Democrats Win House and Senate Majorities in 2026 Midterms, Flipping Seven Republican-Held Senate Seats, Networks Project
Networks project Democrats won Senate seats in Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, Maine, North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas and took a House majority. Unified Republican control of Washington ends when the new Congress is seated in January 2027.
U.S.
Trump Says He Has No Immediate Plans to Strike Iran After Democrats Are Projected to Win Both Chambers of Congress
The president told reporters U.S. forces are "locked and loaded" but "there may be no reason" to attack. Democrats say they will use their new majorities to force a vote on ending the war, which a presidential veto could still block.
Unofficial Results: Democrats Win Governor's Races in Texas, Georgia, Nevada, Ohio and Iowa, Unseating GOP Governors Abbott and Lombardo
Unofficial results from Tuesday's midterms show Democrats taking five governorships Republicans held, and news outlets disagree about how many years it has been since the party last held a majority of the nation's governor's offices.
Trump Congratulates Democrats After They Win the House and Senate, Mentions His Veto Power, and Says Some GOP Candidates Were to Blame
In election-night calls with CBS News and Fox News, President Trump said he would work with the new Democratic majorities. He also said he could "veto everything" and wrote that he would have won "in a landslide" if he had been on the ballot.
Judges Block Federal Noncitizen-Voter Lists and California Ballot Demands, Supreme Court Denies DOJ Bid, as About 1,000 Federal Monitors Deploy on Election Day
On Monday, Nov. 2, Judge Tanya Chutkan barred DHS and DOJ from sending states lists of suspected noncitizen voters. Judge James Boasberg barred federal demands that California set aside ballots, and the Supreme Court denied without explanation DOJ's request to set aside ballots from about 20,000 flagged California voters. Some state and county officials say federal monitors may not enter polling places.
Magistrate Judge Dismisses Complaint Against Two Ex-FBI Officials in Hunter Biden Testimony Case, Finding No Probable Cause and Calling It 'Weaponization'
Judge Zia Faruqui ruled from the bench on Nov. 2 that prosecutors had not shown that Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides knowingly lied to Congress, and he suggested the charges were rushed ahead of the midterms. The Justice Department said it disagreed with the ruling and was evaluating options; prosecutors can still go to a grand jury.
Federal Judge Dismisses Justice Department Suit Over Alaska Senate Certification for Lack of Standing; DOJ Appeals to Ninth Circuit
Judge Sharon Gleason ruled on Nov. 1, two days before Election Day, that the government had shown no way to find out which voters meant to pick incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan without breaking ballot secrecy. A separate federal criminal probe into how a second Daniel Sullivan got on the ballot is still going.
N.C.
Justice Anita Earls Wins Re-election Over Sarah Stevens, About 59% to 41% in Unofficial Returns; N.C. Supreme Court Stays 5-2 Republican
Democrat Anita Earls won a second eight-year term on Nov. 3. The court's partisan split stays the same, and the same seven justices will hear Gov. Josh Stein's appointment-power cases on Nov. 10.
Cooper Defeats Whatley 58.7% to 39.1% for North Carolina's U.S. Senate Seat; Democrats Lead in Six Republican-Held U.S. House Districts in Unofficial Results
Democratic Rep. Don Davis held NC-1 by about 2 points over Laurie Buckhout, Democrats won seats held by Reps. Richard Hudson and Tim Moore, NC-5 is headed toward a likely recount, and voters approved a photo voter ID amendment.
N.C. Voters Approve Three Constitutional Amendments: Photo ID for Mail Voters, 3.5% Income Tax Cap and a Local Property Tax Limit, Each With About 60% in Unofficial Results
Unofficial counts show the photo ID measure near 60% and the income tax cap near 62%. The state board is set to certify results Nov. 24, and lawmakers still have to write the property tax limit itself.
Democrats Win 70 of 120 N.C. House Seats in Unofficial Results, Ending GOP Veto-Proof Senate Margin; Republicans Keep Narrow Senate Majority
Unofficial returns give Democrats their first N.C. House majority since 2010 and break the Senate Republicans' three-fifths supermajority. One Senate race that decides the size of the GOP margin was within recount range early Wednesday.
North Carolina Early Voting Ends With 2.6 Million Ballots in State Count, Up More Than 37% From 2022; Aggregator Puts Total Near 2.8 Million, With Registered Democrats at 38.4% and Registered Republicans at 26.2%
In-person early voting ended Saturday, Oct. 31. The State Board of Elections count reported by WLOS was 2,612,249 ballots (the source of the 37% figure). The OnPoint Politics aggregator, as of Nov. 1, shows 2,816,820. Election Day voting on Tuesday, Nov. 3, has not yet been counted.
Stein and Legislative Leaders File Final Briefs Before Nov. 10 N.C. Supreme Court Arguments on Judicial-Vacancy and Board Appointments
Gov. Josh Stein is challenging two kinds of laws: one limits whom he can pick to fill appellate court seats, and the others change his appointments to state boards. His separate appeal over the elections board, now appointed by Auditor Dave Boliek, is a different case.
Finance
Brent Edges Up About 0.8% to Near $104 in Volatile Trade After Two Days of Losses
Crude firmed early Wednesday after falling Monday and Tuesday on U.S.-Iran talks signals, but swung in a range of roughly $2-3 a barrel as traders weighed Democrats' midterm win and Qatar-led talks without a deal.
AMD Shares Rose Roughly 5% to 9% After Hours Tuesday on Q3 Revenue of $13.38 Billion and a Fourth-Quarter Guide of About $17 Billion
Data center sales rose 97% while client and gaming revenue fell 8%. The report came after a chip-stock selloff last week, and Qualcomm, Arm and AppLovin report Wednesday.
U.S. Stock Futures Turn Higher After Overnight Drop as Democrats Win Congress; Treasury Yields and Dollar Fall
Stock futures fell as much as 2% overnight, then turned positive Wednesday morning. The 10-year Treasury yield hit a low of 4.89% and the dollar weakened, as investors weighed limits on new tax cuts, spending and AI policy.
Dow Rises 0.41%, Nasdaq Falls 1.07% Before Midterms; Apple and Palantir Shares Drop After Topping Estimates
A 7.63% drop in Brent crude lifted the Dow on Monday while tech stocks fell. Apple and Palantir both beat quarterly estimates, but their shares slid after hours and before Tuesday's open on worries about Apple's profit margin and Palantir's contract growth.
Binance Reports $4.7 Billion in Net Withdrawals After Reopening Following $6.3 Billion Hack the FBI Attributes to North Korea
Binance says it covered most of the stolen crypto with its own money. Reports differ on whether that share is 90% or 95%, and its proof-of-reserves report is due Tuesday, Nov. 3 (UTC), after a delay.
Week Ahead: Midterm Elections, Apple and Palantir Earnings, ISM Data and Friday's October Jobs Report Follow a Third Straight Weekly Drop for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq
Forecasts for October job growth run from 45,000 to 65,000, and 55,000 is one figure among several. The Nov. 6 report comes out three days after Tuesday's election, and CNBC counts 138 S&P 500 companies reporting earnings this week.
World
Iran's Parliament Speaker Says Americans 'Said No to War' After Democrats Win Both Chambers of Congress
Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf praised the U.S. midterm result in a post on X and warned of a "Nightmare" if Washington ignores it. President Trump said the war was "a piece of" his party's losses but defended it, while mediated U.S.-Iran talks remain stuck.
U.S., EU, NATO and European Allies Meet in Brussels on Ukraine Security Guarantees and Reconstruction Before U.S.-Mediated Talks With Russia in Abu Dhabi Nov. 10-11
The Brussels meeting follows a large Russian missile and drone attack overnight on Nov. 3 that Ukraine says included three drones aimed at a substation serving the Khmelnytskyi nuclear plant.
Russia Fires 76 Missiles and 289 Drones at Ukraine Overnight, Kyiv Says; Strikes Hit Power Plants and a Kharkiv Hospital
Ukraine says most drones and cruise missiles were shot down but few ballistic missiles were. Russia says it hit energy sites that power arms plants. The strike came a week before U.S.-brokered talks in Abu Dhabi and days after Washington cleared a Patriot interceptor sale that may not deliver until the 2030s.
Polish President Nawrocki Enters Constitutional Tribunal After a Judge Elected by Parliament Suspends Its Chief; Police Detain Protesters Outside
Prime Minister Donald Tusk's government says it is restoring an independent court, while President Karol Nawrocki and the opposition Law and Justice party call the suspension an illegal takeover. The fight centers on whether five judges who never took their oath before the president can lawfully sit on the court.
Houthis Claim Six Attacks on Saudi Oil Sites and Airports; Saudi-Led Coalition Reports Intercepting Missiles
None of the six claimed hits has been independently confirmed; the claims came three days after Saudi, Pakistani and Turkish officials met Iranian leaders in Tehran, and Brent crude traded at $115.74 early Friday.
Iran Says Four Tankers Hit Mines on Hormuz Routes It Calls Unauthorized; U.S. Says the Main Shipping Lanes Are Clear of Mines
Iran has not named the ships, and no independent source has confirmed the four mine strikes. A separate tanker, the Louise 1, was confirmed hit by explosives that a small boat attached to its hull off Oman.
Analysis
Unbiased, evergreen deep-dives on the bigger questions — not breaking news.
What Fauci's Released Diary Documents About the U.S. COVID-19 Response — and What It Leaves Unresolved
A 1,141-page personal diary released by Sen. Rand Paul's committee is roughly one-third routine administrative logging; a minority of entries bear directly on contested questions, and a few conflict with contemporaneous public statements.
Eight Months of Mamdani: What New York's Record Actually Shows, and What It Cannot Yet Show
A claim-by-claim audit of what Zohran Mamdani has delivered, how New Yorkers judge it, and what the evidence does and does not license anyone to conclude about the rest of the country.