President Biden to address nation from White House on Thursday
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden will step into the White House Rose Garden on Thursday to speak to the nation for the first time since his party’s bruising defeat at the polls on Tuesday.
The White House announced that he would give an address at 11 a.m. ET.
His address is scheduled to begin a little more than 24 hours after his twice-former opponent, Donald Trump, was projected to have won the presidency. Trump beat Vice President Kamala Harris, whom Biden endorsed in July, as he stepped aside as the party’s presumptive nominee.
Biden in a statement on Wednesday said that adding Harris to his 2020 Democratic ticket was the first and “best decision” he made in that campaign. He praised Harris, saying she had “stepped up and led a historic campaign” under extraordinary circumstances.
That statement made no mention of Trump, the former Republican president and now president-elect, who will bookend Biden’s sole term in office.
Biden and Harris have both spoken to Trump to offer congratulations to him for winning a second term. And Biden on Wednesday also spoke with Harris on the phone, the White House said.
Harris in a speech on Wednesday conceded the race to Trump.
“Sometimes the fight takes a while … The important thing is don’t ever give up,” she said, speaking at her alma mater, Howard University, in Washington, D.C.
Biden in his Wednesday statement praised Harris, saying, “Her story represents the best of America’s story.”
“And as she made clear today, I have no doubt she’ll continue writing that story,” he said, according to the White House.
ABC News’ Michelle Stoddart and Emily Shapiro contributed to this report.
(HAMPTON BEACH, N.H.) — New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu jumped into action to save a contestant after they began choking at a lobster roll eating contest on Sunday.
In a statement to ABC News, Sununu said he hurried to help the Hampton Beach Lobster Roll Eating Competition participant after he noticed he was choking.
“In the commotion and excitement of the contest, I was the first to notice that the gentleman at the far end of the row of contestants was choking. So, I moved forward and immediately started giving him the Heimlich,” Sununu said.
The contestant, Christian Moreno, had begun tapping on his chest to indicate he couldn’t breathe, according to New Hampshire ABC affiliate WMUR.
Sununu gave Moreno four or five abdominal thrusts before emergency responders jumped in, continuing the Heimlich maneuver until the chunk of lobster was dislodged from his windpipe.
Despite the dangerous medical incident, Moreno didn’t give up on the seafood eating competition.
“After the lobster roll was dislodged Christian went right back to the contest, which I couldn’t believe,” Sununu added. “He ate another seven lobster rolls after that!”
Moreno told WMUR he was not wearing his glasses at the time of the incident, so he did not initially realize it was the governor who had come to his rescue.
“My counter came up to me and, like, made a joke. And was like, ‘Oh, like, I bet nobody else can say that they’ve gotten the Heimlich from the governor before,'” he said. “And I looked at him, was just like, that was, that was the governor?”
Moreno lost the contest, but vowed to try again next year.
“I will be there for my redemption, 100%,” Moreno said.
Sununu said he was grateful to the first responders who treated Moreno.
“Here in New Hampshire we never hesitate to jump in to help,” he added. “I’m just glad I paid attention in my high school health class.”
Sununu, 49, is a rising star in the Republican Party and flirted with running for president in 2024 until blaming a “crowded field” for his decision to hold off. He’s been governor of New Hampshire since 2017.
(WASHINGTON) — Young voters overwhelmingly support Vice President Kamala Harris’ bid for the White House, according to new polling out Tuesday from the Institute of Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School.
In fact, Harris now has a resounding lead with adults under 30, dominating former President Donald Trump by 17 points, 46% to 29%, per the poll, in a five-way matchup that includes some third-party candidates. That gap widens among registered voters, and the gulf is largest among likely voters — Harris leading among likely voters under 30 years old with 61% to Trump’s 30%, the poll found.
Each candidate still may have room to grow support among this demographic, however: in that matchup, 18% of adults under 30 said they don’t know yet who they’ll vote for.
In a head-to-head matchup, Harris has the support of 54% of adults under 30, while Trump has the support of 33%. Around one-in-10 said they don’t know yet.
“In just a few weeks, Vice President Harris has drummed up a wave of enthusiasm among young voters,” Harvard Public Opinion Project chair Anil Cacodcar said in a statement. “Harris is enjoying a perfect storm of personal appeal, policy support, and positive reach on social media.”
Harris’ gains come as her campaign and many top surrogates have worked to reach the country’s youngest voters, in part by joining TikTok, and engaged in non-traditional interviews, including participating in WIRED magazine’s popular interview video series.
Her campaign account “Kamala HQ” has amassed a serious following online, with over 4.5 million TikTok followers. Her personal account boasts more than five million followers as well.
Trump and his campaign have also attempted to reach younger voters. The former president’s personal TikTok account reaches 11.4 million followers — and he’s been a guest on several high-profile influencer podcasts, in part to pitch himself to young men.
Harvard’s polling data also indicated signs of a gender gap in Harris’ support. Although a majority of adult men and women under 30 still support Harris, women support the vice president by much higher margins.
Among male likely voters, Harris has 53% support while Trump has 36%; among female likely voters, Harris has 70% support while Trump has 23%, according to the Harvard IOP poll.
The groundswell of under-30 support follows a summer of Harris-friendly memes and internet phenomena, alongside a number of high-profile celebrity endorsements, the preeminent blessing from pop mega-star Taylor Swift, who backed the Harris-Walz ticket hours after the ABC News presidential debate.
The Harvard IOP poll also asked younger voters about who they trust more on a host of issues.
Among the full sample of adults ages 18-29 polled, Trump leads, albeit within the margin of error, by 1 percentage point on the economy and by a few on immigration, national security and defense, and the Israel-Hamas war. Harris leads with a more than 30-point margin on climate change and abortion, with a smaller lead on some other issues.
The poll was conducted by the Harvard IOP and Ipsos from Sept. 4-16, in the field both before and after the ABC News presidential debate on Sept. 10. The poll’s margin of error is +/- 2.65% for the full sample of U.S. residents ages 18-29; the likely voter margin of error is +/- 3.63%; and for registered voters the margin of error is +/- 3.08%.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images/Julia Beverly/Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — As we head into the final full week of campaigning before Election Day, the latest ABC News/Ipsos poll shows Kamala Harris with a slight 51-47% lead over Donald Trump among likely voters nationally — but the polls in the battleground states remain essentially deadlocked within the margin of error.
Fallout continues over racist comments made at Trump’s big rally on Sunday at Madison Square Garden and Harris is preparing for her “closing argument” Tuesday night on the Ellipse near the Capitol and White House in Washington.
Of the 41,989,199 total early votes, 21,111,171 were cast in person and 21,338,290 were balloted returned by mail.
On Monday, voters in Washington, D.C., can start casting their ballots early, in person. Almost all of the states that offer in-person early voting have begun offering it by now.
-ABC News’ Oren Oppenheim
Michelle Obama uses op-ed to reiterate message imploring men to support women’s reproductive health
The former first lady repeated her passionate message on women’s health being at stake this election in an op-ed published by the New York Times on Monday,
The op-ed featured excerpted remarks from her rally in Michigan on Saturday in which she blasted Trump’s record on the issue in comparison to Harris’, and made an appeal to men to support the women in their lives. The rally marked her first campaign appearance since her speech at the Democratic National Convention this summer.
“I am asking you, from the core of my being, to take our lives seriously,” she said. “Please do not put our lives in the hands of politicians, mostly men, who have no clue or do not care about what we as women are going through, who don’t fully grasp the broad-reaching health implications that their misguided policies will have on our health outcomes.”
Despite her stated aversion to partisan politics, the former first lady is ramping up her involvement in the final stretch of the 2024 campaign. She will headline a rally on Tuesday in battleground Georgia.
Harris counters dark and racist comments at Trump’s MSG rally
Harris is countering the dark and racist comments made by speakers at Trump’s Sunday rally at Madison Square Garden, while the former president’s campaign tries to distance itself from the comedian who referred to Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage.”
Harris will stump in two critical counties in the battleground state of Michigan to kick off the final full week of campaigning. First, she will visit Corning’s manufacturing facility in Saginaw before getting a tour at a union training facility in Macomb County.
The vice president will cap the day with a rally with her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz, in Ann Arbor. The rally will feature a concert by musician Maggie Rogers.
Trump will be in Georgia to deliver remarks at National Faith Advisory Board in Powder Springs before a 6 p.m. ET rally in Atlanta.
