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12:20 PM ET, November 3, 2026

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 Top Items: 
Andrew Egger / The Bulwark:
The Alex Pretti Election  —  It's Election Day, and boy, do we have election coverage for you: Tim, Sarah, and JVL will kick off our election night broadcast at 7:00 p.m. EST on Substack, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitch.  Sam and the rest of the Bulwark team will carry us through the night as results come in across the country.
RELATED:
Politico:
'We forgot what it's like to be populist': Republicans see Trump's 2024 crumbling  —  New results from the POLITICO Poll show that one in 10 Trump voters are planning to vote for Democrats on Tuesday.  —  Republicans' 2024 coalition is cracking in real time.
Discussion: CBS News and The Independent
Susan B. Glasser / New Yorker:
Finally, the Beginning of Trump's End  —  In recent decades, the second terms of American Presidents have not ended well.  Ronald Reagan had the Iran-Contra affair; Bill Clinton, after attempting to cover up his affair with a former intern, became the first chief executive impeached since the mid-nineteenth century.
Jonathan Martin / Politico:   Republicans Are About to Pay for Trump's Mistakes
Sidney Blumenthal / The Guardian:   Trump's midterm campaign has distilled his vile message
Politico:   ‘The Armageddon of all elections’  —  With help from Eli Okun, Ali Bianco and Irie Sentner
Mona Charen / The Bulwark:
Trump Was Right. He Is on the Ballot.
Discussion: Financial Times
Mike Zapler / Axios:
Democrats could learn wrong message from a blowout victory  —  Democrats are poised to romp in today's election — easily winning the House and, according to most forecasts, flipping the Senate too. … Even the GOP has a better brand. … Confusing the two could tempt Democrats to overread …
RELATED:
G. Elliott Morris / FiftyPlusOne:
The final polls and race ratings show a late shift toward Democrats  —  The party has gained ground in the generic ballot and several key Senate races, according to both the polls and expert handicappers  —  G. Elliott Morris, FiftyPlusOne, and Katie Marriner
G. Elliott Morris / Strength In Numbers:
2026 ELECTION DAY LIVE BLOG  —  What to follow on Election Day and how to watch results come in, Strength In Numbers style  —  Intro  —  Welcome to the Strength In Numbers Election Day live blog!  This page is your one-stop shop for all things data-driven commentary on Election Day 2026.
Discussion: The Downballot
G. Elliott Morris / Strength In Numbers:   FINAL forecast: a blue wave, or a blue tsunami?
SB Sarah / Smart Bitches, Trashy BooksSmart Bitches …:
The New York Times Terminates Contract with Romance Columnist Olivia Waite After Bluesky Repost  —  Please be advised that the following article discusses rape allegations.  —  ...  The New York Times has terminated their contract with author Olivia Waite, their romance columnist …
E. Lansing / US Department of Justice:
DOJ To Monitor Elections in All 50 States for First Time  —  For Immediate Release  —  One of the Department of Justice's (DOJ) most important missions is ensuring election integrity, supporting free and fair elections, and protecting the right to vote for U.S. citizens across the United States.
RELATED:
Ben Berkowitz / Axios:   DOJ sending 1,000 election monitors to all 50 states
Dan Mangan / CNBC:   Trump midterm election lawsuits, state pushback come to a head Tuesday
Kyle Cheney / Politico:
Election Day in America  —  Voters are taking to the polls in a midterm election that will define the future of both parties.
Discussion: Truthout
Alexander Smith / NBC News:
U.S. will stop $4B in aid to Israel at the end of the year, Trump says  —  “The left uses the $4 billion payment that everybody knows about ... as a signal of unfairness, and we can't allow that to happen,” the president said.  —  President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he has made a deal …
RELATED:
Ben Finley / Associated Press:
Trump says US will halt $4B in aid to Israel as the Mideast ally shifts to buying military hardware
Wall Street Journal:
U.S. Strikes Iran's Qeshm Island as Trump Talks Down War Risks  —  Trump told reporters Monday 'we haven't been doing any fighting for months'  —  The U.S. attacked Iran's Qeshm Island on Monday, U.S. officials said, in the latest of a series of limited strikes Washington has secretly carried …
RELATED:
NBC News:
U.S. military carries out limited strikes on Iran's Qeshm Island, U.S. officials say
Michelle Del Rey / The Washington Sun:
Ballot Scanners Fail Across New York's Westchester County  —  The New York Attorney General's Office said it is monitoring a widespread technical issue with ballot scanning machines in Westchester County that may force the county's election workers to count votes by hand.
RELATED:
Herb Scribner / Axios:
Voting machine chaos hits key House battleground  —  Voting machines across New York's Westchester County are rejecting paper ballots on Election Day, raising concerns about potential delays in one of the nation's most competitive House races. … - The Board of Elections said it is speaking …
New York Times:
Google Will Turn Off Search for Schools That Reject A.I.  —  Google is making it easier to restrict its A.I. tools for students.  But schools that block A.I. entirely will lose student access to Google's search engine.  —  Google announced Tuesday that early next year it would turn off …
Kyle Cheney / Politico:
Pardoned Jan. 6 defendant facing new charges for threatening DC federal judges … Now Cleveland Meredith is facing new federal charges for allegedly threatening to murder the federal judges who presided over his — and thousands of other — criminal cases stemming from the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
Discussion: Newsweek and Mediaite
RELATED:
Gavin J. Quinton / The Washington Sun:   Justice Department Bars Jack Smith From Testifying in Trump's BBC Lawsuit
Lisa Needham / Public Notice:
James O'Keefe's Minnesota stunt backfires spectacularly  —  The fraud came from inside the house. … Well, well, well.  —  Do you think those cringy scammers, James O'Keefe and Cam Higby, have enjoyed being hoisted by their own petard, as it were?  Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty …
Discussion: UNICORN RIOT and The Mahablog
Ken Burns / New York Times:
Why I'm Optimistic About the Midterms  —  There have been three great crises in American history: the Civil War, perhaps the defining event in our history after the Revolution itself, the Great Depression and World War II.  These events tested our republic and our resolve in fundamental ways …
Will Kubzansky / Bloomberg:
US Gas Prices Rise Above $4 for the First Time on Election Day  —  Americans driving to the polls will pay gas prices averaging over $4 a gallon for the first time on record on an election day, the latest milestone in an energy crisis that has taken center stage in the US midterms.
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Trump vanishes from GOP campaign ads  —  Republicans on the ballot this cycle have all but stopped mentioning President Trump in their campaign ads, according to an Axios analysis of broadcast advertising data from AdImpact.  —  Why it matters: Trump has tried to make the 2026 midterms a referendum on his presidency.
Discussion: MS NOW
RELATED:
Axios:   GOP's midterm blame game starts early
Bret Stephens / New York Times:
What a Vote for Abdul El-Sayed Means  —  On a recent visit to Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township, Mich., I heard from someone who described the state's U.S. Senate race this year as a choice either against antisemitism or for democracy.  —  What he meant was that a vote for Mike Rogers …
Jacob Wendler / Politico:
K Street's $7 million midterms bet  —  Fifteen PACs associated with major Washington lobbying firms have given more than $7 million to federal candidates and political committees this cycle as the 2026 midterms become the most expensive midterms on record, according to a PI analysis of FEC records.
Shawn McCreesh / New York Times:
Trump Delivers a Closing Midterm Message.  Mostly About Landscaping.  —  On the eve of the election, the president held forth in great detail on columns, drain pipes and granite at the newly refilled Reflecting Pool.  —  President Trump was standing in front of the Reflecting Pool on Monday afternoon …
RELATED:
Wall Street Journal:
Trump Surprises Republicans With Election Eve Speech About Reflecting Pool
Dan Primack / Axios:
Prediction markets have a lot riding on the blue wave  —  Prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket officially don't care which side of a bet wins.  — There is no “house.” … Even if that feels counterintuitive. … It bestowed credibility at a time when public trust in traditional polling had cratered.
Discussion: Variety and The Guardian
 
 
 New Item Finder: 
30 minutes ago
David E. Sanger / New York Times:
Trump Says U.S. to End $4 Billion in Aid to Israel in Favor of New Deal   Find
35 minutes ago
Gavin J. Quinton / The Washington Sun:
Justice Department Bars Jack Smith From Testifying in Trump's BBC Lawsuit   Find
45 minutes ago
Jacob Wendler / Politico:
K Street's $7 million midterms bet   Find
45 minutes ago
Will Kubzansky / Bloomberg:
US Gas Prices Rise Above $4 for the First Time on Election Day   Find
 
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 More Items: 
Chloe Taylor / CNBC:
Trump is going to get ‘trounced’ in the midterms — and knows it, Anthony Scaramucci tells CNBCNEW!
Discussion: The Independent
David Nir / The Downballot:
Morning Digest: Join us for our election night livestream!
Discussion: Survey 160
Marc Caputo / Axios:
Fired general accused of being source for Wall Street Journal, NYT
Discussion: Mediaite
Judd Legum / Popular Information:
$1.4 billion in dark money
Discussion: The Guardian and New York Times
Ta-Nehisi Coates / Vanity Fair:
Ta-Nehisi Coates on Haley Stevens, Abdul El-Sayed, and the Right's “Campaign of Hate”
Don Moynihan / Can We Still Govern?:
Accountability Day for Musk?  —  Democracy depends upon a simple rule, what we might call …
Discussion: Silver Bulletin and Raw Story
 Earlier Items: 
Miles Klee / Wired:
The Online Right's Closing Campaign Argument: Fascist Anakin Skywalker Memes
Discussion: Gizmodo and Reason
New York Times:
How TV Networks Plan to Cover the Midterm Elections
Mira Bhakta / The Hill:
Stevens shares rationale for endorsing Rogers over El-Sayed
Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling / New Republic:
Pete Hegseth Makes Over Half the Military Want to Quit Early
Jesse Wegman / New York Times:
Justice Kagan Sounds an Alarm About the Court
Discussion: Reuters, MS NOW, Slate and National Review
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Thomas Buckley / Bloomberg:
Sources: Disney eyes laying off thousands, asking some managers to target 20% in annual cost savings, which could come from job cuts and expense reductions

Blake Brittain / Reuters:
The NYT, the New York Daily News, and others sue browser maker Brave for allegedly scraping their articles for AI training and letting users bypass paywalls

Rohan Goswami / Semafor:
Sources: Fox's $22B Roku acquisition is poised to clear DOJ scrutiny and proceed under a consent decree, despite Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy's efforts to block it

 
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