NationalWatch

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said President Biden believed he made the right decision to drop out of the presidential race in July, acknowledging there are many election experts analyzing the failed efforts by the Democratic Party with their own opinions on the race dominated by Republican President-elect Trump.

Jean-Pierre spoke to reporters during a press briefing Thursday afternoon, saying Biden had called Trump to congratulate him on his victory, assuring Trump he would direct his administration to work with Trump’s team to ensure a peaceful and orderly transition of power.

Additionally, Jean-Pierre said Biden had spoken with Vice President Kamala Harris to congratulate her on a “history-inspiring campaign.”

“For some people, this election is a time of victory, and for others, it’s a time of loss,” she said. “To state the obvious, Tuesday night’s results were not our team’s desired outcome. There’s going to be a lot of postmortem analysis of what happened in the coming days, in the coming weeks, even in the coming months.”

BIDEN CONGRATULATES TRUMP, PLEDGES ‘PEACEFUL AND ORDERLY’ TRANSFER OF POWER

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Thursday President Biden believes he did the right thing by stepping out of the presidential race in July. (Fox News )

One reporter asked Jean-Pierre to address the criticism directed at Biden for the loss.

“What I can say, and this is something the president says all the time: ‘You get knocked down, you get back up,’” Jean-Pierre said, noting the president made that exact statement moments earlier. “The president believes he made the right decision on behalf of the American people, on behalf of this country, to step aside.”

After the 2022 midterms, Biden decided to seek re-election despite polls in 2023 showing that about 80% of the American public believed the octogenarian was too old to serve another term.

HARRIS FORMALLY CONCEDES ONE DAY AFTER TRUMP’S SWEEPING VICTORY

President Biden delivers the State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress in the House chamber at the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C., March 7.   (Shawn Thew-Pool/Getty Images)

“What he believed is that 14 million voters decided in the primary to make him and the vice president, obviously she was on the ticket, the nominee,” Jean-Pierre said when asked again if Biden made the right decision to run for president. “Fourteen million Americans decided that. So, they made their decision on who they wanted.

“Now, as we know, in July the president made a decision to step aside and he immediately … endorsed the vice president,” she added.

Jean-Pierre was also pressed on whether it was wrong for the president’s team in 2023 to firmly encourage rising stars in the Democratic Party and others who participated in the 2020 cycle to rally behind Biden and not consider running for president.

HOW TRUMP WON: THE DETAILS FROM THE FOX NEWS VOTER ANALYSIS

President-elect Trump arrives to speak during an election night event at the Palm Beach Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Fla. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

She refused to get into a specific conversation but said it was not unusual for party members to rally behind their leader, which, in this case, was Biden.

“What I can say is what the president decided to do, what the president believed and what the president is going to continue to do, [which] is put the American people first,” Jean-Pierre said.

She was also pressed about whether Biden still stands by his description of Trump being an existential threat to democracy.

Jean-Pierre said Biden believes what he said at the time and believes he had an obligation to be honest with Americans.

She backed her statement up by pointing to comments made by former chief of staff John Kelly, who referred to Trump as a “fascist.”

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During a series of interviews conducted with the media and published in October, Kelly recounted multiple occasions when the former president allegedly praised Adolf Hitler. Kelly also insisted Trump met the “general definition of a fascist” and would govern like a dictator if allowed.

Jean-Pierre said Kelly was clear in his statements, while also pointing to statements made by Trump about the enemy within, going after people who disagree with him.

“Look, we’re being very clear here,” Jean-Pierre said. “The outcome was not what we wanted, and the Americans have made a decision that we want to respect. We want to respect the decision that the American people have made, and we are going to make sure that the American people get what they deserve, which is a peaceful transfer of power.”

Congressman Mike Lawler, a New York Republican who delivered a critical victory for the GOP on election night, explained his success to Fox News on Thursday, saying that “voters in New York are fed up with one party Democratic rule.”

Two days after the election, several House races remain uncalled, and control of the lower chamber of Congress remains undetermined. If Republicans can eke out a majority, the party will have a unified federal government until at least 2026.

Lawler won his race with 52.4 percent of the vote, defeating his Democratic challenger, former Rep. Mondaire Jones by 6.8 points.

REPUBLICANS WITHIN STRIKING DISTANCE OF HOUSE MAJORITY AS KEY RACES REMAIN TOO CLOSE TO CALL 

Mike Lawler, Republican candidate for New York’s 17th Congressional District,  greets supporters at the end of Senate candidate Bill Weber’s speech during an election night party, Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2022, in Pearl River, N.Y.  (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)

Lawler’s district, New York congressional district 17, is just north of New York City and is primarily suburban, middle-class. Politically, the district is fairly split between party lines, making it a highly targeted district for both sides. Democrats poured in millions in hopes of flipping the seat blue.

The race ended up being one of the most expensive House races in the country.

Republicans also garnered victories in nearby districts 1, 11 and 12, all of which are suburban areas near New York City.

Lawler said that ultimately, New Yorkers’ concerns over inflation, the cost of living and crime pushed him to victory.

“In a state like New York where Democrats control everything and they have created an affordability crisis, a crime crisis, the migrant crisis exploding, billions of dollars of taxpayer money, voters had had enough,” Lawler said. “Voters want us to focus on the issues that impact them most acutely and that is the economy, that is the border, that is the international crises that we’re seeing, energy policy.”

TRUMP-BACKED PA SENATE CANDIDATE FLIPS LONGTIME DEM SEAT RED IN NAIL-BITER ELECTION

line up in front of the East Village re-intake, converted into a city-run shelter for newly arrived migrant families in New York City, United States on Dec. 4, 2023. (Fatih Aktas/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Lawler homed in on the border crisis as especially important to his constituents.

“What Joe Biden and Kamala Harris allowed over the last three and a half plus years, 10.5 million migrants coming into the United States, its unfathomable,” he said. “It’s created a crisis in states like New York where they’re spending billions of dollars.”

David Laska, spokesperson for the New York state Republican Party, told Fox News Digital that the victories in his state were spurred on by President-elect Donald Trump’s clear messaging to voters on issues that they care about.

In the presidential race, Vice-president Kamala Harris won New York. However, she earned nearly 6 percent less of the vote share than Biden did in 2020.

“Kamala Harris tried to run on vibes. What does that even mean? What a joke,” he said. “President Trump ran on inflation, immigration, those were the issues that mattered to Americans. And you saw Republican victories up and down the ballot.“

TRUMP TRAIN CHUGS PAST 2020 MARGINS, PARTICULARLY AMONG HISPANICS, URBAN NORTHEASTERNERS 

Republican presidential nominee, former U.S. President Donald Trump arrives to speak during an election night event at the Palm Beach Convention Center on November 06, 2024 in West Palm Beach, Florida. Americans cast their ballots today in the presidential race between Republican nominee former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, as well as multiple state elections that will determine the balance of power in Congress. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

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Laska believes Tuesday’s election is indicative of a broader political realignment of working-class voters who no longer believe the Democratic Party cares about their needs. Put simply, he said that people just wanted change.

“Look, New York is a blue state, but it’s not progressive blue. It’s not woke blue. It’s blue-collar blue. It’s working-class blue. These are the old ‘Reagan Democrats’ as we used to call them. And you might be calling a lot of them ‘Trump Democrats,’” he said. “When you look back on this chapter of history, because voters of all stripes had economic concerns, had concerns about immigration, and again, President Trump spoke to those. Kamala Harris did not.”

The Dearborn, Michigan-led movement to ditch President Biden and later Vice President Kamala Harris ended up throwing its support behind President-elect Trump on Election Day.

“They were seeing that President Trump was giving a little attention to the Arab and Muslim community and Vice President Harris was sort of shutting down our community,” Mike Hachem, a Dearborn-based leader of the Abandon Biden movement, said of Dearborn voters in an interview with Fox News Digital Thursday.

The comments come after Trump’s victory in the 2024 election, with the president-elect carrying the critical battleground state of Michigan along the way. That victory was in no small part because of the Detroit suburb of Dearborn, a city with the largest per capita Muslim population in the country that sent a shocking message by supporting Trump’s bid to return to the White House.

HARRIS MAKES LAST-DITCH APPEAL TO MICHIGAN’S MUSLIM VOTERS

President-elect Trump (Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images)

Traditionally a dependable Democratic voting bloc, displeasure with the Biden administration’s handling of the conflict in Gaza caused many Muslim Americans in Michigan to spark a movement to “Abandon Biden,” resulting in over 100,000 voting “uncommitted” instead of supporting the president’s re-election bid during the Democratic primary earlier this year. 

That angst over the administration’s handling of the war carried over to Harris when she was elevated to the top of the Democratic ticket, with activists around Dearborn arguing the vice president had not done enough to earn back the votes of the city’s Muslim community.

But despite the widespread dissatisfaction with Democrats, many in the community expressed skepticism about throwing their support behind Trump, with some pointing to a first term that featured robust support for Israel and restrictions on travel from multiple Muslim-majority countries to the United States.

Hachem, who would go on to help launch the Arab Americans for a Better America PAC, set out to change that, teaming up with like-minded members of the community and raising funds that were used for outreach and advertisement in support of Trump in the Dearborn area.

A billboard truck ad placed in the Dearborn area by the Arab Americans for a Better America PAC. (Mike Hachem)

FOX NEWS PROJECTS FORMER PRESIDENT TRUMP TO WIN MICHIGAN

Meanwhile, Trump seemingly began to pick up some momentum with Muslim leaders in the state, earning the endorsement of multiple Muslim mayors and religious leaders in southeast Michigan.

The combined effort seemingly paid off, with Trump winning 42.5% of the vote in Dearborn, while Harris won just 36.2% and Green Party candidate Jill Stein, who also made a large appeal to the Dearborn community, pulling in 18.37%.

The result marked a stark departure from how Dearborn voted in the 2020 election, which saw 68.97% of the city’s voters support Biden compared to just 29.72% who supported Trump. This year also saw Trump take nearby Dearborn Heights, another city with a large Muslim population, with 44% of that city’s voters casting ballots for the former president compared to 38% who supported Harris.

An ad placed in the Dearborn area by the Arab Americans for a Better America PAC. (Mike Hachem)

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“The Arab and Muslim population looked at it as, ‘Hey, we’re getting the attention now, we’re getting the recognition that we fought 60 years to get, and now President Trump is putting us on the stage,'” Hachem said. “President Trump is acknowledging that we exist and that we are part of the fabric of this nation.”

Longtime Democratic Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey and Republican challenger Dave McCormick are still wading through their election results, with McCormick’s campaign saying that even though the race is tight, the Republican will prevail. 

“McCormick is up 30,679 votes with more to come, as ruby red Cambria County is still outstanding. While votes continue to be counted, any way you slice it, Dave McCormick will be the next United States Senator from Pennsylvania,” Elizabeth Gregory, McCormick’s communications director, said in a comment Thursday provided to Fox News Digital. 

More than 98% of the votes have been tabulated in the high-stakes Senate race, with McCormick showing a slight lead over Casey, at 48.94% to Casey’s 48.49% support, Fox News’s race results show. The results are too close to make an official call, and they will likely face a recount. As of Thursday afternoon, 31,503 difference in McCormick’s favor. 

Cambria County, which is home to the city of Johnstown, is a reliably red jurisdiction that was granted a two-hour extension of polling hours on Tuesday after a “software malfunction” temporarily delayed the scanning of ballots in the precinct. The county has voted for Republican presidential candidates each cycle since Mitt Romney’s 2012 run. 

BATTLEGROUND STATES’ RECOUNT RULES VARY WIDELY, HERE’S A LOOK AT HOW THEY WORK

Former President Trump listens as Senate candidate David McCormick speaks during a campaign rally in Reading, Pennsylvania, on Nov. 4, 2024. (Ed Jones/AFP via Getty Images)

Pennsylvania has three recount options: statewide automatic recounts ordered by the secretary of the commonwealth; recounts ordered by a county election board; and recounts that are ordered by the court. 

‘VINDICTIVE’: DEMOCRAT IN TIGHT SENATE RACE BLASTED BY GOP RIVAL FOR SWIPE AT MCDONALD’S AFTER TRUMP VISIT

Former President Barack Obama joins Sen. Bob Casey and Gov. Tom Wolf at a campaign rally for Pennsylvania Democrats on Sept. 21, 2018, in Philadelphia. (Getty Images/Mark Makela)

An automatic recount would occur in this case if a candidate’s margin of victory is no more than 0.5% of total votes cast. A recount submission must be submitted to the Pennsylvania Secretary of State’s office no later than 5 p.m. on the second Thursday after Election Day. 

The Casey campaign touted earlier Thursday that they, too, are confident that the senator will end the campaign with another re-election win. 

KEY BATTLEGROUND STATE VOTER REGISTRATION DATA SHOWS INFLUENTIAL SHIFTS FAVORING GOP

Journalist Chuck Todd speaks with GOP Senate Candidate Dave McCormick after touring the Lackawanna Petroleum And Gas College on May 10, 2022, in Tunkhannock, Pennsylvania. (Getty Images)

“The count in Pennsylvania is still continuing,” Casey for Senate spokesperson Maddy McDaniel said earlier on Thursday. “Yesterday, the vote margin shrunk by 50,000 votes and this race is now within half a point, the threshold for automatic recounts in Pennsylvania. With tens of thousands more votes to be counted, we are committed to ensuring every Pennsylvanian’s vote is heard and confident that at the end of that process, Senator Casey will be re-elected.”

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Casey has served in the Senate since the 2006 cycle. He faced his most uphill election battle this year against McCormick, an Army combat veteran and former CEO of hedge fund Bridgewater Associates. 

Fox News Digital’s Breanne Deppisch contributed to this report. 

The majority in the House of Representatives appears within reach for Republicans, who have already won control of the Senate and White House.

Associated Press race projections show Republicans holding 209 seats compared to 196 seats for Democrats as of Thursday afternoon.

A total of five sitting House lawmakers are projected to lose their re-election bids so far – three Republicans and two Democrats.

Several races involving GOP incumbents in California are still too close to call and are likely to be pivotal to the House majority. 

SPEAKER JOHNSON RIPS ‘LACK OF LEADERSHIP’ IN BIDEN ADMIN’S HELENE RESPONSE: ‘ALARMED AND DISAPPOINTED’

Speaker Mike Johnson has expressed confidence in keeping the House. (Getty Images)

Republicans in three Arizona districts, as well as GOP lawmakers in Nebraska, Iowa, and Oregon are also still awaiting result projections.

Whichever party reaches 218 victories first will hold the House majority in the 119th Congress.

But House Republican leaders have been touting confidence in their eventual victory, with the top four House leaders already formally announcing bids to hold the same spots in a January House majority.

“It appears we’re going to hold the House and flip the Senate,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., told Fox News Digital on Wednesday night. “California’s the main state still. You know, in a lot of those close races, our incumbents are leading the way — by small margins, but we knew there would be small margins.”

HOUSE GOP LEADERS RIP ACTBLUE AFTER DEM FUNDRAISING GIANT HIT WITH SUBPOENA

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said margins were expectedly tight. (REUTERS/Mike Segar)

It’s a far cry from House Democrats, whose hopes of winning the majority are rapidly decreasing. Multiple sources told Fox News Digital on Wednesday that Democrats were bracing for Republicans to win complete control of Congress and the White House.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., pointed out that a Republican victory is not a forgone conclusion, however.

“It has yet to be decided who will control the House of Representatives in the 119th Congress. We must count every vote and wait until the results in Oregon, Arizona and California are clear,” Jeffries said in a statement that also congratulated President-elect Trump.

JOHNSON BLASTS DEM ACCUSATIONS HE VOWED TO END OBAMACARE AS ‘DISHONEST’

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has urged patience as the votes are counted. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Democrats have scored key wins in projections by unseating Republican incumbents in three New York seats – Reps. Marc Molinaro, Brandon Williams and Anthony D’Esposito.

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Republicans are projected to flip three seats as well – one vacated by a Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., to run for Senate, and two districts held by moderate Democrats in Pennsylvania. 

The GOP also saw former House Freedom Caucus Chairman Scott Perry, R-Pa., projected to survive his toughest race yet as of Thursday afternoon. 

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub. 

Following his massive election victory, President-elect Donald Trump is still scheduled for sentencing in his Manhattan criminal case later this month, with presiding Judge Juan Merchan first ruling whether to dismiss the charges altogether after the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity ruling earlier this year. 

Trump was found guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records following his Manhattan criminal trial in May. District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office worked to prove that Trump falsified the business records to conceal a $130,000 payment to former porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election to quiet her claims of an alleged affair with Trump in 2006. Trump has maintained his innocence in the case. 

Trump is scheduled for sentencing on Nov. 26, which is already a four-month delay from the original date of July 11. 

Trump’s lawyers had asked Merchan to overturn the former president’s guilty verdict in New York v. Trump after the Supreme Court ruled in July that former presidents have substantial immunity from prosecution for official acts in office, but not for unofficial acts. Merchan is expected to rule by Nov. 12 as to where the charges stand.

“A normal judge would dismiss this case, and then the DA would have to decide, what – if anything – remains, so that we could consider re-bringing the case. But Judge Merchan has shown himself to be nothing but an ordinary judge. And so the catch-22 here is, if he was normal, he would dismiss it, but because he’s not normal, he’ll probably deny it. But because it’s an immunity claim, that gives the Trump defense team the right, the legal right, to immediately appeal his denial,” Cully Stimson, deputy director of the Heritage Foundation’s Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies, told Fox News Digital. 

TRUMP’S ‘MODERN DAY SALEM WITCH TRIAL’ VERDICT SIGNALS ‘OPEN SEASON’ ON FORMER PRESIDENTS: EXPERTS

Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump takes the stage to address supporters at his rally, at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Florida, November 6, 2024. (Brian Snyder / Reuters)

Stimson said that even if Merchan denies Trump’s claim of immunity, the Trump team appeals the decision, and an appellate court also denies Trump’s claim, the president-elect would not face incarceration. 

“For all intents and purposes, no matter what happens if [Merchan] denies it, and the appeals court … follow the judge, and then the judge gets to sentence him. Even then the Justice Department will come in and say, ‘Look, under the Supremacy Clause, you cannot impose a criminal sentence, especially one of incarceration on a sitting president.’ And so that case will be on ice until after Trump gets out of office. But as a practical matter, this case and the Fanni Willis case are over,” he said. 

Judge Juan Merchan poses for a picture in his chambers, Thursday, March 14, 2024, in New York. (AP Photos)

Trump pleaded not guilty in the case and denied any such affair with Daniels. The now-president-elect had railed against the trial as a “sham,” while calling Merchan “corrupt” and “conflicted,” appearing to refer to the judge’s familial ties to the Democratic Party. Trump also lambasted the case as “lawfare” promoted by the Biden-Harris administration to hurt his chances of succeeding in the 2024 presidential election. 

Trump cannot pardon himself upon his inauguration, as it was a state case. 

Former President Donald Trump appears in court with members of his legal team for an arraignment on charges stemming from his indictment by a Manhattan grand jury in New York City on April 4, 2023. Reuters/Andrew Kelly/Pool (Reuters)

Stimson continued that, considering the Supreme Court’s ruling on immunity, it would be impossible to take a scalpel to the case and remove the evidence connected to Trump’s first White House administration and “official acts” in the position, from the evidence connected to his life before he was president. 

TRUMP LAWYERS REQUEST TO MOVE NEW YORK CRIMINAL CASE TO FEDERAL COURT, CITING SCOTUS IMMUNITY RULING

“[Merchan] is not your traditional judge, but he’s not going to say there’s no immunity for Trump because . . . the highest court in the land has said that presidents enjoy absolute immunity for their official acts, and so he’s going to have to recognize that the question is whether he has the temperament and the judgment – which he has proven not to, at least so far – to apply that in a fair and impartial manner and dismiss the charges,” Stimson told Fox News Digital. 

“By dismissing the charges, that just puts the ball back in Alvin Bragg’s court. If Alvin Bragg wants to double down on stupid, which he’s done a lot, he can [reopen the case]. But he’s not going to get anywhere with that, because by then, the president will have assumed office. And the Justice Department will move under the supremacy clause that you cannot bring your case, your criminal case, against a sitting president while he’s the president,” he continued. 

JUDGE MERCHAN DELAYS TRUMP SENTENCING UNTIL AFTER ELECTION

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg speaks to the media after a jury found former President Donald Trump guilty on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records on Thursday, May 30, 2024, in New York.  (AP/Seth Wenig)

Fox contributor and former Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York Andrew McCarthy also wrote in an op-ed for Fox Digital this week that Trump would not face prison time in the case. 

“Understand, Trump is not going to prison even if Merchan metes out an incarceration sentence. Though the charges are felonies, they are not sufficiently serious under New York law to merit immediate detention; Trump will get bail pending appeal,” he wrote. 

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“Given that Trump is not going to be sent to Rikers Island by a Manhattan judge in any event, it would be prudent to postpone the sentence and allow Trump to pursue his immunity appeal. That would avoid the unseemliness of subjecting the next president of the United States to a criminal conviction and sentence when he is about to take office,” he continued. 

“Lawfare was terrible for the country. The resounding win Americans have given Trump should be its death knell,” McCarthy added later in his piece. 

The top three House Republican leaders are all running for their roles in the new Congress, a show of confidence that the GOP will prevail in winning full control of the federal government.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., sent letters to fellow House GOP lawmakers on Wednesday night asking for support to remain in those positions.

House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., made a similar entreaty on Thursday morning.

The current House leadership lineup is not expected to face significant challenges if Republicans prove successful in keeping the chamber.

SPEAKER JOHNSON RIPS ‘LACK OF LEADERSHIP’ IN BIDEN ADMIN’S HELENE RESPONSE: ‘ALARMED AND DISAPPOINTED’

Running to keep their leadership roles are, from left, House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, Speaker Mike Johnson and Majority Leader Steve Scalise. (Getty Images)

Each promised to work in support of conservative policies alongside President-elect Trump in separate letters obtained by Fox News Digital.

“We can secure our borders, prioritize the needs of Americans above foreigners, promote investment and opportunity through the tax code, return to American energy dominance, dramatically reduce regulations, expand school choice, end the woke agenda, and restore fiscal sanity to Washington – among other pressing items,” Johnson wrote in his letter.

“I’m ready to take the field with all of you, and I am humbly asking for your support to continue leading this Conference as your Speaker.”

HOUSE GOP LEADERS RIP ACTBLUE AFTER DEM FUNDRAISING GIANT HIT WITH SUBPOENA

Scalise’s letter was a four-page memo detailing how congressional Republicans would pass significant conservative reforms using a legislative process called “reconciliation.”

Reconciliation is a way to fast-track legislation on issues like taxes, the debt limit, and federal spending by bypassing the Senate’s 60-vote threshold for passage, instead lowering it to a simple 51-vote majority.

But Scalise signaled Republicans would test those boundaries next year.

Republicans are preparing for President-elect Trump to take the White House. (Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images)

“Though there are Senate rules limiting what we can fit in budget reconciliation, I want us to be bold and creative so we can include as many reforms in this package as possible,” he said.

“Democrats expanded what is traditionally allowed in reconciliation, and we intend to do the same. Now is the time to go big to advance conservative policies that will make our country prosperous and secure again.”

Emmer in his letter emphasized his role as whip in convincing Republicans to come together on legislation, even conceding that it was a difficult mission at times during the exceptionally disorderly 118th Congress.

JOHNSON BLASTS DEM ACCUSATIONS HE VOWED TO END OBAMACARE AS ‘DISHONEST’

“We will always have disagreements over policy and strategy. That’s a good thing. Governing is messy and imperfect. But I have always believed that there is more that unites us than divides us,” he wrote. “I’ve witnessed this as your Whip, bringing together members from across our conference to hash out these disagreements and find a path to 218 votes.”

“I will always be direct, honest, and transparent. I will never make false promises or try to buy your votes.”

Meanwhile, Rep. Kevin Hern, R-Okla., who is term-limited as chair of the Republican Study Committee, the House GOP’s de facto conservative think tank, has announced a bid for House Republican Policy Committee chair.

The role, currently held by Rep. Gary Palmer, R-Ala., is the No. 5 position in the House GOP leadership lineup.

Republican Study Committee Chairman Kevin Hern is also running for a leadership role. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

In his appeal to Republicans, Hern emphasized his good relationship with Vice President-elect JD Vance from his brief time in the U.S. Senate.

The No. 4 House Republican leader, House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., is expected to run for her current position again, though Fox News Digital is also told that she is angling for a Trump administration role as ambassador to the United Nations. Her spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment.

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House Republicans are slated to hold their leadership elections on Wednesday next week, their first full day back in Washington since September.

The balance of power in the House has not yet been decided – something House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., has pointed out in multiple public statements – but the speedy consolidation of power is a sign Republicans are feeling good about their chances.

The Fox News Decision Desk put odds slightly in favor of the GOP in a Wednesday afternoon update. 

President Biden addressed the nation from the Rose Garden on Thursday after his vice president, Kamala Harris, conceded the 2024 presidential election to President-elect Trump.

Biden announced he spoke with Trump on Wednesday to congratulate him on his victory and assure him that the entire Biden administration will work with his team “to ensure a peaceful and orderly transition.” 

“That’s what the American people deserve,” Biden said. 

He also praised Harris for running “an inspiring campaign,” and said she has “great character” and “backbone like a ramrod.” 

Hitting themes of unity, Biden spoke about political campaigns as a “contest of competing visions.” 

“A country chooses one or the other. We accept the choice the country made. I’ve said many times, you can’t love your country only when you win. You can’t love your neighbor only when you agree. Something I hope we can do, no matter who you voted for, you see each other not as adversaries, but as fellow Americans.” 

The president also said he hopes the 2024 election will “lay to rest the question about the integrity of the American electoral system.” 

“It is honest, it is fair, and it is transparent and it can be trusted. Win or lose.” 

The televised address comes days after Harris lost the presidential election to Trump on Tuesday.

Harris conceded on Wednesday. In a staff memo, her campaign manager and Biden ally Jen O’Malley Dillon called the defeat “unfathomably painful.” 

“This will take a long time to process. But the work of protecting America from the impacts of a Trump Presidency starts now,” she vowed.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

Rep. Gerald “Gerry” Connolly, D-Va., announced two days after winning re-election that he has esophageal cancer.

In an “open letter to constituents,” Connolly called the diagnosis he learned about “a few days ago” a “surprise,” adding that aside from “some intermittent abdominal aches and pains,” he had no symptoms. 

The politician said he would begin chemotherapy and immunotherapy right away.

“I will attack this the only way I know how – with Irish fight and humor,” he said, adding that he “may be a bit fatigued due to the treatment” while he does his job in his district and on Capitol Hill. 

COLLEGE STUDENTS AT LIBERTY UNIVERSITY IN VIRGINIA MAKE ‘HUGE LINE’ TO VOTE IN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION: VIDEO

Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., questions U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle as she testifies before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee about the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump at a campaign event in Pennsylvania, on Capitol Hill, Monday, July 22, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)

Connolly is currently serving his eighth term in the U.S. House of Representatives from Virginia’s 11th District, according to his online biography. His district is centered in Fairfax County and includes the wealthy suburbs outside the nation’s capital.

The 74-year-old won his ninth House term by defeating Republican Mike Van Meter, a Navy veteran and former FBI agent. 

VIRGINIA AG SAYS SCOTUS VOTER ROLLS RULING IS WIN FOR ‘COMMON SENSE’

Rep. Gerry Connolly represents Virginia’s 11th District. (connolly.house.gov)

Connolly has been a fixture in northern Virginia politics for roughly 30 years. He was first elected as a Fairfax County supervisor in 1995. In Congress, he has played a leading role in oversight investigations.

While the Senate is now controlled by Republicans, the House is now tightly divided while the wait continues for more election results. 

Connolly gestures during a House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing on “Legislative Proposals to Put the U.S. Postal Service on Sustainable Financial Footing” on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 24, 2021.  (Graeme Jennings/Pool via REUTERS)

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“Be assured I’m full of hope and am sustained by the love, support, and encouragement of my family, friends, and of all of you,” Connolly said in the letter. “My wonderful staff and I look forward to serving you all in this new term and in the future. It is a privilege to represent and serve each and every one of you. See you on the hustings.”

Fox News’ Chad Pergram and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Vice President Kamala Harris’ failed presidential bid has political strategists second guessing many of her campaign choices, including her selection of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate.

“The choice of Walz was only one of many disastrous mistakes but symptomatic of one larger problem – the Democratic Party leadership is too scared to say no to the hard left progressive wing of the party,” Julian Epstein, longtime Democratic operative and former chief counsel to the House Judiciary Committee, told Fox News Digital.

“This hard left opposes commonsense solutions that Gov Shapiro supports – charter schools for example. Or defeating terrorists rather than aping their talking points and positions, which allow them to stay in power and rearm for the next genocidal attack,” Epstein continued. “It’s the hard left progressive wing that looks first to welfare and redistribution rather than economic growth, and to cultural extremism on migration and gender deeply out of touch with the American electorate. Walz was a really bad choice for sure, but their choice was part of a deeper problem.”

Rob Bluey, president and executive editor of The Daily Signal, told Fox News Digital that Walz being added to the ticket was a significant error in judgment.

HARRIS FORMALLY CONCEDES ONE DAY AFTER TRUMP’S SWEEPING VICTORY

VP Harris and Gov. Tim Walz at the Democratic convention. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

“Historically, vice presidents have little impact on a presidential candidate’s fate,” Bluey said. “But in the case of Tim Walz, it proved to be a disastrous decision that doomed Kamala Harris from the moment she made it. Not only was Walz ill-prepared for the national spotlight and media scrutiny, but Harris passed over several better options. Given how little Americans knew about Harris or her policy positions, they were right to question her judgment on this big decision.”

Harris faced scrutiny even from some in her own party over her decision to name Walz, who many view as further to the left than she is, rather than a more moderate choice. Prominent Democrat Josh Shapiro, governor of the crucial swing state of Pennsylvania that Trump carried on Tuesday night, was viewed by some as a more practical choice.

“One of the things that are top of mind is the choice of Tim Walz as vice presidential candidate,” Harris-Walz surrogate Lindy Li told Fox News senior White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich at Howard University. “A lot of people are saying tonight that it should have been Josh Shapiro. Frankly, people have been saying that for months.”

‘SHOULD HAVE BEEN JOSH SHAPIRO’: HARRIS’ VP CONTENDERS PASSED OVER FOR WALZ DODGE MASSIVE CAMPAIGN LOSS

Supporters react to early election results at Vice President Kamala Harris’ election night rally at Howard University, in Washington, D.C., Nov. 5, 2024. (Reuters/Daniel Cole)

“I know a lot of people are probably wondering tonight what would have happened had Shapiro been on the ticket,” Li continued. “And not only in terms of Pennsylvania. He’s famously a moderate. So that would have signaled to the American people that she is not the San Francisco liberal that Trump said she was.”

Walz was heavily criticized on the campaign trail over questions about his honesty regarding his military service, ties to China, response to the George Floyd riots in 2020, and policy agenda as governor that several Minnesotans who spoke to Fox News Digital described as radical.

Firehouse Strategies founding partner Alex Conant told Fox News Digital that while Walz did not help the ticket, the problems were much deeper.

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Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks during a campaign rally at Tucson High Magnet School on Nov. 2, 2024 in Tucson, Arizona. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

“Democrats must have a lot of regrets,” Conant said. “Walz didn’t help the ticket, but he’s not why she lost. VP candidates just don’t matter that much.”

“Bigger issues were Trump’s well-run campaign, Biden’s unpopular record, and Harris’ lackluster performance as a candidate – and I’m not sure how she could have changed any of those things.”

For most of the 2024 presidential campaign, public opinion polls suggested that President-elect Trump had historically strong support from minority voters. Now, the election results prove those surveys right.

Thousands of U.S. counties swung rightward compared to 2020, which enabled Trump to overcome his previous deficits with voters and win the national popular vote in 2024 – a feat no Republican has accomplished for 20 years. But four counties in particular highlight Trump’s appeal to constituencies that traditionally have supported Democrats.

“Donald Trump improved his standing with Black and Latino voters for one simple reason: He went directly to them and earned their votes,” said Fox News political analyst Gianno Caldwell. “Presidential Republicans usually do not go to areas that aren’t part of their traditional voting bases. Trump won 90% plus Latino counties, and he has truly put the Republican Party on the map as a multicultural party.”

FOX NEWS VOTER ANALYSIS: HOW TRUMP REGAINED THE WHITE HOUSE

Trump pumps his fist as he arrives to speak at a campaign event at Nassau Coliseum, Wednesday, Sept.18, 2024, in Uniondale, N.Y.  (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Hispanics account for 45% of residents in Passaic County, in northern New Jersey. Trump won the county with nearly 50% of the vote, improving his 2020 performance by a whopping nine percentage points. The results shocked Democrats, since the party’s 2016 nominee Hillary Clinton won there with 74% of the vote. 

Trump’s victory was more pronounced in Starr County, Texas, formerly a Democratic stronghold on the border with Mexico, where Hispanics make up 97% of all residents. Trump flipped the county for the first time in 132 years, winning with about 57.7% of the vote, according to the Associated Press.

It was a similar story in traditionally Democratic Osceola County, where Trump won 50% of the vote compared to Vice President Kamala Harris’ 48%. Located in central Florida, just south of Disney World, Osceola is 56% Latino. Voters there told FOX 35 Orlando that Trump appealed to them because of their focus on economic issues.

HOW KAMALA HARRIS’ FAILED 2024 PRESIDENTIAL RUN MIRRORS HER ILL-FATED 2020 CAMPAIGN

President-elect Trump made massive gains in several traditionally Democratic counties nationwide.  (Fox News)

“He appealed to me since day one,” voter Robert Arias said. “I felt like he’s a businessman, and he’ll be able to run our country like a business.”

“Trump is a businessman,” agreed Daniel Pedraza. “He’s got guts.” 

Trump lost Osceola County to Clinton by 25 points in 2016. President Biden defeated Trump there by 14 points in 2020, FOX 35 reported. But he gained 7 percentage points there in 2024 and flipped it red.

TRUMP MAKES GAINS WITH SOME PUERTO RICANS THIS ELECTION DESPITE CONTROVERSIAL ‘GARBAGE’ JOKE

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump dances on stage with former first lady Melania Trump, center, and son Barron Trump at an election night watch party, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Florida. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

A Fox News Voter Analysis showed Trump’s crossover appeal to Democratic constituencies was foundational to his success. He improved on his 2020 numbers among Hispanics (41%, +6 points), Black voters (15%, +7 points), and young voters (46%, +10 points).

These rightward shifts were particularly notable among Hispanic men (+8 points), Black men (+12 points), and men under 30 (+14 points) from 2020.

Trump’s strength with Black voters was felt in Anson County, North Carolina, where the Republican candidate won there for the first time since the 1970s and only the second time in more than 100 years. Trump received 50.9% of the vote compared to 48.2% for Harris. Black residents make up 47% of the population in Anson County.

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Overall, Trump improved on his 2020 margin in 2,367 counties nationwide and lost ground in only 240 counties, according to the New York Times. 

“Because of him, Republicans now have a chance to truly compete for the Black vote, and because of him, it appears that the GOP will have the Senate, the House and the White House,” Caldwell said.

The Fox News Polling Unit contributed to this report.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., excoriated the Democratic Party in the wake of Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential election victory.

The left-wing lawmaker, who is listed as a member of the Senate Democratic caucus, accused the party of abandoning the working class.

“It should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working class people would find that the working class has abandoned them. First, it was the white working class, and now it is Latino and Black workers as well,” Sanders said in the statement.

THE ‘SQUAD,’ WARREN AND SANDERS AMONG PROMINENT POLITICAL FIGURES WHO CRUISED TO RE-ELECTION VICTORIES

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks on the second day of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the United Center in Chicago, Ill., on Aug. 20, 2024.  (CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP via Getty Images)

“While the Democratic leadership defends the status quo, the American people are angry and want change. And they’re right,” he continued.

Trump decisively defeated Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election, winning key swing states including Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan.

Sanders characterized Harris’ campaign as “disastrous.”

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS DEFENDS MASSIVE COVID SPENDING: ‘I DON’T APOLOGIZE’

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks on the second day of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the United Center in Chicago, Ill., on Aug. 20, 2024 (MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)

“Will the big money interests and well-paid consultants who control the Democratic Party learn any real lessons from this disastrous campaign?” he asked. 

“Will they understand the pain and political alienation that tens of millions of Americans are experiencing?” he added. “Do they have any ideas as to how we can take on the increasingly powerful oligarchy which has so much economic and political power? Probably not.”

While Republicans won the Senate majority in the 2024 elections, the 83-year-old Sanders, who has served in the chamber since 2007, just won another six-year-term.

HOW KAMALA HARRIS’ FAILED 2024 PRESIDENTIAL RUN MIRRORS HER ILL-FATED 2020 CAMPAIGN

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks at a labor rally for Harris-Walz in Harrisburg, Penn., on Oct. 27, 2024. (Nathan Morris/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

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“Unbelievably, real, inflation-accounted-for weekly wages for the average American worker are actually lower now than they were 50 years ago,” he said in the statement. “Today, despite an explosion of technology and worker productivity, many young people will have a worse standard of living than their parents.”

“Today, despite spending far more per capita than other countries, we remain the only wealthy nation not to guarantee health care to all as a human right and we pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. We, alone among major countries, cannot even guarantee paid family and medical leave,” he asserted.

“Today, despite strong opposition from a majority of Americans, we continue to spend billions funding the extremist Netanyahu government’s all out war against the Palestinian people which has lead to the horrific humanitarian disaster of mass malnutrition and the starvation of thousands of children,” the senator declared in the statement.

Sanders noted in a tweet this week that he was “proud” to vote for Harris.

Vice President Kamala Harris came into the presidential race with immigration and border security as top issues for voters, but struggled to gain momentum on the issue given her radical past policies as a California senator and her role in the Biden administration’s failure to control the crisis at the southern border.

The Fox News Voter Analysis found that 52% of voters said President-elect Donald Trump was the better candidate to handle immigration, while just 36% said Harris. 

Meanwhile, it was one of the top issues for voters, with 20% saying it was the most important issue facing the country, behind only the economy and jobs (39%) and ahead of abortion (11%) and climate change (7%)

‘LIBERATION DAY’: WHAT TO EXPECT FROM PRESIDENT-ELECT TRUMP ON BORDER SECURITY, IMMIGRATION

Border Patrol picks up a group of asylum seekers from an aid camp at the US-Mexico border near Sasabe, Arizona, US, on Wednesday, March 13, 2024. (Justin Hamel/Getty Images)

The roots of Harris’ troubles on immigration began in 2021, when the Biden-Harris administration rolled back Trump-era policies including border wall construction and the Remain-in-Mexico policy and aimed to place a moratorium on deportations.

That was followed by a dramatic and historic surge at the border which overwhelmed Border Patrol agents and broke records for encounters, leading to chaos throughout the country as migrants poured in. The Biden administration said it was dealing with a “broken” system and congressional inaction, proposing a sweeping immigration bill that included a mass amnesty for millions of illegal immigrants, but Republicans and others tied the surge to the policies of the administration,.

As those numbers took off, President Biden in March 2021 tasked Harris with leading diplomacy to countries south of the border to tackle what they saw as the root causes of migration — including climate change, violence and poverty. Crucially, it led her to be dubbed the “border czar” by critics and media outlets, although the White House rejected that moniker.

Despite the limits on that role, it made her a figurehead of the spiraling crisis, and she immediately faced pressure to visit the southern border. She visited Mexico and Guatemala but initially shrugged off calls to visit the border.

“You haven’t been to the border,” NBC’s Lester Holt told her, after she claimed she had been to the border.

“And I haven’t been to Europe,” Harris quipped.

WHY NOW? MEDIA OUTLETS LARGELY QUIET ON TIMING OF SUDDEN CRACKDOWN OF KAMALA HARRIS ‘BORDER CZAR’ LABEL 

The Washington Post will not endorse former President Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris.  (Getty Images)

She eventually visited El Paso, Texas, but the controversy stuck, and Republicans would regularly mention the “border czar” when attacking the administration’s policies. Reports also emerged that she was dissatisfied with the assignment. 

In that role, she would go on to raise more than $5.2 billion committed since May 2021 from over 50 companies and organizations to tackle root causes, but the ongoing crisis, which didn’t slow down until 2024, took the spotlight.

This year, she and the administration threw their weight behind a bipartisan border security bill that was introduced in the Senate in January. That bill, which failed to pick up enough support to pass the chamber, would have provided additional funding to the border, including for thousands of additional personnel.

It also included an emergency authority to allow officials to shut down entries at the southern border when they reach a certain level — but conservatives say it would solidify high levels of illegal immigration.

But Trump’s opposition to the bill allowed Harris to accuse Trump of torpedoing the bill for political purposes.

LIVE BLOG: DONALD TRUMP ELECTED AS THE NEXT PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES 

Vice President Kamala Harris gestures as she delivers a concession speech for the 2024 presidential election, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024, on the campus of Howard University in Washington. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough) ((AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

“Donald Trump learned about that bill and told them to kill it because he preferred to run on a problem instead of fixing a problem,” she said. She also noted a recent drop in border crossings since June after President Biden signed a proclamation limiting asylum entries into the U.S.

“[Trump] can make up whatever lies he wants, but the fact is there’s only one candidate in this race who will fight for real solutions to help secure our nation’s border, and that’s Vice President Harris,” her campaign said.

As a presidential candidate, she also emphasized her past as an attorney general going after transnational criminal organizations “that smuggled guns, drugs, and human beings across the U.S.-Mexico border.”

But she was also hit by her past statements made during her time as a California senator and a presidential candidate in the 2020 election cycle. Her support for gender transition surgery to detained migrants hit headlines and was used as a weapon against her by Republicans.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF THE BORDER SECURITY CRISIS

She would also move away from past statements in which she called for the decriminalization of illegal border crossings and for the closing of immigration detention centers. She had also mulled ICE starting again “from scratch.”

A Harris campaign adviser told Fox that her positions have been “shaped by three years of effective governance as part of the Biden-Harris administration.”

Ultimately, though, it was not enough to help her overcome her deficit on the issue over Trump, who on Wednesday reiterated his calls to secure the border.

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He has pledged to resume wall construction and launch a mass deportation operation, while ending a number of Biden-era policies when he enters office in January 2025.

Vice President Harris‘ second failed presidential bid mirrors aspects of her first trek on the campaign trail in 2019, proving to be short-lived and unfocused on key issues important to American voters, experts say.

“Both started with great promise,” Tevi Troy, a presidential historian and former senior official in the George W. Bush administration, told Fox News Digital in an interview. 

“There’s the sense that she’s the savior of the new flavor, the next generation for Democrats, and both kind of failed spectacularly,” he said.

HARRIS NOW THE SECOND DEM CANDIDATE TO LOSE TO TRUMP AND NOT SPEAK TO SUPPORTERS ON ELECTION NIGHT

Vice President Harris delivers her concession speech, Nov. 6, 2024, at Howard University in Washington, D.C. ((AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

In December 2019, then-Sen. Harris suspended her bid for the presidency 11 months after entering the race, citing a lack of campaign funds and a lag in the polls. It wasn’t long before staffers exposed the disarray in her campaign.

But before she was one of the more prominent early dropouts among the field of Democrat contenders, Harris’ campaign started off with significant momentum, marked by her strong launch that drew a large crowd in Oakland, California. She was initially seen as a top-tier candidate.

However, as the campaign progressed, her campaign’s messaging became unclear and faced tough opposition from then-candidate Joe Biden as well as Elizabeth Warren, Tulsi Gabbard and Bernie Sanders.

HEAD HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS ELECTION RESULTS

Vice President Harris delivers her concession address at Howard University in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 6, 2024. (Fox News/Caroline McKee)

“Both [campaigns] ran aground on the same two things. No. 1 is her inability to communicate even the most simple idea to the American people. And it’s not because she’s not intellectually capable of doing it, it’s because she is in a box,” Troy said of Harris.

“She’s trapped,” he added. “On the one hand, her inclinations and her voters are on the left, and on the other hand, she wants to win the general election, and to appeal to people in the general election, she has to renounce the more woke policies that she’s espoused throughout her life.”

But to do that, Troy said, would cost her excited progressive big donors.

Harris became the Democrat frontrunner after President Biden suspended his bid for re-election in July amid reports of his declining mental acuity in the wake of a poor debate performance against Republican former President Trump in June. Biden quickly endorsed Harris, who made “reproductive rights” a top issue on the campaign trail, a strategy that would ultimately not win over enough swing state voters. Harris was the Democrat nominee for only about four months.

“I don’t think voters felt like abortion rights were at risk,” another GOP strategist told Fox News Digital. “They largely agreed that the voters should decide, which was President Trump’s message that it should be sent to the states for voters themselves to decide.”

“I think our biggest strength was Kamala’s own words that she had so many far-left San Francisco liberal policy proposals that were all explained by her on camera during the 2020 campaign that we were able to deploy really effectively and target into districts where people have really negative views of those,” the Republican expert said. 

And voters may have wanted more substance from Harris when it comes to the economy and the border. Preliminary data from the Fox News Voter Analysis, a survey of more than 110,000 voters nationwide, provides an early look at the mood of voters as they cast their ballots.

Voters say the economy is far and away the top issue facing the country, followed distantly by immigration and abortion. In a sign of inflation’s economic toll, roughly three times as many voters feel they were falling behind financially as those who feel they were getting ahead.

DEMOCRAT ADAM SCHIFF WINS DIANNE FEINSTEIN’S FORMER SENATE SEAT

Supporters react to early election results during Democrat presidential nominee Kamala Harris’ election night rally at Howard University in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 5, 2024. (Reuters/Daniel Cole)

Harris also faced the challenge of decoupling herself from Biden but otherwise ran an “expertly run campaign,” according to Philadelphia-based Democrat strategist Mustafa Rashed.

“It was going to be hard to distance herself from the sitting president; she couldn’t use him as a surrogate because he was just not an effective surrogate,” Rashed told Fox News Digital. “He’s not great on the campaign trail, and he’s not popular enough to outweigh the downsides of having him as your partner.”

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Harris conceded to Trump over the phone on Wednesday morning after he clinched a majority of the electoral vote overnight. She gave her concession speech later in the day at her alma mater, Howard University.

“The outcome of this election is not what we hoped, not what we fought, not what we voted for,” Harris said. “But hear when I say … the light of America’s promise will always burn bright as long as we never give up and as long as we keep fighting.”

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

Fox News Digital’s Polling Unit contributed to this report.

After President-elect Trump’s victory, Iran must now prepare to contend with the man it’s been trying to assassinate for years.

Tehran had reportedly been interfering in the U.S. election on behalf of Vice President Kamala Harris. But with former Trump’s win, the regime will have to prepare for a U.S. leader who is, at the very least, a wild card. 

On Wednesday, the Telegram channel of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IGRC), its military force, posted a video threatening to kill Trump. It ended with footage of a bloodied Trump and the words “We will finish the job.”

Iran has long vowed revenge for Trump approving the 2019 killing of Gen. Qassem Soleimani. 

IRAN-BACKED IRAQI MILITIA ATTACKS HAIFA, ISRAEL WITH DRONES

President-elect Donald Trump and Iranian leader Ali Khamenei   (Getty Images)

“The Islamic Republic has to be terrified that the presidential candidate that they tried to kill has just won the election,” Behnam Ben Taleblu, an Iran expert at the hawkish Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) think tank, told Fox News Digital. 

“The regime knows it can ill afford more exogenous economic shocks. Even the return of maximum pressure alone to the Islamic Republic is going to cause major, major economic problems.”

Iran’s currency tanked to an all-time low Wednesday after Trump clinched victory, signaling its challenges are far from over in the Middle East as war rages on through proxies in both Gaza and Lebanon. 

After Tuesday’s victory, Iran must now prepare to contend with the man it has been trying to assassinate for years. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

The rial traded at 703,000 rials to the dollar, traders in Tehran said, breaking a record before recovering slightly later in the day to 696,150 to $1.

In 2015, at the time of Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers, the rial was at 32,000 to $1. On July 30, the day Iran’s reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian was sworn in and started his term, the rate was 584,000 to $1.

And despite U.S. sanctions that critics claim have not been enforced, Iran has been able to export near-record amounts of oil, around 1.7 million barrels per day.  

At the same time, Iran could ramp up production to build a nuclear weapon in a matter of weeks by many estimates. 

“Tehran knows maximum pressure is set to return,” said Taleblu. “During this lame duck period, the nuclear saber rattling threat has to be taken seriously, particularly when its conventional deterrence has been so badly beaten.”

After the Trump administration pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal in 2018, it imposed harsh sanctions on the regime to stop its funding of proxies abroad, banning U.S. citizens from trading with Iran or handling Iranian money. 

It also punished entities in other countries that did business with Iran by cutting them off from the dollar. 

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has led the yearslong campaign to assassinate Trump. (Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Image)

President Biden often waived enforcement of such sanctions, keen to bring Tehran back to the negotiating table to prevent it from acquiring nuclear weapons and fearful of driving up global oil prices. 

Iran gained access to more than $10 billion through a State Department sanctions waiver that allowed Iraq to continue buying energy from Iran, which the Biden administration argues is necessary to keep lights on in Baghdad. 

White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby has insisted none of the funds go to the IRGC or Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei but are “for humanitarian goods.”

IRAN THREATENS TO USE MORE POWERFUL WARHEADS AGAINST ISRAEL IN NEXT ATTACK: REPORT

Iran must also now factor an imminent Trump presidency into how it escalates war with Israel. Israel responded to Tehran’s strikes on Tel Aviv last month with attacks on Iranian military sites, and now Khamenei has vowed harsh countermeasures. 

“Trump’s victory will give Iran pause as it considers striking back at Israel in their tit for tat,” said Sean McFate, adjunct professor at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. 

“During Trump’s previous administration, he scuttled the Iran Nuclear Deal (JCPOA), strongly embraced Israel and sought to normalize Jewish-Arab relations in the region. I doubt he will support the Palestinians, and he will likely end the Biden-Harris dual policy of support to both sides in the Gaza conflict. None of this is good for Iran.”

Trump ordered a drone strike on Iranian Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani, center, in 2019. (Press Office of Iranian Supreme Leader/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

But others predicted Trump may actually be less supportive of Israel, Iran’s No. 1 foe in the region, than the Biden administration due to his anti-interventionist tendencies. 

“There’s the unpredictability factor with Trump,” said Chuck Freilich, former deputy national security adviser in Israel. “They don’t know. They’ll be cautious from that point of view with him and more so than they would have been with Biden.”

“Will they be willing to do what has to be done to prevent Iran from crossing, and that may include military action? The Republican Party has become isolationist.

“Biden sent aircraft carrier groups [near Israel] on four occasions in the last year. That’s an unprecedented deployment of American force, both in support of Israel and to deter Iran. Is [Trump] willing to do that?” he added. “I think he will be maybe even less inclined to use military force than Biden would have been.”

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Officially, Iran brushed off the suggestion a Trump presidency could inflict damage on the regime. 

“The U.S. elections are not really our business. Our policies are steady and don’t change based on individuals. We made the necessary predictions before, and there will not be change in people’s livelihoods,” government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani said, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., appeared somber and teary-eyed while waiting to see defeated candidate Vice President Kamala Harris make a concession speech on Wednesday.

Arriving at Howard University in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday afternoon, Pelosi was photographed greeting Harris supporters while appearing tearful. 

In a particularly emotional picture, Pelosi pouted as if just about to weep, and had watery eyes. Other pictures showed Pelosi smiling at the event and mingling with attendees.

Harris’ concession speech comes after a historic neck-and-neck presidential race ended with a victory for former President Trump early Wednesday morning. While the election was expected to be a toss-up, the scope of Trump’s victory shocked both sides of the political aisle.

MONTAGE: LIBERAL MEDIA PUNDITS PREDICTED KAMALA HARRIS VICTORY

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., arrives as supporters wait to hear Vice President Kamala Harris concede the 2024 presidential election at Howard University in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Pelosi and Trump have a great deal of enmity towards each other, regularly insulting each other in public. During a speech in Grand Rapids, Michigan, this week, Trump described Pelosi as something that “starts with a B.”

“She’s an evil, sick, crazy—,” the Republican candidate said, stopping short. “It starts with a ‘B,’ but I won’t say it. I wanna say it.”

Pelosi has fired jabs back at Trump in the past, and recently claimed that he was suffering from “cognitive degeneration” during a recent appearance on MSNBC.

HARRIS WILL NOT SPEAK FROM HOWARD UNIVERSITY ON ELECTION NIGHT AS PLANNED

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., waits to hear Vice President Kamala Harris concede the 2024 presidential election at Howard University in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

“[Voters] have to know that he can’t last as president for four years with his brain deteriorating at the rate that it is… and they may be voting for President Vance, which would be a horrible thing for our country,” Pelosi claimed.

In response, the Trump campaign insulted Pelosi in a statement to Fox News Digital.

“The only thing deteriorating is Nancy Pelosi, who is a decrepit washed up corrupt politician who America can no longer stand,” Trump campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt said. “She should go back to the City of San Francisco, which she has totally destroyed, and never return.”

Vice President Kamala Harris waits before taking the stage for her final campaign rally in Philadelphia on Monday. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

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Fox News Digital reached out to Pelosi’s office for comment, but did not immediately hear back.

Fox News Digital’s Alex Nitzberg contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris, in her first public comments since losing the 2024 White House race to former President Trump, urged supporters to “accept the results.” 

But Harris on Wednesday afternoon emphasized that “while I concede this election, I do not concede the fight that fueled this campaign.”

The vice president spoke at Howard University, her alma mater, where her campaign held a large election night watch party. Harris never addressed the crowd on Tuesday night, as initial optimism about the election turned dour as the clock struck past midnight.

Trump ended up winning a sweeping electoral and popular vote victory over Harris, as Republicans won back the Senate for the first time in four years. Meanwhile, control of the House was still up for grabs on the day after the election.

CLICK HERE FOR FOX NEWS 2024 ELECTION UPDATES

Vice President Kamala Harris gestures as she delivers a concession speech for the 2024 presidential election on the campus of Howard University in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. (Stephanie Scarbrough/AP Photo)

The vice president, who walked to the podium one last time to Beyonce’s “Freedom,” the song that had become Harris’ unofficial anthem, noted near the top of her roughly 12-minute address that “my heart is full today.”

“The outcome of this election is not what we hoped, not what we fought, not what we voted for,” she said. “But hear when I say… the light of America’s promise will always burn bright as long as we never give up and as long as we keep fighting.”

HOW TRUMP WON: THE DETAILS FROM THE FOX NEWS VOTER ANALYSIS

The vice president also seemed to take aim at Trump, who for four years has blamed his 2020 White House loss to President Biden on unproven claims of a “rigged election” and who repeatedly tried unsuccessfully to overturn the results. 

“Earlier today I spoke with President-elect Trump and congratulated him on his victory,” Harris said. “I also told him we will help him and his team with their transition and that we will engage in a peaceful transfer of power.”

She emphasized that “a fundamental principle of American democracy is that when we lose an election, we accept the results… anyone who seeks the public trust must honor it.”

The vice president also stressed that “we owe loyalty not to a president or a party but to the Constitution of the United States.”

President-elect Trump waves to supporters at his election night victory party in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Harris, a former San Francisco district attorney, California attorney general and U.S. senator, ran unsuccessfully for the 2020 presidential nomination. But Biden named his primary rival as his running mate and the two have spent the past four years steering the nation.

TRUMP’S VICTORY CALLED ‘GREATEST POLITICAL COMEBACK’

Harris, for most of the 2024 election cycle, was the dutiful running mate as Biden bid for a second four-year term in the White House.

But everything changed in late June, due to Biden’s disastrous debate performance against Trump.

Former President Trump and President Biden appear during the debate in Atlanta on June 27. (Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The 81-year-old Biden’s halting and stumbling delivery fueled questions about his physical and mental ability to serve another four years in the White House. And it sparked calls from within the Democratic Party for Biden to drop out of the White House race.

The president finally succumbed to the pressure and on July 21, in a blockbuster announcement that rocked the 2024 election, Biden ended his bid and endorsed his vice president.

The Democratic Party quickly coalesced around Harris, who instantly enjoyed a jump in the polls and a massive surge in fundraising.

The Harris honeymoon continued through the late August Democratic National Convention and into September, when most pundits declared her the winner of the one and only presidential debate between her and Trump. 

Vice President Kamala Harris greets President Biden at the end of the first day of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Aug. 19. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

But as the calendar moved from September into October, Trump appeared to regain his footing, and public opinion surveys indicated the former president gaining momentum. 

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Then, in the final days of the campaign, the mood and the vibe appeared to switch again, this time to Harris, who closed out her White House bid on a positive note and didn’t mention Trump’s name during the last 48 hours leading up to Election Day. 

Meanwhile, Trump struck a more negative and angrier tone on the campaign trail as he crisscrossed the key battleground states in the stretch run.

Harris, in her concession speech on Wednesday, appeared to paint a contrast with Trump.

The view from the press riser as Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, delivers her concession address, at Howard University in  Washington D.C. on Nov. 6, 2024 (Fox News – Caroline McKee)

“I am so proud of the race we ran and the way we ran … over the 107 days of this campaign,” Harris said. “We have been intentional about building community and building coalitions, bringing people together.”

But the former president ended up with a sweeping victory, as Americans returned him to the White House.

Preliminary data from the Fox News Voter Analysis of the 2024 election pointed to a political realignment, as it spotlighted that Trump ran up the score with his MAGA base while narrowing traditional Democratic advantages among Black, Hispanic and young voters. 

Former President Trump, his wife Melania and their son Barron arrive at an election night victory party in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Harris came close in her bid to become the first woman elected to the presidency, but was unable to make enough gains in the ideological middle of the electorate to offset defections among groups that traditionally vote Democratic. 

The Fox News Voter Analysis is a survey of more than 110,000 voters nationwide which highlights the 2024 campaign’s key dynamics. 

Just as damaging: Harris wasn’t able to escape the massive unpopularity of the Biden/Harris administration, where polls indicated that nearly three quarters of voters said the country was on the wrong track.

The Fox News Voter Analysis spotlighted that in an election where voters across the nation wanted change, they chose Trump’s outsider appeal over Harris’ promise to “turn the page” on the Trump era. 

Fox News’ Dana Blanton and Victoria Balara contributed to this report

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

The White House is ushering in a new era with the election of a second Trump presidency with Usha Vance set to become the first Indian American second lady in the White House.

Vance, who is the daughter of Indian immigrants, will also be the first Hindu second lady.

Vice President-elect JD Vance credited his “beautiful wife for making it possible to do this” after the big win.

“THANK YOU! To my beautiful wife for making it possible to do this,” he wrote on X. “To President Donald J. Trump, for giving me such an opportunity to serve our country at this level. And to the American people, for their trust. I will never stop fighting for ALL of you.”

WHO IS JD’S WIFE USHA VANCE?

Usha Vance, Vice President-elect JD Vance, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner look on as President-elect Donald Trump speaks during an election night event at the Palm Beach Convention Center on November 06, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Florida. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

The attorney has been married to JD since 2014 and they have three children together: sons, Ewan, 6, and Vivek, 4, and a daughter, Mirabel, 2.

Before law school, Vance received a bachelor’s degree in history from Yale and a master’s in philosophy from the University of Cambridge.

USHA VANCE REVEALS HOW SHE DEALS WITH NEGATIVE PRESS COVERAGE OF HER HUSBAND

She completed multiple clerkships after her graduation from Yale, according to an Axios report, including for Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh when he was serving on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

Usha Chilukuri Vance, wife of Vice President-elect JD Vance, speaks on Day 3 of the Republican National Convention (RNC), at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S., July 17, 2024.  (REUTERS/Mike Segar)

Vance made headlines during the Republican National Committee in July.

“My background is very different from JD’s. I grew up in San Diego, in a middle-class community, with two loving parents, both immigrants from India, and a wonderful sister,” she said. “That JD and I could meet at all, let alone fall in love and marry, is a testament to this great country.”

Vice President-elect JD Vance, left, and his wife Usha Vance board a plane as they depart Pitt-Greenville Airport following a campaign event in Greenville, N.C., Saturday Sept. 14, 2024.  (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

Fox News’ Yael Horan contributed to this report.

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New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James, who’ve spent years prosecuting and disparaging Donald Trump, vowed to fight back against any potential “revenge or retribution” that may be coming their way now that President-elect Trump will be returning to the White House.

Hochul offered congratulations to Trump during a press conference on Wednesday while also commending his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris and running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, for a “hard-fought campaign that really lifted up so many issues that matter to Americans.”

She acknowledged that the results may not have been what many had hoped for but reassured her constituents that New York has overcome hard times before.

“That’s why I have the confidence in my team and all those we work closely with that we will get through the uncertainty of a new administration in Washington because, as I said, we’ve done this before,” Hochul said. “I want to be very clear that while we honor the results of this election and will work with anyone who wants to be a partner in achieving the goals of our administration in our state, that does not mean we’ll accept an agenda from Washington that strips away the rights that New Yorkers have long enjoyed.”

FORMER AIDE TO NEW YORK GOV HOCHUL, WHO IS ACCUSED OF BEING CHINESE SPY, WENT ON A TOUR OF THE WHITE HOUSE

New York Attorney General Letitia James, left, and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul. (Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)

The governor reminded the public that New York is the birthplace of the women’s rights movement, the environmental justice movement, the LGBTQ rights movement and the American labor movement, saying the state will continue to be a “bastion” of freedom and the rule of law.

She also announced the establishment of the Empire State Freedom Initiative, which will focus on areas Hochul and other state officials believe could face threats from the Trump administration. She said the initiative will offer protections for reproduction rights, civil rights, immigration, gun safety, labor rights, LGBTQ rights and environmental justice.

“Our team will do whatever we have to do to identify any possible threats to these rights that we hold dear in the state of New York and protect New Yorkers,” Hochul said. “This will include legislation, rulemaking, appropriations and partnerships with our congressional delegation and including the Biden administration at this time.”

SHOCK NUMBER: TRUMP HAS HIGHER APPROVAL RATING IN DEEP BLUE STATE THAN ITS GOVERNOR

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul congratulated President-elect Trump for winning the election, but said she and other state officials are prepared to fight off attempts to strip the state of funding. (Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)

She called on Trump to support New York’s ongoing efforts to obtain funding for major critical infrastructure with the MTA and to back economic development projects like those funded by the Chips and Science Act.

“I will work with him or anybody, regardless of party, on these kind of efforts that I know will benefit the state of New York,” Hochul said. “However, if you try to harm New Yorkers or rollback their rights, I will fight you every step of the way. New Yorkers are resilient. We fought the first time around, and we’ll fight again.”

James also congratulated Trump on his win, but not without spite.

She told the people of New York that she and other state officials would work with Trump and his administration “if possible” but without compromising the state’s integrity or principles.

HARRIS NOW THE SECOND DEM CANDIDATE TO LOSE TO TRUMP AND NOT SPEAK TO SUPPORTERS ON ELECTION NIGHT

New York Attorney General Letitia James. (Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Congressional Black Caucus Foundation/File)

“We did not expect this result, but we are prepared to respond to this result. And my office has been preparing for several months because we’ve been here before,” James said. “We faced this challenge before, and we used the rule of law to fight back. And we are prepared to fight back once again because, as the attorney general of this great state, it is my job to protect and defend the rights of New Yorkers and the rule of law. And I will not shrink from that responsibility.”

Between 2019 and 2021, James said, her office took nearly 100 legal actions against Trump’s previous administration, including when he attempted to put a cap on state and local taxes and tried to eliminate funds and grants for law enforcement officials in New York.

James said her office also fought to protect the Affordable Care Act, prevent a question about citizenship from being on the census, and put a stop to the dismantling of the U.S. Postal Service, among other things.

She also said she knows the Trump administration’s playbook and has a contingency plan in place to respond to any attack on the state.

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“We’re ready to respond to any attempts to cut or eliminate any funding to the great state of New York, as the governor outlined,” James said. “So, despite what has happened on the national stage, we will continue to stand tall in the face of injustice, revenge or retribution.”

“This is not the time to be fearful, New York, but faithful and steadfast, knowing that I, as the attorney general, along with my entire team, we are guardians of the law, and we are prepared, my friends, to fight back,” she added.

The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on the matter.