Donald Trump won a clean and decisive comeback on Election Night, but there were some echoes of the chaotic 2020 election in Wisconsin, where officials had to recount 31,000 absentee ballots.
Tabulators in the Democratic stronghold of Milwaukee were left unsecured, leading to a manual recount that delayed reporting in the swing state. The recount did not impact the outcome in Wisconsin, where Trump won by about 30,000 votes.
An election observer noticed that the doors on the tabulators were not sealed, leading the city to perform a recount "out of an abundance of caution."
“It’s just out of an abundance of caution. We have no reason to believe that there was any compromise to any of the machines,” city spokesman Jeff Fleming said.
Milwaukee finally delivered its absentee ballot count in the early morning Wednesday. While officials blamed "human error" for the delay, Republicans blasted the oversight as an unacceptable error.
"This is an unacceptable example of incompetent election administration in a key swing state: voters deserve better and we are unambiguously calling on Milwaukee's officials to do their jobs and count ballots quickly and effectively," RNC Chairman Michael Whatley and Co-Chair Lara Trump said.
"Anything less undermines voter confidence," they added.
The results Tuesday night proved to be historic: President Trump swept the battlegrounds, including the "blue wall" states of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, denying Kamala Harris her last line of defense in the Electoral College and securing his path to a second, non-consecutive term.
Trump's commanding victory - which is expected to carry over into a popular vote win - left Harris no option but to concede the race on Wednesday.
The election was wrapped up much faster than in 2020, when Joe Biden was declared the winner after nearly a week of counting mail-in ballots. Despite Trump's quick and decisive victory this year, Americans still do not know the winners of key Senate contests in Arizona, Pennsylvania, and Nevada.
The Associated Press called Wisconsin's Senate race for Democratic incumbent Tammy Baldwin on Wednesday, defeating Republican challenger Eric Hovde. Republicans have flipped seats in West Virginia, Montana, and Ohio to regain a Senate majority.
The House of Representatives is still up for grabs, with many elections yet to be called in California. Ballot counting in the state, which has universal mail-in voting, could last weeks.
The nation of Canada is mourning the death of former senator, judge, and indigenous people's advocate Murray Sinclair. He was 73.
Sinclair played a prominent role in Canadian history as the leader of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which studied the controversial residential schools that assimilated indigenous children into Western culture.
Prime minister Justin Trudeau credited Sinclair with shining a light on the "darkest parts of our history."
"He challenged us to confront the darkest parts of our history -- because he believed we could learn from them, and be better for it," Trudeau wrote.
The Honourable Murray Sinclair dedicated his life to repairing Canada’s relationship with Indigenous Peoples. As the Chief Commissioner of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, he challenged us to confront the darkest parts of our history — because he believed we could learn… pic.twitter.com/6MblQg9fTg
— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) November 4, 2024
Born on an Indian reserve in Manitoba, Sinclair studied law and became the first indigenous judge in the province.
As leader of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Sinclair released the bombshell report in 2015 that concluded Canada inflicted a "cultural genocide" on indigenous tribes through the residential school system.
The network of government-run boarding schools, operating for over a century until 1996, converted indigenous children to Christianity and forced them to abandon their native tongues for English and French.
"Education is the key to reconciliation," Sinclair said. "Education got us into this mess and education will get us out of it."
After the Truth and Reconciliation Commission dissolved in 2015, Sinclair was appointed a senator for Manitoba the following year. He retired in 2021.
Over the course of his life, Sinclair received many honors for his indigenous advocacy, including the Meritorious Service Cross. Sinclair recently released a memoir in which he urged Canada to take accountability for its past.
"We know that making things better will not happen overnight. It will take generations. That's how the damage was created and that's how the damage will be fixed," Sinclair wrote.
After years of declining health, the father of five died peacefully at a hospital in Winnipeg on Monday, his family said.
"Mazina Giizhik (the One Who Speaks of Pictures in the Sky) committed his life in service to the people: creating change, revealing truth, and leading with fairness throughout his career," his family said in a statement, referring to Sinclair by his native name.
Democrats have spent the last four years demonizing "election deniers" on the right, but the possibility of Donald Trump's comeback has some Democrats changing their tune about accepting election outcomes.
One of the leading Democrats on the January 6th committee, Jamie Raskin (Md.), suggested his party may not automatically accept the results of Tuesday's presidential election - undermining Raskin's own narrative that Trump is a threat to democracy.
Democrats frequently criticize Trump for placing conditions on accepting the results in 2024, but Raskin did just that during an interview with Bill Maher.
Using rhetoric that many Democrats have called extreme when used by Trump, Raskin said Democrats would only accept the results if they are "free and fair."
“No, we’re not going to allow them to steal it in the states, or steal it in the Department of Justice, or steal it with any other election official in the country,” he said. “If it’s a free and fair election, we will do what we have always done — we will honor it," Raskin said.
Raskin told Axios in October that he would "obviously accept" the outcome if Trump "won a free, fair and honest election."
This is not the first time Raskin has hedged on committing to a peaceful transfer of power. The Democrat drew attention earlier this year for inflammatory talk about "civil war" breaking out over the presidential election.
Raskin appeared to suggest at the time that Democrats would be justified in blocking Trump's legitimate victory because of the Supreme Court's failure to exclude him from the ballot.
"So it’s going to be up to us on January 6, 2025, to tell the rampaging Trump mobs that he’s disqualified. And then we need bodyguards for everybody, and civil war conditions, all because the nine justices... simply do not want to do their job," he said at the time.
After Trump's 2016 victory, Raskin was one of the Democrats who objected to certifying Trump's victory against Hillary Clinton.
Despite Raskin's wavering commitment to democracy, he - like many Democrats - has regularly painted Trump as a dangerous dictator who led an "insurrection" at the Capitol.
If Trump wins the presidency, will Democrats forget all about their "principles" to try to stop a peaceful transfer of power? It's hard to see how Democrats could pull back after comparing Trump to Hitler endlessly.
While former President Donald Trump completely reshaped the makeup of the U.S. Supreme Court during his first term as president, different changes could happen on his watch should he win a second term.
According to Newsweek, some legal analysts strongly believe that conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas will likely resign at some point if Trump wins the White House yet again.
The reasoning would be to allow Trump to appoint a younger conservative justice to take over his role on the high court, hedging against something happening to him during a future term under a Democratic president.
Some experts believe that Thomas could also choose to resign to exit the public spotlight, especially given the attempts by Democrats to hamstring him over ethical concerns.
Though Thomas hasn't hinted whatsoever that he's thinking of resigning under a second Trump term, Anthony V. Alfieri, a law professor at the University of Miami believes that he ultimately will throw in the towel.
He also believes Thomas would rather pursue other interests, such as teaching and lecturing instead of sitting on the high court's bench.
"In the event that former President Trump is reelected in November, both Justice Thomas' age and presumed commitment to preserving his 34-year legacy ... raise the likelihood that he will resign not only to pursue other interests, such as teaching, travel and lecturing, but also to escape the harsh light of ongoing criticism and investigation of his conduct on and off the court," Alfieri said.
Other legal observers, like Stephen Gillers, a law professor at New York University, think that Thomas won't resign until a suitable, younger conservative is ready to replace him.
"Thomas will not resign unless Trump is in the White House and the Republicans control the Senate. Even then, he might prefer to remain because we know his position has come with a great deal of free and luxurious 'personal hospitality," Gillers said.
He added, "Others may financially encourage Thomas to resign in order to lock in a conservative successor, who can then sit for the next 40 years."
Thomas and Justice Samuel Alito, 74, could possibly only have a two-year window to resign even if Trump wins the White House again.
That's because Democrats will have a chance in 2026 to win control of the U.S. Senate, which even under a Republican president, could block any conservative SCOTUS nominees.
"If the Democrats lose control of the Senate, but then regain control in 2026, no Trump nominee will be confirmed," Gillers explained.
Only time will tell if Thomas pulls the trigger on retiring under Trump, but one can be rest assured that unlike his liberal counterparts, he will make the best decision for America's future.
New Jersey politics were rocked over the past week after it was announced that a former power player in the state assembly had died.
According to the New Jersey Globe, Chuck Haytaian, a former New Jersey State Assembly speaker, passed away at 86.
A conservative who once held considerable power in the state's legislature as the House speaker, Haytaian nearly won a U.S. Senate seat in the 1994 election.
The former state House speaker was widely known and popular, and was described by the outlet as a "gregarious, perspicacious, unpretentious one-time dry cleaner from Hackettstown."
During his 14-year career as a New Jersey state assemblyman, Haytaian represented parts of Warren, Sussex, and Hunterdon counties.
He also served as the Republican State Chairman from 1995 to 2001, and also became a close and important ally to Christine Todd Whitman, a moderate, two-term New Jersey governor.
Gov. Phil Murphy described Haytaian, saying, "Chuck grew from the Bronx-born child of Armenian Genocide survivors to a household name across the Garden State."
Longtime friend and former Haytaian mentee Assembly Minority Leader John DiMario released a short statement describing his fondness for Haytaian and what he meant to his career.
"From the start, Chuck’s passion for serving the public and his commitment to integrity left a lasting impact on me,” DiMaio said. "He helped guide me when I was just starting out and he never gave up on challenging me to push forward."
The outlet added:
A proud Armenian American, Haytaian became active as the president of his local Kiwanis Club and was elected to the Mansfield school board.
In 1974, Haytaian lost a bid for Warren County Freeholder by about 700 votes, 52%-48%, after Democrat Benjamin Bosco rode the Democratic Watergate wave to victory. He ran again in 1975 and defeated Democrat Christopher Maier by roughly 40 votes.
Given his popularity and legacy, many sent their condolences and paid their respects to Haytaian across social media.
"I am saddened to learn of the passing of former NJ Assembly Speaker Chuck Haytaian. He was a legend of New Jersey politics. His legacy will contain numerous accomplishments, but perhaps there is none greater than his efforts to make Warren County Community College a reality," one X user wrote.
Incredibly sad to learn that former Assembly Speaker Chuck Haytaian died today. He was 86. pic.twitter.com/RdM7pIELdL
— David Wildstein (@wildstein) November 1, 2024
Another X user wrote, "Rest In Peace one of New Jersey’s greatest Speakers and leaders, Speaker Chuck Haytaian."
As she tries to contain the damage of Joe Biden calling Americans "garbage," Kamala Harris has been rocked by another gaffe, this time from Bill Clinton.
While stumping for Harris in Michigan, Clinton admitted that President Trump's economy "was better."
The economy has consistently been rated the top issue in the election, and polls show that voters trust Trump more to handle the issue.
In his remarks in Michigan, Clinton claimed that Trump inherited a booming economy from President Obama, while conceding the economy "was better" under Trump.
"I don't think it's right to say that people have to vote for Donald Trump because the economy was better then," he said.
Clinton insisted the inflation of the Biden era was an inevitable product of COVID shutting down supply chains, although Biden's critics say he made inflation worse with massive federal spending.
"COVID busted all the supply chains," Clinton said.
NEW: Bill Clinton in Michigan: ‘Economy was better’ under Donald Trump, but you should still vote for Kamala Harris pic.twitter.com/PzQaz1Lv8J
— Wendell Husebø (@WendellHusebo) October 30, 2024
Harris has acknowledged that Americans are struggling, while awkwardly distancing herself from "Bidenomics" and trying to paint herself as an agent of change. But many Americans still don't know who Harris is or what she plans to do if elected.
The vice president has been criticized for failing to share details on policy, as she sticks to prepared talking points about growing up in the middle class.
Indeed, Harris has all but abandoned messaging on kitchen table issues in the home stretch before Election Day, as she changes focus to blast Trump as an existential threat to democracy.
Kamala's closing pitch to voters this week was undermined by President Biden, who called Trump supporters "garbage" even as Harris tried to portray Trump as a hateful demagogue.
Some believe Harris is making a mistake by attacking Trump's character instead of telling Americans how she will fix the economy. In his own closing argument, Trump has said he will fix what Biden and Harris broke, and it's an argument that Harris' own surrogates are inadvertently making.
On another key issue, immigration, Clinton undermined Harris' messaging earlier this month while discussing the horrific murder of Laken Riley.
"Well, if they'd all been properly vetted that probably wouldn't have happened," Clinton said.
Donald Trump has won the endorsement of Naomi Wolf, the famous feminist icon, in the latest sign of Trump's unique and growing coalition.
During an interview with War Room host Steve Bannon, Wolf explained her evolution into a Trump supporter, as she praised Trump for building an "inclusive" movement.
In the 1990s, Wolf became famous for writing The Beauty Myth, an influential text in third wave feminism. She worked as a campaign adviser for Bill Clinton and Al Gore.
Wolf credited Trump with building the GOP into the "unity party" by welcoming disillusioned liberals like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard, who have become critics of the Democratic party and its embrace of censorship, lawfare, and war.
“President Trump did something very smart,” Wolf said. “He’s being more inclusive," she added.
While leftists often paint Trump as a racist, Wolf noted that Trump's appeal crosses racial lines. Indeed, polls show Trump's support expanding with blacks and Hispanics.
“He’s speaking out to the concerns of black people, white people, Puerto Rican people, Hispanic people of all kinds, women, men, it doesn’t matter,” Wolf added. “You guys have become the unity party, and he’s leading the unity party, and I would be an idiot if I didn’t recognize that.”
The Democratic party has been playing clean-up this week - the last full week before Election Day - after Joe Biden called millions of Trump supporters "garbage."
Biden's comment undermined Kamala Harris' closing argument that Trump is a dangerous, hateful demagogue.
Wolf explained to Bannon - who spent four months in prison after a conviction by Biden's DOJ for defying the January 6th committee - that she was fooled by the legacy media into believing Trump is a "fascist."
Wolf said she began to change her mind about Trump when she saw him speak "eloquently" about ending war in the Middle East.
“All of my information about him was filtered through legacy media. ‘He’s a fascist. He’s a misogynist. He’s a racist,'” Wolf continued.
“I saw someone who was eloquent, articulate, thoughtful, very funny," she added. "Not every joke he makes I would’ve endorsed. He was talking about — he was serious. He was a serious person talking seriously about peace in the Middle East, about saving lives, innocent lives — Palestinian and Israeli. And, how can that not be good?”
The beloved comedic actress Teri Garr, known for her vivacious acting in movies like Young Frankenstein, Tootsie, and many others, has died. She was 79.
Her publicist Heidi Schaeffer said she died at home while surrounded by family. The cause of death was complications from multiple sclerosis.
Trained in ballet in her youth, Garr was a dancer in Elvis Presley movies such as Viva Las Vegas (1964) before making her movie breakthrough in the Mel Brooks horror spoof Young Frankenstein (1974).
Garr delivered memorable one-liners in a mock German accent as Inga, the lab assistant to Gene Wilder's Dr. Frankenstein. She won acclaim for her lively acting, with New Yorker critic Pauline Kael calling her "the funniest neurotic dizzy dame on the screen."
Garr had show business in her blood: the Ohio native's father was a vaudeville performer, and her mother was a Rockette at Radio City Music Hall. Garr's father died when she was 11, and her mother raised Garr and her two older brothers in Los Angeles.
Garr was nominated for an Oscar for her performance as the actress Sandy in Sydney Pollack's Tootsie (1982), starring Dustin Hoffman.
“Teri was brilliant and singular in all she did, and had a heart of gold,” Hoffman said in a tribute to the New York Post. “Working with her was one of the great highs."
"There was no one like her," he added.
Garr's other movies include Stephen Spielberg's Close Encounters of The Third Kind (1977) and Francis Ford Coppola's The Conversation (1974). She lit up the screen in comedy favorite Dumb and Dumber (1994) as the fluttery stepmother of Mary Swanson (Lauren Holly.)
In addition to her movie work, Garr was a frequent guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and Late Night with David Letterman. She had a guest role as the mother of Phoebe in Friends.
Garr began noticing symptoms of multiple sclerosis while filming Tootsie, and she was diagnosed in the 1990s. The actress shared the news with the public in 2002 and became an advocate for people with MS.
Mel Brooks called Garr "so talented and so funny."
“So very sorry to hear about Teri Garr’s passing,” he wrote on X. “She was so talented and so funny. Her humor and lively spirit made the YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN set a pleasure to work on. Her ‘German’ accent had us all in stitches! She will be greatly missed.”
Republicans have asked the Supreme Court to step into a dispute over the rules of next week's election in the all-important battleground of Pennsylvania.
The Republican National Committee is asking the Supreme Court to stop the counting of provisional ballots from voters who return invalid mail-in ballots.
The state's election code says that provisional ballots "shall not be counted" from voters who cast mail-in ballots that are "timely received."
But the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled 4-3 to require the counting of provisional ballots from voters who cast mail-in ballots that are timely received but cannot be counted because of a defect such as a lack of a signature or secrecy envelope.
Republicans say the state court effectively created a new process to "cure" defective mail ballots that the state legislature never approved.
Without the Supreme Court's intervention, "tens of thousands" of ballots could be wrongly counted, Republicans argued, noting mail voting is well underway.
"Weeks after mail voting began in Pennsylvania—and less than two weeks before Election Day—a sharply divided 4-3 Pennsylvania Supreme Court departed from the plain terms of the Election Code to dramatically change the rules governing mail voting," they argued.
"It did so in the midst of the ongoing General Election in which millions of Pennsylvanians have already cast ballots for President, U.S. Senate, Congress, and scores of state and local offices."
The RNC is asking the court to either block the impacted provisional ballots or separate them from the official tally while the legal case continues.
"This case is of paramount public importance, potentially affecting tens of thousands of votes in a state which many anticipate could be decisive in control of the U.S. Senate or even the 2024 presidential election," lawyers for the Republicans wrote. "Whether that crucial election will be conducted under the rules set by the General Assembly or under the whims of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court is an important constitutional question meriting this court's immediate attention."
The request is part of a blitz of final pre-election litigation (although technically, the election has already started) to set the rules of the November elections. Virginia, in a separate dispute with the DOJ, has asked the Supreme Court to allow the state to remove 1600 self-declared non-citizens from the voter rolls.
Pennsylvania's 19 electoral votes make the state the biggest prize among the battlegrounds. President Trump has taken a narrow lead in Pennsylvania in recent polls.
Melania Trump came out from hiding on Sunday night to deliver a knockout closing argument for her husband Donald Trump at a historic campaign rally in New York City.
The former First Lady made it clear she's done being quiet, as she shared a stirring tribute to her husband and his hometown in front of a crowd of 20,000 at iconic Madison Square Garden.
In her brief but powerful speech, Melania praised New York City as an iconic symbol of American enterprise where "titans of finance, fashion, and entertainment convene among an iconic range of superior design, structures, and artistic accomplishments."
"And, American ingenuity blossoms among determined citizens who race across city streets and between offices striving for success," she added.
"It is you who are the heartbeat of this great metropolis. It is you who are the pulse of this America.”
While praising New York City's greatness and potential, Melania lamented the city's recent decline under its liberal leadership, noting a rise in crime and an overall drop in the quality of living that has been felt nationwide.
"Crime is on the rise, while public safety diminishes creating an environment where families with young children chose to relocate” Melania added. “And this story repeats itself from coast to coast, across our nation: This is America."
While Melania has been mostly quiet throughout her husband's re-election campaign, she has become more vocal about defending him against the left's inflammatory attacks in the wake of two assassination attempts against him.
Melania previously appeared at the Republican National Convention (RNC) days after a would-be assassin almost shot her husband dead in Pennsylvania.
Her presence at Madison Square Garden heightened the impact of her husband's defiant return to New York, where he built his real estate legacy and lived for decades before his political ventures made him a pariah among the city's liberal elites.
Melania urged Americans to envision better days ahead, as she praised the "magic" and "fearless" vision of New York titans like her husband.
"For generations, this town has produced America’s most fearless leaders, whose mark changed the course of the world. New York City and America needs their magic back," she said.
"Envision a wonderful America where the seats of security, prosperity, and health are sewn once again for benefit of our families. Let us charge together with a shared vision that builds on American greatness.”