Welcome to the Kamala Harris presidential campaign
Americast
BBC
4.3 • 3.1K Ratings
🗓️ 22 July 2024
⏱️ 35 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In one single day, since Joe Biden announced he was stepping down as the Democrat’s nominee, VP Kamala Harris has raised over $150 million for her presidential campaign. She has also gained the endorsements of a large number of Democrats, including Nancy Pelosi and the Clintons.
But how realistic are her chances of winning against Donald Trump and how should the Democrats be shaping her campaign? Steve Israel, a former chair of the Democrat’s Congressional Campaign Committee - who has plenty of experience when it comes to big campaigns - joins Sarah, Anthony and Justin to discuss.
Also, why is Kamala Harris associated with coconut trees? Why does she get blamed for the border crisis by Republicans? We unpack the 5 most important things to know about Kamala, from coconut trees to her record on the border.
HOSTS: • Justin Webb, Radio 4 presenter • Sarah Smith, North America Editor • Marianna Spring, Disinformation & Social Media Correspondent • Anthony Zurcher, North America Correspondent
GUEST: Steve Israel, former Democrat congressman and former chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee
GET IN TOUCH: • Join our online community: https://discord.gg/qSrxqNcmRB • Send us a message or voice note via WhatsApp to +44 330 123 9480 • Email Americast@bbc.co.uk • Or use #Americast
US Election Unspun: Sign up for Anthony’s new BBC newsletter: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-68093155
This episode was made by Purvee Pattni and Catherine Fusillo and Claire Betzer. The technical producer was Daffyd Evans. The series producer is Purvee Pattni. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, music radio podcasts. |
| 0:04.7 | What a day, a huge day, a huge day in the life of Kamala Harris, a huge day in the life of |
| 0:08.6 | the United States. Her speech highly anticipated her first speech as presumably the Democrats candidate |
| 0:16.7 | now for the 2024 presidential election. |
| 0:19.0 | It was taken live by most of the news networks, no there it was her first public outing since |
| 0:26.0 | Joe Biden stepped down and so now it is my honor to welcome to the stage |
| 0:30.9 | Jordan Dudley who plays on the Florida State University |
| 0:36.2 | women's soccer team and our U-20 women's national team. |
| 0:40.8 | Please welcome Jordan. No, possibly not exactly what you were expecting to hear from somebody who might be about |
| 0:49.1 | to become the presidential candidate for the Democrats. |
| 0:51.8 | This was an event Kam Pamela Harris had scheduled anyway |
| 0:54.0 | and she was welcoming some national athletic champions to the White House. |
| 0:58.0 | She did say a little bit in praise of Joe Biden, absolutely nothing about her own candidacy but it did result |
| 1:04.7 | in yes a very run-of-the-mill day at the White House on the South Lawn being taken live on just |
| 1:10.2 | about every television network. |
| 1:11.8 | Yeah probably the most watched college athletes award ceremony, I think in the history of the White House, |
| 1:17.5 | but obviously all eyes were on Kamala Harris. |
| 1:20.5 | Yeah, and our eyes are on her too. |
| 1:23.0 | Welcome to Americast. |
| 1:24.0 | Americast. |
| 1:27.0 | Americast from BBC News. |
| 1:30.0 | Let me start off with two words. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.