The Latest: Trump on defense after race comments and Vance’s rough pitch

donald trump falsely suggested Vice President Kamala Harris misled voters about her race when she appeared before the National Association of Black Journalists in Chicago.

The former Republican president erroneously claimed Wednesday at the group’s annual convention that Harris, the first Black and Asian-American woman to serve as vice president, had in the past only promoted her Indian heritage.

Trump’s interview, a source of controversy before it even took place, was extremely controversial, particularly because of his reaction to blunt questioning from ABC News’ Rachel Scott. The appearance divide group members.

Harris said Trump’s comments about her race were the “same old show” and underscored the need for black women to organize for his defeat in November.

Trump did not repeat his claims at a rally Wednesday in Pennsylvania. He also repeatedly mispronounced Harris’ first name. Before he took the stage, Trump’s team displayed what appeared to be years-old headlines on a large screen describing her as the “first Indian-American senator.”

Harris and her Democratic allies are increasingly criticizing Trump and his running mate, U.S. Senator J.D. Vance, as “strange”. As Vance’s rocky launch continues, Trump is also in the position this week of having to defend someone else’s controversial comments.

About 8 in 10 Democrats say they would be somewhat or very pleased if Harris became the Democratic nominee for president, according to a survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Follow AP’s 2024 election coverage at: https://apnews.com/hub/election-2024.

Here are the latest:

As Vice President Kamala Harris prepares to announce her running mate, a new Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs poll The survey found that several of the top potential candidates for the office are largely unknown to voters.

The poll, conducted after President Joe Biden announced he was withdrawing from the race and Harris became the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, highlights the strengths and weaknesses that different politicians could bring to the ticket.

Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly stands out as a candidate who has more name recognition — and greater favorability, especially among Democrats. And others, like Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, although less well-known nationally, could count on deeper support in their home states and regions.

Tennessee primary elections thursday will decide whether state Rep. Gloria Johnson, who rose to national fame after surviving a Republican-led expulsion effort for her participation in a gun control protest, will become the Democratic nominee in a fall race for the seat held by Sen. US Republican Marsha Blackburn, who must first win her own primary contest.

Last year, days after a school shooting that killed three children and three adults, Johnson, who is white, followed two black Democratic representatives, Justin Pearson and Justin Jones, to the front of the state House floor with a bullhorn. The trio joined in the chants and chants for gun control legislation from protesters in the public galleries and outside the House chamber.

They were nicknamed the “Tennessee Three.” Pearson and Jones were expelled and later returned to office. Johnson was spared expulsion by one vote and noted that it was likely because she was white.

Whoever emerges from the Democratic primary will run in a state that for almost two decades has only elected Republican candidates at the state level.

A Republican election official lost his primary race this week in Maricopa County, Arizona, a result that could significantly influence how voting is conducted in one of the nation’s key battleground states.

County Recorder Stephen Richer lost to state lawmaker Justin Heap, who will face Democrat Tim Stringham in November. Richer has battled death threats, near-constant harassment and streams of misinformation during his nearly four years overseeing elections in Arizona’s most populous county.

Richer will remain in office until the November elections, but his departure early next year will end a term plagued by controversy. His office shares election duties with the county board of supervisors and has had to fend off attacks over the results of the 2020 presidential electionlike former President Donald Trump and his allies falsely claimed this widespread fraud cost him the race.

The outcry from a group of Republican lawmakers, local officials and grassroots activists turned into protests and threats that energized the campaign for his impeachment.