Election category, Page 14
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro defends Sen. Bob Casey’s recount choice and points to Dave McCormick’s own failed recount
PHILADELPHIA — Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro on Tuesday defended U.S. Sen. Bob Casey’s decision to move forward with a recount, pointing to Republican Dave McCormick ‘s own unsuccessful recount in 2022 in a much closer election. Shapiro has been under pressure from state and national Republicans to intervene in the...
Elon Musk, senior Trump adviser have ‘massive blowup’ over Cabinet picks
Elon Musk had a ” massive blowup ” with a top aide for President-elect Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago because the pair reportedly disagreed on Cabinet appointments. Musk, believed to have spent around $120 million to get Trump elected, engaged the incoming president’s longtime adviser Boris Epshteyn in a “huge explosion”...
Pa. Supreme Court forbids counties from counting mail-in ballots with date errors
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled Monday that mail-in ballots in the Nov. 5 election that lacked handwritten dates or were improperly dated on their outer envelopes as required under state law cannot be counted. The ruling comes as several counties have been tallying those votes. In a four-page order, the...
Allegheny County elections board finalizes provisional ballots
Allegheny County will finish this week counting its ballots from the Nov. 5 election, completing a weekslong process that has taken place amid legal challenges and on the heels of an automatic recount in Pennsylvania’s race for a U.S. Senate seat. About 725,000 total ballots were cast in Allegheny County....
Trump’s Pentagon pick paid woman after sex assault allegation but denies wrongdoing, his lawyer says
WASHINGTON — Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for defense secretary, paid a woman who accused him of sexual assault to head off the threat of a baseless lawsuit, according to Hegseth’s lawyer. Hegseth was accused of sexual assault in 2017 after a speaking appearance at a Republican women’s event...
4 formerly undecided Pennsylvanians explain how they voted
HARRISBURG — The 2024 presidential election is over. And after months at the center of the political universe, Pennsylvania voters have shown the nation how they feel politically: Most picked Donald Trump. Trump beat Kamala Harris in the commonwealth by a little less than 2 percentage points. It was a...
As he fills his new administration, Trump values loyalty above all else
WASHINGTON — Donald Trump spent much of his first term feeling stung and betrayed by those he’d placed in power. This time, he’s not taking chances. As he works to fill his administration a second time, Trump has turned to a head-spinning mix of candidates. Many of those he’s chosen...
Trump wants to end ‘wokeness’ in education. He has vowed to use federal money as leverage
WASHINGTON — Donald Trump’s vision for education revolves around a single goal: to rid America’s schools of perceived ” wokeness ” and “left-wing indoctrination.” The president-elect wants to keep transgender athletes out of girls’ sports. He wants to forbid classroom lessons on gender identity and structural racism. He wants to...
Trump is already testing Congress and daring Republicans to oppose him
WASHINGTON — After a resounding election victory, delivering what President-elect Donald Trump and Republicans call a “mandate” to govern, an uneasy political question is emerging: Will there be any room for dissent in the U.S. Congress? Trump is laying down a gauntlet even before taking office challenging the Senate, in...
The last actions the Biden administration will take before Trump takes over the White House
WASHINGTON — Biden administration officials are working against the clock doling out billions in grants and taking other steps to try to preserve at least some of the outgoing president’s legacy before President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January. “Let’s make every day count,” President Joe Biden said in an...
Pa. House Democrats spent more than $18 million to hold on to their narrow majority, as legislative races get more expensive
HARRISBURG — The campaign arms behind both parties in the Pennsylvania House and Senate spent more than $35 million to influence the outcome of last week’s election — nearly half of which was spent by House Democrats to hold on to their narrow majority as the GOP swept races throughout...
5 things to know about Pennsylvania’s Senate election recount
The Pennsylvania Senate race is headed to a recount. Republican businessman Dave McCormick led by about 24,000 votes over Democratic incumbent Bob Casey as of Thursday afternoon. McCormick has secured 48.9% to Casey’s 48.5%. The Associated Press and Decision Desk have called the race for McCormick. But because the race...
Pennsylvania courts get lawsuits over ballot-counting in Senate contest headed toward a recount
HARRISBURG — Republicans went to court in Pennsylvania on Thursday amid vote counting in the U.S. Senate election between Democratic Sen. Bob Casey and Republican David McCormick, as the campaigns prepare for a recount and press counties for favorable ballot-counting decisions. The lawsuits ask courts not to allow counties to...
Food prices worried most voters, but Trump’s plans likely won’t lower their grocery bills
Americans are fed up with the price of food, and many are looking to President-elect Donald Trump to lower their grocery bills. Trump often railed on the campaign trail against hefty price increases for bacon, cereal, crackers and other items. “We’ll get them down,” he told shoppers during a September...
Matt Gaetz once faced a sex trafficking investigation by the Justice Department he could now lead
WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general, Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, was once embroiled in a sex trafficking investigation by the Justice Department he’s been tapped to lead, and has been under scrutiny by the House Ethics Committee over allegations including sexual misconduct. That probe effectively ended...
Trump’s mainstream picks for top foreign policy posts could reassure allies — and worry China
WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump is famously unconventional, but he made conventional picks for his two top foreign policy positions. That could be reassuring to American allies, while China and Iran have reasons to be wary. Trump on Wednesday announced his choice of Sen. Marco Rubio for secretary of state....
Trump issues early challenge to GOP Senate with defiant nominations
WASHINGTON — Just hours after Republican Sen. John Thune was elected as the incoming Senate majority leader on Wednesday, President-elect Donald Trump presented him with one of his first tests — an announcement that he intends to nominate controversial Rep. Matt Gaetz as attorney general. The Florida Republican is one...
Liberals pressure Senate Democrats to confirm more Biden judges while they can
WASHINGTON — Demand Justice, a progressive organization focused on the judiciary, is set to bombard Capitol Hill with a message for the closing weeks of the 118th Congress: Do “whatever it takes” to confirm President Joe Biden’s nominees as a second Donald Trump presidency looms. The Republican president-elect’s victory and...
Gaetz pick shows value Trump places on loyalty — and retribution — as he returns to Washington
WASHINGTON — Donald Trump has had few defenders in Congress as reliable as Matt Gaetz, who has thundered at one prosecutor after another for perceived bias against the president-elect and emphatically amplified the Republican’s rallying cry that the criminal investigations into him are “witch hunts.” That kinship was rewarded Wednesday...
Republicans win 218 U.S. House seats, giving Donald Trump and the party control of government
WASHINGTON — Republicans have won enough seats to control the U.S. House, completing the party’s sweep into power and securing their hold on U.S. government alongside President-elect Donald Trump. A House Republican victory in Arizona, alongside a win in slow-counting California earlier Wednesday, gave the GOP the 218 House victories...
Prosecutor failed to show that Elon Musk’s $1M-a-day sweepstakes was an illegal lottery, judge says
PHILADELPHIA — The $1 million voter sweepstakes linked to billionaire Elon Musk was allowed to continue through Election Day because Philadelphia’s top prosecutor failed to show that it was an illegal lottery, a judge said in a new opinion. District Attorney Larry Krasner had filed suit last month to try...
Casey-McCormick race heads to automatic recount
Pennsylvania’s hard-fought U.S. Senate race is being extended potentially another two weeks. With the contest between Democratic incumbent Bob Casey and Republican businessman Dave McCormick within 0.5 percentage point, the race is legally required to go to automatic recount under Pennsylvania law, Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt announced Wednesday....
Trump makes a victor’s return to Washington and pledges a smooth transition of powerVideo
WASHINGTON — Donald Trump made a victor’s return to Washington on Wednesday, visiting the White House for a nearly two-hour meeting with President Joe Biden and committing to a straightforward transition of power as the president-elect moves quickly to build out his new administration. Sitting in front of a crackling...
Trump’s defense choice stuns the Pentagon and raises questions about the Fox News host’s experience
WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump stunned the Pentagon and the broader defense world by nominating Fox News host Pete Hegseth to serve as his defense secretary, tapping someone largely inexperienced and untested on the global stage to take over the world’s largest and most powerful military. The news was met...
GOP asks Pa. Supreme Court to reject mail-in ballots with handwritten date errors
The Republican Party is calling on the state Supreme Court to discount mail-in ballots that arrive on time but lack written dates. On Tuesday, the Republican National Committee and Republican Party of Pennsylvania filed a petition asking the court to reverse a decision last month by the state’s Commonwealth Court....
