(NEW YORK) — U.S. Customs and Border Protection had the lowest number of border encounters in any October, according to statistics obtained by ABC News.
The numbers also represent the lowest start to a fiscal year ever recorded. CPB says.
In October, there were 30,561 total encounters nationwide — the lowest start to a fiscal year ever recorded by CBP. The previous record low was 43,010 in October of FY2012, officials said.
The numbers are also almost 80% lower than in October 2024, according to CBP statistics.
“History made: the lowest border crossings in October history and the sixth straight month of ZERO releases. This is most secure border ever,” said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in a statement to ABC News, who also thanked the men and women of CBP.
Since Jan. 21 through the end of October, there have been 106,134 total enforcement encounters along the southwest border. The daily average encounters along the border is 258 per day — 95% lower than the previous administration’s encounter numbers, CPB said.
Customs and Border Protection has focused now on interior enforcement due, it says, to the lack of migrants encountered at the border. They are currently deployed to cities, including Chicago and Los Angeles.
“Our mission is simple: secure the border and safeguard this nation,” said CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott. “And that’s exactly what we are doing. No excuses. No politics. Just results delivered by the most dedicated law-enforcement professionals in the country. We’re not easing up — we’re pushing even harder.”
(WASHINGTON) — Returning from the White House Wednesday after President Donald Trump made yet another call for Senate Republicans to overturn the filibuster, Majority Leader John Thune reiterated his view that there are not the necessary votes among Senate Republicans to change the Senate rules.
Thune was asked Wednesday if he believed that Trump could sway some of his reluctant members to support the filibuster.
“I don’t doubt that he could have some sway with members,” Thune said. “But I know where the math is on this issue in the Senate, and … it’s just not happening.”
Thune has been an outspoken defender of the Senate’s rule requiring 60 votes to pass most legislative matters. But he’s not the only Republican who has publicly expressed skepticism about overturning the rule.
Republican Sen. Mike Rounds was among the group of Republicans who met with Trump for breakfast at the White House after a bruising election night, which saw Democratic victories in several races. After the meeting, Rounds said that the president made “a really good point” about Republicans changing the rule. But he wasn’t sold.
“I think there’s a lot of us that really think the Senate was designed in the first place to find a long term, stable solution to problems, so we’ll listen to what the president has to say,” Rounds said.
GOP Sen. John Kennedy called the filibuster “important.”
“My position hasn’t changed,” Kennedy said Wednesday. “As I’ve said before, the role of a senator is not just to advance good ideas. The role of a senator it to kill bad ideas. And when you’re in the minority, we’re not now, but we could be someday, it’s important to have a filibuster.”
Republican Sen. Thom Tillis said his views on the filibuster aren’t changing.
“There’s nothing that could move me on the filibuster,” Tillis said. “I’ve been that way for 11 years. Too old to change now.”
Other lawmakers said they they could be persuaded to end the filibuster.
GOP Sen. John Cornyn has been an outspoken defendant of the filibuster for years. On Wednesday, he told reporters, “I’m open to changing the filibuster.”
Cornyn said his mind is being changed on this issue by the “fact that we haven’t been able to do regular order appropriations for a while” and “having a willful minority being able to shut down the government at any time they want to.”
Republican Sen. Josh Hawley also said the shutdown was beginning to change his tune on the rule.
“My message is to my Democrat friends; we better find a way to get to the table real fast. Because if you’re putting me to a choice between, are people going to eat, or am I going to defend the arcane filibuster rules, I’m going to choose people eating. So, we’re getting there real fast,” Hawley said.
Thune said Trump “honestly believes” in ending the filibuster, but then pivoted, saying the focus should be on reopening the government — which has been shut down for 36 days as of Wednesday, making it the longest government shutdown in history.
He was asked whether he agreed with Trump’s assessment that the government shutdown negatively affected Republicans during Tuesday’s election. He said it was “hard to draw conclusions.”
“Well, I mean, here in Northern Virginia, possibly. I don’t know for sure,” Thune said of the Virginia election, which saw Democratic victories for the governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general races. “This is a community here, obviously, in Northern Virginia, that has a lot of federal workers. So it certainly could have been a factor in the elections.”
The election losses, Thune said, were “pretty much expected.”
“So I think that, you know, the challenge for us going forward is to make sure we are speaking to the issues the American people care about — the economic issues.”
Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer took a victory lap on the Senate floor Wednesday morning, saying the election results prove that it’s time for Republicans to negotiate with Democrats on ending the shutdown.
“Last night was a great night for America and a five-alarm fire for Donald Trump and Republicans. The Republicans’ high-cost house is on fire, and they’ve only got themselves to blame,” Schumer said on the floor. “As loudly and clearly as they could have, the American people said last night, ‘Enough is enough.'”
Schumer and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, in a new letter addressed to Trump, are demanding a bipartisan meeting with Republicans to end the shutdown and address the “Republican health care crisis.”
Schumer and Jeffries have repeatedly requested bipartisan negotiations throughout the shutdown.
“It is time to sit down and negotiate with Democrats to bring this Republican shutdown to an end,” Schumer said on the floor Wednesday. “We told the president we’ve been asking for a meeting for weeks and even months, but now the election results ought to send a much needed bolt of lightning to Donald Trump that he should meet with us to end this crisis.”
ABC News’ Lauren Peller contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Two New Jersey teenagers have been arrested in connection with an alleged ISIS-inspired Halloween attack in Michigan that the FBI announced it had thwarted last week, law enforcement sources told ABC News.
The NYPD and FBI-Newark arrested Tomas Kaan Guzel, 19, before he could board a flight to Istanbul, the sources said.
A second 19-year-old, Milo Sedanet, was also arrested, according to sources.
Two other men, Mohmed Ali and Majed Mahmoud, were arrested on Friday for their alleged roles in the plot, according to court records unsealed on Monday.
They allegedly “used online encrypted communications and social media applications to share extremist and ISIS-related materials,” and allegedly used the term “pumpkin day” for their plans, according to the complaint.
According to sources, an NYPD undercover had been monitoring Guzel, who was allegedly in communication with those arrested in Michigan and others overseas. The group allegedly talked about an attack on the LGBTQ community in Detroit and about traveling to Syria to train with ISIS, sources said.
Guzel allegedly had planned to travel in two weeks to Turkey and onward to Syria from there, but it’s believed he got spooked after last week’s arrests and moved his flight up, sources said.
There were searches at his home in Montclair and also in Seattle as part of the investigation, the sources said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
FBI and Border Patrol officers speak with Sean Charles Dunn, after he allegedly assaulted law enforcement with a sandwich, along the U Street corridor during a federal law enforcement deployment to the nation’s capital on Aug. 10, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Andrew Leyden/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — The man accused of throwing a sandwich at a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agent in Washington, D.C., waived his right to testify in court Wednesday, ahead of closing arguments in his ongoing misdemeanor assault case.
Sean Charles Dunn, a former Department of Justice staffer, was charged with a misdemeanor after a grand jury failed to indict him on a more serious felony assault charge.
Both sides are expected to deliver closing arguments later today in the case that first went viral during the federal surge of law enforcement in D.C.
Dunn was caught on camera throwing a Subway sandwich at a Border Patrol agent in August.
According to the earlier felony criminal complaint, Dunn allegedly approached the officer while shouting “f— you! You f—— fascists! Why are you here? I don’t want you in my city!”
After several minutes of confrontation, Dunn allegedly threw the sandwich, striking the officer in the chest, the complaint says.
His sudden launch into the public spotlight inspired a groundswell of attention to his case in the early days of the surge.
The court will resume this afternoon for closing arguments.
-ABC News’ Alex Mallin contributed to this report.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
(LONDON) — A driver was taken into custody after allegedly striking and injuring several pedestrians and cyclists in southwestern France, the interior minister said.
“An investigation has been opened,” Laurent Nunez, the minister, said in French on social media. “At the request of the prime minister, I am heading to the scene.”
The strikes appeared to have been along a “route” through Saint Pierre and Dolus, two villages about 4 miles apart on the island of Oleron, Nunez said.
Two of those who were struck were in serious condition and three others were injured, he added.
Details about the driver and the vehicle were not immediately released.
(NEW YORK) — New York City Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani told “Good Morning America” on Wednesday that he would not be “intimidated” by potential threats from President Donald Trump to deploy the National Guard to the city.
“His threats are inevitable,” Mamdani said. “This has nothing to do a safety, it has to do with intimidation.”
“If it was safety, President Trump would be threatening to the deploy the National Guard to the top 10 states of crime, eight out of which are all Republican-led,” Mamdani added. “But because of that party he won’t actually be doing it.”
The 34-year-old democratic socialist was propelled to victory amid a record turnout in New York City. More than 2 million voters turned out on Tuesday — the first time a mayoral election crossed that threshold since 1969.
Mamdani will become the city’s youngest mayor since 1892 and the first Muslim to hold the office.
Mamdani also said he saw his election victory as a “mandate” to pursue the “most ambitious” affordability agenda for New Yorkers in decades.
He described the first steps toward funding that agenda as pushing to raise taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers — along with raising corporate taxes to 11.5% from its current level at about 7.25%.
“These things together raise about $9 billion,” he said, “which more than pays for the economic agenda and also starts to Trump-proof our city.”
Mamdani’s proposal for city-funded universal child care is among the policies he said he planned to fund with new tax revenues.
(CHICAGO) — A federal judge is set to hear arguments Wednesday and is weighing extending restrictions on the use of force by federal immigration agents in the Chicago area.
Attorneys representing journalists, clergymen and protesters who say they’ve been harmed by federal immigration agents during lawful protests are expected to show images and call on witnesses they say prove the actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents are “increasingly reckless and dangerous.”
Videos of several violent immigration arrests and clashes between federal agents and protesters in the region have become a flashpoint in the nation’s debate over immigration enforcement. But the Department of Homeland Security says their agents have been harassed and followed by violent protesters and are responding appropriately to a 1,000%-increase in attacks on agents across the United States.
“Although some protests remained peaceful, others turned violent,” the government claimed in court filings. “Rioters have attacked law enforcement personnel with fireworks, rocks, and other objects. Rioters also breached the perimeter of federal buildings, blocked all traffic into the only immigration facility in the region, damaged federal vehicles, and injured officers. At some violent protests, officers responded by issuing dispersal orders and using nonlethal crowd-control devices.”
In October, U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis issued a temporary restraining order restricting federal agents from “using riot control weapons” against journalists, protesters and religious practitioners without first issuing warnings unless necessary to stop “an immediate and serious threat of physical harm” to agents or others.
Ellis also prohibited agents from “dispersing, arresting, threatening to arrest, threatening or using physical force” against anyone they should reasonably know is a journalist. The judge expanded the order on Oct. 16 to include a requirement for federal agents equipped with body-worn cameras to wear them and keep them on during “law enforcement activities” in the Chicago region. That order is set to expire on Thursday, Nov. 6.
But in recent weeks, plaintiffs in the case have provided several accounts, often caught on tape, of incidents they say are evidence that DHS is violating her court order. Attorneys submitted video from an incident in Evanston, IL last Friday which allegedly showed agents clashing with protesters and individuals involved in a collision with a government vehicle.
Videos taken of the incident showed a federal agent pressing a man’s head to the ground for nearly two minutes as the man yelled “I can’t breathe.” In one declaration submitted in court, an eyewitness who took a video of the incident said she saw a federal agent “bash his head on the street at least two times.” The eyewitness said she then saw the agent “strike the young man in his head with his hand or fist at least two times.”
Another declarant, David Brooks, who filmed the incident said a Border Patrol agent pointed a pistol at him.
“Step back or I’m going to shoot you,” the agent allegedly told Brooks.
“I took a step back and said ‘you’re gonna what,’” Brooks wrote.
“He then pulled out his pistol from his holster and pointed it directly at me. I was startled and stepped back again. He holstered the gun,” he added in his declaration.
In a statement about the Evanston incident, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said agents were being “aggressively tailgated” by a vehicle that crashed into them.
“A hostile crowd then surrounded agents and their vehicle and began verbally abusing them and spitting on them. One physically assaulted a Border Patrol agent and kicked an agent. As he was being arrested, he grabbed the agents’ genitals and squeezed them. As you know this is an extremely painful experience for most human beings and justifies certain responses, the agent delivered several defensive strikes to the agitator to free his genitals from the agitator’s vice,” she said.
(NEW YORK) — Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani’s projected victory as New York City’s first Muslim and South Asian mayor marks a historic moment, that could galvanize those communities, some voters and experts tell ABC News.
“It is going to make a big difference for our people — South Indians, Muslims, people who are immigrants like me. They will also think … there’s a place for them in this country,” Asif Mahmood, a Democratic bundler who helped fundraise for Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris and ran for Congress himself, told ABC News ahead of Election Day.
Some Democratic strategists have pointed out that South Asian and Arab Muslims in the U.S., many of whom immigrated post-1965, have historically not been invested in politics. Asian-Americans in general have also been underrepresented in polling and research, even in recent election years, ABC News previously reported.
But Mamdani’s catapult into the national spotlight could help turn the tide, with members of those communities mobilizing in large numbers on his behalf throughout his campaign.
In fact, South Asian voter turnout in the 2025 NYC primary election increased by about 40% compared to the 2021 primary, according to data from research firm L2 provided to ABC News.
“This has created so much interest,” Mahmood said, saying that South Asians and Muslims are “definitely engaging more” in New York politics. He did, however, express concerns over how long the participation will last, and said he was “real skeptical” that such energy will translate to other candidates in the future.
The emphasis on a candidate’s identity was particularly heightened in this race — something that has been embraced by Mamdani’s campaign and supporters, but attacked by his opponents.
Born in Uganda, Mamdani is a Muslim of Indian descent who has lived in the United States since he was seven years old before becoming a naturalized citizen in 2018.
“This campaign has awakened something powerful in New York’s South Asian and Muslim communities — a sense of visibility, pride, and political belonging that’s been denied for generations,” Dora Pekec, a spokesperson for Mamdani, told ABC in a statement.
Vishvajit Singh, a storyteller and artist who has lived in NYC for ten years, told ABC News prior to Election Day that “the excitement to vote is real, even beyond the South Asian community.”
“Both supporters and critics of his candidacy stand to benefit — his rise may open more opportunities for South Asians (‘desis’) in U.S. governance,” Singh said, adding that Mamdani’s victory will “inspire children of brown and even Hispanic backgrounds to think about big governmental positions.”
Raza Ahmad Rumi, a policy analyst and lecturer at City University of New York originally from Pakistan, told ABC how Mamdani’s rise “reflects a generational shift in New York politics.”
“His charisma and connection with people — including support from white and Jewish youth — show that his appeal goes far beyond identity,” Rumi said.
Mamdani’s impact appears to transcend beyond the Big Apple, reaching community members across the country and overseas.
“I don’t know a single South Asian — and I know a lot of South Asians — who doesn’t know about this race going on,” Mahmood, who is based in California, said.
Dr. Naomi Green, assistant-secretary general for the Muslims Council of Britain, told ABC News that Mamdani’s “broad support across New York and beyond is proof that people value justice and inclusion over prejudice.” In 2016, London made history when the city elected its first Muslim mayor.
Ushering in NYC’s first Muslim mayor marks a significant milestone in a place that has experienced longstanding Islamophobia, especially following the deadly 9/11 terrorist attacks that occurred in the city.
The dark day in NYC was repeatedly mentioned in the run-up to Election Day, with Mamdani accusing his opponent, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, of engaging in Islamophobic rhetoric relating to him and 9/11.
Cuomo has pushed back on these accusations, arguing that Mamdani was being divisive and falsely alleging Islamophobia. Speaking to Fox News just days before the election, Cuomo accused Mamdani of “playing the race card” and attempting to win voters on the basis of his identity.
Mahmood told ABC that such commentary actually helped Mamdani by fueling voter anger against his opponents.
But not all South Asians are enthusiastic about Mamdani. In October, Cuomo launched a “South Asians for Cuomo” coalition that rallied around the Independent candidate over Mamdani.
The Indian community has seen particular divide, with some criticizing Mamdani’s economic policies and even accusing him of being anti-Hindu, pointing to his past remarks about Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Mamdani campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on these anti-Hindu accusations. A campaign adviser told the New York Times that Mamdani rejects anti-Hindu rhetoric, and pointed out that his mother is Hindu.
Fahad Solaiman, member of Jackson Heights Bangladeshi Business Development Association and Community Board, told ABC that he takes issue with feasibility of Mamdani’s promises, calling them “unrealistic.”
“We’re hardworking people. There are so many South Asian Americans in public office now — even the FBI Director is South Asian. But the problem isn’t who’s in office; it’s the kind of promises being made. [Mamdani] overpromises constantly,” Solaiman said.
Mamdani has also received backlash from some members of the Jewish community, with over 1,000 rabbis nationwide signing a letter decrying his rhetoric on Israel.
Mamdani’s victory as the Democratic candidate also comes during a time of declining Democratic support among Indian-Americans nationwide. The Carnegie Endowment for American Peace found less Indian-Americans voting blue in 2024 compared to 2020, even with former Vice President Harris, a Black and Indian woman, at the top of the Democratic ticket.
A recent Pew Research Center report also noted shrinking Muslim support for Democrats, with 42% of Muslims identifying with or leaning Republican in 2024, compared to 13% of Muslims identifying or leaning Republican in 2017.
Mahmood emphasized that Mamdani’s identity does not define his candidacy.
“He’s not going to make his mayorship [about being] a Muslim mayor, but he’s a good mayor, and he happens to be Muslim,” Mahmood said. “He’s a good mayor, he happens to be South Asian.”
(WASHINGTON) — Since taking office ten months ago, Donald Trump has been sued in court hundreds of times by progressive organizations seeking to challenge his agenda.
The lawsuit over his sweeping global tariffs now before the U.S. Supreme Court is not one of them.
The group behind the lawsuit is a nonprofit organization that, for the last decade, has consistently fought in court for private property rights, free speech, and other individual rights, including a landmark decision when the Supreme Court determined that millions of public sector workers no longer needed to pay dues to unions that took positions they disagreed with.
According to Jeffrey Schwab, senior counsel and interim director of litigation at the Liberty Justice Center, bringing a case to challenge the tariffs aligns with the organization’s nonpartisan goal of enforcing constitutional and statutory limits on government overreach.
“We have three branches of government. They’re supposed to be coequal. I think we’ve been trending in the expansion of the executive branch’s power for the last several decades, and at some point, it’s going to be a problem,” Schwab told ABC News.
Filing nearly 140 lawsuits since its founding in 2011, The Liberty Justice Center has cemented a reputation as a legal force for many right-leaning causes, but the tariffs case has put it squarely against the president on his signature issue.
Schwab said the idea to sue was hatched after he read a blog post by Ilya Somin, a professor at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School, in which Somin expressed his belief that the tariffs were both unconstitutional and illegal, especially in light of the Supreme Court’s recent approaches to major questions and nondelegation doctrine.
“After reading that blog, I thought that would be an interesting case to bring with those claims, and we reached out to Professor Soman, and we had a discussion,” Schwab said.
And when Trump announced his sweeping tariffs on “Liberation Day” in April, the idea of a lawsuit began to gain momentum with Soman and Schwab beginning to seek out small businesses that might be interested in suing. With Soman making a blog post titled “Looking for Plaintiffs to Challenge Trump’s IEEPA Tariffs in Court” to solicit plaintiffs for the Liberty Justice Center, Schwab said his inbox quickly filled with interested small business owners, who happily shared how they were harmed by the sweeping and at times arbitrary tariffs.
“We got an overwhelming response of small business owners,” said Schwab, who recounted interviewing about 50 different small business owners. They ultimately landed on five business, including a wine and spirits importer, fishing outfitter, plastics producer, cycling apparel maker, and producer of children’s learning kits.
“They are five different diverse companies. They’re of different sizes, different industries, different geographic locations, and we think, represent the small business community in the United States very well,” he said.
Shortly after Liberation Day, Liberty Justice Center filed their lawsuit in New York’s Court of International Trade, arguing that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not give Trump the power to impose sweeping tariffs unilaterally. A panel of judges ultimately agreed with their case, issuing a unanimous decision in May that the tariffs were illegal. The Trump administration appealed, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld their decision, though Trump was allowed to keep the tariffs in place while the issue made its way through the court. Come Wednesday, former Acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal is set to argue on behalf of the businesses at the Supreme Court.
According to Oliver Dunford, senior attorney at the libertarian-leaning Pacific Legal Foundation, the tariffs case could have the potential to be one of the most critical separation of powers cases in recent history, with Trump assuming the authority to impose tariffs on any item imported from any country.
“The previous Presidents have pushed the envelope, both Republicans and Democrats, and this kind of arbitrary rulemaking is not new,” said Dunford. “This is on a scale that’s certainly different. This is just about every product, just from just about every country, and who knows when it’s going to end.”
(NEW YORK) — Tuesday night was a far cry from the shell-shocked scenes in Democrats’ election headquarters a year ago this November.
In three key races, for Virginia governor, New Jersey governor and New York City mayor, the party’s nominees drew in huge numbers of the electorate by attacking President Donald Trump and offering plans to tackle what exit polls showed was voters’ top concern: affordability.
The Democratic wins come as Trump and Republicans have seen sinking approval ratings 10 months into his second term.
Here are some of the key takeaways from Tuesday’s election — one year to the 2026 midterms:
Democrats turn the tide The national spotlight was on Abigail Spanberger in Virginia, Mikie Sherrill, in New Jersey and Zohran Mamdani in New York City as the first true tests for the Democrats after the party’s punishing defeat in the 2024 nationwide election.
Tuesday’s results showed the party is on the offensive, with all three candidates projected to score sizable wins over their opponents.
“We sent a message to the whole world that in 2025, Virginia chose pragmatism over partisanship. We chose our commonwealth over chaos,” Spanbrger said.
It’s the economy, again Preliminary exit poll data compiled by ABC News in the three races showed that the majority of Americans were concerned about the cost of living.
Nearly half of Virginia voters said that the economy was the most important issue facing the commonwealth.
In New Jersey, six in 10 voters said that the economy in the state was doing “not so good” or “poor,” while about four in 10 said it was “excellent” or “good.”
More than half of voters in New York City said the cost of living was the most important issue they faced.
Spanberger, Sherrill and Mamdani all campaigned with affordability as the main focus.
Although each candidate has different proposals to lower costs — with Mamdani being the most vocal with raising the tax rate on the wealthiest to pay for services such as child care — voters in huge numbers were attracted to their messages.
Voters are not happy with the state of the country Just as with last year’s elections, where nearly every Democratic led state shifted red, voters appeared to want change from the status quo.
A large majority of voters who said they were angry supported Sherrill, saying they were unhappy with how things were going on in the country. New Jersey has never elected a governor from the same party in three cycles in a row.
Record turnout helps propel Mamdani More than 2 million voters turned out Tuesday in New York City, the first time a mayoral election crossed that threshold since 1969.
Mamdani collected over 1.03 million votes as of 10 p.m. Tuesday, which is larger than the population of five states, according to U.S. Census figures.
The New York turnout mirrored the increased turnout seen during an off-year election.
Historic wins for Muslim candidates Mamdani and Virginia Lt. Gov.-elect Ghazala Hashmi both made history as the first Muslim Americans elected to their respective offices.
Both had faced anti-Islamic attacks from their opponents and critics from around the country.
Wins sends message to Trump Trump got indirectly involved in the three races, especially New York City, as he tried to maintain and grow the GOP’s influence following his win.
The president was particularly tied to the New Jersey race as Republican Jack Ciattarelli vocally embraced and welcomed Trump’s support, despite the president’s low approval ratings.
Sherrill took several opportunities to criticize Trump while looking to tie the president and Ciattarelli tightly together. Mamdani and Spanberger also tied their opponents to Trump’s influence.
Mamdani also addressed Trump directly during his victory speech.
“I have four words for you, turn the volume up,” he mayor-elect said to a roar of supporters’ cheers.
The president reacted angrily to the wins on social media, arguing that the ongoing government shutdown and the fact that he was not on the ballot as the reasons Republicans lost.
