NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-05-2024 11AM EST

Episode Date: November 5, 2024

NPR News: 11-05-2024 11AM ESTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

I'm Danielle Kurtzleben. I cover the presidential campaign for NPR. So I go to rallies, a lot of them. I want to hear what the candidates say, talk to voters, and find out what ideas are resonating. And I put it all in my reporting to help you make sense of this election. It's why being there is important. To help support this work, sign up for NPR+. Go to plus.npr.org. Live from NPR News in Washington on Corva Coleman, it's election day. Republicans are largely favored to win control of the U.S. Senate in this election. That's because the 2024 election map shows Democrats defending more seats in competitive states. And Beers Deirdre Walsh reports two red states will likely be

the path for a GOP majority. Democrats in the independents who caucus with them hold a 51-49 Senate majority now. But they appear likely to lose the seat of retiring West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin. And Montana Democrat John Tester is competing in a solidly red state and needs voters to ticket split to win another term. Democrats are also defending Senate seats in the swing states of Nevada, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. Republicans predict they will fend off challenges in Texas and Florida, while Democrats feel they have a good chance of keeping the seat of retiring Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema.

The race to keep Ohio in the blue column is a dead heat. Deirdre Walsh, NPR News, Washington. Every seat in the U.S. House of Representatives is being decided today, but it may not be clear right after the election which party will control the chamber in the next Congress. The presidential campaigns have, rather candidates have campaigned heavily in key swing states. Wisconsin is one of them. From member station WUWM, Chuck Kornbach reports, political experts say they're watching certain Wisconsin counties closely

for their turnout rate. Vice President Kamala Harris hopes to repeat President Joe Biden's win in Wisconsin in 2020. Republican Donald Trump narrowly won the state four years earlier. Carroll University political scientist, Lily Gorin, says she'll pay attention to how Trump is doing in three counties in suburban Milwaukee

that typically go for the GOP. If Donald Trump's gonna carry the state of Wisconsin, he has to drive those numbers up from where they were four years ago. Gorin says Republicans also have to do well in the small towns and rural areas of northern Wisconsin. She says the Democratic ticket must have strong turnout in urban areas, especially the cities of Milwaukee and Madison.

For NPR News, I'm Chuck Quarmbach in Milwaukee. There are an estimated 8 million young people eligible to vote in their first presidential election this year. They join a growing voting bloc that could play a crucial role in deciding the winner. And Piers Elena Moore reports. Americans under 30 turned out in historically high numbers in 2020, but still at lower rates compared to older generations. It's a group that both Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump have been courting. But given young voters were key to Joe Biden's win four years ago, Harris has more to lose

this time around. She likely needs to win more than 60 percent of this group. An NPR analysis found that in recent presidential elections dating back to 2008, the Democrats who won all hit that 60 percent mark. Elena Moore, NPR News. This is NPR. The FBI has released a fresh warning today about two fake videos circulating online about the election.

The FBI says the videos are promoting false narratives and falsely use the FBI's logo. The agency says one video is an outright fabrication about a terrorist warning the FBI never issued. A second fabricated video promotes a false story about certain prisoners voting. Neither of these videos are true. Big tech company Meta is agreeing to allow the U.S. government to use its artificial intelligence models for national security purposes. NPR's Kristen Wright reports on the change in policy. Meta is allowing federal agencies and contractors that are working on defense and national security to use its open source llama AI models. Until now, Metta's use policy prohibited military

and warfare applications. Metta named several defense contractors in its announcement, including Booz Allen, Lockheed Martin, and Scale AI, which Metta says will now be permitted to use its models to support national security missions, such as planning operations, and it says, identifying the vulnerabilities of adversaries. Some groups have raised ethical concerns. Earlier this year, the Biden administration released guidance on how the government can and can't use AI. Metta says this expanded use will be responsible and ethical. Kristin Wright, NPR News, Washington. Officials in Reno, Nevada installed panic buttons at their polling sites ahead of election

day to day. Election workers in Washoe County can push the button to alert 911 if there's an emergency. Last year, Nevada made it a felony to harass, threaten, or intimidate election workers. I'm Korva Coleman, NPR News in Washington.