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Donald Trump won the popular vote 74,686,551 to 70,964,692 and at this time the electoral college 312-226. But let’s analyze those votes.  According to the AARP voters over the age of 50 comprised 52% of the total voters in this election.  Of those voters those 50–64 voted for Trump by a margin of 56% to 43% for Harris and those over the age of 65 split 49% for Trump to 49% for Harris which was an improvement over 2020 where trump had a 53% to 47% advantage.

The Senate flipped to Republican 53 to 46 with the Arizona Senate seat as of yet uncalled.  However in that race the Democrat, Ruben Gallego is ahead of his Republican opponent Kari Lake by 49.7% to 48.2% (44,882 votes) with 87% reporting.  This constitutes a majority but does not rise to a filibuster proof (60 votes) majority.  This might enable the Democrats to stop particularly egregious legislation unless the Republicans get rid of the filibuster.

The House majority is as of yet uncalled.  To gain the majority a party has to have 218 or more votes.  At press time it appears the Republicans are on track to gain the majority albeit with a very small margin.  Currently, the Republicans are ahead 212 seats to 204 seats with 12 races not yet called.  The Republicans need 6 of those 12 while the Democrats need 8 of the 12.  Currently the Democrats lead in 4 of the races while the Republicans lead in 8.

In New York State we voted for Harris for President albeit by a significantly lower margin than in 2020, we returned Kirsten Gillibrand (D) to the Senate and did yeoman’s work to flip 3 House seats, an accomplishment that no other state in the nation had.  Through NYSARA members and labor’s efforts we flipped the 4th Congressional District on Long Island with Laura Gillen defeating incumbent Anthony D’Esposito, the 19th Congressional District in the Mid Hudson Valley where Josh Riley defeated incumbent Marcus Molinaro and in the 22nd Congressional District in Central New York where former NYSUT member and Chapter President John Mannion defeated incumbent Brendan Williams.

The blame game has begun.  While Trump increased his share of people of color especially Latinos increased his share of young voters and decreased his margins of defeat in several blue states as well as prevailing in ALL swing states he got only about 400,000 votes nationally more than in 2020.  The real difference was the voters that didn’t show up for Vice President Harris.  In 2020 Joe Biden received 81,283,501 voters compared with Kamala Harris’ 70,964,692 votes in 2024, a decrease in turnout of a little over 10 million votes.  The jury is out on why that was, whether the messaging the democrats used was not reaching those people or struck people as elitist, whether it was mysogyny, racism all of the above or none of the above.

The fact is that certain functions and programs of the federal government are in jeopardy under the Trump Administration according the their rhetoric and Republican positions on senior issues.  Since the Republicans might well control all sectors of government (Executive, the Senate and the House as well as a VERY conservative supreme Court) their ability to change the conversation and the direction of this country is very real.

There will very likely be renewed attempts to slash seniors’ hard earned Social Security and Medicare benefits and roll back the progress the Biden-Harris administration made in lowering drug prices,” said Barry A. Kaufmann., President of the NYS Alliance. “However, we are ready for the battles ahead. We will continue to work with our friends and especially with our opponents in the NYS delegation of the House to defend against all attacks on Social Security and Medicare, allow Medicare to negotiate lower prices for more drugs, and keep the cap on insulin prices at $35 per month for Medicare beneficiaries and to maintain the $2,000 cap on drug co pays that is set to kick in January 1, 2025.

Immediate concerns are the push to reduce funding for Social Security Administration. This is used to make the program less popular and more likely to be changed. The push to increase Social Security age. We just came off a five year effort to raise the SS age to 67. Republicans want to increase it to 69 or 70. If that were done all retirees who won’t reach full retirement age until 69 will see their benefits cut in their lifetime by 13%. Donald Trump has promised to stop the taxes on Social Security benefits. These taxes contributed $50.7 billion to the Social Security Trust in 2023. Trump has also promised to reduce FICA taxes or give a FICA holiday as he did in his first term. Be aware this is a thinly disguised way of starving the Social Security trust and in the long term compromising the program. The major source of income for Security lies in the FICA tax of 12.4% of payroll up to $168,200 of salary. This would be a way of reducing SS as the money would not be there to fund it. To “fix” Social Security we need to scrap that cap of $168,200 and not tamper with the FICA tax which is a short term comfort and a long term nightmare for people who will be collecting Social Security.

The prospects of Medicare Advantage being made the default Medicare option or Medicare being changed to a premium support/voucher system which would increase costs for seniors and cutting Medicare by making seniors pay more for premiums, co-pays or deductibles could all be on the agenda. The Affordable Care act could be gutted so millions of people and especially those 50 – 64 could not afford health coverage.

What can NYSARA do? We can stay informed. We can write constant letters and e mails to our elected’s including the opposition to let them know we are watching and WILL hold them responsible at election time. We can visit our elected representatives to keep the pressure up. we can Vote like our life depends on it. The time for “woe is me” and despair over this election won’t help us prevent the draconian changes proposed but turning up the dial on our activism agitation and vigilance we will maximize our ability to have impact on programs that are critical to seniors. We will prevail in the long term. NYSARA members are strong and resilient. Let’s go out and become that force of nature.