President Joe Biden will address the nation on camera for the first time since Donald Trump’s decisive victory over Kamala Harris.
Control of the U.S. House of Representatives is balanced between Republican and Democratic majorities, with dozens of races remaining.
Republicans took control of the U.S. Senate early Wednesday.
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Independent Senator Bernie Sanders did not mince words in a scathing statement Wednesday.
“It shouldn’t be surprising that the Democratic Party, which has abandoned working-class people, will find that the working class has also abandoned them,” said Sanders, a Vermont senator.
“First it was the white working class, and now it’s the Latino and black workers,” Sanders said.
Sanders was re-elected to a fourth term on Tuesday. He cited wealth inequality, America’s falling standard of living, lack of full health care coverage and lack of support for Israel’s recent military campaign as issues Democrats should focus on. Sanders’ 2016 presidential run was a key factor in pushing the Democratic conversation to the left. Sanders has spent his political career outside the Democratic Party, often criticizing him, but he has joined forces with Democrats in the Senate.
“As his term begins, we wish him much wisdom,” Cardinal Pietro Parolin said Thursday, speaking separately from the Rome conference, according to Vatican News. This is because, according to the Bible, it is the main virtue of a ruler.
While Ambassador Parolin acknowledged that there was no “magic wand” that could end the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, the Vatican said Trump “can truly be an element of détente and pacification in the current conflict that is bleeding the world.” “I hope there is,” he said.
Parolin also said he hopes President Trump will work to end polarization in the United States, including over abortion. On immigration, he recalled Pope Francis’ call to welcome those fleeing war, poverty and climate change.
After visiting the U.S.-Mexico border in 2016 and questioning Trump’s call for a wall, Francis famously said that anyone who would build a wall to stop immigrants “is not a Christian.”
Recently, Francis advised American voters to choose the “lesser evil” when asked how American Catholics should vote given President Trump’s pledge to deport immigrants and Vice President Kamala Harris’ support for abortion rights.
“I have long respected the United States as a champion of democracy, freedom, and the rule of law,” the Tibetan spiritual leader said in a message to President Trump from the northern Indian town of Dharamsala, where he is living in exile after fleeing Tibet. In 1959.
“The Tibetan people and I are honored to have the support of the President of the United States and the American people in our efforts to protect and preserve our ancient Buddhist culture—a culture of peace, nonviolence, and compassion. “It benefits all of humanity,” he said.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed hope for strengthening cooperation between the two countries during President Trump’s new term, the Turkish President’s Office said.
Trump’s imminent return to the White House means he wants to establish an entirely new administration from President Joe Biden’s administration. His team is also pledging that the second will not be much different from the first, which Trump established after his 2016 victory.
The president-elect now has a 75-day transition period to put his team together before Inauguration Day arrives on January 20. One of the most important items on the to-do list is filling some 4,000 government positions with political appointees, specially appointed people. For the work of Team Trump.
This includes everyone from the Secretary of State and the heads of other Cabinet departments to those selected to serve part-time on boards and committees. About 1,200 of the president’s appointments must be confirmed by the Senate, which will become easier now that the Senate is in Republican control.
▶ Learn more about Trump’s transition
The House race remains tightly contested until the end, with no dominant path to a majority for either party. Rarely do the two chambers of Congress turn in opposite directions.
Each side gains and loses several seats, including during the redistricting process, which regularly redraws House seat boundaries. In the process, seats in North Carolina, Louisiana, and Alabama were reset.
Most of the results will be in the West, especially in California, where a handful of House seats are hotly contested, where mail-in ballots that arrive a week after the election are still being counted. We’re also watching the intense racing around the “blue dot” in Omaha, Nebraska and as far away as Alaska.
With his victory in Wisconsin early Wednesday, Trump secured the 270 electoral votes he needed to clinch the presidency. However, his exact odds of winning are still unclear. There are two presidential races that the AP has not yet confirmed.
Arizona: Officials in Maricopa County, Arizona, said late Wednesday that there were more than 700,000 ballots left to be counted. That means it’s too early to call presidential and Senate races. In total, the AP estimates that at least 1 million ballots will be added to Arizona’s results. County election officials are expected to firm up those numbers on Thursday.
Nevada: The Associated Press estimated there were more than 200,000 ballots left in Nevada as of late Wednesday evening, including more than 130,000 in Clark County. Given the narrow margins in the presidential and U.S. Senate races, it is too early to decide on either. The AP will further review the results released by Nevada election officials on Thursday.
Arizona: Officials in Maricopa County, Arizona, said late Wednesday that there were more than 700,000 ballots left to be counted. That means it’s too early to call presidential and Senate races. In total, the AP estimates that at least 1 million ballots will be added to Arizona’s results. County election officials are expected to firm up those numbers on Thursday.
Nevada: The Associated Press estimated there were more than 200,000 ballots left in Nevada as of late Wednesday evening, including more than 130,000 in Clark County. Given the narrow margins in the presidential and U.S. Senate races, it is too early to decide on either. The AP will further review the results released by Nevada election officials on Thursday.
The U.S. House majority was balancing Wednesday in Washington between Republican control that would usher in a new era of unified Republican governance and a shift to Democrats as the last line of resistance to Trump’s second-term White House agenda.
A few individual seats, or even just one seat, determine the outcome. The final tally will take some time and a decision will likely be pushed back until next week or later.
After Republicans gained a majority in the U.S. Senate by winning seats in West Virginia, Ohio and Montana, House Speaker Mike Johnson predicted his office would be next in line.
“Republicans are ready to form a unified government in the White House, Senate and House of Representatives,” Johnson said Wednesday.
▶ Learn more about congressional control
The remarks to the nation will be Biden’s first appearance on camera since Trump’s decisive victory over Harris.
Donald Trump spent his first day as president-elect receiving congratulatory calls from his defeated opponent, world leaders and President Joe Biden as he began the process of transitioning his election victory to a government.
Trump remained quiet out of the public eye for much of Wednesday morning after addressing supporters in Florida.
Vice President Kamala Harris called Trump to acknowledge the primary and congratulate him, and Biden invited the man he ousted from the White House four years ago to a meeting in the Oval Office to prepare for the return of the keys.
A White House official said Biden’s chief of staff urged Trump’s team Wednesday afternoon to sign the necessary federal agreements needed to begin an orderly presidential transition.
▶ Take a look back at how the news unfolded live on Wednesday.
