Live updates: Josh Shapiro dodges VP questions in Philly; Bob Casey polling way ahead of Dave McCormick

Vice President Kamala Harris is planning to travel to battleground states with her future running mate next week, as reported by Reuters, the Associated Press, and the New York Times, all citing anonymous sources.

This means that she’s getting closer to picking her vice presidential nominee, and intends to do so prior to the Aug. 7 deadline.

Gov. Josh Shapiro, who was in Philadelphia on Tuesday, is still among top contenders, the outlets reported.

The director of the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 vision for a complete overhaul of the federal government has stepped down, the conservative think tank confirmed Tuesday.

Paul Dans' exit comes after the project “completed exactly what it set out to do: bringing together over 110 leading conservative organizations to create a unified conservative vision, motivated to devolve power from the unelected administrative state, and returning it to the people," Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts said in a statement. Roberts said the group is sticking to its original timeline.

But the news comes after Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has increasingly disavowed Project 2025 amid escalating attacks by Democrats, prompting speculation that Trump’s campaign forced the exit.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said Monday that former President Donald Trump’s recent attacks on Vice President Kamala Harris show “they’re nervous as hell to go up against her.”

The governor, considered to be on the shortlist to be Harris’ running mate and the Democratic vice presidential nominee, slammed the former president during a question-and-answer session with reporters following a stop at a North Philly youth basketball camp.

“Donald Trump is both scared of her and scared of his own record, because he can’t deflect from that anymore,” Shapiro said after a reporter asked about recent comments Trump made calling Harris “evil” and suggesting she is unintelligent.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro remained mum on his chances of becoming Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate during a stop in North Philadelphia Tuesday, despite his visit to a youth basketball court turning into a de facto campaign event as children chanted his name.

In comments to a crush of reporters after he toured the facility, Shapiro repeatedly dodged questions and refused to say whether he’s being vetted for the job. He said he hasn’t spoken to Harris for more than a week — since the day President Joe Biden ended his reelection bid — but would not say whether he has spoken to anyone from Harris’ campaign about the job.

“The vice president has a very deeply personal decision to make right now: who she wants to run with, and who she wants to govern with,” Shapiro said. “I trust she will make that decision on her own terms when she is ready.”

With Charli XCX, Beyoncé, Pink, and now Meg Thee Stallion, Kamala Harris continues to collect endorsements from powerful female hitmakers.

Megan Thee Stallion announced on Instagram that she'd make an appearance at Harris' Atlanta Tuesday rally.

"ATL HOTTIES SEE YOU TOMORROW," the rapper wrote Monday night.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro spent a part of his Tuesday afternoon having a spirited debate — about basketball.

The governor who is considered to be on the shortlist for the Democratic vice presidential nomination, stopped at a North Philly gymnasium to meet with a bevy of school-aged kids at Philadelphia Youth Basketball, a nonprofit organization that aims to break the cycle of poverty through sports engagement.

About a dozen kids donning bright green T-shirts chanted “Shapiro!” as the governor greeted them. He showed them his sneakers — saying he prefers them to dress shoes –— and asked each child which position they play. Shapiro, a former high school basketball player, was himself a point guard and espoused the importance of sharing the ball.

Vice President Kamala Harris launched her first campaign ad Tuesday, days after Republicans began a barrage of negative advertisements against the presumptive Democratic nominee for president.

The campaign is spending $50 million airing the TV ad across battleground states ahead of the Democratic National Convention next month.

Featuring video from her first campaign rally in Milwaukee, Wis., the ad seeks to define the vice president as “fearless,” highlighting fights she took on as a prosecutor, California attorney general, and vice president.

The acting director of the Secret Service says he “cannot defend” why the roof used by the gunman in the assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump was not secured.

Ronald Rowe is testifying Tuesday before two Senate committees. Rowe says he recently traveled to the Pennsylvania shooting site and says what he saw made him ashamed. The FBI’s No. 2 official is also testifying.

Senate lawmakers are grilling the officials about law enforcement lapses in the hours before the attempted assassination of Trump in the latest in a series of congressional hearings dedicated to the shooting.

» READ MORE: Acting Secret Service boss says he ‘cannot defend’ why roof in Trump rally shooting was not secured

Donald Trump seems to be backing away from his earlier commitment to debate Vice President Kamala Harris, questioning the value of a meetup and saying he “probably” will debate but he “can also make a case for not doing it” — prompting her campaign to say he’s “scared.”

Trump, in an interview with Fox News Channel that aired Monday night, was pressed several times by host Laura Ingraham on whether he would commit to a debate.

“I want to do a debate. But I also can say this. Everybody knows who I am. And now people know who she is,” Trump said.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro will spend the weekend fundraising in the Hamptons, according to the New York Times and CNBC.

According to the Times, Shapiro, who is considered one of the top contenders for Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate, will attend a fundraiser Saturday for The Next 50, an organization aimed at investing in young Democrats.

On Sunday the governor will then attend a lunch with donors and top allies of Harris’ at a lunch hosted by Mike Kempner, a PR executive. The lunch is not an official fundraiser and the invitation included a donation link to Shapiro’s 2026 reelection campaign, according to CNBC.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper opted not to be a candidate in Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate search in part due to concerns that his Republican lieutenant governor would try to assume control if he left the state to campaign as part of the Democratic ticket, according to three people familiar with the matter.

Cooper confirmed in a statement Monday night that he would not be a candidate to be Harris’ vice president, saying he was “honored” to be considered but “this just wasn’t the right time for North Carolina and for me to potentially be on a national ticket.”

Cooper, 67, withdrew from contention well before Harris’ vetting process began and never submitted the requisite material, according to two of the people. All three spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive search process.

Vice President Kamala Harris will appear at a campaign event in Atlanta today, marking her sixth visit to Georgia this year — but her first since President Joe Biden announced that he would not seek reelection.

Late last week, Harris’ campaign opened a new office in Fulton County, with a number of local Democratic leaders in attendance, the Atlanta Voice reports.

Meanwhile, Harris’ husband, second gentleman Doug Emhoff, heads to Nantucket, Mass., Tuesday to deliver remarks at a campaign fundraiser, the White House said in a statement. That stop will serve as Emhoff’s third appearance in Massachusetts this week, with him also scheduled to speak at campaign events in Vineyard Haven and Oak Bluffs on Monday.

The veepstakes came to Montgomery County.

The conversation capturing the American political world — who Vice President Kamala Harris will pick to be her running mate — converged in the Wissahickon High School gymnasium in Ambler on Monday as two popular Democratic governors considered to be in contention for the role rallied alongside one another.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer rallied about 1,000 supporters and implored them to work to deliver the critical battleground of Pennsylvania to Harris. They each framed the race between Harris and former President Donald Trump as a battle for fundamental freedoms.

With Gov. Josh Shapiro emerging as a potential front-runner to become Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate, one of the only scandals to mark his two decades in Pennsylvania politics has resurfaced.

Erin McClelland, the Democratic nominee for state treasurer in November’s election, drew eyeballs last week with a thinly veiled and unusual interparty jab, saying in a tweet she wanted a vice presidential pick that, among other things, “doesn’t sweep sexual harassment under the rug.”

Though she did not identify Shapiro by name, McClelland’s pointed remarks were widely interpreted as a reference to the resignation last year of one of Shapiro’s top aides and closest allies, Mike Vereb, amid a sexual harassment investigation.

Former President Donald Trump will be in Harrisburg on Wednesday for his first rally in the commonwealth since the attempted assassination against him at his Butler County rally earlier this month.

The rally will be located indoors at Harrisburg’s Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex. The former president was heeding safety recommendations from the Secret Service to stop holding outdoor rallies, until he decided over the weekend that he would resume outdoor events.

Trump is scheduled to start speaking at 6 p.m., with doors opening at the complex four hours prior, according to the event page.

Despite turnover at the top of the ticket, Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Casey Jr. has maintained a substantial lead over Republican challenger Dave McCormick in recent polls in Pennsylvania’s nationally watched Senate race.

Casey, a three-term incumbent, led McCormick, a former hedge fund executive, by an eye-popping 13 percentage points in a Fox News poll released last week. Other recent surveys have shown the Democrat with leads ranging from 3 to 8 percentage points.

Casey’s campaign declined to comment on the poll.