Live updates: More Dem lawmakers call on Biden to end campaign | AP News

President Joe Biden says he’s ready to return to the campaign trail next week, even as a growing chorus of Democratic lawmakers called for him to step aside.

Meanwhile, after wrapping their national convention in Milwaukee this week, Republican officials, strategists and activists are exuding a confidence not seen in decades. Donald Trump on Saturday will hold his first public campaign rally since he was injured in an assassination attempt, with an event in the battleground state of Michigan alongside his new running mate Ohio Sen. JD Vance.

Republican Donald Trump on Saturday will hold his first public campaign rally since he was injured in an assassination attempt, with an event in the battleground state of Michigan alongside his new running mate.

The joint rally with Ohio Sen. JD Vance is the first for the pair since they became the GOP’s nominees at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. Trump kicked off the gathering of Republicans by naming Vance his vice presidential pick and concluded it with a speech urging unity following a July 13 shooting in Pennsylvania that left Trump with a bloodied ear and killed one man in the crowd.

“I am running to be president for all of America, not half of America, because there is no victory in winning for half of America,” Trump said Thursday night in what was the longest convention speech in modern history at just under 93 minutes.

Read more about the crucial role Michigan could play in the election.

As President Joe Biden faces a growing drumbeat of pressure to drop his reelection bid, a majority of Democrats think his vice president would make a good president herself.

A new poll from the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that about 6 in 10 Democrats believe Kamala Harris would do a good job in the top slot. About 2 in 10 Democrats don’t believe she would, and another 2 in 10 say they don’t know enough to say.

Since Biden’s debate debacle on June 27, many Democrats have privately and even openly looked to Harris to step in and succeed Biden as the party’s presidential nominee, believing she has a better chance against GOP nominee Donald Trump. For her part, Harris has remained completely loyal to Biden, being one of his toughest defenders in the aftermath of the disastrous debate performance.

Read more about the poll here.

Third-term U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, of Ohio, was one of a dozen members of Congress who on Friday said Biden should end his campaign.

The plea came as Brown faces Republican Bernie Moreno, a Cleveland businessman, in what’s viewed as one of the most competitive Senate races of the year.

Brown is the only Democrat holding a statewide position in Ohio. His former bellwether state has twice supported Donald Trump by large margins and Trump has the state’s junior senator, JD Vance, as his running mate.

While Brown has enjoyed a long, close relationship with Biden — he was even on the shortlist to be Biden’s vice presidential pick — he has worked to distance himself this cycle amid Biden’s unpopularity. Brown has aired ads touting his support for border- and fentanyl-related legislation, highlighting one bill that Brown sponsored “and Trump signed.”

A rapidly growing chorus of Democratic lawmakers called Friday for President Joe Biden to drop his reelection bid, even as the president insisted he’s ready to return to the campaign trail next week to counter what he called a “dark vision” laid out by Republican Donald Trump.

As more Democratic members of Congress urged him to drop out — bringing the total since his disastrous debate against Trump to nearly three dozen — Biden remained isolated at his beach house in Delaware after being diagnosed with COVID-19. The president, who has insisted he can beat Trump, was huddling with family and relying on a few longtime aides as he resisted efforts to shove him aside.

Late Friday, Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat who is in a tough race for reelection, called for Biden to step aside.

Brown said in a statement that he agrees with “the many Ohioans” who have reached out to him. “I think the president should end his campaign,” he said.

For better or worse, former President Trump had a large audience watching him deliver his nomination acceptance speech at the RNC on Thursday.

An estimated 25.4 million people watched the final night of the convention on one of 14 networks that were covering it, the Nielsen company said on Friday. Viewership peaked at 28.4 million between 10:45 and 11 p.m. Eastern, at the beginning of Trump’s speech, Nielsen said.

That would be good news for the ex-president. The early part of his speech, where he spoke dramatically about last Saturday’s attempt on his life, was generally regarded as its most effective. As it dragged on past the 90-minute part and past midnight on the East Coast, Trump largely went off-script for remarks that resembled his typical stump speech.

Fox News Channel had 9.4 million viewers during Trump’s speech, comfortably ahead of any other network. An estimated 72 percent of the viewers were aged 55 and up, Nielsen said.

It was the most-watched night of the convention, which is typical for the evening when the presidential nominee speaks.

The Congressional Black Caucus prides itself on its authority among Democrats and its influence with President Joe Biden in particular. So far, only one of its roughly 60 members have joined calls for Biden to drop his reelection bid due to concerns over his age and ability to win.

But the caucus’ broad backing of the president varies widely, ranging from enthusiastic support to outright skepticism. And a small but growing number within the group are publicly expressing doubts about Biden’s candidacy.

Black voters are widely credited with helping Biden clinch the Democratic nomination four years ago and then defeat Republican Donald Trump. Whether Black lawmakers stick with the president now, and how fervently they do so, could be critical in the coming days as pressure builds from the highest levels of the Democratic Party for Biden to end his campaign.

▶ Read about Black lawmakers’ relationship with the president