"Get out the vote" event held on Long Island with Congress balance of power at stake

Josh Einiger Image
Thursday, October 31, 2024
Long Island House seats key to Congress balance of power
Josh Einiger has more on the raucous "get out the vote" event in Nassau County on Wednesday.

NASSAU COUNTY, Long Island (WABC) -- In the race for the White House, "trash talking" has been the focus of presidential election in recent days, but control of Congress was top of mind at an event on Long Island.

The GOP trotted out serious firepower at a raucous "get out the vote" event in Nassau County on Wednesday.

"This is not Madison Square Garden, but it's a close second," said House Speaker Mike Johnson.

Johnson, number two in the line of presidential succession made an appearance at a banquet hall in Franklin Square, where Republicans hope to hold onto a number of congressional seats they won unexpectedly two years ago. Without it, they would never have the slimmest of majorities in the House.

"The road to the majority in the House runs through Long Island," Johnson said.

A Newsday/Siena College poll suggests Democrats might flip back at least two Long Island House seats, including the one held by Anthony D'Esposito in Nassau County, who is currently polling behind his Democratic challenger Laura Gillan, and Nick LaLota in Suffolk County, who's nearly tied with Democrat John Avlon.

But as the GOP battles it out for control of Congress, on Wednesday, Donald Trump was talking trash at his rally in Green Bay.

"How do you like my garbage truck? This truck is in honor of Kamala and Joe Biden," said Trump while wearing a garbage man outfit.

He spent the day in a garbage truck, trolling Kamala Harris after President Joe Biden responded on Wednesday to a racist joke at a Trump rally over the weekend.

The White House insisted Biden never meant to call Trump supporters "garbage," but Republicans quickly pounced, hoping to use the gaffe to goose Republican turnout in swing states.

On Wednesday, Harris struggled to return to her message of unity.

"I've spent my life fighting for people who've been hurt or counted out and who have never stopped believing," Harris said. "I have lived the promise of America and I see the promise of America in all of you."

No one predicted in 2022 that Republicans would win the seats they did. Now six days before Election Night, they are pulling out all the stops to hold them, and with them, the control of Congress.

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