Obamas Welcome Guests To President's First State Dinner

By DÁNICA COTO, Associated Press SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Puerto Rico is holding elections that will be historic regardless of which of the top two gubernatorial candidates wins. If Jenniffer González of the pro-statehood New Progressive Party wins Tuesday’s election, it will mark the first time in the island’s history that the party secures three consecutive terms. If Juan Dalmau, who is running for Puerto Rico’s Independence Party and Citizen Victory Movement, wins, it will be the first win for a candidate not representing either of the two main parties that have dominated the island’s politics for decades. A billboard promoting Puerto Rico’s Independence Party and the Citizen Victory Movement gubernatorial candidate Juan Dalmau towers over a highway, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Saturday, Nov.

By Geoff Mulvihill and Christine Fernando, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Voters in nine states are deciding whether their state constitutions should guarantee a right to abortion, weighing ballot measures that are expected to spur turnout for a range of crucial races. Passing certain amendments in Arizona, Florida, Missouri, Nebraska and South Dakota likely would lead to undoing bans or restrictions that currently block varying levels of abortion access to more than 7 million women of childbearing age who live in those states. The future legality and availability of abortion hinges not only on ballot measures, as policies could shift depending on who controls Congress and the presidency.

By CHRISTINA A. CASSIDY and ALI SWENSON, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Election Day 2024 arrived Tuesday — with tens of millions of Americans having already cast their ballots. Those include record numbers in Georgia, North Carolina and other battleground states that could decide the winner. The early turnout in Georgia, which has flipped between the Republican and Democratic nominees in the previous two presidential elections, has been so robust — over 4 million voters — that a top official in the secretary of state’s office said the big day could look like a “ghost town” at the polls. As of Monday, Associated Press tracking of advance voting nationwide showed roughly 82 million ballots already cast — slightly more than half the total number of votes in the presidential election four years earlier.

By Lisa Mascaro and Mary Clare Jalonick, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Control of Congress is at stake Tuesday, with ever-tight races for the House and Senate that will determine which party holds the majority and the power to boost or block a president’s agenda, or if the White House confronts a divided Capitol Hill. The key contests are playing out alongside the first presidential election since the Jan.

On the eve of Election Day, our DC bureau chief, David Corn, traveled to Reading, Pennsylvania, to speak with diehard Donald Trump supporters at what might be one of the final campaign rallies of his political career.  Held in a half-filled Santander Arena, this rally marked one of Trump’s last stops in his campaign blitz on Monday.

By CHRISTINA A. CASSIDY and ALI SWENSON, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation’s federal law enforcement and election security agencies are debunking two new examples of Russian election disinformation on the eve of Election Day, highlighting attempts by foreign actors to sow doubt in the U. S. voting process and warning that the efforts run the risk of inciting violence against election officials. In a joint statement late Monday, federal officials pointed to a recent article posted by Russian actors falsely claiming that U.