Vote 2024: Get Out the Vote event held at Franklin Square in Nassau County as the balance of power in Congress is at stake

NASSAU COUNTY, Long Island (WABC) — In the race for the White House, “trash talk” has been the focus of the presidential election in recent days, but at the event on Long Island, control of Congress was the main issue.

The GOP showed some serious firepower at a raucous “get out the vote” event in Nassau County on Wednesday.

“It’s not Madison Square Garden, but it’s a close second,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said.

Johnson, number two in line to become president, appeared at a banquet hall in Franklin Square, where Republicans are hoping to retain a number of congressional seats they unexpectedly won two years ago. Without this, they would never have had the slimmest majority in the House of Representatives.

“The path to a majority in the House of Representatives is through Long Island,” Johnson said.

A Newsday/Siena College poll suggests Democrats could take back at least two Long Island House seats, including the one held by Anthony D’Esposito in Nassau County, who is currently voting for his Democratic challenger Laura Gillan , and Nick LaLota in Suffolk County. who almost tied with Democrat John Avlon.

But as the Republican Party battles for control of Congress, Donald Trump was talking nonsense at his rally in Green Bay on Wednesday.

“How do you like my garbage truck? This truck is in honor of Kamala and Joe Biden,” said Trump, dressed in a garbage man costume.

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

The White House insisted Biden never intended to call Trump supporters “trash,” but Republicans quickly pounced on him, hoping to use the gaffe to fuel Republican turnout in swing states.

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

“I have spent my life fighting for people who have suffered or been excluded 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 that Republicans would win the seats they did in 2022. Now, six days before Election Night, they are doing everything they can to hold on to it, and with it, control of Congress.

———-

* More Long Island news

* Send us a news tip

* Download the abc7NY app for breaking news alerts

* Follow us on YouTube

Submit a tip or story idea to Eyewitness News

Do you have a news story or story idea we should cover? Submit it to Eyewitness News using the form below. If you attach a video or photo, terms of use apply.