Politics
Pelosi endorses Harris, who gains quick support among leading Democrats
Less than 24 hours after President Biden ended his reelection bid, a slew of Democratic leaders threw their support behind Vice President Kamala Harris — including her highly influential Bay Area colleague, San Francisco Rep. Nancy Pelosi.
Harris won the topmost endorsement Sunday, when Biden backed her to be his successor. Later Monday, Pelosi gave her support for Harris, “with immense pride and limitless optimism for our country’s future.”
“Officially, I have seen Kamala Harris’ strength and courage as a champion for working families, notably fighting for a woman’s right to choose. Personally, I have known Kamala Harris for decades as rooted in strong values, faith and a commitment to public service,” Pelosi said in a statement. “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 in November.”
Still, Harris said her “intention is to earn and win this nomination,” a nod to the fact that it is not a sealed deal. The vice president spent Sunday calling more than 100 Democrats, including members of Congress, governors and labor and civil rights leaders, according to a person familiar with Harris’ activities on Sunday.
“On each of those calls, the vice president made clear that she was extremely grateful for the president’s endorsement but plans to work hard to earn the Democratic nomination in her own right,” according to the source, who added that Harris was expected to continue making calls Monday.
In her first public appearance since becoming a presidential candidate, Harris spoke on the South Lawn of the White House to a gathering of NCAA championship teams Monday morning. She kept the focus on Biden, saying the president is “feeling much better and recovering fast” from a bout with COVID-19.
“In one term, he has already surpassed the legacy of most presidents who have served two terms in office,” she said, in her only nod to the weekend’s whirlwind events.
In a statement on social media, Harris said she would go next to Wilmington, Del., where the Biden campaign is headquartered, “to say ‘hello’ to our staff.’”
It’s the first full day of our campaign, so I’m heading up to Wilmington, DE later to say “hello” to our staff in HQ.
One day down. 105 to go. Together, we’re going to win this.
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) July 22, 2024
Donations for Harris soared since the announcement, with $49.6 million in grassroots donations since yesterday afternoon, according to her campaign. Bakari Sellers, a Harris ally, said he believes they could have the nomination wrapped up by Wednesday, adding that he was working the phones to whip up delegate support for Harris.
The Democratic National Convention’s Rules Committee is scheduled to meet Wednesday to determine the nominating process. The formal convention in Chicago, where delegates will convene to cast their votes, begins Aug. 19.
But in several states, delegates are meeting beforehand — some as early as this week — to discuss endorsing Harris. An Associated Press survey of Democratic delegates, conducted Monday morning, found early signs that Harris is consolidating support for the presidential nomination.
As the largest state in the nation, California has outsized influence on the summer convention. Chair Rusty Hicks encouraged the state party’s 496 delegates to endorse Harris. Already Monday morning, all of New Hampshire 25 pledged delegates signed a letter unanimously endorsing Harris for president.
Harris also picked up the endorsements of many Democratic leaders, including Govs. Gavin Newsom of California, Roy Cooper of North Carolina, Kathy Hochul of New York, Janet Mills of Maine, Phil Murphy of New Jersey, Jared Polis of Colorado and Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, as well as Sens. Laphonza Butler and Alex Padilla of California, Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, Chris Coons of Delaware, Mark Kelly of Arizona, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and John Hickenlooper of Colorado.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer — both considered possible replacements for Biden — endorsed Harris on Monday morning, in a joint statement with Govs. Tim Walz of Minnesota and Tony Evers of Wisconsin. Michigan and Wisconsin are key swing states that Harris will need to win.
“I also think it’s past time we shatter that highest and hardest of glass ceilings and finally elect a woman as President of the United States,” Pritzker said in a statement.
Some Democrats have remained silent on the endorsement front, including Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), who reportedly worked behind the scenes to persuade Biden to step aside.
Meanwhile, the Trump campaign continued its attacks on Harris, which have ramped up in recent weeks. In an email to supporters titled “Harris Dishonest Mondays: Harris is Biden 2.0,” the campaign said Harris is “just as complicit as Biden is in the destruction of our once-great Nation, and they must all be thrown out of office.” The email also emphasized one of the campaign’s main sticking points with Harris: that she conspired to hide Biden’s decline from Americans.
A recent spate of polling, pitting Harris against Trump, show the former president leading by a few percentage points.
Politics
Video: Walz Drops Re-Election Bid as Minnesota Fraud Scandal Grows
new video loaded: Walz Drops Re-Election Bid as Minnesota Fraud Scandal Grows
transcript
transcript
Walz Drops Re-Election Bid as Minnesota Fraud Scandal Grows
Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota abandoned his re-election bid to focus on handling a scandal over fraud in social service programs that grew under his administration.
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“I’ve decided to step out of this race, and I’ll let others worry about the election while I focus on the work that’s in front of me for the next year.” “All right, so this is Quality Learing Center — meant to say Quality ‘Learning’ Center.” “Right now we have around 56 kids enrolled. If the children are not here, we mark absence.”
By Shawn Paik
January 6, 2026
Politics
Pelosi heir-apparent calls Trump’s Venezuela move a ‘lawless coup,’ urges impeachment, slams Netanyahu
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A San Francisco Democrat demanded the impeachment of President Donald Trump, accusing him of carrying out a “coup” against Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro.
California state Sen. Scott Wiener, seen as the likely congressional successor to Rep. Nancy Pelosi, also took a swipe at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Wiener has frequently drawn national attention for his progressive positions, including his legislation signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom designating California as a “refuge” for transgender children and remarks at a San Francisco Pride Month event referring to California children as “our kids.”
In a lengthy public statement following the Trump administration’s arrest and extradition of Maduro to New York, Wiener said the move shows the president only cares about “enriching his public donors” and “cares nothing for the human or economic cost of conquering another country.”
KAMALA HARRIS BLASTS TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S CAPTURE OF VENEZUELA’S MADURO AS ‘UNLAWFUL AND UNWISE’
California State Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, speaks at a rally. (John Sciulli/Getty Images)
“This lawless coup is an invitation for China to invade Taiwan, for Russia to escalate its conquest in Ukraine, and for Netanyahu to expand the destruction of Gaza and annex the West Bank,” said Wiener, who originally hails from South Jersey.
He suggested that the Maduro operation was meant to distract from purportedly slumping poll numbers, the release of Jeffrey Epstein-related documents, and to essentially seize another country’s oil reserves.
“Trump is a total failure,” Wiener said. “By engaging in this reckless act, Trump is also making the entire world less safe … Trump is making clear yet again that, under this regime, there are no rules, there are no laws, there are no norms – there is only whatever Trump thinks is best for himself and his cronies at a given moment in time.”
GREENE HITS TRUMP OVER VENEZUELA STRIKES, ARGUES ACTION ‘DOESN’T SERVE THE AMERICAN PEOPLE’
In response, the White House said the administration’s actions against Maduro were “lawfully executed” and included a federal arrest warrant.”
“While Democrats take twisted stands in support of indicted drug smugglers, President Trump will always stand with victims and families who can finally receive closure thanks to this historic action,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said.
Supporters of the operation have pushed back on claims of “regime change” – an accusation Wiener also made – pointing to actions by Maduro-aligned courts that barred top opposition leader María Corina Machado from running, even as publicly reported results indicated her proxy, Edmundo González Urrutia, won the vote.
“Trump’s illegal invasion of Venezuela isn’t about drugs, and it isn’t about helping the people of Venezuela or restoring Venezuelan democracy,” Wiener added. “Yes, Maduro is awful, but that’s not what the invasion is about. It’s all about oil and Trump’s collapsing support at home.”
EX-ESPN STAR KEITH OLBERMANN CALLS FOR IMPEACHMENT OF TRUMP OVER VENEZUELA STRIKES THAT CAPTURED MADURO
Around the country, a handful of other Democrats referenced impeachment or impeachable offenses, but did not go as far as Wiener in demanding such proceedings.
Rep. April McClain-Delaney, D-Md., who represents otherwise conservative “Mountain Maryland” in the state’s panhandle, said Monday that Democrats should “imminently consider impeachment proceedings,” according to TIME.
McClain-Delaney said Trump acted without constitutionally-prescribed congressional authorization and wrongly voiced “intention to ‘run’ the country.”
SCHUMER BLASTED TRUMP FOR FAILING TO OUST MADURO — NOW WARNS ARREST COULD LEAD TO ‘ENDLESS WAR’
One frequent Trump foil, Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., cited in a statement that she has called for Trump’s impeachment in the past; blaming Republicans for letting the president “escape accountability.”
“Today, many Democrats have understandably questioned whether impeachment is possible again under the current political reality. I am reconsidering that view,” Waters said.
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“What we are witnessing is an unprecedented escalation of an unlawful invasion, the detention of foreign leaders, and a president openly asserting power far beyond what the Constitution allows,” she said, while appearing to agree with Trump that Maduro was involved in drug trafficking and “collaborat[ion] with… terrorists.”
Wiener’s upcoming primary is considered the deciding election in the D+36 district, while a handful of other lesser-known candidates have reportedly either filed FEC paperwork or declared their candidacy, including San Francisco Councilwoman Connie Chan.
Politics
California Congressman Doug LaMalfa dies, further narrowing GOP margin in Congress
California Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-Richvale) has died, GOP leadership and President Trump confirmed Tuesday morning.
“Jacquie and I are devastated about the sudden loss of our friend, Congressman Doug LaMalfa. Doug was a loving father and husband, and staunch advocate for his constituents and rural America,” said Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), the House majority whip, in a post on X. “Our prayers are with Doug’s wife, Jill, and their children.”
LaMalfa, 65, was a fourth-generation rice farmer from Oroville and staunch Trump supporter who had represented his Northern California district for the past 12 years. His seat was one of several that was in jeopardy under the state’s redrawn districts approved by voters with Proposition 50.
Emergency personnel responded to a 911 call from LaMalfa’s residence at 6:50 p.m. Monday, according to the Butte County Sheriff’s Office. The congressman was taken to the Enloe Medical Center in Chico, where he died while undergoing emergency surgery, authorities said.
An autopsy to determine the cause of death is planned, according to the sheriff’s office.
LaMalfa’s district — which stretches from the northern outskirts of Sacramento, through Redding at the northern end of the Central Valley and Alturas in the state’s northeast corner — is largely rural, and constituents have long said they felt underrepresented in liberal California.
LaMalfa put much of his focus on boosting federal water supplies to farmers, and seeking to reduce environmental restrictions on logging and extraction of other natural resources.
One LaMalfa’s final acts in the U.S. House was to successfully push for the reauthorization of the Secure Rural Schools Act, a long-standing financial aid program for schools surrounded by untaxed federal forest land, whose budgets could not depend upon property taxes, as most public schools do. Despite broad bipartisan support, Congress let it lapse in 2023.
In an interview with The Times as he was walking onto the House floor in mid-December, LaMalfa said he was frustrated with Congress’s inability to pass even a popular bill like that reauthorization.
The Secure Rural Schools Act, he said, was a victim of a Congress in which “it’s still an eternal fight over anything fiscal.” It is “annoying,” LaMalfa said, “how hard it is to get basic things done around here.”
In a statement posted on X, California Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff said he considered LaMalfa “a friend and partner” and that the congressman was “deeply committed to his community and constituents, working to make life better for those he represented.”
“Doug’s life was one of great service and he will be deeply missed,” Schiff wrote.
Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom in a statement called LaMalfa a “devoted public servant who deeply loved his country, his state, and the communities he represented.”
“While we often approached issues from different perspectives, he fought every day for the people of California with conviction and care,” Newsom said.
Flags at the California State Capitol in Sacramento will be flown at half-staff in honor of the congressman, according to the governor.
Before his death, LaMalfa was facing a difficult reelection bid to hold his seat. After voters approved Proposition 50 in November — aimed at giving California Democrats more seats in Congress — LaMalfa was drawn into a new district that heavily favored his likely opponent, State Sen. Mike McGuire, a Democrat who represents the state’s northwest coast.
LaMalfa’s death puts the Republican majority in Congress in further jeopardy, with a margin of just two votes to secure passage of any bill along party lines after the resignation of Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on Monday evening.
Adding to the party’s troubles, Rep. Jim Baird, a Republican from Indiana, was hospitalized on Tuesday for a car crash described by the White House as serious. While Baird is said to be stable, the Republican House speaker, Mike Johnson from Louisiana, will not be able to rely on his attendance. And he has one additional caucus member – Thomas Massie of Kentucky – who has made a habit of voting against the president, bringing their margin for error down effectively to zero.
President Trump, addressing a gathering of GOP House members at the Kennedy Center, addressed the news at the start of his remarks, expressing “tremendous sorrow at the loss of a great member” and stating his speech would be made in LaMalfa’s honor.
“He was the leader of the Western caucus – a fierce champion on California water issues. He was great on water. ‘Release the water!’ he’d scream out. And a true defender of American children.”
“You know, he voted with me 100% of the time,” Trump added.
A native of Oroville, LaMalfa attended Butte College and then earned an ag-business degree from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. He served in the California Assembly from 2002 to 2008 and the California State Senate from 2010 to 2012. Staunchly conservative, he was an early supporter of Proposition 209, which ended affirmative action in California, and he also pushed for passage of the Protection of Marriage Act, Proposition 22, which banned same-sex marriage in California.
While representing California’s 1st District, LaMalfa focused largely on issues affecting rural California and other western states. In 2025, Congressman he was elected as Chairman of the Congressional Western Caucus, which focuses on legislation affected rural areas.
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