by Chris Walker | Nov 5, 2026 | Article, Democratic Party, elections, midterms, Politics and Movements: US, Reprint, Voting Rights
This article was originally published by Truthout on Nov. 04, 2026. It is shared here under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license.
Several statewide and state legislative contests in this week’s midterm elections have resulted in new Democratic Party “trifecta” governments — places where the party is now in control of both houses of the state legislature as well as the governor’s office.
With these new wins, Democrats have the opportunity to do something once considered nearly impossible: implement a popular vote model for electing future presidents of the United States, to replace the archaic and unpopular Electoral College.
Due to the mechanics of the Electoral College, five presidential “winners” in U.S. history have taken office who did not win the approval of most voters, including twice over the past three decades. While a constitutional amendment would be needed to formally abolish the Electoral College — which is unlikely to happen anytime soon, even after this week’s “blue wave” — there is a workaround called the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, which doesn’t require such an amendment.
Per Article II of the U.S. Constitution, each state is mandated to appoint, “in such manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a number of electors, equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress.” These electors end up voting for president and vice president.
All states today direct their electors to vote based on their own results in presidential races. If a Democratic candidate wins in California, for example, all 54 of its electors are people chosen to support that candidate in the Electoral College.
But under
by Steve Benen | Nov 5, 2026 | 2026 election, elections, Maddowblog
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s tenure has been scandalous for a great many reasons, but among the former Fox News host’s more controversial moves is the aggressive purge campaign he’s led. Just two months ago, The New York Times reported that Hegseth’s firings have been so dramatic that he’s left the U.S. Army “essentially rudderless” during an ongoing war in the Middle East.
Political scientist Caitlin Talmadge, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor who specializes in foreign policy and military operations, noted via social media earlier this year, “Firing senior officers for cause is one thing. Firing them repeatedly on this scale and with no explanation is unprecedented in our nation’s history.”
The list is not short, though among the notable names is retired three-star Vice Adm. Nancy Lacore, who led the Navy Reserve and whose lengthy and decorated career came to an abrupt and unexpected end in August 2025, when Hegseth fired her without cause.
“I was one year into what is normally a four-year job [and] was notified that I was being relieved, effective immediately,” Lacore later told MS NOW’s Jen Psaki. “I struggled to figure out what was next for me. But the one thing I couldn’t shake was this feeling that I wasn’t done serving.”
Lacore added, “I can’t sit on the sidelines. I can serve differently.”
At that point, the retired Navy admiral took on a different kind of challenge: She decided to launch a Democratic congressional bid in an open South Carolina district. The odds were most definitely against her. Outgoing Republican Rep. Nancy Mace was re-elected by nearly 17 points in this same district two years earlier. Donald Trump
by Chris Walker | Nov 5, 2026 | 2026 Elections, Donald Trump, election integrity, elections, midterms, News, Trump election fraud claims
On Tuesday, President Donald Trump told reporters that he would only accept the results of the 2026 midterm elections if he felt they were “honest” — echoing statements he’s made in the past while peddling baseless claims of widespread voter fraud. When asked by journalists if he would “respect” the results of the midterms, Trump indicated his response may depend on the elections’ outcome.
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by Sharon Zhang | Nov 5, 2026 | 2026 election, 2026 Elections, Corruption, DOGE, Donald Trump, elections, Elon Musk, Michigan, Mike Rogers, News, Republicans
The world’s first trillionaire, Elon Musk, recently took another record: He is now the largest single political donor in modern American history, according to an analysis by The Washington Post, after pouring nearly half a billion dollars into backing Republicans in this year’s midterm elections. This has contributed to an enormous gap between Republican and Democratic political spending this…
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by John Kasich | Nov 5, 2026 | elections, Opinion
Across the country, you could feel the anger and frustration bubbling up long before Election Day. There were signs people were tired of the chaos and the name-calling. They were disgusted by the meanness they saw coming from the Republican Party. They wanted the economy to get better, and many wanted an end to the war with Iran.
Too many Republicans in Washington had little to offer on the issues that concerned people most. What voters saw instead was blind loyalty to President Donald Trump. When Republicans lost the House and the Senate, it was a devastating blow, and they earned it.
When Republicans lost the House and the Senate, it was a devastating blow, and they earned it.
But for all that, this could actually be an exciting time to be a Republican. A party with a long and important history in this country has a chance to rebuild around the ideas and values that once drew people to it. I’m talking here about fiscal responsibility, which helps create the conditions for economic growth.
And to do that, the party had better make room for some of the loyal Republicans it left behind in recent years. I count myself among them.
I’m thinking of people who spent much of their lives working for what they understood to be conservative Republican principles and who, somewhere along the way, found themselves on the outside of a party they had helped build. These folks, including leaders like former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, who has publicly criticized Trump and the Republican Party’s loyalty to him, have more to offer than their votes in the next
by Cleber Lourenço | Nov 5, 2026 | brazil, elections, Flavio Bolsonaro, JD Vance, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Meta, minerals, News, Polymarket, rare earth minerals, Social Media
On Tuesday, Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Flávio Dino ordered the Federal Police to investigate suspected foreign financing of Flávio Bolsonaro’s presidential campaign. Bolsonaro lost to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in the runoff. The investigation will also need to determine whether any connection exists between political support for the senator and foreign interests in Brazil’s rare earth and…
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