Today’s Big Story

Kamala’s Momentum

Harris hauled in record sums of cash, secured delegations and drew endorsements from her final possible rivals

That didn’t take long. Democrats united behind Vice President Kamala Harris as the party’s front-runner for the presidential nomination Monday, and their excitement translated into a juggernaut day of support and fundraising for the party and for Harris’ campaign.

NBC News reported late Monday that Harris had secured the backing of more than the 1,976 delegates needed to capture the nomination in the first round of voting. Of course, the pledged support is not binding until the delegates cast their votes, which party officials said would take place between Aug. 1 and 7.

Harris’ team also raised more than $81 million in the 24-hour period since Biden’s announcement, campaign spokesperson Kevin Munoz said Monday. “The historic outpouring of support for Vice President Harris represents exactly the kind of grassroots energy and enthusiasm that wins elections,” Munoz told the Associated Press. Overall, the Harris campaign said 888,000 grassroots donors made donations over the previous 24 hours; more than 500,000 were making their first contribution of the 2024 campaign cycle.

Enthusiasm was spreading in corners of the internet and on social media as well. Fans quickly started posting remixes on TikTok that incorporated audio from Harris’ speeches, along with her laugh, into songs by Charli XCX, Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Chappell Roan, Mitski and Kim Petras. The New York Times says that Harris, who is 59, with a big, diverse family, seems to have energized digitally engaged voters in a way that Biden never did.

“Over the next 106 days, we are going to take our case to the American people, and we are going to win,” Harris said during a visit to campaign headquarters in Delaware, where she was greeted by a group of energized staffers for Biden’s now-abandoned candidacy. Harris accused Donald Trump of wanting to “take our country backwards to a time before many of our fellow Americans had full freedoms and rights.” She added, “we believe in a brighter future that makes room for all Americans.”

Secret Service Director Grilled Over Assassination Attempt

House lawmakers expressed anger that Kimberly Cheatle wouldn’t offer more details

The Secret Service director, Kimberly A. Cheatle, faced bipartisan calls for her resignation on Monday, after an uncomfortable hourslong congressional hearing in which she declined to answer fairly basic questions about the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.

Cheatle declined to answer questions about how the security perimeter was drawn for the rally, whether law enforcement swept the roof in advance or how many agents were assigned to the event, saying a review of the breakdown is ongoing. Pressed by lawmakers, she acknowledged that Secret Service agents had received multiple notifications of a person acting suspiciously. And that the gunman was “identified as suspicious, with a range finder—which resembles binoculars that hunters use to measure distance to a target—and backpack, more than an hour before he opened fire.”

“Director Cheatle, because Donald Trump is alive, and thank God he is, you look incompetent,” said Rep. Mike Turner, of Ohio. “If Donald Trump had been killed, you would have looked culpable.” Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the panel, also called for her resignation, saying the Secret Service chief has “lost the confidence of Congress at a very urgent and tender moment in the history of the country.”

The State of the Middle Class

Who is in it and how much does it require today?

We often hear (and we’re about to hear it a lot more) that America is a divided nation. Well, when it comes to finances, the data points to us being more apart than in the recent past. According to a new Pew Research Center analysis of government data, the share of Americans who are in the middle class is smaller than it used to be. In 1971, 61% of Americans lived in middle-class households. By 2023, the share had fallen to around 51%.

During the same time, the share of Americans living in lower income households rose from 27% to just over 30%, while that of individuals living in upper income households rose from 11% to 19%. Newsweek says that the findings “show us that the wealth gap between Americans has grown deeper in the past decades, exacerbating inequality.”

If you’re wondering how much it takes to be considred “middle class” these days, there’s new data on that, too. As CNBC points out, it looks different depending on where you are. “It may mean owning a house and a car in one city and simply being able to rent a place on your own in another.” In the San Francisco area, for example, an annual income close to $250,000 would classify your household as middle earners (based on 2022 Census data). In Washington, D.C., Seattle and Boston, you’d need $200K. Head to Chicago, Dallas or Denver and you’re looking to earn closer to $150K.

Ukraine’s Largest Music Festival Returns

In Kyiv, music fans rub shoulders with generals and famous artists, united by the inescapable war

How do you stage a music festival for 25,000 people when you're under threat from a potential Russian missile attack? That’s what must’ve been on the minds of those in charge of Atlas United, Ukraine's biggest music festival, which returned for the first time since Russia's full-scale invasion of the country in February 2022.

Gone were the international headliners, the massive performance halls and the hundreds of thousands of visitors. Instead, local artists performed for a smaller but still vibrant crowd. The stage was erected in a shopping mall parking lot, according to the Associated Press—the only option with a shelter large enough to contain the 25,000 people expected in the event of an air raid.

It was pushed back a week after a series of deadly missile attacks, including one that hit a children's hospital. Residents of Kyiv continue to grapple with power cuts caused by Moscow’s targeted destruction of Ukrainian energy generation at the height of a summer heat wave. But overall, it provided a break from the dark realities of war, as the crowd danced and sang along, rubbing shoulders with hardened military commanders as famous singers crooned lyrics imbued with national pride.

Make a Summer Bucket List

It’s not too late to squeeze the most out of summer

There’s something about summer that brings up a man's spirit of adventure. Perhaps it's a holdover from the early days of childhood, when school would let out and a surge of freedom washed over you. The world—or at least your neighborhood—was your oyster. With ample time at your disposal, you'd inevitably make new friends, discover new things and probably get yourself in trouble a few times. But, in the end, it was a transformative experience.

Some of that wonderment gets lost as we get older. The idleness of childhood gets shelved as responsibilities accumulate. Summer is still full of hope, no matter how old you are, but we so rarely take full advantage. And if ever a year called for shedding the heaviness of the past few months, it's this one. So get outside, feel the sun's warmth on your face or take pleasure in the joy of night swimming.

What are you focusing on today?