Donald Trump is returning to Pa., backs out of debate with Kamala Harris; Josh Shapiro won't say if he's submitted VP vetting paperwork

A new poll from Fox News found that Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are tied in preference among Pennsylvania voters — and that Pennsylvanians vastly prefer Gov. Josh Shapiro over any potential running mate for Harris, the presumed Democratic presidential nominee.

Fox's poll showed that Harris and Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, are tied among Keystone State voters at 49% each. A previous poll from the outlet in April, months before President Joe Biden's decision to drop out, had Trump and Biden each garnering 48%.

But while the race among presidential candidates remained close in Fox's poll, Pennsylvania voters clearly preferred Shapiro as Harris' pick for vice president. Of those polled, 61% favored Shapiro, giving him the highest favorable rating of any potential candidate tested, the outlet reported.

Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle L. Parker and leaders in the four collar counties released an ad Friday supporting Vice President Kamala Harris for president.

The ad, which is paid for by Parker's campaign committee, presents a united front among Democrats in the Philadelphia area in favor of Harris, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president.

It includes appearances from County Commissioners Jamila Winder of Montgomery County, Josh Maxwell of Chester County and Diane Ellis-Marseglia from Bucks County as well as Delaware County Council Chair Monica Taylor.

Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle L. Parker said Friday that Republicans who have referred to Vice President Kamala Harris as a “DEI hire” in recent days are trying to deflect attention from their party.

“It’s the old debate trick,” Parker said. “When you’re not prepared, when you are not as talented, when you are not as gifted, and quite frankly, when you are afraid, you have to resort to name-calling.”

She added: “I’m not surprised. It’s a low-blow trick. But what do you expect? Look at who you’re talking about.”

Dozens of Philadelphia labor leaders and union members rallied for Vice President Kamala Harris Friday morning in Northeast Philadelphia as the city’s politically powerful building trades council endorsed her, but you’d be excused for thinking the event was also to support her potential running mate.

Gov. Josh Shapiro, whose name has been floated as a top contender for the Democratic vice presidential nomination, stood alongside a gathering of labor leaders and elected officials who heaped praise on him Friday.

Several speakers even acknowledged that they were told to temper their support of Shapiro in favor of ensuring the event was focused on Harris.

Kamala Harris has earned another Pennsylvania endorsement: Pink.

The Doylestown-born pop singer (born Alecia Moore) voiced her support for Harris’ presidential bid on Thursday night during a massive fundraiser where more than 160,000 women came together on a 90-minute Zoom and raised about $2 million.

“It’s not about which candidate is perfect,” she said. “It’s about which candidate is human and wants to keep us all human, which candidate is going to inspire us to be better and which candidate is going to inspire us to be worse.”

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro was cryptic with reporters Friday as he’s being considered to be Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate, repeatedly dodging questions and refusing to confirm whether he’s being vetted.

His posture — essentially referring all questions about the vice presidential search to Harris’ campaign — is slightly different from earlier in the week, when he said he had not submitted paperwork to be vetted. Asked directly whether he had done so on Friday, Shapiro wouldn’t answer.

He also said he hasn’t spoken to Harris since Sunday, when President Joe Biden dropped his bid for reelection and endorsed Harris to be his successor.

Donald Trump is lashing out at FBI Director Christopher Wray, slamming his testimony before Congress earlier this week that investigators still weren’t certain whether the former president had been struck by a bullet or shrapnel during a July 13 assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Butler, Pa.

Wray’s remarks came in response to questioning Wednesday from Democratic lawmakers of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, who had noted that medical records from the treatment Trump received after the attack had not yet been released.

“I think with respect to former President Trump there’s still some question about whether or not it’s a bullet or shrapnel that, you know, hit his ear,” Wray told them. The investigation, he said, is “very much ongoing.”

Former President Donald Trump’s tune regarding his willingness to debate presidential hopeful Kamala Harris continues to change like the wind.

Following Harris’ announcement she was pursuing the Democratic nomination, Trump expressed hesitancy about a debate on Truth Social, saying he didn’t know who he’d be debating and that the debates should be hosted by right-leaning Fox News. By Tuesday, he softened his stance, saying he’d like to debate Harris multiple times without committing to dates.

But in a new series of communications from Trump and a campaign spokesperson, the former president once again refused to commit to appearing at a Sept. 10 debate originally scheduled to be between Trump and President Joe Biden.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat under consideration to be Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate, said Friday that former President Donald Trump is “afraid” to debate Harris.

“He’s afraid to stand toe-to-toe with our vice president,” Shapiro said. “It’s because he can’t run away from his record any longer.”

Shapiro, standing at a rally in Northeast Philadelphia with union leaders, ticked through a handful of policies and executive actions Trump backed that Shapiro cast as anti-worker.

More than 50 Pennsylvania labor leaders signed a letter in support of Gov. Josh Shapiro, as he continues to be considered as a potential running mate for Vice President Kamala Harris.

The major political power players threw their support behind Shapiro in the letter, sent to their “Democratic Brothers and Sisters.”

“As the only Governor in the nation with a divided legislature, Governor Shapiro knows better than anyone that we don’t have to agree on every single issue to continue to get stuff done,” the letter, first reported by NBC news, states.

Former President Barack Obama and his wife, former first lady Michelle Obama, have endorsed Kamala Harris' presidential campaign.

In a video shared on social media Friday morning, Harris is seen taking a call from the Obamas backstage at a campaign event. It's unclear when the call took place — Barack Obama noted in his post it happened "earlier this week."

“We called to say Michelle and I couldn’t be prouder to endorse you and do everything we can to get you through this election and into the Oval Office,” Barack Obama said to Harris.

Former President Donald Trump will return to Pennsylvania next week for the first time since a 20-year-old Pennsylvania man attempted to assassinate him.

Trump will return to the state less than three weeks after an assassination attempt against him at an open-air campaign rally in Butler, Pa., where a bullet grazed his ear.

The Secret Service failed to protect the former president from the gunman who scaled a nearby building — despite spotting him 20 minutes beforehand — due to several major security mistakes. The event led Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to resign, and was the agency’s “most significant operational failure” in decades, she told Congress prior to her resignation.

Donald Trump has backed out of a previously scheduled debate that was slated to take place in September.

In a statement, Trump claimed it was "inappropriate" to schedule a debate with Harris because she is not yet officially the Democratic nominee, though she has secured the support of enough delegates and does not face any challengers.

Harris will officially become the nominee when Democrats vote in a roll call that could take place as soon as next week.

Haley Voters for Harris, a Philadelphia-based group led by Nikki Haley voters against former President Donald Trump, has set its sights on Pennsylvania and other crucial battleground states, encouraging Haley’s backers to throw their support instead behind Vice President Kamala Harris’ candidacy.

But Haley, a former Republican presidential candidate, is not on board.

On Tuesday, the former South Carolina governor and United Nations Ambassador sent a cease-and-desist letter to the group for what she views as associating her name with an endorsement for Harris.

A network of more than two dozen public education advocacy groups from across the country published a letter Wednesday night urging Vice President Kamala Harris not to select Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro as her running mate because of his support for private school vouchers.

School vouchers, which provide parents with state funding to send children to private schools, are an issue on which Shapiro has agreed to compromise with Republicans since becoming governor.

Shapiro has said he supports vouchers, with the caveat that it must be paired with increases in public education funding so that money is not being diverted away from public schools. Pennsylvania just enacted sweeping changes to how it funds its public schools, including a more than $1 billion increase, in an effort to offer students an equitable and adequate education.