Washington

Where things stand in the 2024 election

Published

1 year ago

November 6, 2024

Press Room

A view of the White House as the sun sets the day after the presidential election.

Ting Shen/AFP

hide caption

toggle caption

Ting Shen/AFP

A look at where things stand with the election results as of 7:20 p.m. ET on Wednesday:

It was determined overnight that Donald Trump will again take the White House, according to calls by the Associated Press in key states, and he is also increasingly likely to do so with full control of the political levers in Washington.

Republicans have flipped enough seats to take control of the U.S. Senate. They will have at least 52 seats in the next Senate and are leading in two others at this hour.

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump waves as he walks with former first lady Melania Trump at an election night watch party at the Palm Beach Convention Center, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla.

In the House, in the early morning hours overnight, Democrats seemed to have a chance of taking the majority, but that has shifted. Republicans are currently leading in enough seats to retain control of the lower chamber, but there are many close races that have not yet been called and the AP stresses that control of the House will take days, if not longer, to correctly determine.

The presidency

Trump: 296 electoral votes
Harris: 226

What’s left: Nevada and Arizona.

President-elect Donald Trump arrives to speak during an election night event at the Palm Beach Convention Center on Nov. 6, in West Palm Beach, Fla. Trump has articulated ambitious plans for his first 100 days in office.

Trump leads in both Nevada and Arizona by 5 points. Winning them would get Trump to a final electoral vote tally of 313.

The Senate

Republicans: 52 seats
Democrats: 44 (includes Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats)

Republicans have picked up the Senate, flipping West Virginia, Ohio and Montana so far.

An exterior view of the U.S. Capitol on September 9, 2024 in Washington, DC.

What’s left: Arizona, Maine, Nevada and Pennsylvania.

Republicans lead in Nevada and Pennsylvania. Winning both would bring their total in the next Congress to 54 senators.

Nevada, though, is a margin of almost 4,000 votes out of more than 1.2 million, so that is unlikely to be called any time soon with 85% of the vote in.
Pennsylvania is within 30,000 with 95% of the vote in.
Maine is likely to go for Angus King, the incumbent independent who caucuses with the Democrats. He is ahead by 18 points with 92% of the vote in.

Latest calls: Democrats got good news this afternoon when incumbents Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin and Elissa Slotkin of Michigan both won their races, according to the AP.

What about ticket-splitters? Democratic Senate candidates outperformed Harris at the top of the ticket in each of the Senate races that Republicans were looking to flip. The lone exception was Maryland, where Harris won by 23 points, but Democrat Angela Alsobrooks defeated popular former Gov. Larry Hogan by 7.

But they didn’t do so by enough in Montana, West Virginia, Ohio and possibly Nevada and Pennsylvania. In the hotly contested Blue Wall states, the Democratic candidates were only able to outrun Harris by less than 2 points:

+13 in Montana
+11 in West Virginia
+7 in Ohio
+7 in Arizona
+4.8 in Nevada
+1.8 in Wisconsin
+1.1 in Michigan
+0.7 in Pennsylvania

The House (218 needed for majority)

Republicans: 204 (Republicans need 14 more)
Democrats: 187 (Democrats need 31 more)
Not yet called: 44

The AP notes that the House is not expected to be called this week. Here’s why:

Democrats need a net gain of 4 seats to win the majority. As it stands now:

Democrats have flipped 3 seats and are leading in 2 others of the 15 remaining Republican-held competitive seats.
Republicans have flipped 1 and are leading in 3 of the 16 remaining Democratic-held competitive seats.

If that all holds, Democrats would be +5, Republicans +4 for just a Democratic net pick up of +1. That would give Republicans a 3-seat majority.

But this will change. There is a lot of vote left to count, mostly in the West and particularly in California, where there remain eight competitive seats to be called.

What we know from the early exit polls so far

Exit polls will change as the night goes on because they are matched toward actual results at the end of the night. But the early exit polls, as reported by NBC and CNN so far, tell us a few things:

The most important issues for voters in the election mirror what has been reported in pre-election polls like the NPR/PBS News/Marist poll. For more than a third of voters, democracy was the top issue, followed by the economy (about 3 in 10 voters), abortion rights (1 in 7) and immigration (1 in 10). Foreign policy was in low single digits — less than 10% — as a top issue.

A majority of Harris voters said democracy was their top issue. Second for them was abortion rights.

Vice President Harris delivers her concession speech on the campus of Howard University in Washington, D.C.

For Trump voters, the economy was most important, followed by immigration (1 in 5) and democracy (1 in 10). Nothing else was in double-digits.

Harris voters said it was most important to have a leader with good judgment and someone who cares about people. Trump voters prefer someone who has the ability to lead or can bring about needed change. Good judgment and someone who cares were in single digits for Trump voters.

Americans overall are in a bad mood. Three-quarters said they’re either dissatisfied or angry about the direction of the country. That’s not surprising, because in every month for the past 15 years, Americans have said the country is off on the wrong track.

Sign in favor of proposition 139, the right to abortion initiative, are displayed at the entrance room of the Tucson HQ of Arizona List, an association made to empower and elect progressive pro-choice Democratic women leaders, in Tucson, Arizona, October 16, 2024.

Almost 6 in 10 said they disapprove of the job President Biden is doing. And that may be because of the economy. Two-thirds said the economy is either not so good or poor and more than 8 in 10 said inflation has caused them either moderate hardship (53%) or severe hardship (21%). Almost half of voters said their family’s financial situation is worse than four years ago.

But there was also considerable optimism from voters as 6 in 10 said America’s best days are ahead of it; just a third said they’re in the past.

Note: Exit polls are conducted by Edison Research and paid for by TV networks like CNN, NBC and others. NPR does not pay for either Edison’s exit polls or the Associated Press’ VoteCast, which are not exit polls but very large entrance polls, or pre-election polls taken up to when polls close. Fox News’ post-election analysis about the shape of the electorate and most important issues and the like will be based on AP’s VoteCast.

Source link

Washington

Brothers shot Park Police officer who arrested one of them the day before, documents say

Published

15 hours ago

March 25, 2026

Press Room

Brothers shot Park Police officer who arrested one of them the day before, documents say

Charging documents reveal the U.S. Park Police officer who was shot Monday in Southeast D.C. had arrested one of the suspects the day before and was following that suspect at the time.

The suspects are brothers, 22-year-old Asheile Foster and 21-year-old Darren Foster, of Southeast. They appeared in federal court Wednesday afternoon.

Court documents state the Park Police officer who was shot had arrested Asheile Foster on Sunday on suspicion of dealing drugs. The officer said he followed Foster after he was released from jail on Monday and came to Park Police headquarters to get his personal belongings.

According to prosecutors, Foster told police he knew he was being followed by a white Tesla, and he confronted the officer on Queens Stroll Place SE, jumping out in front of the Tesla before the officer swerved around him.

Then, dozens of gunshots went off, the officer told police. He said in charging documents he was shot in the shoulder as he kept driving several blocks to the intersection of Benning Road and Southern Avenue SE, where police found him. A helicopter then took him to a hospital. According to charging documents, the officer was treated and released the same night as the shooting.

A U.S. Park Police officer who was shot in Southeast D.C. on Monday is recovering from what authorities say was likely a targeted attack. Multiple law enforcement sources tell News4’s Mark Segraves that when the officer was shot, he was investigating a shooting that occurred in Anacostia Park on Friday.

Photos in the charging documents show the brothers firing at the officer’s Tesla, according to prosecutors.

The shooting drew a massive police presence to the Southeast neighborhood near the D.C-Maryland border Monday night.

Shell casings littered the middle of the street. Police said they recovered two weapons: a Glock 9 with an extended magazine and an AR-15.

Prosecutors said that when the officer was shot, he was investigating a shooting that occurred in Anacostia Park on Friday. No one was injured in that shooting.

Darren Foster was located and stopped shortly after the shooting, D.C. police said. Asheile Foster was found on Tuesday.

The brothers were charged with assault on a federal officer, assault with intent to kill and weapons charges. They could face up to 60 years in prison if they’re convicted.

News4 sends breaking news stories by email. Go here to sign up to get breaking news alerts in your inbox.

Source link

Washington

Washington passes new AI laws to crack down on misinformation, protect minors

Published

2 days ago

March 24, 2026

Press Room

Washington passes new AI laws to crack down on misinformation, protect minors

Washington just became the latest state to regulate artificial intelligence.

Under a pair of bills signed by Gov. Bob Ferguson Tuesday, companies like OpenAI and Anthropic will have to include new disclosures in their popular chatbots for Washington users.

Ferguson asked legislators to craft House Bill 1170 to crack down on AI-generated misinformation. When content is substantially modified using generative AI, that information will now have to be traceable using watermarks or metadata. The new law applies to large AI companies more than 1 million monthly subscribers.

“ I’m confident I’m not the only Washingtonian who often sees something on my phone and wondering to myself, ‘Is that AI or is it real?’ And I feel like I’m a reasonably discerning person,” Ferguson said during the bill signing. “It is virtually impossible these days.”

RELATED: WA Gov. Bob Ferguson calls for regulations on AI chatbot companions

House Bill 2225 establishes new guard rails for AI chatbots that act like friends or companions. It applies to services like ChatGPT and Claude, but excludes more narrowly tailored chatbots, like the customer service windows that pop up when visiting a corporate website.

Chatbots that fit the bill will have to disclose to users that they are not human at the start of every conversation, and every three hours in an ongoing chat. The tools will also be barred from pretending to be human in conversation with users.

The rules go further if the user is a minor. Companies that operate chatbots will have to disclose that the tools are not human every hour, rather than every three hours, if the user is under 18. The bill forbids AI companions from having sexually explicit conversations with underage users. It also bans “manipulative engagement techniques.” For example, a chatbot is not allowed to guilt or pressure a minor into staying in a conversation or keeping information from parents.

“AI has incredible potential to transform society,” Ferguson said. “At the same time, of course, there are risks that we must mitigate as a state, especially to young people. So I speak partly as a governor, but also as the father of teenage twins who grapple with this as a lot of parents do every single day.”

Under the law, AI chatbots will not be allowed to encourage or provide information on suicide or self-harm, including eating disorders. The companies behind these tools will be required to come up with a protocol for flagging conversations that reference self-harm and connecting users with mental health services.

The regulations come in the wake of several high-profile instances of teenage suicide following prolonged interactions with AI companions that showed warning signs. Many more AI users of all ages have reported mental health issues and psychosis after heavy use of the technology.

Source link

Washington

Washington faces Utah, aims to stop 16-game skid

Published

2 days ago

March 24, 2026

Press Room

Washington faces Utah, aims to stop 16-game skid

Washington Wizards (16-55, 14th in the Eastern Conference) vs. Utah Jazz (21-51, 14th in the Western Conference)

Salt Lake City; Wednesday, 9 p.m. EDT

BOTTOM LINE: Washington heads into the matchup with Utah after losing 16 in a row.

The Jazz have gone 13-24 in home games. Utah ranks second in the Western Conference with 16.6 fast break points per game led by Lauri Markkanen averaging 3.3.

The Wizards are 5-29 in road games. Washington is 9-10 when it has fewer turnovers than its opponents and averages 15.3 turnovers per game.

The Jazz score 117.4 points per game, 6.7 fewer points than the 124.1 the Wizards give up. The Wizards’ 46.1% shooting percentage from the field this season is 2.9 percentage points lower than the Jazz have allowed to their opponents (49.0%).

The teams square off for the second time this season. The Jazz won the last meeting 122-112 on March 6, with Ace Bailey scoring 32 points in the victory.

TOP PERFORMERS: Kyle Filipowski is averaging 10.5 points and 6.9 rebounds for the Jazz. Brice Sensabaugh is averaging 19.9 points over the last 10 games.

Alex Sarr is averaging 16.5 points, 7.4 rebounds and two blocks for the Wizards. Will Riley is averaging 14.4 points over the past 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Jazz: 3-7, averaging 116.4 points, 43.3 rebounds, 27.7 assists, 9.9 steals and 4.4 blocks per game while shooting 45.9% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 122.7 points per game.

Wizards: 0-10, averaging 114.3 points, 37.4 rebounds, 24.5 assists, 6.9 steals and 4.5 blocks per game while shooting 47.1% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 130.6 points.

INJURIES: Jazz: Lauri Markkanen: out (hip), Isaiah Collier: out (hamstring), Keyonte George: out (leg), Cody Williams: out (shoulder), Walker Kessler: out for season (shoulder), Jusuf Nurkic: out for season (nose), Jaren Jackson Jr.: out for season (knee).

Wizards: Anthony Davis: out (finger), Tristan Vukcevic: day to day (back), Cam Whitmore: out for season (shoulder), Alex Sarr: day to day (toe), Tre Johnson: day to day (foot), Kyshawn George: out (elbow), D’Angelo Russell: out (not injury related), Trae Young: out (quad).

___

The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

Source link