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Nov 06, 2026
Democrats continue to celebrate one of the most lopsided midterm election victories in modern U.S. history, routing their Republican rivals to gain control of the U.S. House, U.S. Senate and statehouses across the country.
In the Senate, Democrats flipped seven seats and now hold 54 to the Republican Party's 44. Two seats — nail-biting contests in Alaska and Mississippi — remain undeclared.
In the House, Democrats held 253 House seats to the GOP's 161 as of 2 p.m. ET Friday, comfortably passing the majority threshold of 218, with 21 races yet to be called. The latest estimates show that the party is on track to win its largest majority since 2008. And there are still seats it could flip, including Colorado's Fourth District, which is held by Republican incumbent Rep. Lauren Boebert, a staunch Trump ally, whose race against Democrat Eileen Laubacher remains tight.
There were also gubernatorial races, mayoral contests,
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Nov 06, 2026
WASHINGTON (AP) — The top federal prosecutor in Miami who had been tasked with overseeing an investigation into foes of President Donald Trump has resigned, joining other high-profile Justice Department officials departing in the wake of the midterm elections, officials said Friday.
Jason Reding Quiñones' resignation follows frustrations among Washington officials with his management of the office assigned to lead the so-called "grand conspiracy" investigation, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel issues.
The Justice Department's top national security official, John Eisenberg, also resigned on Friday, Attorney General Todd Blanche said. On Thursday, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, who led a radical overhaul of the department's Civil Rights Division, also announced her departure.
Quiñones was confirmed by the Senate last year as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, where the Justice Department had centered its meandering probe into whether former law enforcement and intelligence officials conspired against the Republican president.
His departure comes as the investigation has shown signs of faltering amid a spate of staff turnovers and delays. Investigators in recent weeks have put off scheduled grand jury testimony of several witnesses, according to multiple people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation.
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Nov 06, 2026
In the early hours of Dec. 26, 1996, after a festive family Christmas, Patsy Ramsey walked down the stairs in her Boulder, Colorado, home to discover a terrifying ransom note telling her that her 6-year-old daughter JonBenét Ramsey had been kidnapped.
She immediately called 911 and the Boulder Police Department responded to the scene in three minutes.
Courtesy of John Andrew Ramsey - PHOTO: JonBenét Ramsey was 6 years old when she was found dead in her home in Boulder, Co. on Dec. 26, 1996.The taunting two-and-a-half-page ransom note was addressed to JonBenét's father, John Ramsey, and demanded $118,000 for the safe return of his daughter.
"You stand a 99% chance of killing your daughter if you try to out smart [sic] us," the letter said. There was no sign of JonBenét or further communication from the would-be kidnappers.
A new "20/20" episode, "JonBenét Ramsey: Race Against Time, Who is 'Unknown Male 1?' -- A New Diane Sawyer Investigation" airing Friday, Nov. 6 at 9 p.m. ET on ABC and streaming the next day on Disney and Hulu, re-examines the case.
You can get more behind the scenes of each week's episode by listening to "20/20: The Afte
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Nov 06, 2026
Democrats continue to celebrate one of the most lopsided midterm election victories in modern U.S. history, routing their Republican rivals to gain control of the U.S. House, U.S. Senate and statehouses across the country.
In the Senate, Democrats flipped seven seats and now hold 54 to the Republican Party's 44. Two seats — nail-biting contests in Alaska and Mississippi — remain undeclared.
In the House, Democrats held 253 House seats to the GOP's 160 as of 12:30 p.m. ET Friday, comfortably passing the majority threshold of 218, with 22 races still to be called. The latest estimates show that the party is on track to win its largest majority since 2008. And there are still seats it could flip, including Colorado's Fourth District, which is held by Republican incumbent Rep. Lauren Boebert, a staunch Trump ally, whose race against Democrat Eileen Laubacher remains tight.
There were also
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Nov 06, 2026
The polar vortex is weakening unusually early, forecasters have said, with a rare disruption possible within days that could send Arctic air traveling south over North America.
The polar vortex is a band of powerful winds in the stratosphere that circle the North Pole each winter. It keeps the coldest air locked high in the atmosphere until it is disrupted. Once the vortex weakens, pockets of that air can be pushed south, which can bring frostier temperatures to parts of the U.S.
In its updated November outlook, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Climate Prediction Center said a disruption of the polar vortex could occur within days, possibly developing into a sudden stratospheric warming, which it called "very rare" for November. It warned that if this happens, its effects could last up to two months.
The polar vortex made its mark this January, when a lobe of Arctic air pushed south, bringing a deep freeze to the eastern U.S. and Canada. Parts of northern Minnesota fell to -43°F on Jan. 24, according to state climate data, with states like Indiana also experiencing record lows as Greenland's west coast recorded its warmest January on record.
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Nov 06, 2026
Meghan Markle's estranged father, Thomas Markle, was arrested in Florida on Friday on charges related to child sexual abuse material, authorities said.
Markle, 82, was arrested by the FBI at a care home near Tampa, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California said in a press release. He was charged with one count of possession of child pornography.
Authorities said Markle was arrested after agents discovered approximately 78 items — including slides, film negatives, and books — that contained suspected child sexual abuse material (CSAM) while searching two storage units registered to Markle, at least one of which was in the Los Angeles area.
"Mr. Markle is accused of possessing child sexual abuse material, including photographs depicting himself with minor girls," First Assistant United States Attorney Bill Essayli said. "These allegations are extremely serious, and we will prosecute Mr. Markle to the fullest extent of federal law."
The statement said that, in October 2026, law enforcement learned that an individual signed an affidavit regarding the discovery of suspected CSAM among Markle's possessions in the Philippines. Officers then interviewed a separate individual who revealed Markle had rented a storage unit in the Los Angeles area.
This led to the discovery of a second storage unit. Both had been rented by Markle since 2008.
FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement that "Markle allegedly targeted innocent children and sought to steal their innocence through his criminal actions."
"This FBI will use every single r
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Nov 06, 2026
The GOP's sweeping losses in the midterm elections Tuesday set up an unsettling possibility for the party: If it doesn't act now to confirm a new Supreme Court justice, it may not have another chance for years to come.
That prospect is likely to ramp up pressure on the court's two oldest conservatives - Justices Samuel A. Alito Jr., 76, and Clarence Thomas, 78 - to retire during the lame-duck period, while Republicans still have the votes to get a nominee confirmed by the Senate. The new Senate, in which Democrats will hold a majority, is seated on Jan. 3.
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Alito, who joined the court in 2006, said last month he has no plans to retire during the lame-duck session. Thomas has said in the past he has no plans to step down from the court. He joined the court in 1991 and could become the longest-serving justice in its history in 2028.
But given the magnitude of Democratic inroads in the Senate, legal and political experts said it could be 2033 before Republicans have a realistic shot at winning back enough seats in that chamber to approve a conservative justice.
At that point, Alito and Thomas would be well into their 80s. Neither responded to a request for comment.
"I think both have been making an implicit bet that they will live long enough … so that a Republican president can replace them with someone ideologically similar," said Ed Whelan, a conservative attorney and senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center.
This is likely to make many Republicans antsy, particularly those mindful of the lesson of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died while still on the bench at 87, in September 2020.
The lib
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Nov 06, 2026
The US added 165,000 jobs in October, blowing past economists' expectations, as the labor market showed strength despite the Federal Reserve's recent rate hikes.
The unemployment rate ticked down to 4.1% even amid a slight increase in labor force participation. September's underwhelming jobs report of 29,000 additions was also revised upward to a gain of 60,000 jobs.
Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, deemed the results "a blowout" in a post on X.
Economists surveyed by Bloomberg projected a gain of about 70,000 jobs in October and saw the unemployment rate holding steady.
Wage growth increased 0.4% from September, better than expectations for 0.3% month-over-month growth. Annual earnings rose 3.1%, beating expectations but likely still below the current inflation rate.
Employers added jobs in a number of sectors of the economy. Professional and business services, which had been seen as more vulnerable to AI-related disruptions, added 70,000 roles. Healthcare, long a strong spot for job growth, added a higher-than-average 42,000 positions.
Transportation and warehousing jobs rose by 25,000, and manufacturing continued to show strength with 19,000 additions.
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Nov 06, 2026
Democrats continue to celebrate one of the most lopsided midterm election victories in modern U.S. history, routing their Republican rivals to gain control of the U.S. House, U.S. Senate and statehouses across the country.
In the Senate, Democrats flipped seven seats and now hold 54 to the Republican Party's 44. Two seats — nail-biting contests in Alaska and Mississippi — remain undeclared.
To do so, Democrats won a series of key battleground contests. In Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed defeated Mike Rogers in one of the most closely watched races of the midterms. James Talarico beat Republican Ken Paxton in Texas, becoming the first Democrat to win a U.S. Senate seat in the Lone Star State since 1988. Annie Andrews beat Sen. Darline Graham in South Carolina to flip a Senate seat. In Maine, Democrat Troy Jackson defeated incumbent Sen. Susan Collins, putting an end to her three-decade tenure. Sen. Jon Ossoff comfortably won reelection in Georgia. Other Senate seats to flip to the Democratic Party included Roy Cooper in North Carolina, Sherrod Brown in Ohio, Josh Turek in Iowa and Adam H
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Nov 06, 2026
President Trump reacted to the volatile Thursday in markets with a series of Truth Social posts overnight, doubling down on his support of data centers and trying to blame Democrats for the sell-off.
A little after 7 a.m. ET Friday, he renewed his support for data centers, writing he "will work with the many States in the U.S. that want to become RICH by having them" and calling leaders who might be opposed "foolish."
The comments appeared largely directed at Texas, where voters this week elected a new Democratic governor who has promised to halt new data center construction in a race that surfaced deep voter unease over AI and its effects.
President Donald Trump prominently displays a hat emblazoned with "Veto" in the Oval Office of the White House on November 5 after Democrats took control of the US House and Senate. (MANDEL NGAN / AFP via Getty Images)MANDEL NGAN via Getty Images
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Nov 06, 2026
Mackenzie was found guilty in October of the murder of 190 children and one adult [Reuters]
A Kenyan court has sentenced the leader of a doomsday cult, Paul Mackenzie, to 200 years in prison for murdering 191 people, all but one of them children.
Alongside 28 others, Mackenzie was found guilty of the murders for instructing members of his cult to starve their children to death so they could "meet Jesus".
Justice Diana Mochache said Mackenzie bore the "primary criminal culpability" for ordering his followers to fast to death, in one of the world's deadliest episodes of cult activity.
"The sentence is appropriate and just, to send an unmistakable message that such atrocities warrant the maximum penalties allowed by law," the judge added.
The self-styled pastor was arrested in 2023 after the discovery of more than 400 bodies in shallow graves in Shakahola forest near the Kenyan coast. The sprawling investigation into the cases shocked Kenya and drew international attention.
The court sentenced Mackenzie to 100 years in prison for homicide and another 100 years for offences related to starvation.
The sentences within each category will run concurrently, but the two sets will run consecutively, bringing his total prison term to 200 years.
Mackenzie also faces separate manslaughter and terrorism charges, which he denies.
Prosecutors had sought the death penalty, arguing that the scale and circumstances of the killings warranted the harshest punishment.
However, Justice Mochache declined to impose the death penalty, despite ruling that the case met the threshold for its consideration.
"Nevertheless, the court declines t
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Nov 06, 2026
Comedian Russell Brand at Southwark Crown Court in London.Anadolu via Getty ImagesRussell Brand faces a "significant" prison term after his rape and sexual assault conviction, a judge has said.
A jury in London found the British comedian and actor guilty of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault Thursday. He was acquitted of two rape counts and one count of attempted indecent assault. The judge told Brand he would be remanded in custody ahead of sentencing on Monday, Nov. 9.
"You've been convicted of a number of offenses including rape," judge Joel Bennathan said. "The consequence of that is inevitably a significant custodial term. My current view is that I therefore have to remand you into custody."
The actor had been charged on seven counts: three counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault, and one count of attempted indecent assault.
Following Thursday's verdict, London's Metropolitan Police Service told Yahoo News that Brand, 51, was facing further allegations of rape from two women.
"The suspect has previously been intervi
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Nov 06, 2026
A Ryanair flight travelling from Rome to Lisbon was placed under a security alert after an anonymous phone call to the control tower at Rome's Fiumicino Airport warned of a possible explosive device on board, according to reports.
The aircraft landed at Lisbon's Humberto Delgado Airport shortly before 8 am. Authorities are investigating the threat, but there has been no confirmation of explosives on board.
Meanwhile, the French Prime Minister's office declared that there had been four more bomb alerts concerning "planes flying over French territory" on Friday morning.
"The aircrafts landed safely. Security services are conducting inspections", said the PM's office, while adding that "an investigation is underway to determine the source of these alerts, which are affecting the whole of Europe."
Concerning the Rome-Lisbon flight, CNN Portugal reported that Portugal's Public Security Police (PSP) received a telephone call from a person described as a "law enforcement officer", warning of a possible explosive device on board. The caller's identity was reportedly verified by the Judicial Police (PJ).
When contacted by Euronews, Lisbon Airport referred enquiries to the PSP, which has not yet confirmed the reported incident. Euronews also attempted to contact the PJ but has not received a response.
Another bomb alert was reported on a Wizz Air flight travelling from Prague to Rome. The aircraft was diverted to Venice, where it landed.
The latest incidents follow a wave of bomb scares that affected at least 25 flights across Europe on Thursday. EU officials have said it is too early to determine whether the incidents are linked.
This article originally appeared on Euronews at https://www.euronews.com/2026/11/06/bomb-threat-targets-ryanair-flight-to-lisbon-as-scares-continue-across-europe
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Nov 06, 2026
By Ananya Palyekar, Akanksha Khushi and Nick Carey
Nov 6 (Reuters) - Tesla will wind down Cybertruck production at its Texas gigafactory around mid-2027, CEO Elon Musk said on Friday, after years of persistently weak sales for a futuristic model once touted as a rival to legacy ?pickup trucks that ultimately only sold in just a handful of markets because of its heavy, angular design.
Musk said in an X ?post the production wind-down would enable the automaker to accommodate increased output of its newly launched Cybercab model, which the billionaire has made central to Tesla's robotaxi ambitions.
While it was not ?immediately clear whether Cybertruck production would be moved to another facility or phased out entirely, the automaker's Austin plant is the only known Tesla facility equipped to manufacture the model's specialized components.
In response to a user on X, Musk called the Cybertruck the "best vehicle Tesla has ever made" and the wind-down the "end of an era".
Tesla did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment sent outside regular business hours.
The US EV maker only began delivering the Cybertruck to customers in late 2023. ?According to Kelley Blue Book, the company only sold 20,237 Cybertrucks ?in the US last year, down 48% from 38,965 in 2024. Before the pickup truck launched, Musk had predicted annual sales of 250,000 units.
"It doesn't make sense to keep it going when it's not meeting its targets," said former ?Aston Martin CEO Andy Palmer. "Every rational auto guy would say the same."
"It will no doubt only be a rounding error on Tesla's balance sheet, but the statistics speak for themselves."
'CYBERTRUCK WON'T GO, CAN'T GO'
Right from its unveiling in 2019, the Cybertruck was a controversial choice for Musk. Its angular design was mocked by pickup truck purists and ?safety ?experts predicted it would be hard to gain approval for sal
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Nov 06, 2026
The fight for the 2028 Republican primary is beginning to take shape on the heels of the GOP's devastating midterm losses, with Vice President Vance facing criticism for blaming the losses on the Iran war and other big-name Republicans appearing to stake out their own positions.
The losses have created a huge opening for GOP White House hopefuls, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas), to go against Vance.
It's a fact seemingly recognized by Vance, who was quick to blame the Iran war for the historic drubbings, and Republicans at large.
"The election results were bad news for every leader across the party, given the scale of the losses, but they were particularly tough for Vance's 2028 prospects," said Kevin Madden, the veteran Republican strategist who served as a senior adviser on Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign.
"Vance is now in the position of serving as a loyal vice president to a lame-duck president whose approval rating is in the 30's and whose influence on the future of the party could be in question," Madden added.
Vance has long been seen as the front-runner to succeed President Trump as the GOP standard-bearer. A close second has been Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
But questions are now being raised by Republicans over whether a candidate not directly tied to the administration would be stronger.
"Tuesday made clear that the stink on Vice President Vance and Secretary [Marco] Rubio may be too much to overcome as the election was a referendum on the job they are doing," said one top GOP operative who has spoken to DeSantis.
"This certain
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Nov 06, 2026
(NewsNation) — Two oil tankers caught fire after being hit by mines while attempting unauthorized transport through the Strait of Hormuz on Friday, according to a press statement from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy.
One oil tanker was in the eastern part of the Strait of Hormuz, and the other was in the strait itself.
"These two tankers had turned off their navigation and identification systems and were attempting to exit the Strait of Hormuz through an unauthorized route with the support of the aggressive terrorist U.S. military," the statement said.
What options are on the table for Trump in Iran moving forward?
The statement said the efforts of CENTCOM to force oil tankers through unauthorized and mine-contaminated areas will "only result in repeated and disgraceful failures."
President Donald Trump spoke with Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani on the phone Friday about diplomatic efforts to ease tensions.
Iran updates Saudi, Qatari counterparts on diplomatic progress
The leaders discussed Qatar's mediation efforts to form a comprehensive agreement to end the regional conflict, according to a
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Nov 06, 2026
On Tuesday, Americans voted overwhelmingly against data centers and artificial intelligence growth. In 40 of 41 local ballot races around the country, many in the state of Ohio, voters opted to restrict or prohibit new data center constructions in their areas.
Much of the growing opposition to data centers has come from rising electricity prices, which are squeezing Americans in a time of already high prices and cost of living.
But, according to a new study by researchers at Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania, data centers are probably having only a small effect on residential electricity prices. The researchers calculated that these operations were responsible for just 4 percent of the utility rate increases over the last five years.
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"Even to me it was somewhat surprising," said Serguei Netessine, professor at
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Nov 06, 2026
Washington — A federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from beginning construction on President Trump's proposed triumphal arch late Thursday, siding — for now — with a group of Vietnam veterans and the District of Columbia and Virginia, which sued to stop the project.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan ruled in a brief order that the government cannot start any "construction-related activity" for 14 days, while further legal proceedings play out. She said she would explain her reasoning in a forthcoming opinion.
The ruling came shortly after the National Capital Planning Commission voted Thursday to approve plans for the 250-foot triumphal arch, giving the final go-ahead for the monument that's set to be constructed between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery.
The NCPC, which acts as the federal government's planning agency for the region and is stacked with Trump allies, voted 8-4 to greenlight the project after almost 9 hours of public comments from members of Congress, veterans, architects and Washington, D.C., and Virginia residents.
Chutkan's order aside, it's unclear how soon construction of the arch could start, though the Justice Department said in a court filing last month that it could begin as soon as Thursday.
In a separate filing Wednesday night, the Trump administration said that a construction company "may be — but is not necessarily — arranging off-site preparations for construction mobilization in anticipation of permit approval" at the site.
Ahead of the meeting, the NCPC's executive director, Mark Paoletta, recommended approval of the final site and building plans for the structure, which is supposed to
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Nov 06, 2026
There are stretches of high desert in northwestern New Mexico where Mother Nature has sculpted otherworldly forms using wind, rain and the passage of time.
Hefty planks of rock defy gravity as they balance atop spindly pedestals of clay, while some columns of sandstone take on the appearance of lace, elaborately eroded by the seasons.
Tour guide Kialo Winters shares this piece of his homeland on the edge of the Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah Wilderness with visitors regularly. On a recent Friday afternoon, the founder of Navajo Tours USA rounded a bend and found one of the area's most famous features had collapsed.
The Alien Throne — or Tsé Bináká Níyol as it's known in his language — was no more. His heart dropped.
"It was surreal," he told The Associated Press. "I had to sort of just pause. A lot of things ran through my head."
The Alien Throne and the nearby King of Wings formation collapsed within weeks of each other, toppled by the very forces of nature that created them.
Back-to-back storms destroy homes and hoodoos
The southwestern U.S. has endured major rounds of storms over recent weeks, with rain falling on ground already soaked from an especially wet fall.
Parts of New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and Arizona have watched rivers crest and floodwaters course through usually dry washes, destroying homes, further saturating the soil and eroding the landscape.
The water is receding and cleanup is underway, but officials estimate the damage could stretch into the hundreds of millions of dollars.
Winters still is concerned for relatives on the Navajo Nation, where many dirt roads became impassable or were washed away altogether by what he descr
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Nov 05, 2026
In a video on social media, Hegseth said, "A disgruntled, defeated congressman, along with all his Democrat allies, has also dropped sham articles of impeachment against yours truly, just like they tried against President Trump twice."
Hegseth was referring to Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who said Wednesday that he plans to reintroduce articles of impeachment when the House is back in session. Lawmakers are scheduled to return to Washington on Monday.
"It's all about the politics of personal destruction," Hegseth added. "Didn't work against President Trump, and it won't work with me. You can rest assured of that."
In the more-than-five-minute video, Hegseth only briefly touched on the Iran war — a driving force behind the effort to impeach him, as well as GOP losses in this week's midterm elections.
Massie, who lost his GOP primary after he crossed Trump, urged Trump on Thursday to replace Hegseth while he still has a GOP majority in the Senate.
"My Hegseth impeachment resolution is a much gentler version of what's coming when Dem's control Congress. They'll have hearings & trials," he said on X.
"There is one contingency in which I won't reintroduce the articles of impeachment: Hegseth resigns," Massie wrote Wednesday.
Numerous Democrats have indicated a desire to oust Hegseth since their midterm election wins,
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Nov 05, 2026
Texas Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa (D) vowed to protect Texans from data center projects after she is sworn into office in January.
"Well, we have always been a pro-business state in Texas, but what changes now with me as governor is it has to be a partnership that benefits Texans," Hinojosa said during an appearance on CNN on Thursday night. "And right now, what has happened is data centers have moved into mostly rural communities, and there are no rules and laws to protect Texans, and Texans are being taken advantage of."
She plans to implement "laws to protect Texans" and to stop working with data centers "until we have those protections."
"We can have a strong economy, strong industry, and protections for the people of Texas. Those things are not mutually exclusive, and I'll make sure, as governor, I lead to ensure that that happens," she expressed.
CNN's Jake Tapper clarified that Hinojosa is not ruling out data centers being built in the Lone Star State, but that the incoming governor wanted "there to be regulations to protect communities. Is that right?"
"And that communities have a seat at the table to decide if and how these data centers come into their communities. Texas is like a country. We are so diverse in all ways," Hinojosa responded. "So, absolutely, we need to make sure they are partners in this effort, and that has always been my position. It is not that I hate data centers. I hate the way they are taking advantage of Texas, and that stops when I'm governor."
Hinojosa's defeat of outgoing Texas Gov. Greg Abbot
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Nov 05, 2026
For the second time this year, three executions by lethal injection were carried out on the same day, this time in Indiana, Florida and Alabama.
An Indiana man who admitted killing his girlfriend's two children was executed in the early morning hours Thursday. Jeffrey Weisheit killed the children, ages 8 and 5, by setting fire to his girlfriend's house in the Evansville area in 2010.
Weisheit died at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City. The lethal injection started just after midnight and he was pronounced dead at 12:45 a.m. local time, according to Noelle Russell, Indiana Department of Correction chief communications officer.
She said Weisheit's final meal was barbecue ribs and he had no final words. Weisheit was Indiana's first execution of the year.
Early Thursday evening, Florida carried out its record-tying 19th execution of the year.
Jesse Guardado, 64, was pronounced dead at 6:13 p.m. local time following a three-drug injection at a state prison in Starke.
Guardado had pleaded guilty to fatally stabbing a 75-year-old woman inside her Walton County home in 2004 before stealing her jewelry box, $80 and other valuables to buy drugs. The woman had helped him get a job and housing.
A federal appeals court in 2024 said Guardado, now 64, had received a "full and fair" hearing during the death penalty phase of his case.
In Alabama, 54-year-old Michael Taylor received the last lethal injection of the day for his conviction in the killing of an elderly man and woman in a 1991 home robbery.
Taylor was pronounced dead at 6:10 p.m. local time. The execution got underway shortly before 6 p.m. as Taylor replied "no sir" when aske
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Nov 05, 2026
Republicans on Capitol Hill are on the clock. They have less than two months left in power before the new, Democrat-led Congress is sworn in and their window of unified control in Washington, D.C., comes to an end. Even as the votes are still being counted, GOP leaders have been putting together plans for what they hope to accomplish before they lose power.
"Our job is nowhere close to being finished yet," House Speaker Mike Johnson reportedly told attendees at a watch party Tuesday night as Democratic victories piled up.
The period between the November election and the day in early January when new lawmakers are sworn in, often called the "lame duck" session, can be quite productive as lawmakers move with urgency to get things done while they still can. Some of the most important actions taken by Congress in modern history — the legislative response to the Watergate scandal, the Clinton impeachment, the creation of the Department of Homeland Security and several Supreme Court confirmations — all happened during various lame duck windows.
Republicans will have a long list of priorities when Congress reconvenes on Monday, but there are also plenty of potential hurdles that could hinder their progress. Here's a look at what congressional Republicans want to do and some of the possible curveballs that could derail their plans.
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Nov 05, 2026
The Oval Office is set for a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Norway's Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store at the White House on April 24, 2025. - Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images/File
President Donald Trump signed a proclamation on Thursday that he said would designate the White House's Oval Office and Cabinet Room as national landmarks — a move he said would protect the two West Wing spaces from future changes.
The signing ceremony, which came on the heels of Republicans' stunning midterm losses on Tuesday, was his third event of the week related to his construction or renovation projects in the nation's capital — which have been largely unpopular with voters.
"It concerns the Oval Office and the Cabinet Room, very important spaces. And I'm going to be signing a document which will make them into a landmark for the ages," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, which he's extensively gilded since returning to the White House in early 2025.
Trump said the administration would send the document to Congress.
"So we're going to be declaring it a national monument, and we're going to send it over to Congress, have it ratified," he said.
"It's a federal landmark — and when completed and when we get the documentation fully done, legally binding, it'll make it impossible for anybody ever to destroy this incredible space," he added.
CNN has reached out to the White House about the document and Trump's intenti
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Nov 05, 2026
Mississippi is one of the reddest states in America, so this year's U.S. Senate race between Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith and her Democratic challenger Scott Colom wasn't supposed to be especially close.
Now it couldn't be closer.
As of Thursday afternoon, Colom was leading Hyde-Smith by a mere 1,724 votes, according to the Associated Press. That's just 0.19% of all ballots cast. As a result, the AP has yet to call the contest, even though 96% of the vote is in.
Along with Alaska — which also remains too close to call — the outcome in Mississippi will determine whether Democrats can expand their new Senate majority beyond its current size (54 seats) by flipping even more red states than they already have.
But Alaska was supposed to be a toss-up. Mississippi wasn't really on the national radar. President Trump won the state by 23 percentage points in 2024 — his third straight win there. Looking ahead to the 2026 Senate race, analysts said it was a "likely Republican" hold. Barely anyone bothered to
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Nov 05, 2026
US stocks plunged on Thursday as AI and chip stocks sold off, erasing the gains from Wednesday's post-election rally.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) tumbled 3.4%, or more than 1,800 points. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) fell 4.3%, and the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) dropped 5.5%, with the tech-heavy index closing in correction territory.
The Nasdaq-100 (^NDX) fell 6.3%, erasing $2.3 trillion in market value.
The PHLX Semiconductor index (^SOX) plummeted 12% as Nvidia (NVDA), Micron (MU), and other chip names sank. Wall Street unloaded this year's AI winners, while large-cap tech stocks saw the worst day since the COVID-19 pandemic sell-off.
Investors
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Nov 05, 2026
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Thursday signed a proclamation that he says will preserve the Oval Office and Cabinet Room as a national monument, his first official action after his party was swept aside in midterm elections on Tuesday.
But the action does not prevent future presidents from restyling the iconic office that Trump has filled to the brim with gold flourishes, nor does it prevent a successor from rolling back the proclamation itself. Trump himself has reversed national monument designations made by his predecessors.
Trump, however, described the Oval Office order in expansive terms. "It will not be allowed to be touched by anybody, destroyed, ripped down by stupid people, in order to build something in a slightly different shape," Trump said. "We like the Oval Office, and it's a symbol, like the White House itself."
It was the third day this week that the president, a real estate mogul, delivered remarks fixated on his pet projects in Washington. On Wednesday, a day after Republicans suffered defeats in key races across the country, Trump gathered reporters to sign the final beam being raised during construction of his opulent ballroom project. On Monday, he went to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool to talk about his renovation of the landmark.
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Nov 05, 2026
Democrats continue to celebrate one of the most lopsided midterm election victories in modern U.S. history, routing their Republican rivals to gain control of the U.S. House, U.S. Senate and statehouses across the country.
In the Senate, Democrats flipped seven seats and now hold 54 to the Republican Party's 44. Two seats — nail-biting contests in Alaska and Mississippi — remain undeclared.
To do so, Democrats won a series of key battleground contests. In Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed defeated Mike Rogers in one of the most closely watched races of the midterms. James Talarico beat Republican Ken Paxton in Texas, becoming the first Democrat to win a U.S. Senate seat in the Lone Star State since 1988. Annie Andrews beat Sen. Darline Graham in South Carolina to flip a Senate seat. In Maine, Democrat Troy Jackson defeated incumbent Sen. Susan Collins, putting an end to her three-decade tenure. Sen. Jon Ossoff comfortably won reelection in Georgia. Other Senate seats to flip to the Democratic Party included Roy Cooper in North Carolina, Sherrod Brown in Ohio, Josh Turek in Iowa and Adam H
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Nov 05, 2026
Voters weighed in on tax ballot initiatives across at least 10 states this week, returning verdicts that demonstrate plenty of "tax the rich" sentiment despite the likely failure of California's high-profile plan for a wealth tax.
Other successful measures sought to limit taxes on Americans of more modest means either through new caps on state income taxes or lower property taxes.
Voters' affordability worries ran, "at least in part, through the tax code," as the Tax Foundation summarized the results in a wrap-up of the races.
Californians gather the day after the midterm elections in San Diego, Calif., on Nov. 4. (Reuters/Mike Blake)REUTERS / REUTERSIn California, a billionaire tax imposing a one-time 5% wealth tax on state residents and trusts with assets over $1 billion appeared on track to fail, after voters cooled on the effort as the campaign wound down.
But proponents of other taxes on the rich cou
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Nov 05, 2026
Los Angeles mayoral candidate Nithya Raman with supporters in Los Angeles on election night.Photograph: Chris Torres/EPA
Nithya Raman on Thursday unseated Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass after a neck-and-neck race for the leadership for the US's second largest city.
Related: Democratic socialist Nithya Raman wins Los Angeles mayoral race over incumbent Karen Bass
The young progressive's victory means that the two largest cities in the US, as well the nation's capital, Washington DC, have now all elected democratic socialist mayors.
Though Raman's political ascendance in Los Angeles has sparked many comparisons to New York City's mayor Zohran Mamdani, her political profile in her home town is very different from Mamdani's, as is her often tense relationship with the local chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America.
Here's some key facts about LA's new mayor:
Raman broke into politics in 2020 by unseating an establishment Democrat on LA's powerful city council.
When Raman, an urban planner and political outsider, won a seat on LA's city council in 2020, it was the first time that a sitting city council member had been ousted in 17 years. One LA political analyst called her win "a political earthquake". Raman, whose campaign was endorsed by Bernie Sanders, was also the first DSA-endorsed candidate elected to office in Los Angeles. Raman credited her 2020 win to on-the-ground grassroots organizing, telling the Guardian at the time: "We knocked on 80,000 doors, which a
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Nov 05, 2026
California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks at a rally at the Hollywood Palladium on Sunday. (Ariana Drehsler / For The Times)Gov. Gavin Newsom told the California Supreme Court Thursday that he will commute the death sentences of all 548 state prisoners awaiting execution, reducing their punishments to life in prison without parole.
Newsom can commute about 40% of the death sentences with the stroke of a pen, but the rest will require the high court's approval in order to be finalized.
The mass commutation would apply to inmates convicted of some of the most heinous acts in the state's history. Newsom and other opponents of capital punishment have long argued that the process is costly, cruel and discriminatory, with death sentences disproportionately handed down to defendants of color.
"I take this action because I firmly believe that state-sanctioned killing is incompatible with California's values, undermines the foundation of our legal system, and diminishes each of us," Newsom wrote in a letter to Californians explaining his decision. "I know we cannot execute people in our imperfect legal system and remain true to our core values, first among them justice and human decency."
The move comes in Newsom's final months as governor and as he considers a run for president. Reducing the death sentences could help him in a primary with a Democratic base of like-minded liberal voters, but pot
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Nov 05, 2026
Washington — Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant attorney general in charge of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, resigned on Thursday, Attorney General Todd Blanche said.
"Today, I accepted the resignation of Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, who led the Civil Rights Division with conviction the past 18 months," Blanche wrote in a post on X. "She has defended the civil liberties of every American and enforced the law without fear or favor. The Department is grateful for her dedicated public service, and we wish her every success in her future endeavors."
Dhillon oversaw a mass exodus from the Civil Rights Division last year, with more than 75% of its staff departing. She upended many of the division's traditional priorities that focused on combating discrimination against some of the nation's most vulnerable and historically marginalized groups.
Since taking over the division, often lauded as being the "crown jewel" of the DOJ, she has reoriented it to focus instead on other priorities that have included protecting gun owners' rights, curbing the use of equity, diversity and inclusion policies at universities, and adopting legal positions that oppose civil rights protections for transgender people.
During her tenure, the Justice Department closed many of its cases involving discrimination targeting Black Americans and announced it had dismissed more than 50 decades-old consent decrees with public schools, many in the Deep South, that were in place to protect Black students from unlawful discrimin
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Nov 05, 2026
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's administration held secret talks with Iran on deporting Iranians even as the war there dragged on, court documents obtained by The Associated Press show.
The court documents unsealed Thursday show the Republican administration as recently as mid-October said it had plans to deport the Iranians through an unnamed third country, although it was unclear when it intended to do so. The judge in the case ordered the government to give the court 24-hour notice of any finalized plans to deport Iranians to Iran or to any other country and five days' written notice before any such deportation is carried out.
The documents show that the administration maintained contacts with Iranian officials during the war over the removals, specifically for submitting travel documents and figuring out "possible avenues for removal."
"We are at war with a country where the President of the United States has said, as recently as two or three days ago, if not yesterday, that it is essentially lawless ... A country that is an enemy of the United States, according to the current president. A country that, according to our president, murdered tens of thousands of protestors," Judge Ana Reyes said according to the Oct. 15 transcript.
"And what you're telling me is that the United States of America is going to send individuals back to that region, facing what you and I and everyone who would ever look at this would know would be, at a minimum, a serious threat of certain death."
"Yes, your honor," Justice Department attorney Dimitar Georgiev-Remmel said. "The government is executing lawful orders of removal."
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The development emerged from
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Nov 05, 2026
US stocks fell suddenly on Thursday as AI and chip stocks sold off, erasing the gains from Wednesday's post-election rally.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) tumbled 2.2%, or over 1,200 points. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) fell 3.3%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) dropped 5%, putting the index on track to close in a correction.
The PHLX Semiconductor index (^SOX) dived 11% as Nvidia (NVDA), Micron (MU), and other chip names sank.
Investors continued to process the Democrats' sweeping victory on Tuesday and its implications for markets and the economy. Amid relief that election
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Nov 05, 2026
Comedian Russell Brand at Southwark Crown Court in London.Anadolu via Getty ImagesA jury in London found comedian and actor Russell Brand guilty of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault.
The actor had been charged on seven counts: three counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault, and one count of attempted indecent assault.
Following Thursday's verdict, London's Metropolitan Police Service told Yahoo that Brand, 51, is facing further allegations of rape from two women.
"The suspect has previously been interviewed under caution in connection with the allegations," the force said in a statement. "Files have been submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service in relation to both complainants." Brand has not been charged in relation to these claims.
Following a four-week trial at Southwark Crown Court in London, the jury found Brand guilty on four of the charges. He was acquitted of two rape counts and one count of attempted indecent assault.
During the trial, the court heard tearful and forceful testimony from the six complainants, wh
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Nov 05, 2026
Meghan Markle's half-brother, Thomas Markle Jr., is a "person of interest" in an investigation by police in the Philippines into alleged child sexual abuse material linked to their father, Thomas Markle, the country's interior secretary said Thursday.
Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla told reporters at a press conference in Manila that authorities were examining whether Markle Jr., 60, was involved but that he was not currently considered a suspect. "We will know in the next week," he said in a video shared by Reuters.
"There are signs that point that the son is involved in the crime as well, but only as a person of interest so far," he said, adding that "he is not currently considered a suspect."
Thomas Markle, 82, has been under investigation since October in the Philippines over allegations that he possessed child sexual abuse material. He has not been charged.
The Sun first reported that Markle Jr. told Philippine police that after his father left the Philippines in May, he discovered images of child sexual abuse material among boxes at his father's former home in Cebu.
Remulla told AFP on Oct. 24 that police inspected Markle Sr.'s former home in Cebu following a report from his son and found a "trove" of suspected child sexual abuse material and a laptop.
Markle Sr. has vehemently denied the allegations against him, telling the British newspaper the
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Nov 05, 2026
US First Lady Melania Trump called for a new ceasefire in Ukraine after the expiry of a temporary truce in the ruined town of Oleshky (SAUL LOEB)US First Lady Melania Trump called for a new, "more enduring" ceasefire in Ukraine as she hosted officials from the war-torn country and its invader Russia at the White House on Thursday.
Trump earlier helped negotiate a six-day ceasefire in the Russian-occupied town of Oleshky, which ended on Sunday. The brief pause was one of the most notable instances of Russian-Ukrainian cooperation since Moscow invaded its neighbour in 2022.
"I hope Oleshky inspires greater peace. Every significant transformation begins with a small spark," Trump told reporters at a joint press conference with Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev and Ukrainian ceasefire negotiator David Arakhamia.
"Now we must use the courage we brought to Oleshky to find common ground through a shared concern for the suffering of innocent people," Trump added. "Together, we can create something more enduring than a temporary ceasefire."
She concluded by saying that she had written personal letters to Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky.
"The ceasefire in Oleshky would not be possible without President Putin and President Zelensky. Their cooperation establishes a meaningful precedent for advancing peace throughout the region," she added.
Ukraine's human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets presented Melania Trump with a national award for her role in brokering the Oleshky ceasefire that enabled the evacuation of civilians.
Dmitriev said that "on behalf of President Putin, on behalf of people of the Russian Federation, we would like to thank First Lady Melania Trump for her distinguished humanitarian role
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Nov 05, 2026
Comedian Russell Brand at Southwark Crown Court in London.Anadolu via Getty ImagesA jury in London has found comedian and actor Russell Brand guilty of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault.
The actor had been charged on seven counts: three counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault, and one count of attempted indecent assault.
After the verdict, London's Metropolitan Police Service told Yahoo that Brand, 51, is facing further allegations of rape from two women.
"The suspect has previously been interviewed under caution in connection with the allegations," the force said in a statement. "Files have been submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service in relation to both complainants." Brand has not been charged in relation to these claims.
Following a four-week trial at Southwark Crown Court in London, the jury found Brand guilty on four of the charges. He was acquitted of two rape counts and one count of attempted indecent assault.
Brand is due to be sentenced at Southwark Crown Court on Monday, Nov. 9. The judge said he should
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Nov 05, 2026
By Tim Reid
WASHINGTON, Nov 5 (Reuters) - With the US midterms over, Democrats are turning to what could become one of their most crowded and unpredictable presidential primaries in decades, a 2028 contest likely to expose the party's divide over how to win back the White House.
No Democrat has emerged as a clear favorite in a field that could attract dozens of contenders, while Republicans ?have a smaller group of widely discussed candidates, led by Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, to succeed President Donald Trump, who is constitutionally barred from seeking a third term.
Potential Democratic ?candidates, including sitting governors and senators, have spent months cultivating donors, visiting states with early nominating contests and raising their national profiles, positioning themselves for a race that strategists expect to begin in earnest now that the midterms are over.
The sweeping victories by Democrats on Tuesday, when voters ?delivered a sharp rebuke to Trump and his agenda, will intensify discussions within both parties about how to win over an electorate unhappy with the country's direction.
Despite their resounding victories on Tuesday, Democrats enter the 2028 campaign still divided over whether to tack to the center or move further left on issues ranging from healthcare and taxes to policing and foreign policy.
Republican candidates will face a different challenge - how to distance themselves from Trump after Tuesday's repudiation of his policies. They need to broaden their appeal beyond the president's base while avoiding a break with the populist Make America Great Again movement that has come to define the party.
Trump, who has dominated the political landscape for a decade, may be reluctant to yield center ?stage, and his continued influence with MAGA followers could complicate the path of ?the party's next standard-bearer.
LOOMING DEMOCR
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Nov 05, 2026
A complex mission lies ahead for investigators trying to determine why a Learjet dove into the ground and exploded in South Florida, killing nine people, including two children.
How did the pilots lose control of the aircraft? Did the jet go into a "Mach tuck," its nose suddenly pitching downward in a trajectory nearly impossible to recover from? What role did icing play in the fatal fall from the sky?
Investigators will scrutinize the towering and turbulent storm the jet encountered, every aircraft piece recovered and every word the co-pilot spoke to air traffic controllers in the final minutes of her life, expert pilots told USA TODAY. Those experts said pilots of the mid-sized high-altitude Learjet may have faced little margin for error in difficult flying conditions, raising concerns about "Mach tuck," an infamous nose-down flying condition.
"Every single one of those pieces will be a clue in putting this whole picture together," said Hassan Shahidi, president and CEO of the Flight Safety Foundation.
The Nov. 1 crash killed the
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Nov 05, 2026
President Donald Trump hopes to win approval Thursday for his planned 250-foot-tall triumphal arch, which he calls a necessary addition to Washington. He may end the day with work finally underway - or blocked by a federal judge.
The National Capital Planning Commission, which Trump has stocked with allies, on Thursday afternoon will review final plans for the arch, proposed near Arlington National Cemetery. The commission is expected to approve the project - after extensive public testimony and debate - and administration officials say they could begin construction immediately.
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The project's opponents have beseeched U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan to stop work before it starts. "The Court should not allow this lawless project to evade scrutiny," Brian Schwalb and Jay Jones, the attorneys general for D.C. and Virginia, wrote in a joint court filing Wednesday.
Trump has spent more than a year touting plans for the arch, which he says is needed to commemorate the nation's 250th anniversary. The monument would rise in Memorial Circle, a traffic roundabout tucked inside Washington's boundaries. The current Congress has not authorized the project, and opponents argue it would violate multiple federal laws, overwhelm the site and wrongly overshadow the national military cemetery.
The Trump administration says building the arch will complete a century-old vision for the site that Congress had authorized. The president extolled the arch again Wednesday while touring another of his projects, a new W
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Nov 05, 2026
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth testifies during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on Capitol Hill, on July 21. - Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
President Donald Trump may have made the decision to launch the war that tanked voters' support for the GOP and dealt them a midterm shellacking. But the historic losses are accelerating a push for someone else to take the fall: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
And the House could vote as soon as next week to impeach the Pentagon's top leader.
Many Republican lawmakers and allies alarmed by Tuesday's wipeout are moving swiftly to pin blame for the election results on Hegseth, arguing behind the scenes that he played a chief role in convincing Trump to attack Iran with no exit strategy — and no plan for managing the inevitable political fallout.
The knives-out campaign comes despite private acknowledgement from House and Senate GOP strategists that the party's problems extended far beyond the war, triggering 2008-level losses that will take years to reverse. But for now, party leaders - and many in their ranks - remain unwilling to directly blame Trump for their woes.
Even among House Republicans who survived Tuesday's onslaught, there's zero expectation they will suddenly break from the president with two years left in his term. Yet that fealty does not extend to Hegseth, the combative defense secretary who has made few friends on Capitol Hill since taking over command of the Pentagon.
House Republicans are expected to vote to directly repudiate the defense secretary in a matter of days. Rep. Thomas Ma
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Nov 05, 2026
Democrats celebrated sweeping successes in the midterm elections as the party regained control of the House, Senate and statehouses across the country.
Democrats flipped seven Senate seats to hold 54 seats to the Republican Party's 44 in one of the most lopsided recent midterm performances. Two seats — nail-biting contests in Alaska and Mississippi — remain undeclared.
Mississippi is unexpectedly competitive, and with 96% of the votes counted, Democrat candidate Scott Colom leads Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith by 0.1%, according to the Associated Press.
As Republicans licked their wounds, President Trump signaled he would work with Democrats, but indicated he wouldn't hesitate to use his veto powers. The president also acknowledged Wednesday that the eight-month-long Iran war had hit the Republican vote, but defended his actions. "If I had to do it again, I'd have to do it again," he said, adding, "you can't let Iran have a nuclear weapon."
Vice President JD Vance had earlier blamed the scale of GOP losses on the war with Iran in a post on X, "The real reason we lost is obvious to almost everyone," he wrote. "The reason we lost is the war."
Democrats won a series
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Nov 05, 2026
A Ryanair flight which landed in Sofia on Thursday [Reuters]
Several flights across Europe have been targeted by bomb threats for the second time this week.
Flights bound for Italy, Poland, Bulgaria, Austria and Czechia have been affected, including an Aer Lingus plane which departed Dublin for Rome but was forced to divert to Evreux air base in northern France on Thursday morning.
Italian fighter jets escorted a Finnair flight travelling from Helsinki to the Italian capital, where it landed as scheduled.
It comes just days after eight European flights, including two departing from the UK, were targeted by suspected bomb threats. No explosives were found on any of the planes after searches.
A statement from Aer Lingus confirmed that flight EI402 from Dublin to Rome "diverted to Normandy this morning as a security precaution."
It added: "The flight landed safely and Aer Lingus will work to re-accommodate customers to their final destination as soon as possible."
The following flights have been affected on Thursday:
Aer Lingus flight from Dublin to Rome diverted to a French airbase after a bomb threat
Finnair flight from Helsinki to Rome was targeted by a bomb threat and landed as normal, the airline said. It was was escorted into Fiumicino airport by Italian Air Force fighter jets, a spokesperson for Aeroporti di Roma told the BBC
Second Finnair flight travelling from Helsinki to Vienna faced a bomb threat and landed as normal in Austria
Wizz Air flight from Milan, Italy, to Warsaw, Poland, issued an emergency
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Nov 05, 2026
Democrats celebrated sweeping successes in the midterm elections as the party regained control of the House, Senate and statehouses across the country.
Democrats flipped seven Senate seats to hold 54 seats to the Republican Party's 44 in one of the most lopsided recent midterm performances. Two seats — nail-biting contests in Alaska and Mississippi — remain undeclared.
As Republicans licked their wounds, President Trump signaled he would work with Democrats, but indicated he wouldn't hesitate to use his veto powers. The president also acknowledged Wednesday that the eight-month-long Iran war had hit the Republican vote, but defended his actions. "If I had to do it again, I'd have to do it again," he said, adding, "you can't let Iran have a nuclear weapon."
Vice President JD Vance had earlier blamed the scale of GOP losses on the war with Iran in a post on X, "The real reason we lost is obvious to almost everyone," he wrote. "The reason we lost is the war."
Democrats won a series of key battleground contests.
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Nov 05, 2026
(Bloomberg) -- Americans handed Democrats a thumping midterm victory on Tuesday, and with it, a mandate to fix their money problems. In survey after survey, voters voiced their anger over the state of the US economy, especially the cost of essentials like food, gas and housing.
Most Read from Bloomberg
Morgan Stanley Offers $2.3 Billion Debt for Dell Family DealDemocrats Clinch Huge Wins on Inflation Anger, Trump FatigueWhat the Democrats' Sweep of Congress Means for TrumpDemocrats Sweep to Control of Congress in Rebuke of TrumpTrump Now Has to Govern Through a Midterm Meltdown of His Own MakingMany voters now expect their newly elected leaders to do something to lower the cost of living and help them save. But it's rarely that simple. Congress can't control markets and GDP growth, much less gas prices and groceries. And while candidates have pledged to push back on tariffs and the Iran war, much still lies in President Donald Trump's control. Nevertheless, elections mat
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Nov 05, 2026
By Tim Reid
WASHINGTON, Nov 5 (Reuters) - With the US midterms over, Democrats are turning to what could become one of their most crowded and unpredictable presidential primaries in decades, a 2028 contest likely to expose the party's divide over how to win back the White House.
No Democrat has emerged as a clear favorite in a field that could attract dozens of contenders, while Republicans have a smaller ?group of widely discussed candidates, led by Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, to succeed President Donald Trump, who is constitutionally barred from seeking a third term.
Potential Democratic candidates, including sitting governors ?and senators, have spent months cultivating donors, visiting states with early nominating contests and raising their national profiles, positioning themselves for a race that strategists expect to begin in earnest now that the midterms are over.
The sweeping victories by Democrats on Tuesday, when voters delivered a sharp rebuke to Trump ?and his agenda, will intensify discussions within both parties about how to win over an electorate unhappy with the country's direction.
Despite their resounding victories on Tuesday, Democrats enter the 2028 campaign still divided over whether to tack to the center or move further left on issues ranging from healthcare and taxes to policing and foreign policy.
Republican candidates will face a different challenge - how to distance themselves from Trump after Tuesday's repudiation of his policies. They need to broaden their appeal beyond the president's base while avoiding a break with the populist Make America Great Again movement that has come to define the party.
Trump, who has dominated the political landscape for a decade, may be reluctant to yield center stage, and his continued influence with MAGA followers could complicate the path ?of the party's next standard-bearer.
LOOMING DEMOCRAT
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Nov 05, 2026
Vice President JD Vance takes the stage before he speaks at a campaign rally in Swanton, Ohio, on November 2. - Tom Brenner/Getty Images
Vice President JD Vance's seemingly straightforward path to succeeding President Donald Trump suddenly looks much murkier.
The Republican shellacking in Tuesday's midterm elections has quickly triggered a public reckoning within the GOP over Trump's place in the future of the party — one that threatens to complicate Vance's efforts to consolidate party support behind a widely anticipated White House bid.
Vance appeared to recognize the danger Wednesday morning, blaming the party's sweeping losses on the war with Iran and distancing himself from Trump's unpopular foreign policy decisions. In a lengthy post on X, Vance appeared to sketch out what the foundations for his own 2028 platform, centered on ending the war, tackling affordability, refocusing on domestic challenges and reconsidering America's relationship with Israel.
"To the people who are just pissed at the results, you should be," he wrote. "Let's take that anger and get back to the work of saving our country."
But there are already signs
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Nov 05, 2026
A single ticket in New Jersey won the $847 million Powerball Wednesday night, one of the 10 biggest jackpots in the lottery's history.
The ticket holder matched the winning numbers, 15, 34, 41, 53 and 56, as well as the red 21 Powerball, to take the prize.
The winner can either take a one-time payment of $363.1 million before taxes, or they can choose an annuity that is paid out over the next 29 years.
A total of 25 people won $50,000 in the draw, while four Power Play winners boosted their prizes to $100,000.
The win ends the three-month Powerball jackpot drought, after the last grand prize winner claimed $1.04 billion in Illinois, which was the eighth-largest win in the game's history.
While the jackpot is one of the biggest ever, the winner may never disclose their identity. Under New Jersey state law, the winner has the right to remain completely anonymous indefinitely.
The next Powerball drawing on Nov. 7 will offer players a chance to win $20 million.
What are the biggest Powerball wins?The latest win is the ninth largest Powerball prize.
The largest jackpot ever won, $2.04 billion, went to Edwin Castro, who bought the winning ticket at Joe's Service Center in Altadena, Calif., in 2022. Castro has generally kept a low profile, but the
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Nov 05, 2026
A customer holds a number slip for Powerball lottery tickets in Hawthorne, California, on August 25, 2025. - Patrick T. Fallon/AFP/Getty Images
A single Powerball ticket in New Jersey has won an estimated $847 million after matching all six numbers in Wednesday's drawing, the company said Thursday.
The winning numbers were 15, 34, 41, 53, 56, and red Powerball 21, with a Power Play multiplier of 2x.
The winner has the option to take a one-time payment of $363.1 million or an annuity paid out over 29 years.
There were no winners for the $2 million and $1 million Match 5 prizes.
Wednesday's jackpot was the ninth-largest prize in game history and the second-largest prize so far this year, according to game officials. Powerball updated the jackpot from $835 million, raising it from being the tenth-largest prize in game history.
The last time the Powerball jackpot was won was August 12, when a lucky player claimed a $1.04 billion jackpot in Illinois.
Powerball drawings take place three times a week, on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday, at 10:59 p.m. ET. The jackpot will reset to $20 million for Saturday's drawing.
The odds of winning Wednesday's jackpot were extremely slim, at an estimated 1 in 292.2 million, according to the lottery.
This jackpot cycle was the first in which players in the United
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Nov 04, 2026
District Attorney and U.S. Senate candidate for Mississippi Scott Colom speaks as he gives an update on state of Senate race against Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith in Jackson, Mississippi, on Nov. 4, 2026. —Rogelio V. Solis—Getty ImagesAs Democrats are celebrating a historic blue wave, eyes are on the Senate race in deep-red Mississippi, where the Democratic candidate led the Republican incumbent by a razor-thin margin of 1,138 votes as of Wednesday evening.
The Associated Press has not yet called the race because it is so close, with Democratic challenger Scott Colom ahead by about 0.1%—he has so far earned 49% of the vote compared to Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith's 48.9%, with 96% of votes counted. It's a stunning nail-biter of a race that, in the weeks leading up to Election Day, polls had suggested would likely be won by the Republican incumbent by a narrow margin.
"I can't recall the last time it's been this close for a statewide Senate contest—or a statewide election in general," says Aaron Hitefield, an assistant professor of political science at Mississippi State University. "It's unprecedented for [Mississippi] to be this competitive for Democrats particularly, certainly in the last 40 years."
Read More: What Democrats' Midterm Gains Reveal About Trump's Voter Coalition
Political experts say it co
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Nov 04, 2026
Hours before Indiana was poised to carry out its first execution of the year, set for Thursday before sunrise, lawyers and supporters for the condemned man rallied to spare his life after new details emerged about the state's secretive process of obtaining lethal injection drugs.
Attorneys for Jeffrey Weisheit, 50, called on Indiana Gov. Mike Braun to halt his lethal injection execution and order an independent review of the state's procedures over allegations that the state obtained its chemicals from a pharmacy currently on probation and facing suspension of its license.
"Laid bare, the apparent conduct here is patently unworthy of the public's confidence in the solemn exercise of state power in taking a human being's life in the name of the people," Joe Perkovich, an attorney for Weisheit, said in a statement Wednesday.
Jeffrey Weisheit. (Indiana Department of Correction via AP)Weisheit, who was convicted in the 2010 murders of two young children in a house fire, did not contest his guilt but sought clemency from Braun for his sentence to be commuted to life in prison without parole. His attorneys are citing Tennessee's failed lethal injection execution of Christa Pike on Sept. 30 in his new application to the governor seeking a reprieve, saying Indiana's protocol is "more susceptible to catastrophic failures such as the one that
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Nov 04, 2026
President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth would remain on the job, even as he acknowledged that the war with Iran had contributed to Republicans' sweeping midterm losses and as Democrats prepare to use their new congressional majority to potentially investigate the Pentagon chief.
Trump dismissed the possibility of replacing Hegseth, telling reporters he was "doing a great job." When asked about speculation that Hegseth is eyeing Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn's soon-to-be-vacated Tennessee seat, Trump predicted the defense secretary would be "very popular" in the state.
Blackburn, who won Tennessee's gubernatorial race Tuesday, declined to weigh in on who might be picked to fill her Senate seat. Asked about who would be appointed, she said, "It's not a conversation for today."
Hegseth says War Powers deadline doesn't apply because of ceasefire with IranTrump's remarks come as Republicans grapple with the political fallout from the eight-month war with Iran, which has driven up gas prices and fueled voter frustration over the cost of living. The war and its economic consequences are widely seen as a major factor in Republicans' crushing midterm defeat.
"The Iran thing we had to do, and we continue to do it," Trump told reporters, adding that he believes the war will be worth it in the long term.
In April, Hegseth declared a "historic and overwhelming victory" over Iran. But fighting has continued for months, killing and wounding American troops, driving up energy costs and consuming expensive U.S. munitions that could take years to replace.
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
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Nov 04, 2026
Midterms tend to be backlash elections, and the president's party almost always loses seats when voters return to the polls to judge his performance in office.
But not all midterms are created equal.
On Tuesday, Democrats comprehensively routed their Republican rivals, regaining control of the U.S. House, U.S. Senate and statehouses across the country. Along the way, they shattered a series of decades-long Republican winning streaks and notched several historic firsts.
So just how big was this year's blue wave (or "
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Nov 04, 2026
By Nandita Bose, Jarrett Renshaw and Bo Erickson
WASHINGTON, Nov 4 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump faced pressure from Republicans on Wednesday to change course after a midterm election rout handed Democrats control of Congress and voters rejected his handpicked candidates in key ?races.
Republican allies and strategists called for Trump to shake up his White House personnel, restore discipline and scrap policies they blamed ?for the losses, including the Iran war and tariffs, as his presidency enters its final years.
Veteran Republican strategist John Feehery called the results a "huge disaster" for Trump.
"He needs to clean house," ?Feehery said. "Every day from this point forward, he's becoming more and more lame."
But Trump showed little indication that he viewed the election outcome as a reason to change direction.
"I don't view it as a hit on me," he told Fox News late on Tuesday.
Democrats will now have the power to block Trump's legislation, investigate his administration and challenge his nominees. That is expected to push Trump, who has already used executive authority aggressively, toward an even greater reliance ?on unilateral action.
He will also have to decide whether ?to double down on an agenda that some Republicans fear has become a political liability, particularly for potential successors eyeing White House bids in 2028.
Vice President JD Vance, who is viewed as Trump's likely political heir, appeared to put some ?distance between himself and the president on Wednesday, blaming the Iran war for the midterm losses. Such breaks could become more common if Republicans conclude Trump's longtime grip on the party's voters is weakening, strategists and party officials said.
WHITE HOUSE BRACES FOR STAFF SHAKE-UP, INVESTIGATIONS
Inside the White House, senior aides were bracing for ?staff departures, ?possible Cabinet changes and Democratic
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Nov 04, 2026
An illustration of NASA's Swift Observatory in space - NASA
NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory met a fiery end on Wednesday morning, nearly 22 years after it launched to study the most powerful explosions in the universe.
Data from the US Space Force estimates the 3,200-pound spacecraft plunged into Earth's atmosphere over Indonesia around 7:39 a.m. ET.
While most of the observatory was expected to burn up as it blazed through the thick inner band of Earth's atmosphere, NASA predicted some pieces of the vehicle would survive.
It was not immediately clear whether any surviving debris hit land. Previously, NASA had predicted that the "risk of harm coming to anyone on Earth is unlikely, approximately 1 in 2,100."
The Swift Observatory launched atop a Delta II rocket from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on November 20, 2004. - NASA
A risky reentry
If Swift were launched today, it would likely have to adhere to far stricter safety guidelines regarding end-of-life planning, according to The Aerospace Corporation, which is a federally funded research and development center.
Current orbital debris mitigation standards, which were updated in 2019, mandate that "uncontrolled reentries
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Nov 04, 2026
Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Alaska Dan Sullivan, left, and Democratic candidate Mary Peltola, right. Photos: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff / Flickr / CC BY 2.0, Arctic Warrior / U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Moises Vasquez / Flickr / Public Domain(The Center Square)—The outcome of a tightly contested and controversial U.S. Senate race in Alaska may not be known until the end of the month or later.
U.S. Sen. Dan S. Sullivan, a Republican, is making a bid for a third six-year term. As of 2:20 p.m. EDT, he trails former U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola, a Democrat, by 626 votes with 77% of ballots counted. He has 102,075 votes to her 102,701. The race has been the focus of controversy after The New York Times reported that Peltola's campaign helped recruit a candidate with the same name as Sullivan in an apparent attempt to confuse voters. She has denied doing that.
Twenty-three percent of votes have yet to be tallied. Even when they are, the narrow margin separating the candidates means that the outcome may be decided not at the state's polling sites but through the mail via absentee and questioned ballots.
In the previous midterm congressional election four years ago, Alaska officials said they received 9,143 in-person absentee ballots and 8,009 questioned ballots. Two years
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Nov 04, 2026
Over 800 gold and silver coins have been found from the Ann Francis wreckage.
Archaeologists have finally cracked the code to the famed Ann Francis shipwreck's brass combination treasure lock. However, the 16th century relic didn't open after hours of painstaking trial-and-error. Researchers at Cardiff University and Amgueddfa Cymru, the National Museum of Wales, relied on highly detailed CT scanning equipment to peer inside the mechanical device and learn the code without touching the lock itself.
"It's not every day you get to solve a 400-year-old mystery," David Williams, a Cardiff University biomechanics engineer, said in a statement.
The lock's combination was lost on December 28, 1583, when the merchant ship Ann Francis sailed into a powerful storm during a return voyage from Spain. The exact crew number is unclear, but all of them (around 14 sailors) reportedly drowned after veering off-course and wrecking along the coast of southern Wales. Unfortunately, at least one other death is likely directly tied to the Ann Francis. Archival evidence suggests locals later accused a "detestable woman" named Mother Gabley of being an "execra
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Nov 04, 2026
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) speaks with reporters during an election night watch party in Washington on Nov. 3, 2026. (Tom Brenner / Getty Images)Democrats in Congress gained the power Tuesday night to more forcefully investigate President Trump and rein in his agenda, setting up confrontations that are likely to define the final two years of his presidency.
As party leaders on Wednesday celebrated retaking the House and Senate, they vowed to put Trump and his administration on the defensive with subpoenas and hearings, a role that voters made clear they want them to play. But they also said the top priority would be the issue that swept them to power: making life more affordable.
"We are going to work hard to drive costs down with the president or without him, period," Sen. Chuck Schumer, who is poised to become Senate majority leader, said at a news conference.
Schumer's fellow New Yorker and the House Democratic leader, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, echoed those priorities on CNN: "We ran on affordability, we won decisively on affordability, and now we have a responsibility to govern on affordability."
With power split between the legislative and executive branches, to what degree Washington avoids gridlock will depend on how Trump wields his veto pen and how the Democrats negotiate with him — and how they follow through on pledges to investigate what they called a corrupt administration.
"Make no mistake, whenever Trump defies the will of the American people or the law, we w
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Nov 04, 2026
By John Kruzel
WASHINGTON, Nov 4 (Reuters) - The US midterm election landslide that gives Democrats control of Congress starting in January is fueling questions about the longevity of the Supreme Court's two eldest justices, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, and the durability of its conservative majority.
As Republicans prepare to cede control of the Senate to Democrats for the next two years or ?more, some conservative commentators already are expressing concerns about the health prospects of Thomas, 78, and Alito, 76, placing renewed focus on their continued service on the top US judicial body.
The US Constitution ?assigns the Senate the power to confirm a president's judicial nominations. With a Senate majority, Democrats can block any nominations that Republican President Donald Trump would make to fill potential Supreme Court vacancies, just as Republicans blocked Democratic President Barack Obama from filling one in ?2016.
Thomas has given no public indication of wanting to step down. Alito said last month he would remain for the duration of the current nine-month term, which began in October, even if Democrats were to retake the Senate. Thomas and Alito did not immediately respond to questions from Reuters about whether they are considering retiring.
Thomas and Alito are the court's two most conservative justices and have reliably backed Trump policies in major rulings during his second term in office. The court's 6-3 conservative majority, which has steered American law in a sharply rightward direction on issues from abortion to gun rights to presidential powers, includes three justices Trump appointed during his first term as president.
Alito's comment about remaining ?through the current term followed speculation that he might quickly retire in the ?event Democrats captured the Senate in order to ensure that Trump could get a successor confirmed with Republicans still in control.
Unt
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Nov 04, 2026
US stocks jumped on Wednesday after Democrats won control of both chambers of Congress in a seismic midterm election, paving the way for a divided government.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) rose 3%, or around 1,500 points, while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) climbed 1.7%. The Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) traded up by 1.8% as Apple (AAPL) and Microsoft (MSFT) stocks touched record highs.
Markets swiftly repriced a Democratic sweep of the House and Senate — and the potential for ballot measures and newly elected officials to restrict data center construction. Chip stocks, including Nvidia (NVDA) and Micron (MU), fell m
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Nov 04, 2026
The battle for control of Congress got the lion's share of the attention on Tuesday, but there were a lot of other consequential measures on the ballots that could have a direct impact on voters' lives.
Ballot measures often don't receive much national focus, but every two years, voters across the country decide whether to adopt policies that have major implications for their states. This year was no different.
There were more than 140 measures on the ballot across 40 states. Many touched on some of the biggest issues in U.S. politics, including abortion, transgender rights, voting and the democratic process itself.
Ballot measures can give the people a way to directly alter the laws in their states instead of relying solely on their elected representatives to create policy on their behalf. In some cases, they provide an opportunity for voters to endorse or reject something their state legislature wants to do. In others, regular citizens can get their preferred policy on the ballot directly through a signature-gathering campaign.
Here's a rundown of the results of some of the major measures on statewide ballots this year.
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Nov 04, 2026
Former President Bill Clinton on April 28, 2007 (left); Abdul El-Sayed on Nov. 4, 2026 (right)
Credit: AP Photo/Carlos Osorio; Sarah Rice/Bloomberg via GettyNEED TO KNOWBill Clinton crossed paths with Abdul El-Sayed nearly 20 years agoBoth gave speeches at the University of Michigan commencement in 2007"I just wish every person in the world could have heard you speak today," Clinton told El-Sayed at the timeBill Clinton was a fan of Abdul El-Sayed years before he became Michigan's senator-elect.
In a resurfaced video, the former president praised El-Sayed while giving an address at the 2007 University of Michigan commencement.
"I don't want to embarrass your senior speaker," Clinton said moments after El-Sayed delivered a speech as class valedictorian. "But I wish every person in the world who believes that we are fated to have a clash of civilizations, and cannot reach across the religious divides, could have heard you speak today."
Clinton added, "I just wish every person in the world could have heard you speak today."
On Tuesday, Nov. 3, El-Sayed defeated Mike Rogers to become the first Muslim elected t
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Nov 04, 2026
California's proposed billionaire tax appeared headed for defeat on Wednesday in one of the final verdicts from voters in an election week that saw a wave of anti-billionaire sentiment elsewhere.
The latest results on Wednesday afternoon showed California's Proposition 40 down by over 11 percentage points, with 60% of votes counted but the race not yet formally called.
The referendum would amend California's constitution and impose a one-time 5% tax on California residents and trusts with assets over $1 billion on Jan. 1, 2026. The revenue would primarily go toward healthcare, as well as food assistance and education.
Some assets, such as real property and certain retirement accounts and pensions, were excluded.
The measure was estimated to impact about 200 billionaires in the state. It faced fierce opposition from many in Big Tech and lost steam with voters as Election Day neared.
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Nov 04, 2026
Steve Kornacki is back to give viewers some closure after his epic midterms marathon.
The network's chief data analyst went live for a whopping 10 straight hours for NBC News' coverage of the midterm elections Nov. 3. Throughout the evening, Kornacki regularly appeared on the NBC television network to discuss the election results as they came in. But NBC also hosted a "Kornacki Cam" livestream that stayed with Kornacki all night long.
The stream ended a bit abruptly, though: After impressively staying on for more than 10 hours with virtually no breaks, Kornacki told viewers he'd be taking five minutes and would be "right back," only to never return.
In an early morning X post on Nov. 4, Kornacki explained he had planned to be live for 13 hours but had to dip out a bit earlier than anticipated.
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Nov 04, 2026
Democrats on Tuesday comprehensively routed their Republican rivals, regaining control of the U.S. House, U.S. Senate and statehouses across the country.
It was one of the most lopsided midterm performances in modern U.S. history.
Coming into the night, Republicans held 53 of the Senate's 100 seats; Democrats held 45. To wrest back control of the Senate, Democrats needed a net gain of at least four seats. As at 11:30 a.m. ET on Wednesday, the Democrats had won 54 Senate seats to the GOP's 44 — and they could wind up winning as many as 56 once all the votes are counted in Alaska and Mississippi, where key races have yet to be called.
In Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed defeated Mike Rogers in one of the most closely watched races. James Talarico beat Republican Ken Paxton in Texas, becoming the first Democrat to win a U.S. Senate seat in the Lone Star State since 1988.
Annie Andrews beat GOP Sen. Darline Graham in South Carolina to flip a Senate seat. In Maine, Democrat Troy Jackson defeated incumbent GOP Sen. Susan Collins, putting an end to her three-decade tenure. Sen. Jon Ossoff comfortably won reelection in Georgia. Other Senate seats to flip to
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Nov 04, 2026
US stocks jumped on Wednesday after Democrats won control of both chambers of Congress in a seismic midterm election, paving the way for a divided government.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) rose 2.8%, or around 1,400 points, while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) climbed 1.7%. The Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) traded up by 1.8% as Apple (AAPL) and Microsoft (MSFT) stocks touched record highs.
Markets swiftly repriced a Democratic sweep of the House and Senate — and the potential for ballot measures and newly elected officials to restrict data center construction. Chip stocks, including Nvidia (NVDA) and Micron (MU), fell
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Nov 04, 2026
(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump's social media company and meme coin both plunged after Democrats won a decisive victory in the midterm elections, dinging the multibillion-dollar fortune of a president whose slew of new business ventures became a defining feature of his second term.
Most Read from Bloomberg
Morgan Stanley Offers $2.3 Billion Debt for Dell Family DealDemocrats Sweep to Control of Congress in Rebuke of TrumpWhat the Democrats' Sweep of Congress Means for TrumpDemocrat El-Sayed Wins Michigan Race in Boost to ProgressivesDemocrats Clinch Huge Wins on Inflation Anger, Trump FatigueTrump Media & Technology Group Corp., the parent company of social media platform Truth Social, touched an all-time low of $5.03 on Wednesday. $TRUMP, the virtual token that Trump introduced days before his second inauguration, slid more than 10% in the past 24 hours, according to data provider CoinMarketCap.
The simultaneous drop in both assets — which trade heavily on retail spe
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Nov 04, 2026
CVS Health Corporation (CVS) announced plans on Wednesday to separate into two independent, publicly traded companies, reshaping one of the largest healthcare companies in the US.
Shares of CVS dropped more than 10% on Wednesday. The company also reported quarterly results.
CVS Health intends to separate its insurance, pharmacy benefit management, and healthcare services operations from its retail pharmacy and community healthcare segments.
The planned split marks a major shift from CVS Health's long-term strategy to bring together insurance, pharmacy benefit management, and healthcare services under one single structure.
Under the proposed plan, one company will retain the CVS Health name and house Aetna, CVS Caremark, CVS Specialty, Oak Street Health, and Signify Health.
The second entity will operate under the name CVS Pharmacy. It will include approximately 9,000 retail pharmacy locations and MinuteClinic locations, among other services.
Management believes separating the businesses will allow each organization to operate with greater independence while maintaining the ability to pursue partnerships across the healthcare industry.
The planned separation is expected to be completed in the first half of 2028.
On Wednesday, CVS also reported third quarter results with total revenue increasing 5.4% year over year to $108.4 billion, compared with $102.9 billion in the prior-
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Nov 04, 2026
Washington — President Trump has been asking advisers around him and on the phone whether Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth should stay in his job, following Republicans' catastrophic losses Tuesday night, multiple sources familiar with the matter tell CBS News.
Some White House aides have predicted some of the blame for GOP midterm losses will be trained on Adm. Brad Cooper, the head of U.S. Central Command, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine, who both played big roles in guidance on the Iran war.
Still, other sources said the president hasn't decided to replace Hegseth. Before the election, Democrats were already trying to impeach Hegseth, and the likelihood of an impeachment effort could increase with Democrats holding strong majorities in both chambers.
Vice President JD Vance is blaming the war for the GOP defeat. "The reason we lost is the war," he said in a lengthy post on X Wednesday morning.
One source told CBS News that GOP Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is being floated as a possible replacement for Hegseth, arguing DeSantis could go through Senate confirmation in the lame-duck period and then take the post when his term as governor expires Jan. 5.
Asked for comment about reports that Hegseth's future as defense secretary, White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in a statement that Mr. Trump "has full confidence in Secretary Hegseth." In the statement, Kelly also praised the military operations in Iran and Venezuela and Hegseth's efforts to reverse the Biden Pentagon's prioritizing of "DEI and woke ideology."
This article originally appeared on CBS News at https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-hegseth-midterm-election-losses/
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Nov 04, 2026
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump gave extended comments Wednesday, not about the Republican Party's midterm election wipeout but instead justifying his building a sprawling White House ballroom.
Trump invited reporters into a cavernous construction site and talked about the building project for nearly 20 minutes without mention sweeping Republican defeats around the country the night before.
"This has been a structure the likes of which has never been seen anywhere," Trump said before watching crews erect what he said would be the project's last beam and even signing what was being built.
The president had no public events on his schedule originally, but called reporters together at the last minute. He also briefly took questions, insisting, "If I were on the ballot I would have won."
He said a series of rallies he held leading up the election featured a lot of love from his supporters that "we weren't able to transfer love to the candidates."
Trump's continued heavy focus on the building project comes as midterm voters said they thought he was concentrating on the wrong issues during this year's campaign.
About two-thirds of voters said Trump does not have the right priorities, according to The AP Voter Poll survey — and the overwhelming majority of these voters supported Democratic House candidates. Roughly one-third of voters said Trump has the right priorities.
Even as Trump evaded blame for the election fallout, he had used a flurry of late campaign rallies to implore supporters to pretend that
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Nov 04, 2026
The ScoopAs soon as Republican Sen. Darline Graham won the GOP nomination to replace her late brother in August, Democrat Annie Andrews made her move.
Andrews immediately began spending more than $5 million on advertising in South Carolina's Senate race at a moment when she largely had the airwaves to herself as her new opponent struggled to raise money. At the time, Republicans were racing to prioritize other competitive races across the country — and most people in both parties still saw South Carolina as a pipe dream for Democrats.
But by October, when the rest of the country began tuning into South Carolina — and spending money — Andrews quietly became the frontrunner, according to internal campaign details shared with Semafor following her victory on Tuesday.
On Oct. 5, the Andrews campaign received a poll showing her with a 3-point lead over Graham. But the Democrat's campaign decided against publicly releasing the poll — or any subsequent internal poll — showing Andrews with a lead over Graham, wary of drawing too much attention from national Republicans and jeopardizing a peak at the right time, according to Chas Goldman, a strategist for Andrews.
That Republican attention did come, but not in time to save Graham in a state where Democrats hadn't won a Senate race since 1998. On a Senate map filled with shocking GOP losses, South Carolina stands out: It's the home of the National Republican Senatorial Committee chair, Tim Scott, and territory on which Democrats tried to compete statewide in 2020 — and lost handily.
Former GOP Rep. and Gov. Mark Sanford, R-S.C., told Semafor on Wednesday that he could feel the anti-Graham sentiment building on the state's coast but that most Republicans still felt that Graham could "nose it out" elsewhere. Ultimately, though, he said President Donald Trump's backing of Graham in a crowded primary which included Sanford and Reps. Ralph Norman and Russell Fry "never sat well wi
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Nov 04, 2026
Vice President JD Vance blamed Republicans' sweeping midterm losses on the war with Iran on Wednesday, arguing that voters who backed President Donald Trump in 2024 turned against the Republican Party over the conflict.
"The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night," Vance wrote in a lengthy social media post.
The remarks represent a striking acknowledgment from the vice president that the administration's handling of the Iran conflict has become a political liability for Republicans, even as his boss has defended the approach to the war.
Vance also suggested that Republicans who supported the war should concede the political costs rather than look for alternative explanations for the Tuesday results.
"To the people who are pissed off and want to say, ‘I told you so': you're right, you did tell us so," he wrote in his lengthy post. "Take that energy into electing Republicans who share your worldview."
Vance's assessment of the GOP wreckage quickly gained praise from some close to Trump. Donald Trump Jr., the president's eldest son, reposted Vance's autopsy, adding: "Every word of this is ??????."
The vice president argued that Republican turnout was strong Tuesday but that many voters who supported his ticket two years ago instead cast ballots for Democrats.
"Our voters did show up," Vance wrote. "But the main problem is not turnout. The main problem is that many people who voted for Trump/Vance in 2024 voted for Democrats in 2026."
Vance pointed to four answers an unnamed trusted pollster gave him about what voters said would win their votes back: ending the war, focusing on cost of living, putting "America First" and changing the U.S. relationship to Israel.
Vance — who was initially one of the least supportive members of the administration on the war in Iran but ultimately took on a public-facing r
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Nov 04, 2026
The results of the 2026 midterm elections have delivered a series of historic wins, with candidates across the country breaking barriers — and glass ceilings — at the ballot box. The results come amid a sweeping Democratic victory in a battle for control of Congress, with both chambers shifting from Republican to Democratic majorities starting in January.
Among the headline-making victories are the nation's first Black woman governor, the first Native American woman governor, the first Muslim U.S. senator and the first openly gay man elected to the Senate.
Here's a closer look at the historic wins of the 2026 midterms.
U.S. SenateAbdul El-Sayed
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Nov 04, 2026
US stocks glided higher on Wednesday after Democrats won control of both chambers of Congress in a seismic midterm election, paving the way for a divided government.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) rose 2.1%, while those on the S&P 500 (^GSPC) climbed 1.5%. The Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) traded up by 2%.
AMD (AMD) stock fell slightly following the company's Q3 earnings beat.
Markets swiftly repriced a Democratic sweep of the House and Senate — and the potential for ballot measures and newly elected officials to restrict data center construction. Chip stocks, including Nvidia (NVDA) and Micron
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Nov 04, 2026
Capitals from Kyiv to Tehran were closely watching the U.S. midterm elections for clues about the direction of Washington's foreign policy after two erratic years that have put many leaders in conflict with President Donald Trump.
Those eager to see the president put on his back foot woke up Wednesday to find Republican losses even greater than they expected. But with Democrats set to control both houses of Congress, U.S. allies and foes alike are now wondering whether Trump - weakened and stymied at home - will act more aggressively or unpredictably on the world stage, where the executive has far more unilateral muscle, as he strives to secure a legacy in his remaining two years in office.
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A Democratic Congress could attempt to rein Trump in on several fronts, from imposing war powers restraints on Iran and further cutting back weapons sales and other aid to Israel, to constraining his tariff policies and resuming direct aid to Ukraine.
Implications for war in the Middle East
Tehran, which was hoping for a blow to Trump, now faces the question of whether the president - after such a resounding rebuke of his war policy at the ballot box - will still feel emboldened to resume strikes, as he has threatened in the run-up to the midterms.
On Wednesday, Iranian officials portrayed the Republican defeat as a public verdict on an unpopular and costly war.
"Americans said NO TO WAR, and we endorse this message. If the US govt betrays their public will to serve international paymasters and blackmailers, it will learn our NO comes with a Nightmare," Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the Iranian parliamentary speaker, said on X.
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Nov 04, 2026
Tesla (TSLA) and SpaceX (SPCX) stock fell on Wednesday after Democrats took control of both houses of Congress in a "Blue Wave" that flipped Texas, home to both companies, with potential implications for CEO Elon Musk.
Musk spent $224 million backing Texas Republicans, including $158 million in September alone, per The New York Times, part of at least $446 million he gave to Republican candidates and groups before the vote. Democrat Gina Hinojosa unseated Gov. Greg Abbott to become the first Democratic governor of Texas since 1990, and Democrat James Talarico beat Republican Ken Paxton for the Senate seat.
Tesla and SpaceX both dropped by over 2% despite the broad market rally, which includes Big Tech.
"Both of these stocks have major headline risk if we get a blue sweep," Vikram Rai of FirstNew York told Bloomberg ahead of the election.
Tesla's Austin gigafactory, its robotaxi service in multiple Texas cities, and SpaceX's Starbase launch site all sit under a Democratic governor. SpaceX moved its headquarters from California to Texas in
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Nov 04, 2026
LONDON (AP) — World leaders who have sparred with the "America first" President Donald Trump greeted the rout of his Republican Party in the U.S. midterm elections with a measure of relief Wednesday, allowing themselves to hope for a less combative U.S. foreign policy.
But that hope was seasoned with the expectation that American voters' rebuke would not necessarily end the U.S. conflict with Iran or change Trump's policies on tariffs or his lukewarm-at-best support for Ukraine and America's European allies.
Progressive politicians cast the results as part of a trend of liberal comebacks around the world, following recent defeats for populists on the right in Hungary, Brazil and Serbia.
Spain's social democratic Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez wrote on X that Americans had voted "Against hate. Against machismo. Against climate denialism and against the privileges of the elites."
"It happened in Brazil. It just happened in the US. And it will happen soon in Spain," wrote Sánchez, who faces an election Nov. 29.
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Nov 04, 2026
NEW YORK (AP) — A reopened criminal investigation into gang rape allegations at Cornell University will be led by a former Manhattan federal prosecutor who oversaw high-profile sex crimes cases against music mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs and fashion executive Peter Nygård, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced on Wednesday.
Jacqueline Kelly, a Cornell alumna and partner at the law firm Boies Schiller Flexner, will serve as outside counsel for James' investigation, which was spurred by a former student's allegations in a September lawsuit that several men raped her at a fraternity party in October 2024.
Kelly and a team of lawyers and investigators from her firm and the attorney general's office will be responsible for gathering evidence, interviewing witnesses, reviewing investigative records and reports, and analyzing the facts and applicable law, James said.
They will report to James, who was appointed last month by Gov. Kathy Hochul as a special prosecutor overseeing the Cornell probe. James, a Democrat, made the announcement a day after winning election to a third term.
Separately, two men named as defendants in the former student's lawsuit are want the attorney general removed from the investigation. They argue James is biased because of a social media post she made before her appointment that expressed support for the accuse
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Nov 04, 2026
A strong showing by Democrats in Texas swept Gina Hinojosa into office as the state's first Democratic governor since 1990 in a contest closely watched by Big Tech companies.
Texas is considered a bellwether for government restrictions on AI data centers and was just one place where deep voter unease over the build-out was on display. Voters across the country passed a series of local ballot measures aimed at restricting construction in the years ahead.
Hinojosa, Texas's first Latina governor, has pledged to impose a moratorium on data center construction in Texas, which accounts for more than 25% of planned US capacity by 2030.
"I want to say something to the powerful people who have gotten very comfortable running this state," she told supporters in her victory speech. "The voters have delivered a mandate for change, and it is change they will get."
Her victory was one of a series of wins for Democrats in Texas. The party is also on track to take control of the Texas House, which would give Hinojosa more power to follow through on restrictions even as the state Senate appears set to remain under Republican control.
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Nov 04, 2026
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats are riding their sweep of Congress into a new era, eager to meet voter demands for change with plans to tackle high costs of living and confront President Donald Trump's final years in the White House.
In a nationwide romp, Democrats ousted Republicans from coast to coast, with many surprising places in between, as voters rejected the president's party for the promise of something different for the country. Their majorities will be padded by wide margins in both the House and the Senate.
The results set up a divided government, with Congress poised to reassert itself as a coequal branch ready to challenge Trump and reverse course after two years of unified GOP control.
"We hear you," said House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, who would make history as the first Black speaker of the House if his colleagues elect him to the job when the new Congress begins on Jan. 3, 2027.
"We're going to work hard to deliver on the dramatic change that you deserve," he said.
The tally was decisive, at times bewildering, for the staggering scope of Democratic gains and the depth of Republican losses. The swelling margins underlined a deep sense of voter anger and concern over
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Nov 04, 2026
Democrats have regained control of Congress, winning back the U.S. House and Senate as Republican midterm losses mount.
Coming into the night, Republicans held 53 of the Senate's 100 seats, compared with 45 held by Democrats. To wrest back control of the Senate, Democrats needed a net gain of at least four seats. As at 6 a.m. ET on Wednesday, the Democrats had won 54 Senate seats to the GOP's 44.
Democrats won a series of key Senate seats. In Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed defeated Mike Rogers in one of the most closely watched races. James Talarico beat Republican Ken Paxton in Texas, becoming the first Democrat to win a U.S. Senate seat in the Lone Star State since 1988.
Annie Andrews beat GOP Sen. Darline Graham in South Carolina to flip a Senate seat. In Maine, Democrat Troy Jackson defeated incumbent GOP Sen. Susan Collins, putting an end to her three-decade tenure. Sen. Jon Ossoff comfortably won reelection in Georgia. Other Senate seats to flip to the Democratic Party included Roy Cooper in North Carolina and Sherrod Brown in Ohio.
In the 435-seat House, the GOP held 218 seats, compared with 214 held by Democrats. To retake control of the House, Democrats needed a net gain of three seats — and the AP said early Wednesday that the party had exceeded that figure.
There were also
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Nov 04, 2026
What to know about the Iran war today:Iran's chief negotiator said Wednesday that the U.S. midterm election results reflected Americans' rejection of the war President Trump launched against his country. Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf added a warning that if Mr. Trump does not heed the message from American voters, it will bring "a Nightmare."President Trump acknowledged Tuesday night that the war with Iran was partially to blame for the GOP's resounding midterm elections losses. But Mr. Trump told The Wall Street Journal he didn't regret the conflict and added he "would have done it again."Despite signs of a diplomatic push to reach a peace deal, ships continue to come under attack in the Strait of Hormuz. Four oil tankers caught fire after hitting mines while transiting the waterway, Iran's Revolutionary Guard said Wednesday.
Iranians take to streets of Tehran for pro-regime rally
People marched through central Tehran Wednesday in a major pro-regime rally to mark the 47th anniversary of the 1979 takeover of the U.S. embassy in the Iranian capital, chanting anti-U.S. and Israel slogans.
Some held signs calling for revenge for the killing of former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at the outset of the ongoing war, while others mocked President Trump.
"We are not happy about the surge in oil prices," said one woman, who gave AFP only her last name, Mahmoudkhani.
"But there is some satisfaction in knowing we are no longer living this torment alone. We, alone, have been suffering under sanctions for so many years," she added.
Some echoed Iranian officials doubts' that the election results would change much
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Nov 04, 2026
WASHINGTON (AP) — At the urging of President Donald Trump, Republicans in eight states redrew the boundaries of dozens of congressional districts over the past year while angling for an edge that could help them hold onto a slim House majority in a tough midterm election.
Ultimately, it didn't work.
Republicans lost most of the Democratic-held seats they had targeted to flip, lost others they had banked on retaining and got swept out of power by a Democratic surge fueled by voter dissatisfaction with Trump, the economy and the war with Iran.
The Republican redistricting plan fell flat in Alabama, Florida and Texas. It got scuttled by courts in Missouri and then firmly defeated by its voters Tuesday. And it got offset in California, where a retaliatory
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Nov 04, 2026
Democrats retook power in Washington on Tuesday after flipping key House and Senate seats to command majorities in both chambers of Congress.
The party secured control of the Senate after winning a series of races in historically red states including Texas, South Carolina, and Kansas to take control of at least 54 seats in the 100-seat chamber.
The party was also took control US House with that win becoming official early Wednesday morning after the party won key races from Pennsylvania to New Jersey to Colorado.
The power shift creates a new platform for Democrats to launch investigations of President Trump's economic allies — Elon Musk to name one — and pass bills that may be unlikely to become law but will mark a sharp change in the political climate for business leaders and economic issues after two years of unified Republican control.
The change also appears set to elevate figures like Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren and others to prominent positions with oversight over economic policy.
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Nov 04, 2026
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — A U.S. cruise ship that forced all its passengers to disembark in Cambodia after suspending its operations last week has departed the Southeast Asian nation with only crew aboard, Cambodian officials said Wednesday.
The MV Odyssey, owned by Florida-based Villa Vie Residences, had been on an around-the-world cruise when it suspended its planned three-year voyage due to the sharp rise in fuel costs.
It had been docked for a scheduled stop at the Cambodian port of Sihanoukville on the Gulf of Thailand, when on Oct. 28 its 203 passengers were suddenly told they had to disembark within a few hours.
The ship left Sihanoukville late Tuesday with only crew and other personnel on board, said Tang Sochetkresna, director of the Tourism Department of Preah Sihanouk province. He said he didn't know the ship's next destination.
He said that nearly 100 passengers remained in Sihanoukville, while others were visiting other parts of Cambodia or had traveled on to other countries. Most of the ship's passengers were Americans.
The ship, with its 650-passenger capacity, had 156 crew members on board, but it was not clear how many departed with the ship.
There has been no official announcement of future plans for the cruise ship. Media reports suggested that a creditor had taken over its management and was having it sailed to Singapore, Southeast Asia's main maritime hub.
The abrupt end to the ship's voyage has drawn widespread attention because it had touted itself as a floating home, combining long-te
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Nov 04, 2026
President Donald Trump's allies on Wednesday tiptoed their way toward once unthinkable territory: blaming the president.
The unusual candor followed sweeping GOP defeats across the country, a repudiation of the president that matched some of the party's worst fears. Some pointed to the Iran war and its effect on gas and grocery prices. Others pointed to the president's demeanor.
"There's a little bit of a reckoning in the Republican Party about where they go," said Matt Dole, chair of the GOP in deep red Licking County, Ohio. "I think you're going to see a part of the Republican Party advocate for a return to normalcy, which is not repudiating Trump's ideology and policies, but will repudiate Trump's style."
"It sounds a little ironic," failed Maine Republican Gov. candidate Bobby Charles told POLITICO. "but I am nevertheless optimistic for the future because Trump's going to be gone in two years."
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump and his advisors, meanwhile, blamed a myriad of factors, including Fox News, RINOs and "lazy" candidates — even as the party resoundingly lost both chambers of government and the blue wave rolled through deep red Texas, South Carolina, Iowa and Kansas.
Trump singled out Texas GOP governor Greg Abbott, who he called a "RINO," and absolved himself of blame, claiming Republicans would have won "in a landslide" had he been on the ballot.
Abbott did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump's adviser Alex Bruesewitz blamed the GOP's poor performance on candidates he described as "uninspiring, lazy and thoroughly ineffective communicators" — explicitly calling out Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.), who struggled throughout the
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Nov 04, 2026
President Donald Trump spent two months urging Americans to pretend he was on the ballot. On Tuesday, they did just that.
Voters delivered a stunning rebuke to Trump's party that rivaled anything Republicans had suffered in 50 years, defeats on ruby-red turf that Trump won handily just two years ago, where he has dominated politics for nearly a decade and against candidates he had in some cases handpicked.
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Not only did Democrats flip Senate and governor seats in red states, but at times by eye-popping margins.
"The message is very clear and very simple here. It was a complete repudiation of the party as defined by Donald Trump," said Mike Murphy, a Los Angeles-based Republican consultant who worked for candidates in the pre-Trump GOP, including Jeb Bush and John McCain.
"We have a little saying in show business, 'box office poison,' and that's what Donald Trump has become."
More than 41 times in recent weeks, The Washington Post found, Trump told voters to act this November as if the midterms were a referendum on him - a bold dare for a president whose approval ratings had reached historic lows as a growing number of Americans reported opposing his policies and his behavior in office.
In just two years since Trump's remarkable presidential victory campaign, in which he vowed to lower consumer prices, he has generated deep resentment of his policies. Voters blamed his decision to go to war against Iran and his tariff policies for raisi
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Nov 04, 2026
Elon Musk contributed nearly half a billion dollars to Republican political efforts this cycle (Kent NISHIMURA)Tech billionaire Elon Musk joked on Wednesday about Republicans' defeat in US midterm elections after spending hundreds of millions of dollars to help the party.
Democrats seized control of the US Congress on Tuesday, capturing both the Senate and House of Representatives in a stunning rejection of President Donald Trump's political agenda.
"Guess my election-interfering space lasers didn't work this time," Musk said on X, including the shrug emoji.
Musk contributed nearly half a billion dollars to Republican political efforts, making him the largest individual contributor in a federal election cycle since unlimited election spending was allowed in 2010, according to campaign finance tracker OpenSecrets.
His donations have mostly gone to his Republican-leaning America PAC, as well as to the Republican Senate Leadership Fund (SLF) super PAC.
The SLF used Musk's $158 million in donations in September to support Ken Paxton, the Republican Senate candidate in Texas.
The Texas Senate election topped the list in terms of expenditure, with Paxton's Democrat challenger James Talarico facing more than $200 million in opposition from outside spending groups.
Talarico defeated Paxton, a close ally of Trump, to become the first Democrat to win statewide office in Texas since 1994.
He took aim at Musk at a victory rally in Austin.
"In this race, we went up against our own Goliaths. The richest man in the world, the most powerful man in the world and the entire Washington, DC establishment," Talarico said.
He also targeted billionaires "who own the social media algorithms, who own the cable news networks, who own the politicians fighti
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Nov 04, 2026
The 2026 midterm elections made history for several candidates, as voters are projected to have elected the country's first Black, Native American and Latina female governors and more major firsts.
All eyes were on the results Tuesday night in the high-stakes election, in which House and Senate races will determine the balance of power in Congress.
But the midterms have also seen an expansion of representation among America's lawmakers, with several candidates celebrating groundbreaking wins.
This story will be updated as more wins are projected.
Keisha Lance Bottoms
Democratic candidate Keisha Lance Bottoms is projected by ABC News to become the next governor of Georgia -- beating billionaire Rick Jackson in the closely watched race.
The projected win for Bottoms, the former mayor of Atlanta, flips the Georgia governor's mansion blue in a state that President Donald Trump won in 2024.
In the closing stretch of the race, Bottoms often repeated on the campaign trail that Jackson "may have the money, but the people still have the power." Before the end of the cycle, Jackson had spent more than $200 million of his personal fortune on his campaign.
Megan Varner/Getty Images - PHOTO: Georgians Cast Their Votes In State's Primary Midterm ElectionsGeorgia hasn't elected a Democrat for governor since 1998. The seat is currently held by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, who was term-limited this year.
This is a major win for Georgia Democrats, who have targeted this seat for years, falling short in 2018 and 2022 with Democrat Stacey Abrams. In 2018, Abrams lost to Kemp by a 1.4-point margin.
Deb Haalan
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Nov 04, 2026
It was a blue wave big enough to become a blue tsunami.
On Tuesday, the Democratic Party shattered a series of decades-long Republican winning streaks, notched several historic firsts and flipped both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives as Americans in states and districts that voted to reelect President Trump just two years ago delivered a harsh judgment on the steep tariffs, rising gas prices, aggressive immigration raids and unresolved war in Iran that have so far dominated his second term.
"We didn't win this race by alienating our neighbors or shaming our neighbors or ridiculing our neighbors," Democrat James Talarico said after winning the Senate election in Texas. "We embodied a new kind of politics. A politics rooted in a deep love for our state, for our country and, most importantly, for all of our neighbors."
U.S. Sen.-elect James Talarico speaks during a midterm election night event at the Long Center for the Performing Arts on Nov. 3, 2026, in Austin, Texas.Brandon Bell/Getty ImagesVotes were still being tallied and key races remained uncalled as Election Day came to an end. But as of 1 a.m. ET on Wednesday, when the last polls closed in Alaska, Democrats were
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Nov 04, 2026
It was a blue wave big enough to become a blue tsunami.
On Tuesday, the Democratic Party shattered a series of decades-long Republican winning streaks, notched several historic firsts and flipped both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives as Americans in states and districts that voted to reelect President Trump just two years ago delivered a harsh judgment on the steep tariffs, rising gas prices, aggressive immigration raids and unresolved war in Iran that have so far dominated his second term.
"We didn't win this race by alienating our neighbors or shaming our neighbors or ridiculing our neighbors," Democrat James Talarico said after winning the Senate election in Texas. "We embodied a new kind of politics. A politics rooted in a deep love for our state, for our country and, most importantly, for all of our neighbors."
U.S. Sen.-elect James Talarico speaks during a midterm election night event at the Long Center for the Performing Arts on Nov. 3, 2026, in Austin, Texas.Brandon Bell/Getty ImagesVotes were still being tallied and key races remained uncalled as Election Day came to an end. But as of 1 a.m. ET on Wednesday, when the last polls closed in Alaska, Democrats were
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Nov 04, 2026
It was a blue wave big enough to become a blue tsunami.
On Tuesday, the Democratic Party shattered a series of decades-long Republican winning streaks, notched several historic firsts and flipped both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives as Americans in states and districts that voted to reelect President Trump just two years ago delivered a harsh judgment on the steep tariffs, rising gas prices, aggressive immigration raids and unresolved war in Iran that have so far dominated his second term.
"We didn't win this race by alienating our neighbors or shaming our neighbors or ridiculing our neighbors," Democrat James Talarico said after winning the Senate election in Texas. "We embodied a new kind of politics. A politics rooted in a deep love for our state, for our country and, most importantly, for all of our neighbors."
U.S. Sen.-elect James Talarico speaks during a midterm election night event at the Long Center for the Performing Arts on Nov. 3, 2026, in Austin, Texas.Brandon Bell/Getty ImagesVotes were still being tallied and key races remained uncalled as Election Day came to an end. But as of 1 a.m. ET on Wednesday, when the last polls closed in Alaska, Democrats were
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Nov 04, 2026
Democrats have regained control of Congress, winning back the U.S. House and Senate as Republican midterm losses mount.
Coming into the night, Republicans held 53 of the Senate's 100 seats, compared with 45 held by Democrats. To wrest back control of the Senate, Democrats needed a net gain of at least four seats. Before the clock struck midnight on the East Coast, the Associated Press said the party would gain at least that amount.
Democrats won a series of key Senate seats. In Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed defeated Mike Rogers in one of the most closely watched races. James Talarico beat Republican Ken Paxton in Texas, becoming the first Democrat to win a U.S. Senate seat in the Lone Star State since 1988.
Annie Andrews beat GOP Sen. Darline Graham in South Carolina to flip a Senate seat. In Maine, Democrat Troy Jackson defeated incumbent GOP Sen. Susan Collins, putting an end to her three-decade tenure. Sen. Jon Ossoff comfortably won reelection in Georgia. Other Senate seats to flip to the Democratic Party included Roy Cooper in North Carolina and Sherrod Brown in Ohio.
In the 435-seat House, the GOP held 218 seats, compared with 214 held by Democrats. To retake control of the House, Democrats needed a net gain of three seats — and the AP said early Wednesday that the party had exceeded that figure.
There were also 36 gubernatorial races
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Nov 04, 2026
Former Wayne County and Detroit health director Abdul El-Sayed, a child of Egyptian immigrants who ran on a progressive platform and has withstood an unprecedented level of attack ads against him and a campaign where he was unfairly described as a "jihadist" and sympathizer to terrorism, made history Nov. 4 by winning Michigan's open U.S. Senate seat.
Decision Desk HQ and Fox News called the race for El-Sayed by 2 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 4.
He will become the nation's first Muslim U.S. senator when the next Congress takes office in January, having defeated Republican former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers in a hard-fought race that saw incredible levels of outside spending and in-state intrigue right up to Election Day.
El-Sayed, 42, of Ann Arbor, replaces Democratic U.S. Sen. Gary Peters who is stepping down after two six-year terms.
With 70% of the vote tallied, El-Sayed led Rogers 52%-46% and hadn't trailed in the count all night.
Rogers, a former FBI agent and staunch conservative making his second attempt in two years to win an open U.S. Senate seat in Michigan, was trying to overcome historical trends, political headwinds and the polls to become the first Republican to win a Senate seat in the state in 32 years.
El-Sayed will join a new Democratic majority in the U.S. Senate, that party having already been projected to flip Republican-held seats in Iowa, Kansas, Maine, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina and Texas. Michigan had been widely looked at as Republicans' best chance of flipping a Democratic-held seat. Democrats, riding a wave nationwide, also took control of the U.S. House headed into President Donald Trump's final two years in office.
"You took a chance on the unlikeliest of candidates. This is all yours. Michigan, I cannot wait to serve you," El Sayed said in a speech to supporters in which
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Nov 04, 2026
Democrats have regained control of the U.S. Senate, winning races in several key states, and appear poised to win back the House as Republican midterm losses mount.
In Georgia, Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff won reelection, easily defeating his Republican challenger, Rep. Mike Collins. In North Carolina, Democrat Roy Cooper defeated Republican Michael Whatley to flip a Senate seat there. In South Carolina, Democrat Annie Andrews beat GOP Sen. Darline Graham to flip another. In Ohio, former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown defeated incumbent GOP Sen. Jon Husted, another flip. And in Texas, James Talarico beat Republican Ken Paxton, becoming the first Democrat to win a U.S. Senate seat in the Lone Star State since 1988.
Coming into the night, Republicans held 53 of the Senate's 100 seats, compared with 45 held by Democrats. There are two independents — Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Angus King of Maine — who caucus with the Democrats. To wrest back control of the Senate, Democrats needed a net gain of at least four seats. Before the clock struck midnight on the East Coast, the Associated Press said the party would gain at least that amount — with several other key races still to be decided.
In the 435-seat House, the GOP held 218 seats, compared with 214 held by Democrats. To retake control of the House, Democrats needed a net gain of three seats — and early returns suggest they are on their way to exceeding that figure.
There are also
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Nov 04, 2026
Democrat James Talarico defeated the state's attorney general Ken Paxton, a close ally of President Donald Trump who survived impeachment and years of scandal (ALEX WONG)Democrat James Talarico, a former schoolteacher and Presbyterian seminarian who campaigned on a "politics of love," on Tuesday won the US Senate race in Texas, dealing a historic blow to Republicans that could reshape American politics.
Talarico defeated the state's attorney general Ken Paxton, a close ally of President Donald Trump who survived impeachment and years of scandal, US media projected.
The result was a major setback for Trump, who threw his weight behind Paxton and made the state a campaign priority.
In another political earthquake for the deeply conservative southern border state, Democrat Gina Hinojosa unseated incumbent Texas Governor Greg Abbott.
Talarico and Hinojosa are the first Democrats to win statewide office in Texas since 1994.
Hinojosa, a 52-year-old attorney and state lawmaker, is part of a new generation of Democrats who are seeking to attract independents and voters disillusioned by Trump's unpopular war in the Middle East and skyrocketing prices for gas and everyday goods.
Thousands of supporters gathered at a watch party in Austin erupted in joy as the results came in, many of them crying and hugging.
Some chanted "Si se puede" ("Yes we can" in Spanish), while drivers passing by honked their horns in celebration.
"It's a huge win for Texas, but it's a giant win for the United States, having James Talarico in the Senate to try to wrest control of this government that's out of control," said Kathy Jackoway, an Austin resident in her 60s, who shouted and cried when the results were announced.
"Everybody is suffering. Everybody is hurting, and
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Nov 04, 2026
Democrat Troy Jackson has defeated Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, flipping a long Republican-held seat and giving his party a crucial win as they seek to flip the U.S. Senate, according to projections by CNN and Fox News.
Collins called her opponent to concede, Jackson campaign spokesperson Maggie Amjad confirmed to USA TODAY.
Jackson had just a few months to run his Senate campaign after oyster farmer Graham Platner dropped out of the race following accusations of sexual assault, which he denies. Platner's charisma and anti-establishment messaging had inspired a grassroots movement that helped him overtake Maine's Democratic Gov. Janet Mills in the Democratic primary.
Platner's exit from the race prompted worries about the Democrats' chances of defeating Collins, who has been in office for 30 years and is the only Republican to represent a state won by Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election. The race remained in a dead heat through much of
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Nov 03, 2026
By Yasmeen Abutaleb
WASHINGTON, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Democrat Annie Andrews won a US Senate seat in conservative South Carolina on Tuesday, according to media projections, ousting Republican Darline Graham in a state President Donald Trump carried by 18 percentage points just two ?years ago.
Andrews, a pediatrician, is the first Democrat to win a Senate seat in South Carolina in 28 years, a striking ?gain for a party that needed a net four seats to overturn Republicans' 53-47 majority.
Andrews' win in a state that neither Democrats nor Republicans considered competitive until recent weeks embodies ?the broader rejection of Trump and his handling of the economy during the first two years of his term.
The South Carolina Senate race attracted national attention after Darline Graham's brother, US Senator Lindsey Graham, died suddenly in July. Trump lobbied Governor Henry McMaster to appoint his sister — a little-known state employee who had never held elected office — to fill the late senator's seat and publicly encouraged her to run for the full term.
She defeated US Representative ?Ralph Norman for the Republican nomination in an August ?runoff, but divisions lingered. Norman told local media that he would vote for her but his family would not, and he declined to campaign with her.
Graham's inexperience was on display during a Republican runoff debate in August, when ?she said she was not "that informed on national security" and that national security was "not my thing." Senate Majority Leader John Thune did not endorse Graham but said she was a strong candidate. Former Republican Governor David Beasley and former Democratic Governor Jim Hodges jointly endorsed Andrews.
Republicans had privately worried that Graham was a ?weak ?candidate, according to a party strategist who spoke on condition of anonymity, and grew ?increasingly frustrated when the national party had to divert ?resources to prop her
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Nov 03, 2026
President Donald Trump sought to distance himself from Republicans' mounting midterm losses Tuesday, declaring in his first remarks on the election results that his party would have been victorious had he been on the ballot.
"I wasn't on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE!" Trump wrote on social media.
Trump's efforts to sidestep blame for the growing blue wave came as Republicans were dealt stunning losses in deep red states and districts, with Democrats flipping Senate seats in Texas, South Carolina, Kansas and Ohio. Republicans also lost Senate races in North Carolina and Georgia, and are trailing in other key contests.
Trump told the New York Times that he is "absolutely willing to accept" the election results.
"We'll work with the Democrats, and we'll, you know, look forward to working with them. We'll pro
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