Midterm results live updates: Who will win Alaska, Mississippi races?
Lawmakers of both parties were grappling Thursday with plans for the next Congress, after Democrats grabbed control away from Republicans in the midterm elections.
Republicans were searching for how to respond to the breadth of the rebuke of the higher cost of living and the continuing war in Iran, which voters blamed on President Donald Trump and his policies.
"If we don’t change, we’ll take more beatings," retiring Rep. Don Bacon, R-Nebraska, said.
Democrats were gauging what to do first − after the celebrations are over − to deliver results to an impatient electorate before the 2028 elections put the White House at stake in addition to Congress.
"Two years ago, they sent a message. They're sending a message now. And if we don't deliver in the next few years, you're going to see them send another loud message," Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Michigan, said on NBC News.
And the House Oversight Committee's likely chairman is already gaming out what investigations he has planned for the new year, including into how the Trump family's wealth has increased in his first two years in office.
House and Senate leadership elections are expected next week. Outgoing House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana has said he will not try to stay in leadership after the loss.
As of early Thursday, Democrats had flipped seven Senate seats and more than 30 House seats. Votes were still being counted in the U.S. Senate races in Alaska and Mississippi, as well as dozens of House contests, with results expected in the coming days.
Trump said he will accept the midterm results and work with Democrats, but he also pledged to veto Democratic bills that come across his desk.
He called the veto the "ultimate power," though Congress can override a presidential veto with a two-thirds vote in both chambers.
Mississippi Senate race remains close. Where does it stand?
James Powel
The Mississippi Senate race is coming down to the wire as Democratic challenger Scott Colom holds a narrow lead over Republican incumbent Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith.
The Associated Press results dashboard shows Colom with a lead of just over 1,800 votes, with about 96% of the ballots counted.
Because of Mississippi election law and how it handles absentee and provisional ballots, it could still be several days before the state has the final count.
Here's where the race stands as of 11 p.m. ET, according to AP:
- Scott Colom (Democrat): 466,775 votes.
- Cindy Hyde-Smith (Republican): 464,962 votes.
Nevada was last state in US to begin reporting midterm results
James Powel and Carly Sauvageau
LAS VEGAS and RENO, Nevada – The Silver State was the slowest state on Election Night, becoming the last state in the nation to begin reporting returns.
The final vote in the state was cast in Clark County, the home of Las Vegas, around midnight local time on Tuesday, Jennifer Cooper, a spokesperson for the county, told USA TODAY in an email early Wednesday morning. Results began to be released shortly after midnight, according to a post on X from the Nevada Secretary of State account.
The X account forDecision Desk HQ, a company that reports on elections, showed that Alaska had results by 10 p.m. PT. Hawaii Public Radio reported that state's first batch of results were published at 10 p.m. PT.
"Nevadans deserve better" than the wait times for results, Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar told the Reno Gazette Journal, part of the USA TODAY Network, on Wednesday. "My team is ready to support Clark County officials and officials from any county willing to take ownership and confront these issues head on," Aguilar, who won reelection, added.
Cooper pointed to high turnout and a "two card" ballot that was unique to Clark County as contributing to the delay in an email to USA TODAY Thursday night.
"The Registrar has acknowledged that it is unfortunate that some polling locations experienced longer than usual lines and this will be analyzed to improve the process at these locations going forward," Cooper said.
She also noted that the location that was the site of the final votes, Brinley Middle School in the northwest of Las Vegas, was a first-time polling site this election year.
Trump pins stock market drop on midterm results
USA TODAY Staff
President Donald Trump took to social media to blame Democrats and the midterm elections for Thursday's stock market sell-off that saw all three major indexes have their worst day since April 2025.
"The Stock Market suffered one of the Worst Days in History based on the results of the Election. Such a sad thing to watch!" Trump posted hours after the closing bell Thursday.
"Your 401(k)s have, therefore, dropped. Remember, it wasn’t Republicans, it was Dumocrats," the president wrote on Truth Social.
Financial experts said the Nov. 3 election weighed heavily on stock shares in data centers and artificial intelligence, two areas where Democrats have pledged to crack down.
Over $37 million wagered on Mississippi Senate race
James Powel
Millions of dollars in bets have been placed on the still too close to call Mississippi Senate race between GOP incumbent Sen. Cindy Hyde Smith and Democratic challenger Scott Colom through prediction market websites.
The USA TODAY results page for the race shows Colom having a narrow lead over Hyde-Smith. Because of Mississippi election law and how it handles absentee and provisional ballots, it could still be several days before the state has all the votes counted.
Nearly $32 million have been wagered on the race on Kalshi, as of 8:20 p.m. ET, with more than $5.6 million in bets placed on Polymarket.
The controversial websites allow bettors to "buy shares" of yes-or-no questions on sports and current events, including military conflicts, elections and criminal cases.
Prediction markets have been called the "Wild West" of betting and have faced accusations of insider trading as well as being criticized for capitalizing on tragedies.
Earlier this year, former U.S. Rep George Santos settled charges from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) that alleged he manipulated a Kalshi contract tied to whether he would attend the State of the Union address.
Gabriel Perez, a White House teleprompter operator, was put on leave and ordered to pay more than $107,000 by the CFTC to settle charges that he made bets through Kalshi on specific words and phrases that were in the president's speeches.
Contributing: Terry Collins and Erin Mansfield – USA TODAY; Bonnie Bolden and Peter Blandino – The Mississippi Clarion Ledger
No data centers unless they benefit Texans, Gov.-elect says
Michael Loria
Gov.-elect of Texas Gino Hinojosa said Thursday evening that under her administration, the state will put a stop to the construction of data centers unless they benefit Texans.
"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," the incoming governor told CNN. "The difference is we will have laws to protect Texans, and we need to stop what we are doing with data centers until we have those protections."
Hinojosa’s comments come in the wake of stunning midterm election results that Americans across the country overwhelmingly vote against construction of the sites, which are seen as nuisances that drain local water resources while driving up electricity costs.
The unexpected Democratic star in particular made opposition to data centers central to her campaign, blasting incumbent Gov.Greg Abbott on the campaign trail for his previous comments about the state becoming the "epicenter of AI development." Abbott later walked back his comments and enacted a statewide moratorium on building data centers but failed to win enough voters.
Hinojosa added she is not against data centers as a rule and the state remains "pro-business" but she wants her future constituents to be able to decide for themselves whether they are built in their communities.
Sen. Chuck Schumer, under pressure from his own party, warns Republicans
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who some would like to see step aside for new leadership when the Democrats take control of the chamber, warned Republicans against obstructing his party's agenda.
Trump declares Oval Office a national monument in post-election proclamation
Joey Garrison
President Donald Trump signed a proclamation designating the Oval Office and Cabinet Room a national monument, continuing his focus on White House beautification efforts following Republicans' midterm disaster.
Trump said the proclamation will prevent significant overhauls or destruction of the two iconic White House rooms, both of which have undergone major cosmetic changes by Trump during his second term. The restrictions include keeping the Oval Office shaped like an oval.
"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 in a brief ceremony in the Oval Office. "We like the Oval Office, and it's a symbol, like the White House itself."
The proclamation, which Trump signed in the Oval Office in front of reporters, comes two days after Democrats took control of the House of Representatives and Senate in a midterm election that delivered a major repudiation of Trump and his agenda.
Trump's first post-election appearance Nov. 4 was to host a ceremony recognizing the final beam lifted for his new ballroom on the east wing of the White House. On the eve of the midterm election, Trump held his closing-argument speech at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, where he touted his efforts to remove algae from the historic pool.
Will the blue wave sink Chuck Schumer? Incoming Dems seek 'new blood'
Michael Loria
Newly-elected Senate Democrats are unsure whether Sen. Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat and the party’s Senate leader through the Trump era, should remain at the helm when they come into office in January.
"It’s about action," Sen.-elect Abdul El-Sayed told CNN on Nov. 5. "The question for us is, who are the other options here and who is going to get us to a point where we’re passing legislation, putting it on the president’s desk and forcing him to make a decision."
Vital for Democrats, the incoming Michigan progressive said, is that they get things done so that "we can talk about what we did to address the affordability crisis."
"I think we need new blood in our party, in our politics," Sen.-elect James Talarico, the first Texas Democrat sent to the Senate since 1988, said in an interview in September when asked whether Schumer should still lead Democrats in the upper chamber. "That fresh perspective is necessary if we’re going to change the Democratic Party, if we’re going to change this government so it actually serves people again."
A 'blacklash' happened at the polls in response to redistricting
Sarah D. Wire and Jay Stahl
Black voter support for Democrats in the Tuesday, Nov. 3 midterms approached what former President Barack Obama captured in 2008, with exit polling showing the Supreme Court’s voting rights decision, GOP redistricting and the economy were major factors.
On Tuesday, 93% of Black women and about 86% of Black men voted for Democrats, said Jonathan Cox, who leads research and policy analysis at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation. In contrast, Obama won support from 96% of Black women and about 95% of Black men in 2008, when he was elected as the nation's first Black president.
"Black women are out here holding down Democrats in ways that really needs to be shouted from the rooftops," Cox told USA TODAY.
The Trump administration's attacks on diversity initiatives and Black history in his second term, combined with economic policies that have hit Black families particularly hard and Supreme Court decisions that effectively gutted part of the Voting Rights Act were a shock to the system, said political commentator Avis Jones-DeWeever.
"It's awakened something in us, a memory of what we've seen before," she told USA TODAY.
Chicken tenders and the path to the Senate
Melina Khan
Chris Pappas is slated to become the first openly gay man to serve in the U.S. Senate. But when it comes to making history, the incoming New Hampshire Senator and his family know how to wing it.
That's because Pappas comes from a family not unfamiliar with nation-altering firsts: his grandfather invented the chicken tender.
Maryland governor wants new maps after voters approve redistricting measure
Sarah D. Wire
Maryland Democratic Gov. Wes Moore said Wednesday that he wants lawmakers to consider new congressional maps for Maryland after the General Assembly convenes in January.
Voters approved the constitutional amendment, known as Question 3, which would enact different requirements for drawing maps for state legislative seats and congressional districts. The initiative will also require state legislative districts to be compact and adjoining, but there would be no criteria for determining how to draw the lines.
Earlier this year, Maryland considered joining the slew of states that redrew congressional districts to protect political power after President Donald Trump pressured Texas to produce a new Congressional map. The Maryland House passed a new map, but the Senate declined to consider it.
Moore told reporters outside of a Mt. Vernon coffee shop, according to News From the States that the redistricting effort is likely to continue nationwide and Maryland should be on the same footing. Republicans currently hold one the state's eight seats.
“Donald Trump is not done. He has already been very clear about his intention to go after additional states,” Moore said. “The courts have spoken, the people of Maryland have spoken, and it is time to make sure that Maryland does meet this moment.”
Maine 2nd District to go to ranked-choice voting, but victory declared
Margie Cullen and Kinsey Crowley
Maine’s 2nd District is going to ranked-choice voting, but both former Republican Gov. Paul LePage and Democratic State Auditor Matt Dunlap told USA TODAY over email that they expect LePage to prevail.
LePage’s senior advisor, Brent Littlefield, said they are aware the number of blank votes and write-ins “may trigger” ranked choice voting but, according to available numbers, LePage is the winner.
“It is very clear from our campaign team’s work yesterday talking one-on-one with local town clerks, and the publicly available numbers, that Paul LePage is the Congressman-Elect,” Littlefield said in a statement. “Paul’s vote margin is extremely large. Decision Desk HQ alone reports Paul LePage has over 4,400 more votes than Mr. Dunlap. That is in line with our campaign’s estimate yesterday of a 4,500-vote lead as Paul declared victory.”
Dunlap’s campaign also said that they do not believe that ranked-choice voting will change the results of the race.
“This isn’t the result we were hoping for, and I’m disappointed that we came short,” Dunlap said in a statement. “Congratulations to Paul LePage, I wish him the best.”
If LePage prevails, he will be one of the few Republicans nationwide to flip a U.S. House seat in these midterm elections. Maine’s 2nd Congressional District has been represented by Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine, who said he would not be seeking re-election to focus on his family amid growing “political violence.”
Initial results received by the Secretary of State's office showed LePage with a slight lead of 49.89% to Dunlap’s 48.31% out of 341,248 total first-choice ballots cast. Since neither candidate received over 50% of the vote, the race will go to ranked-choice voting under Maine’s election laws. Tabulation will begin Nov. 9 and could take several days.
Harmeet Dhillon, DOJ civil rights chief, resigns
Bart Jansen
Harmeet Dhillon, the Justice Department’s assistant attorney general atop the civil rights division, who led the administration’s enforcement of voting integrity, quit Nov. 5.
Dhillon was the official who demanded that states provide their voter rolls for federal authorities to compare to a citizenship database. But her division lost 27 cases as states, including some with Republican officials, fought in court and even Trump-appointed judges rejected her demands.
She also deployed 1,000 election monitors across the country for the Nov. 3 midterm elections without reporting any widespread fraud.
Attorney General Todd Blanche said the department was grateful for her service and that she “defended the civil liberties of every American and enforced the law without fear or favor.”
But Stacey Young, executive director of the advocacy group Judicial Connection of former Justice Department staffers, called Dhillon “the most destructive, lawless, and hateful head of the Civil Rights Division in DOJ history.”
The department didn't immediately respond to a request for comment about the criticism.
Democrats claim trifectas in 5 states, break up GOP trifectas in 5 other states
Bart Jansen
Democrats had some big wins in the midterm election at the state level, in addition to all the attention spent on sweeping Congress.
Democrats won gubernatorial races and both chambers of legislatures – a so-called trifecta – in five states. Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada and Pennsylvania and Wisconsin are now led entirely by Democrats.
Democrats also broke up Republican trifectas in five states: Georgia, Iowa, New Hampshire, Ohio and Texas.
Democratic socialist Nithya Raman wins Los Angeles mayoral race
Arit John
Nithya Raman, a Los Angeles city councilmember and democratic socialist, won an upset victory in the race to lead America’s second-largest city, according to the Associated Press.
Raman defeated incumbent Democratic Mayor Karen Bass, who became the city’s first female mayor after she defeated billionaire developer Rick Caruso in 2022. Bass said in a statement Thursday that she called Raman to congratulate her on her victory, AP reported.
“While this is not the outcome we hoped for, the people of Los Angeles have spoken,” Bass said. “I have committed to ensuring a smooth and seamless transition. Moving this city forward is what Los Angeles needs from all of us.”
Raman is part of a growing number of democratic socialist mayors. She joins Zohran Mamdani of New York and Katie Wilson of Seattle, who were elected last year, and incoming Washington, DC, mayor Janeese Lewis George, who was elected Nov. 3.
Under California’s top-two primary system, the two highest vote getters advance to the general election regardless of party, which led to a Democrat vs. Democrat general election battle.
This post has been updated.
The 'blueification' of state names is taking over TikTok. What does it mean?
Rachel Hale
A blue wave is here, and Gen Z is responding the way they know best: with memes.
From “Blexas” to “Bliowa,” young people are turning this week’s Nov. 3 midterms into a viral moment. The election flipped the House and Senate, and Democrats also pulled off several down-ballot races in a defeat over President Donald Trump and Republicans. It’s something the internet is calling the “blueification” of states.
Not all Gen Zers, of course, are happy with how the night went, and the generation isn't suddenly optimistic about politics as a whole. About half of voters under 30 said they were angry about the direction of the country, according to the AP Voter Poll. But data suggests young voters have swung sharply toward Democrats after making significant gains for President Donald Trump in 2024.
'I never lost a general election': Cornyn weighs in on Democratic blowout
Aysha Bagchi
Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn says that part of the reason Republicans suffered a blowout in this week's midterms was that they began favoring "fringe challengers" with performative politics over candidates with serious policy chops.
"If a candidate talks like an affable, reasonable person, he must be a sellout. If he makes bizarre comments or has past scandals, that’s considered authenticity," Cornyn wrote in a Nov. 5 Wall Street Journal op-ed.
Cornyn will be stepping down in January, after losing his Republican primary to scandal-plagued Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Trump loyalist who lost the general election in Texas to Democratic Senator-Elect James Talarico by about 12%.
While Cornyn placed some blame for Republicans' massive losses on Trump administration tariffs, the Iran War and "hyperaggressive immigration enforcement," he seemed to suggest that, had he won his primary, he would have fared better against Talarico.
"I never lost a general election. I am sorry that because of unforced political errors, my party, this administration and our country will miss an opportunity to make progress that was within reach," he wrote.
The size of Talarico's victory has led some political pundits to argue that even a candidate with fewer personal scandals than Paxton would have lost. Paxton was impeached, but ultimately acquitted, on corruption-related allegations after a 2023 impeachment trial that featured dramatic testimony about his alleged extramarital affair.
"There was no universe in which they actually – the Republican Party – held Texas," libertarian political commentator Robby Soave said on The Hill's RISING program.
Maine CD2 to be determined by ranked choice voting
Margie Cullen
Maine’s 2nd Congressional District House race will be determined by ranked choice voting after neither former Republican Gov. Paul LePage nor Democratic State Auditor Matt Dunlap received over 50% of first place votes, the Secretary of State’s office announced Nov. 5.
Maine uses ranked choice voting in the general election only in federal races with more than two candidates. Under this system, voters rank candidates in order of preference. If no one candidate gets over 50% of the total first-choice votes, the last place candidate gets eliminated and their second-choice votes get distributed. The process continues until one candidate cracks 50%.
Initial results received by the Secretary of State's office showed LePage with a slight lead of 49.89% to Dunlap’s 48.31% out of 341,248 total first choice ballots cast. A little under 6,000 votes separated the two candidates. There were 123 votes (0.04%) for declared write-in candidates and 6,017 (1.8%) blank votes.
The Secretary of State’s office said the ranked choice tabulation will begin Nov. 9.
The announcement comes after LePage had initially declared victory on the evening of Nov. 4.
This will be the fourth time in the past five elections that Maine’s 2nd District has gone to ranked choice tabulation. The last time this race went to a ranked choice runoff, in 2024, it took four days to complete.
In an election that saw Democrats flip over 30 House seats, Maine 2nd District is an opportunity for a Republican pick-up. It covers the more rural and conservative northern part of the state, and has given Trump his only Electoral College vote in New England in the past three presidential elections, due to Maine's system of apportioning Electoral College votes by district. But it has been represented for the last eight years by Democratic Rep. Jared Golden, who was able to win re-election four times by running as a blue dog Democrat who has historically been a strong supporter of gun rights and said he would be "OK" with Trump winning reelection in 2024.
Republicans win on Trump culture war priority: transgender athletes
Emily R. Condon
Despite Republican losses across the board, ballot initiatives against transgender athletes in women's sports seem headed to victory.
In four states – Arizona, Colorado, Nebraska and Washington – voters weighed in on ballot initiatives that would restrict student athletes assigned male at birth from playing on girls' sports teams.
Despite Arizona voters electing a slew of Democrats in statewide elections, an effort is projected to pass that will expand a ban on athletes assigned male at birth from competing on women's sports teams and to crack down on the restrooms and locker rooms used by athletes at sporting events.
In Colorado, two ballot propositions with anti-transgender policies are trending in the direction of passing, but they have yet to be called. Nebraska's Initiative Measure 442, is projected by Decision Desk HQ to pass, but not yet by a second news outlet, and it would designate sports teams by gender.
In the liberal-leaning Washington state, a move to prohibit “biologically male students from competing with and against female students" in school sports appeared likely to pass, according to Fox News, and the Associated Press projects it to pass.
Read more on details of the measures and how the states define sexes here.
5 Black governors make US history with record wins
Mary Walrath-Holdridge
A record five Black governors will serve at the same time beginning in January, ahistoric milestoneafter the Nov. 3 midterm elections nearly doubled the number of Black Americans ever elected governor in the United States.
Before this election, only three Black Americans had ever been elected governor: Wes Moore in Maryland, Deval Patrick in Massachusetts and Doug Wilder in Virginia. Never had two served simultaneously. On Election Day, four Black gubernatorial candidates broke barriers in their states, joining Moore, who won reelection.
Democrat and former Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms made history as Georgia’s first Black and first woman governor, defeating GOP pick Rick Jackson to end Republicans' 24-year gubernatorial reign in the state.
Democrat David Crowley defeated Republican Tom Tiffany to become Wisconsin’s first Black governor, months after briefly suspending his campaign.
Democrat, state attorney general and former state senator Aaron Ford defeated incumbent Republican Joe Lombardo to become Nevada's first Black governor and U.S. Rep.Byron Donalds, the only GOP candidate on the list, dodged Election Day's blue wave to become Florida's first Black governor.
“The story of this election is not just about who won,” Dominik Whitehead, chief of field for the NAACP, said in a Nov. 4 statement. “It’s about the Black wave of voters who understood what was at stake and made their voices heard.”
House Oversight Committee lays out 2027 plans
Sarah D. Wire
The incoming House Oversight Committee chairman Rep. Robert Garcia of California outlined the four main investigations that Democrats will be opening when they take back the house in January.
"We should be very clear that the American people have spoken loudly and clearly - they want change," Garcia told reporters during a news conference in Huntington Beach Wednesday. "They are tired of the destruction and the corruption of Donald Trump and this administration."
Garcia called Democrats' electoral victories nationwide a mandate.
Garcia said that the committee will be "laser focused" on: the Trump family's financial gains during President Donald Trump's time in office; the Department of Homeland Security and ICE's immigration enforcement efforts; corporate corruption and Jeffrey Epstein and who was involved.
Gingrich calls GOP race for president 'wide open' with 'bloom' off VP JD Vance
Bart Jansen
Newt Gingrich, an adviser to the Trump administration’s Pentagon and a former Republican House speaker, called “the race for the GOP presidential wide open” after Democrats swept into control of Congress.
Gingrich said Vice President JD Vance would have had a claim on the nomination if Republicans had done well, but “the luster has come off the bloom” because of his “go-slow strategy blowing up in Iran” and his support for an Ohio gubernatorial ad that featured a mother attacking her own daughter.
“The number of people who want to draft Secretary of State Marco Rubio is staggering,” Gingrich said in a social media post. “In addition, Ted Cruz, Tom Cotton, Ron DeSantis, Pete Hegseth, Glenn Youngkin, and a surprising number of people may decide this is their chance to take advantage of the chaos of the shocking defeat and seek to be the champion who can rescue the party and the country.”
Boebert race still tight
Zachary Schermele
Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert still has yet to learn whether or not she will secure a fourth term in Congress, as votes are still being counted in a tight race in Colorado's 4th Congressional District.
Boebert, a onetime staunch MAGA ally who has at times notably strayed from President Trump, is facing Democrat Eileen Laubacher. By NBC News' count, Laubacher was up by only a couple thousand votes just before noon ET Thursday, with roughly 93% of the vote in. Thousands more ballots are left to count.
El-Sayed keeps invoking Michigan-Ohio State rivalry
Erin Mansfield
Continuing a theme from the campaign trail, Democratic Senator-elect Abdul El-Sayed once again invoked the college football rivalry between the University of Michigan, which he attended, and The Ohio State University, the alma mater of Republican Vice President JD Vance.
"I just pointed out the fact that constitutionally he's obligated to swear me in," El-Sayed, a Democrat, told CNN about Vance's role as the president of the U.S. Senate.
"And he did go to Ohio State University, which of course is a lesser university than the University of Michigan," El-Sayed quipped. "I'm just, I'm stating facts."
Data center, AI stocks fall after Democratic sweep of Congress
Bart Jansen
Stocks related to data centers and the development of artificial intelligence are down after Democrats regaining control of Congress sparked concerns about industry expansion.
Data centers were a potent political message in state and local elections, although not entirely along partisan lines. Advocates such as President Donald Trump argued that development of data centers is an economic benefit. But critics including many Democrats contend data centers drive up electricity costs and consume large amounts of water to cool equipment.
Stock prices fell Nov. 5 in companies such as CoreWeave, down 3%, and Nebius, down 6%.
"The market's moving from the promise of AI to the price of AI," said Ted Parkhill, CEO of Incline Investment Management.
Abdul El-Sayed says he'll work in Senate with GOP rivals such as Ted Cruz
Bart Jansen
Democratic Senator-elect Adbul El-Sayed of Michigan, who will be the first Muslim in the Senate, said he would work with Republicans who said the harshest things about him, including alleging he was a national security risk, such as Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.
“Ted Cruz said some awful things,” El-Sayed said on MS NOW’s “Morning Joe.” “I will sit down with Ted Cruz, and if he's got a bill that makes sense to get money out of politics, put money in pockets, pass Medicare for all, I'll work with him on it, so long as he's willing to do it in good faith.”
GOP Sen. Cruz blames election losses on high cost of living, including tariffs
Bart Jansen
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, called the Democratic wave in the midterm elections a “blue tsunami” and an “ass kicking” that Republicans will have to reckon with.
Texans hadn’t elected a Democrat to statewide office since 1994, yet Democrats swept the posts on Nov. 3. Cruz said Republicans showed up at the polls but that they didn’t like the candidates – and he took aim at issues Demcorats raised against Trump, including tariffs and allegations of corruption.
In Kansas, for example, which elected its first Democratic senator since 1932, nearly one-third of voters listed the cost of living as their No. 1 concern. That was followed by corruption, the Iran war terrible candidates and the trade war with Canada.
“Food is too high, gas is too high, diesel is too high, insurance is too high, life is too high,” Cruz said in a social media post. “Tariffs have made everything too expensive, and the Iran war has dragged on too long.”
Latino, Black, Muslim, Native: Voters chose diversity in midterm election
Michael Collins
WASHINGTON – On election night, America chose diversity.
The blue tsunami that swept Democrats back into power in the House and Senate in the Nov. 3 midterm elections carried to victory candidates with a diverse tapestry of racial, ethnic, religious and cultural backgrounds.
Voters reshaped the Senate by electing a Methodist minister from Kansas, a Presbyterian seminarian in Texas, a Muslim physician from Michigan, a Native American in Minnesota, and, for the first time ever, an openly gay man from New Hampshire. Read more.
Mississippi Senate race outcome might take days
Michael Loria
It remains unclear who Mississippi will send to the U.S. Senate, and the state's top elections official is warning the final result might not be known for days.
"Counties have 10 days from the date of the election to submit their certified results to our office, which is November 13," Secretary of State Michael Watson said in a statement Wednesday. "Additionally, there are approximately 3,600 outstanding absentee-by-mail ballots that must be received within five business days and an unknown number of affidavit ballots that will be processed within the 10-day window counties have to certify their results."
On the ballot in the Magnolia State are Republican incumbent Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith and Democratic challenger Scott Colom. With 80% of ballots counted, Colom held a slight edge, with 353,440 votes to Hyde-Smith's 352,203. Independent Ty Pinkins had 15,696 votes, USA TODAY previously reported.
The tight race could deliver Democrats an eighth flipped Senate seat and make Colom Mississippi's first Democratic U.S. senator since Sen. John C. Stennis left office in 1989. Hyde-Smith has held the seat since 2018.
Where does the Alaska Senate race stand?
James Powel and Aysha Bagchi
In Alaska, Democrat Mary Peltola leads incumbent Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan by 637 votes with 74% of ballots counted, according to the Associated Press. Peltola and Sullivan are both below the 50% threshold needed to avoid sending the race to Alaska's ranked-choice voting system.
Alaska's voting system can make results take longer to determine in close races. According to David Becker, a former Justice Department voting rights lawyer who runs the Center for Election Innovation & Research, election officials will have to wait "for some time" for votes to come in from remote areas.
The state also has a significant population of military voters, whose ballots can arrive up to 15 days after Election Day, as long as they were postmarked by Election Day.
If no candidate gets more than 50% of the vote, the state's ranked choice voting system comes into play, which could mean further delays. Under state law, the ranked choice tally wouldn't start until Nov. 18.
"So it might be the second half of November where we get a really good sense of that," Becker said.