Good morning,

When the news starts coming, it don't stop coming. This weekend, President Joe Biden announced that he would step away from the 2024 presidential election, endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris in his stead.

In the past two days, the country's attention has pivoted sharply. The GOP has been struggling to get its feet under itself to properly launch attacks on Harris. So far, the best efforts have been accusations of being a "DEI hire" – a racist and sexist comment that completely belittles her significant achievements and how she has broken barriers to become the first woman, first Black American and first Asian American elected to be California's attorney general and the first Black woman elected to be U.S. Senator of California – and Trump calling her "Lyin' Kamala" in the same sentence that he refers to himself as a "fine and brilliant young man named DONALD J. TRUMP."

As a reminder, Trump is 78 years old. Harris is 59. Trump has told some egregious lies, but this perhaps takes the cake. 78 is not quite young by any objective standard. Even by a relative perspective, people can tell 78 is in fact older than 59. And one would hope a brilliant political mind would know how to correctly spell "poll numbers." Trump might say something stupid – but he’ll never be brat.

While Republicans scramble to find an angle to target Harris – who yesterday earned enough delegates to win the Democratic nomination for president – here's where she stands on the actual issues...

REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS AND MATERNAL HEALTH CARE

• Since the U.S. Supreme Court's Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade, Harris has led the fight for reproductive freedoms, pushing back on extremist conservatives' abortion bans, criminalization of doctors, and policies that have harmed women and families for seeking care that had previously been legal for fifty years.

• Harris has taken a more direct approach than Biden on the issue. She has traveled to key battleground states across the country on a "Fight for Reproductive Freedoms" speaking tour to share the stories of those impacted by state bans that fell into place post-Roe. She was also the first vice president to visit an abortion provider while in office.

• Harris has also been commended for her work to lower maternal mortality rates, both in the Biden-Harris administration and during her tenure as Senator, when she introduced the Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act of 2020. OCP endorsed the most recent reintroduction of the bill in our 2024 Rural Playbook, Building a Future for Working Families.

MEDICAID MATTERS ON ELECTION DAY 2024

• What you find in Project 2025, Trump’s deeply right-wing and dangerous policy platform, is kind of scary. An apple a day may keep the doctor away, but Project 2025 precludes going to the doctor entirely – an apple that’s rotten right down to the core.
   
• Project 2025 would cut Medicaid services by imposing caps on funding that inhibits states from keeping up with demand. The health care of 18.5 million Americans would be imperiled as states would be forced to make difficult choices about which services and long-term care options to fund.

• Last year, we saw how Medicaid unwinding posed serious challenges to eligible Americans. Thousands of people had their coverage erroneously terminated during disenrollment, and were forced to go through the redetermination process to reinstate their health care coverage – causing undo stress and uncertainty for families who deserve ease of access to affordable health care.

• Rural America already lacks sufficient access to health care. Rural residents are more likely to take in lower incomes, lack private insurance, and live further from health care providers.

• In contrast to Republicans' efforts to scale back critical services to hardworking Americans, Harris is expected to continue the Biden-Harris administration's work to extend Medicaid postpartum coverage and advocate for states to expand Medicaid.

• To build a healthy future for rural America, it is critical to give states a injection of support for their health care services. Medicaid expansion has improved hospitals' financial performance, allowing them to stay open in rural regions and continue providing services to local communities, boosting Americans' health, well-being, and opportunities for success. Read more here.

• We're a month out from the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois. Democrats plan to hold a virtual roll call for delegates to select a presidential nominee. Vice President Kamala Harris has earned the support of over 3,000 delegates, firmly surpassing the threshold of 1,976 necessary to secure the nomination. The process is expected to be completed by August 7.

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