Nov. 15, 2022 US election coverage

Former President Donald Trump announced another run for the White House in remarks from Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida. 

"In order to make America great and glorious again, I am tonight announcing my candidacy for president of the United States," Trump said.

Trump’s paperwork establishing his candidacy landed with the Federal Election Committee shortly before he delivered his announcement.

Trump’s long-awaited campaign comes as the former president tries to reclaim the spotlight following the GOP’s underwhelming midterm elections performance – including the losses of several Trump-endorsed election deniers – and the subsequent blame game that has unfolded since Election Day. Republicans failed to gain a Senate majority, came up short in their efforts to fill several statewide seats, and have yet to secure a House majority, with only 215 races called in their favor so far out of the 218 needed, developments that have forced Trump and other party leaders into a defensive posture as they face reproval from within their ranks.

But Trump is also betting that his first-out-of-the gate strategy will fend off potential primary rivals and give him an early advantage with deep-pocketed donors, aides say. He is widely expected to be challenged by both conservative and moderate Republicans, though the calculus of some presidential hopefuls could change now that he is running. Others – like his former Vice President, Mike Pence – may proceed anyway.

Read more about Trump's 2024 bid here and hear him announce his candidacy below:

White House officials were expecting a split screen moment this week as President Joe Biden met world leaders in Bali at the same moment as his predecessor was expected to announce a third presidential run.

But the dynamic has only been amplified as Biden convenes emergency talks with world leaders about explosions in Poland the same hour Trump loyalists fill the Mar-a-Lago ballroom for the former president's announcement.

Biden was leading the crisis talks with members of the G7 and NATO in Bali — two groupings Trump questioned the usefulness of when he was in office. 

"There was total unanimity among the folks at the table," Biden said emerging from the talks. Less than 10 minutes later, Trump walked into stage at Mar-a-Lago.

Heading into the trip, Biden’s advisers were not particularly concerned about the split-screen — and after Democrats’ election success were even less wary of Trump announcing a third bid for president while Biden was in Asia.

For one, Biden officials are happy to take the comparison between the current president and the former on the foreign stage, given the general chaos that often trailed Trump as he traveled abroad.

Trump’s announcement will surely prompt renewed attention on Biden’s on decision-making on running for reelection. By all accounts, including from his closest advisers, Biden will feel more propelled to seek a second term if Trump is in contention.

But, for Biden, the timing could not have been more opportune. The prospect of a midterm wipeout loomed over preparations for his around-the-world trip over the last several weeks. Widespread Republican wins — including by election deniers — would badly complicate the president’s bedrock message that Democracies will win out against autocracies.

Trump’s tease of a campaign announcement at the very moment Biden would be rallying the world behind democratic ideals only elevated the stakes. 

Former President Donald Trump is speaking from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida and is expected to announce his third presidential run.

Before his remarks tonight, Trump filed paperwork establishing his candidacy to run for the presidency again in 2024.

Aides say Trump is hoping his early entry into the 2024 presidential primary will reframe the conversation away from Republican failures and inject a fresh dose of enthusiasm into a demoralized party amid the failure to capture Senate control or win a sizable House majority.

CNN has yet to project which party will win control of the House, but as of late Tuesday, the GOP was closing in on gaining a slim majority.

Though the former president has been touting his 200-plus victories on Election Night, many of the Trump-endorsed Republicans who prevailed ran uncontested or were widely expected to win their contests, And several Senate candidates he endorsed in highly prized races failed to dethrone their Democratic opponents or flip open seats into the GOP’s column.

On Saturday, CNN projected that Democrats will retain control of the Senate in the 118th Congress, an outcome that has fractured Republicans and left the party on tenterhooks as Trump readies his “big announcement.”

Former President Donald Trump has filed his paperwork establishing his candidacy to run for the presidency again in 2024. 

Trump’s paperwork landed with the Federal Election Committee shortly before he is scheduled to make his announcement at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida waterfront estate Tuesday evening.

On the brink of a campaign launch that elicits both enthusiasm and dread from different corners of his own party, Trump’s quest to return to the Oval Office could face untold obstacles in the months to come, even with his loyal base firmly intact.

He has spent the days since the midterm elections fending off criticism from fellow Republicans over his ill-fated involvement in key contests, furiously lashing out at two GOP heavyweights who could complicate his path to the White House if they mount their own presidential campaigns, and fretting that he or associates could soon be indicted by federal investigators in two separate Justice Department probes.

Tuesday’s scheduled ranked-choice voting tabulation for Maine’s 2nd Congressional District will be delayed after ballot data on memory sticks from two municipalities, Bangor and Hampden, couldn’t be read, Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows announced.

The paper ballots now need to be retrieved and then rescanned. The ranked-choice tabulation is now scheduled for Wednesday, according to the secretary of state’s official Twitter account

Democratic Rep. Jared Golden currently leads former GOP Rep. Bruce Poliquin among first-choice votes, but he’s short of the majority needed to win outright.

During the ranked-choice tabulation voters who voted for the third place candidate, independent Tiffany Bond, will have their votes reallocated to the candidate they ranked as their second choice.

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was applauded on Tuesday after suggesting that former president Donald Trump bears the blame for the GOP's disappointing midterm performance. 

Speaking at the annual Republican Governors Association summit, Christie said the party has fallen short in the last three election cycles because Trump was front-and-center or a candidate himself.

A person familiar with his comments and the reaction from the donors, consultants, and GOP operatives in the room said Christie received sustained applause. 

Christie, a potential 2024 challenger to Trump, said voters rejected candidates who embraced "crazy" positions and Trump's lies about the 2020 election, the source said. 

Christie also blamed Trump for elevating flawed candidates that he claimed were doomed to fail in certain races, including Pennsylvania GOP gubernatorial hopeful Doug Mastriano.  

Axios first reported Christie's comments on Tuesday. 

Christie's comments come hours before Trump is expected to announce a 2024 presidential campaign, running for the White House for the third time and potentially entering a primary that could soon become crowded with anti-Trump rivals like the former New Jersey governor. 

What races are left to be projected: There are 14 races remaining, but Republicans only need to win two more to win control of the House. Right now, Republicans hold 216 seats — they need 218 to take a majority of the chamber. Democrats have won 205 seats so far, meaning they need to win 13 of the remaining races.

House GOP leadership elections:

Senate leadership vote: In the Senate, Sen. Rick Scott of Florida will challenge Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell for his powerful leadership position. Democrats kept control of the chamber, according to CNN projections. Scott, who chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee, has had a long-simmering conflict with McConnell over messaging, outlook and how to spend resources this election cycle. 

McConnell responded that he had repeatedly called control of the Senate a “jump ball” ahead of the election, adding “I never predicted a red wave.” He said he is confident he has enough votes to keep his post.

Ahead tonight: Former President Donald Trump is set to speak from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET. He is expected to announce his third presidential run during the remarks.

Aides say Trump is hoping his early entry into the 2024 presidential primary will reframe the conversation away from Republican failures and inject a fresh dose of enthusiasm into a demoralized party amid GOP failures to capture Senate control and win a sizable House majority. 

Facebook’s fact-checkers will need to stop fact-checking former President Donald Trump if he announces that he is running for president, according to a company memo obtained by CNN.

While Trump is currently banned from Facebook, the fact-check ban applies to anything Trump says and false statements made by Trump can be posted to the platform by others. Despite Trump’s ban, “Team Trump,” a page run by Trump’s political group, is still active and has 2.3 million followers.

Tuesday’s memo from Meta underscores the challenges social media platforms face in deciding how to handle another potential Trump presidential campaign. The former president is widely expected to announce his third presidential bid on Tuesday.

Facebook’s parent company Meta pays third-party fact-checking organizations to apply fact-check labels to misinformation across Facebook and Instagram.

The carve-out is not exclusive to Trump and applies to all politicians, but given the rate fact-checkers find themselves dealing with claims made by the former president, a manager on Meta’s “news integrity partnership” team emailed fact-checkers on Tuesday.

The company has long had an exception to its fact-checking policy for politicians.

“It is not our role to intervene when politicians speak,” Meta executive Nick Clegg, a former politician, said in 2019, defending the exemption.

The Meta memo sent to fact-checkers made clear that if Trump announced a 2024 presidential bit Tuesday night, he could no longer be fact-checked on the platform.

Read more about the memo here.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who reiterated he has the votes to be reelected as leader, gave his first extensive take on the Republicans’ lackluster performance in the midterms.  

Asked about Republican Sen. Rick Scott's attacks that his refusal to lay out a policy agenda exposed GOP candidates in key races, McConnell pushed back, and instead pointed to unnamed people in the party who are “engulfed in chaos, negativity and excessive attacks,” adding that “it frightened independent and moderate Republican voters.” 

He once again pointed to “candidate quality” as an issue in key races.  

McConnell also reminded reporters that he had repeatedly called control of the Senate a “jump ball” ahead of the election. 

“I never predicted a red wave. We never saw that in any of our polling in the states that we were counting on to win. There was no wave,” he said.

McConnell insisted once again that he will be reelected as leader by his conference, but did not rule out delaying the leadership votes expected on Wednesday. 

“I think the outcome is pretty clear. I want to repeat again, I have the votes, I will be elected,” he said. “The only issue is whether we do it sooner or later, and I think we’ll probably have another discussion about that tomorrow.”