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Democrats who urged Biden to exit race say Harris is exceeding expectations
Tim Ryan, the former Ohio congressman, said he “took a lot of hits” from his fellow Democrats in late June, when he became the first Democrat to publicly recommend Vice President Kamala Harris replace President Biden atop the Democratic ticket, after Biden’s disastrous debate performance.
Ryan made waves and headlines on July 2, when he launched a media tour recommending not just that Mr. Biden abandon his reelection bid, but specifically said Harris should be the new nominee.
At a fragile moment, with Democrats frustrated and fearful about the president’s reelection prospects, Ryan posted on social media that Harris “has significantly grown into her job, she will destroy Trump in debate, highlight choice (as an) issue, energize our base, bring back young voters and give us generational change. It’s time!”
He said he thought he was just “whistling in the wind” a few weeks later, when he later called on Harris to select Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to be her running mate.
Laughing aloud, Ryan told CBS News he recently received a text message from a friend who was impressed by his newfound ability to predict the future. “When are we going to Vegas,” the friend asked.
Ryan, who ran briefly against Harris in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, is thrilled to see how the race is turning out so far. Between his 10-year old’s football games — which Ryan is coaching — he spoke with CBS News by phone and said Harris has proven to be an “even better” presidential nominee than he expected.
“I knew that she would be super-well received,” Ryan said. “But I didn’t realize it would be this level of excitement. I knew people would be jazzed and ready to roll and knew it would energize our base and young people, but not at this level.”
Harris’ first presidential debate performance has been well-received, and most polls show that since she became the presumptive Democratic nominee, she has closed the gap that was opening between Mr. Biden and Trump. Her performance as the new nominee has so far seemed to vindicate the historic and — at the time — controversial calls from congressional Democrats for Mr. Biden to stand down.
Rep. Lloyd Doggett, a 15th term Democrat from Austin, Texas, told CBS News, “I’m really encouraged by the way it has worked out.” Doggett was the first sitting member of Congress to publicly urge Biden to stand down.
Speaking near the House floor between votes this week, Doggett told CBS News he was pleased dozens of other congressional Democrats later joined his call for a new nominee, but didn’t expect several days or weeks would pass before others would make similar public statements.
“The speed of it was a little slower than I would have liked,” Doggett said. “There were a number of people who vigorously insisted ‘There was nothing to talk about here.’ And that it was the president’s sole decision.’ I was pleased that we finally got the result after three weeks.”
Harris’ emergence has bolstered the prospects of other Democrats seeking election or reelection, according to several congressional Democrats who spoke with CBS News.
Rep. Angie Craig, a third-term moderate Democrat in a competitive district south of Minneapolis, was also among the first wave of Democrats who called on Mr. Biden to leave the race.
“The top of the ticket has moved significantly in my district since the switch,” Craig told CBS News.
She said her conversations with other House Democrats indicate the Harris-Walz ticket has helped shift polls 4 to12 points in some of the competitive congressional districts nationwide.
House Democratic campaign officials think Harris’ ascension will energize voters and help with down-ballot races in November. Rep. Suzan Delbene, a Washington Democrat who chairs the House Democratic campaign arm, told CBS News, “House Democrats have been running ahead all cycle, and now we are seeing an additional boost in enthusiasm and energy with Kamala Harris and Tim Walz at the top of the ticket.”
Ryan said the tenor and the energy of the campaign is just what he envisioned when he recommended Harris become the nominee over the summer.
“I like the music and the energy at the rallies,” he said. “I mean, it’s jamming. It’s like a concert.”
But he says he has more recommendations for the national campaign. He’d urge the Harris team to ensure Americans see more of her, and he’s urging the campaign to have Harris appear at more public events and get more face time with voters. While he likes what he calls the “happy warrior stuff,” he says “the vast majority of people — they just want to know you’re tough.”
TRENTON, N.J. — Democratic Newark City Council President LaMonica McIver has defeated Republican small businessman Carmen Bucco in a contest in New Jersey’s 10th Congressional District that opened up because of the death of Rep. Donald Payne Jr. in April.
McIver will serve out the remainder of Payne’s term, which ends in January. She and Bucco will face a rematch on the November ballot for the full term.
McIver said in a statement Wednesday that she stands on the “shoulders of giants,” naming Payne as chief among them.
She cast ahead to the November election, saying the right to make reproductive health choices was on the ballot as well as whether the economy should benefit the wealthy or “hard working Americans.”
“I will fight because the purpose of politics and the purpose of our vote is to give the people of our communities and our nation a bold voice,” she said.
Bucco congratulated McIver on the victory in a statement but said he’s looking forward to the rematch in November.
“I am not going anywhere,” he said in an email. “We still have a second chance to make district 10 great again!”
Who are LaMonica McIver and Carmen Bucco?
McIver emerged as the Democratic candidate in a crowded field in the July special election. A member of the city council of New Jersey’s biggest city since 2018, she also worked for Montclair Public Schools as a personnel director and plans to focus on affordability, infrastructure, abortion rights and “protecting our democracy,” she told The Associated Press earlier this summer.
Bucco describes himself on his campaign website as a small-business owner influenced by his upbringing in the foster system. He lists support for law enforcement and ending corruption as top issues.
The 10th District lies in a heavily Democratic and majority-Black region of northern New Jersey. Republicans are outnumbered by more than 6 to 1.
It’s been a volatile year for Democrats in New Jersey, where the party dominates state government and the congressional delegation.
Among the developments were the conviction on federal bribery charges of U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, who has denied the charges, and the demise of the so-called county party line — a system in which local political leaders give their preferred candidates favorable position on the primary ballot.
Democratic Rep. Andy Kim, who’s running for Menendez’s seat, and other Democrats brought a federal lawsuit challenging the practice as part of his campaign to oust Menendez, who has resigned since his conviction.
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Sean “Diddy” Combs at same Brooklyn detention center that held R. Kelly, Sam Bankman-Fried, other high-profile inmates
A second judge refused to grant bail to Sean “Diddy” Combs on Wednesday and he could remain in federal custody at a Brooklyn detention center until his trial for sex trafficking charges. Combs joins other high-profile inmates, such as singer R. Kelly, fallen cryptocurrency mogul Sam Bankman-Fried, rapper Ja Rule —even Al Sharpton served a brief stint— who were held at the same federal detention center.
Notorious for its horrible conditions —inmates won a $10 million class action settlement after enduring frigid conditions during an 8-day blackout in 2019— the waterfront industrial complex, MDC Brooklyn, houses 1,200 inmates.
JOHANNES EISELE/AFP via Getty Images
Violence and corruption have long plagued the facility; U.S. District Judge Gary R. Brown of the Eastern District of New York wrote the detention center had “dangerous, barbaric conditions” in a recent sentencing opinion. Two inmates were stabbed to death in recent months and several correction officers have been convicted for smuggling contraband and accepting bribes.
Combs joins a list of high-profile personalities that have landed at the MDC Brooklyn, partly because the city’s other federal detention center, MDC New York, closed in 2021, also due to horrible conditions. The disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein died by suicide in his cell there in 2019. “Numerous and serious” instances of misconduct among corrections staff gave Epstein the opportunity to kill himself, a subsequent federal watchdog investigation found.
Kelly sued the federal detention center in 2022 for wrongly putting him on suicide watch after his sentencing. Kelly sought $100 million because he said the detention center knew he wasn’t suicidal after he was convicted in 2021 for racketeering and violating the Mann Act, which bars transporting people across state lines for prostitution.
Yuki Iwamura/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Former crypto billionaire Bankman-Fried survived on bread, water and sometimes peanut butter when he was in the MDC Brooklyn, his attorney said, because the detention center continued to serve him a “flesh diet” despite requests for vegan dishes.
Ja Rule stayed at the MDC Brooklyn for a brief time before being released after serving most of his two-year sentence for illegal gun possession. Most of his prison time was spent in a state prison in New York.
Sharpton served a 90-day sentence in 2001 and went on a hunger strike for protesting the U.S. Navy bombing of the island of Vieques, in Puerto Rico.
Combs was taken into custody on Monday and according to an indictment unsealed Tuesday he was charged with sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to engage in prostitution.
His attorney Marc Agnifilo told CBS News, “It’s impossible to prepare for a trial from where he is,” after a first federal judge denied Combs bail on Tuesday.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Robyn Tarnofsky agreed with prosecutors who argued the hip-hop mogul, who is accused of using his business empire as a criminal enterprise to conceal his alleged abuse of women, is a flight risk and poses an ongoing threat to the safety of the community.
Agnifilo said the part of the detention center where Combs is being held is “a very difficult place to be.”
contributed to this report.
