by Steve Benen | Nov 5, 2026 | Congress, elections, Maddowblog
Donald Trump has spent years attacking the Democratic Party’s religiosity, repeatedly insisting that the party’s officials and candidates “hate God,” “oppose God,” and deserve to be seen as “godless.” As recently as last year, the president, who has never demonstrated any real interest in matters of faith, went so far as to insist that Democrats were “evil” and members of “the party of Satan.”
The rhetoric was ridiculous, but the president was hardly alone. Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, who was just elected governor, has repeatedly and publicly declared that the Democratic Party is “a Satanic cult,” adding, “There’s not one Democrat that can tell you they stand up for God.”
This nonsense was likely news to Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia, who is an accomplished Christian pastor who “stands up for God” during his weekly sermons. But as the dust settles on the midterm elections, I’m struck by just how much company Warnock will soon have on Capitol Hill:
Democratic Sen.-elect Adam Hamilton of Kansas, the first Democrat to win a U.S. Senate race in his home state since 1932, is the senior pastor of Kansas’ largest church.
Democratic Sen.-elect James Talarico of Texas is a Presbyterian seminarian.
Democratic Rep.-elect Sarah Trone Garriott of Iowa is a Lutheran minister.
Democratic Rep.-elect Lindsay James of Iowa is a Presbyterian minister.
Democratic Rep.-elect Frederick Haynes III of Texas is the senior pastor of a Baptist church in Dallas.
Highlighting the pattern, a Vox analysis noted that these incoming lawmakers “belong to a rising tide in American politics: the emergence of a religious left that marries moderate or liberal strains of Christianity with Democratic policy and political priorities.
by G. Elliott Morris | Nov 5, 2026 | Congress, elections, Opinion, White House
The Democratic Party is on track to win its biggest midterm victory since 1974, when a wave of anti-Republican sentiment followed the Watergate scandal. Pending final counts in about two dozen seats, the Democrats will emerge from the 2026 midterm elections with at least 250 seats in the House of Representatives and 54 seats in the Senate — and with as many as 260 and 56 in the House and Senate, respectively, if votes break their way.
The victory represents a monumental crackup of the coalition that put Donald Trump in the White House in 2024. According to a review of vote-choice estimates from the MS NOW Voter Poll among a dozen demographic groups, the Republicans lost the most ground with Latinos, young people and lower-income Americans — three groups that also swung hard to Trump from 2020 to 2024. My analysis of county-level returns also shows Democrats making disproportionate gains with these groups.
An anti-Trump re-realignment
The backlash against Trump and the Republican Party is largest among Latino voters. According to estimates calculated by the Pew Research Center, Latinos gave 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris a 3-percentage-point margin over Trump nationally in 2024. But the MS NOW Voter Poll shows Latinos giving Democrats a whopping 27-point margin last night. My best guess, based on a statistical model extrapolating the current election results to counties without final vote tallies, is that the Democrats will end up with a 14-point margin in the House popular vote, an increase from their current 10-point margin. (This could be as low as 12 or as high as 15 points, depending on how ballots break in California,
by Chris Walker | Nov 5, 2026 | David Crowley, Democracy, elections, News, pledge, Tom Tiffany, Wisconsin
Republican candidate for Wisconsin governor Tom Tiffany has refused to sign a pro-democracy pledge that was sent by a nonpartisan group to both him and Democratic candidate David Crowley. The inaction by Tiffany, who is currently a member of the House of Representatives, comes as he has tried to stave off criticism relating to his past efforts to block the results of the 2020 presidential…
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by Kaivan Shroff | Nov 5, 2026 | Congress, elections, Opinion
After Democrats’ devastating losses across the country in 2024, a quiet consensus seemed to form among not only the pundit class but even some senior Democratic operatives. They noted that Hillary Clinton, the first woman nominee, lost to Donald Trump. Joe Biden defeated him. Then Kamala Harris, the first Black woman and first South Asian nominee, lost amid an apparent anti-“woke” backlash.
“Some Democratic leaders, donors and strategists,” Axios reported earlier this year, wondered “whether the party’s best bet for winning back the presidency in 2028 is to nominate a man — perhaps a straight, white, Christian man.” Even former first lady Michelle Obama demurred that the country was “not ready for a woman.”
Tuesday’s blue tidal wave, powered by minority and female candidates across the nation, forcefully rejected that narrative.
Nowhere, though, was the list of “firsts” longer than in the gubernatorial races.
As the night wore on, the list of “firsts” grew and grew. In the Senate, Abdul El-Sayed overcame an onslaught of Islamophobic attacks to become the first Muslim elected to the chamber. He will join New Hampshire’s Chris Pappas, the first openly gay man elected to the Senate; Annie Andrews, the first woman elected to the Senate from South Carolina; and Peggy Flanagan, the first Native American woman elected to the Senate.
In the House, the history makers abound. To name but a few: Adam Hamawy, the first Muslim elected to Congress from New Jersey; Denise Powell, the first Latina elected to Congress from Nebraska; Melat Kiros, the first Black woman elected to Congress from Colorado; and Claire Valdez, the first Indigenous women elected to Congress from New York. Cait Conley
by Shireen Akram-Boshar | Nov 5, 2026 | 2026 election, 2026 Elections, 2026 midterms, Divestment, elections, Gaza, Genocide, Israel, midterm elections, midterms, News, Palestine, Rhode Island
On Tuesday, voters in Providence, Rhode Island, overwhelmingly passed an ordinance requiring the city to divest from companies that enable genocide, apartheid, and human rights violations. The ordinance is the Palestine solidarity movement’s first binding municipal divestment law passed through popular vote in the U.S. — and makes Providence the largest U.S. city to vote to divest from Israel.
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by Brad Reed | Nov 5, 2026 | 2026 election, 2026 Elections, 2026 midterms, Ballot Initiatives, citizens united, corporate campaign spending, Corporations, Dark Money, elections, Hawaii, midterms, money in elections, Money in Politics, Montana, New York, News, Supreme Court
Voters in Montana on Tuesday delivered a major blow to big moneyed interests by overwhelmingly passing a ballot initiative barring corporate cash from political campaigns in the state. With 87% of votes counted as of Wednesday morning, Montana Constitutional Initiative 194 has received support from more than 65% of voters, with just 35% registering opposition.
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