Trump’s… “Pretend I’m on the ballot!”
People did!
"So often times it happens that we live our lives in chains
And we never even know we have the key"
Already Gone - Eagles
The Hillby Ryan Mancini11/04/26Texas state Rep. Brian Harrison (R) on Wednesday called on Gov. Greg Abbott (R) to curb Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa’s (D) power before she is sworn in next year.“We still have total power in Texas, and we must act like it by using the remaining ten weeks to restore separation of powers and limit the emergency powers that Governor-Elect Hinojosa is set to inherit, which would allow her to destroy liberty in Texas by executive fiat,” Harrison wrote in a lengthy post on the social platform X.
Harrison wrote that Hinojosa should not have “unchecked emergency powers” and that “the urgency is undeniable… and inaction is intolerable.” He claimed that Hinojosa will “inherit the powers of a DICTATOR.”“Due to the absurd (and almost certainly unconstitutional) Texas emergency powers laws, Gov. Hinojosa will literally have the power to modify laws, ignore laws, or create and enforce laws – including criminal laws – on a whim!” Harrison said.
Hinojosa will likely enter her new role with more powers than anticipated on the campaign trail, The Houston Chronicle reported. She could also face roadblocks, as Texas Republicans have vowed to “hold the line” against the state Democrat’s agenda.
The strong night for Democrats in Texas did not apply solely to Hinojosa and Sen.-elect James Talarico (D-Texas), as Democratic state Rep. Vikki Goodwin defeated Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R), and Democrats won the races for state attorney general, comptroller, railroad commissioner and agriculture commissioner.Democrats also won the Texas state House, concluding the 24-year run Republicans held in both state Legislature chambers.
Texas’ governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and every other statewide candidate fell, upending the state’s political power structure in one night.Texan TriburneBy Eleanor KlibanoffNov. 4, 2026Everything has changed.A blue tsunami of epic proportions swept through Texas Tuesday night, decimating the largest, most influential red state and ending the longest statewide shutout of any political party in the country. Democrats up and down the ticket, buoyed by national anger toward President Donald Trump, won seats they haven’t been viable contenders for in decades despite historic spending from their opponents.Gov. Greg Abbott, the most powerful and well-resourced governor in modern Texas history, was unseated by Gina Hinojosa. Attorney General Ken Paxton, who in past elections cast off impeachment, indictment and infidelities, fell to James Talarico in his bid for the U.S. Senate. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, the iron-fisted ruler of the Texas Senate, went down to a little known state representative. Republicans lost the attorney general’s office, one of the most influential conservative legal positions in the country. The new congressional map Republicans drew yielded them no gains — in fact, they lost one seat overall.
First, both sides will have to emerge from what seems to be a collective shell shock gripping the governing class of the Lone Star State.
“No one ever thought he would be even close to losing. No one thought it. No one talked about it,” said Brendan Steinhauser, a GOP consultant. “He was a rock solid candidate and that tells me this is about something bigger than the candidates we put up or the races they ran.”
Texas Republicans should hope that this election was decided by a lot of Republicans choosing to stay home, or even cross party lines, in rejection of Trump, Steinhauser said. The only other alternative would be that the state suddenly found a whole lot more Democratic voters, which would make these victories more durable in the future.
One guy, at least, believes the Texas GOP’s loyalty to Trump is not to blame for Tuesday’s results. In fact, he’s blaming Texas Republicans for not being MAGA enough.“If Greg Abbott, the Governor of Texas, hadn’t become a RINO in the last six months of his Political Life, he wouldn’t have lost,” Trump posted on social media Tuesday night. “He went back to his original formula, and it wasn’t pretty!”
Guardian analysis shows how tumbling approval ratings may have hurt candidates backed by US presidentThe GuardianAriana Baio in WashingtonThu 5 Nov 2026Dozens of Republican candidates directly endorsed by Donald Trump lost their US midterm election races, according to analysis by the Guardian, raising questions over the power of the president’s support.In past elections, Trump’s endorsements have been coveted. In the final stages of this year’s campaign, he actively urged voters to act as though he were on the ballot.But just half of the 26 candidates Trump endorsed for the US Senate had won their elections as of Wednesday at 5pm ET, according to a Guardian tally.Of the 23 candidates for state governor endorsed by Trump, only nine had won their elections. Twelve were defeated, with two races still to be called.
The US president’s base has been loyal to his choices. In 2022, approximately 82% of candidates endorsed by Trump went on to win their race, according to the New York Times.While some races still have yet to be called, his endorsement appears to have had a weaker impact on candidates’ prospects in this year’s midterms. The US president’s handpicked candidates running in closely watched races failed to resonate with conservative voters, even in deeply red states.
The US president’s gubernatorial endorsements performed the worst of the three categories. Democrats flipped five governor seats including in Texas, which hasn’t seen a Democratic governor in more than 30 years, and in Iowa, which hasn’t had a Democrat running the state since the mid-2000s.
Restrictions on trans student-athletes were put to voters in Nebraska, Arizona, Colorado and Washington.19th NewsBrooke MigdonNov 4, 2026Nebraska and Arizona have passed ballot measures to ban transgender student-athletes from playing on girls’ sports teams, marking a significant referendum on trans rights. As of Wednesday morning, similar ballot measures in Colorado and Washington are still undecided, although early projections suggest that the measures will pass in both states.[...]Supporters of the ballot initiative have argued that enshrining the 2025 law in the state’s constitution would help prevent the legislature from repealing the law in future sessions. “One of the things we always worry about when we pass a law is that it can be unpassed,” Republican Rep. Kathleen Kauth, the law’s original sponsor, told Nebraska Public Media in March. The initiative was sponsored by the conservative advocacy group Fairness for Girls.
Colorado’s ballot measure would similarly designate sports teams from kindergarten through college as strictly male or female based on students’ “biological reproductive systems.” It qualified for the general election after Protect Kids Colorado, the conservative organization behind it, collected more than 168,000 signatures from across the state.
NPR | By Kate BartlettNovember 4, 2026One color dominates international headlines about the U.S. midterm election results. French newspaper Libération called the Democrats' win "une vague bleue," or blue wave, Britain's Daily Mail dubbed it a "historic blue tsunami," and The Times of India's headline ran "midterm blues for Trump."Countries at war were also watching closely, with Ukrainian newspaper The Kyiv Independent's online headline hopeful: "Democrats seize control of Congress in blow to Trump, potential boost for Ukraine."Russia had a different take. Rossiyskaya Gazeta, the state-run daily newspaper, suggested the results would in fact be a blow to Ukraine, which has firm support from the European Union. "Brussels, brace yourself. After the Republicans' defeat, Trump's wrath will fall on Europe," read the headline.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who has an acrimonious relationship with Trump, was forthright in his response."Yesterday, American society voted against policies that only impoverish. Against hate. Against machismo. Against climate denialism and against the privileges of the elites," Sánchez wrote on social media.He then alluded to the recent election in Brazil, where the left-wing incumbent president defeated a Trump ally, as well as upcoming Spanish elections later this month. "It happened in Brazil. It just happened in the U.S. And it will happen soon in Spain," he wrote.
South AfricaSouth African President Cyril Ramaphosa told reporters Wednesday that the U.S. election results would "introduce a new era in world relations.""We have seen that the Democrats have taken control of the Senate and of the House, and the people of America have spoken," he said.The Trump administration has had tense relations with South Africa, sanctioning officials it accuses of allowing the persecution of the country's White Afrikaner population and inviting its members to apply for refugee status in the U.S. — an opening that some 17,000 have sought to take advantage of.[…]FranceFrench Economy Minister Roland Lescure declined on Wednesday, during an interview with the BFM television network, to predict whether President Trump would "accept" the rebuke by American voters or stick to the policies widely perceived as having precipitated the midterm Republican defeat.[…]NorwayNorwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere on Wednesday called the U.S. election results "a powerful political signal about a change of course among American voters.""Voices are now emerging in American politics that are closer to us than the president and the administration have stood for, for example on climate and environment, and in foreign policy and development aid policy."
Tech mogul Elon Musk joked about the GOP’s steep losses early Wednesday, after spending more than $442 million boosting Republicans in the midterm elections.Democrats swept control of both chambers of Congress on Tuesday, winning competitive races across the board and even ousting Republicans in several races viewed as long shots.
“Guess my election-interfering space lasers didn’t work this time,” Musk wrote on the social platform X, which he owns.
He also poured money into America PAC, the super PAC he launched during the 2024 elections. The technology executive gave $76.8 million in October alone, on top of the $76 million he contributed to the super PAC between July and September.“Data centers in space looking pretty appealing right now,” Musk added in a separate X post early Wednesday.
Dear Eric: I’m part of a group of six women who get together every three months for dinner to catch up on our lives. We rotate on who decides where to eat. We have been doing this for four years now.My question revolves around eating with GLP-1 users. There are now four women in the group using GLP-1s. Two are diabetics, two use it for weight loss. I and one other are not using them.As you can imagine with six people eating and talking, we would usually be at a restaurant for one-and-a-half to two hours. Now it seems everything is so rushed.The women on these medications are done really fast. The other woman and I feel rushed, and sometimes the waitresses see the others done and we feel we have to be done too. We have even stopped eating the salads.What used to be an enjoyable time for all of us has turned into not fun for the other woman and me. It’s not relaxing and enjoyable anymore.We have suggested other things like craft classes or walks, but it never works out.Any suggestions for how to make this enjoyable again for me and the other friend? Or are we just the odd women out now?— Dining Out
Dear Dining Out: Is it possible for any of the group members to host at her house? This would alleviate the pressure to pay the check and leave. Each member could pitch in the cost of the meal toward food or catering. Or you could do it potluck-style, which might help people who are on specialized diets.If hosting at home isn’t doable, consider adding a second location to your dinner plans, like a tea house or a dessert shop. These places might be better equipped for lingering with conversation than a restaurant would be anyway. Or meet up for a round of drinks or coffees before sitting down to dinner.It’ll probably help to talk about this at the group level. If the shared goal is to find a way to talk for two hours and meals aren’t taking two hours anymore, you’re going to need to be creative, but you don’t have to find the solution on your own.
I was watching the PBS show Fake: Searching for Truth in the Age of Misinformation, and it made me think: What do I do to make sure what I write about isn't fake?
Whatever my original source is; Facebook, a news aggregator like Google News, or Yahoo News, if it isn’t from a mainstream media outlet, I verify whether other places are carrying the story. Or, I ask an AI about the topic and research it further. Even so, I am always looking for a mainstream media source to back it up.
Even with all of this, I still get caught taking the bait.
| Demographic Group | Electorate Share | Key Voting Pattern & Alignment |
|---|---|---|
| Young Voters (Ages 18–29) | ~10% of total voters | Supported Democratic U.S. House candidates by a +47 margin (71% Democrat vs. 25% Republican). |
| Middle-Aged Voters (Ages 30–44) | Moderate share | Favored Democratic House candidates over Republicans (59% to 36%). |
| Older Adults (Ages 65+) | High proportion of voters | Slightly preferred Republican candidates (51% Republican vs. 47% Democrat). |
| Hispanic Voters | ~16% of eligible voters | Backed Democratic U.S. House candidates over Republicans by roughly 60% to 33%. |
Total Cycle Advertising: Estimated to reach $11.6 billion.House Races ($1.5 Billion total):
- Democratic-aligned advertisers: ~$787.3 million
- Republican-aligned advertisers: ~$678.9 million
Senate Races:
Total ad spending in key Senate battlegrounds has seen record levels, led by the Texas Senate race, which alone attracted over $500 million to $573 million in total advertising spend.
A confused voter demanding to know why Donald Trump's name was missing from his ballot has sparked a political talking point, after a video shared on X appeared to show a man complaining that he could not find the US president among the candidates.According to the footage as described, someone explains that Trump is not running in the midterm election. The exchange serves as a reminder of a basic fact about American politics, even as Trump himself urges voters to treat the November contest as a referendum on his presidency.