house seats; Trump border czar; Veterans Day: NPR

Good morning You are reading the Up First newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox, and Hear The Up First podcast has all the news you need to start your day.

Today's top stories

President-elect Donald Trump has begun selecting his staff; However, it is uncertain how much power his party will have in Congress. Republicans have won the Senate and will elect their leader this week. There is still one place available. The party could also have a narrow majority in the House of Representatives. Currently, the GOP has 213 seats in the House of Representatives, while the Democrats have 203 seats. To achieve a majority, a party needs 218 seats.

• 🎧 There are 19 House seats still to be up for grabs, but it could be days before a verdict is made in those racestells NPR's Danielle Kurtzleben First up. Half of the House districts are in California, where the vote-counting process takes a while because of the same-day and mail-in ballot certification process in such a large state. Meanwhile, Trump posted on Truth Social overnight that he will appoint Tom Homan as his “border czar,” who will be responsible for mass deportations. He also said over the weekend that he would not invite Mike Pompeo or Nikki Haley to his Cabinet.

Israel's ousted Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told the family members of Israeli hostages in Gaza that there was nothing left what the Israeli military can achieve in Gaza. He also says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is responsible for stalling a July ceasefire agreement that could have ended the war and brought the remaining hostages home. Netanyahu fired Gallant last week, saying trust between them had “eroded” and that “significant differences” had arisen between them over how to proceed with the war. Gallant discussed his views on the Israeli military in a closed session on his last day in office.

• 🎧 Gil Dickman, who attended the meeting and had a cousin who was taken hostage and killed by Hamas in Gaza, tells NPR's Kat Lonsdorf He felt Gallant was able to speak more freely than at similar meetings in the past. According to Gaza's Health Ministry, thousands of Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli military since July, bringing the death toll to over 43,000. There are 101 Israeli hostages remaining, some of whom have been confirmed dead. Many Israelis view Gallant's firing as an example of Netanyahu trying to get rid of anyone who disagrees with him, Lonsdorf says. Some say they feel their democracy is at stake.

An NPR investigation found that a VA home loan program was designed to help veterans In the end, they forced thousands to take out expensive mortgages. Documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show that at least 1,300 veterans faced monthly pay increases of more than 50%. Although a rescue plan is currently being implemented by the Department of Veterans Affairs, it excludes many people who need help.

Special series

Jake Lang (center) and other Trump supporters clash with police and security forces as people attempt to storm the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, in Washington, DC.

Brent Stirton/Getty Images

Hide caption

Toggle label

Brent Stirton/Getty Images

Each day this week, Morning Edition will take a deep dive into one of the promises President-elect Donald Trump made on his first day in office.

Trump has promised to pardon those convicted in connection with the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Is that a promise he can keep? In March, he wrote on Truth Social that one of his first acts if elected president would be to release people he called “hostages” on Jan. 6 and who he said were unjustly imprisoned. Kim Wehle, who wrote the book Pardon power: How the pardon system works – and whytalks with NPR's Leila Fadel about the limits on presidential pardons, whether pardons can be challenged, and the checks and balances on this presidential power.

From our hosts

President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at Santander Arena on November 4 in Reading, Pennsylvania.

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Hide caption

Toggle label

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

This essay was written by Steve Inskeep, Morning Edition and Up First host

Demographics are not fate.

The 21st century didn't work out the way many Democrats expected. A decade ago, some Democrats felt that an increasingly diverse population gave them a governing majority. That would be a bit like California: a big, rich, extremely diverse state that Democrats have dominated for decades, with the one exception being Arnold Schwarzenegger's governorship.

Nationally, the share of the population identifying as white fell; The percentage of those who identified as non-white continued to rise, largely due to immigration. This disadvantaged the predominantly white coalition of the Republican Party. Demography was fate, some analysts thought.

Instead, the Democratic coalition collapsed. Accordingly Leave surveys (which are not reliable but are known to us) the proportion of white voters increased in this election. republican expanded their coalition to include many People of Color – without abandoning the rhetoric that has seemed to drive away non-white voters in the past – and certainly not without letting go of Donald Trump.

We can debate for a long time why this happened. What is clear is that demographic change did not determine the election, at least not in the direct way that some would have assumed. It's up to Democrats to accept this reality – and this time it's up to Republicans to take power.

3 things you should know before you go

The image shows the Tuskegee University campus in 2023. A shooting on campus left one person dead and more than a dozen injured.

2C2K Photography/Flickr Creative Commons

Hide caption

Toggle label

2C2K Photography/Flickr Creative Commons

1. Jaquez Myrick, 25, was arrested early this morning in connection with yesterday's shooting According to law enforcement, one person died and 16 were injured at Tuskegee University in Alabama.
2. In 1971, 18-year-old Betsy Cornwell was stranded at night when her key broke off in the ignition of her car. A car thief became her unlikely unsung hero when he did everything he could to make sure she got home safely.
3. H5 bird flu has reportedly been detected in a human for the first time in Canada, according to health officials. The test will be sent to another laboratory for confirmation.

This newsletter was published by Suzanne Nuyen.