America in Focus

Republicans are on track to control all three branches of government for the first time since former President Donald Trump took the nation by surprise with his win in 2016. Although many votes are left to be counted and Americans will not know the final results with certainty for days or possibly weeks, analysts generally agree that Republicans are favored to take the U.S. House of Representatives after already reclaiming the Senate. A big development broke Thursday evening when media outlets called the tight Pennsylvania Senate race in favor of Republican Dave McCormick, who narrowly beat incumbent Sen. Bob Casey.

Former President Donald Trump is on track to potentially receive 300 electoral votes or more. He won the national popular vote by about 5 million with votes still being counted. As a result, some analysts and Republicans say Trump and the GOP have a “mandate” to aggressively push forward with their agenda. "America has given us an unprecedented and powerful mandate," Trump said in his speech early Wednesday morning, creating a refrain echoed by his supporters.

Of the record 14 million illegal border crossers reported under the Biden-Harris administration, more than 1.62 million are from four Countries of Particular Concern (CPC): China, Cuba, Nicaragua and Russia. The U.S. State Department has designated CPCs for their policies of “systematic, ongoing, egregious violations of religious freedom,” which includes “torture, prolonged detention without charges, forced disappearance, or other flagrant denial of life, liberty, or security of persons.” U.S. designated CPCs include Burma, the People’s Republic of China, Cuba, Eritrea, Iran, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea), Nicaragua, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan. The CPCs of Cuba, North Korea, and Iran are also designated State Sponsors of Terrorism (SST).

One of America's top polling experts shared his "gut" prediction on who will win the 2024 presidential election, joining other notables who have shared different predictions for the tight race. With less than two weeks before voters decide between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, polling guru Nate Sliver said he thinks Trump will win, but with a caveat. "My gut says Donald Trump. And my guess is that it is true for many anxious Democrats," Silver wrote in a New York Times opinion piece. "But I don’t think you should put any value whatsoever on anyone's gut – including mine."

A proposal senators from Michigan and North Carolina say could be helping victims of natural disasters was already filed before Hurricanes Helene and Milton ruptured lives in the southeastern United States. On Wednesday of the third week since Helene struck the Blue Ridge Mountains in Sen. Thom Tillis’ native North Carolina, FEMA is under attack, the Disaster Survivors Fairness Act of 2024 remains parked in committee since introduction Sept. 17, and another cold night is coming with dozens still missing and 95 dead.

The morning after was not kind to Vice President Kamala Harris, at least not at the leading national betting books. Already the betting favorite Monday by 9.2%, Republican former President Donald Trump surged to 17.2% by midday Thursday – the biggest headlines from each happening on Wednesday in interviews rather than campaign rallies. And each happened on the home of Fox News, a network known for the conservative lean to the right. Trump, appearing with Harris Faulkner on “The Faulkner Focus,” said transgender athletes competing in women’s sports would be banned if he’s given a second administration. Transgender woman means a person assigned the male sex at birth who identifies and lives femininely.

The U.S. annual deficit is nearing $2 trillion for this fiscal year, almost double the record deficits before the COVID-19 pandemic, as federal borrowing hit more than $5 billion per day. The U.S. Congressional Budget Office reported that the federal deficit hit an estimated $1.8 trillion in fiscal year 2024, $139 billion higher than the deficit from the previous fiscal year. The troubling deficit news comes as the national debt continues to soar, drawing closer to $36 trillion. “Within the next dozen years, three major trust funds – for highways, Medicare, and Social Security – will run out of reserves, forcing us to reckon with even tougher decisions on how to keep important government priorities afloat,” Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, said in a statement.

Vice President Kamala Harris holds a slight edge over former President Donald Trump in national polling less than one month from election day. The Center Square Voters' Voice poll, conducted with Noble Predictive Insights and released Wednesday, shows Harris leads Trump 49% to 47%, a tight race that's within the poll's +/-2.1% margin of error. The poll is one of only six national tracking polls in the United States. The race likely will be determined by a handful of swing states where other polling shows a near tie.

Nearly 50,000 members of the International Longshoremen’s Association will return to work after the port workers' union reached a tentative contract agreement with the United States Maritime Alliance. "The International Longshoremen’s Association and the United States Maritime Alliance, Ltd. have reached a tentative agreement on wages and have agreed to extend the Master Contract until January 15, 2025 to return to the bargaining table to negotiate all other outstanding issues," the two groups posted Thursday in a joint statement to Facebook. "Effective immediately, all current job actions will cease and all work covered by the Master Contract will resume."