#elections

Democrats will control the Senate in January, CBS News and NBC News project, after the November 3 midterms. As of Thursday, November 5, the party had secured at least 54 seats. NBC lists seven flips: Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, Maine, North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas. Democrats also held Georgia, New Hampshire and Michigan, where Abdul El-Sayed beat former Rep. Mike Rogers and, CBS notes, becomes the first Muslim senator.

Among the upsets: James Talarico beat Attorney General Ken Paxton in Texas, the first Democrat Texas has sent to the Senate since 1988 (NBC); Elon Musk spent more than $150 million to boost Paxton, CBS reports. Pastor Adam Hamilton ousted Sen. Roger Marshall in Kansas, Troy Jackson defeated Sen. Susan Collins in Maine, and Annie Andrews beat Darline Graham in South Carolina. Republicans held Nebraska (Sen. Pete Ricketts over independent Dan Osborn), Montana and Florida.

The Alaska and Mississippi races were uncalled at the cutoff. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer vowed to "entangle" President Trump "in legislative razor wire" when he defies the law; Majority Leader John Thune said Republicans "will not stand idly by" as Democrats try to unwind their work. Trump told reporters he would "probably" get along with Democrats "unless they want to be destructive, but I have the power of the veto."

The U.S. Senate race in Mississippi was uncalled at the cutoff. By midday Thursday, November 5, Democrat Scott Colom led Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith by just over 1,700 votes, CBS reports; CBS rates it a toss-up. At the end of Wednesday's count, WDAM reports, Colom had 464,926 votes (49%) to Hyde-Smith's 463,788 (48.9%).

Secretary of State Michael Watson says about 3,600 mail ballots are outstanding, plus an unknown number of affidavit (provisional) ballots from voters whose eligibility must be confirmed. Mail ballots must arrive within five business days; counties have until November 13 to certify. Mississippi has no recount provision, so the plurality winner takes the seat. Colom's campaign estimates 15,000 affidavit ballots; Magnolia Tribune cites unconfirmed reports of up to 18,000.

The NRSC and Hyde-Smith's campaign asked all counties to separate and preserve affidavit ballots; Colom's campaign called it a "desperate stunt." The DSCC has sent lawyers to monitor the count. A Colom win would make him the first Democrat Mississippi has elected to the Senate since 1982, and its first Black senator since 1881.

Democrats will take control of the House in January, both CBS News and NBC News project. Estimates differ slightly and were still moving at the cutoff: NBC's Decision Desk projected at least 258 Democratic seats, a number the party hadn't reached since 1993, while CBS put Democrats on pace for about 256. CBS counted 42 districts shifted to Democrats and two to Republicans, with dozens of races still uncalled.

Notable results include Democrat Cait Conley defeating Rep. Mike Lawler in New York's Hudson Valley, Kristina Knickerbocker beating 23-year Rep. Mike Turner in Ohio, and Richard Ojeda beating Rep. Richard Hudson, chair of the House GOP campaign arm, in North Carolina. Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur kept her redrawn Ohio seat. NBC's exit poll put Trump's disapproval at 62%.

Speaker Mike Johnson told staff he will not run for minority leader, sources told CBS. Democratic Whip Katherine Clark launched a bid for majority leader; Republicans Erin Houchin and Lisa McClain are contesting the GOP conference chair. House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar said Democrats will pass bills on housing, health care, gas, groceries and utilities costs.

Democrats flipped governorships in Texas, Georgia, Nevada, Ohio and Iowa, NBC News projects. In Texas, Gina Hinojosa defeated Gov. Greg Abbott, and CBS reports every statewide seat on the ballot flipped to Democrats: NBC projects wins for lieutenant governor (Vikki Goodwin over Dan Patrick), attorney general (Nathan Johnson) and railroad commissioner (Jon Rosenthal, over Republican Bo French, who faced backlash in his own party for anti-immigrant, Islamophobic and antisemitic comments). Hinojosa named a bipartisan transition team and said she will be "the governor for all the people of Texas"; she called Abbott "gracious."

Elsewhere, Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford beat Gov. Joe Lombardo, Amy Acton beat Vivek Ramaswamy in Ohio (Reason), and Rob Sand will be Iowa's governor (CBS). Democrats held Michigan (Jocelyn Benson), Arizona (Katie Hobbs) and Oregon (Tina Kotek). Republicans held Florida, where Byron Donalds becomes the state's first Black governor, plus New Hampshire, Nebraska, Idaho, Alabama and Tennessee.

Sen. Ted Cruz called the night "a blue tsunami" and "a Watergate-level repudiation." Data centers were a campaign issue in several of these races; see our separate story.

Israel's elections commission said on Wednesday, November 4, that it had investigated all parties' fraud claims about the October 27 vote and found "no evidence of irregularities that compromised the integrity of the election or affected its results." Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and supporters had claimed, without evidence, that Arab-led parties "stole" the election. Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara also rejected a request to question elected officials without supporting evidence.

President Isaac Herzog accepted the certified results and began consultations with party leaders. Neither Netanyahu's coalition (53 seats) nor opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot's bloc (48) has the 61 needed to govern; Arab-led parties won a record 19. Ra'am said it would recommend Eisenkot, bringing his expected support to 56, per Ynet; the Joint List's 11 seats could push him past 61. Degel HaTorah said it would back neither man. Once talks end, Herzog picks a nominee, who gets 28 days to form a government, with a possible 14-day extension. He urged both camps to compromise to avoid another election.

On October 22 the Justice Department sued Alaska's Division of Elections in federal court, asking it to block or delay certification of the U.S. Senate race if Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan loses to Democrat Mary Peltola but would have won had the votes for a second candidate, Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. of Petersburg, gone to him. President Trump said he ordered the suit. The state's Department of Law answered that the suit "has no legal basis": the ballot labels the senator as the Republican incumbent, voters can rank both Sullivans, and probing voter intent would breach the secret ballot. Peltola's campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee moved to dismiss. Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski said the department "should have never filed this lawsuit."

On October 28, AP reported that The New York Times had obtained texts in which Peltola campaign members discussed recruiting people named Dan Sullivan. Trump said Peltola and the other Sullivan "should be prosecuted"; Murkowski said Alaskans "deserve the honest truth." Peltola's campaign says it "has no involvement with either Sullivan campaign," the DSCC denies involvement, and Dan J. Sullivan has long denied any contact with Peltola's campaign. Legal experts told AP the report won't change the lawsuit. Election Day is November 3.

On October 28, U.S. District Judge David O. Carter denied the Trump administration's request that California set aside the mail ballots of up to 20,000 registered voters that Homeland Security agencies flagged as likely noncitizens. Carter wrote the request "would wreak havoc and disrupt the election that is already underway" and that "if the Executive can discount votes and threaten an ongoing election due to unproven allegations, then our democracy is in danger." More than 3.7 million Californians had already voted, and Los Angeles County said over 500,000 ballots had been separated from their envelopes. Prosecutors filed an appeal the same evening; the 9th Circuit had dismissed an earlier appeal 2-1 on October 26 because Carter had not yet ruled.

On October 29, Carter appointed a special master to examine the federal list, which both sides agree includes an unspecified number of citizens. AP also reported that federal prosecutors subpoenaed Los Angeles County election staff to appear in court on November 4, citing a Homeland Security criminal investigation.

Brazil's electoral court declared President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva the winner of the October 25 runoff with about 51.8% of the vote, a lead of nearly 4.4 million over right-wing Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro. It is Lula's fourth, non-consecutive term, starting January 5, 2027, and the first time since military rule ended in 1985 that the second-place finisher in the first round won the presidency. Voting was extended two hours at both candidates' request; Bolsonaro called the extension unprecedented and asked for the result to be annulled.

On October 26 Brazil's Supreme Court ordered him to surrender his passports and barred him from leaving, amid money-laundering and tax-evasion investigations he denies. He crossed into Argentina on October 27 with his family and landed near Miami on October 28; a senior U.S. official said the State Department would issue the family visas. From the U.S., he called himself the country's "president-elect" and alleged fraud and persecution. His Liberal Party has acknowledged Lula's win. Lula called the departure "shameful." His father, ex-president Jair Bolsonaro, is under house arrest serving a 27-year sentence for plotting a coup.

Aleksandar Vučić conceded on the night of Serbia's October 25 snap parliamentary election, which he had called in September. "It is clear that we have lost these elections, the Student List has won, they will have between 135 and 140 seats and we will have 105," he said, citing a sample count; a majority in the 250-seat parliament is 126. The Student List, picked by the youth-led protest movement and running with no leader or hierarchy, took more than half the vote after most opposition parties stood aside.

The protests began after a renovated railway-station canopy collapsed in Novi Sad in November 2024, killing 16 people, and grew into nearly two years of demonstrations against corruption. Vučić's Serbian Progressive Party has held power since 2012; he kept close ties to Russia while pursuing EU membership talks. A regional analyst told NPR the broad coalition's fissures could show soon after the victory.

Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty announced on October 28 felony charges of unlawful voting and identity theft against conservative activists James O'Keefe and Cameron Higby over videos filmed at Minneapolis polling places during Minnesota's August 11 primary. In the videos, the men, wearing Islamic dress and using accents, ask election workers about vouching, the Minnesota rule letting a registered voter swear to the address of up to eight unregistered voters. Moriarty said they gave names of registered voters, including some who had died and at least one who had voted. "I think it's pretty clear they did not intend to vote. That's not the question here," she said, adding "you cannot give somebody else's name and misrepresent yourself." Neither man signed a vouching oath.

O'Keefe's group said in August its people "did not cast ballots" and were testing the law; Higby denied breaking any law. A first court appearance is set for November 16.

Results released October 29 from Israel's October 27 election give Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc 53 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, down from 68 at its peak, with his main opposition, led by former military chief Gadi Eisenkot, at 48 and Arab-led parties at a record 19. A majority needs 61. Results are to be certified and delivered to the president the following Wednesday.

After the head of the election committee, Supreme Court Justice Noam Sohlberg, said "serious suspicions" of foreign interference had been brought to him and asked the Shin Bet to investigate, though he could not verify them, Likud declared that "the elections in Israel have been stolen!" Qatar called the allegations "ridiculous and dangerous." The committee said the probe does not affect the final results and that claims of systematic violations are baseless; the Shin Bet said it was not casting aspersions on any part of the population. Eisenkot said Likud was doing this "because they lost." The opposition could reach a majority only with the Arab-led parties, a rare and politically risky step.

The Justice Department began notifying counties this week that it plans to send monitors on Election Day, NPR reports; counties in Colorado, Florida, Minnesota, Texas and Washington have been told so far. Civil Rights Division head Harmeet Dhillon said last month the department would send 1,000 observers nationwide, which she called the largest monitoring effort in its history. In the last midterm year, 2022, the department monitored 64 jurisdictions in 24 states. A DOJ spokesperson said details will be shared closer to the election and that the department prioritizes places with competitive elections.

Officials in three states told NPR they were not initially notified alongside their counties, as in past cycles; after NPR asked the department, several said they then received notice. In Colorado, Adams County's Democratic clerk said he suspected political motives because the neighboring Republican-run county that shares a toss-up district was not contacted. Wyoming's Republican governor had raised concerns about monitors' behavior in the August primary, which the DOJ disputes.

On October 22 the Supreme Court granted New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlan's emergency request and paused two October orders by U.S. District Judge Joseph Laplante. A state law enacted in April removed student IDs from the forms of identification accepted when someone requests a ballot. Laplante left that law in place, but blocked Scanlan's guidance that student IDs could not be used for any purpose, including under a "safety valve" that lets officials weigh other evidence of identity. With the stay, NBC reports, student IDs cannot be used even as backup evidence in the Nov. 3 election.

The unsigned order cited precedent that lower courts "should ordinarily not alter the election rules on the eve of an election." Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented alone, writing that the injunction targeted misleading official guidance rather than changing the law. The Republican National Committee backed the state; the challenge was brought by the Coalition for Open Democracy. New Hampshire has an open U.S. Senate seat on the ballot.

The Justice Department has sued California and asked a federal court to make the state segregate ballots from about 20,000 registered voters that federal officials call "likely noncitizens." On October 19, Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter announced charges against 28 green-card holders, all on that list, and acknowledged it may include some citizens. In an October 20 filing, state Attorney General Rob Bonta called the suit "a reckless political stunt." Los Angeles County officials reviewed a sample of 200 names; of those with a reported birthplace, 38.9% indicated they were born in the U.S., NPR reports.

Separately, on October 21 U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín barred Homeland Security officers in nine states from field operations aimed at people they know or should suspect are citizens, or based only on USCIS data matches, writing that the effort likely violates the Voting Rights Act's ban on voter intimidation. DHS said it has "no plans to question or investigate people we believe to be U.S. citizens." The order runs through election night unless it is appealed.

Albertans voted on October 19 on ten referendum questions. The headline question, non-binding under the order that set it, asked whether Alberta should remain a province of Canada or whether the provincial government should begin the constitutional process toward a binding referendum on separating. With more than 1.8 million votes counted and 84% of voting areas reporting, unofficial Elections Alberta results showed 75% for remaining in Canada and 25% for starting the separation process, NPR reports. Other questions asked about provincial control over immigration and eligibility for provincially funded programs.

Prime Minister Mark Carney called it "a great result for Canada." Premier Danielle Smith, who called the vote under pressure from separatists in her United Conservative Party while opposing independence, wrote that Albertans "have voted for a stronger Alberta in a united Canada." Separatist leaders said the result shows at least a quarter of Albertans want better treatment and vowed to keep going. Official results will be posted by Elections Alberta.

What happened

The Supreme Court allowed states, for now, to use a revamped federal database intended to help check voter eligibility before the midterms. The system is part of the administration's effort to identify noncitizens who may be registered.

Republican / administration case

Republicans supporting the system say citizenship verification is a basic election-integrity measure and that states should have access to federal data that can identify ineligible registrations.

Democratic / critic case

Democrats and voting-rights advocates argue that noncitizen voting is already extremely rare and warn that database matching errors could improperly flag eligible citizens close to an election.

Libertarian / Cato case

Cato election-policy writers have argued that documented noncitizen voting is extremely rare and have criticized federal attempts to override states' constitutional role in running elections. Their concern combines federalism, accuracy and due process.

Where the disagreement really is

There is broad agreement that only eligible citizens should vote. The fight is over how large the problem is and how much risk of false positives is acceptable in trying to prevent it.

What happened

A federal appeals court backed a Republican-drawn Missouri congressional map that could improve the GOP's chances of winning seven of the state's eight House seats. State courts and the U.S. Supreme Court had previously blocked use of the map, and the dispute returned to the Supreme Court.

Republican case

Republican officials argue the legislature had authority to redraw the districts and that changing back after the new map was already used in a primary would create constitutional and administrative problems.

Democratic case

Democrats argue the map is a mid-decade partisan gerrymander designed to dismantle Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver's district and manufacture an additional Republican seat.

Libertarian / Cato case

Cato's longstanding position is that both parties abuse redistricting when they control the process. It favors objective criteria, transparency and structures that reduce politicians' ability to choose their voters.

Where the disagreement really is

Beyond the immediate legal question, the larger dispute is whether elected officials should be able to redraw districts between censuses primarily for partisan advantage.