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In today’s issue:
- Harris concedes to Trump using favorite word: ‘fight’
- GOP lawmakers eye 2025 plans
- Democrats call for ‘peaceful transition’
- Which party will control the House?
Vice President Harris’s speech Wednesday about President-elect Trump’s decisive victory on Election Day made no mention of how he won or why she lost.
It was a concession address that conceded little beyond an admonition to a teary-eyed mass of supporters at Washington’s Howard University that “we must accept the results of this election.”
With a hoarse voice and a slight frown, Harris delivered a don’t-stop-believing message to voters, some of whom are mired in turmoil about Trump’s recapture of the nation’s political future.
“I do not concede the fight that fueled this campaign,” Harris said. The fight to protect the Constitution — not a president, she added — will be waged in “voting booths, in the courts and in the public square.” Harris issued a fresh call to the anti-Trump resistance.
In the meantime, Democrats are faced with a reckoning about voters’ rejection of President Biden’s leadership and skepticism about Harris’s claims to being both a loyal lieutenant and an agent of “change.” Did Democrats lose the White House, Senate control and potentially the House majority because of their own mistakes, or because Trump succeeded in welding together “a movement,” as he calls his unique (and male-centered) coalition.
▪ NBC News: “This is a realignment”: Shattered Democrats grapple with Harris’s loss.
▪ The Wall Street Journal: The vice president’s campaign lost after raising and spending $1.2 billion (twice as much as the Trump campaign) from millions of donors. Her team spent more than $654.6 million on ads after she took over as nominee on July 22.
Biden, the target since the spring of mounting criticism from members of his party, will deliver a speech today about the election results. His distaste for Trump is clear. He is expected to deploy graciousness with gritted teeth. Republicans say they will seek to unwind the legislative achievements Biden repeatedly championed during his term beginning in January. Harris’s defeat on election night swept the one-term Biden presidency into a political dust bin. Democrats are in a quandary about where to head next on inflation and the economy, border security and defense of the rule of law.
While Republican voters have shown the biggest shift on immigration, a particularly potent issue wielded by Trump during three campaigns, Democrats and independents have also moved to the right, according to polls. Republicans, Democrats and independents interviewed by The New York Times blamed the Biden administration for failing to take aggressive steps to address chaos at the U.S. southern border.
▪ The Hill: Trump is the projected winner in swing state Arizona. His electoral tally today is 312 to Harris’s 226.
▪ Time magazine: How Trump won.
▪ Times analysis: In the end, Trump is not the historical aberration some thought he was, but instead a transformational force reshaping the modern United States in his own image.
The former president campaigned with a long list of legislative and executive promises, many missing key details. He has pledged mass deportations, new fossil fuel drilling and a U.S. pullback on assistance to allies abroad, including Ukraine.
The Hill’s Niall Stanage reports on winners and losers from Tuesday’s presidential contest.
SMART TAKE FROM THE HILL’S BOB CUSACK:
The results of the 2024 elections were stunning in a number of ways, but the most troubling sign for Democrats is the amount of support Trump received from Latinos.
For years, Democrats dominated the Hispanic vote and believed that support would lead them to dominate presidential elections. The voting bloc has become more important over the last quarter-century and prior Republican presidential nominees were perplexed about how to win Latino votes. After Mitt Romney lost the 2012 race for the White House, the GOP put out an “autopsy report” that urged the party to embrace comprehensive immigration reform.
Trump went in the opposite direction, stressing tough border security while rejecting paths to citizenship. And the results have been telling. On Tuesday, Trump attracted a 14-percentage point swing among the demographic, according to exit polling by Edison Research. Trump won 32 percent in 2020 and an eye-opening 46 percent from Latinos this week.
Inflation — not immigration reform — was the No. 1 issue for Latinos this year. Trump deftly targeted Hispanics and it helped him win the Electoral College and the popular vote. Democrats will have to do their own autopsy report. Answering why Latinos are fleeing the party should be the first question they analyze.
A shifting demographic: Trump’s election to a second non-consecutive term instantly rewrote the playbook for pursuing the Hispanic electorate, burying immigration and identity politics as gateway issues for the Latino vote. Tuesday’s election belied the mantra of a monolithic Hispanic community, making evident gaps that outweighed any considerations of Latino identity.
3 THINGS TO KNOW TODAY
▪ Hurricane Rafael headed west out of Cuba early this morning as a Category 2 storm after causing the island’s power system to collapse. The strongest Atlantic hurricane this late in the season since 2020, Rafael is expected to slow today in the Gulf of Mexico and into the weekend.
▪ Markets overall posted sharp gains Wednesday, with the Dow rising more than 3 percent to close at a new record high. Stocks that investors believed would benefit under a Trump administration soared, while solar stocks plunged.
▪ Trump’s election victory sparked a record $64 billion in gains for the world’s 10 richest people.
LEADING THE DAY
© The Associated Press | Julia Demaree Nikhinson
SENATE REPUBLICANS SECURED at least a 52-seat majority in the upper chamber and are looking to expand it to 54 seats as GOP candidates remain ahead in Pennsylvania and Nevada, which would give Trump largely unfettered power to fill his Cabinet and other executive and judicial branch positions without much trouble.
The Hill’s Alexander Bolton reports a narrower Senate GOP majority would put a lot of power in the hands of GOP moderates who didn’t support Trump, namely Sens. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Susan Collins (Maine), but now Trump will be able to largely bypass these centrists to get his agenda through Congress.
Senate Democrats acknowledged Wednesday they won’t have much leverage to stop Trump’s most polarizing nominees to the executive or judicial branches next year, given the expected size of the incoming GOP majority.
“We really worry about it,” Sen. George Helmy (D-N.J.) said of what will be Trump’s largely unchecked ability to make appointments next year. “With a significant number of senators … we have to be very concerned about the condition of the judiciary, when they have four more years to stack the courts and potentially the Supreme Court.”
Despite long-standing friction between two leaders of the GOP, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) on Wednesday congratulated Trump on his victory at a news conference. “It’s certainly a happy day for the GOP,” the outgoing Senate GOP leader said, remarking on the ground Republican lawmakers gained through a handful of key races.
▪ The Hill: McConnell on Wednesday stood firm about keeping the filibuster in place under a Senate GOP majority.
▪ The Hill: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) urged the new Senate GOP majority to embrace “bipartisan” bills.
▪ The Hill: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said the Democratic Party “has abandoned working class people.”
▪ The Hill: Businessman and former Navy SEAL Tim Sheehy (R) defeated third-term Sen. Jon Tester (D) in Montana.
Two wins for Democrats in the upper chamber: Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) is projected to secure a third term in the Senate, defeating Republican Eric Hovde and handing Democrats a key hold in a battleground state Trump won Tuesday. And Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D) is projected to win the hotly contested Senate race in Michigan, keeping another key swing-state seat in the Democratic column.
Meanwhile, the temperature is rising in the battle to lead Senate Republicans as Sens. John Thune (S.D.) and John Cornyn (Texas) face a one-week sprint to win the top spot. Multiple senators and aides told The Hill’s Al Weaver that Thune and Cornyn, along with their allies, have been burning up the phones of members in search of support ahead of the Nov. 13 election.
“It’s Thune’s to lose, but Cornyn’s going to make it close,” said one GOP aide familiar with leadership dynamics. “It’s going to be bloody and rough, and money is going to matter.”
USA Today: Who would serve out Vice President-elect JD Vance’s Senate term to represent Ohio?
CONTROL OF THE HOUSE: The neck and neck battle for control of the House appears to be shifting in favor of Republicans as results roll in from the most competitive districts. While the contest for the gavel remains too close to call officially — and dozens of races have yet to be finalized — the momentum was clearly moving with the GOP on Wednesday as more ballots were counted and the battlefield shrunk.
Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said “the House remains very much in play” Wednesday afternoon, pointing to a number of too-close-to-call races. The mounting GOP wins, however, are drawing a rosier picture for Republicans.
Republicans have more than a 90 percent chance of winning control of the lower chamber, according to Wednesday’s Decision Desk HQ’s prediction model.
▪ BBC: Who will win the House? The outstanding races to watch.
▪ The Hill: Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) formally asked House Republicans to reelect them to their leadership posts in letters sent to GOP members on Wednesday.
MORE ELECTION ROUNDUP
Trump’s criminal prosecutions are expected to be shut down as he returns to the White House, but a murky path forward remains for civil lawsuits. Justice Department officials are evaluating how to wind down two federal criminal cases against Trump before he takes office to comply with long-standing department policy that a sitting president can’t be prosecuted.
Texas voters Tuesday handed sweeping victories to the Republican Party, which controls the state with an ascendant MAGA faction. Here are five things to know about how state Democrats experienced the sting of rejection downballot.
The cryptocurrency world is celebrating a successful operation to oust its critics and usher in a new cohort of allies just two years after several scandals roiled the industry.
“A star is born”: Elon Musk’s big bet on Trump pays off.
WHERE AND WHEN
- The House will convene for a pro forma session Friday at 9:30 a.m. The Senate will hold a pro forma session Friday at noon.
- The president will deliver a speech at 11 a.m. in the Rose Garden about the election results. Biden will receive the President’s Daily Brief at 1:30 p.m.
- The Federal Reserve concludes a two-day meeting with a 2 p.m. statement and a press conference with Chair Jerome Powell at 2:30 p.m. Analysts anticipate the central bank will cut its benchmark interest rate by a quarter point.
- The White House daily press briefing is scheduled at 1:30 p.m.
ZOOM IN
© The Associated Press | J. Scott Applewhite
THE UPCOMING PRESIDENTIAL TRANSITION — a massive undertaking to shift control of the entire executive branch — could get messy. Biden and Harris assured Trump during phone calls Wednesday that the outgoing administration will help the president-elect’s team accomplish a “peaceful” transition, details of which are established by law with specific assistance spelled out by Congress.
Politico: Potential names for government posts bubble up amid advisers and planners for the Trump transition.
Trump’s distrust of the Biden-Harris team, the Justice Department, the FBI, the General Services Administration and the intel community, all of which have roles to play to accomplish a polished federal handoff, means the president-elect may opt to do things his way, with help from some of the same inside players he relied on when he was president the first time.
The incentives behind achieving a smooth transition are supposed to be obvious: continuity of national security and defense and sophisticated planning to rapidly set a new agenda in motion inside the bureaucracy and with Congress. Trump said Tuesday his administration’s motto is “promises made, promises kept.” Congress moves slowly, even with potential GOP unity in both chambers. Voters will expect to receive something they value from Trump by next year.
The Associated Press: Trump’s 75-day transition starts now. Here’s how it will work.
What does the transition timeline look like? Here’s a step-by-step guide to the process, starting on Dec. 17 when electors will meet in their respective states and vote for the president and vice president on separate ballots.
The process has been glitchy in the past, but the past two transitions, featuring an incoming or outgoing Trump administration, were particularly chaotic, according to agency officials and transition experts, who are bracing for another wild ride.
Here’s a breakdown of scenarios that could make the transition particularly complicated or contentious.
Trump is leaning on many of the people who served in top positions in his first administration to help prepare for immediate policy action in the second. Politico reports the result is an administration that would be better prepared to implement his priorities soon after the inauguration — especially on agenda items like trade and tariffs.
▪ CNN: What we know about the transition so far.
▪ GovExec: Agencies have completed their preelection transition briefings. Trump may still not get them on time. The former president is still sidestepping the government’s transition process.
▪ The New York Times: Howard Lutnick, the head of Trump’s transition team, said that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — who will likely be tapped to lead public health agencies — had persuaded him to embrace his anti-vaccine claims, which have been widely debunked.
▪ The Hill: School choice will have a proponent in the Oval Office, and the federal Department of Education could be in existential danger after Tuesday’s election.
ELSEWHERE
© The Associated Press | Virginia Mayo
THE GLOBAL EFFECTS of Trump’s victory will be felt in the coming weeks and months. As world leaders reach out to congratulate him on his Tuesday win, questions remain about foreign policy under a president whose increasingly isolationist views and friendly rapport with strongmen, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, defined his first term.
As war continues to rage in the Middle East and Ukraine, U.S. allies and foes will be watching for Trump’s responses — and his effect on the global order. Here are five ways his second term could affect foreign policy.
Ukraine may soon have to adjust to a reduction in U.S. support for its war against Russia. Throughout the campaign, Trump and Vance have cast strong doubts on continued U.S. commitment to Kyiv. Trump has also made comments that suggest the U.S. could pressure Ukraine into an uneasy truce with Moscow, and his victory comes at a precarious moment in the conflict for Kyiv. Russia has steadily been making gains in the eastern Donbas region, which Putin aims to capture in full.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky congratulated Trump on Wednesday and said he appreciates Trump’s commitment to “peace through strength.”
Politico: The Biden administration is planning to rush the last of over $6 billion remaining in Ukraine security assistance out the door by Inauguration Day.
In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his supporters celebrated Trump’s election, hailing what a leader of the Israeli settler movement called an ally who would support them “unconditionally.” Meanwhile, Palestinians expressed fear at Trump’s return to the White House, while the leaders of the militant group Hamas and the Palestinian Authority urged him to act for peace.
In Khan Younis in southern Gaza, Abu Osama, who has been displaced by unrelenting Israeli bombardments, called Trump’s election victory a “new catastrophe in the history of the Palestinian people.”
▪ CNN: Here’s what’s at stake in the Middle East under Trump’s second term
▪ The New York Times: Four more years of unpredictability? The world prepares for Trump’s return.
OPINION
■ America makes a perilous choice, The New York Times editorial board.
■ Welcome back, Donald Trump, by Kimberley A. Strassel, columnist, The Wall Street Journal.
THE CLOSER
© The Associated Press | Evan Vucci
Take Our Morning Report Quiz
And finally … 🧩 It’s Thursday, which means it’s time for this week’s Morning Report Quiz! Tuesday’s election kept Americans up late and had journalists reaching into the pages of history. With this puzzle, we invite readers to do the same!
Be sure to email your responses to asimendinger@thehill.com and kkarisch@thehill.com — please add “Quiz” to your subject line. Winners who submit correct answers will enjoy some richly deserved newsletter fame on Friday.
No female candidate has been elected U.S. president, obviously, but which woman is credited by historians as the first in history to try?
- Patricia Schroeder
- Shirley Chisholm
- Victoria Claflin Woodhull
- Margaret Chase Smith
Trump is the rare Republican presidential aspirant who won both the popular vote and Electoral College tally. Before him, who was the last GOP candidate to accomplish the feat?
- George W. Bush
- George H.W. Bush
- Ronald Reagan
- Dwight D. Eisenhower
Which of these men won election to the presidency while serving as vice president — rare in American history?
- Harry S. Truman
- John Adams
- Millard Fillmore
- Andrew Johnson
Who, before Trump was elected president, lost a bid for reelection and then came back to win another term?
- Richard Nixon
- Chester Arthur
- Grover Cleveland
- William Howard Taft
Stay Engaged
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