Election category, Page 15
Provisional ballot challenges heard in Westmoreland County
University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg students Sadiki Raessa and Brionna Woodson were anxious to cast their first votes in a presidential election. Raessa, 22, of Lancaster and Woodson, 21, of Philadelphia learned Tuesday their votes will not count. Both were among the 39 voters whose provisional ballots were rejected by...
Trump spends 1st week as president-elect behind closed doors at Mar-a-Lago
WASHINGTON — For a man who loves the spotlight, Donald Trump has been conspicuously out of view since his triumph in last week’s presidential election. There have been no rallies, no press conferences, no speeches. Instead, Trump has spent most of his first week as president-elect behind closed doors at...
Trump has promised to ‘save TikTok’; what happens next is less clear
After a tumultuous year filled with anxiety and a legal battle about its future in the U.S., TikTok may have just been thrown a lifeline by the man who was once its biggest foe: Donald Trump. President-elect Trump, who tried to ban the social media platform the last time he...
Schumer invites McCormick to Senate orientation
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has reversed course and invited Pennsylvania Republican Dave McCormick to the chamber’s orientation for new senators following an initial snub because of uncounted ballots in McCormick’s race. McCormick was declared the winner Friday by The Associated Press in an upset victory, but Democratic incumbent...
Biden funded new factories and infrastructure projects, but Trump might get to cut the ribbons
WASHINGTON — All that’s left is for President-elect Donald Trump to put his name on it — if he wants. Trump won the White House in large part because of voters’ frustration with high prices and a sense that the United States needs major changes. But when he enters office...
A pair of Trump officials have defended family separation and ramped-up deportations
SAN DIEGO — Donald Trump’s first picks for immigration policy jobs spent the last four years angling for this moment. Stephen Miller and Thomas Homan had critical roles in the first Trump administration and are unapologetic defenders of its policies, which included separating thousands of parents from their children at...
Democrat Ruben Gallego wins Arizona U.S. Senate race against Republican Kari Lake
PHOENIX — Democrat Ruben Gallego has been elected Arizona’s first Latino U.S. senator, defeating Republican Kari Lake and preventing Republicans from further padding their Senate majority. Gallego’s victory continues a string of Democratic successes in a state that was reliably Republican until Donald Trump was elected president in 2016. Arizona...
McCormick to go to Washington for Senate orientation over Schumer objections
Republican Dave McCormick said Monday he is off to Washington, D.C. for freshman orientation at the U.S. Senate, even as the chamber’s Democratic leaders are withholding an invitation while waiting for the remaining votes to be counted in Pennsylvania. The Associated Press Friday declared McCormick the winner in an upset...
How did Pa. Dems keep the state House during a red wave? Meet Frank Burns
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds power to account and drives positive change in Pennsylvania. Sign up for our free newsletters. HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania House Democrats have clung to their one-vote majority despite a statewide wave of GOP wins that...
Trump names Lee Zeldin to lead EPA, Stephen Miller to be deputy chief of policy
NEW YORK — President-elect Donald Trump on Monday named former Rep. Lee Zeldin to lead the Environmental Protection Agency as he continues to build out his future administration with loyal supporters. Trump, in a statement, said Zeldin, who mounted a failed bid for governor of New York in 2022, would...
Trump chooses New York Rep. Elise Stefanik as ambassador to United Nations
NEW YORK — President-elect Donald Trump has chosen Rep. Elise Stefanik to serve as his ambassador to the United Nations. “Elise is an incredibly strong, tough, and smart America First fighter,” Trump said in a statement Monday announcing his pick. Stefanik, 40, who serves as House Republican Conference Chair, has...
Will Trump’s hush money conviction stand? A judge will rule on the president-elect’s immunity claim
NEW YORK — A gut punch for most defendants, Donald Trump turned his criminal conviction into a rallying cry. His supporters put “I’m Voting for the Felon” on T-shirts, hats and lawn signs. “The real verdict is going to be Nov. 5 by the people,” Trump proclaimed after his conviction...
Trump on Day 1: Begin deportation push, pardon Jan. 6 rioters and make his criminal cases vanish
WASHINGTON — Donald Trump has said he wouldn’t be a dictator — “except for Day 1.” According to his own statements, he’s got a lot to do on that first day in the White House. His list includes starting up the mass deportation of migrants, rolling back Biden administration policies...
Trump names Tom Homan, former director of immigration enforcement, as ‘border czar’
WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump says Tom Homan, his former acting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement director, will serve as “border czar” in his incoming administration, a position that is likely to play a key role in Trump’s campaign pledges to secure the U.S.-Mexico border and mount a massive deportation...
Biden and Trump will meet in the Oval Office on Wednesday, the White House says
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden will host President-elect Donald Trump for a traditional postelection meeting in the Oval Office on Wednesday, the White House said Saturday. Such a meeting is customary between the outgoing president and the incoming president, and is meant partly to mark the start of a peaceful...
Gov. Tim Walz vows to fight Donald Trump’s agenda while working to understand his appeal
EAGAN, Minn. — Gov. Tim Walz vowed on Friday to make Minnesota a safe haven for the values that drove the Democratic presidential ticket he helped lead, while at the same time promising to work harder to understand the concerns of President-elect Donald Trump’s voters. Inside a high school auditorium...
A guide to key figures in Donald Trump’s orbit
WASHINGTON — Donald Trump will return to the White House accompanied by a crew of longtime friends and aides as well as newfound, splashy allies. The Republican president-elect has barely begun naming key figures in his administration, but he has kept a rotation of associates with him on and off...
Judge cancels court deadlines in Trump’s 2020 election case after his presidential win
WASHINGTON — The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s 2020 election interference case canceled any remaining court deadlines Friday while prosecutors assess the “the appropriate course going forward” in light of the Republican’s presidential victory. Special Counsel Jack Smith charged Trump last year with plotting to overturn the results of the 2020...
From the Newsroom: How Trump won the White house
The world watched as former President Donald Trump decisively bested Vice President Kamala Harris and has become the 2024 president-elect. Trump overcame the shadow of two impeachments, felony convictions and attempts on his life during the campaign. Trump gained ground in almost every district and demographic, seizing battleground states and...
McCormick, appearing in Pittsburgh, declares victory over Casey
Republican David McCormick appeared Friday morning in Downtown Pittsburgh to declare victory in his tight U.S. Senate race against incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, who has yet to concede. The Associated Press called the race Thursday in McCormick’s favor, and the Republican claimed there’s no path for Casey to...
Democrats retain control of Pennsylvania state House
Democrats will remain in control of Pennsylvania’s state House after a nail-biter in a Johnstown area district. State Rep. Frank Burns eked out his eighth successful reelection bid, this time against Republican Amy Bradley, to preserve his party’s 102-101 majority in the lower chamber. The pro-gun, anti-abortion Democrat represents the...
Trump rebuilds Democrats’ ‘blue wall’ states with red bricks. Especially Pennsylvania
HARRISBURG — Republicans landed historic victories in Pennsylvania this week, winning the battleground state’s valuable presidential electoral votes, posting a two-seat gain in its U.S. House delegation and sweeping all four statewide offices on the ballot, including a U.S. Senate seat. The strong performance means Donald Trump has won Pennsylvania...
Why AP called the Pennsylvania Senate race for David McCormick
WASHINGTON — Republican David McCormick cut Democratic Sen. Bob Casey’s leads in Philadelphia and its populous suburbs and built leads in the more GOP-leaning parts of the state, foreclosing the incumbent’s pathway to victory when The Associated Press called the race. McCormick was leading by more than 30,000 votes when...
Trump victory spurs worry among migrants abroad, but it’s not expected to halt migration
MEXICO CITY — Donald Trump’s victory in the United States presidential election instantly changed calculations for millions of migrants or potential migrants across the globe. But perhaps not in the way Trump imagined. Trump has pledged to reduce immigration. But by narrowing the already limited legal pathways into the U.S.,...
Trump’s win brings uncertainty to borrowers hoping for student loan forgiveness
Savannah Britt owes about $27,000 on loans she took out to attend college at Rutgers University, a debt she was hoping to see reduced by President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness efforts. Her payments are currently on hold while courts untangle challenges to the loan forgiveness program. But as the...
