Control over the U.S. House of Representatives still hangs in the balance, teetering between a Republican or Democratic majority with fewer than 20 races left to be called.
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Here’s the latest:
Trump is likely to name a loyalist as Pentagon chief after tumultuous first term
President-elect Donald Trump’s choice for defense secretary is still up in the air, but it’s a sure bet he’ll look to reshape the Pentagon and pick a loyalist following his tumultuous first term. Five men held the job as Pentagon chief only to resign, be fired or serve briefly as a stopgap.
While he has yet to announce a decision, the names of potential Pentagon chiefs stretch from the well known — such as Rep. Mike Waltz of Florida — to an array of former administration loyalists, including retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, who held national security posts during Trump’s first term.
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had been floated, but Trump said on social media Saturday that Pompeo would not be joining the new administration.
▶ Read more about Trump’s possible choices for defense secretary
Trump names Stephen Miller to be deputy chief of policy in new administration
Donald Trump is naming longtime adviser Stephen Miller, an immigration hard-liner, to be the deputy chief of policy in his new administration.
Vice President-elect JD Vance posted a message of congratulations Monday to Miller on X and said, “This is another fantastic pick by the president.” The announcement was first reported by CNN.
Miller was a senior adviser in Trump’s first term and has been a central figure in many of his policy decisions, notably his move to separate thousands of immigrant families as a deterrence program in 2018. Miller helped craft many of Trump’s hard-line speeches and plans on immigration.
Since Trump left office, Miller has served as the president of America First Legal, an organization of former Trump advisers fashioned as a conservative version of the American Civil Liberties Union, challenging the Biden administration, media companies, universities and others over issues such as freedom of speech and religion and national security.
▶ Read more about Trump’s administration
Biden and Harris make their first joint appearance since her election loss
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are appearing together for the first time since she lost the presidential election to Republican Donald Trump.
Biden and Harris are participating in the annual Veterans Day observance at Arlington National Cemetery on Monday. They laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and Biden was among officials delivering remarks at the amphitheater.
It was also Harris’ first public appearance since last Wednesday when the Democratic vice president delivered a speech at her alma mater Howard University in which she conceded the election to Trump.
The Kremlin rejects reports of a conversation last week between Putin and Trump
The Kremlin on Monday rejected reports that Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke last week with President-elect Donald Trump about the war in Ukraine, and a spokesman for Trump refused to comment on what he called his “private calls” with world leaders.
The Washington Post first reported Sunday, citing anonymous sources, that the two spoke Thursday, with Trump advising Putin not to escalate the war in Ukraine and cited the sizable U.S. military presence in Europe.
In a conference call Monday with journalists, Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov said “there was no conversation” and the report was “completely untrue, it is pure fiction.”
Asked about the report, Trump’s communications director Steven Cheung said, “We do not comment on private calls between President Trump and other world leaders.”
▶ Read more about Trump and Putin
Trump breaks GOP losing streak in nation’s largest majority-Arab city with a pivotal final week
Faced with two choices she didn’t like, Suehaila Amen chose neither.
Instead, the longtime Democrat from the Arab American stronghold of Dearborn, Michigan, backed a third-party candidate for president, adding her voice to a remarkable turnaround that helped Donald Trump reclaim Michigan and the presidency.
In Dearborn, where nearly half of the 110,000 residents are of Arab descent, Vice President Kamala Harris received over 2,500 fewer votes than Trump, who became the first Republican presidential candidate since former President George W. Bush in 2000 to win the city. Harris also lost neighboring Dearborn Heights to Trump, who in his previous term as president banned travel from several mostly-Muslim countries.
Harris lost the presidential vote in two Detroit-area cities with large Arab American populations after months of warnings from local Democrats about the Biden-Harris administration’s unwavering support for Israel in the war in Gaza. Some said they backed Trump after he visited a few days before the election, mingling with customers and staff at a Lebanese-owned restaurant and reassuring people he would find a way to end the violence in the Middle East.
▶ Read more about the election and Arab Americans
Trump has chosen New York Rep. Elise Stefanik as to serve as ambassador to the United Nations
“I am honored to nominate Chairwoman Elise Stefanik to serve in my Cabinet as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations,” President-elect Donald Trump said in a statement. “Elise is an incredibly strong, tough, and smart America First fighter.”
Stefanik, 40, serves as House Republican Conference Chair and has long been one of Trump’s most loyal allies in the House.
Nikki Haley, who challenged Trump for the GOP nomination, was among those who previously held the role in his first term.
A record 13 women will be governors next year after New Hampshire elected Kelly Ayotte
The election of Republican Kelly Ayotte as New Hampshire’s governor means 13 women will serve as a state’s chief executive next year, breaking the record of 12 set after the 2022 elections.
Governors hold powerful sway in American politics, shaping state policy and often using the experience and profile gained to launch campaigns for higher offices.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was floated as a potential Democratic nominee for president after President Biden exited the race. Republican South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem was thought to be in the running for President-elect Donald Trump’s vice presidential post.
Ayotte, a former U.S. senator, defeated the Democratic nominee Joyce Craig, a former mayor of Manchester, New Hampshire’s largest city.
Still, 18 states have never had a woman in the governor’s office.
▶ Read more about this historic record
Young Black and Latino men say they chose Trump because of the economy and jobs. Here’s how and why
Trump gained a larger share of Black and Latino voters than he did in 2020, when he lost to Democrat Joe Biden, and most notably among men under age 45, according to AP VoteCast, a nationwide survey of more than 120,000 voters.
Even as Democrat Kamala Harris won majorities of Black and Latino voters, it wasn’t enough to give the vice president the White House, because of the gains Trump made.
The vice president’s losses with these groups largely became Trump’s gains as he locked down his traditionally older, white base and slightly expanded into a winning coalition.
A combination of the economy and jobs was pinpointed as the issue voters felt was the most important problem the country faced. That was the case, too, for Black and Hispanic voters.
▶ Read more about Trump’s victory with these groups
