Ocasio-Cortez loses bid to be top Democrat on House Oversight Committee
Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — House Democratic veteran Rep. Gerry Connolly fended off a challenge from progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Tuesday, putting the Virginia Democrat in line to become the House Oversight Committee’s top-ranked Democrat in the new Congress.
Connolly has served on the Oversight Committee since 2009 and has led Democrats on the subcommittee on government operations since 2013. He announced on Nov. 7 that he was diagnosed with esophagus cancer, opening the door for a challenge from Ocasio-Cortez.
Despite those health challenges, Connolly won by a vote of 131-84, according to multiple Democratic sources — cementing his role in one of the most high-profile positions in Washington to combat the incoming Trump administration and a unified Republican majority in Congress.
Ocasio-Cortez has served on the Oversight Committee since her first term in 2019 when she took Capitol Hill by storm as a leader of the so-called Squad. Despite the defeat today, she is still poised to take on a prominent role on the panel in the 119th Congress.
Connolly said he is ready to take on the Trump administration.
“He [Trump] may feel more emboldened, but that may also make him more reckless,” Connolly said. “There is a law on this land and we’re going to make sure it’s enforced.”
“Our strategy is going to be to tell the truth and if that hurts then we know we’ve made our mark,” he said.
Connolly said he was able to defeat AOC because, “I think my colleagues were measuring their votes by who’s got experience, who’s seasoned, who can be trusted, who’s capable on it, who’s got a record of productivity. And I think that prevailed.”
Connolly won an initial recommendation Monday evening from the House Democratic Steering Committee to lead Democrats on the panel in the next Congress over AOC by a vote count of 34-27.
In defiance of that recommendation, Ocasio-Cortez asked the full caucus to vote on the contest.
The results come as Democrats undergo a post-election reckoning following Vice President Kamala Harris’ loss to President-elect Donald Trump — a period of soul-searching that has put a noticeable dent in House Democrats’ traditional deference to seniority for committee assignments.
Democrats so far have already opted for younger, more junior Democrats to jump the line to serve as the top party member of the Judiciary, Agriculture and Natural Resources committees, moves that amounted to significant shakeups on Capitol Hill.
The maneuvering comes as Democrats prepare for battle with the Trump administration next year, with members hopeful that younger, more energetic voices would be able to better carry the party message into what are expected to be high-profile policy fights, even if Democrats are stuck in the minority.
However, when it came to the Oversight Committee, Democrats appeared to still prioritize Connolly’s standing despite his health issues over Ocasio-Cortez, a progressive and effective communicator but someone who has emerged as a prominent boogeyman for national Republicans.
Overall, Democrats have selected five women to be ranking members on committees in the next Congress, along with several people of color, while Republicans have tapped zero women.
Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead. Via Flickr
(WASHINGTON) — After a sweeping victory over Vice President Kamala Harris on Nov. 5, President-elect Donald Trump is now set to become just the second ever to serve nonconsecutive terms in office.
Trump has wasted no time in moving to assemble his team for a second term in the White House — naming Susie Wiles as his chief of staff and New York Rep. Elise Stefanik as U.N. ambassador, among other positions.
Inauguration Day is Jan. 20.
November 12, 2024, 11:50 AM EST – Will Trump’s administration picks impact House control?
While control of the House has not yet been projected by ABC News, Republicans are inching toward maintaining their slim majority.
But already, Trump has picked several lawmakers to serve in his administration: Rep. Elise Stefanik for United Nations ambassador and Rep. Mike Waltz for national security adviser.
Speaker Mike Johnson, asked about the issue on Tuesday, said he’s spoken to Trump about it several times.
“We have a really talented Republican Congress … Many of them can serve in important positions in the new administration. But President Trump fully understands, appreciates the math here and it’s just a numbers game,” Johnson said. “You know, we believe we’re going to have a larger majority than we had last time.”
The speaker added: “I don’t expect that we will have more members leaving, but I’ll leave that up to him.”
November 12, 2024, 11:39 AM EST – Billionaire John Paulson says he’s not a candidate for Treasury role
Billionaire John Paulson said Tuesday he does not plan to formally join the administration as the secretary of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, though he said he intends to remain actively involved with Trump’s economic team.
“Although various media outlets have mentioned me as a candidate for Secretary of the Treasury, my complex financial obligations would prevent me from holding an official position in President Trump’s administration at this time,” Paulson said in a statement.
“However, I intend to remain actively involved with the President’s economic team and helping in the implementation of President Trump’s outstanding policy proposals,” he added.
-ABC News’ Beatrice Peterson
November 12, 2024, 11 AM EST – Johnson teases Trump visit to the Capitol
House Speaker Mike Johnson confirmed that Trump is expected to visit the U.S. Capitol to celebrate a potential Republicans “trifecta” on Wednesday morning before he sits down in the Oval Office with President Joe Biden later in the day.
“Well, I’ll say I didn’t intend to break this as news this morning,” Johnson quipped as he held a press conference with House Republican leadership.
“He wanted to come and visit with House Republicans, so we’re working out the details of him gathering with us potentially tomorrow morning, before he goes to the White House,” Johnson said. “And that would be a great meeting and a moment for all of us, there’s a lot of excitement, a lot of energy here. We’re really grateful for President Trump leaving it all on the field to get reelected.”
ABC News’ John Parkinson, Isabella Murray and Lauren Peller
November 12, 2024, 11 AM EST – House Republican leadership say they’re ready for Day 1 under Trump
Returning to Washington on Tuesday, Speaker Mike Johnson and other top House Republicans took a victory lap on last week’s election results.
While ABC News has not yet projected House control, Republicans are three seats away from clinching the 218 needed for a majority.
Johnson said they are monitoring outstanding races closely but are confident they will have a “unified” government come January.
“This leadership will hit the ground running to deliver President Trump’s agenda in the 119th Congress, and we will work closely with him and his administration to turn this country around and unleash, as he says, a new golden age in America,” Johnson said at a press conference on the Capitol steps.
November 11, 2024, 11:22 PM EST – Trump’s new ‘border czar’ issues warning to sanctuary states and cities
President-elect Donald Trump’s newly picked “border czar” Tom Homan addressed his forthcoming deportation plan and state leaders who have objected to sweeping immigration policies.
During an appearance on Fox News on Monday, Homan issued a warning to so-called “sanctuary” states and cities to “get the hell out of the way” of the Trump administration’s mass deportation plans.
“I saw today numerous governors from sanctuary states saying they’re going to step in the way. They better get the hell out of the way. Either you help us or get the hell out of the way, because ICE is going to do their job,” he warned, referring to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, where he formerly served as director.
“I’ll double the workforce in that sanctuary city. We’re going to do our job despite the politics. We’re doing it. So get used to it, because we’re coming,” Homan said.
When asked if he plans to deport American citizens, Homan said, “President Trump has made it clear we will prioritize public safety threats and national security threats first, and that’s how the focus would be.”
-ABC News’ Soo Rin Kim
November 11, 2024, 8:48 PM EST – Trump expected to tap Sen. Marco Rubio for secretary of state: Sources
President-elect Donald Trump is expected to announce his intention to nominate Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) for secretary of state, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.
Rubio, 53, has served in the Senate since 2011. He is currently the vice chair of the Senate Select Committee on Foreign Intelligence, and he also sits on the chamber’s Foreign Relations Committee.
Several long-serving State Department officials tell ABC News they respect Rubio’s extensive foreign policy experience and view him as unlikely to overly politicize the secretary of state role.
The secretary of state is appointed by the president with the consent of the Senate.
-ABC News’ Katherine Faulders and Shannon Kingston
November 11, 2024, 7:00 PM EST – Trump asks Rep. Mike Waltz to be his national security adviser: Sources
Trump has asked Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., to be his national security adviser, multiple sources said.
Waltz was at Mar-a-Lago on Monday, sources said.
Waltz is a former Green Beret and China hawk who emerged as a key surrogate for Trump, criticizing the Biden-Harris foreign policy record during the campaign.
The Florida Republican sits on the Intelligence, Armed Services and Foreign Affairs committees.
He has supported aid to Ukraine in the past but has demanded “conditions,” including increased spending from European allies, additional oversight of funds and pairing the aid with border security measures.
Waltz, who has visited Ukraine, was a vocal critic of the Biden administration’s policy towards Ukraine, criticizing the White House and allies for not providing Ukraine with more lethal aid — such as MiG fighter planes — earlier in the conflict.
Before running for elected office, Waltz served in various national security policy roles in the Bush administration, Pentagon and White House.
-ABC News’ Rachel Scott, Benjamin Siegel, John Santucci and Katherine Faulders
November 11, 2024, 6:06 PM EST – Volunteer-run effort on RFK Jr.’s website crowd-sourcing ideas for Trump admin appointments
A volunteer-run effort on Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s website has begun crowd-sourcing ideas for appointments in Trump’s administration.
A website titled “Nominees for the People” gives anyone the chance to submit names of people they’d like to see join the administration.
“President Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. want your help nominating people of integrity and courage for over 4,000 appointments across the future Trump administration,” the website reads.
Stefanie Spear, a Kennedy spokeswoman, told ABC News that the crowd-sourcing effort is “a grassroots initiative run by volunteers,” and is not actually spearheaded by Kennedy, although the page uses the “mahanow.org” URL that Kennedy’s official campaign website adopted after he exited the race.
“We’ve always offered space on our website to our grassroots movement,” Spear said.
This post has been updated to reflect that the crowd-sourcing effort is a volunteer-run effort.
-ABC News’ Sasha Pezenik
November 11, 2024, 5:55 PM EST – Trump’s ‘border czar’ says mass deportation strategy will be a main priority
Former Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Tom Homan, Trump’s newly announced “border czar,” said his main priority will be overseeing and formulating Trump’s long-vowed mass deportation strategy while consolidating decisions related to border security.
“Everybody talks about this mass deportation operation. President Trump talks about. I’ll oversee that and come up with a strategy for that,” Homan said during a lengthy interview with his hometown television station WWNY on Monday.
Homan said Trump’s mass deportations is “going to be a targeted enforcement operation, concentrating on criminals and national security threats first.”
He acknowledged that the deportations would be costly but argued the policy would “save the taxpayers a lot of money.”
Homan said he does not plan to “separate women and children” but acknowledged that deporting alleged criminals would result in breaking up families.
“When we arrest parents here, guess what? We separate them. The illegal aliens should be no different,” Homan said.
Homan also said worksite enforcement — an aspect of immigration policy focused on unauthorized workers and employers who knowingly hire them — is “going to get fired back up.”
“Under President Trump, we’re going to work it and we’re going to work it hard,” he said.
-ABC News’ Peter Charalambous
November 11, 2024, 5:46 PM EST – Melania Trump skipping meeting with Jill Biden: Sources
Melania Trump is not expected to travel to Washington with President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday, two sources told ABC News.
First lady Jill Biden had extended an invite to Melania Trump for a meeting, according to the sources. In 2016, Michelle Obama had hosted Melania Trump at the White House.
The Trump campaign declined to comment. The first lady’s office confirmed to ABC News that a joint invitation was extended to the Trumps to meet at the White House though declined to comment beyond that.
-ABC News’ Rachel Scott, John Santucci and Molly Nagle
November 11, 2024, 4:26 PM EST – RFK Jr. advising Trump transition on health decisions: Sources
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has continued to broadly advise Trump and the transition team on health-related appointments and has been in discussions to possibly fill a major role in the next administration, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.
While sources caution that a role has not been finalized, RFK Jr. has been discussed as a potential candidate for the next secretary of Health and Human Services. But other roles are also on the table, including a broad “czar”-like position that would advise on policy and personnel decisions in other health arenas, the sources said.
RFK Jr. has been in active discussions with the transition team since Trump’s election victory last week. He’s been spotted at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club multiple times and has been engaging in presentations which include candidates for specific Cabinet and health-related jobs, sources said.
He has spent hours with the co-heads of Trump’s transition team — billionaire Howard Lutnick and Linda McMahon — in addition to others at Mar-a-Lago such as Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr.; investor and donor Omeed Malik; Tucker Carlson; and Del Bigtree, RFK Jr.’s former campaign spokesperson who produced a documentary called “Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe.”
-ABC News’ Katherine Faulders, Olivia Rubin and Will McDuffie
November 11, 2024, 3:30 PM EST – Lee Zeldin named to be EPA administrator
President-elect Donald Trump has tapped former New York Rep. Lee Zeldin to lead the Environmental Protection Agency.
“Lee, with a very strong legal background, has been a true fighter for America First policies,” Trump said in a statement. “He will ensure fair and swift deregulatory decisions that will be enacted in a way to unleash the power of American businesses, while at the same time maintaining the highest environmental standards, including the cleanest air and water on the planet. He will set new standards on environmental review and maintenance, that will allow the United States to grow in a healthy and well-structured way.
Zeldin, who also ran for New York governor against Andrew Cuomo in 2022, confirmed he had been offered the job via a post on X.
“It is an honor to join President Trump’s Cabinet as EPA Administrator,” he wrote. “We will restore US energy dominance, revitalize our auto industry to bring back American jobs, and make the US the global leader of AI. We will do so while protecting access to clean air and water.”
-ABC News’ John Santucci, Rachel Scott and Katherine Faulders
November 11, 2024, 3:06 PM EST -RFK Jr. suggests he’ll gut NIH, replace 600 employees
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. indicated over the weekend that he would fire 600 employees at the National Institutes of Health, replacing them with a new cohort of workers as he seeks to dramatically reshape America’s health agencies.
Speaking at the Genius Network Annual Event in Scottsdale, Arizona, Kennedy described his role vetting people for Donald Trump’s new administration.
“We need to act fast, and we want to have those people in place on Jan. 20, so that on Jan. 21, 600 people are going to walk into offices at NIH and 600 people are going to leave,” Kennedy said, according to a video of his remarks posted on YouTube.
November 11, 2024, 3:06 PM EST- Trump expected to announce Stephen Miller as deputy chief of staff
President-elect Donald Trump is expected to announce Stephen Miller, an immigration hard-liner and one of his senior advisers, will become his deputy chief of staff for policy, multiple sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.
It’s not clear when Trump plans to formally announce the job, the sources said.
Miller worked in the first Trump administration and played a key role in crafting immigration policies — including those that resulted in thousands of families being separated at the border.
-ABC News’ Rachel Scott, John Santucci and Katherine Faulders
November 11, 2024, 3:00 PM EST – Trump picks Elise Stefanik as UN ambassador
President-elect Donald Trump selected Rep. Elise Stefanik to be his U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, multiple Trump officials told ABC News.
“I am honored to nominate Chairwoman Elise Stefanik to serve in my Cabinet as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. Elise is an incredibly strong, tough, and smart America First fighter,” Trump said in a statement to ABC News.
Stefanik, a Republican congresswoman from New York’s 21st District, was elected last week to her sixth term in the House. She will inherit a role Nikki Haley held for two years in the first Trump administration.
-ABC News’ Rachel Scott, Katherine Faulders and John Santucci
(WASHINGTON) — Election eve has arrived with the race for the White House still very tight — with the latest ABC News/Ipsos poll out Sunday showing Kamala Harris slightly ahead nationally but Donald Trump ahead in some key swing states — and the two candidates deadlocked in Pennsylvania.
Harris is spending her last full day campaigning in battleground Pennsylvania while Trump is hitting the trail in North Carolina and Pennsylvania before ending the day in Michigan.
Musk’s attorney says winners of America PAC giveaway not chosen by chance
At an ongoing hearing in Philadelphia over Elon Musk and his super PAC’s $1 million voter sweepstakes, a defense attorney said the giveaway is a way to recruit spokespeople for America PAC, while the Philadelphia district attorney testified it is a “scam.”
According to defense attorney Chris Gober, the recipients of the million-dollar checks sign contracts after being selected from a pool of people who signed the petition to serve as a spokesperson for the PAC. Tomorrow’s winner has already been decided to be a registered voter from Michigan.
“They were not chosen by chance,” Gober said during the hearing in the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas.
Minutes later, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner’s team played a video in court where Musk vowed the money would be awarded “randomly.”
“So I have a surprise for you, which is that we are going to be awarding a million dollars randomly to people who have signed the petition every day from now until the election,” Musk told a crowd in Pennsylvania on Oct. 19.
Testifying from the witness stand, Krasner slammed the giveaway as a “scam” and “grift” intended to “flood money into American elections.”
“That ain’t a contract and that’s not employment,” an animated Krasner, the first witness in the hearing, said. “There are certain words that stick out — awarding. Doesn’t sound like a spokesperson contract.”
“It is unquestionably supposed to be random selection despite what I think is a very disingenuous version of it that I think I heard today,” Krasner said.
Krasner testified that the America PAC has effectively scammed Philadelphia residents out of their personal information — which they entered to sign the petition to enter into the giveaway — while the giveaway never actually offered them a random chance of winning the million-dollar prize.
“They were scammed for their information,” said Krasner, who is asking a judge to immediately stop the giveaway.
-ABC News’ Peter Charalambous
Former Rep. Liz Cheney responds to Trump’s violent rhetoric about her, compares him to an autocrat
Former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney responded to former President Donald Trump’s attacks on her in an interview with ABC’s “The View” on Monday, including a remark he made suggesting she should “have guns trained on her face.”
“He knows what he’s doing,” Cheney said. “He knows it’s a threat with the intent to intimidate. Obviously, the intimidation won’t work.”
Cheney emphasized Trump’s history of violent rhetoric, including how he responded to the violence on Jan. 6.
“For over three hours, he watched police officers be brutally beaten. He was told the vice president had been evacuated, he said, ‘So what?'” Cheney said. “People were rushing in, pleading with him, ‘Tell the mob to leave,’ and he wouldn’t.”
“That level of depravity, he knows he has no defense to that, and he knows that the American people will not entrust again with power anyone who would do something that cruel,” she continued. “And so because he can’t respond to that, he tries to change the subject, he tries to threaten. It’s what autocrats do to try to get their political adversaries to be silent.”
Vance: ‘Tomorrow is our last chance’
JD Vance addressed voters in Wisconsin during a rally in La Crosse on Monday.
“Tomorrow is our last chance,” Trump’s running mate said. “Tomorrow is the big day when we are going to vote in very big numbers in the state of Wisconsin. We’re going to vote for change. We’re going to vote for American prosperity.”
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is also campaigning in Wisconsin on Monday. Vance called it “tough work” to “convince the American people” that Harris can be president.
“I think that’s the toughest job in the United States of America,” Vance said, saying Harris is “more of the same” high grocery prices, unaffordable housing and “wide open border.”
Alabama GOP mobilizes 400 poll workers in Georgia and Alabama
The Alabama Republican Party announced on Monday it has launched its most comprehensive poll watcher deployment, with more than 400 poll watchers and election lawyers in Georgia and Alabama.
Over 200 Alabama poll watchers and dozens of election lawyers will be stationed in targeted districts across Alabama, which the party says is part of an effort to ensure a “secure and transparent election process.” The Alabama GOP added that the placement of election lawyers across the state “provides an extra layer of security and real-time responsiveness.”
The Alabama GOP is also deploying more than 200 poll watchers to Georgia, supporting the critical southern battleground state on behalf of former President Donald Trump’s campaign.
-ABC News’ Beatrice Peterson
Trump speaks at campaign rally in Raleigh
At a campaign rally Monday in Raleigh, former President Donald Trump urged his supporters to turn up to the polls on Election Day.
“If we get everybody out and vote, there’s not a thing they can do,” Trump told the crowd of North Carolinians, saying the state was “ours to lose.”
Trump smeared the Democratic Party as a “horrendously dangerous party that’s going to destroy our country.”
“We cannot let that happen,” he said. “So here’s my only purpose in even being here today: Get out and vote.”
Musk doesn’t show at hearing on Philly DA’s challenge to $1 million giveaways
Entering court without his client, Musk’s attorney, Chris Gober, criticized Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner for wanting to “silence Elon Musk for supporting Donald Trump.”
“We don’t allow our rights to be trampled upon bipartisan agendas masquerading as legal arguments,” Gober said.
In a late filing this morning, Krasner’s attorney continued to push for Musk to attend the hearing in person because his testimony would demonstrate “he is the beating heart of America PAC’s unlawful lottery and deceptive/unfair practices scheme.”
“Musk cannot distract from his central role by saying that he wants to be busy out campaigning, rather than attending to his responsibilities to this Court,” attorney John Summers said in the filing.
Earlier this morning, America PAC announced that the newest winner of their daily $1 million giveaway is a registered voter from Phoenix. One day remains until the sweepstakes ends on Election Day.
-ABC News’ Peter Charalambous and Chris Boccia
How Nebraska’s ‘blue dot’ could prove pivotal in the Electoral College
Amid an increasingly tight election between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump in several key swing states, Nebraska, and more specifically, its 2nd Congressional District, has taken on an outsize role in this year’s presidential election.
Because Nebraska currently awards three of its five Electoral College votes based on the results in each of its three congressional districts, the so-called “blue dot,” as the 2nd district has come to be known, could be critical to either campaign’s path to 270 electoral votes.
Early vote tops 78 million
As of 5:30 a.m. ET on Monday, more than 78 million Americans have voted early (a combination of absentee and early, in-person totals), according to the Election Lab at the University of Florida.
The total breaks down into 42,654,364 in-person early votes and 35,348,858 mail ballots returned.
The number of in-person early votes has surpassed 2020’s total number of in-person early votes. However, the overall number of early votes so far (including mail-in and absentee ballots) is still lower than 2020’s overall number.
-ABC News’ Oren Oppenheim
Jeffries says Republicans ‘will take a blow torch’ to social security
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told Good Morning America on Monday that Democrats are “on the right side” of the presidential election’s most pressing issues.
“The extreme MAGA Republicans have clearly and unequivocally articulated what they will do to America moving forward,” Jeffries said.
“They will take a blow torch to social security, they will take a blow torch to Medicare, they will take a blow torch to the Affordable Care Act,” Jeffries said.
Vice President Kamala Harris, Jeffries said, is “closing with a positive vision” while former President Donald Trump and his Republican party are “trying to tear us apart.”
Jeffries will become House speaker if Democrats win back control of the chamber this week.
“The majority of current House Republicans voted not to certify the election in 2020,” Jeffries said. “My colleagues on the other side of the aisle don’t seem to be capable of unequivocally saying that they will certify the election and the verdict that is rendered by the American people.”
“As House Democrats, that’s what we will do,” Jeffries added.
“We believe in democracy even when we disagree with the outcome. That’s been part of what’s made America the greatest democracy in the history of the world.”
Candidates vie for every vote in key swing states
Highlighting how important Pennsylvania and its 19 electoral votes are to her campaign, Kamala Harris is spending her last full day on the trail with multiple events in the state.
Her search for voters includes a rally in Allentown and then she ends with an event in Philadelphia.
Donald Trump is trying to shore up support in battleground North Carolina – where Harris has made inroads – for a rally in Raleigh, before he, too, heads to Pennsylvania for events in Reading and Pittsburgh before ending his final day campaigning in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden said “you can’t love your country only when you win” in his first speech since Vice President Kamala Harris’ loss to former President Donald Trump in the presidential race.
“You can’t love your neighbor only when you agree,” Biden said in an address to the nation from the White House Rose Garden on Thursday.
Biden said he’s directed his administration to work with Trump’s team for a peaceful transition of power.
“Something I hope we can do, no matter who you voted for, is see each other not as adversaries, but as fellow Americans. Bring down the temperature,” Biden said.
He also stressed the integrity of the election, calling it honest, fair and transparent.
“The will of the people always prevails,” he said.
Biden praised his vice president for running “an inspiring campaign.”
“She has great character, true character. She gave her whole heart and effort, and she and her entire team should be proud of the campaign they ran,” he said.
Biden also defended some of his actions in office, saying, “We’re going to see over a trillion dollars’ worth of infrastructure work done, changing people’s lives in rural communities and communities that are in real difficulty, because it takes time to get it done.”
“We’re leaving behind the strongest economy in the world,” Biden added.
“I know people are still hurting,” he said, but added, “Together, we’ve changed America for the better.”
“Setbacks are unavoidable, but giving up is unforgivable,” Biden said in his closing message to Americans.
“We’re going to be OK, but we need to stay engaged. We need to keep going,” he added. “And above all, we need to keep the faith.”
Biden said in a statement on Wednesday that adding Harris to his 2020 Democratic ticket was the first and “best decision” he made in that campaign.
“Her story represents the best of America’s story,” Biden said, adding, “I have no doubt she’ll continue writing that story.”
His 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.
Harris in a speech on Wednesday conceded the race to Trump.
Harris stressed, “While I concede this election, I do not concede the fight that fueled this campaign.”
“This is not a time to throw up our hands, this is a time to roll up our sleeves. This is a time to organize, to mobilize and to stay engaged for the sake of freedom and justice and the future that we all know we can build together,” she said.
Trump won the swing states of North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Wisconsin and Michigan. ABC News has not projected winners for the final two swing states, Nevada and Arizona.
Republicans also took control of the Senate. Results for the House of Representatives are not yet clear.
ABC News’ Michelle Stoddart contributed to this report.
