Fact-checks from a new 2024 race
This week:??Republican committee overstates Vice President Kamala Harris’ role on southwest border … Harris exaggerates Project 2025’s IVF, contraception wish list … “Birtherism” claims return with Harris’ candidacy, but she was born in California … Warnings about missed ballot deadlines in multiple states unfounded … The Secret Service and DEI recruitment efforts
Is replacing on the ticket Biden ‘unlawful’? Election law experts say no.
In a prime-time Oval Office address that was at turns somber and steely, President Joe Biden told Americans that he was not seeking a second term to give voters the best shot at preserving democracy. He said, “Kings and dictators do not rule — the people do. History is in your hands.”
Biden did not mention his opponent, former President Donald Trump, by name, but the speech reiterated one of the Biden campaign’s key arguments — that Trump threatens democracy.?
Without detailing what changed his mind, Biden said he concluded that his personal ambitions could not take precedence.
“The best way forward is to pass the torch to a new generation,” he said. “It’s the best way to unite our nation. I know there was a time and a place for long years of experience in public life. There’s also a time and a place for new voices, fresh voices, yes, younger voices. And that time and place is now.”
The speech came just more than three days after he announced, in a letter on social media, that he would leave the race. Some Republicans immediately criticized Biden’s withdrawal and endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris, arguing that replacing Biden on ballots was unlawful.?
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., for one, said there would be “legal hurdles” in states that would “be litigated.”
Republican Party lawsuits are expected, but experts say that the legal precedent is on the Democratic side.?
"There is no legal problem here whatsoever," Michael Gerhardt, University of North Carolina constitutional law professor, told PolitiFact. "The timing does not present any legal or constitutional problems. The Democratic nominee has not become official yet, ballot deadlines in states have not been violated in any way, and the rules of the convention are fully intact and in force."
The Democratic National Convention will run from Aug. 19 to Aug. 22 in Chicago, so Biden was not the official nominee until the delegates officially vote on a nominee at the convention. Primary voters chose the party delegates, who can decide not to vote for any candidate at the convention.?
States have laws governing when political parties need to submit candidates to the secretary of state’s office for certification. Although many states had deadlines before the DNC, those including Ohio and Alabama changed their legislation to accommodate the late convention. Laws in some states, such as Arizona and Illinois, require delegates to vote for the candidate they supported during the primary, at least on the first ballot. But these laws have not previously been challenged in court, and most have provisions in the case that a candidate drops out.?
The legal precedent for this situation was set in 1981, when the U.S. Supreme Court decided 6-3 in Democratic Party v. Wisconsin that state election law cannot preempt the delegate selection mechanisms of a national political party for that party's national convention.?
But there is still a possibility that this Supreme Court could rule against the Democrats. Many legal experts believed the Supreme Court would not grant presidential immunity to former President Donald Trump, which they did in a 6-3 ruling July 2.?
Read the full story.
— Louis Jacobson and Amy Sherman
For further reading:
Fact-checks of the week
Trump rally shooting put scrutiny on Secret Service women, diversity efforts. Here are the facts.
The U.S. Secret Service came under criticism after an armed man climbed a Butler, Pennsylvania, rooftop and shot former President Donald Trump from just 450 feet away. Some conservative commentators and social media influencers said the security agency’s focus on DEI, particularly the hiring of women, may have compromised its effectiveness.?
Critics, including conservative political commentator Ben Shapiro and entrepreneur Elon Musk, seized on video clips from the attack that showed women in Trump’s Secret Service detail. They also called out Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle, who resigned July 23 after testifying before a House committee.
“Absolute humiliation for this gaggle of female Secret Service Agents," conservative political commentator Benny Johnson wrote July 14 on X.
Women first joined the Secret Service in 1971 and now make up 24% of its workforce. In 2021, women trainees in the Special Agent Class outnumbered men for the first time.?
The Secret Service “prioritizes recruiting women candidates,” according to its website. In a 2023 interview with CBS, Cheatle said the agency Service wants 30% female recruits by 2030.?
The FBI, Diplomatic Security Service, U.S. Marshals, and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives have all made similar commitments for a 30% female recruitment rate, sometimes referred to as the "30x30 pledge."??
Several groups advocating for more women in law enforcement condemned the anti-DEI rhetoric, calling such attacks on diversity initiatives "disingenuous distractions" aiming "to sow division."?
Cheatle testified July 22 before the Republican-led House Oversight Committee. During the hearing, Rep. Michael Cloud, R-Texas, cited a goal in the Secret Service’s strategic plan to "champion diversity, equity and inclusion and accessibility."?
He then asked Cheatle, "Do you keep the same standards for all applicants?"?
She replied: "Yes, sir. Everyone who moves through the application process has to meet the same standards to become a special agent."
Read more about the Secret Service and its recruitment efforts.?
— Grace Abels and Madison Czopek
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Misinformation about Harris’ eligibility, Biden’s decision floods social media
More false claims surfaced about Harris after Biden dropped out and endorsed her for the Democratic presidential nomination.
One Instagram post claimed Harris was not “eligible to hold the office of the President.” The post said that Harris’ parents were not U.S. citizens at the time of her birth, making Harris ineligible.?
We rated the claim Pants on Fire! Harris was born in Oakland, California, so she is eligible to be president regardless of her parents’ citizenship status. The U.S. Constitution’s Article 2 says "No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President." Harris qualifies as a natural-born citizen, Columbia University law professor Jessica Bulman-Pozen said.?
Donald Harris and Shyamala Gopalan, Kamala Harris’ parents, met at the University of California, Berkeley. Donald Harris’ biography shows he became a naturalized citizen.?
Read more in the fact-check.?
— Jeff Cercone
Will the Democrats automatically lose more than 130 electoral votes?
Social media posts claimed that Harris’ name could not replace Biden’s from the ballots of nine states: Alabama, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and Washington.?
But that’s False. Biden’s name hasn’t yet been placed on ballots; he was the presumptive nominee — not the official nominee.?
All of these states’ election officials put out statements or confirmed to PolitiFact that Biden’s name can be removed from their ballots. The states give political parties a deadline to submit presidential and vice presidential candidates to the secretary of state’s office, who certifies the candidates for the ballots. Although states such as Alabama and Ohio originally had deadlines before the Democratic National Convention, they passed special legislation to extend their deadlines.?
None of the state cutoff points have passed. After the Democrats formally choose their official nominee — either at their convention or before — state officials will receive those names to place them on their states’ ballots.
Find the ballot deadlines for all of those states here.?
— Ranjan Jindal and Amy Sherman
Biden’s track record on health care, criminal justice
With Biden set to leave office in January 2025, we wanted to update you on our latest reporting on PolitiFact’s Biden Promise Tracker.?
Biden’s 2020 campaign promise to allow the importation of prescription drugs is Stalled. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration in January authorized Florida to import select prescription drugs from Canada, but experts say it is unlikely any drugs will actually be imported. There is strong opposition from the Canadian government. If the U.S. did import Canadian drugs, manufacturers would not be incentivized to sell to Canada for lower prices. Experts believe the solution to lower prescription drugs has to come within the U.S. market, and importation is an unlikely fix.?
Biden received a Compromise on his promise to create a public health job corps. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and AmeriCorps partnered to fund the Public Health AmeriCorps, with money from the?2021 American Rescue Plan. The initial investment was a five-year, $400 million project, but Congress’ Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 cut a large portion of the funding. The project?has trained 4,700 new workers as of June 1, well shy of Biden’s initial goal of 100,000. AmeriCorps gives members as young as 17 years old a stipend for a year of training in locations across the country, and then funding to further their education or advance in public health careers.?
As for criminal justice reform, Biden kept his promise to expand services for people during and after incarceration. He allocated an additional $65 million in funding for Second Chance Act programs, which address reentry through housing support, education and employment assistance, mentoring programs, substance use treatment and mental health care. Beyond the Second Chance Act funding increases, the Biden administration announced a strategic plan in 2023 to support rehabilitation during incarceration and enable successful reentry. Elements of the plan include letting states use Medicaid funding to offer health care services to people in custody, providing prison employees with a performance management framework to monitor medication treatment for opioid use disorder and other initiatives that are still in progress.?
But Biden’s promise to expand broadband to every American is Stalled after Congress failed to renew funding for the Affordable Connectivity Program, which provided an internet service discount of up to $30 per month for most eligible households and up to $75 per month for households on tribal lands. More than 23 million households — 1 in every 6 — were enrolled in the program but haven't been able to get help since May 31.
— Ranjan Jindal and Mia Penner
Quick links to more fact-checks & reports
Do you smell smoke??
Here's your Pants on Fire fact-check of the week:?Does a photo show that Trump’s ear “grew back” after assassination attempt? No, it’s from 2022.
See what else we've rated Pants on Fire this week.?
This week's newsletter was compiled by Ranjan Jindal and Mia Penner . These talented interns will soon leave our newsroom and return to their studies at Duke University. We are sad to see them go after a memorable summer of covering the debate, RNC and weekend breaking news with our team.
Have questions or ideas for our coverage? Send me an email at [email protected].
Thanks for reading!
PolitiFact Editor-in-Chief