GEOFF BENNETT: Good evening.

I'm Geoff Bennett.

AMNA NAWAZ: And I'm Amna Nawaz at the Democratic National Convention.

On the "News Hour" tonight: After the Obamas make the case for a Kamala Harris presidency, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz prepares to formally accept the nomination for vice president.

GEOFF BENNETT: We speak to members of the House and Senate about Democrats' chances of winning majorities in those chambers on Election Day.

AMNA NAWAZ: And while the world's eyes are focused on Gaza, hard-liners ramp up efforts to expand Israeli settlements and violently expel Palestinians in the West Bank.

YASSER AUDI, West Bank Resident (through translator): I fear for my family.

Every day, people are being killed.

I'm afraid of the future.

They may kill me at any moment.

(BREAK) AMNA NAWAZ: Welcome to the "News Hour."

Tonight here at the Democratic National Convention, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz will accept his party's nomination to be vice president and introduce himself to the American people.

GEOFF BENNETT: Last night, it was former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama who were center stage, energizing the convention crowd and delivering scathing criticisms of former President Donald Trump's campaign and presidency.

White House correspondent Laura Barron-Lopez joins us now from the convention floor, where she's been watching it all.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: That's right, Geoff and Amna.

The former president threw his weight behind Harris' nomination last night, telling the packed arena here that the Harris/Walz ticket is ultimately the only choice.

With back-to-back speeches that lit up the arena, Barack and Michelle Obama delivered a political one-two punch.

BARACK OBAMA, Former President of the United States: I don't know about you, but I'm feeling fired up.

(CHEERING) (APPLAUSE) BARACK OBAMA: I am feeling ready to go.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Firing up the crowd for Kamala Harris and warming up a Trump presidency.

BARACK OBAMA: We have seen that movie before, and we all know that the sequel is usually worse.

(CHEERING) (APPLAUSE) MICHELLE OBAMA, Former First Lady: A familiar feeling that's been buried too deep for far too long.

You know what I'm talking about.

(CHEERING) (APPLAUSE) MICHELLE OBAMA: It's the contagious power of hope.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: The former president and first lady captivated Democrats with a message of hope.

Mr. Obama compared the enthusiasm for Harris to his rise 16 years ago.

BARACK OBAMA: I am feeling hopeful because this convention has always been pretty good to kids with funny names who believe in a country where anything is possible.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: But the Obamas also took the fight directly to Trump, repeatedly calling attention to his privileged background.

MICHELLE OBAMA: Most of us will never be afforded the grace of failing forward.

We will never benefit from the affirmative action of generational wealth.

BARACK OBAMA: Here's a 78-year-old billionaire who has not stopped whining about his problems since he rode down his golden escalator nine years ago.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: And this scathing response to Trump's racist birther conspiracy theory that he continues to peddle.

MICHELLE OBAMA: For years, Donald Trump did everything in his power to try to make people fear us.

See, his limited, narrow view of the world made him feel threatened by the existence of two hardworking, highly educated, successful people who happen to be Black.

(CHEERING) (APPLAUSE) LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: For Michelle Obama, in particular, who said this on the convention stage in 2016... MICHELLE OBAMA: No, our motto is, when they go low, we go high.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: ... her tone last night was different, at one point firing back at Trump's remarks falsely claiming that undocumented immigrants are taking -- quote -- "Black jobs."

MICHELLE OBAMA: Who's going to tell them that the job he's currently seeking might just be one of those Black jobs?

(CHEERING) (APPLAUSE) KAMALA HARRIS, Vice President of the United States (D) and U.S. Presidential Candidate: Do we believe in the promise of America?

AUDIENCE: Yes!

KAMALA HARRIS: And are we ready to fight for it?

AUDIENCE: Yes!

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Vice President Harris wasn't in the audience at the convention, like she was on night one.

KAMALA HARRIS: This is not just about us versus Donald Trump.

This is about two very different visions for our nation.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Taking a quick trip to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with her running mate, Tim Walz, campaigning in the exact place Trump accepted his party's nomination back in July.

LIL JON, Musician: We are here tonight to officially nominate Kamala Harris for president!

(SINGING) LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: While Democrats held a symbolic roll call to celebrate her nomination... GOV.

GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): California, we proudly cast our 482 votes for the next president, Kamala Harris.

(CHEERING) (APPLAUSE) LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: ... Harris beamed in on the JumboTron.

And returning to Chicago, she watched her husband's speech from aboard Air Force Two.

It was second gentleman Doug Emhoff who showed the convention crowd the personal side of Kamala Harris.

DOUGLAS EMHOFF, Second Gentleman: I got Kamala's voice-mail and I just started rambling.

(LAUGHTER) DOUGLAS EMHOFF: Hey, it's Doug.

(LAUGHTER) DOUGLAS EMHOFF: By the way, Kamala saved that voice-mail.

(LAUGHTER) DOUGLAS EMHOFF: And she makes me listen to it on every anniversary.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Also last night, right alongside the party's most liberal leaders like Senator Bernie Sanders were Republicans who say they have had enough of Trump and planned a vote for Harris, including Mesa, Arizona, Mayor John Giles.

JOHN GILES (R), Mayor of Mesa, Arizona: I'm a lifelong Republican.

So I feel a little out of place tonight.

But I feel more at home here than in today's Republican Party.

John McCain's Republican Party is gone and we don't owe what a damn thing to what's been left behind.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Even former Trump Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham spoke out against her former boss.

STEPHANIE GRISHAM, Former White House Press Secretary: Behind closed doors, Trump mocks his supporters.

He calls them basement dwellers.

On a hospital visit one time, when people were dying in the ICU, he was mad that the cameras were not watching him.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: As for Trump, he held his first outdoor event since his assassination attempt, a campaign stop alongside his running mate, J.D.

Vance, that was pegged as one on national security in Asheboro, North Carolina, but again heavily featured insults against the vice president.

DONALD TRUMP, Former President of the United States (R) and Current U.S. Presidential Candidate: She's a radical left believer.

She ruined San Francisco.

She ruined California.

And if she gets in, our country doesn't have a chance.

This calamity is on comrade Kamala Harris' shoulders.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Back in Chicago, the center stage tonight belongs to vice presidential nominee Tim Walz, who many voters still know very little about.

Facing what's expected to be the biggest moment of his political career to date, Governor Walz will be able to introduce himself to much more than just the party faithful during his prime-time speech tonight.

GEOFF BENNETT: Well, Laura, as you say, it is a major moment for Governor Walz tonight.

What can we expect to hear from him?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Governor Walz is going to be introduced by a former student of his, one that he coached for track, not football, although many of that he was a former football coach.

And he's expected to talk about his upbringing in small-town Nebraska.

And you are -- we are also going to be seeing videos throughout the night that highlight his service in the National Guard, as well as his time as a public school teacher.

And we're expected that he is going to be talking a lot about his middle-class, working-class roots.

That's been a big theme here this convention, Geoff, which we have also heard from second gentleman Doug Emhoff last night, where he talked about working at McDonald's when he was in high school, very similar to the vice president working at McDonald's when she was at Howard.

And that's something that the campaign has largely leaned into heavily as they try to relate to voters.

AMNA NAWAZ: Laura, we expect another full slate of speakers on the convention stage tonight as well.

Who are some of the folks will hear from we're expected to hear from?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: We're expected to hear from Senators Cory Booker of New Jersey, Chris Murphy, as well as Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, as well as House leaders, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and some of those V.P.

contenders that Vice President Harris considered as potential running mates, like Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, as well as Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

But we are also going to be hearing from more Republicans, Amna, like former Lieutenant Governor of Georgia Geoff Duncan.

And that's a big play from the Harris campaign, as she tries to make sure that she is keeping that anti-Trump coalition together that Biden was able to use in 2020 to win the presidency.

GEOFF BENNETT: What about the themes and through lines tonight, Laura?

What's on tap on that front?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: So, overall, we are going to continue to hear more about the threats Democrats say that Project 2025 poses.

That's that Heritage Foundation blueprint for a second Trump presidency.

And we are also going to be hearing from more reproductive rights leaders, including Mini Timmaraju, who we interviewed on our special last night.

And I'm also told that a number of speakers are going to be talking more directly about immigration and trying to own that issue, which Democrats have increasingly tried to do, as well as this is going to be a big night of phone banking alongside the convention for Democrats.

They are expected to have 400 phone bakes across the battleground states with some 4,000 volunteers, Geoff.

AMNA NAWAZ: Laura, in the meantime, we know there's been some question around how much or how little Vice President Harris has worked to differentiate herself from President Biden and his policies.

As you talk to delegates and voters, what do they make of that?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: So, a number of the Democrats that I have talked to be them, be them delegates, operatives, as well as party leaders, they essentially say that they do not think that Harris needs to differentiate herself dramatically from President Biden.

The only issue that the Democrats I spoke to say that they think she should carve out her own lane and a more empathetic lane is on Gaza and making her own path on Israel, her own policy positions on Israel much more clear.

On the rest, on economy, immigration and abortion, they say she should simply just build upon Biden's agenda.

And my producer, Shrai Popat, he spoke to a Republican who spoke at the convention last night, Trump voter Kyle Sweetser, who he said that he just thinks that Harris and Walz need to be -- quote -- "more adaptive" and don't go -- appear to be going after things like Second Amendment rights.

And then another Republican we spoke to here -- and this speaks to the balance that Harris needs to strike by keeping that anti-Trump coalition together -- another Republican said that, in states like Michigan, in addition to those 100,000 uncommitted votes, this Republican said Harris needs to pay attention to the Nikki Haley primary voters, of which there were some 300,000 in Michigan.

AMNA NAWAZ: All right, that's our White House correspondent, Laura Barron-Lopez, joining us from the convention.

Laura, good to speak with you.

Thank you.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Thank you.

AMNA NAWAZ: Well, later tonight, before the convention holds a ceremonial vote to show its support for Walz as the party's vice presidential nominee, Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar will deliver a tribute to her governor.

The senator joins us now.

Great to see you.

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN): Well, great to be on again.

Thank you.

AMNA NAWAZ: So you have known Governor Tim Walz for a very long time.

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR: Yes.

AMNA NAWAZ: You're going to be speaking about him to nominate him for that V.P.

slot tonight.

Who is the Tim Walz that many Americans say they don't know much about yet?

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR: Tim Walz is the dad that I think everyone knows, when you have seen the video this week of his kids not, knowing they would be caught on camera, doing rabbit ears behind their dad as he was going to be nominated for the vice presidency.

He is the soldier who served for 24 years.

He is the teacher.

And you're going to hear from kids that he taught whose lives he changed.

He took a 0-27 football team out of Mankato, Minnesota, by the way, the town my husband grew up in, and turned it into a state champion.

And then he ran for Congress in a red district that only two Democrats held in 100 years.

So this is a guy -- when I think about Michelle Obama's words last night where she talked about not everyone gets generational wealth, not everyone is graced by that or can go bankrupt over and over again, this is a guy from incredibly humble roots in rural Nebraska who then went on to serve his country in many, many different ways.

So I think you're going to hear that story of his life.

And just from a Minnesota perspective, it was my mother-in-law that brought over a Parmesan chicken dinner when their little boy Gus was born.

As a baby, she brought over balloons.

She had -- they -- people did that for her when she had six boys, including my husband.

(LAUGHTER) SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR: And so she is paying back for years.

And she did that.

So, it just shows you.

I think you're going to hear a lot about neighbors helping neighbors.

AMNA NAWAZ: Yes.

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR: That's what Tim Walz is about.

AMNA NAWAZ: I got to say, I have a lot of questions about how we took that team from 0-27 to a winning record.

More on that later.

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR: Maybe we will learn tonight.

Maybe we will learn.

AMNA NAWAZ: You mentioned his record a little bit as he was in the House.

He was known as much more moderate.

He was representing a very rural district back then.

When he was a governor, he was known to push much more progressive policies.

A lot of people wonder, how would he govern as vice president?

What do you say to that?

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR: He has Midwestern common sense.

So I think he's going to look at each problem and figure out how you fix it.

And I -- just like he fixed a headlight in a car.

And then he is going to bring together coalitions, of course, working with Vice President Harris, who's been in Congress herself, knows how to lead.

I think they're going to be a great team, while the other guys look like they need a couple counseling at the moment.

So I think what you will see is someone who will work hand in hand with her on getting things done.

In terms of policies, as governor, he delivered the biggest tax cut in Minnesota history.

But, at the same time, he was able to make sure that kids had lunch and breakfast way beyond COVID.

They get it now, no questions asked, when they're at school.

He made sure that we had a really strong paid family leave policy.

He worked with our unions.

It is -- you just go through his policies.

But what I always keep in mind and I want America to keep in mind, he's looked out for workers and families, yes, but we have one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country in Minnesota.

And we are six in the country for doing business, according to CNBC just last month.

AMNA NAWAZ: Well, Senator, as you know, back when President Biden was still the nominee, Republicans were eying Minnesota as a place that they felt they could possibly expand the map.

Were you worried about that?

And has that worry gone away with a new Democratic ticket?

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR: I was not worried about that, just because I believe that our state, we are able to stitch together a coalition election after election of Democrats, yes, but also independents.

We have a strong independent base.

If you don't believe me, I three words for you, Governor Jesse Ventura, as well as moderate Republicans.

And, of course, Jesse Ventura is supporting this ticket.

And so we have been able to bring together a base of people that wins elections.

And the Republicans have been nominating extreme people in our state, I think the results have shown, as well as in the presidency.

We have voted Democratic election after election.

AMNA NAWAZ: Outside of your state, though, in other places Republicans thought they had a chance, are you less worried now with the Harris/Walz ticket that Republicans could do that?

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR: Well, who wouldn't be when you look at the polls?

It's still going to be tight, as the Obamas explained last night.

But in 30 days, Kamala Harris has united our party, cinched the nomination, raised nearly $500 million, filled arenas with 15,000 people, which really pisses off Donald Trump, and is surging in the swing states.

That is what's going on right now.

And that is only in the first maybe 32 days.

AMNA NAWAZ: You also heard Michelle Obama last night warn about what could be ahead, seemed to be hinting at some of the potentially racist or sexist attacks, particularly on a Black woman running for president, that we could see.

Do you share that concern?

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR: Yes.

And I look at the past.

Hillary Clinton alluded to it as well.

When she ran back in 2016, 2020, when I ran for president, Elizabeth Warren did, Kamala did, a number of others, there's some really unique attacks.

They tend to be about how you look, how you dress, how you laugh.

And what I love about the Harris campaign is, we have all learned a lot, all of us.

What we have learned is, some of it, you ignore.

You just don't act at everything they say.

Some of it, you take on when it's really serious, but, some of it, you laugh off.

You see they're making fun of her laugh, and now it's a mash-up with Beyonce songs.

They're making fun of coconut trees, and now you see the coconut memes.

I will take a brat summer any day over cat ladies.

AMNA NAWAZ: Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar, thank you so much for joining us.

Great to speak with you.

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR: Thank you.

It was great to be on.

GEOFF BENNETT: Well, now let's hear directly from the Harris/Walz camp.

Michael Tyler is the communications director for the campaign.

And I spoke with him moments ago.

Michael Tyler, welcome to the "News Hour."

MICHAEL TYLER, Harris/Walz Campaign Communications Director: Pleasure to be here.

Thank you for having me.

GEOFF BENNETT: Well, in the month since the Democratic ticket changed, the Harris campaign says the Democratic map is expanding and Donald Trump's is not.

The campaign says it's competitive in places like Nevada, Arizona, North Carolina, Georgia.

What do you all see that gives you such confidence?

MICHAEL TYLER: Well, again, thank you for having me.

I think, number one, what you see is an incredible amount of energy and enthusiasm.

That's on full display here in Chicago, but it's been on full display since the vice president took over the top of the ticket, named Governor Walz as her running mate.

They have been crisscrossing the country.

But, as a campaign, frankly, what we're more excited about is the fact that when people are showing up to those rallies, they're also signing up to volunteer, right?

We're continuing to build our grassroots army, because, yes, the map is wide open.

We have a path that is inclusive of the blue wall states, obviously, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, the Southwest of Nevada and Arizona, the Southeast, where I'm from, Georgia, North Carolina.

But what we understand is that this is going to be a very close and competitive presidential election, as all presidential elections are, right?

It's going to come down to tens of thousands of votes in a handful of those states that I just referenced.

And so what we are laser-focused on is making sure that we spend the next 70-some-odd days using every tool at our disposal to turn out our voters, right?

GEOFF BENNETT: So, what does that work look like?

I mean, how do you sustain this momentum to build a broad enough backing to win what you say will be a tight race?

MICHAEL TYLER: Yes, so it's a multipronged effort, right?

So, number one, we just announced this week that we have placed our first wave of fall paid media reservations, $170 million television advertisements, $200 million digital advertisements.

Given the way that people consume their media now, you have to make sure that you're actually hitting voters, not just with the right message, but across -- on the right platforms, so that you're actually hitting them.

So we're focused on that.

But then we're also using moments like this, right, where you have a convention, which is, of course, a moment where you can reach a wider swathe of the electorate, but it's not just for television, right?

We are also using this as an opportunity to grease the wheels on our organizing apparatus.

We had 2,800 events for our weekend of action leading into the convention, making sure that, again, across all of the battleground states, that we're knocking on doors, we're making phone calls.

Folks are having conversations in their own communities about the vice president and the governors vision for where they want to take this country, of course, the choice that we have between their positive vision and Donald Trump and J.D.

Vance's extreme and dangerous vision.

But we're making sure that we're using every tool at our disposal to do that.

We made about a million voter contacts this past weekend alone as we approached the convention, and we're excited to keep building that organizing momentum as we hit -- officially kick off the general election now coming off of the conventions.

GEOFF BENNETT: As Kamala Harris works to define herself and her agenda, should we expect that she will break from President Biden on some issues?

How is her approach to the Israel-Hamas war, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, how is her approach different from President Biden, if at all?

MICHAEL TYLER: Well, yes, listen, I think it's worth taking a step back and looking at this whole cloth, right?

I think, number one, you look at the accomplishments of the Biden/Harris administration.

The vice president owns those accomplishments as well, right, so everything from the nearly 16 million jobs that were created under this administration, the 800,000 manufacturing jobs, the work that she and the president have done to lower costs for Americans, capping the cost of insulin at $35 for seniors.

GEOFF BENNETT: So, then would a Harris presidency be the continuation of a Biden presidency?

Is that what you're saying?

MICHAEL TYLER: Well, at the same time, so, number one, we're proud of those accomplishments.

The vice president is very proud of those accomplishments, but you will also continue to see her increasingly lay out her vision for where she wants to take this country over the course of the next four years, right?

She understands that, for many Americans, prices are still too high, for example.

That's why last week she went to North Carolina and unveiled some of the first planks of her economic agenda, making sure that we actually do things like take on meat processors that continue to jack up the price of meat.

It's why she wants to build more housing in this country and incentivize more housing construction.

It's why she actually wants to give the middle class a tax cut, versus what Donald Trump wants to do via his across-the-board tariffs, which is tantamount to a $3,900 tax increase on the middle class.

So you will increasingly see her as we move forward in the general election, lay out her own vision for a new way forward and how we continue to build on the progress that she made as vice president.

GEOFF BENNETT: What should we expect to hear from Minnesota Governor Tim Walz tonight?

MICHAEL TYLER: Yes, I think what you will see tonight is sort of the capstone of what's been an introductory phase of this campaign for both the vice president and for the governor since she named him as her running mate, right?

He will talk a little bit about who he is, how he grew up, right, the fact that he began his career as a teacher and as a football coach, a state champion football coach, and how he took those lessons in the classroom and on the football field to a life of public service.

Obviously, he served in the National Guard, but then served in Congress, has served as governor of Minnesota, and, as always, no matter where he has been, has always looked to bring people together to solve problems.

And I think that's something that stands in stark contrast, not just to J.D.

Vance, but, of course, to Donald Trump, right, who looked to govern through fear, through division, through chaos.

It's going to be a fundamental contrast, not just in vision, but I think in tone as well.

This entire convention, you will continue to see tonight and into tomorrow, one of the fundamental contrasts is joy and hope versus chaos and fear, right, and hatred.

I think that's going to be on full display for the American people to see tonight in the governor's speech, tomorrow night in the vice president's speech, and for the continuation of this campaign.

GEOFF BENNETT: Lastly, there are reports that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is set to end his presidential campaign and endorse Donald Trump.

If that happens, how does that change the contours of this race in the Harris campaign's view?

Because RFK-aligned voters are more likely to be Trump voters than they would be Harris voters.

MICHAEL TYLER: Yes, listen, there are a couple of things I would say to that.

I think, number one, RFK was obviously funded by MAGA donors, and he parroted a lot of MAGA talking points throughout his campaign.

So it's no surprise to us that, if he were to drop out, he might endorse Donald Trump's campaign.

But what I would say to many of the undecided voters and many of the voters who were sticking with RFK at this time, if you're concerned about the threat that Donald Trump poses, if you care about the fundamental stakes of this democracy, if you want to ensure that we continue to live in a democracy, if you -- when you look at your economic outlook and you are looking not just for the chance to get by, but to actually get ahead, there is one candidate in this race who's actually fighting for you.

And that's Vice President Harris.

And so there's a home for you in the vice president's campaign.

GEOFF BENNETT: Michael Tyler, communications director for the Harris/Walz campaign, thanks for being with us.

MICHAEL TYLER: Thank you for having me.

I appreciate it.

AMNA NAWAZ: Well, immigration remains a thorny and top issue with voters this election year.

I spoke earlier with Representative Veronica Escobar, a Democrat from the border state of Texas.

She has unique insight into the problem and ideas about how her party can address it.

Congresswoman, welcome back to the "News Hour."

Thanks for being here.

REP. VERONICA ESCOBAR (D-TX): Thanks for having me.

AMNA NAWAZ: So, let's start with your race down in Texas.

You're facing a Republican this fall that you have already defeated twice.

And this is in a district where issues like immigration and the economy remain top of mind for voters.

And these are issues that Republicans really still have the trust advantage, nationally, at least.

How do you win again?

What's the message?

REP. VERONICA ESCOBAR: Well, thankfully, my community knows me.

I served in local government before I was in Congress.

But we work really hard to share with the community all of the victories that we have achieved under the Biden/Harris administration.

And in an economically disadvantaged community like mine, those dollars make a huge difference.

Major infrastructure investments, lowering the cost of prescription drugs, capping insulin, all of that helps.

And as long as people know that Democrats delivered and they know that we have a story to tell, we have got a great story to tell, people are ready to listen.

AMNA NAWAZ: What are the lessons that the Harris/Walz ticket can learn from how you're able to win in your district, especially on the economy?

REP. VERONICA ESCOBAR: Yes.

AMNA NAWAZ: And we're talking on a day, we should note, that those jobs numbers since March have been revised downward.

It's really tough.

What's the best message for Harris/Walz to deliver on this issue?

REP. VERONICA ESCOBAR: Well, they're doing it.

And they're doing a great job in their rallies and in these conversations.

And, obviously, the work that the Biden/Harris campaign was doing out -- the work on the ground, those conversations, the Harris/Walz campaign has been able to capitalize on.

But -- but, really, like, we have to tell the story.

And Vice President Harris has been talking very specifically, not just about what we have accomplished together, but people also want to know what's ahead.

And she's talked about housing.

And, really, it starts with empathy, understanding that people are still hurting.

They still need help.

So she's been talking about housing, about price gouging, about bringing down the cost of prescription drugs.

That's where Americans are feeling a lot of hurt economically and in the pocketbook.

And the response is, we hear you, we see you, we understand, and here's our plan going forward.

AMNA NAWAZ: On immigration specifically, which is I know an issue you have to message on quite a bit and something your community feels in a very front-line way, we have seen border numbers come down dramatically this year.

But I remember speaking with you when folks in your district were on the front lines of a real surge and how it was impacting your community there.

We know part of Vice President Harris' portfolio was to address those root causes, right, down in countries where people were being forced to flee in the first place.

Folks will look at that and say it's only gotten worse in the last few years.

Is that a vulnerability for her?

REP. VERONICA ESCOBAR: It shouldn't be.

But, according to the polling, it is.

And so you're seeing the Harris/Walz campaign lean in on immigration, on the border, pointing out the fact that Donald Trump essentially has told his party to run away from any solutions.

And, frankly, it's been a decade of that.

We know that, in 2013, in 2018, and obviously, this year, in 2024, there have been efforts in Congress.

And this is a congressional responsibility.

There have been efforts in Congress to address this issue.

And each one of those years, it's been Republicans who have either obstructed or run away from a potential solution.

But, this year, Donald Trump actually embraced that language.

He said, blame me if you get criticized for running away from it.

He said openly, I don't want a solution.

I want the problem.

They exploit the border.

They exploit immigration.

The only person who's serious about policy are the Democrats and specifically Vice President Harris.

AMNA NAWAZ: Specifically, among Latino voters right now, we heard from the CEO of Voto Latino yesterday, Maria Teresa Kumar, that they have seen a surge in support since the ticket switched for the Democrats.

Vice President Harris is still not to the same levels that President Biden was in 2020, though.

REP. VERONICA ESCOBAR: Yes.

AMNA NAWAZ: And we have seen a drop in enthusiasm in presidential races over about 10 or 12 years now among Latinos for Democrats.

What was fueling that?

How do you get them back?

REP. VERONICA ESCOBAR: We get them back by meeting them where they are, by listening to them and, as Vice President Harris says, by earning their votes.

I have been going into the battleground states.

I have been to Pennsylvania.

I have been to Wisconsin.

I have been to Nevada.

I have been to Arizona speaking directly with Latino voters, having roundtable conversations, talking to grassroots organizers.

And we, the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, have taken Latino voters for granted for too long.

That was not the case with the Biden/Harris campaign.

We started early with Latino voters.

We launched Latinos con Biden and Harris.

And when the switch was made and the torch was passed, Vice President Harris has taken that mantle.

And we are going into these communities, telling them they matter, telling them we care about them, listening to them.

AMNA NAWAZ: You think that outreach will make a difference here?

REP. VERONICA ESCOBAR: I do.

I really do.

Latinos have said for a long time, and not just about Republicans, not just about Democrats, that they feel taken for granted.

We are not taking them for granted.

So we're going after them.

They have got incredible power.

We have incredible power in the Latino community to influence the outcome of this election.

And we're going directly to them to tell them we care about them and we want them to be with us.

AMNA NAWAZ: Congresswoman Veronica Escobar of Texas, thank you so much for being here.

REP. VERONICA ESCOBAR: Thank you.

AMNA NAWAZ: Really appreciate your time.

REP. VERONICA ESCOBAR: Appreciate you.

GEOFF BENNETT: Few Democrats are as influential or as politically powerful as South Carolina Congressman James Clyburn, a longtime ally of President Biden's.

Clyburn was quick to throw his support behind Kamala Harris as the Democrats' presidential nominee, which helped to consolidate the party's support for her.

And Congressman Clyburn joins us now.

Thanks so much for being with us.

REP. JAMES CLYBURN (D-SC): Well, thank you very much for having me.

GEOFF BENNETT: Most folks know you as the elder statesman who saved Joe Biden's campaign back in 2020.

You're one of his closest allies.

And I understand he called you moments before he dropped out of this race.

What did he tell you?

REP. JAMES CLYBURN: Well, he told me he had made a decision not to continue the campaign.

And he read me the statement and asked what I thought.

And I told him I thought it was a good statement, but it was missing something.

And I said to him I didn't think it would be the prudent thing to do to leave the stage and not endorse the vice president to succeed him.

GEOFF BENNETT: So the original statement didn't have the endorsement of Kamala Harris?

REP. JAMES CLYBURN: No, it didn't.

And he told me -- when I said that to him, he says: "I plan to issue a second statement within the hour, and that will be an endorsement."

And 30 minutes later, he did issue a second statement, and it was the endorsement.

GEOFF BENNETT: Do you think he would have done that without your encouragement?

REP. JAMES CLYBURN: I think so.

I think he had already made up his mind to do so.

I had no way of knowing that.

And so I said what I said.

He told me what he did, and he did what he said.

GEOFF BENNETT: You know, for all of the focus on the ceremonial passing of the torch from Biden to Harris, last night, we saw the Obamas in many ways affirm Kamala Harris as the rightful successor to the Obama era.

We heard President -- former President Obama invoke that slogan, "Yes, she can."

That's how he rephrased it.

How do you see it?

How do you see that historical through line and her role?

REP. JAMES CLYBURN: I see it as the pass-through is Joe Biden.

Joe Biden brought this country back from the brink.

Obama left Trump a whole lot to work with.

And he did to the Obama era what he did to his father's money, lost it all.

And he mismanaged the pandemic.

Nobody blames him for COVID-19, but he could have managed it with some good sense.

But we got all foolishness.

So it was up to Biden to bring this country back from the brink.

And he did.

He did it with some monumental legislation.

His Rescue Plan didn't get a single Republican vote, but it got children back in school, it got businesses unshuttered, and it got our economy back in, focused.

Then he did the infrastructure bill.

We had been promised infrastructure every month for four years.

And not one dime was spent on infrastructure.

A $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, that included the broadband Internet that we needed in order to get telemedicine out to people, especially in rural communities, and get children to stay in schools or stay acquainted with educational stuff, and went on to the CHIPS and Science ACT, the PACT Act, Safer Communities Act, Inflation Reduction Act.

He did it.

So we can't go from Obama all the way to Harris.

You got to pass through Joe Biden.

GEOFF BENNETT: When you talk about the Biden policies, does Kamala Harris owe voters more specifics in terms of what her policies would be, or is it enough in the moment to be buoyed by all of this Democratic enthusiasm and energy?

REP. JAMES CLYBURN: In the moment, it's enough to be buoyed.

We're in a convention.

We was in this convention tomorrow evening, and then we will go back to the business of campaigning.

That's when she has to lay out exactly how she plans to conduct herself as president.

I don't think a convention setting is the right place to do that.

Here, you're trying to gin up the troops.

You want the troops to get involved in this campaign, and then you will give them something to work with when they get back home.

So I think she's doing it exactly the way it ought to be done.

Now, we will get some broad themes tomorrow night from her, and that's as it should be.

But the specifics, I hope she won't get into completely tomorrow night.

GEOFF BENNETT: How might this Harris/Walz campaign best corral all of this energy and this momentum and turn it into actual votes come Election Day?

REP. JAMES CLYBURN: Well, I'm glad you said that, because everybody keeps talking about the energy.

And I remind people, the atoms float around in the atmosphere forever, and did not become potent until somebody figured out how to harness that energy.

That's what we have got to do.

The energy is here.

You can feel it.

You can hear it.

But we have got to figure out how best to harness that.

And, in my opinion, you don't harness energy by running television ads or even radio ads.

They continue to generate energy.

You have got to harness that with people on the streets, boots on the ground.

And so I hope we will make that investment to the extent that we should.

We can talk all we want about HBCUs.

Get onto these campuses and get them out to vote.

The Divine Nine, get them involved in this campaign.

The Masonic orders, get them involved in this campaign.

We have got to get people through those organizations that already exist on the ground and to keep knocking on people's doors and getting them to the polls.

GEOFF BENNETT: Lastly, in the minute we have left, what do you want to hear from Vice President Harris tomorrow night when she delivers her speech and formally accepts this party's nomination as the presidential nominee?

REP. JAMES CLYBURN: Focus on the future.

Focus on the future.

That's what this is all about.

No matter what you may do with the foundation, people need to know how this building is going to look when all the elections are done.

GEOFF BENNETT: All right, that is South Carolina Congressman James Clyburn.

Thanks so much, sir.

We appreciate it.

REP. JAMES CLYBURN: Thank you so much for having me.

AMNA NAWAZ: And we turn now to the Middle East, where Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah have been trading strikes today.

GEOFF BENNETT: For that and the day's other headlines, we turn now to our William Brangham in our Washington studio -- William.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Thanks, Geoff and Amna.

Hezbollah fired more than 50 rockets towards Israel today, some causing damage in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights.

Israel's ambulance service reported the projectiles hit several private homes and injured one person, causing alarm among community members.

EINAV PEREZ, Golan Heights Resident (through translator): Some of the residents want to leave.

Others are patriots who want to stay.

But it cannot continue this way.

Every sound of a door shutting makes us think it's a boom.

This time, it wasn't a door, but a serious boom that cost us a lot.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Hezbollah says the barrage was in response to Israeli airstrikes deep inside Lebanon.

Residents of one Lebanese village held a funeral today for a man they say was killed in an Israeli attack.

It comes a day after Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with mediators in the region to push a proposal aimed at bridging the gaps in the Gaza cease-fire talks.

Egyptian officials reportedly expressed skepticism today that Hamas would in fact accept that proposal.

Talks are expected to resume in Cairo tomorrow.

Health authorities in Congo say they have recorded more than 1,000 mpox cases in the last week amid an urgent need for vaccines.

Congo accounts for more than 90 percent of the cases reported in Africa so far this year.

Last week, the WHO classified the outbreak as a global health emergency.

African officials say Western nations in Japan have pledged several hundred thousand vaccine doses, but Congo's health minister says the country alone needs some three million doses to control the outbreak.

In Italy, divers found five more bodies while searching the luxury yacht that sank off the coast of Sicily on Monday.

Recovery crews unloaded body bags from a rescue vessel in Porticello.

They're still searching for one final missing person.

Fifteen other passengers and crew escaped in a lifeboat and were rescued.

Authorities say they believe the British-flagged Bayesian, seen here in file video, was struck by a tornado on the water, which is known as a water spout.

But questions remain as to why the yacht sank so quickly.

Russian officials say that Ukraine launched one of its largest drone attacks on Moscow last night since Russia's invasion in 2022.

Russia claims to have struck down 45 drones, including 11 over Moscow itself.

There has been no independent verification of those figures.

That comes as Ukraine digs in to defend the city of Pokrovsk in Eastern Ukraine from Russian advances.

Its capture would be an important victory for Russia, as Ukraine pushes forward with its own incursion further north in Russia's Kursk region.

In Moscow today, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Ukraine's military advances there undermine any chances for peace talks.

MARIA ZAKHAROVA, Spokeswoman, Russian Foreign Ministry (through translator): Who will negotiate with them after this, after the atrocities, the terror that they are committing against peaceful residents, the civilian population, infrastructure and peaceful facilities?

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Ukraine's military claims to have taken nearly 500 square miles in Kursk since it first entered Russian territory earlier this month.

Back here in the U.S., the economy added far fewer jobs last year and into 2024 than previously reported.

In its revised data out today, the Labor Department said that there were 818,000 fewer jobs created between April of last year and this March.

That's an average of 174,000 jobs per month, far fewer than the 242,000 that was initially reported.

This downgrade follows a disappointing report last month and comes as the U.S. Federal Reserve considers whether to cut interest rates next month.

On Wall Street today, stocks ended slightly higher after the Fed raised hopes of an interest rate cut next month.

The Dow Jones industrial average added 55 points, inching closer to the 41000-point level.

The Nasdaq tacked on more than 100 points for a ninth win in 10 sessions.

The S&P 500 also ended higher on the day.

And we have two passings of note.

New Jersey Congressman Bill Pascrell Jr. Died earlier this morning.

The 14-term Democrat was a fixture of his hometown of Paterson, where he had served as mayor, before running for Congress in 1996.

Pascrell was a long time advocate for emergency responders and sat on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee.

No cause of death has been announced, but he had been in and out of the hospital for months.

Congressman Bill Pascrell was 87 years old.

Also today, NBA Hall of Famer Al Attles has died.

As one of the first Black head coaches in the league, Attles led the Golden State warriors to a championship in 1975.

Attles, seen here defending a pass in 1963, was known as the Destroyer for his particularly physical style of play.

He spent six decades with the Warriors as a player, a general manager, and team ambassador.

It is the longest stint by a player with the same franchise in NBA history.

Al Attles was 87 years old.

Still to come on the "News Hour": on the ground in the West Bank, where hard-liners are building more Israeli settlements, in violation of international law.

While Gaza is enduring its devastating war, an increasingly brutal battle is being fought over land in another Palestinian territory, the West Bank.

There, Israeli settlers are attacking Palestinian communities more frequently and ferociously than ever before.

Because of those attacks, more than 100 Palestinians have fled their homes in the Northern West Bank in just the past 10 days.

Last year, more than 1,500 were forced off their land.

Special correspondent Leila Molana-Allen traveled through the occupied West Bank to meet the Israeli settlers who are determined to expand their outposts throughout that contested territory.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: As war rages on, long before the dust has settled on thousands of destroyed homes in Gaza, these Israelis are calling to be allowed to build Jewish homes amidst the rubble.

No Israelis have been allowed to live in Gaza since the government pulled out nearly 20 years ago.

There was violent protest at the time.

Those who called it a mistake now feel vindicated by the October 7 Hamas attacks.

And as the world watches the war in Gaza, extremist settlers have taken advantage of the distraction.

Armed mobs have descended on ancient olive groves on multiple occasions, burning them to the ground, accelerating their harassment of Palestinian villagers and violent land seizures, shooting Palestinians who stand in their way.

Last week, a Palestinian man was shot dead after a group of armed settlers stormed the village of Jit, setting homes aflame.

In late October, three of Yasser Audi's family members were killed when a group of young settlers stormed through their village of Qusra on a shooting rampage.

The next day, as they drove to the graveyard to bury them, their car was surrounded by armed settlers.

Fifteen-year-old Yasser's father and brother were executed in front of him.

YASSER AUDI, West Bank Resident (through translator): When we leave the house, we do not know whether we will come back home or not.

When we go anywhere, we find settlers and soldiers in front of us.

They may attack us or kill us.

They don't care.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: Suddenly the man of the house, Yasser doesn't know how to protect his little sisters and brothers from the surging violence.

YASSER AUDI (through translator): I fear for my family.

Every day, people are being killed.

I am afraid of the future.

They may kill me at any moment.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: Israel's right-wing coalition, led by pro-settlement hard-liners, has ignored Western entreaties to intervene.

Last month, the Israeli government announced it would officially recognize five more illegal settlements in the West Bank, and says it plans to allow settlers to expand into a record amount of further West Bank land this year.

Adding fuel to the fire, many reservists called up to fight from settler communities have joined IDF units in the West Bank.

Human rights groups have documented multiple cases of uniformed soldiers seen providing military protection to the settler attacks.

The IDF says it is investigating the accusations.

Critics say the IDF's past form shows it cannot be trusted to investigate itself.

Of more than 1,200 complaints of Israeli soldier violence against Palestinians from 2017-2020, fewer than 1 percent were charged.

Eiyar Segal lives in one of those communities, Giv'at Arnon, built strategically directly above a Palestinian village, as most settlements are.

Several months ago, two settlers were shot and injured on the main road here.

More than half the residents here are fighting in the reserves.

Eiyar wants immediate resettlement of Gaza, and says Palestinians should not be allowed to live there.

EIYAR SEGAL, West Bank Resident (through translator): People from Gaza don't care about building their lives.

Instead, they are only focused on trying to destroy our lives.

This went on for a long time without any military or intelligence capability to combat them effectively.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: Eiyar insists the violence is caused by Palestinians refusing to accept what she sees as her biblical right to live on this disputed land, which they call Judea and Samaria, and that the only solution is for as many Israelis as possible to move here.

EIYAR SEGAL (through translator): We do not apologize for defending ourselves.

The army cannot maintain a prolonged presence without Jews living here.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: These settlers are breaking international law, which prohibits Israelis from building in the West Bank or parts of East Jerusalem.

More than three million Palestinians live in the occupied West Bank.

The 1993 Oslo Accords ruled 60 percent of disputed West Bank land off-limits to settlers, in hopes that it would one day form the bulk of a Palestinian state.

But in the decades since, Oslo collapsed into memory, and settlers have slowly and increasingly publicly expanded their outposts, despite international outcry.

Some 700,000 Israelis now live on this land.

A frustrated President Biden has slapped sanctions on several known violent settlers and organizations that fund and support them.

He even threatened to sanction some IDF units that have been repeatedly accused of abuses of power and violence against Palestinians if they did not reform.

There have also been Palestinian attacks on settler communities, but they are far less frequent.

In April, 14-year-old settler Benjamin Achimeir disappeared and was found murdered.

A Palestinian man from the nearby village of Mughayyir was charged.

In the following days Israeli settlers rampaged through surrounding villages, burning homes and shooting at least four Palestinians dead.

According to the U.N., five settlers have been killed since October 7, at least 11 Palestinians have been killed, and 230 injured by settlers in that time, with more than 1,250 settler attacks recorded on Palestinian villages in the course of the war.

In that same period, nearly 600 Palestinians, including 137 children, have been killed in the occupied West Bank by Israeli security forces.

Hebron is the site of the ancient Tomb of Abraham, so it's equally holy for Jews, Muslims and Christians.

Some of the most hard-line settlers live in this area, alongside Palestinian communities, making it a constant flash point for violence.

In the settlement of Ma'ale Hever, high in the Hebron hills, settler activist Binyamin Shinberg has long used his expansion on political and religious grounds.

BINYAMIN SHINBERG, Settler Activist (through translator): So we have here a weapon room and -- within our community, and, usually, it's full with weapons, because they are reserved for emergency, which has come now.

So all the weapons inside are now distributed.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: For him, October 7 made this an existential battle.

BINYAMIN SHINBERG: I look at them as a national energy.

I believe there are good people there, although, currently, the trust was shattered.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: Like many who opposed Israel pulling out of Gaza, he believes the Hamas terror attacks were a direct result of that decision.

BINYAMIN SHINBERG: As we said, we cannot leave that, because it's the Jewish country and the holy land.

And also we said it will be dangerous.

There will be rockets.

There will be terror attacks.

And they didn't listen.

But I think we do have to learn from our mistakes.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: Many people say that, if Palestinians had their own state, that would stop the violence because they would then have their own land.

BINYAMIN SHINBERG: The reason that the Palestinians fight us is not because they don't have a state.

They will not rest until they destroy the Jewish state.

So it's either us or them.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: But some believe there's another way.

Shaul Yudelman is an avowed expansionist.

From a secular family in San Francisco, he moved to Israel after graduating college, learned Hebrew and moved into a settlement in the West Bank.

Shaul and his wife believe it's essential for Jews to live in every part of the land they see as wider Israel.

But they also believe they can share it.

SHAUL YUDELMAN, West Bank Resident: I often say that there's really just two opinions on this conflict, right?

Either there is a peace process or there's an existential struggle for survival.

You see, there's two totally different visions of what life could be here going at the same time.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: When you see young extremist settlers picking up guns going and shooting Palestinians, terrifying children, pushing hundreds of them out of the villages that they live in and may never be able to go back to, how do you feel when you see that?

SHAUL YUDELMAN: It's horrific.

It's a shame.

And at the end of the day, what's going on in this conflict, when diplomacy and peace and all those things fail, it's a fight over the land.

And that's what people are doing.

I think it's a failure to make another political path.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: For years, Shaul has worked to build bridges with Palestinian neighbors in the area.

As tensions spiral out of control, he's now using those connections to try to restore trust.

SHAUL YUDELMAN: I have a WhatsApp group with Palestinians from the South Hebron hills a few Israeli activists there.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: Using sympathetic contacts within the IDF and local authorities, Shaul and his allies have been arranging to help local Palestinian farmers harvest their olives and graze their livestock without harassment.

He knows Israeli-Palestinian relations couldn't be worse right now, but keeping the channels open gives him hope for a better future.

SHAUL YUDELMAN: We're in a time right now we're at home watching the news, seeing all the horror that the other side is doing.

To get a phone call from someone on the other side just saying, how are you doing, is everything OK, what can I do, is very powerful, very real.

We're not there yet, but that's going to be the work when this -- when the fighting stops.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: In this shattered region, it's devastated communities torn further apart each day.

Few now dare to cling to such hope for the future.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Leila Molana-Allen in Tekoa settlement, the West Bank.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: And we now hand it back over to Amna and Geoff in Chicago for a preview of what we can expect from their coverage tonight at the Democratic National Convention.

GEOFF BENNETT: Thank you, William.

And be sure to join us again here shortly for live coverage of tonight's convention, including Governor Tim Walz's speech accepting the party's nomination, plus interviews with top Democratic leaders, including Senator Elizabeth Warren.

Our PBS News special starts at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.

And that is the "News Hour" for tonight.

And I'm Geoff Bennett.

AMNA NAWAZ: And I'm Amna Nawaz.

On behalf of the entire "News Hour" team, thank you for joining us, and we will see you back here shortly.