Category: Politics

(WASHINGTON) — As the negative impacts of the 33-day government shutdown compound, Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine said Sunday he doesn’t see the present funding impasse in terms of politics, insisting what Democrats are “focused on is the American people.”

Asked by ABC’s “This Week” co-anchor Martha Raddatz what Democrats have gained since the shutdown began, Kaine said, “Well, I don’t look at this as politics.”

“I mean, the president told the House, do a budget and, in his words, don’t deal with Democrats. So, Senate Democrats put an alternative on the table 12 days before Sept. 30 that fixed the health care wreckage that the Republicans caused and that ensured that a deal would be honored, both by Congress and the White House. The president refused to meet until the day before the deadline,” Kaine continued. “The guy’s unserious.”

Raddatz followed up to press Kaine: “Not talking about politics. What have Democrats gained during this period? And how long can this last?”

“I’m a United States senator,” Kaine said. “And I — yes, I run as a Democrat, and I’m a Democrat, but I just don’t approach my work that way. So, when you ask what Democrats have gained, what we’re — what we’re focused on is the American people. We want President Trump to stop firing people, canceling economic development projects. We want them to stop raising everybody’s costs.”

Kaine said Democrats want Trump to “simply sit down” and negotiate a “budget deal that puts us on a path to a health care fix.”

As the shutdown drags on, neither side has moved much from their initial stances. The Democrats continue to insist on health care priorities, including an extension of expiring tax credits for millions of Americans who get health insurance via the Affordable Care Act. The Republicans and White House continue to insist the only viable option is to pass the short-term funding bill that would fund the government through Nov. 21 and has failed to pass 13 times in the Senate.

‘We will delay, we will cancel’ flights to make sure people are safe: Duffy on ATC issues
Americans are now learning just how much their health care premiums would increase next year if these tax credits aren’t extended. But the consequences of the shutdown are also becoming more apparent: air traffic controllers are increasingly calling out sick leading to delays and ground stops, and the critical SNAP food assistance program is now in limbo after a judge ruled the administration must continue to fund the program, despite the administration claiming it legally cannot.

Here are more highlights from Kaine’s interview:

Kaine refutes GOP claims that Democrats are trying to give health care to “illegal immigrants”
Raddatz: I know you heard Secretary [Sean] Duffy [who appeared earlier on the show] talking about the onus is on the Democrats and that you are fighting to get illegal health care for immigrants.

Kaine: That’s a lie. The health care battle is not about health care for illegal immigrants and Sean Duffy knows it. It’s about millions of Americans who, in the last few weeks, have gotten premium increase notices that tell them that Donald Trump’s big, beautiful bill is delivering them big, ugly health insurance bills within the next few weeks unless we can find a fix.

On reports bipartisan rank and file senators are meeting to try to end shutdown

Raddatz: There are reportedly conversations among rank and file senators to try to reach — to negotiate the reopening of the government for a few weeks. Is that going on right now? Are you part of those discussions?

Kaine: I would say, Martha, I’m sort of at the edge of them. There is a group of people talking about these two issues, a path to fix the health care debacle and a guarantee that if we reopen government, I’m calling it a moratorium on mischief. If we agree to reopen, President Trump’s got to stop the firings.

The FAA, we’re talking air traffic control, they’ve forced 2,400 people out of the FAA during Trump’s first year when they were already short 3,000 air traffic controllers. Stop the firings, stop the game-playing, stop going after blue cities and helping red cities. Let’s have a moratorium on mischief during whatever this period is. Get on a path to fix people’s health care. If the president engages, we will be — we will find a deal I think within hours.

On Virginia Democrats’ chances in Tuesday’s governor election

Kaine: I feel really good about it, Martha. And here’s why. In Virginia, we are the best red to blue turnaround in the country in the last 25 years. And the way we’ve done it is by focusing on the economy. Abigail Spanberger, our candidate, three pillars to her campaign: affordability, jobs, and education, which is about kids, but also about our workforce. Her opponent is running ads on offbeat cultural issues that don’t really matter to most people. In Virginia, Democrats focus on the economy, winning the economic arguments, delivering economic results. And that’s why the state has moved from red to blue so dramatically since 2000.

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(NEW YORK) — Beginning Saturday,  some 42 million low-income Americans, including 16 million children, lost access to benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) as the government shutdown continues.

The Department of Agriculture has said that funding for this month’s benefits, which it says comes to about $9.5 billion, has run dry. 

A federal judge in Rhode Island temporarily ordered the Trump administration on Friday to continue SNAP funding, following a lawsuit by several states. Another judge in Boston ruled that the Trump administration’s attempt to suspend SNAP funding is “unlawful,” but declined to immediately order that the program be funded. 

Trump said Friday that his administration’s lawyers are not sure they have the legal authority to pay for SNAP during the government shutdown and said he has asked for clarity from the courts in the wake of two recent decisions.

“If we are given the appropriate legal direction by the Court, it will BE MY HONOR to provide the funding, just like I did with Military and Law Enforcement Pay,” Trump said in a social media post.

The administration has used funds for other services to fund military pay during the shutdown.

SNAP has traditionally been entirely federally funded, but is administered by states. That means the shutdown’s impact on SNAP and when benefits will start to become unavailable will vary by state. 

Some states have initiated their own contingency plans, using their own funding in most cases, to keep their SNAPs running.

Here is a list of what states have announced so far:

Arizona
On Oct. 29, Arizona Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs announced the state would be deploying $1.8 million in funds to offset the loss of SNAP.

Of that money, 1.5 million, she said, “will be allocated to food banks across the state to fill gaps for SNAP households seeking food,” while the remainder will be used by  Food Bucks Now, an emergency fresh food program that provides vouchers for vegetables and produce.

California
The state allocated $80 million to food banks across the state, according to Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Colorado
Democratic Gov. Jared Polis sent a request last week to the state legislature to approve “$10 million in General Fund revenue to support food banks and pantries, and another to extend previously approved funding for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) nutrition access through November.”

Connecticut
Three million dollars in emergency funding was given to  Connecticut Foodshare, a nonprofit that helps food banks in the state, Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont said on Oct. 27.

Delaware
Democratic Gov. Matt Meyer declared a state of emergency on Oct. 29 that “ordered that funds be identified and transferred to the Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) for the continuation of SNAP payments.”

Payments will be made weekly.

Hawaii
On Oct. 29, the state has launched the Hawaiʻi Relief Program which will provide “up to four months of TANF support for housing and utility payments for eligible families who have at least one dependent child in their household and are in financial crisis or have an episode of need.”

Residents who are not SNAP beneficiaries can apply, according to Gov. Josh Green.

The state also donated $2 million to food banks.

Illinois
Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker signed an executive order on Oct. 30 that allocated $25 million in state funding to food banks.

Iowa
The state was ordered by Gov. Kim Reynolds to match up to $1 million in donations to the state’s food banks.

Louisiana
Gov. Jeff Landry declared a state of emergency on Oct. 24 and ordered the state legislature to authorize stabilization funds to help residents in need.

As of Oct 31, the legislature has not given the authorization.

Maine
One million dollars from Democratic Gov. Janet Mills’s office will be sent to food banks.

Maryland
Gov. Wes Moore issued a state of emergency on Oct. 30 and allocated $10 million to food banks

Massachusetts
The Massachusetts Emergency Food Assistance program, which provides food assistance, received an additional $4 million in state funding, Democratic Gov. Maura Healey announced Thursday.

Minnesota
Democratic Gov. Tim Walz announced on Oct. 27 that he had allocated $4 million to food banks.

Missouri
Five million dollars from the state has been delivered to food banks, Democratic Gov. Mike Kehoe said Oct. 29.

An additional $10.6 million fund transfer was sent to Missouri Area Agencies on Aging for programs to feed seniors.

New Mexico
Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced on Oct. 29 that the state would  distribute $30 million in state-funded food benefits onto existing EBT cards for eligible New Mexicans.

New York
A state of emergency was declared on Oct. 30 by Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul.

The governor announced that the state would provide $40 million in new funding for the Hunger Prevention and Nutrition Assistance Program, which provides emergency food relief, and $25 million to Nourish N.Y., which supplies surplus agricultural products to food banks.

North Carolina
The state will offer $10 million to state food banks, Democratic Gov. Josh Stein said on Oct. 30. An additional $8 million will be funded by private organizations and charities in partnership with the state, the governor said.

North Dakota
Republican Gov. Kelly Armstrong announced on Oct. 30 that he allocated $915,000 of state funds to food banks and $600,000 for the state’s (WIC) program.

Ohio
Twenty-five million in state funding will be used to offset SNAP losses, GOP Gov. Mike DeWine said after he signed an executive order on Oct. 30.

As part of the order, as much as $18 million in emergency relief benefits will be given to Ohio residents who are at or below 50% of the federal poverty level. Seven million dollars will also be donated to food banks.

Oregon
Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek declared a food emergency on Oct. 29 that will be in effect in November and December.

Kotek ordered that “$5 million from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) carryover funds,” be sent to food banks.

“TANF carryover is unspent federal TANF funding from prior years that remains available until used,” the governor’s office said in a news release.

Rhode Island
A state of emergency was issued by Democratic Gov. Dan McGee on Oct. 28 and he allocated $6 million in Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) to 20,000 eligible families.

He also allocated “$200,000 of Social Services Block Grant funding to enhance capacity at the RI Community Food Bank,” according to the governor’s office.

Virginia
GOP Gov. Glen Youngkin issued a state of emergency and launched the Virginia Emergency Nutrition Assistance (VENA) initiative.

The program will provide residents with state funds weekly to be used in lieu of SNAP through November. A million dollars will also be allocated to food banks.

Washington
The state will provide $2.2 million per week to food banks across Washington until SNAP funding is restored, according to Democratic Gov. Bob Ferguson.

West Virginia
Republican Gov. Patrick Morrisey announced on Oct. 28 that the state would be supporting a food drive and match up to $13 million in donations to food banks.

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(WASHINGTON) — Vice President JD Vance on Friday defended comments about his faith and marriage after critics accused him of throwing his wife’s Hindu religion “under a bus” during a Turning Point USA event earlier in the week.

Vance responded to a user on X who referenced the comments the vice president, who was raised Protestant but converted to Catholicism in 2019, on Wednesday. Vance spoke to the crowd about his faith and how it relates to his relationship with Usha Vance, who was raised Hindu.

“For us, it works out now most Sundays, Usha will come with me to church, as I’ve told her, and I’ve said publicly, and I’ll say now in front of 10,000 of my closest friends, do I hope eventually that she is somehow moved by the same thing that I was moved in by church. Yeah, I honestly, I do wish that, because I believe in the Christian Gospel, and I hope eventually my wife comes to see it the same way. But if she doesn’t, then God says everybody has free will, and so that doesn’t cause a problem for me,” the vice president said.

The comments have been met with extensive criticism.

“It’s weird to throw your wife’s religion under the bus, in public, for a moment’s acceptance by groypers,” the X user posted on Thursday.

Vance responded to and reposted to the comment, which he called “disgusting” and said he was being open when people were curious about his faith and family life.

“My Christian faith tells me the Gospel is true and is good for human beings. My wife — as I said at the TPUSA — is the most amazing blessing I have in my life. She herself encouraged me to reengage with my faith many years ago. She is not a Christian and has no plans to convert, but like many people in an interfaith marriage — or any interfaith relationship — I hope she may one day see things as I do. Regardless, I’ll continue to love and support her and talk to her about faith and life and everything else, because she’s my wife,” he said.

The X post was deleted after Vance reshared it and made his response.

Vance argued the post was “anti-Christian bigotry.”

“Yes, Christians have beliefs. And yes, those beliefs have many consequences, one of which is that we want to share them with other people. That is a completely normal thing, and anyone who’s telling you otherwise has an agenda,” he contended.

The Vances were married in an interfaith Christian-Hindu ceremony in 2014 and he has talked openly about their interfaith relationship.

During an interview with the New York Times last year, JD Vance said his wife has been supportive of his faith and has attended church with their three children.

“No, she hasn’t,” the vice president told the Times when asked if Usha Vance had converted to Christianity.

“That’s why I feel bad about it. She’s got three kids. Obviously, I help with the kids, but because I’m kind of the one going to church, she feels more responsibility to keep the kids quiet in the church. And I just felt kind of bad. Like, oh, you didn’t sign up to marry a weekly churchgoer. Are you OK with this? And she was more than OK with it, and that was a big part of the confirmation that this was the right thing for me,” he added.

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(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump on Friday denied reports that he’s made a decision to strike inside Venezuela.

“There are reports that you are considering strikes within Venezuela. Is that true?” a reporter asked the president on Air Force One as he traveled to Florida for the weekend.

“No,” Trump said.

The Miami Herald reported on Friday that the administration had made a decision to attack Venezuelan military installations and that it could happen imminently.

The reporter followed up by asking him, “Have you made a decision on that?”

“No, it’s not true,” Trump said.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump isn’t just remaking the East Wing of the White House. On Friday, he showed off an entirely renovated Lincoln Bathroom on his social media platform.

“I renovated the Lincoln Bathroom in the White House,” Trump wrote on Truth Social alongside photos of the before and after. “It was renovated in the 1940s in an art deco green tile style, which was totally inappropriate for the Lincoln Era.”

He continued, “I did it in black and white polished Statuary marble. This was very appropriate for the time of Abraham Lincoln and, in fact, could be the marble that was originally there!”

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(WASHINGTON) — Thursday marks the 30th day of the federal government shutdown and the American public has grown more concerned about the shutdown throughout the month and more disapprove of how President Donald Trump is handling the federal government, according to an ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll conducted using Ipsos’ KnowledgePanel.

More Americans blame Trump and the Republicans in Congress than the Democrats for the shutdown, the poll finds.

Three-quarters of Americans say they are concerned about the government shutdown, up from two-thirds who said the same on the first day of the shutdown in a Washington Post poll. Now, 43% of Americans say that they are “very” concerned about the shutdown, up from 25% on Oct. 1.

Nearly half of Americans, 45%, say Trump and congressional Republicans are responsible for the shutdown, while 33% say congressional Democrats are responsible and another 22% are not sure. That is barely a shift from the Post’s poll on Oct. 1 when 47% blamed Trump and Republicans, 30% blamed Democrats and 23% were unsure at the onset of the shutdown.

Democrats are more united, saying that Trump and Republicans are to blame for the shutdown (81%) than Republicans saying Democrats are to blame (72%). Twice as many independents say Trump and Republicans are responsible (46%) than Democrats (23%).

Majorities across partisan lines say they are concerned about the shutdown: Nearly nine in 10 Democrats along with over seven in 10 independents and over six in 10 Republicans are concerned about the shutdown, but more Democrats say they are “very” concerned (62%) than independents (43%) or Republicans (26%).

Concern over the shutdown is higher among women, with 81% voicing concern, compared with 68% of men.

And a growing share of Americans disapprove of how Trump is managing the federal government. In all, 63% disapprove today, up from 57% in April and 54% in February. Just over a third (36%) approve in the most recent poll.

The ABC/Post/Ipsos poll asked Americans to explain why they think either Trump and Republicans or Democrats are to blame for the federal government shutting down. Here are some of their written responses:

“They won’t budge on the concerns of healthcare premiums skyrocketing for all Americans. He is not for all Americans, only his interests matter,” said a 65-year-old Democratic woman in Wisconsin.

“They seem more interested in keeping power than working for the country’s benefit,” said a 78-year-old Republican-leaning independent man in Oregon.

“They control all of the portions of the federal government,” said a 45-year-old Democratic man in Tennessee.

“Trump is the president and the Republicans hold the majority. Not only that, Speaker Johnson let out the House on vacation, and Trump/Republicans won’t even try to work with Democrats on the loss of healthcare funding that is going to hurt millions of people,” said a 34-year-old Democratic woman in Minnesota.

“Trump said it himself a few years ago that it’s the President’s job to bring the 2 sides together,” said a 59-year-old Democratic-leaning independent woman in Pennsylvania.

“President Trump and the Maga GOP are refusing to negotiate over the Affordable Care Act expiration regardless of the negative impact on many of their supporters and they have no alternative plans for keeping the cost of healthcare from rising,” said a 69-year-old Democratic woman in Virginia.

“The Republicans control Congress. They won’t negotiate. Of course they’re responsible. We cannot take healthcare away from millions of Americans,” said a 40-year-old Democratic woman in Iowa.

“They refuse to negotiate in good faith,” said a 78-year-old Democratic-leaning independent man in Ohio.

Among those blaming Democrats:

“They want healthcare for illegal immigrants to be paid for out of my pocket. Not right,” said a 78-year-old Republican woman in Oregon.

“Because they will not budge,” said a 37-year-old Republican-leaning independent woman in Arizona.

“They want to negotiate subsidies on health care, but they do not want to conduct the negotiation within the relevant House and Senate committees. They are holding all of the government hostage over one issue,” said a 78-year-old Republican man in South Carolina.

“They voted down the continuation resolutions multiple times,” said a 56-year-old Republican-leaning independent man in Nebraska.

“The Democrats are the ones who will not budge on coming to an agreement,” said a 43-year-old independent woman in Texas.

“The Democrats have supported the items in the continuing resolution and are demanding things that continue to build the debt,” said a 69-year-old Republican-leaning independent man in California.

“Republicans offered and passed a clean bill with no Republican additions and Democrats continually vote no,” said a 76-year-old Republican man in Texas.

Methodology: This ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll was conducted online via the probability-based Ipsos KnowledgePanel® Oct. 24-28, 2025, in English and Spanish, among a random national sample of 2,725 U.S. adults and has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.9 percentage points, including the design effect. Error margins are larger for subgroups. 

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(WASHINGTON) — Most Americans oppose the demolition of the White House’s East Wing to make way for President Donald Trump’s ballroom, according to an ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll conducted using Ipsos’ KnowledgePanel.

A 56% majority of Americans oppose the Trump administration tearing down the East Wing of the White House as part of the construction of a 90,000-square-foot ballroom paid for by $300 million in private donations, including 45% who “strongly” oppose it, the poll finds.

Just 28% of Americans support it, with 15% strongly supporting the East Wing being torn down for a ballroom, the poll found. Another 16% say they are not sure.

Support breaks down by party lines, with a 62% majority of Republicans in support and 88% of Democrats opposed. A 61% majority of independents oppose the East Wing tear town and ballroom, with nearly half opposing it strongly, according to the poll.

Opinions are much stronger among Democrats: 78% of Democrats strongly oppose the teardown and ballroom, a much smaller 35% of Republicans strongly support it.

A majority of liberals (76%) and about half of moderates (51%) strongly oppose the East Wing teardown and ballroom, while just about a third of conservatives (34%) support it strongly.

Strong support peaks among strong Trump approvers, with 58% saying they strongly support the teardown of the East Wing and ballroom. Among those who somewhat approve of Trump, just 11% strongly support the plan.

Among strong Trump disapprovers, 82% strongly oppose tearing down the East Wing and building a ballroom, while a much smaller 37% of those who somewhat disapprove of the president strongly oppose the plan.

Just about four in 10 conservative Republicans (42%) say they are strongly in favor of the plan. Conversely, 82% of liberal Democrats and 73% of moderate and conservative Democrats oppose it strongly.

Methodology: This ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll was conducted online via the probability-based Ipsos KnowledgePanel® Oct. 24-28, 2025, in English and Spanish, among a random national sample of 2,725 U.S. adults and has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.9 percentage points, including the design effect. Error margins are larger for subgroups. The partisan divisions are 28% Democrats, 31% Republicans and 41% independents or something else.

See more details on ABC News’ survey methodology here.

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(NEW YORK) — President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping met for their first face-to-face talks in six years with hopes of ending a monthslong trade war — a meeting that came shortly after Trump said the U.S. would “immediately” begin testing nuclear weapons, which it has not done in more than 30 years.

The meeting at an air base in Busan, South Korea, lasted roughly 1 hour and 45 minutes. Leading up to the meeting, Trump said it could last three to four hours.

The two leaders appeared to be in good spirits leaving the meeting, exchanging a brief word and shaking hands. Trump is now headed back to Washington.

There was no immediate readout of high-profile talks.

The two shared a handshake for the cameras ahead of the meeting and, in brief remarks, projected optimism about the U.S.-China relationship.

“I think we’ve already agreed to a lot of things, and we’ll agree to some more right now, but President Xi is a great leader of a great country, and I think we’re going to have a fantastic relationship for a long period of time,” Trump said.

Xi said, since Trump’s reelection, the two leaders have spoken three times on the phone.

“Given our different national conditions, we do not always see eye-to-eye with each other, and it is normal for the two leading economies of the world to have frictions now and then,” Xi said through an interpreter.

But he said the relationship between the two countries remained “stable on the whole.”

About an hour before the meeting was set to start, Trump posted on his social media platform, touting U.S. nuclear capacity and saying he had ordered the Pentagon to resume nuclear testing on an “equal basis” to other countries’ testing programs, which will begin “immediately.” 

The U.S. has “observed a voluntary moratorium on nuclear explosive testing since 1992,” according to the Congressional Research Service, though it has maintained the ability to resume the tests.

“The United States has more Nuclear Weapons than any other country,” Trump said in the post, adding “Russia is second, and China is a distant third, but will be even within 5 years.”

The post went on to say, “Because of other countries testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis. That process will begin immediately.”

After negotiations in Malaysia earlier this week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said U.S. and Chinese officials agreed to a framework around trade talks. But ultimately, it’s up to the two leaders to finalize the deal.

Even if truces are made and deadlines extended, experts say any breakthrough will only offer temporary relief: short-term adjustments rather than structural change to one of the world’s most consequential relationships. 

What’s on the table in talks
Weeks ago, China announced it would dramatically expand restrictions on rare earth minerals — materials key for producing computer chips that are needed for everything including smartphones, AI systems and defense technology. The new rules mean that foreign firms must get Chinese government approval to export products that have even trace amounts of certain rare earths that originate from China.

Bessent said China has agreed to delay its restrictions by one year. But that’s not a lot of time, certainly not enough build viable alternatives to China.  

And experts say restrictions on rare earths are part of Beijing’s long-term plans. While they can delay these controls, it still gives Beijing powerful leverage for years to come.

The rare earth export restrictions are part of a “broader shift in China’s approach to economic diplomacy,” said Neil Thomas, a fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis.

“It’s been studying the U.S. export control regime and absorbing the lessons of just how powerful a diplomatic tool can be. … Beijing wants Washington to reduce its own export controls on China,” Thomas said.

Tariffs are also to be a main topic of the talks.

In response to China’s rare earth controls, Trump threatened to impose additional 100% tariffs on China. Bessent says that threat is now off the table.

But Nov. 10 is another deadline: That’s when the 90-day truce on the sky-high tariffs on each country expires. Bessent says he expects an extension, but even with this truce, tariffs on goods from both countries remain in the double digits.

Trump imposed 20% tariffs on China earlier this year over claims that China has failed to crack down on exporting chemicals used to make fentanyl. Trump said he expects to lower those fentanyl tariffs. The flow of fentanyl precursor chemicals has been a longstanding challenge between the U.S. and China.

Bessent said the deal with China also addresses the concerns from American soybean farmers. China has turned to Argentina for soybeans during the trade war, a shift that has deepened financial pressure on U.S. farmers. 

Bloomberg and Reuters report that China has purchased a few soybean cargoes — its first purchases from this year’s U.S. harvest. ABC News has reached out to the White House and Treasury Department for comment. While this could be temporary relief, the long-term trend is that China has been steadily reducing its reliance on the U.S.  

Plus, the TikTok deal to keep the hugely popular app operating in the United States could be finalized during their meeting. Bessent said on Sunday his “remit was to get the Chinese to agree to approve the transaction” and he believes “we successfully accomplished that” during their negotiations in Malaysia.

The White House announced last month the deal would create a joint venture majority owned by U.S. investors, with Oracle overseeing the algorithm. 

Some experts say President Xi is angling for President Trump to signal a shift in U.S. support for Taiwan, the democratically governed island that Beijing claims as its own.

Trump played down the issue, telling reporters he doesn’t know if they’ll even mention Taiwan, which relies on the U.S. for political and military backing.

Also on the foreign policy front, Trump wants Xi to use his sway over Russian President Vladimir Putin to help end the war in Ukraine and to stop buying Russian energy. 

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(NEW YORK) — Almost 300,000 people have voted early in New York City’s 2025 election — which features a closely-watched mayor’s race that has grabbed headlines nationwide — as of the end of the fourth day of early voting on Tuesday, according to the New York City Board of Elections.

That marks a major increase from the 55,106 voters who voted by the end of the fourth day of early voting in 2021’s mayoral election. More than five times as many votes have been cast in the 2025 race as of the end of Tuesday.

Out of the city’s five boroughs, Brooklyn leads with the most early votes so far with 92,035 people having voted early there as of Tuesday night. By comparison, at the end of the fourth day of early voting in 2021, only 13,831 people had voted in Brooklyn.

Staten Island and the Bronx, meanwhile, are lagging behind. As of the end of the fourth day of early voting in 2025, 22,417 votes were cast on Staten Island and 24,919 were cast in the Bronx.

What this means for Democratic candidate State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, independent candidate former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, or Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa isn’t quite certain, according to Laura Tamman, a political science professor at Pace University.

“It’s hard to say definitively what is happening with only borough-wide numbers available,” she told ABC News on Monday.

“However, the proportionally low turnout in Staten Island and the Bronx is not great news for Andrew Cuomo. For him to have a chance, he would need those areas to be showing up in proportionally higher numbers than Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan,” Tamman added. “Given that Andrew Cuomo has consistently trailed Mamdani by double digits, Andrew Cuomo continues to appear highly unlikely to win the election.”

That said, early voting in 2025 is not entirely an apples-to-apples comparison with 2021.

Early voting was first implemented in New York in 2019, so 2021 was the first mayoral race it was used for. Many voters may have also still been getting used to voting in person again after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Additionally, the 2021 matchup between Democratic candidate Eric Adams and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa was a much more traditional matchup, without a high-profile independent in the race, and Adams was effectively on a glide path in the Democratic-dominated Big Apple, according to Tamman.

“Turnout in the 2021 contest between Eric Adams and Curtis Sliwa was lower because the race was viewed as less competitive than this year’s contest,” she said.

ABC News’ Averi Harper, Emily Guskin and Ivan Pereira contributed to this report.

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