Who will succeed Mitch McConnell as Senate leader?

(WASHINGTON) — The House on Wednesday voted down Speaker Mike Johnson’s government funding plan with 14 Republicans voting against it and two others voting present.

The measure failed by a 202-222-2 margin. Three Democrats voted for the bill.

Johnson said after the vote that he was “disappointed that it didn’t pass,” but suggested there would be a “solution” to avoid a shutdown.

“We ran the play. It was the best play; it was the right one. So now we go back to the playbook. We’ll draw up another play, and we’ll come up with a solution,” John said. “I’m already talking to colleagues about their many ideas. We have time to fix the situation, and we’ll get right to it.”

“Stay posted,” he concluded his remarks without taking questions.

Johnson’s measure would have funded the government for six months but also included the SAVE Act, a bill backed by GOP leadership and former President Donald Trump that would require individuals to provide proof of U.S. citizenship to vote. Democrats said the legislation is a non-starter, noting it is already illegal for non-citizens to cast a ballot in federal elections.

Johnson was set to try to pass the funding plan last week but pulled it from the floor because he didn’t have the votes.

Some Republicans in his caucus opposed the measure because they say it would contribute to the deficit while defense hawks say they won’t vote for it because the six-month extension would effect the Department of Defense’s readiness.

Still, he was dug in on the measure and wasn’t talking about what the next steps would be. Congress needs to pass a funding measure before Oct. 1 to avoid a shutdown.

Trump openly called for Republicans to let the government close if they don’t pass the SAVE Act. He wrote on his social media platform that if they “don’t get absolute assurances on Election Security, THEY SHOULD, IN NO WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM, GO FORWARD WITH A CONTINUING RESOLUTION ON THE BUDGET.”

Asked about Trump’s comments that Republicans should let funding lapse in such a scenario, Johnson responded “No, look, President Trump and I have talked a lot about this. We talked a lot about it with our colleagues who are building consensus on the plan. We all believe that election security is of preeminent importance right now.”

Trump again, just before the vote on Wednesday, called for a government shutdown if “every ounce” of the SAVE Act isn’t attached to a funding measure.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, the chamber’s top Republican, said it would be “politically beyond stupid” to allow a shutdown to take place with just seven weeks until Election Day.

“I think we first have to wait and see what the House sends us. My only observation about this whole discussion is the one thing you cannot have is a government shutdown,” McConnell said. “It’d be politically beyond stupid for us to do that right before the election, because certainly we’d get the blame.”

Democrats urged Johnson to drop his funding plan and bring a clean short-term measure to the floor to keep the government open.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters last week that the only path forward is a bipartisan agreement that does not include “extreme” measures, such as the SAVE Act.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Monday also urged the House to pass a clean bill.

“In order to avoid a shutdown, the worst thing our colleagues in the House can do right now is waste time on proposals that don’t have broad bipartisan support,” Schumer said.

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(PHILADELPHIA) — During the face-off between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump during Tuesday’s ABC News presidential debate, both candidates tried to score points by slinging barbs at each other. 

Here are some of them:

Trump: “Wait a minute, I’m talking now, if you don’t mind, please. Does that sound familiar?”

— While Trump was trying to claim Harris supported defunding the police, she could be seen saying his statement was “not true.” Despite her microphone being muted. But Trump clearly heard her. His comment was a callback to Harris’ viral chiding of Mike Pence during their vice presidential debate in 2020 when she told him “Mr. Vice President, I’m speaking” during one of the most viral moments of the night.

Harris: “Donald Trump was fired by 81 million people.”

— When asked about Trump’s recent threat to prosecute those who “cheated” during the 2020 presidential election and his intimidation tactics, that was Harris’ response. She added that he is “having a very difficult time processing that,” referring to his refusing to concede he lost the 2020 election.

Trump: “She’s going to my philosophy now. In fact, I was going to send her a MAGA hat.”

— Trump on how Harris’ earlier policies have evolved to be similar to his.

Harris: “He talks about fictional characters like Hannibal Lecter.”

— Harris mocked what she said is Trump’s inability to address problems and engage in solutions and talked about topics he addresses instead in his rallies.

Trump: “Run, spot, run”

— Trump mocked Harris’ economic plan, which he said was copied from President Joe Biden’s plan, saying it’s as short as “four sentences” and summarized it as, “Run, spot, run,” despite that only being three words.

Harris: “Friendship with what is known to be a dictator who would eat you for lunch.”

— When asked about Ukraine, Harris touted what her administration has done to “preserve the ability of [President Zolodymyr] Zelenskyy and the Ukrainians to fight for their independence.” Referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s threats against neighboring Poland, she asked him, “And why don’t you tell the 800,000 Polish Americans right here in Pennsylvania how quickly you would give up for the sake of favor and what you think is a friendship with what is known to be a dictator who would eat you for lunch.”

Harris: “You’re not running against Joe Biden, you’re running against me.”

— After Trump engaged in a series of criticisms of Biden and his handling of Ukraine, Harris was quick to point out who the current presidential candidate is.

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(NEW YORK) — With just about three weeks until Election Day, the two major party candidates are working hard to reach voters around the country — with a key focus on male voters.

Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, was kicking off a new push to reach male voters in swing states, the Harris campaign confirmed to ABC News.

This included “Good Morning America” co-anchor Michal Strahan’s one-on-one interview that aired on Friday morning, as well as Walz’s Friday travel to Michigan where he met with Black male voters and did local TV interviews focused on hunting and high school football.

He was also attending the Mankato West Scarlets football game on Friday — and giving a pep talk to the team at the Minnesota high school where he taught and also coached football.

Separately, former President Barack Obama on Thursday — as a campaign surrogate for Harris — sternly criticized Black men over what he called “excuses” to not vote for Harris, making comments during a stop at a campaign field office in Pittsburgh’s East Liberty neighborhood ahead of his rally, saying he finds sitting out or voting for former President Donald Trump “not acceptable.”

Former President Donald Trump has also been working to reach male voters — particularly younger men. That includes joining podcasts such as “Flagrant” with Andrew Schulz and Akaash Singh, as well as other recent long interviews with podcast hosts popular among male listeners.

The latest polling still shows a “gender gap” among Harris’ and Trump’s support among men and women, with more men supporting Trump and more women supporting Harris.

A Pew Research Center poll of registered voters published on Thursday found Harris and Trump in a close race nationally among registered voters nationwide — but there’s a larger gap between them among male and female voters.

The poll found 51% of male registered voters supporting Trump, and 43% supporting Harris. Among female registered voters, that is effectively reversed: 52% of female registered voters support Harris, while 43% support Trump.

This is a dynamic political strategists and analysts have noticed. “The way that Donald Trump is trying to run up the numbers with men, [Harris has] got to do the same thing with women,” Sarah Longwell, publisher of the Bulwark and a longtime political strategist, told ABC News contributing correspondent and POLITICO Playbook author Rachael Bade in a recent POLITICO Playbook Deep Dive podcast interview.

However, the gender gap is not unprecedented: it has averaged 19 points in presidential exit polls since 1996 (which is because women are 8 to 10 percentage points more likely than men to identify as Democrats). Additionally, Pew’s findings are similar to the gender gap seen in the past two presidential elections, according to exit polls.

In 2020, 53% of men supported Trump while 45% supported then-Vice President Joe Biden; while 57% of women supported Biden and 42% supported Trump. In 2016, 52% of men supported Trump while 41% supported Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton; but 54% of women supported Clinton while 41% supported Trump.

According to a recent analysis by 538, the gender gap between Harris and Trump has actually narrowed slightly from where it was in August, although the Harvard Youth Poll published in September found a large gap among younger voters of either gender – with Harris up 17 points among young men and up 47 points among young women.

A separate recent analysis from Gallup found that young women have increasingly identified as politically liberal; according to Gallup, that trend is not driven by race or education.

Some recent polls have also delved into Black male support for Harris and Trump, amid uncertainty over whether either candidate is doing enough to reach them. Polling shows that Black men overwhelmingly support Harris, but that Trump has more support from Black men than from Black women.

The Pew Research Center’s poll found that among Black men who are registered voters, 72% support Harris while 20% support Donald Trump. Among Black women who are registered voters, according to Pew, Kamala Harris has 85% support while Donald Trump has only 8%. (As with any poll, there is a higher margin of sampling error for smaller groups within the poll, so these results may be less precise than the poll’s broader findings.)

Other polls indicate somewhat less of a gender gap among Black voters, however. An Associated Press-NORC poll taken in mid-September separately found that 66% of Black male voters say Kamala Harris would make a good president — similar to 64% of Black female voters and 65% of Black voters overall. 21% of Black male voters think Trump would make a good president, as opposed to 11% of Black female voters and 15% of Black voters overall. (The poll did not ask about who respondents would vote for.)

ABC News’ Fritz Farrow, Gabriella Abdul-Hakim, Hannah Demissie, Isabella Murray, Jeff Ballou, Kelsey Walsh, Lalee Ibssa, Mary Bruce, Rachael Bade, Soorin Kim, and Will McDuffie, and 538’s Mary Radcliffe, contributed to this report.

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