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Retailers shift their thinking on delivery as consumer need for speed raises costs

Consumer need for speed in package delivery, which has reached its apex with same-day shipping, has placed retailers in a tough spot when it comes to managing transportation costs. The result is increased competition among shippers for retail volume in a market dominated by FedEx and UPS, according to a new survey from global consulting firm AlixPartners.

Retail executives surveyed say as more — especially younger — consumers demand same-day delivery, the financial payoff isn’t there.

Roughly three-quarters (76%) of retail executives surveyed by AlixPartners said delivery cost on a per-package basis has increased since last year, and three out of four said home delivery does not add to profitability. An overwhelming majority (85%) said reducing their total cost per order is the No. 1 priority for last-mile delivery.

Shippers are facing their own cost pressures. “Carriers have experienced meaningful inflation in wages, equipment, repair and maintenance, insurance, fuel, tires, real estate, health-care costs, and more,” said Marc Iampieri, global co-leader of logistics & transportation, and partner & managing director of AlixPartners. “Those costs are offset by future rate increases. There is also a macro supply-and-demand equation to consider as e-commerce growth outstrips retail growth.”

Iampieri said the recent UPS-Teamsters contract renewal is a good example of wage inflation. 

To save on delivery costs, retailers are moving away from reliance on single carriers in last-mile delivery. Three out of four executives reported they are using a mix of last-mile options. To date, the shift in shipping strategy has helped FedEx, but hurt UPS. FedEx was the primary last-mile carrier cited by 42% of executives, an increase of 15% year over year. But UPS saw a decrease in retailers using it as a sole last-mile carrier, dropping from 35% in 2023 to 25% in 2024.

UPS reported weaker-than-expected profits for Q2 this week and suffered its worst single-day stock loss on record.

UPS did not respond to a request for comment by press time.

In its earnings commentary on Tuesday, it cited customers “trading down,” moving to more economic options in the most recent quarter, but also indicated this was linked to the “acceleration of new entrants, new e-commerce customers” that were coming into the market, assumed to be a reference to Asian low-cost retailers and Amazon rivals Shein and Temu. UPS also noted that it lost customers year over year due to the Teamsters contract negotiations in 2023 and customers signing long-term contracts elsewhere. 

Some alternative parcel delivery companies identified as benefitting from the move to diversify last-mile delivery include OnTrac, Pandion, and LSO/Lone Star Overnight. Additional delivery companies include Uber Eats and Uber Connect, Postmates, DoorDash, Instacart, and Shipt. 

Free delivery is still the big draw for consumers, with 92% saying that factors into their buying decisions, but the consumer threshold of waiting for product delivery is 3.5 days maximum, or else they say they will shop elsewhere.

“They are addressing this by shifting customer policies with half increasing minimum order spend in the past year,” said Chris Considine, a partner at AlixPartners. “When minimum delivery expectations aren’t met, 25% of shoppers will spend elsewhere.”

Almost two-thirds (64%) of retail executives surveyed said they increased the minimum order value for free shipping; 15% said they are requiring a minimum order value and membership for free shipping. Among consumers, 25% surveyed said they preferred to Buy Online, Pick Up in Store (BOPIS) versus delivery to avoid any shipping costs and to receive the product faster.

“While this trend has traditionally been driven by convenience, continuing shifts in service level improvements, expanding options, assortment, and return to in-person working environments are also playing a role,” Considine said.

Most consumers surveyed (92%) said a delayed order would impact their future purchase decisions and 82% expected compensation, but only 4% of companies surveyed said they would offer a discount on the next purchase for a late delivery.

Considine characterized online buying fundamentals as strong, with e-commerce sales of cleaning products up the most year over year, at 11%, followed by grocery and health/medical supply, both up 10%. Footwear and apparel purchases increased to a lesser extent.

Recent data from Motive, which tracks trucking visits to North American distribution facilities for the top five retailers, shows freight volume was up 30% year-over-year in June.

To cut costs on returns, retailers have also changed free shipping qualifications.

“Retailers are tightening the return policies such as shortening or enforcing the return window of time and eliminating free returns just for convenience and requiring a stated defect or issue with the good/product,” Iampieri said.

When given the option of shipping the return or an in-store return, over 80% of consumers reported they were willing to travel between 15-30 minutes for free in-store returns versus paying a shipping fee.

This post appeared first on NBC NEWS
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Disneyland workers reach tentative deal with company, averting strike

Disneyland employees have reached a tentative deal on a new contract with the company, according to a coalition of unions, averting what would have been the first strike to hit the Southern California theme park in 40 years.

‘We have shown Disney that we are the true magic makers of the park and today proves that when workers stand together for what they deserve, we win,’ the Disney Workers Rising Bargaining Committee said in a statement. ‘We look forward to making our voices heard during the voting process to ratify this contract.’

The bargaining committee said details of the tentative agreement would be shared with union members before a formal vote on Monday. The results of that vote will then be shared with the public.

The announcement of a tentative deal comes five days after union members voted to authorize a strike by an overwhelming majority, citing alleged unfair labor practices during contract negotiations.

The number of employees who voted was not released. The unions said that, of the members who participated, 99% voted to approve a walkout.

In a statement, Disneyland Resort spokesperson Jessica Good said: ‘We care deeply about the wellbeing of our cast members and are pleased to have reached a tentative agreement with [the unions] that addresses what matters most to our cast while positioning Disneyland Resort for future growth and job creation.’

The employees covered by the contract include custodians, ride operators, candymakers and merchandise clerks at the popular theme park, a pillar of the tourism economy in Southern California. In company parlance, theme park workers are known as ‘cast members.’

The bargaining committee previously accused Disney of having ‘engaged in multiple instances of conduct we allege are unfair labor practices, including unlawful discipline and intimidation and surveillance of union members exercising their right to wear union buttons at work.’

The union buttons in question depict a Mickey Mouse-style white glove raised in a fist. (The company has insisted that costumes worn by cast members are ‘a critical part of enhancing the experience of our Disney show.’)

In recent years, labor leaders and scholars have drawn public attention to the economic struggles of employees at Disneyland and other major theme parks across the country.

In an internal survey of union members conducted earlier this year, 28% of Disneyland cast members reported experiencing food insecurity, 33% reported experiencing housing insecurity in the last year, and 42% reported needing to miss work for medical treatment because they did not have enough sick leave.

The four unions that represent the workers are the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) Local 83; the Service Employees International Union-United Service Workers West (SEIU-USWW); the Teamsters Local 495; and the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 324.

The last time Disneyland was hit with a strike was September 1984, when nearly 2,000 cast members walked off the job for 22 days.

The pre-existing contract for cast members at Disneyland expired June 16. The contract for cast members at Disney California Adventure and Downtown Disney expires Sept. 30.

This post appeared first on NBC NEWS
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Delta Airlines cancellations and delays continue but worst of IT outage impact is over, CEO says

Dozens of Delta Air Lines flights were canceled and more than 200 delayed Wednesday as the Atlanta-based carrier continued to recover from last week’s global CrowdStrike-Microsoft IT outage.

But in a statement, Delta CEO Ed Bastian said the carrier had largely recovered from the outsized impact it experienced from the incident.

Data from FlightAware on Wednesday morning showed 47 canceled and 242 delayed Delta flights, though it was not immediately clear how many were attributable to IT issues, as a major storm system moved through the southern United States.

Dallas-based American Airlines was seeing similar cancellation and delay numbers.

Separate data from the aviation intelligence group Anuvu showed 16% of scheduled Delta flights were canceled, with just 18% departing on time.

In his statement, Bastian said he expected cancellations Wednesday ‘to be minimal.’

‘While our initial efforts to stabilize the operations were difficult and frustratingly slow and complex, we have made good progress this week and the worst impacts of the CrowdStrike-caused outage are clearly behind us,’ Bastian said, noting delays and cancellations were down 50% Tuesday compared to Monday.

‘Thursday is expected to be a normal day, with the airline fully recovered and operating at a traditional level of reliability.’

Delta said Tuesday that many of its worldwide operations relied on Microsoft, and that a crew scheduling system had seen an acute disruption as a result of the glitch.

That led to thousands of the carrier’s flights being canceled, leaving passengers stranded at airports and prompting the Transportation Department to investigate.

In an appearance Tuesday on NBC News Now with Hallie Jackson, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said he had spoken with Bastian to remind him that passengers who decline to take rebookings are entitled to cash refunds.

“This could absolutely lead to major enforcement action,” Buttigieg said, noting the record penalty his department had levied against Southwest Airlines after its 2022 winter meltdown.

‘We really wanted to send a message that this is a new chapter in how we enforce passenger protections and rights … clearly we need to continue sending that message,’ he said.

This post appeared first on NBC NEWS
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Southwest Airlines faces FAA audit over string of near-miss incidents

The Federal Aviation Administration said Tuesday it was placing Southwest Airlines under a heightened safety review after a string of recent near-miss safety incidents involving the low-cost carrier.

In a statement, the agency said it was increasing oversight of Southwest ‘to ensure it is complying with federal safety regulations.’

“Safety will drive the timeline,” the agency said.

The development comes amid ongoing jitters about the state of U.S. aviation first sparked in January, when a door panel on a Boeing-manufactured aircraft blew out midair. That incident prompted the Justice Department to open a criminal investigation of Boeing, and led to the ouster of its leadership. A planned rollout of Boeing’s latest-generation 737 Max line was also suspended.

Since then, United Airlines announced in March an independent review of its safety measures following its own near-miss incidents. In May, the U.S. Transportation Department Office of Inspector General said it would audit the FAA’s oversight of United Airlines maintenance practices — the fifth-such OIG report following ones scrutinizing the FAA’s oversight of Allegiant, American, SkyWest and Southwest airlines’ maintenance practices.

Last week, a global IT outage linked to an update of Microsoft Windows by the cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike grounded flights worldwide, leaving thousands of passengers stranded. By Wednesday, Delta Air Lines said it was still working to recover from the issue.

The FAA did not specify which incidents had prompted its latest audit announcement about Southwest.

But in April, a flight departing from Honolulu come within 400 feet of slamming into the ocean after what appeared to be an instance of pilot error. No one was injured and the plane eventually landed safely.

Details of the incident were first reported in June by Bloomberg News.

In a statement following the Bloomberg report, Southwest said ‘the event was addressed appropriately as we always strive for continuous improvement.”

As news of the Hawaii incident emerged last month, new reports surfaced of a ‘Dutch roll’ incident — said to mimic a famous Dutch ice skating tactic — on a flight from Phoenix to Oakland that caused a significant rocking motion midair.

A subsequent investigation revealed damage to both a backup power unit as well as ‘structural components’ in a way that appeared to be unique to Southwest.

“Other airlines have not reported similar issues,” the FAA said at the time.

Within days of the Dutch roll incident, reports emerged of a Southwest flight that triggered a low-altitude alert over Oklahoma City.

And prior to the FAA’s audit announcement this week, the agency said it had begun investigating an incident involving a Southwest flight departing from Columbus, Ohio, bound for Tampa that flew as low as 150 feet over Florida waters and resulted in an emergency landing in Fort Lauderdale.

In a statement Tuesday, Southwest said it was working closely with the FAA as the agency undertakes its new review, and that it had formed a new team of experts to bolster its safety management system.

‘Nothing is more important to Southwest than the safety of our customers and employees,’ it said.

Appearing with NBC News anchor and senior Washington correspondent Hallie Jackson on Tuesday, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg indicated there is no reason to believe it is unsafe to fly Southwest. But he said that while U.S. commercial aviation remains the safest in the world, ‘we’ve got to keep it that way.’

This post appeared first on NBC NEWS
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Players in the WNBA could be powerful allies for Kamala Harris

It was August of 2023 when a basketball star and a possible future president of the United States had a moment that was heartfelt and also a possible indication of what’s to come.

The Las Vegas Aces were at the White House celebrating their championship win with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. Harris came to the podium to speak but before beginning, she turned to forward A’ja Wilson and said: ‘My soror.’

Wilson and Harris are members of the historic Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., a Black service organization and sorority founded at Howard University in 1908.

After Harris spoke to Wilson, it was Wilson who responded with ‘Skee Wee,’ which can mean many things but it’s mostly a form of acknowledgement, care and love.

‘I couldn’t help it,’ Harris said, referring to greeting her fellow soror.

That moment wouldn’t be the last time the two would closely communicate.

In February, they filmed an Instagram video discussing the importance of the upcoming presidential election with Harris telling Wilson that democracy was at stake. The Instagram caption from Wilson read: ‘Creating change is a team effort! Make sure you’re registered to vote and this November, let your voice be heard.’

Whether you agree with their politics is irrelevant. The point is there’s already connective tissue between political activism in the WNBA and the greatest social justice issues of our time. If you don’t think that will continue now, at one of the most important moments in American history, you don’t know the history of the WNBA.

It’s not exactly known how many WNBA players support Harris and it’s important to note that Black voters aren’t a monolith. But if the majority-Black league follows the general pattern of Black women voters, Harris could have a potent force fighting for her. An NBC News exit poll showed that 90% of Black women voted for Biden in 2020.

Harris isn’t a stranger around the WNBA. She was there when Brittney Griner played in her first WNBA game after being released by Russia. In April, Harris name-checked the WNBA when talking about equal pay for women.

‘Women should be paid their fair share. Whether they’re a scientist, construction worker, or WNBA All-Star,’ Harris wrote on social media. ‘President Biden and I are committed to closing the gender wage gap and creating an economy where every American can thrive.’

All of this means the league could be a huge mobilizing force for Harris not just with women but young people in general.

It’s unlikely the WNBA sticks to sports. It’s unlikely they shut up and dribble. It is likely some players put their energy behind Harris because righteous activism is in the WNBA’s genome. These are players, and this is a league, that believe in Democracy and civil rights. How do I know this? They’ve fought for these things many times before. Perhaps more than any league in the history of American sports.

Years before Colin Kaepernick would take a knee to protest police brutality, the WNBA was in that space. In 2016, they were among the first to wear ‘Black Lives Matter’ shirts before games. WNBA players were fixtures at various protests. In 2020, the league dedicated its season to honoring Breonna Taylor, who was killed in a botched police raid.

“We have always been at the forefront of initiatives with strong support of #BlackLivesMatter, #SayHerName, the LGBTQ+ community, gun control, voting rights, #MeToo, mental health and the list goes on,” said WNBPA President Nneka Ogwumike in 2020. “This is not only necessary from a humanitarian perspective, but it may be one of the biggest opportunities that this league has and will ever have.”

In 2021, the Atlanta Dream and Phoenix Mercury helped introduce the nation to Sen. Raphael Warnock. Players wore shirts in pre-game with the words “VOTE WARNOCK. What the Dream would go on to do in supporting Warnock is one of the great political chef’s kisses of athlete activism.

Dream players disliked the person who co-owned the team, Kelly Loeffler, because she was MAGA. And insulting. And other things. So the players backed Warnock. The result was nothing short of stunning.

Warnock won his runoff election against Loeffler, becoming Georgia’s first Black senator. His win, along with Jon Ossoff’s, flipped Georgia blue. It’s true, as Time.com noted then, that other factors helped Warnock win. Yet an expert in political science and quantitative methods at Yale concluded that the WNBA helped raise awareness to those unfamiliar with Warnock.

Guard Tiffany Hayes, who played for the Dream then and who’s now with the Aces, said at the time: “We were definitely the loudest voice. We were the sternest voice. And we backed what we said. I don’t see any other hand that was bigger.”

The story of Warnock has become almost a sort of lore and retelling it is important because of the moment we’re in now.

Because if the Dream, and by extension many in the WNBA, fought to elect the first Black senator from Georgia, what do you think some WNBA players will do to help elect the first Black woman president?

This post appeared first on USA TODAY
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Maria Laborde’s Olympic dream died long ago. She revived it in her 30s

PARIS – At the time, Johnny Prado knew Maria Laborde. Most judo insiders knew about her.

She was a rising star. Ranked third in the world in her weight class. Bound for the 2016 Olympics in Rio, where she’d represent her native Cuba.

Then one day, Prado – a judo coach in the United States – got a surprising phone call.

It was Laborde. She had defected from Cuba, traveling to Texas during a tournament in Mexico. She intended to take those qualification points and use them to represent the U.S. in Rio.

“I’m like, ‘No, Maria. It doesn’t work like that. You need to start from scratch. You need to be an American citizen,’” Prado said.

Meet Team USA: See which athletes made the U.S. Olympic team and where they are from

With that, Laborde’s Olympic dream nearly died at age 24.

It took until 33 for her to revive it.

Laborde has finally made it. She’ll compete on Saturday in the 48 kg division, having earned a spot in the Paris Olympics with an against-the-odds career refresh that waited on her to become an U.S. citizen in 2022. Despite her initial retirement and lengthy hiatus, she’s likely still Team USA’s best shot at a judo medal in Paris – which makes one wonder what could have been. Just how much success did she miss out on during her 20s?

“I wonder that all the time,” she said.

Leaving family to ‘start a new life’

She arrived in the United States on Nov. 28, 2014, headed to Houston after making a difficult, life-altering decision to “give up everything I had before and start a new life.”

Why?

‘In Cuba, we don’t have so many things,” Laborde explained. “Even if you are a world champion or Olympic champion, it’s trouble with everything – food, medicine, the basic stuff we need for athletes. I said, ‘Well, maybe if I compete for another country, I can have a better life. And also, I can be able to help my family,’ because as Cuban athletes, you can only be able to help so much.”

Laborde hasn’t been back to Cuba since. “They block you for eight years,” she said. “So you cannot come back to the country for eight years.” She could have ended up anywhere in the U.S.

Who’d have guessed Kenosha, Wisconsin?

Years ago, Laborde took a job in Wisconsin teaching mixed martial arts. Harsh winters aside, she said she likes it there. It’s quiet.

Meanwhile, she’s planning a return visit to Cuba after the Olympics, allowing her to finally reunite with family. Like her father or grandmother who she misses terribly.

It was her grandmother – Julia Albarez – who first steered her toward judo at age 12. That was a year after Laborde’s mother Luz Delia died of breast cancer.

“When she passed away,” Laborde said, “I was feeling very lost. That’s the thing I started judo for, because I was a really bad kid. I was fighting in school. I was angry all the time. Because my mom was my biggest supporter. Then when she passed away, I really lost myself completely. I was 11 years old.”

An improbable Olympic debut

Judo is a sport. But more accurately, it’s a brawl. They’re scrapping out there, throwing people around, trying to physically survive and impose will on a competitor to win. Takes determination. That suited Laborde from the start, even if she doesn’t look like the brawling type.

She’s barely 5-foot tall. Her weight class in the smallest, as 48 kg equals about 105 pounds.

Back when Laborde first tried judo, she was so small that her first coach in Cuba told her to forget it. Undeterred if not additionally motivated, she kept showing up “every single day,” she said.

“Two months later, I had my first national media,” Laborde said. “And they were so impressed, so surprised, like ‘oh wow, you really can do it.’ That made me realize judo is for me.”

And it still has been. The past two years, Laborde has routinely ranked in the Top 10 at world events. According to USA Judo, Laborde has been expected to be seeded No. 10 in Paris, the highest of any of the four Americans who qualified for this Olympics.

What Laborde is doing is rare, said Prado (now her coach). That’s true in any sport, but especially this one.

“In judo, it’s something that if you stop doing the sport, you lose,” Prado said. “You lose skill. You lose your speed. You put on some weight. It’s really hard.”

Nonetheless, she’s here. She made it. She’s an Olympian.

And no matter what happens, Laborde can always be proud to say what she did Wednesday in Paris:

“I fulfilled my dreams.”

Reach Gentry Estes at gestes@gannett.com and on the X platform (formerly known as Twitter) @Gentry_Estes.

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Kevin Durant’s status unclear for USA Basketball’s Olympics opener

VILLENEUVE-D’ASCQ, France — Kevin Durant, the U.S. men’s basketball basketball star who has not played in five pre-Olympics exhibition games with a sore calf, went through a non-contact practice at Pierre Mauroy Stadium on Wednesday, but his status remains unclear for the team’s Group C opener Sunday against Serbia.

‘We will do some live stuff (Thursday), so the plan is for him to get in the scrimmage and see how he handles that,’ U.S. coach Steve Kerr said following practice at the massive soccer stadium turned basketball arena nearly 140 miles north of Paris. ‘But yeah, he looked good (Wednesday), and he did everything and got a lot of shots up and told me he’s feeling pretty good.’

The U.S. was 5-0 in the exhibition games but had close wins against South Sudan (101-100) and Germany (92-88), and Durant, USA Basketball’s all-time leading men’s Olympic scorer, would give the U.S. a significant boost. He is also trying to become the first American male to win four gold medals in men’s basketball.

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The U.S. already had to replace Kawhi Leonard (recovering from a knee injury) with Derrick White, but Kerr said there is not concern now that Durant won’t be able to play in the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Kerr said USA Basketball men’s team managing director Grant Hill is in communication with team trainers, Durant’s management and the Phoenix Suns. Hill said after the first U.S. exhibition game against Canada on July 10 that he expected Durant to return for one of the next four exhibition games. That didn’t happen.

‘This is not going to be like us going out and saying, ‘Hey, let’s just throw him out there,” Kerr said. ‘This will be a big collaboration.’

Durant is expected to talk with reporters Thursday in Paris.

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WNBA’s top two selling jerseys belong to … rookies

The numbers continue to tell the same story about Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese. 

As contentious as the debate surrounding them gets at times, their rivalry that began in college with Iowa and LSU is good for the business of women’s basketball. From record crowds to record TV ratings to record-breaking TV contracts, the sport’s popularity is soaring because of how many people are invested in them.

And a lot of those new fans are buying Clarke and Reese jerseys.

WNBA merchandise sales are up 500% this season, the Sports Business Journal reported earlier this week, and its rookie stars are fueling a record pace. Clark (No. 1) and Reese (No. 2) have the league’s top-two selling jerseys this year, part of a 1,000% increase in player-specific merchandise sales, according to Fanatics.

It’s the latest proof of the immediate impact Clark and Reese have made, on the court and on the bottom line of basketball. 

First, they drove record ratings at the NCAA women’s basketball tournament in consecutive years — right as the NCAA tripled its previous fee with ESPN for the media rights package that includes the women’s basketball tournament. 

Then, they brought record ratings to the WNBA — starting with the WNBA draft, continuing into the first half of the regular season and culminating earlier this week with the most-watched WNBA All-Star game of all-time, when Clark and Reese played together with the WNBA All-Stars and beat Team USA.   

The WNBA recently agreed to a record-$2.2 billion television contract that the head of the WNBA players union said might have undervalued the league’s worth at the moment. ESPN will pay the WNBA $200 million annually for the next 11 years, as compared to about $30 million per year during the current deal.

Clark and Reese have been the best two rookies in the league this season after becoming household names while playing at Iowa and LSU. 

Clark leads the league in assists (8.2), leads the Indiana Fever in scoring (17.1 points), set a WNBA record for assists in one game (19) and became the first rookie in WNBA history to register a triple-double in a game.

Reese set a new WNBA record for consecutive double-doubles (15) and averaged 13.5 points and 12 rebounds per game for the Chicago Sky before the league’s All-Star and Olympic break.

It’s clear, by this point, their jerseys will be a staple in WNBA arenas for the foreseeable future.

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White House comms shop’s credibility questioned after Biden bows out: ‘Scandal’

The White House communication team’s credibility surrounding knowledge of President Biden’s political future is in the national spotlight after telling the public for weeks that Biden would not drop out of the 2024 race while simultaneously battling questions from the press about mounting concerns over his health. 

‘All you can do is shake your head.  No one at the White House has any credibility when it comes to Joe Biden’s health. From Vice President Harris to the White House physician to everyone in the press office, they covered up the president’s frailties. They hid the truth. It’s a scandal,’ former George W. Bush White House press secretary Ari Fleischer told Fox News Digital. 

Voters and social media commenters across the nation have sounded off in recent days that the communications team was ‘out of the loop’ as concerns mounted surrounding Biden’s health and subsequent claims that the president would exit the 2024 presidential race. 

When Biden did announce his departure from the race, only a handful of White House and campaign officials – such as Vice President Kamala Harris, chief of staff Jeff Zients and campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon – were made aware ahead of the letter, while some senior officials learned of the decision in a Zoom call, and most others through Biden’s public announcement on X, media outlets reported. 

The White House communications shop, which is led by press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, had for weeks shut down claims Biden would drop out, while describing Biden’s health as above board and no reason for concern. 

‘Absolutely not,’ Jean-Pierre declared in a press briefing on July 3 when asked if Biden had any plans to exit the 2024 race. 

Jean-Pierre’s messaging had been backed up by White House spokesman Andrew Bates, who frequently issued statements to the media that Biden was in the race to win while brushing off questions about the president’s health. 

‘The president told both leaders he is the nominee of the party, he plans to win and looks forward to working with both of them to pass his 100-days agenda to help working families,’ Bates said last week in a comment to the New York Times. 

‘That is not happening, period,’ Bates said Friday when asked if members of the Biden family were discussing the president’s exit plan. ‘The individuals making those claims are not speaking for his family or his team – and they will be proven wrong. Keep the faith.’

Soon after the June 27 CNN debate, worried party leaders mounted a pressure campaign on Biden to exit the race, as dozens of elected Democrats commended the president for his service in the White House, but called on him to pass the torch to another candidate better suited to take on former President Trump. Media reports cited sources who described top Democrats such as former President Barack Obama, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., as working in the background on efforts encouraging Biden to drop out. 

Although the media reports mounted that Democratic leaders were working to galvanize the party without Biden ahead of the DNC, the White House communications team continued brushing off the reports as hogwash.

Bates, for example, went on a social media campaign shooting down media reports that Biden’s exit from the race was imminent. Meanwhile, Jean-Pierre continued touting the president’s record in office on her X account, including that Biden ‘will continue to defend reproductive freedom’ and that POTUS had ‘been hitting the road and meeting directly with the American people’ in the days following the debate. 

Despite the full-throated denial that there were even discussions that the president should bow out, Biden ultimately stepped aside in a tweet on Sunday afternoon. 

‘It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President. And while it has been my intention to seek re-election, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term,’ Biden said in his letter posted to X Sunday afternoon announcing his departure from the race. 

Media reports shortly following the announcement indicated White House staffers and members of the campaign were shocked by the news, learning of the decision via the X post and through a Zoom call on Sunday. 

Biden had been self-isolating at his home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, after a COVID-19 diagnosis last week. He returned to Washington, D.C., on Tuesday and will address the nation in more depth regarding his exit from the race on Wednesday evening from the Oval Office. 

Following his exit from the race, social media commenters sounded off that key White House communications team staffers were ‘out of the loop’ on Biden’s plans to leave the race or mocked staffers such as Bates. 

The calls for Biden to drop out of the race were born out of his poor debate performance last month against Trump, where he stumbled over his words, lost his train of thought and appeared more subdued than his typical public demeanor. The June 27 debate opened the floodgates to traditional allies and legacy media outlets to call on him to drop out, though conservatives and critics had for years said Biden’s mental fitness was concerning. 

As questions surrounding the president’s health mounted, the White House communications team juggled an onslaught of questions regarding whether the president was suffering with an illness such as Parkinson’s disease. 

The media’s interactions with Jean-Pierre and the communications team became more heated, as reporters pressed the spokeswoman for answers on the president’s health, and called into question the team’s credibility.

Jean-Pierre was pressed by the media during a fiery exchange earlier this month to speak to whether a Parkinson’s disease expert’s eight visits to the White House were related specifically to Biden’s health. Jean-Pierre, instead, refused to confirm the doctor by name. She did confirm a neurologist had examined Biden three times for his three yearly physicals since taking office.

​​’They’re in the White House visitor logs. It’s public. I looked it up before I came out here. It is right there for anyone to see,’ CBS News reporter Ed O’Keefe said during a presser early this month when questioning the press secretary about Dr. Kevin Cannard being listed eight times on White House visitor logs. 

‘I cannot from here confirm any of that because we have to keep their privacy. I think they would appreciate that too,’ Jean-Pierre said. 

‘The patient or the doctor?’ O’Keefe asked. 

‘We have to keep their privacy,’ Jean-Pierre replied. 

‘It is public,’ NBC News correspondent Kelly O’Donnell jumped in to say, while O’Keefe added, ‘you’re going to allow this to fester longer, Karine, unless the White House just answers the question.’ 

Jean-Pierre was grilled yet again in another press conference about Cannard’s visits, where she erroneously said one of the meetings this year was not related to Biden’s health. 

‘Can you say whether that one meeting [between Cannard and O’Connor] was related to care for the president himself?’ the Associated Press asked.

‘I can say that it was not,’ Jean-Pierre responded. 

The press secretary backtracked later that day, saying Cannard’s Jan. 17 meeting at the White House was in fact related to Biden’s health, specifically to the president’s yearly physical. 

Reporters also called on the White House to allow Biden’s White House physician, Dr. Kevin O’Connor, to speak to them directly about the president’s health. The administration, however, argued that his written updates on Biden’s health and reports on his check-ups were sufficiently transparent. 

‘The thorough summaries Dr. O’Connor puts online for the public are far more extensive than the presidential medical documentation released during the previous administration,’ Bates told Fox News Digital earlier this month when asked if O’Connor would speak directly to the media. ‘In fact, the American people heard from Dr. O’Connor through his daily written reports on President Biden’s COVID case for over two weeks straight – a condition he had the honesty to disclose right away, unlike Trump’s physicians in office.’

O’Connor has released repeated statements and updates on the president’s health since Biden took office, including when he was diagnosed with COVID, as well as updates on Biden’s annual physicals. He has, however, not joined a press briefing to field journalists’ questions. 

‘Dr. O’Connor teaches at George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Science, completed U.S. Army flight surgeon training, and was among the first American service members in Afghanistan and Iraq. His unique expertise is sought across the medical community, in which he is respected for his candor, attention to detail, and work ethic,’ Bates continued.  

The White House has said that Biden does not suffer from a disease such as Parkinson’s or dementia, or other types of degenerative illnesses. 

Following Biden’s exit from the race, members of the GOP are calling on Biden to resign from the White House altogether. 

 ‘If Joe Biden is not fit to run for President, he is not fit to serve as President. He must resign the office immediately. November 5 cannot arrive soon enough,’ House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said in a statement Sunday. 

‘If the Democrat party has deemed Joe Biden unfit to run for re-election, he’s certainly unfit to control our nuclear codes,’ House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., said Sunday. ‘Biden must step down from office immediately.’

Trump’s running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, had also called on Biden to resign in the lead-up to his bombshell announcement. 

‘If Joe Biden ends his reelection campaign, how can he justify remaining President?’ Vance posted on X hours before the announcement. ‘Not running for reelection would be a clear admission that President Trump was right all along about Biden not being mentally fit enough to serve as Commander-in-Chief. There is no middle ground.’

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Politics

Vulnerable Dem senator hit with immigration ad tying his policies to his ‘new friend’ Kamala Harris

Ohio Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, considered one of the most vulnerable senators facing re-election, was hit with a new ad from his opponent tying him to presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris.

‘I love Sen. Kamala Harris for so many reasons,’ a clip of Brown says in the introduction to the new ad released Wednesday from Ohio GOP Senate candidate Bernie Moreno. 

‘Sherrod Brown has found a new friend,’ the ad’s narrator states. ‘And just like his old friend, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris doesn’t care about the border crisis.’

The ad then plays a clip of Harris saying, ‘We have a secure border.’

‘Sherrod Brown agrees,’ the ad narrator says before a clip shows Brown saying, ‘The border is not an emergency.’

The ad goes on to highlight Brown voting with Harris and Biden 99% of the time.

‘Sherrod Brown and Kamala Harris, new friends, same old radical agenda,’ the ad says in closing.

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Moreno Communications Director Reagan McCarthy said, ‘Kamala Harris would be even more radical than Joe Biden, and Sherrod Brown supports her 100%.’

‘As ‘border czar,’ Harris has overseen the worst border invasion in history, and Brown helped her implement the most liberal agenda in American history. In November, Ohioans will reject Harris and retire Brown.’

In a statement to Fox News Digital, a Brown campaign spokesperson said, ‘While Bernie Moreno opposed the strongest border deal in decades, Sherrod voted for the deal and successfully worked with Republicans to pass legislation to stop fentanyl from coming over the Southern border by cracking down on the chemical suppliers in China and the drug cartels in Mexico.’

‘Bernie Moreno and his special interest allies are attacking Sherrod because they know he will always do what’s right for Ohio while Moreno only looks out for himself.’

The race between Moreno and Brown is expected to be a close one as Republicans view it as one of their strongest opportunities to take back control of the Senate in November in a state that Trump won by 8 points in 2020. 

The Cook Political report ranks the race as a ‘toss up.’

Brown endorsed Harris for president after he had called for President Biden to drop out of the presidential race and has joined the list of vulnerable Democratic senators who are facing ads from their opponents tying them to Harris’ policies.

On Tuesday, Pennsylvania GOP Sen. candidate Dave McCormick released an ad highlighting the praise that Democratic Sen. Bob Casey gave Harris before it outlines a variety of her policies that the ad says makes her the ‘most liberal nominee in U.S. history.’

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