TV News LIES

Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) has been elected Senate majority leader, setting the stage for him to replace retiring Sen. Mitch McConnell (Ky.), who has held the top Senate GOP leadership job for the past 18 years.

Thune has served as Senate Republican whip, the No. 2-ranking position in the Senate GOP leadership, since 2019, and largely managed operation of the Senate floor after McConnell suffered a concussion from a fall in 2023.

Thune beat Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) by a vote of 29 to 24, according to two sources familiar with the vote.

President-elect Donald Trump has demanded the incoming Republican leader in the Senate streamline the temporary approval of his cabinet appointees, as his team begins assembling the incoming White House team.

Three Republicans are vying to replace incumbent majority leader Mitch McConnell ahead of a party vote on Wednesday. Senator Rick Scott of Florida has earned endorsements from Trump’s Maga camp, including from Robert F Kennedy Jr, Elon Musk and Marco Rubio – each of whom has been speculated to be among Trump’s top team.

“Any Republican Senator seeking the coveted LEADERSHIP position in the United States Senate must agree to Recess Appointments,” Trump posted on social media, referring to a controversial measure that would put his cabinet picks in office while temporarily sidestepping a lengthy Senate confirmation process.

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Pennsylvania Republican Senate candidate David McCormick filed two lawsuits challenging provisional ballots in Philadelphia, signaling he is prepared to take his fight to the Supreme Court.

McCormick declared victory after The Associated Press projected Thursday that he beat incumbent Sen. Bob Casey (D) in the key race. Decision Desk HQ, The Hill’s election data partner, has not yet called the race.

The Democrat and former Trump administration official Eugene Vindman has won his House race against the Republican and former army green beret Derrick Anderson in Virginia’s seventh congressional district, representing a key victory for Democrats as they cling to the last glimmers of hope of regaining a majority in the lower chamber.

When the Associated Press called the race at 6.24pm ET on Wednesday, almost 24 hours after polls closed in Virginia, Vindman led Anderson by two points in the seventh district, which stretches from the exurbs of Washington DC to more rural counties in the western and central parts of the state.

With his victory sealed, Vindman will now go on to replace the Democratic congresswoman Abigail Spanberger, who chose to run for governor rather than seek re-election, when the new House is seated in January. Although the seat does not represent a pick-up for Democrats, Vindman’s defeat could have doomed the party’s broader prospects of winning the House, where Republicans currently hold a narrow majority.

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Sarah McBride, a Delaware state senator, has made history as the first out transgender person elected to the US House of Representatives.

“Thank you, Delaware! Because of your votes and your values, I am proud to be your next member of Congress,” McBride wrote on X.

“Delaware has sent the message loud and clear that we must be a country that protects reproductive freedom, that guarantees paid leave and affordable child care for all our families, that ensures that housing and healthcare are available to everyone and that this is a democracy that is big enough for all of us.”

McBride, 34, won Delaware’s at-large House seat in Tuesday’s general election against the Republican candidate John Whalen III, a former Delaware state police officer and businessman. The House seat, Delaware’s only one, has been Democratic since 2010, the New York Times reported.

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Michigan congresswoman Rashida Tlaib declined to endorse Kamala Harris at a union rally in Detroit, where the war in Gaza is the top issue for the largest block of Arab American voters in the country.

Tlaib, the first Palestinian American woman to serve in Congress, is the only one of the so-called leftist “Squad” that has not endorsed the Democrat candidate. The other three members – Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York – endorsed Harris in July.

“Don’t underestimate the power you all have,” Tlaib told a get-out-the-vote United Auto Workers rallygoers. “More than those ads, those lawn signs, those billboards, you all have more power to turn out people that understand we’ve got to fight back against corporate greed in our country.”

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