Trump administration. Harris, the daughter of immigrants from Jamaica and India, was the wire-to-wire frontrunner for Biden’s No. 2 job. Her experience as a battle-tested presidential candidate, her efforts leading major law enforcement offices and her political track record of three election wins in California helped…

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For months, Joe Biden had little imperative to do anything other than watch Donald Trump self-immolate. But with his selection of a running mate on Tuesday, Biden now has a ticket. And Republicans have a new line of attack. Suddenly, it’s not just Biden and Trump. The selection of Kamala Harris, said Jeff Roe, the prominent Republican strategist who was Sen. Ted Cruz’s chief strategist in 2018, “puts their campaign and direction of the party in play.” Vice presidential contenders…

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Kamala Harris’ ascent to the Democratic ticket marked a big win for a small yet influential group of Black female Democratic strategists, who cast Joe Biden’s selection of Harris for vice president as the result of decades of advocacy, progress and struggle. Black political strategists have long called the list of women of color on Biden’s vice presidential shortlist an embarrassment of riches — a small victory by itself after previously going decades without seeing another woman on a Democratic…

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Kamala Harris has charted a meteoric rise within the Democratic Party as one of its most potent and effective messengers — even as she’s struggled to refine her own positions on issues galvanizing the party’s base. The California senator joins Joe Biden’s presidential campaign as a barrier-breaking running mate who has built a national following through her fierce interrogations of Trump administration officials and championing of racial justice. It’s a résumé that Harris’ allies contend is tailor-made for the moment,…

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Tens of millions of jobless Americans are unlikely to see their weekly unemployment checks grow anytime soon — despite President Donald Trump’s executive action promising an extra $400 a week. The president’s order depends on already cash-poor states being able to create and implement a new system and fund one-fourth of the aid, which for many governors would be a difficult if not impossible task. It also would draw from a limited pool of funding, meaning enhanced benefits might only…

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After a spring and summer bolstered by cash infusions from the federal government of more than $3 trillion, the U.S. economy may have to sink or swim this fall with a relative trickle of support — presenting a significant threat to President Donald Trump’s standing as he heads into a compressed reelection campaign already trailing in the polls. Negotiations on another large fiscal aid package remained stalled on Monday, and people close to the talks held no hope of any…

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Top congressional leaders and the White House lashed out at each other Monday over who’s to blame for stalled coronavirus relief negotiations, the latest sign that a bipartisan deal to boost the U.S. economy appears unlikely anytime soon. President Donald Trump claimed in a tweet that Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) “want to meet to make a deal” on a relief bill, but aides to the two top Democrats said no one from the…

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Democrats are pouncing on President Donald Trump’s new, temporary freeze on payroll taxes as his secret plan to end Social Security and Medicare — traditional priorities for older voters that have not been central themes in this year’s presidential campaign. They hope Saturday’s executive order, coming less than three months before Election Day, will shore up their messaging that Trump is knee-capping the entitlements for seniors he had vowed to protect. Trump’s executive order would apply only to the Social…

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Anticipation has been growing for weeks that Joe Biden will make history by choosing the first Black woman as a running mate on a major party’s presidential ticket. But after news broke over the weekend that Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a white woman, had flown to meet with Biden to discuss the vice presidency, frustration and disappointment boiled over among Black female Democrats — including some in her own state. “He better pick a black woman. If he picks Gretchen,…

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