NEWS GLEAMS | Kamala Harris Picks VP Running Mate; Secretary of State Warns of Election Misinformation

A roundup of news and announcements we don't want to get lost in the fast-churning news cycle.

by Vee Hua 華婷婷

Kamala Harris Picks Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as VP Running Mate for Presidential Campaign

Gov. Tim Walz's Appeal as Vice Presidential Running Mate

Current Vice President Kamala Harris has chosen Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate for her presidential campaign. Walz is poised to strategically help Harris appeal to swing states in the Midwest and Pennsylvania. Gov. Walz is a former elected member of Congress for 12 years and an Army National Guard veteran of 24 years. He also grew up on a farm in small-town Nebraska and had a number of nonpolitical and nongovernment jobs as a high school social studies teacher and football coach.

Gov. Walz, who is a 60-year-old self-described "white dude for Kamala Harris," is also seen as a straight talker whose background and manner of speech have a track record of appealing to more moderate Republicans as well as Democrats. One key reason Walz was selected is also related to his personal relationship with Harris and her husband.

Harris chose Walz after narrowing her top three finalists down to Gov. Walz, Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, and Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona. In support of Harris' decision, Sen. Kelly wrote on X, "Vice President @KamalaHarris and Governor @Tim_Walz are going to move us forward. They're already building a campaign to unite our country."

CBS News reported that Harris chose her running mate for reasons similar to those President Joe Biden had for choosing her four years ago, which was an action he called "the best decision he has ever made." "The VP pick is expected to share Harris' values of fighting for the middle class, protecting democracy and freedoms, treating people with respect and dignity, and creating an America where everybody gets a fair shot."

Walz joined Harris at a Tuesday evening rally in Pennsylvania, which served as his first introduction in the role. Onstage, he expressed his thanks at being selected for the VP role, made a number of jokes that appealed to working-class sentiments, and spoke a bit about his own background. The majority of his speech was spent in support of Vice President Harris.

"From her first day as a prosecutor, as a district attorney, Attorney General of the great state of California, a United States Senator, and Vice President of the United States, Vice President Harris has fought on the side of the American people. She took on the predators, she took on the fraudsters, she took down the transnational gangs, she stood up against powerful corporate interests, and she never hesitated to reach across the aisle if it meant improving people's lives," Walz said onstage. "And I want all of you to hold this, and don't ever underestimate the power of this: She does it all with a sense of joy."

Former President Donald Trump sent a fundraising email shortly after Walz was chosen, calling him "Dangerously Liberal" and someone who would "unleash HELL ON EARTH." They also released a statement calling him a "radical leftist" and a "West Coast wannabe"; the Trump campaign press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said, "Just like Kamala Harris, Tim Walz is a dangerously liberal extremist, and the Harris-Walz California dream is every American's nightmare."

Trump has chosen Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance as his running mate. The choice was made prior to Biden dropping out of his campaign. Sen. Vance is largely seen as doubling down on Trump's existing voting base, rather than dramatically expanding it.

Vice President Harris Has Secured the Official Presidential Nomination From the Democratic National Convention

The announcement regarding Gov. Walz was made on Tuesday morning, one day after Harris claimed the nomination from the Democratic National Convention (DNC), as no other candidate received enough votes from DNC delegates to qualify as a potential candidate. Early reporting from The Associated Press showed that Harris had already secured the necessary votes from DNC delegates to secure the nomination just 32 hours after Biden announced on July 21 that he would no longer run for a second term, following a widely-seen-as-disastrous debate with Trump.

"Under party rules, a candidate qualifies to compete for the nomination by submitting a notarized declaration of candidacy, meeting legal requirements to be president and securing the electronic signatures of at least 300 delegates, with no more than 50 signatures from any one delegation counting toward the 300 minimum," The Associated Press reported. "The DNC announced that 3,923 delegates had petitioned to nominate Harris."

Vice President Harris is the first Woman of Color to be the presidential candidate of either the Republican or Democratic parties.

Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs Warns of 2024 Election Misinformation

As Washington State's Aug. 6 primary concludes, and in preparation for the Nov. 5 general election — which also includes the election for the president of the United States — Washington's Secretary of State Steve Hobbs is warning of an increased potential for misinformation. He has called out the potential for fake materials on social media, as well as falsely manipulated videos, known as "deepfakes," which can present specific individuals as saying or doing things they are not actually saying or doing in real life.

In 2023, Senate Bill 5152 was created at Hobbs' request to limit the use of deepfakes in political campaigning. Any use of deepfakes now requires disclosure, and candidates who are targeted by undisclosed deepfakes can sue for potential damages. As technology improves, the prevalence of deepfakes is increasing, though the public's knowledge of how to discern them has moved at a much slower pace.

"As we move through Washington's August 6 Primary and toward the November 5 General Election, I am concerned that a deluge of manipulated and false information may be inserted into social media from foreign actors and other sources," Secretary Hobbs said via news release. "Artificial Intelligence is getting easier and cheaper to manipulate for a broad number of malicious actors. The rest of us must be careful to verify what we see before we take it to heart."

Hobbs specifically called out a post by Elon Musk, the owner of X (formerly Twitter), who is in support of a second-term Donald Trump presidency and had shared a faked, manipulated recording of presidential candidate Kamala Harris via X.

"If the owner of a social media platform themself is going to share misleading material, it signals to the rest of us that other materials allowed there may not be trustworthy," Secretary Hobbs said in the press release. "I urge Washington's more than 4.8 million registered voters to seek out trusted information sources — such as established news outlets and official government institutions — as they navigate upcoming elections."

On Monday, Hobbs joined other Secretaries of State from Minnesota, Michigan, New Mexico, and Pennsylvania in writing a public letter that asks Musk to change the referrals made by X's AI search assistant, Grok. The public letter asks for voters who are seeking election information to be directed to CanIVote.org, which is a reputable resource that other AI applications, such as ChatGPT and OpenAI, already link to.

Grok had shared false election ballot deadlines after President Joe Biden announced on July 21 that he would not run for another presidential term. The AI search assistant's information, which was shared on multiple social media platforms, said, "The ballot deadline has passed for several states for the 2024 election. Some of these states include: 1. Alabama 2. Indiana 3. Michigan 4. Minnesota 5. New Mexico 6. Ohio 7. Pennsylvania 8. Texas 9. Washington." The information was false for all nine states, according to the Secretaries of States' public letter.

Resources for Voters

Some helpful resources presented by Secretary of State Hobbs and the Nonprofit Association of Washington to help guide voters during election season include:

• Office of the Secretary of State's Elections Website: The official page includes important election deadlines, printable PDF registration forms, and more.
• Washington County Elections Offices: Each county may provide ballots upon request and help voters make changes to their registration. Individual county election offices may also have prepared guides that can be mailed to voters or downloaded virtually.
• Voter Guides: VoteWA has Voters Guides prepared by the Washington Secretary of State with statements from each candidate.
• TVW Video Voters Guide: Washington State's public affairs cable channel has two-to-three-minute presentations featuring brief statements from candidates running statewide offices, such as senators and the governor.
• VoteWA Portal: A resource where voters can confirm or update their registration and other details, see their ballot for upcoming elections, and track their ballot through the entire tabulation process.

📸 Featured Image: Kamala Harris and Tim Walz on stage at the rally in Liacouras Center at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Aug. 6, 2024, as Harris announces Walz as her VP running mate. (Photo via lev radin/Shutterstock.com)

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