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tv   Chris Jansing Reports  MSNBC  July 22, 2024 10:00am-11:00am PDT

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it's 1:00 on the east coast. i'm chris jansing along with katy tur. andrea mitchell is in washington. the drlt looking for a new presidential nominee with just 106 days left until the election and less than a month before the democratic convention. right now vice president kamala harris is the front-runner after president biden's endorsement was quickly followed by many top democrats. senator john fetterman in just the last hour. there's no declared opponent. today the vice president made her first public remarks since president biden's exit, celebrating his record. >> joe biden's legacy of accomplishment over the past three years is unmatched in modern history. i am firsthand witness that
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every day our president joe biden fights for the american people and we are deeply, deeply grateful for his service to our nation. >> the vice president posting this on x as she launches her effort to top the democratic ticket. it's the first full day of our campaign, so i'm heading up to wilmington, delaware, late tore say hello to our staff in hq. one day down, 105 to go. we're going to win this. her support is growing by the minute as top democrats including gavin newsom, gretchen whitmer offer endorsements. just this morning on msnbc kentucky governor andy beshear joining them. >> i'm excited to fully endorse vice president harris for the next president of the united states. the vice president is smart and strong which will make her a good president, but she's also
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kind and has empathy which can make her a great president. >> sounds like somebody auditions for a vp role as well. the dnc rules committee will hold a public meeting wednesday afternoon where we could learn more about what exactly the process to choose a nominee will look like. the party co-chairs promise it will be conscientious and expeditious. >> nbc's ryan nobles is reporting on capitol hill. nbc's steve kornacki, of course, at the big board. basil smikle with us in studio, he's a democratic strategist, former executive director of the new york state democratic party and an msnbc political analyst. mike, the biden re-election campaign apparatus has been up and running since he announced his intention to seek re-election last april. so for 15 months now. what do we know ability the transition that's happening to harris right now and what a harris campaign will look like?
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>> chris, it's so interesting, because if you remember when president biden launched his bid for a second term last april, vice president kamala harris was front and center in that announcement video in a way you typically don't see a vice president in an announcement video like this. it speaks to the fact that this was the biden-harris campaign, really a joint ticket where both brought their strengths to the table. so many people talked about the fact that harris, really leaning into this idea of abortion rights, an area that maybe president biden hasn't been as comfortable talking about, given his catholic faith. that was one of the top issues of the campaign. now, as she leads the ticket, will be even more front and center. now that it's the harris campaign and not the biden campaign, she'll look to put her own stamp on the campaign even as she and campaign leadership has made it clear that all those that are part of this massive operation will have an opportunity to stay on board. so the vice president is going to be making the trip to wilmington today to speak directly to the campaign staff.
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there's the infrastructure, but there's also the messaging as well. we're getting a sense for what the message for a harris campaign will look like in way they say vice president harris has been holding criminals accountable throughout her career and donald trump will be no different. also, she's been working on behalf of ordinary people throughout her career. unlike donald trump who has only been looking out for himself. one of the real ways the vice president can put her stamp on this campaign is will she pick a running mate who maybe offsets, complements some of her qualities, a fellow prosecutor, someone who is young as well. or does she choose somebody like roy cooper, the governor of north carolina, a more veteran lawmaker who has an established career in national politics? that's really what a lot of those who are looking at this new harris campaign are very eager to see. it was notable to hear governor cooper among them this morning
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saying this week should be about vice president harris and let the veepstakes conversation kick off after that. >> i was talking to a democratic source who said there's not much time. ryan, you're on the hill. i'm very curious to know what leadership is doing today and whether we might get an endorsement from hakeem jeffries, leader schumer? will nancy pelosi say anything as the speaker am mayor that? what do you expect? >> it's interesting because it does seem as though kamala harris' support on capitol hill is growing by the minute. those are notable absences at this point. hakeem jeffries yet to way in. chuck schumer yet to weigh in. nancy pelosi yet to weigh in. we are starting to get more leadership members throwing their support behind kamala harris including dick durbin, the number two ranking democratic in the senate. he put out a statement saying he's proud to endorse my former senate colleague and good friend kamala harris. vp harris was a critical partner
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in building the biden record over the past four years. count me in for kamala harris for president. i do think that there could be a degree of strategy associated with the rolling out of these endorsements. they no doubt wanted to see a big wave of support for harris right out of the gate to try to counterbalance these three weeks of uncertainty and show that democrats are ready to unify behind a candidate and that there's a level of energy behind that candidate. there's some benefit to allowing these rank and file members to say their peace, get their names out there, attach them to kamala harris and allowed leadership, chuck schumer, hakeem jeffries and others to take a step back and let the process work itself out. you could put president barack obama and kamala harris in that same camp -- i'm sorry. barack obama and his wife michelle obama in the same camp as well. i do know there's a lot of concern among democrats that
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there's an appearance of a coronation here, that she's given this job without having to fight for it or any kind of open competition. she said she's willing to have that open coomb tigs. there just hasn't been anybody willing to step up and take on the challenge. we'll have to see if it stays that way over the next couple weeks. >> steve kornacki, the biden campaign had been falling farther and farther behind in battleground states and beginning to lose virginia and other states. nevada double digits. how would harris do? we understand that it was that kind of hard fact rather than the campaign polls that were showing the head-to-heads nationally, the fact that he could lose the house, not just the senate, but the house. it could be just a clean sweep for donald trump, that finally persuaded him. how does kamala harris do
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topping the ticket in comparison? >> no different, at least based on the numbers. we'll show you right now. nationally this is the biden-trump average of national polls since that debate late june that set all this in motion. trump by two in the average of all these polls, same polls that tested harris versus trump. so from 45 to 46, trump level at 47. a one-point difference in the average there, both of them trailing donald trump. you take it one step further here, basic impressions of the candidates in terms of that favorable, unfavorable score. again, this is the average of the polls since that debate. biden was 36 favorable, 57 unfavorable. way under water. this had been the story, though, with joe biden for a long time. he had been trailing trump in the polls almost for a year now. so same set of polls. how does harris clock in on the same basic impression question? not really different. 36 favorable for biden, 38 for
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harris. 57 down to 52. that's still a majority of voters with an unfavorable view of harris. how does that stack up against trump. trump is not popular either. 55 unfavorable for trump, 41 favorable. harris right in the same mix of where biden and trump were. democrats are hoping that this is a move that's going to improve their chances of beating donald trump in november. but what they're betting on here is not what the polls are saying now. they're betting on the potential they see for upside with kamala harris to improve a number like this, to have a number like this come down. it's a big if though. >> these polls all taken before joe biden stepped down. >> yes. we haven't had time for quality polling since biden make the announcement. >> how long does it take, steve, once a new series of poms to go out, to get a good read on how this has impacted the race? >> the major pollsters, the ones with good track records, it depends on their schedule, their
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timing. theoretically a couple of them could start going into the field right now, and by the weekend we could get a re-up. in my head it's in the next week to two when we'll start to get some of the sort of blue-chip pollsters reporting out their results. without any precision about, hey, this swing state is this, that swing state is that. what you're looking for in the first set of polls is have these numbers moved appreciably for harris in either direction. the other thing we'll be looking for simultaneously in these polls, have the trump numbers moved at all? the next polls will measure any impact from the republican national convention, any impact from the shooting. really there's questions about both harris and trump. i think over the next week or two, if there is any meaningful change in just the overall voter attitudes towards them, i think you'll start to see that in national polls. very possible the way our politics are these days, there's no change for either.
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>> steve, thank you. basil, it's interesting, in the immediate aftermath, and we're only 24 hours into this, less if you consider the endorsement of kamala harris, they're circling the wagons now. there's a lot of support for her. she has no discernible serious challenge. having said that, looking at the polls, knowing what her campaign in 2020 was like, didn't work out great. she did become the vice president, but the campaign itself didn't work out great. for democrats who are coming out and seem to be indicating that they think all of their problems or a lot of their problems have gone away with joe biden, do they need a reality check here? what are the concerns that you have? >> i don't know that they need a reality check, per se, except i would caution democrats to not use the same language that republicans use when talking about kamala harris. a notion that she's being core nated, if that starts to bubble up, remember the "new york post" called her the dei president.
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so a lot of those themes and a lot of that language may come from the right in a different way, but if it comes from the left or the right, it's essentially saying the same thing, that she's not ready for the job. i have for years argued when there was some of these attacks in the media that she should be given a great elf platform, she should be given more -- to use a sports analogy, reps, so she can go out and engage with voters. i was glad to see, as ryan mentioned earlier, that she was in that early ad for biden's reelect. i think that showed that she would have that greater presence in this campaign effort. so i imagine that there might be some folks that want to be able to put their name out there and have a little bit of a platform and maybe give themselves a lane for another four years from now, whatever the case is. but it's very, very important. this is a very critical time where she can galvanize that support. she's doing the work and making
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the calls. >> i was talking to a source out of michigan regarding how difficult it might be for anybody who is a democrat to win michigan this time around. we saw the polls from the "detroit free press" showing former president trump was leading president biden by seven points. obviously kamala harris is a chance to turn that around. what do you see as her strengths, her weaknesses, as this source put it to me. they said, yeah, this reeks of sexism. one of the weaknesses will be, can she convince voters to have a beer with her, that she's likable. >> it's interesting, i think of all the criticisms that come of her, the biggest can this half jamaican, half asian woman become president of the united states. that doubt, if it settles in, becomes a self-fulfilling philosophy. first and foremost, we have to narm lies she can win this race. that's firstly. in just the last 24 hours, there
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were 44,000 black women on a call last night organizing around kamala harris. they raised over a million dollars on that call. 44,000 is twice the capacity of madison square garden in one night. >> i should say we had a congresswoman on yesterday who predicted 20 to 30,000 which turned out to be an underestimate. >> it was only supposed to be a few hundred people on that call. >> originally, yeah. >> it's an amazing ability to galvanize and mobilize immediately around her candidacy. the goal is to try to obviously keep that momentum up. as you talk specifically about the swing states, you have women in these states that with were on those calls. there is no clear emphasis on trying to make sure that a lot of the money raised is going early that those states, a lot of ads, but also digital ads going into this these states. the goal here is to make sure that the base is energized in these areas because if this momentum can go into the
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convention, certainly past that, i think, to steve's point, he may see some of these numbers start to go up. >> i am interested in what's going to happen in the swing states. i know governor whitmer said she has no plans on going anywhere. she's been consistent, i'm not going anywhere. in michigan they elected a female ag, female secretary of state, a black lieutenant governor. they've got a track record of late of promoting and electing women and people of color. it will be an interesting place to see a vice president come out of. if gretchen whitmer could deliver michigan for kamala harris, i wonder if the team goes to her and say we have to think about this more seriously. >> mike memoli, ryan noenls, thank you very much. basil smikle is stay with us. coming up, the gop races to pivot its messaging against a brand new opponent.
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was the trump campaign prepared for this moment? our special coverage picks up right after a quick break. don't go anywhere. >> do you think america is ready to elect a woman as president? >> i think america should have been ready a while ago. i just think that america as a whole hasn't progressed enough for that. enough for that - so this is pickleball? - pickle! ah, these guys are intense. with e*trade from morgan stanley, we're ready for whatever gets served up. dude, you gotta work on your trash talk. i'd rather work on saving for retirement. or college, since you like to get schooled. that's a pretty good burn, right?
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still no on-camera reaction
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from donald trump since the biden and harris announcements. but he's posted on social media ten times since yesterday's historic shakeup. >> this morning he suggested that democrats stole the race from joe biden after he won it in the primaries and calling them the real threat to democracy. nbc news reports that the trump world has been preparing to run against kamala harris for weeks. let's bring in the former republican governor of ohio, governor john kasich. in studio basil smikle, msnbc political analyst along with nbc's vaughn hillyard. i'm still a little sleepy from last week's rnc, vaughn, which i'm sure you are as well. tell us about what the trump campaign will be doing now that it's kamala harris. they built up a whole campaign to go against joe biden. how are they pivoting? >> kamala harris, they're going to try to tie her as joe biden
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2.0 and tie everything that the biden administration stood for and tie it directly to kamala harris. of course, they'll, also, o on the role in 2021 that the administration put her in charge of working with mexico, working with the northern triangle countries to try to help better stem the flow of migrants into the united states. of course, you're also going to be looking back at comments from kamala harris back when she was running for president herself in 2019 including a health care plan she put forward that was a version of medicare for all but would require private health insurers to offer a baseline medicare option over the course of the next ten years. largely this is going to complicate things for the trump administration. kamala harris, the country has been able to be acquainted with her, but not in necessarily a critical way that the -- for the last 20 months the trump campaign has put their entire focus on labeling joe biden as old, as weak. kamala harris is not those things. that's a reality that they're going to have to settle with,
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that they're running against an opponent who is 19 years younger than their own nominee. >> it's interesting, governor kasich, you only have one opportunity to make a first impression, right? i'm mangling that a little bit. you know the saying i'm talking about. we sit here as part of a cable network that talks about politics much of the day. not everybody out there knows kamala harris. not everybody out there is familiar with her trajectory, how she got to where she is or even what she did. maybe they don't even remember that she ran for president. so with opportunity is also risk. i'd say there's also risk on the side of the trump campaign. how do you see this playing out in terms of introducing her to a big part of the electorate that may not know much about her and who gets to define that first, which campaign? >> i think it says something
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like you only have one chance to make a good second impression. right now, let's be honest about it, she's not held in high esteem. if you look at the numbers, people are not impressed with her. i don't know that that isn't true with a lot of vice presidents, but that's what she has to overcome. they're going to have to get out there and introduce her over the next few weeks, and particularly at the convention. one of the things they'll watch is who does she pick as a running mate and what is she going to say? look, a lot of this right now is visual. the same way that americans looked at the debate and said biden has got to go, they'll have to look at harris and say, oh, we can see her as a president of the united states. i don't know if anybody else will jump in this race. i kind of suspect somebody will and try to challenge her for this. i think in the end she'll lock this up. a lot of people talking to me about who she's going to pick, all kinds of questions.
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but i think at the end it's how she first introduces herself. and if she does and she can be viewed as strong and intelligent, she can have an opportunity to change the narrative. then i think later, as your guest has just said, i think these issues will begin to come in. they're already starting to talk about her being the border czar and how she failed at that. she'll have to respond to what they're going to do about inflation, but i think that's a little later. at this point in time it's to introduce her to the country through media and at the convention to be able to create a favorable impression. that's my take. >> basil, the polling we have at nbc news shows she did worse with white men than biden against donald trump. she also does worst with registered republicans who don't want donald trump and wanted another option, they might turn back, some at least, to donald trump. but she does better with
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independents. is that her strength? is it going to be the independents? is it going to be the youth vote? listen, if you open up your phone right now and go on social media, it is filled with kamala harris memes. she is all over the site right now getting introduced to an audience that will be able to vote, a lot of them, in november. >> well, this is an opportunity to really create a new narrative for the entire campaign, not just who she is as a candidate. it's an interesting introduction, reintroduction because 14 million people already voted for her as part of the biden/harris ticket. this is now an ability to -- >> i keep hearing that. but they're not voting really most of them for kamala harris. it's the top of the ticket. >> i understand that. but she's not an unknown person to a good chunk of the electorate, is what i'm saying.
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yes, there is a part of this where she has to introduce her selves. the negatives will get pulled out and tested. that's absolutely right. we haven't seen that reflected in the polling as yet. my sense is with young voters in particular -- because i teach, so i talk to them all the time. they were not terribly excited about this race before. i think they're excited now because they see someone that is younger and more reflective of not just their interest, but their life experience, as someone who of mixed race and ethnicity, someone who has the empathy that was mentioned earlier. particularly on issues like dobbs. xi embodies a sort of intersectionality where she can ready talk about these things with an authenticity that will be very important for the voter. as we talk about the money and how important that's going to be to this race, that gives her the opportunity to have this really strong conversation with the voter right out of the box leading up to the convention. look, the attacks are going to
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come. i think with independent voters, i think with young voters who had their concerns about this race, i think this creates a new narrative for them about the future. >> i do love they're calling 59-year-old kamala harris young. that makes you a mere child. >> i'm older than j.d. vance. it's the first time any vp nominee has been younger than me for the presidential ticket. that makes me feel better. thank you, chris. >> democrats can't win the presidency without michigan where joe biden beat donald trump by less than three percentage points in 2020. joining us here is michigan democratic congresswoman debbie dingell, a veteran of politics and congress. congresswoman, welcome. >> thank you. good to be with you. >> you put your support behind vice president harris quickly on this network.
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how does that response match what you're seeing from your colleagues? we've not yet heard from nancy pelosi, in chuck schumer, from barack obama. there's some reporting that this is to not appear to be anointing her a coronation, to avoid that criticism. where is nancy pelosi right now, for instance? >> i chose who i was going to endorse based on, one, what joe biden's recommendation was. i know there was some disagreement as he made a point that 14 million people had voted for the biden/harris ticket, but my district was very torn, and i heard it across the country. >> i think we have breaking news on that. chris, do you want to read the statement and we'll get the congresswoman to react. >> i'm just being handed the
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statement. speaker emerita, nancy pelosi, has endorsed kamala harris. it's a lengthy statement. given her position in the party, given the influence she has and the talk around her role in convincing joe biden to step down from the race, i want to read it in its entirety. she says this. america has been truly blessed by the wisdom and leadership of president joe biden. with love and gratitude i salute in president biden for always believing in the possibilities of america and giving people the opportunity to reach their fulfillment. as one of our country's most consequential presidents, president biden has been not only on the right side of history but on the right side of the future. today it is with immense pride and limitless optimism for our country's future that i endorse vice president kamala harris for president of the united states. my enthusiastic support for kamala harris for president is official, personal and political. officially i have seen kamala harris' strength and courage as a champion for working families,
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notably fighting for a woman's right to choose. personally i have no kamala harris for decades as rooted in strong values, faith and a commitment to public service. politically, make no mistake, kamala harris as a woman in politics is brilliantly astute, and i have full confidence that she will lead us to victory no november. in the democratic party our diversity is our strength and our unity is our power. now we must unify and charge forward to resoundingly defeat donald trump and enthusiastically elect kamala harris as the next president of the united states. onward to victory. and you have spent a lot of time, andrea, covering nancy pelosi. there were questions about when she might make a decision about this. and she has done it and fairly quickly. >> she's done it, but there's a lot of damage in their personal relationship. joe biden reportedly furious
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with her, with covid, in rehoboth, sheltered, isolated, his family reflecting, echoing his views that the speaker emerita had abandoned him and was looking for a mini primary -- working for him to step down and looking for an open process, not willing to accept his endorsement. she's now succeeded. i don't think from everything i'm hearing was always in a listening mode, she was not org streeting all this opposition over the last couple weeks as he suspected and as critics suspected. but you think they can repair this relationship? how do you see her role going forward? she's saw clearly that they were going to lose the house. as an institutionalist, you know her. that was the most important thing to her. not only were they going to lose the presidency, they were going
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to lose the house, and the senate was already a forgone conclusion. >> so, you know, i'm about to get very personal with you. there's probably nobody that understands nancy and other issues. my husband was older when he was still serving, and nancy pelosi quietly, but not so quietly, everybody saw the fingerprints, had her own selection for chair of the energy and commerce committee. it was in neither of our interests when i came to congress to have that feud. actually, i made clear after it happened that you don't forget. it hurts. we had to work together when john was still there. we would not have gotten the affordable care act had john dingell not brought along a lot of members of that caucus. right now unity is the most important thing that we have. we need to have a very open and transparent process. this cannot be a coronation.
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each of us has a right to endorse -- i endorsed for very different reasons than nancy did. by the way, nancy pelosi's endorsement probably doesn't help kamala harris win michigan at all, if you want me to be that blunt. >> let's talk about michigan. kamala harris has not been particularly popular with white males, with the important voters in battleground states, in michigan, pennsylvania. she's not been popular with a lot of those voting blocs. what do you think she can do? what about the uaw? >> i've already talked to the uaw. i've talked to many members of leadership that are enthusiastic. i suspect down the road you're going to see unions get very strongly behind her. even the uaw endorse. doesn't mean you don't have to get into the halls. i'm not going to lie. we have a union problem in michigan. but i think when we get in the
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halls -- i'm tired of the circular firing squad. it's got to stop. now we've got to unite. it's not just the vice president's responsibility. it's all of our responsibilities, to pull ourselves together, to talk about the issues, to make the contrast of who -- what the difference is between donald trump's, project 2025 wants to take away overtime from workers. remind people. we're going to roll up our sleeves. michigan is not gone yet, andrea. >> usually a vice presidential choice does not make a big difference. in this case does it, and who would help? >> as i said yesterday, our heads are still spinning. the vice presidential candidate will matter. i think they've made it very clear on the republican side, i hear they're going to live in michigan. you know what? we're going to live in michigan. we, the governor, myself, the women of michigan know how to win races. we're going to roll up our sleeves. we're going to unite and make sure people know what's at
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stake, like a woman's right to choose. donald trump says roe v. wade is his proudest accomplishment. we're going to remind every single woman that donald trump doesn't think they have a right to make their own health care decisions. we'll remind union workers that joe biden walked the picket line and trump said get rid of the uaw. we do our work, roll up our sleeves -- i'm going to go in every union hall i can get in between now and election day. listen to the women of michigan. we're going to work our hearts out. >> congresswoman, it's katy tur. thank you for being with us. i know we spoke yesterday. michigan has a great record of electing women, diversity. gretchen whitmer still popular in her second term even as she governed during covid which is something of a feat. you have the a.d., the secretary of state both women. you also have the lieutenant governor who is a black man. michigan -- clearly the voting
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blocs of michigan are not sexist and not racist, obviously. they're coming out there and voting for the best candidate on the ticket. i've asked you about governor whitmer. i know she's come out and said she has no plans on leaving her position, that she doesn't want to leave michigan. but how could you pass up the opportunity to deliver such an important state to the democrats if you are given that opportunity? would gretchen whitmer, if she were to take it, would she be able to deliver the state of michigan to the democrats? >> katy, i hate these theer et cam questions which i told you yesterday. she again today said i'm not leaving michigan. but i can tell you i would support her when she runs for anything, anywhere. she is still popular. and whatever office she runs for, she's going to help win michigan. i want to take you back to what she said today. she's strongly endorsed the vice
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president and she's not leaving michigan this year. >> let's talk about schumer, let's talk about hakeem jeffries. we'll hear from hakeem jeffries now? >> everybody is looking for -- i've said this to the president a week ago. i don't care about the donors. leadership matters -- >> the donors are reacting. >> i know that, but it's the american people. right now the vice president has to go out and sell herself to the delegates. as elected officials we have a right to endorse. i endorse in most presidential elections unless i'm trying to move the presidential primary. right now it's nice to have these elected officials. there were rumors about was there some kind of -- something going on between kamala and nancy. i think it's good she came out and shut that down, unity matters. hakim has to lead a hawk cuss where other people are front liners, they're from the
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midwest, figuring it out. she's got to sell herself to the american people. elected officials don't elect the president of the united states. the working men and women of this country, the voters are the ones that are going to elect the next president of the united states. >> congresswoman dingell, it's chris jansing. katy and i, as you noted, were talking to you yesterday. i want to ask you about a question we've been asking many voters in key states like yours which is, is america ready for a woman president? there was so much conversation about it when hillary clinton ran for president. as katy rightly points out, in your state, michigan, women in leadership roles, in nevada, another battleground state, for example, they have had for -- i think it's four years now, a majority women legislature. more and more across the country we are seeing women in leadership roles. i think 12 or 13 governors right now are women.
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has the equation changed since hillary clinton ran for president do you think? >> here is how i'm going to answer that. when we had a ticket in michigan that was three women and an african american as you pointed out, woman governor candidate, woman a.g., woman secretary of state. everybody said we'll never elect three women. that ticket will not succeed. it did succeed. i am hoping we are getting more to the day that we look at the qualifications of who somebody is, what they stand for and don't look at the sex issue, the race issue, the whatever. but i will say this, i think women are much better policymakers. we're used to balancing multiple balls in the air, trying to solve problems instead of getting into testosterone fights. i think this country may be tired of all the fighting, all the conflicts, all the crisis and may want to see a president
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get policy done. >> more women in the senate, they passed more legislation than the men had sponsored and passed. congressman debbie dingell, as always, thank you very much. >> you're right about that, andrea. joining us now on capitol hill is nbc's scott wong. scott, good to have you. talk to us about nancy pelosi. >> hey, katy, a big endorsement for kamala harris here. the former speaker of the house, one of the most powerful democrats on capitol hill, the speaker emerita nancy pelosi throwing her full weight behind kamala harris saying that she has demonstrated strength and courage. she has fought for a woman's right to choose. that clearly is going to be a huge campaign issue for the democrats and kamala harris. also pointing out that kamala harris is on the cusp of history
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here as perhaps becoming the first female president elected in the united states. that is significant coming from moos, the first female speaker of the house, someone who was working behind the scenes speaking to a number of democrats, conversing with joe biden himself in trying to nudge joe biden towards the exits, making him very aware of what was at stake in this election. and sending warning signs that he could not only lose to donald trump but drag down candidates both in the house and senate, perhaps risking the majorities
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in both of those chambers. o so nancy pelosi, this is a big endorsement for kamala harris. >> scott wong, thank you for that. we want to let you know in our next hour we'll hear from the democratic leader of the house, hakeem jeffries. we'll see what he has to say. one of nancy pelosi's concerns for president biden was fund-raising drying up. now democratic campaign cash is surging. act blue, the leading democratic online donation processor has processed more than $80 million in donations in the hours since president biden announced he was stepping aside. that's according to an analysis in "the new york times." it's an avalanche of cash that is expected to continue to flow in especially from large dollar donors as the finance chair for the biden victory fund said the flood gates will hope. joining us now, the executive director of swing left, yasmin
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raji. your fund-raising has always been an integral part of helping people get elected on the democratic side. one aspect is how can you volunteer where there is a disputed election near you. the other is there money you can give us. have you seen any change? >> absolutely. first off, thank you so much for having me on. our community of about 1 million grassroots volunteers and donors since the debate were already engaging in levels that usually we see in september, october. basically the past 24 hours kicked those high levels of engagement into even higher gear. i think the big shift has been that anxiety was the main emotion that was driving a lot of contributions up and down ballot until yesterday. now it's excitement that's the driving force. that's excitement about the top of the ticket. it's also excitement about the possibility of defeating donald trump and maga extremism down
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ballot. so we really see the past 24 hours have been a sea change moment in an election cycle full of sea changes. like you rightly framed up front, the biggest place we're seeing that is in online fund-raising. we quickly moved to set up a presidential nominee fund meaning every dollar will go to whoever becomes the presidential nominee. in less than 4 hours we received over $250,000 in small dollar contributions from over 1,700 unique donors. making it our best 24-hour grassroots fund-raising period all year. the only moment where we've seen that level of engagement was in the 24 hours after ruth bader ginsburg passed away. this is all coming after our biggest volunteer sign-up week of the year. i think where our heads are in this moment is that there are exceptional levels of excitement to set up the democratic nominee for success.
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and all of that is really pointing at the real sort of pragmatic focus among democratic grassroots volunteerism donors who are the same folks who delivered victories in 2018 and 2020 and 2022 and again last year. we really see our role together with our 1 million members as being the one-stop shop for anybody looking to channel their time or their dollars to having the biggest impact to defeat donald trump and set up the democratic nominee for success and defeat maga extremism zoo our nominee has a governing majority. >> chris, i was talking to one of the big donors who was despondent over joe biden staying in the race, that it was going to be a losing proposition. when this changeover happened, they told me the blue wave is coming. yasmin, i guess you're seeing that blue wave. how do you use that money? what does it look like on the ground? >> i think first and foremost, to talk about the mood a little
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bit, i think something that's really clear and has been clear is our members know that president biden was one o of the most effective presidents in modern history. they see this decision, as you mentioned -- sounds like you heard from that donor, as an example of the kind of patriotism that we will never see from donald trump. we see this moment, whether they're investing dollars or hours, as a moment to build upon the legacy of president biden. i think a lot of folks in these moments of unprecedented event after unprecedented event, multiple times a week, what they have turned to us to is sometimes to say sometimes they feel really paralyzed. they feel unsure about how to channel whatever emotion, whether it's enthusiasm or anxiety or some combination, they just don't know where to start. what we're hearing is folks really want to make sure that in a moment of a lot of unprecedented news, every dollar they give and every hour they invest goes to the nominee.
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a month ago we all seemed pretty sure that nominee would be president joe biden. today all signs are pointing that it is very likely that it will be kamala harris, and there's certainly a lot of enthusiasm from our folks, both about her as a candidate, but also about the sort of level of unity that we've been seeing in the past 4 hours around her candidacy. but in a moment, a sort of sea change moment, we're seeing that folks care first and foremost about their not being in doubt that their time and their money is helping the nominee. so anyone who is tuning in who is feeling that same sort of momentary paralysis, i hope they'll go to swingleft.org and at the top of the page they'll find how they can support our democratic nominee, and those funds will be released as soon as that person accepts the nomination. >> yasmin radjy, thanks so much. right now on capitol hill, lawmakers are questioning the secret service director about
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the attempted assassination against donald trump which she described as the most significant operational failure in the agency in decades. they may be an understatement given the reaction on capitol hill from both sides of the aisle. nbc's ali vitali is reporting from the hearings. ali, talk to me about how is she -- she's facing bipartisan calls for her to resign. how is she dealing with it? >> reporter: she's remaining steadfast, andrea, saying she remains in her belief to be the best person to lead the secret service at this crate cal juncture, though she would describe what happened in butler, pennsylvania as a failure, that they're working to investigate and ensure never happens again. when you talk about tension on both sides of the aisle in regards to this hearing that's just wrapped up, we heard it from the questions from democrats and republicans. just listen to a slice of what we heard over the last few hours. >> ma'am, that doesn't look like suspicious behavior. that tlooks like threat ening
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behavior to me. the rally wasn't waused at that point either, correct? >> i can tell you as i stated earlier, sir, the moment that the shift surrounding the president were aware of an actual threat -- >> that's a threat. right there. the guy is on the roof and everybody is yelling at him. >> director cheatle, because donald trump is alive, and thank god he is, you look incompetent. if donald trump had been killed, you would have looked culpable. not only should you resign, if you refuse to do so, president biden needs to fire you because his life, donald trump's life and all the other people which you protect are at risk. >> reporter: of course, one of the things that cheatle was pointing to repeatedly during her testimony was the ways in which the secret service has had success, especially in recent weeks with things like the nato conference that was here in washington, with the rnc which they reassessed security for in the aftermath of butler, pennsylvania, and, of course, even future events like the
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democratic national convention that's coming, the unga meeting happening in new york in a few months and culminating in the inaugural. the secret service director continued to try to point to the efficacy of her agency. of course, all of those things were blanked out really by the questions that remained unanswered by the secret service director who assured specifics here despite lawmakers trying their best, d and republicans, to get answers on just what could have gone so wrong that this could have happened. >> ali vitali, thank you for that. up next, what undecided voters in one critical battleground state -- they're all critical -- is now saying about biden's decision to step aside. >> i was happy. >> you were happy. why? >> i felt that we had two horrible choices, both men that are too old. so i like the pick of kamala harris. the pick of kamala harris seems clear to me. if you love to save, check out the wise buys sales event going on
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and now his attention is spent elsewhere. but i'm thinking of her the whole time. that's so much worse. why is that thing in bed with you? this is where it gets the best signal from the cell tower! i've tried everywhere else in the house! there's always a new excuse. well if we got xfinity you wouldn't have to mess around with the connection. therapy's tough, huh? -mmm. it's like a lot about me. [laughs] a home router should never be a home wrecker. oo this is a good book title. tomorrow kamala harris is scheduled to speak in battleground wisconsin, a state president biden won by less than 1 percentage point in 2020. until the span of 24 hours, harris has earned the support of governor tony evers, and a handful of other state democrats. ultimately power lies with undecided voters. nbc's shaquille brewster is live in milwaukee.
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i was talking to voters there last week, i asked them about a scenario like this, and i got a lot of yeah, sures, as long as the candidate, whoever it is, is not old. what are you hearing? >> katy, i'll start with the democratic voters i talked to. definitely feels like there's a boost of enthusiasm and excitement on that side. i saw a lady wearing a kamala harris for the people t-shirt, which is her 2020 campaign t-shirt. the word she used with me is relieved. she said she's relieved because she didn't believe that democrats were on a winning trajectory in the past with president biden at the top of the ticket, and she was also relieved because of the coalescing, the energy and excitement you're seeing around the vice president at this point. and, you know, i have also been talking to undecided voters who are going to be crucial in a state like wisconsin. listen to some of those conversations. >> president biden, i think he's a really great guy. i think obviously he was kind of
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cognitively not doing too well. he's visible to the public. >> you were leaning trump for. looking like it's going to be vice president harris, what does that do? . >> it changes some things. >> reporter: were you planning to vote for biden? >> i wasn't sure to be honest. i wasn't sure at that point. >> reporter: what are you thinking now? >> like i said, i need to do a little more research. >> reporter: you get a sense there's opportunity for the vice president. one woman who i broke the news to, i said haven't harris is going to be running, she said that's bleeping awesome. but then she stepped back and said i need to actually do some research. i need to learn more about it. you mentioned the vice president will be here in milwaukee tomorrow. that will be an opportunity for voters to hear from her directly and kind of judge her as a new candidate. >> you're making my point, after decades of covering campaigns and talking to voters, it is sometimes to folks of us who live in this world that folks
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have not been spend every waking moment. >> come on, chris, people have lives, unlike us. >> it's on your phone, in your social media feed, how do you miss a story like that. i don't know. >> shaquille brewster, thank you. basil smikle, you're going to stay with us. coming up, we expect to hear from leader hakeem jeffries talking to reporters in just a matter of minutes. we'll have that for you live. first, thank you, andrea mitchell for joining us. i know you'll be back tomorrow on "andrea mitchell reports." stay with us. you're watching msnbc. ing msnbc. my mental health was better. but uncontrollable movements called td, tardive dyskinesia, started disrupting my day. td felt embarrassing. i felt like disconnecting. i asked my doctor about treating my td, and learned about ingrezza.
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bring on the cash wave. a little more than 24 hours after joe biden dropped out of the race, democrats are welcoming kamala harris's candidacy by opening their wallets. i'm chris jansing alongside my colleague, katy tur. the "new york times" is reporting already more than $80 million in democratic donations has been processed

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