Vice President Kamala Harris reportedly has enough votes to clinch the Democratic nomination for president, and former President Donald Trump strikes back on "weird" attacks.

Harris receives enough votes at virtual roll call to become Democratic nominee, DNC chair says

Vice President Kamala Harris received enough votes in the Democratic National Committee's virtual roll call to become the party's nominee for president, DNC chair Jaime Harrison said on a call on Friday.

Online voting kicked off Thursday and runs through Monday. By Friday, Harris received a majority of the pledged delegates to the convention.

Once the vote is formalized, Harris will officially become the first woman of color to lead a major political party's ticket, and could become the first woman, Black woman and person of South Asian descent to become president.

“I am honored to be the presumptive Democratic nominee for president of the United States and I will tell you, the tireless work of our delegates, our state leaders, and our staff has been pivotal to making this moment possible," Harris said on the call.

"I will officially accept your nomination next week, once the virtual voting process is closed, but I’m happy to know we have enough delegates to secure the nomination," she said. 

Harrison, who led the call, expressed pride that the party's delegates rallied around Harris so quickly and said he was looking forward to making it official at the party's convention in Chicago later this month.

"The fact that we can say today, just one day after we opened voting, that the vice president has crossed the majority threshold and will officially be our nominee next week, folks, that is simply outstanding," Harrison said, later adding that Democrats "will rally around Vice President Kamala Harris and demonstrate the strength of our party" at the convention.

The announcement comes hours after Harris' campaign said it raised an eye-popping $310 million in July, the biggest haul of the 2024 election cycle and more than double the amount raised by former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, over the same period.

In the days and weeks since President Joe Biden announced he was suspending his campaign and endorsing Harris to take his place at the top of the ticket, the vice president has received the backing of nearly every major Democratic Party power player, including former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama, ex-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, in addition to raising major sums of money. 

‘They’re the weird ones’: Trump attempts to hit back on ‘weird’ attack from Democrats

Former President Donald Trump has evidently had enough of the “weird” label that Democrats have used in recent weeks to attack both him and running mate JD Vance, seeking to put it back on his opponents in an interview.

“They’re the weird ones,” Trump said on “The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show” this week. “And if you've ever seen her (Harris) with the laugh and everything else, that's a weird deal going on there. They're the weird ones."

"Nobody’s ever called me weird. I’m a lot of things, but weird I’m not, and I'm upfront," he continued."

“And he’s not either, I will tell you,” Trump said of his newly minted running mate. “JD is not at all. They are.”

Democrats have used the "weird" label emphatically in interviews and on social media recently, particularly as they try to characterize Vance's stances on abortion and women and families without children.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a progressive darling and a potential running mate pick for Vice President Kamala Harris, is credited with coining the phrase to describe Trump and Vance, calling them "just weird" in a recent interview on MSNBC.

“Listen to the guy. He's talking about Hannibal Lecter and shocking sharks and just whatever crazy thing pops into his mind,” Walz said of Trump on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “Have you ever seen the guy laugh? That seems very weird to me, that an adult can go through six and a half years of being in the public eye — if he has laughed, it's at someone, not with someone — that is weird behavior, and I don't think you call it anything else.”

Walz made waves last week when he said of Republicans in another TV appearance “these guys are just weird” and that Trump and Vance seem like they are running for “He-Man Women Haters Club” of “The Little Rascals” fame.

Since then, Harris and Democrats have adopted that line of argument as Vance’s previous comments about “childless cat ladies” and his belief that Americans with children should have more voting power than those without have gained newfound attention.

"Donald Trump has been resorting to some wild lies about my record, and some of what he and his running mate are saying, it’s just plain weird," Harris, the leading contender for the Democratic presidential nomination, said at a fundraiser in Massachusetts last weekend.

Since then, it's caught on like wildfire among Democrats.

"They’re just weird," said Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker on ABC News’ “This Week” on Sunday; Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called Vance "weird" and "erratic" on CBS' "Face the Nation" on Sunday; a statement from Harris' campaign responding to a recent Fox News interview with Trump called the ex-president "old and quite weird"; and Pete Buttigieg, the Transportation Secretary and another Harris VP hopeful, said Trump is "clearly older and stranger than he was when America first got to know him" on "Fox News Sunday."

Trump accused the "weird" label of being a "soundbite," adding: "And the press picks it up ... the evening news, every one of ‘em’s talking, they introduce the word ‘weird,’ and all of the sudden they’re talking about 'weird.'"

He also accused Democrats of having "weird" policies on immigration, the economy and transgender rights. "The whole thing is weird, and the way they do elections is weird. And they’re the weird ones."

Vance, for his part, told Fox News earlier this week that the label "doesn’t hurt my feelings" with a laugh, calling it "the price of admission" in American politics.

Statewide standards for EV infrastructure in Florida on the horizon

Florida leaders are currently looking to create a statewide standard for electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

The state’s consumer services director Rick Kimsey has been going around the state meeting with entities and municipalities on what these rules would look like.

A recent proposed rule discussion was held in Altamonte Springs Wednesday, to understand what a potential guidance would look like.

The reason for the discussion is the different rules currently all across the state, from signage, to landscaping, to how long someone can park in an EV parking spot.

“We are definitely looking at the scale that is coming with EV,” Kimsey said at the discussion. “We are looking at the resources that will be necessary.”

According to the Environmental Defense Fund, Florida is behind only California when it comes to the total number of registered electric vehicles.

Benjamin Pauluhn, the president of Optimus Energy Solutions, says with a quarter million EV cars in the state so far, the need for charging stations will only grow.

“I don’t think it’s about the future, because it’s today,” Pauluhn said. “Twelve percent of vehicles sold today in Florida are electric vehicles.”

Over the past seven years, Pauluhn said his business has doubled each year. The problem he says he faces daily is the different rules in place all across the state just to put in a charging station.

“Local jurisdiction-based,” Pauluhn said, as he started to list obstacles he has faced. “Site requirement overreach, aesthetic opinions as far as people out of touch with what consumers want, and just an arm’s length opinion of what should or shouldn’t be the case."

But, he does believe there should be some rules and common law to keep consumers and businesses safe, which are already in place.

“We need to put in to National Electric code. We have to comply with fire safety, in particular when in structures, condos, etc. All of those codes already exist,” Pauluhn said. “It’s no different than many of the other 240 volt items we are putting in structures today.”

Following the rules workshop discussion led by the state, Kimsey said he hopes to have the writing of the rules in place before the end of the year.