by Hunter Woodall | Nov 3, 2026 | Congress, elections, News
On Sunday, two days before Election Day, President Donald Trump went to Salina, Kansas, to try to rescue the floundering campaign of a Republican ally in a state that has not sent a Democrat to the Senate since before World War II.
“I hope he doesn’t need it, but I had to make sure that he gets in,” Trump said to the crowd, speaking of Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., a first-term Republican.
The trip should have reassured nervous Democrats. It showed how far the battlefield has shifted in their favor, in ways they could only have imagined 18 months ago.
But they had other problems.
Hours earlier, Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., had thrown her support to Republican Mike Rogers over Abdul El-Sayed, the progressive who beat her in the state’s Democratic Senate primary. Michigan Democrats were left scrambling. Stevens, a moderate, had the backing of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in that primary.
“On a day when Republicans were forced to send Trump to campaign in Kansas, Haley Stevens handed them their biggest in-kind contribution of the cycle,” said a senior Democratic staffer for a prominent member of Congress in a Midwestern state.
The split screen captures the battle for the Senate in miniature: Republicans are spending precious time and money to defend ground that should be safe, while Democrats are endangering ground they cannot afford to lose.
Heading into Tuesday’s midterms, the fight for the Senate is playing out across a far wider map than almost anyone expected. Democrats need to net four seats to win the majority. That is a tall order in a cycle when most of the seats Republicans are defending are in
by Taya Graham and Stephen Janis | Nov 3, 2026 | Economy and Inequality, Inequality Watch, Pennsylvania, Politics and Movements: US, US Elections, video
Pennsylvania’s 7th District, the Lehigh Valley region that includes Allentown, Bethlehem, and Easton, is one of the most competitive House races in the country. Democrat Bob Brooks, a firefighters union president, is challenging Republican incumbent Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, and how voters here feel could help decide who controls the House. Taya Graham and Stephen Janis spent several days in the district talking to the people who will determine the outcome.
Voters say high prices, a lack of affordable housing, and a Washington disconnected from working people are driving their vote. Two more specific issues are also shaping the race: proposed data centers, which residents say are being imposed on their communities without adequate review, and the Epstein files, which arrived in Bethlehem aboard the “Donald J. Trump and Jeffrey Epstein Memorial Bookmobile,” a traveling archive of the documents released to date. Underneath it all is a darker worry: that their votes won’t be counted.
Credits
Producers: Taya Graham and Stephen JanisWriter: Stephen JanisEditing/Post-Production: Stephen Janis
Transcript
Taya Graham: Pennsylvania’s 7th District is a diverse community stretching across the Lehigh Valley, but just before the midterm election, there is a common theme from residents that we spoke to.
Kathy: We are not liking what we see in our country.
Taya Graham: Anger and the desire for change.
Kathy: We’re not liking the effects of the things that are taking place in Washington, and therefore people are out trying to make a change.
Taya Graham: And how voters feel here could be critical to who controls the House. It is one of more than a dozen battleground districts, which is why we spent several days speaking to the people who will
by Shireen Akram-Boshar | Nov 3, 2026 | Boston, Cambridge, Graduate Student Unions, Harvard, News, Strikes, student organizing, Trump Administration
Harvard graduate student workers walked off the job on Tuesday in their second strike of 2026 — and other Harvard workers are set to follow with additional strikes in the coming weeks, as union activity heats up on campuses in the Boston area. The Harvard Graduate Students Union-United Auto Workers Local 5118 (HGSU), which represents over 4,000 student workers, began their strike at midnight…
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by Lucia Iandolo and Ava Suffredini | Nov 3, 2026 | Ithaca, Politics and Movements: US, student protest, video
Students and Ithaca community members gathered in downtown Ithaca on Oct. 13 for the “I Am Jane Doe” rally to support students’ demands in light of the reopened criminal investigation into the alleged 2024 gang rape of a former Cornell University student by members of the school’s Chi Phi fraternity.
The lawsuit was filed on Sept. 16, two years after the plaintiff, identifying as Jane Doe, was allegedly sexually assaulted and gang raped by seven Chi Phi fraternity brothers.
Since the Cornell Daily Sun, Cornell University’s student-run newspaper, broke the story on Sept. 18, it has received widespread media attention and sparked nationwide anger. This has led to protests across the United States, including on Cornell University’s campus and in the greater Ithaca community.
TRNN student correspondents Lucia Iandolo and Ava Suffredini took to the streets to interview Ithaca students, organizers, and community members in the wake of an international reckoning with sexual assault and rape culture.
Additional Links
Community reporting from the Ithacan
Cornell Sun Student Editorial releasing the names of the Cornell 7
Credits
Reporting: Lucian IandoloVideography and Editing: Ava SuffrediniProduction and Post-Production: Ryan Johnson
Transcript
The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. It will be updated.
Lucia Iandolo: Students and Ithaca community members have gathered in downtown Ithaca October 13th for the I Am Jane Doe rally to support students’ demands in light of the reopened criminal investigation into the alleged 2024 gang rape of a former Cornell University student by members of the school’s Chi Phi fraternity. The lawsuit was filed on September 16th, two years after the plaintiff identifying as Jane Doe was allegedly sexually assaulted and gang raped by seven Chi Phi
by Jake Johnson | Nov 3, 2026 | Authoritarianism, censorship, Jeremy Corbyn, Labour, News, Palestine, Palestine Action, Travel Ban, UK
The United Kingdom’s Labour government has barred Swedish climate scholar and Palestinian rights advocate Andreas Malm from entering the country, without explanation, just days before he was scheduled to speak at a conference that will also feature a co-founder of Palestine Action — an organization banned by the UK government on highly dubious grounds. Malm, an author and associate professor…
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