Morning Report — Harris, Trump compete in NC; Omar wins primary

Vice President Harris says she’ll unveil economic proposals Friday during a campaign event in Raleigh, N.C., while former President Trump plans to campaign in heavily Democratic Asheville, N.C., today, eager to tout his record in the swing state that he narrowly won in 2016 and 2020.

“Of every state that Trump won in the last election, his margin [in North Carolina] was the smallest of any of them — 1.3 percentage points. It is really the definition of purple, and… Trump knows this,” Western Carolina University political scientist Chris Cooper told ABC13 News.  

Poll: Americans say Trump is trusted more than Harris on the economy and immigration, while Harris has a perceived advantage over Trump in leadership qualities such as honesty, according to a poll released today from The Associated Press-NORC Research Center.

Harris’s presidential policy platform may create new targets for Trump and Republicans, but also for liberals. She blindsided Democratic lawmakers and progressive activists by endorsing a proposal first floated by Trump to exempt tips received by service and hospitality workers from taxes, an idea that Democrats had previously criticized as “bogus” and a “ploy” for votes, The Hill’s Alexander Bolton reports.

Trump complained Harris lifted his proposal and President Biden said this week he’d sign such an exemption if it reached his desk.  

Harris is scheduled to join Biden at a Thursday event in Maryland to talk about the administration’s progress while lowering costs for Americans. They’ll be speaking a day after the government today releases the consumer price index for July, expected to indicate tamer inflation. That kind of data would likely cheer analysts and investors who are urging the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates next month or at least later this year.

“Inflation is almost a nonissue at this point. There’s this broad expectation that the worst is easily behind us,” Jim Baird, chief investment officer at Plante Moran Financial Advisors, told CNBC Tuesday.

Consumers and businesses continue to worry about prices, but an economic soft landing and action by the Fed to lower the cost of borrowing ahead of the election would be good news for the party in power in the White House.

Thursday’s Biden-Harris campaign appearance, the first since the president withdrew as the nominee, will shed light on whether the pair are in sync, at least heading into next week’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago where the balloon drop will crown the vice president and her running mate, not the incumbent. The Hill’s Niall Stanage in The Memo looks at the dynamics.  

LEADING THE DAY

© The Associated Press / Kerem Yücel | Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) celebrated with supporters in Minnesota Tuesday after winning her primary.

CAMPAIGN POLITICS

Liberal Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) won her primary Tuesday and almost certainly will capture another term in Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District. She defeated former Minneapolis City Council member Don Samuels, who came close to ousting her in a primary two years ago. In 2022, she won by fewer than 2,500 votes in a race where more than 110,000 total votes were cast. Omar’s victory, boosted by her heavy spending and the fact that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee stayed out of her contest, gave progressives a lift.

The Hill’s Jared Gans has five takeaways from Tuesday’s primaries in four states.

Omar outraised Samuels with a war chest of $6.8 million to his $1.4 million and campaigned with the closeness of her last primary in mind. Her contest followed the recent primary defeats of fellow “squad” colleagues Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) and Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.), who lost to moderate challengers.

Wisconsin: In a key race Democrats need to win to hold the Senate majority next year, businessman Eric Hovde captured the Republican nomination Tuesday to challenge Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D), a popular two-term incumbent representing a battleground state who has been elected twice by a comfortable margin. Hovde loaned his campaign $13 million and can turn to personal wealth and GOP backing in the general election. 

In Wisconsin’s 8th Congressional District, businessman and former gas station owner Tony Wied, endorsed by Trump, outspent and outraised two primary opponents and won in a special primary to serve out the remainder of retired Republican Rep. Mike Gallagher’s term and the regular primary for the next term. Gallager left Congress in April to take a job in the private sector. 

In Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District, Rebecca Cooke won a close Democratic primary to challenge Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.), a Trump ally. 

Also in Wisconsin, voters Tuesday rejected two ballot initiatives backed by the Republican-led legislature that would have curbed the Democratic governor’s power on fiscal matters. 

Vermont: Esther Charlestin won the Democratic nomination to face off against Republican Gov. Phil Scott, who was uncontested in the GOP primary. Despite holding the governorship in a heavily Democratic state, Scott has long been popular among Vermont voters and won reelection in 2022 with 69 percent of the vote. He’s also established himself as a vocal Trump critic, telling supporters he voted for Biden in 2020. 

The results of Connecticut’s Tuesday primaries can be found HERE.

ZOOM IN

© The Associated Press / Vahid Salemi | The U.S. seeks deescalation of Middle East tensions amid Iran’s threats against Israel. Iranians, pictured in Tehran, back Palestinians and want revenge for the July bombing by Israel of the late Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.

ADMINISTRATION

Diplomacy: Intent on trying to prevent an Iranian-backed revenge attack in the Middle East, which Iran has threatened for almost two weeks, the Biden administration is pressing Israel and Hamas to conclude a Gaza cease-fire agreement during negotiations expected to resume Thursday. Biden has rallied the governments of Egypt, Qatar, Jordan, the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Italy to push Israel and Hamas to the table. One major impediment: Hamas says it won’t participate this week. Here’s where the conflict stands (The New York Times).

“If something does happen this week, the timing of it can certainly well have an impact on these talks,” White House spokesperson John Kirby told reporters Tuesday. “We are concerned about escalation, period.”

Weaponry: Israel is approved for the sale by the U.S. of $20 billion in F-15 fighter jets, tank cartridges, army vehicles and other military equipment, the Pentagon said Tuesday. Approval came from Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Warnings: If Iran sends ballistic missiles to Russia to bolster its war with Ukraine, as reported last week, the U.S. will have a “swift and severe” response, the State Department said (The Hill). Ukraine’s offensive inside of Russia’s Kursk region has opened a new chapter and new worries in the war (The Hill).

Secret Service: The protective agency, which failed to detect a gunman with an AR-15-style rifle at a July 13 Trump rally, would relinquish some of its mission and expand its covered perimeter around protectees to the range of high-powered automatic weapons under provisions of a proposed House bill. Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.), the measure’s sponsor, is reacting to the assassination attempt against Trump. The Secret Service says it immediately initiated various procedural changes. A bipartisan House task force and an independent probe are underway and expected to lead to legislative recommendations.

The New York Times: Hunter Biden sought State Department help for Burisma, the Ukrainian company he represented during a period when his father was vice president, according to documents recently released to the Times after years of requests. The younger Biden wrote at least one letter to the U.S. ambassador to Italy in 2016 seeking assistance for a potentially lucrative Burisma energy project in Italy. 

ELSEWHERE

© The Associated Press / NOAA via AP | Tropical Storm Ernesto roared over the Atlantic Ocean Monday, posing a potential threat to Puerto Rico this week.

WATER & WIND

🌧️Puerto Rico: Tropical Storm Ernesto is expected to strengthen into a hurricane sometime this morning as it passes north of Puerto Rico. The National Hurricane Center says it could develop into a major hurricane “in a couple of days.” As of 5 a.m. EDT, the storm had maximum sustained winds of 70 mph and was centered about 85 miles north-northwest of San Juan. The president approved an emergency declaration for Puerto Rico Tuesday night.

🌬️Massachusetts: Nantucket residents are upset that a massive wind turbine blade meant to help produce energy beyond the shores of the tony island disintegrated, dropping most of its 351-foot length into the sea while showering fiberglass and foam seemingly everywhere. Bad timing, too: The July mess unfolded at Vineyard Wind, the nation’s largest offshore wind project, just months after the much-anticipated installation began delivering power to the New Englandgrid.

🌊Mars: Water may flow miles beneath the harsh surface of the red planet, according to a study published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. It doesn’t mean there’s life on Mars, and the liquid wouldn’t be easy for visiting astronauts to access. 

THE CLOSER

© The Associated Press / Stefan Rousseau, PA via AP | A new Banksy artwork, part of an animal series popping up around London in the past week, was a witty addition to the London Zoo Tuesday.

And finally … Banksy, the elusive graffiti artist, in the past week surprised and delighted Londoners with a goat, wolf, stretching cat, a pair of elephants, a trio of monkeys, pelicans and more — eight animal-themed murals thus far. He’s used his Instagram account to claim his work. 

A piece the public could not miss on a wall in southeast London features a rhino, which appears to be climbing over an actual disabled car parked in front of a building.

The artist claimed another artwork depicting swimming piranhas, which appeared on a police box (a mock fish tank) Sunday near the Central Criminal Court, known as the Old Bailey, in London. The rush is on to figure out how to preserve it.

According to the artist’s support organization, Pest Control Office, the animal series is intended to cheer passersby ­during a period of bleak news and stress.

Yahoo Finance: How much do Banksy’s artworks really sell for?

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