Politics Election category, Page 268
Do Trump’s legal challenges have any hope of changing Pa.’s election results? A look at the lawsuits
PHILADELPHIA — Even before Election Day, President Donald Trump had been vowing to swarm Pennsylvania, and its largest city, with lawyers to contest the results in a state that has proven decisive to the outcome of the election. Those threats have only been amplified in the days since the president’s...
Reports: Trump adviser named to oversee campaign legal challenges gets coronavirus
An adviser to President Donald Trump who was named to oversee the campaign’s legal challenges contesting the outcome of last week’s election has tested positive for coronovirus, multiple outlets have reported. Bloomberg News first reported the diagnosis of David Bossie, 55, followed by NBC News and CNN. Bossie, president of...
In abrupt move, Trump fires Defense Secretary Mark Esper
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump fired Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Monday, an unprecedented move by a president struggling to accept election defeat and angry at a Pentagon leader he believes wasn’t loyal enough. The decision, which could unsettle international allies and Pentagon leadership, injects another element of uncertainty to...
Trump faces calls to work with Biden team on transitionVideo
WILMINGTON, Del. — President Donald Trump is facing pressure to cooperate with President-elect Joe Biden’s team to ensure a smooth transfer of power when the new administration takes office in January. The General Services Administration is tasked with formally recognizing Biden as president-elect, which begins the transition. But the agency’s...
Timeline: How Pennsylvania broke for Biden as Trump’s early lead evaporated
In 2016, President Donald Trump won Pennsylvania by 44,284 votes, out of more than 6 million cast. Here are some highlights of what transpired over five days this week in the Keystone State as he tried to recreate that magic, only to have Pennsylvania declared for Democrat Joe Biden —...
World leaders congratulate Biden and Harris on election win
Although U.S. President Donald Trump wasn’t conceding defeat, world leaders swiftly congratulated Joe Biden for his election victory Saturday and expressed hope that the new White House will prioritize the fight against climate change. The news elicited cheers in an Italian coffee bar, encouraged protesters outside the house of Israel’s...
Biden win sparks smattering of protests; most stay peaceful
A smattering of protests broke out around the country Saturday after former Vice President Joe Biden won the presidency, with President Donald Trump and his supporters refusing to accept defeat and pushing unfounded suspicions that rampant voter fraud was denying him a second term. Outside the state capitol building in...
Suspended animation: Count drags on as Biden nears victory
WASHINGTON — Four days after the election, the U.S. presidential race hovered in suspended animation Saturday as the long, exacting work of counting votes brought Democrat Joe Biden ever closer to a victory over President Donald Trump. The delay in producing a verdict can be attributed to high turnout, a...
Trump chief of staff Meadows diagnosed with covid-19
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows has been diagnosed with the coronavirus as the nation sets daily records for confirmed cases for the pandemic. Two senior administration officials confirmed Friday that Meadows had tested positive for the virus, which has killed more than 236,000 Americans so...
Republican lawmakers rebuke Trump’s claims of voter fraud
WASHINGTON — Republican senators, governors and other elected officials have swiftly pushed back against President Donald Trump and his baseless claim that Democrats are trying to “steal” the election. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a Republican from Illinois, tweeted Thursday that the president’s claims of fraud are “getting insane.” If Trump has...
Trump steps to podium, lets loose on integrity of election
WASHINGTON — For 40 hours, President Donald Trump fumed in private and tweeted his grievances in all caps. When he at last emerged, it was to stand behind the presidential seal in the White House and deliver a diatribe most notable for his litany of false statements about the election...
Republican Sean Parnell won’t concede in 17th District, criticizes Conor Lamb for declaring victory in tight race
Republican candidate Sean Parnell said Thursday he will not concede in the 17th Congressional District race against incumbent U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb until all eligible votes have been reported and a clear winner is verified. As of Friday morning, Lamb, 36, a Mt. Lebanon Democrat, led Parnell, 39, a Trump-backed...
Counties with worst virus surges overwhelmingly voted Trump
U.S. voters went to the polls starkly divided on how they see President Donald Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, with a surprising twist: In places where the virus is most rampant now, Trump enjoyed enormous support. An Associated Press analysis reveals that in 376 counties with the highest number...
Poll watchers emerge as a flashpoint in battle over ballots
Election officials in key battleground states pushed back on claims by the Trump campaign that Republican poll watchers were being improperly denied access to observe the counting of ballots, saying Thursday that rules were being followed and they were committed to transparency. Tasked this year with monitoring a record number...
With another Florida loss, Democrats begin second guessing
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Perhaps only in Florida is a loss by fewer than 4 percentage points considered a public drubbing. In a state famous for razor-thin margins, the size of former Vice President Joe Biden’s loss to President Donald Trump was humiliating for Democrats and sent many searching for answers...
Biden has the presidency in his reach, with Pa. in the balance and Trump railing against counting votes
SCRANTON, Pa. — Joe Biden appeared to be on the cusp of winning the presidency Wednesday, even as Pennsylvania’s election results remained uncertain and President Donald Trump made increasingly desperate attempts to stop the vote count. Biden won the critical swing states of Arizona, Michigan and Wisconsin, according to The...
Oakmont’s Carrie DelRosso holds small lead over House Minority Leader Frank Dermody
A first-term Republican councilwoman from Oakmont held a small lead Friday over House Minority Leader Frank Dermody with thousands of votes yet to be counted in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties. The state’s unofficial election results on Thursday showed Carrie DelRosso’s early lead tighten to a margin of just 4 percentage...
AG: North Dakota governor can’t fill dead candidate’s seat
BISMARCK, N.D. — North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum has no authority to appoint a coal company executive to fill a state House seat won by a Republican candidate who died before the election, the attorney general said Wednesday. Burgum announced Wednesday that he was appointing BNI Energy President Wade Boeshans...
In blue and red states, milestone wins for LGBTQ candidates
NEW YORK — Across the nation, LGBTQ candidates achieved milestone victories in Tuesday’s election, including the first transgender person elected to a state Senate, and the first openly gay Black men to win seats in Congress. The landmark wins came not in only blue but also red states such as...
Democrats’ Senate drive halted by GOP, but control teeters
WASHINGTON — Democrats faced increasingly long odds in the the battle for Senate control as Republicans brushed back multiple challengers to protect their majority. Still, it was too soon for the GOP to declare victory. In Maine, Republican Sen. Susan Collins won the hardest-fought race of her career, securing a...
Presidency hinges on tight races in battleground states
WASHINGTON — The fate of the United States presidency hung in the balance Wednesday morning, as President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden battled for three familiar battleground states — Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania — that could prove crucial in determining who wins the White House. It was unclear...
There’s no winner in the presidential race. That’s OK
WASHINGTON — America woke up Wednesday morning without a winner of the presidential election. That’s OK. Critical battleground states including Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania remained without declared winners, leaving both President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden short of the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the White House....
Networks preach patience as election stretches past midnightVideo
For weeks, media outlets warned a frazzled nation that it would have to be patient waiting for a decision in the bitter campaign between President Donald Trump and Joe Biden. That’s one prediction that turned out to be true. As midnight passed on the East Coast and the will of...
Push to relax drug laws gains big victories on state ballots
A nationwide push to relax drug laws took a significant step forward Tuesday as more states legalized marijuana for adults and voters made Oregon the first state to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of street drugs such as cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine. The drug measures were among 120 proposed...
These Pa. counties won’t start counting mail ballots until Wednesday
Spotlight PA is an independent, non-partisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. Sign up for our free newsletters. This article is made possible through Votebeat, a nonpartisan reporting project covering local election integrity and voting access. Officials in Pennsylvania...
