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Why AP called Pennsylvania for Trump

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Why AP called Pennsylvania for Trump


WASHINGTON (AP) — If it wasn’t a red wave in the nation’s most consequential battleground, there was at least a red swell.

Donald Trump reclaimed Pennsylvania by improving his margins across the state, shaving Democratic President Joe Biden’s 2020 win in Philadelphia, expanding his own dominance in rural parts of the state, and — at the time The Associated Press called the race at 2:24 a.m. ET — flipping key suburban counties to the GOP column.

Trump led the state by some 175,000 votes at the time the AP called the race. Even if Vice President Kamala Harris were to carry the outstanding votes — which included ballots from counties she was losing — by 20 points over Trump, she still would not be able to close the gap.

Trump’s victory showed up across the state. In populous suburban Philadelphia’s Bucks County and neighboring Northampton County, Trump was leading — two places seen as bellwethers that Biden won four years ago. Trump did several points better in the populous Philadelphia suburbs of Chester and Delaware. He was winning in Erie in the northwest corner of the state, which Biden took narrowly four years ago.

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Even in the Democratic stronghold of Philadelphia, Trump was doing 3 percentage points better than he did four years ago.

CANDIDATES: President: Harris (D) vs. Trump (R) vs. Chase Oliver (Libertarian) vs. Jill Stein (Green).

WINNER: Trump

POLL CLOSING TIME: 8 p.m. ET

ABOUT THE RACE: The biggest contested prize this year, Pennsylvania saw dozens of visits by Harris and Trump — more than any state.

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The state was where Trump survived an assassination attempt in Butler over the summer. He has appeared at rallies and events across the state and donned an apron at a McDonald’s in suburban Philadelphia in an effort to connect with voters.

Harris appeared at the site where George Washington crossed the Delaware River during the Revolutionary War to highlight her support from some Republicans disillusioned by Trump. She held a get-out-the-vote rally in Philadelphia — a major source of Democratic support — in the race’s waning days.

Trump carried the state by a single point in 2016, while Biden defeated him by 1 point in 2020.

Pennsylvania struggled with a relatively new early voting option, which permitted voters to request mail ballots that could be cast before Election Day.

Unlike early voting in other states that have polling places, Pennsylvania counties saw lines of people seeking to get early mail ballots in part after Trump and billionaire Elon Musk encouraged Republicans to embrace mail-in voting. In 2020, Trump said baselessly that mail ballots were rife with fraud.

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WHY AP CALLED THE RACE: Trump performed better in traditionally Democratic Philadelphia than Biden did four years ago and improved his margins in key populous suburban counties. The race was called when it became clear that even if Harris won the outstanding votes by a wider margin than she had been, she couldn’t close the gap.

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Learn more about how and why the AP declares winners in U.S. elections at Explaining Election 2024, a series from The Associated Press aimed at helping make sense of the American democracy. The AP receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about AP’s democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.





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Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro sues the Trump administration over funding freeze

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Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro sues the Trump administration over funding freeze


Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro sued the Trump administration on Thursday over its broad freeze of federal funding, saying in a lawsuit that the effort has “jeopardized at least $5.5 billion that has been committed to Pennsylvania” in federally appropriated money.

In the lawsuit, the Shapiro administration said Trump is in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act and conducting “an unconstitutional withholding of funds.” The law allows judges to throw out federal agency actions that are “arbitrary and capricious” on various grounds and has commonly been cited in lawsuits targeting elements of Trump’s efforts to rapidly remake the government.

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“Neither the President nor any executive branch agency has the power to unilaterally enact, amend, or repeal any statute. That is as true of a statute appropriating funds as it is any other statute,” the lawsuit reads, adding, “The President and executive branch agencies have an obligation to execute the laws that have been properly enacted. Defendant agencies’ withholding of appropriated, obligated funds violates these fundamental constitutional tenets and is therefore unconstitutional.”

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The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, is the Democratic governor’s most significant step to counter Trump so far in his second term. Shapiro is widely seen as a potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate. That it was Shapiro himself suing the president, too, was notable because such a lawsuit would typically be filed by a state’s attorney general. In Pennsylvania, that office is now in Republican control.

The Shapiro administration sued the Interior Department, Transportation Department, Energy Department, Environmental Protection Agency and the Office of Management and Budget as well as the leaders of those agencies: Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, Energy Secretary Chris Wright and OMB Director Russ Vought.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro is widely seen as a potential 2028 presidential contender.Hannah Beier / Getty Images file

“The federal government has entered into a contract with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, promising to provide billions of dollars in Congressionally-approved funding that we have committed to serious needs — like protecting public health, cutting energy costs, providing safe, clean drinking water, and creating jobs in rural communities,” Shapiro said in a statement. “With this funding freeze, the Trump Administration is breaking that contract — and it’s my job as Governor to protect Pennsylvania’s interests.”

Both in the lawsuit and in his statement, Shapiro framed his administration’s move on Thursday as a last resort that followed two weeks of trying to restore the frozen funding to his state.

“While multiple federal judges have ordered the Trump Administration to unfreeze this funding, access has not been restored, leaving my Administration with no choice but to pursue legal action to protect the interests of the Commonwealth and its residents,” he said.

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A person familiar with the lawsuit told NBC News that the litigation was evidence Shapiro is willing to “go toe-to-toe with the president here and say ‘this is not a way to run government.’”

“This is not a vanity lawsuit [or] virtue signal,” this person said. “This is real. Things aren’t getting done. Key priorities of the governor’s agenda are close to pausing. There’s jobs at stake. There’s key initiatives in public health and human safety that are at stake.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Trump and his administration have argued for the funding freeze as necessary to root out what they see as wasteful and abusive, even fraudulent spending. But judges have said Trump lacks the authority to unilaterally pause the funds.

Much of the frozen federal funding Shapiro highlighted in his lawsuit stemmed from former President Joe Biden’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and Inflation Reduction Act, which was frozen under a Trump executive order that broadly called for funding appropriated by that legislation to be paused. The first paused-initiative Shapiro highlighted was a $3 billion grant over 15 years allowing Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection to repair abandoned mine lands in the state. Cleaning up abandoned mines was a major pledge of Shapiro’s 2022 gubernatorial campaign.

“It was a campaign promise — it’s a big deal,” the person familiar with the lawsuit said. “There’s [about] 300,000 orphaned and abandoned wells in the state of Pennsylvania. It’s like the second or third biggest emitter of greenhouse gasses. It’s a climate initiative. It’s a safety thing. It’s a union jobs. It’s mostly in western, rural Pennsylvania. This is 10s of millions of dollars up in the air of work that is struggling to proceed because no one has any idea what’s going on.”

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Two federal judges have temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s funding freeze. But Shapiro’s lawsuit says that the federal government is continuing to withhold the funds to his state. 

“Specifically, Commonwealth agencies cannot draw from federal accounts, which means that agencies are stuck incurring debts and obligations in ongoing projects that cannot be reimbursed,” the lawsuit reads. “While agencies have some reserves and discretionary dollars to cover small unexpected debts, the scope of the federal freeze will far exceed those reserves.”



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3-star Pennsylvania LB Angel Luciano schedules official visit to MSU

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3-star Pennsylvania LB Angel Luciano schedules official visit to MSU


Michigan State football is set to host a three-star linebacker prospect from Pennsylvania for an official visit in June.

Angel Luciano of Harrisburg, Pa. announced on Tuesday that he will be taking an official visit to Michigan State this summer. Justin Thind of 247Sports is reporting that Luciano will take his official visit to Michigan State on June 13.

Luciano is listed as a three-star linebacker prospect on Rivals. He currently is unranked on 247Sports.

Michigan State offered Luciano a scholarship in early January and are one of more than 10 schools to extend an offer to Luciano, according to 247Sports. Other programs to offer Luciano are Cincinnati, Syracuse, Pitt, Minnesota, Maryland, Virginia Tech, Old Dominion, Liberty, Delaware, Buffalo and Akron.

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Contact/Follow us @The SpartansWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Michigan State news, notes and opinions. You can also follow Robert Bondy on X @RobertBondy5.





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Pennsylvania wildlife sanctuary offers unique Valentines activity for guests

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Pennsylvania wildlife sanctuary offers unique Valentines activity for guests


A wildlife sanctuary in Snyder County, Pennsylvania, is offering a unique activity for those looking to move on from their exes during Valentine’s week. Visitors to T&D’s Cats of the World can take part in a popular fundraising event where they toss cookies inscribed with the names of their former partners to the wolves.



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