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As Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., enjoys an influx of public support from Trump-allies ahead of the Senate Republican leader race on Wednesday, some strategists are warning that the external pressure might not translate to the secret ballot and could even hurt his effort. 

“They don’t matter one way or another,” said Republican strategist Doug Heye, sounding off on the public endorsements Scott has received from figures such as billionaire X owner Elon Musk, former presidential candidates Vivek Ramaswamy and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Sens. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., Rand Paul, R-Ky., Ron Johnson, R-Wis., Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., among others.

“The only endorsement that matters, especially in such an inside game, would be Trump’s,” he added.

TRUMP ALLIES BACK RICK SCOTT IN GOP SENATE LEADER RACE AS THEY LOOK TO INFLUENCE SECRET BALLOT

Trump notably has not made an endorsement, and it is unclear if he will explicitly back a candidate in the leader race, which will be conducted via secret ballot on Nov. 13 at 9:30 a.m. 

Scott is competing against Senate Minority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. Sens. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., and Mike Rounds, R-S.D., expressed their support for Thune early on. Cornyn received his only public endorsement last week from Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo.

SCHUMER WON’T ALLOW DAVE MCCORMICK AT SENATE ORIENTATION, CITING OUTSTANDING PA BALLOTS

“Senate Republicans aren’t usually influenced by those outside the Senate when it comes to leadership elections,” explained Republican strategist Ron Bonjean, former top spokesman to Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott and former chief of staff of the Senate Republican Conference.

“In fact, too much pressure would likely have the opposite effect and cause a candidate to lose votes.”

SENATE LEADER CONTENDER JOHN THUNE RESPONDS TO NEW TRUMP LITMUS TEST AHEAD OF ELECTION

Since the vote is conducted by secret ballot, there is no way to know how an individual senator voted unless they reveal it. And even then, reporters, colleagues, and the public can only take them at their word. 

Thune had previously described the nature of the secret ballot by referring to an old quote by former Sen. Lamar Alexander after he lost the election for Republican whip by one vote to Lott. In 2006, following the loss, Alexander reportedly said, “I wrote 26 thank you notes for 24 votes.”

A former leadership aide previously cast doubt on how much of an impact even an endorsement from President-elect Donald Trump would have. 

“I don’t think it has anywhere near the impact that it would in a public race,” they told Fox News Digital. 

CORNYN TOUTS LIFETIME FUNDRAISING PROWESS FOR GOP IN FINAL CASE TO SUCCEED MCCONNELL

The aide further described the leader race vote as “a true vote of conscience” for senators. According to the aide, these particular votes “are not super-amenable to endorsement pressure.”

Another factor that could play into how senators vote is whether the leader is sustainable after Trump’s second term. Depending on whether term limits are instituted for the leader, which some have pushed for and both Scott and Cornyn have gotten behind, the GOP leader could very well outlast Trump, who can only serve his four-year term. Thune has said he is open to the idea of limiting terms for the Republican leader. 

I have now read 587 pieces on why Kamala Harris got clobbered, so I consider myself an expert.

I have also watched endless cable segments in which left-leaning pundits either grappled with the fallout from the Democratic wipeout, or urged their colleagues to become part of the Resistance, with Rachel Maddow telling the “free press” to “stand and fight.”

As Donald Trump moves quickly to fill top administration posts – and newspaper pieces warn of the horrors to come – the denigration of Harris, and Joe Biden, has reached fever pitch.

And yet, many of the media liberals who praised the Kamala operation as “flawless” and “incredible” now basically say it was a no-good, horrible, very bad campaign. That makes clear they knew this all along, but wouldn’t say so, because they were protecting the vice president as a way of trying to keep Trump out of the White House. This is yet another blow to the media’s plummeting credibility.

BIDEN, HARRIS TEAMS IN LEAK WAR AFTER KAMALA HARRIS’ 2024 ELECTION LOSS

Here are some of the media post-mortems:

Andrew Sullivan: “How could an entire left-liberal worldview be more comprehensibly dismantled by reality? And yet, the primary response among my own liberal friends was rage at the electorate. They texted me to insist that Harris lost because of white people — white women, in particular.” 

Maureen Dowd: “Some Democrats are finally waking up and realizing that woke is broke…

“Kamala, a Democratic lawmaker told me, made the ‘colossal mistake’ of running a billion-dollar campaign with celebrities like Beyoncé when many of the struggling working-class voters she wanted couldn’t even afford a ticket to a Beyoncé concert, much less a down payment on a home.”

Nellie Bowles, the Free Press, said Harris “made me furious, because she’s a good and fine person who ran a truly terrible campaign. It was a campaign that exemplified all of the delusions of the modern Democrats: that you never need to say what you stand for (because people should just assume you know what’s best for them), that you should never answer hard questions or appear with questionable figures, and that the only issue any American woman should care about is abortion…

“The real villain of this story is Zombie Biden and his corrupt family, who the media treated like heroes the whole way through.”

David Brooks: “There will be some on the left who will say Trump won because of the inherent racism, sexism and authoritarianism of the American people. Apparently, those people love losing and want to do it again and again and again…

“Can the party of the universities, the affluent suburbs and the hipster urban cores do this [disrupt the Republicans]? Well, Donald Trump hijacked a corporate party, which hardly seemed like a vehicle for proletarian revolt, and did exactly that. Those of us who condescend to Trump should feel humbled — he did something none of us could do.”

Politico: “How can Harris’s defenders grumble about being dragged down by Biden when she could not find one substantive policy issue on which to break from the unpopular incumbent? She waited three months, blurted out on ‘The View’ that she couldn’t think of any difference with Biden.” 

National Review: “She was a lousy candidate with an even lousier message, if you can call it that. The only thing she had to do was sell herself, and she couldn’t manage even this fundamental task.”

COLUMNIST CALLS OUT KAMALA HARRIS FOR NOT BEING ABLE TO ANSWER CRITICAL QUESTION ON ‘THE VIEW’

Well, you get the idea.

In a 107-day campaign, Harris couldn’t convince enough Americans that she was authentic, that she could be commander-in-chief, or that she had abandoned the far-left policies (such as legalizing border crossings and backing inmate trans surgeries) of her last campaign. She foolishly hid from the press for a month, fostering the impression that she couldn’t go off script.

Now just about everyone – except those blaming her loss on racism and sexism – is saying what I’ve been saying for three months. Harris never should have picked Tim Walz, who did nothing for the ticket. The trans issue hurt her and she never picked an issue, that or something else, to separate from the left wing of her party. She worried too much about hurting Joe’s feelings.

The VP tried to focus on kitchen-table economics, such as with her price-gouging plan. But despite low inflation and unemployment right now, many Americans still felt they were paying higher grocery prices and liked Trump’s economic record better than Biden’s.

It may well be there’s nothing Harris could have done to stop the Trump juggernaut, given his hijacking of working class and minority voters.

Now the president-elect is moving quickly to tap his top appointees, having immediately named campaign manager Susie Wiles as his chief of staff – the first woman ever to hold the job.

Tom Homan, who was ICE director in Trump’s first term, will be the border czar, not a big surprise. Homan will be in charge of the mass deportation program, and when asked if there was a way to avoid separating families, as happened last time, he said sure – deport them all together.

Stephen Miller, who ran the hard-line immigration policy in the first term, is expected to be named deputy chief of staff – a promotion, first reported yesterday by CNN, that probably doesn’t convey the clout he’ll have as a trusted member of Trump’s inner circle.

TRUMP WILL LEAVE THE WH WITH ONE OF THE HIGHEST APPROVAL RATINGS OF ANY MODERN PRESIDENT, LARA TRUMP PREDICTS

I had been told days ago that Elise Stefanik, a GOP congresswoman from upstate New York, would go into the administration. And yesterday, Trump tapped her to be U.N. ambassador. She has experience in the George W. Bush White House.

Then there are insiders who are the subject of speculation. Howard  Lutnick, a Wall Street CEO, is being touted by some as a possible Treasury secretary, but has his hands full as a co-chair of the transition.

Late yesterday, Trump chose former Long Island congressman Lee Zeldin to run the EPA. He’s a mainstream conservative who has crusaded against excessive environmental regulations and gotten a lifetime score of 14% from the League of Conservation Voters. The choice of Zeldin was first reported by the New York Post, and he told Fox News that the administration will “roll back regulations” that are causing businesses to “struggle” and are “forcing” them to move overseas.

After that, he tapped Florida GOP congressman Mike Waltz as White House national security adviser, which doesn’t require Senate confirmation. As the Wall Street Journal first reported, he’s a China hawk and Ukraine skeptic. “Stopping Russia before it draws NATO and therefore the U.S. into war is the right thing to do,” Waltz wrote. “But the burden cannot continue to be solely on the shoulders of the American people, especially while Western Europe gets a pass.” (Trump has now reduced by two the House Republicans’ expected small margin.)

Oh, and Politico says some Dems are already jockeying for 2028 (Josh Shapiro and Gavin Newsom) or being talked about (Pete Buttigieg and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear). Already? Can’t we get a break? 

So my takeaway is that for all the media chatter about a lack of guardrails, Trump is so far picking serious people with serious experience. (Wiles hasn’t worked in Washington since the Reagan years, but her role is different.) They are, of course, also loyalists who will do his bidding. 

RFK Jr. will get a big title, but it’s not clear whether Trump will follow his far-out advice on vaccines and fluoride.

And Elon Musk will be in charge of just about everything, and the world’s richest man has deluged X with hundreds of pro-Trump posts (and some high-profile liberals are bailing).

But the most striking moment was Trump’s post saying Nikki Haley and Mike Pompeo would not be joining the administration – not that anyone was expecting they would be.

In his posting, the president-elect said he enjoyed working with both of them and thanked them for their service.

My reaction was: Did somebody steal Trump’s phone? The words idiot and moron did not appear.

Maybe this is a new tone from an incoming president who finally feels vindicated. We’ll see how long it lasts. 

Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., has won the race for Arizona’s open Senate seat, beating out Republican Kari Lake, a close ally of President-elect Donald Trump, according to The Associated Press Monday night.

Gallego has served in the House of Representatives since 2015, representing the 7th and 3rd congressional districts in Arizona. 

ARIZONA DEMOCRATIC PARTY OFFICE SHARED WITH HARRIS-WALZ CAMPAIGN SHOT AT FOR THIRD TIME IN LESS THAN A MONTH

Lake ran unsuccessfully for Arizona governor in 2022 and was defeated by Gov. Katie Hobbs, D-Ariz. Prior to her gubernatorial run, she was a news anchor for a local Arizona television station and worked in the media for 27 years. 

After the 2022 loss, she challenged the results, citing fraud concerns in the state. Lake still contends that there were significant irregularities in 2020 and 2022, echoing claims that Trump and many of his supporters have made. The concerns have led to the Republican National Committee devoting significant resources to election integrity efforts. 

SWING STATE GOP CHAIR SLAMS BIDEN-HARRIS ADMIN FOR BEING OUT OF TOUCH ON KEY ISSUE: ‘ABANDONED THIS COUNTRY’

Lake faced off against Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb in the Republican Senate primary, while Gallego had an advantage, running in the Democratic primary unopposed. 

The Fox News Power Rankings in September rated the Arizona Senate race as “Leans Democrat.” Similarly, the Cook Political Report, a top political handicapper, also considered the race “Lean Democrat.” 

TRUMP-BACKED HOUSE CANDIDATE RIPS BIDEN’S ‘JOKE’ BORDER POLICY FOR INVITING GANG VIOLENCE TO SWING STATE

The Senate seat is currently held by Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., who was elected as a Democrat. She still caucuses with Democrats in the Senate but officially registered as an independent years ago after opposing her fellow Senate Democrats on the legislative filibuster. Sinema and Sen. Joe Manchin, I-W.Va., are credited with going against the Democrats to uphold the filibuster’s 60-vote threshold. 

Both senators decided not to run for re-election. 

NEXT PRESIDENTIAL ADMINISTRATION HAS TO ‘GET SERIOUS’ ABOUT IMMIGRATION, SAY VOTERS IN KEY BATTLEGROUND STATE

Before she announced that she was not going to seek another term, Sinema’s potential run as a third-party candidate threatened to upend the Senate race, with strategists unsure how her supporters would break. 

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In polling leading up to the Senate election, Gallego frequently led Lake by single digits. He had even managed to lead his opponent in surveys that saw Trump defeating Vice President Kamala Harris. Experts speculated that his connection with Latino voters could have fueled split-ticket voting in the state, despite the practice becoming relatively rare. 

While Lake often played up her relationship with Trump, who had polled higher than her in the state, Gallego did not often do the same with Harris during his campaign. 

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

President-elect Trump is expected to nominate Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida as Secretary of State, a source familiar tells Fox News.

The source noted that while Trump could still change his mind at the last minute, as of now he’s planning on offering the job to Rubio, the three-term senator whom the former president considered as his running mate this summer before naming Sen. JD Vance as the GOP vice presidential nominee.

Spokespeople for the Trump transition didn’t immediately comment.

The news was first reported by the New York Times earlier this evening. 

HERE’S WHO TRUMP NAMED TO STEER THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

Rubio, the son of Cuban exiles, was first elected to the Senate in 2010 as part of the Tea Party wave. He is known on Capitol Hill as a foreign policy hawk who favors maintaining U.S. alliances overseas, including NATO. 

But Rubio, who sits on both the Senate Intelligence Committee and the Foreign Relations Committee, has taken similar positions to Trump on international conflicts, including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Israel’s war with Hamas. 

HERE’S WHAT TRUMP’S INCOMING BORDER CZAR TOLD FOX NEWS

In April, the 53-year-old senator voted against the $95 billion in U.S. aid to Ukraine and has urged the eastern European nation to negotiate an end to its war with Russia.

Rubio was a rival to Trump during the combustible 2016 Republican presidential nomination battle [with Trump deriding him as ‘Little Marco’] but over the years has become a strong Trump ally in the Senate.. 

Rubio, the son of Cuban exiles, would become the first Latino Secretary of State in the nation’s history.

The Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC), a major backer of Trump this year, applauded the news. 

RJC National Chairman Senator Norm Coleman and CEO Matt Brooks said in a statement that “we know that with Senator Rubio leading the State Department, America will stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our allies and confront our enemies.”

“In these extraordinarily dangerous times, Senator Rubio is an outspoken defender of Israel who has always had the Jewish state’s back,” they added.

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Less than a week after winning a second term in the White House, Trump has already begun to shape his cabinet.

In the past 24 hours, Trump has selected Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York to serve as his ambassador to the United Nations, Tom Homan as the new “border czar,” Rep. Michael Waltz of Florida to be his national security advisor, and former Rep. Lee Zeldin of New York to steer the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

This story is breaking. Please check back for updates. 

President-elect Trump’s 17-year-old granddaughter shared a vlog of her experience on election night on Monday, capturing her thoughts and emotions as her grandfather clinched the presidency.

Kai Trump, the daughter of Donald Trump, Jr., posted the video on YouTube Monday afternoon. The vlog – which is short for a video blog – begins with the teenage girl getting her makeup professionally done and expressing her thoughts about the election.

“I am here in my house getting ready for the election night at Mar-a-Lago and the convention center,” Kai Trump says as she sits in a makeup chair. “I think today we’re going with straight hair. Jessica’s going to do my amazing makeup…I am still trying to pick a dress out.”

The teenager casually shares her plans in the video, including having dinner with her grandfather hours before he was elected president.

FORMER GEORGIA SENATOR KELLY LOEFFLER TO SERVE ON TRUMP’S INAUGURAL COMMITTEE

“I’m going to see my grandpa, have family dinner with him, just, like, spend time with them,” Kai Trump says. “And then I think I’m going to head over to the convention center after… just see my friends and like, close family that have supported me and my grandpa over time.”

Kai Trump also discusses a recent golf competition she had and details about her life. The teenager is also seen singing along to songs with her friends in the car.

“I haven’t seen my grandpa in a while because he’s been campaigning,” she says in the video. “I’m super excited to see him again. He’s called me almost every other day.”

The vlog also depicts the 17-year-old’s emotions shifting from anxious to optimistic as the electoral votes were announced in her grandfather’s favor.

NEW YORK DEMOCRAT RIPS ‘FAR LEFT’ FOR TRUMP VICTORY: ‘IVORY-TOWERED NONSENSE’

“I’m a little nervous,” Kai Trump says at the beginning of the night. “Actually, that’s an understatement. I’m very nervous. The past five days I have been so nervous…I feel like I’ve had butterflies in my stomach for so long, and I really hope we find out [the results] soon.”

At the end of the video, the teenager described Nov. 5 as a “special night” and gushed about her grandpa. 

“I’m extremely proud of him,” Kai Trump says. “I think he deserves it more than anyone in the whole world. And he really has worked his butt off every single day for the past really eight years or more.”

“He’s such an incredible person and such a unique person,” the granddaughter continues. “And he just fights every single day for America over and over and over again. And he’ll never give up.”

The teenager has been candidly sharing facets of her life on social media in recent days. On Sunday, Kai Trump posted a collection of photos and videos on Instagram of her golfing with her grandfather.

A portion of donations to a fundraising committee associated with the Harris-Walz campaign will be directed toward a recount effort.

Those who want to donate on ActBlue, a nonprofit fundraising platform, will see a fine print that warns them that the campaign could launch a recount effort.

The push to beef up the “recount account” comes as the Harris campaign is reportedly $20 million in debt. The donations are made to the Harris Victory Fund, which is part of a joint fundraising committee authorized by the Harris campaign, the Democratic National Committee and state Democratic parties.

“The first $41,300/$15,000 from a person/multicandidate committee (“PAC”) will be allocated to the DNC. The next $3,300/$5,000 from a person/PAC will be allocated to Harris for President’s Recount Account,” the fundraising page states. 

DEMOCRATS LOOKING TO POINT FINGERS AFTER ‘HUMILIATING’ ELECTION DEFEAT SHOULD START WITH MEDIA: WSJ COLUMNIST

There was no indication that Harris was seeking a recount for herself after having lost to President-elect Trump in a decisive victory in which he swept all the battleground states as well as the popular vote. 

The Harris-Walz campaign reportedly spent $1 billion during its failed run. 

“With a handful of key Senate and House races still too close to call, we are keeping our organizers and volunteers on the ground in those states to see the election across the finish line,” the Harris campaign’s website says.

“If you are able, please donate to the Harris Fight Fund today to ensure we have the resources to elect Democrats down the ticket ready to hold the Trump administration accountable,” it said. 

TRUMP VICTORY PROVES IMPORTANCE OF CANDID, LONGFORM PODCASTS AS PLATFORM SHOWED ‘HUMAN SIDE’ OF ONE CANDIDATE

Over the weekend, Trump called for people to chip in and donate to help Harris pay off her campaign debts. 

“I am very surprised that the Democrats, who fought a hard and valiant fight in the 2020 (sic) Presidential Election, raising a record amount of money, didn’t have lots of $’s left over,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social.

“Now they are being squeezed by vendors and others. Whatever we can do to help them during this difficult period, I would strongly recommend we, as a Party and for the sake of desperately needed UNITY, do,” he added. “We have a lot of money left over in that our biggest asset in the campaign was ‘Earned Media,’ and that doesn’t cost very much. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

Fox News Digital has reached out to the Harris campaign and ActBlue.

Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., has been offered the role of national security adviser in the next Trump administration, a source confirmed to Fox News Digital.

Waltz has been one of President-elect Trump’s most visible surrogates during the 2024 campaign, spearheading military outreach and helping with the Veterans For Trump coalition.

The Florida congressman is the first retired Green Beret to serve in Congress and had previous administration experience as a policy adviser to former Defense Secretaries Donald Rumsfeld and Robert Gates.

The Wall Street Journal first reported Waltz being offered the role. Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment.

JOHNSON BLASTS DEM ACCUSATIONS HE VOWED TO END OBAMACARE AS ‘DISHONEST’

Elevating a House lawmaker to the administration could complicate Republicans’ ability to govern the chamber, however.

Waltz is in a safe red seat on the eastern Florida coast, so it’s highly unlikely to fall into Democratic hands. But replacing a House member is a process that could take several weeks.

Republicans are on track to win the House majority by just a slim margin, so whittling down their numbers in Congress could fuel delays to Trump’s own first 100-day agenda.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., speculated on Fox & Friends last week that Republicans would win by about four to six seats.

Waltz is the second House lawmaker tapped for an administration role after House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., accepted Trump’s nomination to be ambassador to the United Nations earlier on Monday.

DEMS PRIVATELY FRET ABOUT LOSING HOUSE AFTER GOP VICTORY IN WHITE HOUSE, SENATE

Both Stefanik and Waltz are members of the House Armed Services Committee and House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. 

“I am truly honored to earn President Trump’s nomination to serve in his Cabinet as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. During my conversation with President Trump, I shared how deeply humbled I am to accept his nomination and that I look forward to earning the support of my colleagues in the United States Senate,” Stefanik said in her statement accepting the nomination.

“The work ahead is immense as we see antisemitism skyrocketing coupled with four years of catastrophically weak U.S. leadership that significantly weakened our national security and diminished our standing in the eyes of both allies and adversaries. I stand ready to advance President Donald J. Trump’s restoration of America First peace through strength leadership on the world stage on Day One at the United Nations.”

Like Waltz, Stefanik’s upstate New York district is a safe Republican stronghold.

HOUSE LEADERS MOVE QUICKLY TO CONSOLIDATE POWER IN SHOW OF CONFIDENCE FOR REPUBLICAN MAJORITY

The NSA role does not require Senate confirmation, but the role of UN ambassador does.

Sources previously told Fox News Digital that Waltz was in contention for the role of Secretary of Defense. 

Fox News Digital reached out to the Trump transition team for comment on Waltz being offered the NSA role.

Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., has been offered the role of National Security Advisor in the next Trump administration, a source confirmed to Fox News Digital.

Waltz has been one of Trump’s most visible surrogates during the 2024 campaign, helping spearhead military outreach and leading the Veterans For Trump coalition.

The Florida congressman is the first retired Green Beret to serve in Congress and had previous administration experience as a policy adviser to former Defense Secretaries Donald Rumsfeld and Robert Gates.

The Wall Street Journal first reported Waltz being offered the role.

This story is breaking and will be updated…

Republicans were optimistic about their chances to win big in North Carolina.

“We will flip from the Democrats to the Republicans … this congressional seat. That’s a huge plus for the Republican Party,” congressional candidate Brad Knott, R-N.C., said at a rally with vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance of Ohio just days before the election.

Knott was correct in his prediction, but Republicans did not flip only his seat from blue to red, they flipped a total of three.

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“Thanks to your support, I’m going to be the next congressman from the 6th District of North Carolina,” candidate Addison McDowell, R-N.C., said at a Nov. 2 Trump campaign event in Greensboro.

The Republican success had a lot to do with redrawn congressional maps that were backed by a state lawmaker turned congressman-elect.

“I’m Tim Moore, currently the speaker of the House, and in just a few days [I] will be the member for the United States Congress for right here in Gaston County,” said North Carolina speaker of the House and congressional candidate Tim Moore, R-N.C., at a Nov. 2 Trump campaign rally in Gastonia, N.C.

The changes began when North Carolina was given an additional seat on its congressional map due to population growth after the 2020 census. Rep.-elect Moore will now represent that seat

“We’ve got a Republican supermajority in the state House, in the state Senate. We know how to get things done in this state,” Moore said in July.

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North Carolina’s congressional map was redrawn at least three times before the 2022 midterm elections. Three Democrats won districts 6, 13 and 14. North Carolina’s congressional delegation was split: seven Republicans and seven Democrats. But state Republicans were not satisfied and redrew the map once again before 2024. Moore said at the time that “7-7 does not reflect the will of the voters in North Carolina.”

“At the end of the day, it shouldn’t be up to judges or bureaucrats. It should be up to the people through their elected representatives in the legislature,” Moore said after Supreme Court arguments on the maps in 2022.

After the map that was expected to benefit Republicans was finalized, the three Democrat incumbents decided against running for re-election. District 6’s Kathy Manning, D-N.C., announced she wouldn’t seek re-election in December 2023.

District 13’s Wiley Nickel, D-N.C., decided against running at around the same time and is instead considering a Senate run in 2026 against incumbent Republican Thom Tillis.

District 14 Rep. Jeff Jackson, D-N.C., also criticized the maps and instead ran a successful bid for North Carolina attorney general.

“We need to make sure that folks know how important every single race on the ballot is,” Jackson said while campaigning with Vice President Harris days before the election.

Moore instead won Jackson’s seat. He was first elected to the State House in 2002 and has served as speaker of the House since 2015. He has also been a longtime ally of President-elect Trump and campaigned with him during his 2016 presidential bid.

“I have no doubt he’s going to be our next president of the United States,” Moore said at a 2016 Trump rally in High Point, North Carolina.

The 30-year-old McDowell won North Carolina’s 6th District. He served as a congressional aide for Sen. Ted Budd during his time in the House. McDowell decided to run for the seat after his brother died from a fentanyl overdose.

“I don’t want any of your families to suffer like my family did. We have to stop the flow of fentanyl coming into our country through Mexico. And that’s why we have to secure our southern border,” McDowell said during a Trump campaign rally in October.

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Former federal prosecutor Knott flipped North Carolina’s 13th District. He promised to address crime and illegal immigration during his campaign.

“I had the high honor of working under President Trump when we actually prosecuted criminals,” Knott said at a Nov. 3 rally in Selma, North Carolina.

Redistricting also appeared to benefit Democrats this election cycle. In New York, they flipped two competitive seats, even one that was thought to benefit the Republican incumbent.

“What we are seeing with our democracy is terrifying,” congressional candidate Josh Riley, D-N.Y., said during his 2022 campaign.

He first ran for the District 19 congressional seat during the midterm elections. He lost to republican Marcus Molinaro by less than 5,000 votes. That year, Molinaro flipped the seat from blue to red. Two years later, the new congressional maps in New York were thought to help Molinaro’s chances for re-election, but Riley managed to flip the seat back in the Democrats’ favor.

“Tomorrow let’s get to work, tonight let’s celebrate what we accomplished together,” Riley said during his election night remarks.

Just north in New York’s 22nd District, changes to the congressional map were expected to affect Republican Rep. Brandon Williams’ chances of holding onto his House seat.

“This is always the risk in a presidential year,” Williams said after losing in the 2024 race. “What an incredible, distinct honor it has been to serve in the United States Congress.”

The district was shifted to include left-leaning cities like Auburn and Cortland. State Sen. John Mannion, D-N.Y., managed to flip the seat. He ran a moderate campaign and promised to protect reproductive rights while vowing to work across the aisle on immigration legislation.

“We need individuals from both parties to stand up against their own leadership,” Mannion said on election night.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is headed to Washington this week to meet with President Biden after calling for a special session of state lawmakers to “Trump-Proof” the state’s progressive policies. 

A spokesperson for Newsom’s office said the Democratic governor is traveling to Washington, D.C. for a series of meetings with the Biden-Harris administration and the California congressional delegation. 

“Building on the progress made since President Biden took office, the Governor will advocate for key priorities that advance the health and well-being of all Californians — including disaster funding, the approval of state healthcare initiatives aimed at improving access to health and mental healthcare for Californians, and crucial climate and clean air efforts,” Newsom’s spokesperson said, without giving a specific timeframe for the meetings.

Newsom, who has been at odds with the former president, wrote after Trump’s election night victory that California was “ready to fight.”

HERE ARE THE DEMOCRATS WHO MAY EVENTUALLY RUN FOR PRESIDENT IN 2028

“Whether it be our fundamental civil rights, reproductive freedom, or climate action — we refuse to turn back the clock and allow our values and laws to be attacked,” Newsom said. 

Those comments came a day after Newsom said he “will seek to work with the incoming president.”

During Trump’s first term, the Newsom administration filed more than 100 lawsuits against the Trump administration. The governor is now asking state lawmakers to earmark more funds for the California Department of Justice and other state agencies with additional resources to mount legal challenges.

MORE THAN 40% OF CALIFORNIANS VOTED FOR TRUMP, STATE ‘NOT AS LIBERAL AS NEWSOM’ THINKS, SAYS EXPERT

Newsom’s office said the special session of state lawmakers, slated for Monday, Dec. 2, will focus on safeguarding “civil rights, reproductive freedom, climate action, and immigrant families.” 

Trump has balked at Newsom’s call for a special session, writing on his Truth Social platform Friday that Newsom was supposedly “trying to KILL our Nation’s beautiful California.” 

“He is using the term ‘Trump-Proof’ as a way of stopping all of the GREAT things that can be done to ‘Make California Great Again,’ but I just overwhelmingly won the Election,” Trump said. 

Fox News Digital’s Jamie Joseph contributed to this report.