Trump Wins White House, Congressional Race Results

0:02Donald Trump is returning to the White House. I want to thank the American people for the extraordinary honor of being elected. You're 47th president and you're 45th president. I'm Michelle Martin with Steve Inskeep, and this is Up First from NPR News. Though votes are still being counted, Trump has either won or come close to winning all seven swing states. And he spoke without waiting for news organizations to formally call a winner. Kamala Harris has yet to concede, though she is expected to speak later today. The country will also see a change in Congress. Republicans captured enough seats to take control of the Senate.

0:40This is a new dawn of Republican leadership. The House could still go either way. Stay with us. We'll give you the news you need to start your day.

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2:18Learn more at PeteAndJerrys.com. Donald Trump, the 45th president of the United States, will be the 47th. Trump addressed supporters gathered in Florida around 2.30 this morning. Frankly, this was, I believe, the greatest political movement of all time. There's never been anything like this in this country.

2:42And now it's going to reach a new level of importance because we're going to help our country heal. Franco Adonies has been following the Trump campaign, and he's on the line with us now from Florida. Good morning. Good morning, Michelle. And Deepa Shivram has been following the Harris campaign. She's in Washington, D.C. Hi, Deepa. Hey there. We're going to start with Franco. Franco, a strong showing for the former president and now president-elect. What did he say in his remarks? Yeah, I mean, it was a more positive speech than we're kind of used to from him, certainly recently. I mean, we did not hear the grievances and promises of retribution that we've kind of come to expect these last few days of the campaign trail, the last few weeks.

3:22He did not mention his opponent, though, Vice President Kamala Harris, in his speech. Instead, he thanked voters for the honor of electing him. And as you just heard there, he said it was time to heal the nation. He also boasted of his diverse coalition of supporters and what it would mean for how he'd lead. America has given us an unprecedented and powerful mandate. We have taken back control of the Senate. Wow, that's great. He took credit for those victories, actually, saying they were part of his movement. So let's go to Deepa now. You were at the Harris event at Howard University last night, which is here in Washington, D.C.

4:05When did it become clear that things were not going her way? You know, I would say it was around 11 p.m.-ish. And, you know, the night before that started off really exuberant. And, you know, before the results really started rolling in, there was dancing and singing and just a lot of anticipation for this, you know, potential that Kamala Harris could come to Howard, her alma mater, and make remarks. And then, yeah, at around 11 p.m., I think it was even before North Carolina was called for former President Trump, you know, the campaign had these big TV screens at their watch party. And folks were, you know, it was about a couple thousand people there, but it was very quiet.

4:44And people were just aptly watching the TV screens. And, you know, just in a very hushed way, the morale got really low, I would say. The energy got really low. And at one point, you know, the crowd started shouting for the DJ to turn the music back on. So they muted CNN. They started blasting music. But it was sort of this jilted kind of atmosphere. And, you know, I'll tell you, people started leaving the event streaming out well before, you know, the campaign told folks that Harris wouldn't be speaking that night. This was a big sweep for Trump in the key states. He is set to be very empowered as he returns to the White House.

5:20So, Franco, talk about what resonated with his voters. I mean, you spent a lot of time on the campaign trail. What do you think resonated? You know, for a lot of people, it was the economy. But for others, it was absolutely the persona. I mean, he kind of had two tracks in this campaign. There was the policy message about the economy, about the border. She broke it. I'll fix it. You know, those comments. But the second track was a much darker one. It was the unscripted one. It was so bent on grievances and losing the 2020 election and seeking retribution against political enemies who he described as the enemy within.

5:56You know, over and over, you know, the supporters who I talked to told me that what appealed to them was how he spoke, that he wasn't politically correct, that he wasn't a, quote, politician. It was the policy positions, though, that helped with the more moderate voters. You know, they may not have appreciated the rhetoric, but the more immediate concern they had was their pocketbooks. So, Deepa, what about on the Democratic side? I mean, there's obviously going to be a lot to think about here. I recognize this is sort of early days and there's going to be a lot of talking about this in the next couple of days and weeks and likely months.

6:30But what's next, Deepa? I mean, look, the immediate answer is that they'll have to wait and hear from their candidate, right? We haven't heard yet from Kamala Harris. She is expected to speak today again at Howard, though the timing of her remarks is still unclear. But, you know, this is the point in a campaign that has gone wrong, right, where people will start to parse out every choice that was made, analyze how this happened, you know, what strategies worked and didn't work. You know, why did they court certain voters? Why did Harris pick the running mate that she picked? And so there's going to be, I think, a long moment of trying to figure out how this happened and also start to question, you know, how does the party rebuild?

7:11We've talked a lot about this, Franco. You spent a lot of time on the campaign trail. You spent a lot of time with the former president. now that he's returning to office. How do you think you're going to remember this moment? Yeah, I'll think about, you know, his speech today, talking about the mandate, how he's kind of portraying this victory and what it means to him. You know, here's more of what he said, actually. Many people have told me that God spared my life for a reason.

7:42And that reason was to save our country and to restore America to greatness. You know, big picture also is just how stunning of a political comeback this was. I mean, his career was supposed to be over after the January 6th attack. Then there were the multiple indictments. And now he's about to walk back into the White House as the first convicted felon to take office. I mean, he was really able to tap into something so profound that Americans just looked over all the other stuff. And not only that, the fact that so many people who worked closely with him went public to say that they did not believe that he should be returned to office is also kind of truly remarkable.

8:21Deepa, before we let you go, just briefly, is there a moment that stands out to you from your time with the Harris campaign? I would say I think it was her closing message, right? She really almost kicked off her campaign that was so short, only 107 days, with this feeling of trying to bring back some joyfulness into politics. And then the campaign got really serious, of course, with a lot of policy issues and policy ideas that she talked about. But at the end there, I really think she ran the race as herself. She talked about her story, her history, and why she was in the race and ended making it about her rather than about Trump.

9:01And that really stood out to me. A lot to talk about, but just a truly remarkable and extraordinary moment in American politics. That's NPR's Franco-Ordonis and Deepa Shivram. Thank you both. Thank you, Michelle. Thank you. Let's talk about other consequential races now. Trump has presidential experience and a favorable Supreme Court heading into his second term. And he has something else, control of the Senate. Yeah, the Senate confirms judges, so the Republican majority that developed last night gives Trump a chance to appoint more judges and add to his influence on the courts. Any bid to advance legislation depends on control of the House, too, which is undecided for now.

9:39NPR congressional correspondent Deirdre Walsh has been following all this for us, and she's here to tell us more. Good morning. Good morning, Michelle. So Republicans didn't need to pick up a lot to win the Senate, to get control of the Senate, especially given that the West Virginia seat was essentially a guaranteed flip after Joe Manchin's retirement. He started his career as a Democrat. He turned independent and he decided to retire. But where else did they win? So Republicans picked up a seat in Montana. Democratic Senator John Tester lost to Republican businessman, former veteran Tim Sheehy.

10:10They also flipped a seat in Ohio. Republican businessman Bernie Marino defeated a Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown. Brown had been outperforming the top of the ticket, sort of like Montester was for a while. But Trump won the state of Ohio by double digits. That was just too much for Brown to overcome. Marino talked last night about what Republicans are going to do with their majority. This is a new dawn of Republican leadership. We are going to advance an agenda that is an American agenda, an agenda that says we are pro-immigration but not pro-invasion. We're going to make certain that the people who come to this country are invited here.

10:51It's also possible that Republicans are going to expand that Senate majority even more. There are still tight races that haven't been called. Democrats are defending seats in Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Nevada. If Republicans gain more of those seats and flip those to bread, it's possible they could have a cushion. They could even lose a couple of votes from some of their moderate members and still confirm Trump judges and nominees. So, Deidre, it seems that these results kind of helped show how polarized the country is. there are almost no states left that have sent both a Democrat and a Republican to the Senate.

11:23You know, there was some ticket splitting in a few other races, but not for the Senate. So what does this mean for Trump's ability to govern? I mean, he has been given solid control to install nominees for his cabinet. He'll also have the votes to confirm more conservative judges to the federal bench. If there are any vacancies on the Supreme Court, and there could be, Republican Senate can confirm Trump's nominees. We already saw three conservative justices in Trump's first term be appointed or be confirmed to the high court. And we saw the impact that their decisions had on issues like abortion and presidential power.

11:59In terms of their legislative agenda, Republicans are planning to take up border security. They're planning to renew Trump's tax cuts. They're going to expire at the end of 2025. And energy legislation is another big thing on their agenda. As for the House of Representatives, as we've said, it remains undecided at this point who's going to control it. What are you taking a look at? What are you watching? You know, there's still a lot of races that haven't been called in places like Arizona and California. There's still some really tight races in New York. Democrats need to pick up a total of four seats to retake control.

12:31There is a possibility that they could win a narrow majority. They would effectively be a backstop if that happens. But it's also possible that Republicans are going to hang on to their narrow majority and that Republicans would control both chambers of Congress. That's the scenario that Trump had when he took office in 2017. And we could be looking at that again. That is NPR congressional correspondent, Deirdre Walsh. Deirdre, thank you. Thank you, Michelle.

12:59And that's up first for Wednesday, November 6th. I'm Michelle Martin. And I'm Steve Inskeep. For your next listen, consider, consider this from NPR News. We'll have the latest on the election and what it means. Today's episode of Up First was edited by Megan Pratt, Roberta Ramson, Russell Lewis, Olivia Hampton, and Jan Johnson. It was produced by Zia Butch, Nia Dumas, and Lindsay Taddy. We get engineering support from Nisha Hainas, and our technical director is Zach Coleman. We hope you'll join us again tomorrow.

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