Senate Republicans' worst nightmare came true Tuesday night, as they watched red state after red state fall to a historic Democratic wave . Why it matters: It's hard to remember now, but Republicans started off the 2026 cycle thinking they could expand their majority. They ended the night with what one source called a "huge f**king thumping" — losing or trailing in every toss-up on the map. At the start of the cycle, top operatives saw a red wall of incumbents in Trump-friendly states, an invincible Republican Sen. Susan Collins in Maine and a vulnerable Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff in Georgia, who provided a path to expanding a majority. By 9pm Tuesday night, top GOP sources were quietly accepting the reality of the return of Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). "Republicans are going to wake up in a different country tomorrow and we are going to have to start from square one to reinvent a party," one senior GOP Senate aide told Axios on Tuesday evening. Between the lines: For the first time since 1972, Republicans lost a Senate seat in the home state of the chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. The defeat of Sen. Darline Graham (R-S.C.) came despite Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) leading the NRSC. Republicans also lost in the home state of the next expected NRSC chair, Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio). Zoom in: North Carolina and Georgia were expected to be the premiere races of the cycle not too long ago. Both were called for Democrats before 8:30pm EST. That was just the beginning of the nightmare. In Texas, Elon Musk's more than $150 million infusion wasn't enough to save Texas GOP Senate nominee Ken Paxton after Paxton defeated Sen. John Cornyn in a nasty primary. In Ohio, Sen. Jon Husted's (R-Ohio) campaign had a rocky start — and wasn't bailed out by President Trump's publicity campaign about his rear end. Alaska started looking shaky even before a second Dan Sullivan joined the ballot, and Iowa wasn't a given either. In Kansas, alarm bells started ringing
Results for “tour return”
Former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown won his bid to return to the U.S. Senate on Tuesday, defeating Republican Sen. Jon Husted in Ohio two years after losing his seat to Republican Bernie Moreno in the 2024 election. The post Democrat Sherrod Brown Unseats Republican Sen. Jon Husted in Ohio appeared first on Breitbart .
Democrats on the committee, which is the powerful investigative arm of the House, have vowed to use their return to power to investigate President Trump, his family, his staff, and his policies.
More than $450m was spent on the contest, making it one of the most expensive elections this cycle.
Former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown will return to the Senate after defeating Sen. Jon Husted (R-OH) in the closely watched and expensive contest. The race was called for Brown at 11:10 p.m. by the Associated Press. Brown garnered 48.6% against Husted’s 46.5%, with 87% of the vote counted. The contest was considered a toss-up by […]
Brown makes successful return to US Senate after voters reject Republican incumbent Jon Husted Democrat Sherrod Brown will return to the US Senate, as Ohio’s voters rejected the incumbent Jon Husted in a significant defeat for Republicans. Brown’s bid for a comeback after being ousted from the seat he held for 18 years in 2024 became one of the marquee contests of this year’s midterm elections, and a key test of whether Democrats can regain support among the working class and rural voters who have deserted them in recent years. Continue reading...
Democrat Rebecca Bennett, a former Navy helicopter pilot, on Tuesday defeated two-term Rep. Tom Kean, who missed four months of votes in Washington this year as he underwent treatment for depression, a diagnosis he did not disclose until his return.
Former Rep. Ben McAdams (D) is projected to win the race to represent Utah’s 1st Congressional District, according to Decision Desk HQ. The Democrat defeated Republican nominee Riley Owen in the election to replace GOP Rep. Blake Moore, who opted to run in the state’s 2nd District after his seat was redrawn in Democrats’ favor.…
Former Rep. Melissa Bean (D-Ill.) is projected to return to Capitol Hill after defeating Republican opponent Jennifer Davis for the House seat left open by Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), according to Decision Desk HQ. Bean led Davis by more than 30 percentage points — 66.6 percent to 33.5 percent — with 24 percent of the…
Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas has won New Hampshire’s Senate race, NBC News projects, defeating Republican John Sununu’s bid to return to the chamber after two decades.
Former Alabama Rep. Jerry Carl (R) is set to return to Capitol Hill, Decision Desk HQ projects. Carl, who served in Congress from 2021 to 2025, defeated Democrat Clyde Jones, an Army veteran, to clinch Alabama’s open 1st Congressional District. Rep. Barry Moore (R), who currently represents the district, opted to run for Senate instead.…
Iran’s chief negotiator says it’s on the United States to stop a return to all-out war after Tehran gave Washington a “firm and rational response” to its demands around nuclear weapons and opening the Strait of Hormuz. Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf did not specify what “response” he was referring to, though the comments followed after the…
Plus: America’s referendum on Trump’s second term
A Democrat is set to join the four-person House delegation in Utah after a judge ruled against a GOP-favored map, paving the way for a blue Salt Lake City seat. Former Rep. Ben McAdams (D) is poised to return to Capitol Hill representing the redrawn 1st District after losing his 4th District seat in 2021. …
In one of the marquee U.S. Senate races this year, former Rep. Mary Peltola (D) is seeking a return to Capitol Hill against incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) as the two face off in The Last Frontier. Alaska’s ranked choice voting system means that the top four vote-getters in the primary advanced to the general…
Brazil is keeping a close eye on the US midterm elections. Since Donald Trump's return to the White House, relations between Brasilia and Washington have grown increasingly tense. On the economic front, aggressive trade policies have subjected Brazilian imports to some of the steepest tariffs globally, exacerbating friction with the Trump administration. FRANCE 24's correspondent in Rio de Janeiro Jan Onoszko has more.
US lawmakers return to Capitol Hill next week with a few pressing issues to tackle before the end of the year, including the continuing budget resolution, which expires on December 11. Michael McKee has the details on Bloomberg Television. (Source: Bloomberg)
These graphics explain what the Democrats would need to do to flip the Senate and House of Representatives A turning point in Donald Trump’s second term has arrived. Voters across the US are deciding whether to keep the president’s Republican allies in control of Congress, or return Democrats to the majority. Many indicators of voter sentiment suggest the Democrats are favored to take back control of the House of Representatives, and potentially the Senate. Winning either would be a significant victory for the party and give it the power to block Trump’s legislative agenda and more aggressively investigate his administration. Continue reading...
Democrats are poised to romp in today's election — easily winning the House and, according to most forecasts, flipping the Senate too. Yet the party itself is less popular than the IRS . Even the GOP has a better brand. Why it matters: There's a difference between a blowout and a mandate. Confusing the two could tempt Democrats to overread the results and forget the serious credibility problem they still face heading into 2028. The big picture: Democrats have done a lot of things right to position themselves for a big night. They recruited candidates who've put red state Senate races that seemingly were beyond reach, within their grasp. Many of those candidates vastly outraised their Republican opponents. But polls across the board still show a lesser-of-two-evils election — or as one Republican tied to President Trump's political operation described it, a contest of which party voters hate more. Voters are more eager to disempower Trump than to empower Democrats. By the numbers: Just 29% of registered voters have a positive opinion of the Democratic Party vs. 38% who view the Republican Party positively, according to a pre-election NBC News poll . The same poll showed Democrats with a 7-point lead in the congressional generic ballot, 52 to 45. And nearly 6 in 10 voters who plan to back Democrats in the election said their vote is about stopping Trump and Republican policies — vs. 4 in 10 who said they were more motivated to help Democrats enact their policies, per an October CBS News/YouGov poll . Zoom in: Many Democrats say they're determined not to repeat the mistake they made after the last midterms in 2022. They defied predictions of a red wave and saw it as an endorsement of Joe Biden and their party — when voters actually were increasingly angry. The post-2022 takeaway ultimately laid the groundwork for Trump's return to the White House after the 2024 election. Democrats won the House in the 2018 midterms — and went on to impeach Trump the following year. Thi
Prime Minister Andy Burnham has denied proposing a return to free movement of people with the European Union, as his ambition to begin a conversation about potentially reversing Brexit surfaced concerns within his cabinet.
If for no other reason than the president will likely want to deflect from a poor election.
Iranian state media reported the sound of explosions on the island in the strait of Hormuz, coming on the eve of crucial US midterms The US launched limited strikes on Iran’s Qeshm Island late on Monday, according to reports in US media, hours after US vice-president JD Vance said he was optimistic diplomatic efforts to end the war were moving in the right direction. The strikes were reported as being “defensive”, and not thought to be a signal of a return to full hostilities, but came on the eve of crucial midterm elections in which Donald Trump’s Republican party is expected to be punished by voters for the cascading effect the war has had on the US cost of living. Continue reading...
The strikes, which appeared to be limited as opposed to a full return to hostilities, came on the eve of crucial American midterm elections.
The assault follows comments by President Trump playing down the possibility of a return to war with Iran after Tuesday’s midterm elections.
Thousands of voters in Washoe County, Nevada, received mail-in ballot return envelopes with the word “FALSE” written on them. A spokesperson for the county’s Registrar of Voters, George Guthrie, said in a statement to The Hill that the affected envelopes were “not limited to voters of any particular political party.” “The inclusion of the word…
‘I hope she doesn’t return’
Erin Ogunkeye is pleased to welcome Richard Johnson, Senior Lecturer in US Politics at Queen Mary University of London. He says that "Donald Trump is damaged goods at this point in his presidency." With this uncompromising assessment, Johnson takes us through the political forces shaping the 2026 US midterm elections. Far from assuming that Trump's formidable campaigning instincts can once again mobilize Republican voters, Johnson questions whether the president's political influence has become a liability for the very party he once transformed. He points to a potentially significant realignment within the American electorate. Economic grievances, rising living costs, trade disputes and disillusionment with the war in Iran appear, in Johnson's reading, to be weakening important elements of the coalition that sustained Trump's return to power. Particularly consequential is the possibility that Latino voters, agricultural communities and sections of the MAGA electorate may be reconsidering their political loyalties or withdrawing from electoral participation altogether.
Governor Khaled Dudin says families who were forced from their homes can return.
Retiring Rep. Don Bacon said midterm losses would trigger a needed debate on Trump's MAGA movement and tariffs, urging a return to free trade.
King Charles III will deliver a speech to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting on Tuesday as he concludes his nine-day Caribbean tour.
President Trump had a candid phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Saturday about the state of U.S. negotiations with Iran and how quickly to return to combat, according to one Israeli and one U.S. source. Why it matters: The sources said Netanyahu is pressing Trump to strike Iran immediately after the midterm elections on Tuesday. But Trump, for now, wants to let negotiations play out — a strategy Netanyahu is concerned about. The Israeli source said the call was "tough," while the U.S. source described it as "direct." The White House and the Israeli prime minister's office declined to comment. Driving the news: As he did before Operation Midnight Hammer in June 2025 and Operation Epic Fury in February, Trump is pursuing dual tracks — trying to reach a deal to restart peace talks while also preparing for a possible resumption of major combat operations after the midterms. Last week Vice President Vance sent a letter to Iran's national security chief Mohsen Rezaei about the possibility of restarting negotiations . It was the most senior-level outreach by the U.S. to Iran in several months. Trump told reporters on Saturday that negotiations with Iran are "going fine" and noted he is not "in much of a hurry." While the Iranians want to make a deal, the president said they "are not very reliable. ... They make a deal and then they back out." At the same time, Trump said the U.S. still has to "take care" of one or two nuclear sites in Iran. "We can do that in 10 minutes. We have that planned. You can look at Pickaxe Mountain. We need to take care of that. We can do that very quickly," Trump said, referring to a suspected nuclear site built into a mountain. The Wall Street Journal first reported the Trump-Netanyahu call, but did not describe its contents. State of play: Qatari mediators met with Iranian officials on Sunday for the third consecutive day in an effort to reach a deal to restart direct negotiations between the U.S. and Iran. Iranian Forei
One man’s campaign finance operation in Wisconsin exemplifies the opacity of the US political funding system In the summer of 2024, a non-profit called the Green Dragon Coalition wired the last $20,000 of a $445,000 grant to a Super Pac . Its tax return for that year would describe the purpose of the transfer as “educational”. The same day, according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) records, the Super Pac spent $8,000 attacking Celeste Maloy, the Republican congresswoman for Utah’s second district, four days before the primary that would decide whether she kept her seat. It had already spent more than $400,000 promoting her challenger, Colby Jenkins, who was running to her right with the endorsement of the rightwing Utah senator Mike Lee. Continue reading...
More than half of Americans whose jobs can be done remotely are working from home at least part of the time. When the pandemic hit, the share of remote-capable workers in the office full-time dropped from 60% to about 20%, and that number has never rebounded. Why don’t Americans want to return to the office? […]
Notching wins from Washington, the Russian leader is talking with foreign leaders and could return to diplomatic center stage with possible summit meetings.
Karmel Mall owner Basim Sabri gave a tour of the massive Somali mall in Minneapolis, raising questions about cultural assimilation in America.
Pop star Olivia Rodrigo delivered flowers to Ohio gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton (D) during her tour stop in Columbus on Friday night, a show of support in the close contest. While performing her song “stupid song,” Rodrigo walked through the crowd at the Schottenstein Center on The Ohio State University’s campus, handed flowers to Acton…
From a New York Times critic arguing against blind auditions for orchestras to Chicago’s former mayor offering interviews exclusively to nonwhite reporters, the insanities of what Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) recently dubbed “Woke 1.0” are legion. In White Guilt, filmmaker Eli Steele traces these peculiar manifestations of modern antiracism to an affliction his father diagnosed […]
Polish President Karol Nawrocki forced his way into his nation’s high court as his supporters clashed against an army of police outside. The head of state arrived overnight Saturday following Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s surprise operation to remove Constitution Tribunal President Bogdan Swieczkowski and install an interim head of the court. Nawrocki, surrounded by presidential […]
Trump predicts the war with Iran is "going to end soon," without offering any details, as Qatari mediators return to Tehran to push for a deal.
Hilton said he gathered feedback from Californians on what bureaucratic rule they wanted to get rid of the most.
Trump’s antisemitism czar terrorized interns while dreaming of a star-studded national tour.
Finally home in Caracas, María Corina Machado called for elections next year, and said her return was organized by her team, not any government.
US vice-president writes to top Iranian security official in sign Washington has not abandoned diplomacy Hopes of averting a major new conflagration between Iran and the US soon after Tuesday’s midterm elections could rest on Iran’s response to a personal letter from the US vice-president, JD Vance, offering to restart diplomacy. The letter, written after predominantly Qatari mediation, was sent to the secretary of Iran’s supreme national security council, Mohsen Rezaei on Sunday. It requires Tehran to agree to make commitments on its nuclear programme at the start of a process that would lead to the opening of the strait of Hormuz within seven days in return for US sanctions relief. Continue reading...
Trump won a majority of young male voters two years ago, fueling his return to the White House. Now, many of those same young men are saying they will vote for Democrats or stay home.
Three news outlets are telling a federal court that the White House is defying a judge's orders by refusing to let them return to covering President Donald Trump
Regional mediators led by Qatar are trying to reach a diplomatic deal to restart negotiations between the U.S. and Iran and prevent the resumption of war after the midterm elections, three U.S., Israeli and regional sources say. The Qataris are working to convince Iran to allow UN inspectors to visit its bombed nuclear sites in return for some sanctions relief from the U.S. Why it matters: A renewed bombing offensive appears likely shortly after the midterms without a last-minute deal. IDF chief of staff Gen. Eyal Zamir spoke on Monday with CENTCOM commander Adm. Brad Cooper to coordinate ahead of potential attacks. Such an operation is expected to include a week of massive strikes on Iranian leadership, energy, nuclear and infrastructure targets, U.S. and Israeli officials say. What he's saying: President Trump told Axios in a brief interview Wednesday that negotiations with Iran are taking place through mediators but stressed that he doesn't know whether they'll bear fruit. "We need to finish the job — either through a deal or another way — we will find out if negotiations can succeed," he said. "While our Brave Armed Forces are fully prepared to defend the Homeland, Iran continues to give diplomacy a chance to succeed," Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on X Wednesday. Behind the scenes: The mediation efforts are being led by Qatar, with the support of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Turkey, sources say. Qatari negotiator Ali al-Thawadi visited Tehran earlier this week for talks with Iranian officials about a potential deal with the Trump administration. A regional source briefed on the talks said the Qataris presented ideas for how to bridge the gap between the U.S. demand that Iran give up its enriched uranium stockpile and Iran's insistence that the U.S. first lift its naval blockade and release Iran's frozen funds. The regional source and a U.S. official said the mediators are telling Iran that accepting the proposals may be the only way to avoid major a
President Trump will campaign with three football stars in Texas on Tuesday, leaning into America's favorite sport as Republicans scramble to turn out voters in the final week before the midterms, Axios has learned. Why it matters: Trump is trying to mobilize the lower-propensity voters who helped return him to the White House in 2024 — but who may be less inclined to vote when he isn't on the ballot. Driving the news: Former college football star Johnny Manziel and two-time Super Bowl champion Danny Amendola were scheduled to join Trump for campaign appearances in Lubbock and Corpus Christi. Former University of Texas quarterback Colt McCoy also was expected to join Trump as of Monday afternoon, but did not appear. The appearances bring some of Texas' biggest football names onto the campaign trail in a state where the sport commands an enormous following. Amendola starred at Texas Tech in Lubbock; Manziel won the Heisman Trophy at Texas A&M. The big picture: Trump has made football a recurring feature of his campaign stops in recent weeks. He attended the Texas-Tennessee game in September and planned to attend the Georgia-Alabama showdown earlier this month before canceling because of a hurricane. Former NFL coach Jon Gruden joined Trump at an Ohio rally this month, while former Georgia and NFL star Todd Gurley accompanied the president on a stop in Georgia. Vice President Vance, a lifelong Cincinnati Bengals fan, visited the team's practice facility last week while campaigning in Ohio. Republicans are also pouring millions into ads during NFL and college football games. What they're saying: "Trump has many bases. And football is one of them, college and pros," said an adviser. "The response is good. And the president loves the atmosphere. So why not?" Between the lines: Football offers Trump a way to reach younger men who helped power his 2024 victory — a constituency Republicans are struggling to energize in the midterms. By the numbers: Polls suggest Republicans