by Steve Benen | Nov 6, 2026 | Congress, elections, Maddowblog
Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* The National Republican Congressional Committee exists to help elect as many House GOP candidates as possible, and leading the NRCC is not an easy task. Not only does the chair have to oversee recruiting and training, but he or she also has to direct resources and monitor polling, all while doing the job of a full-time member of Congress.
In this year’s midterm elections, it was Republican Rep. Richard Hudson of North Carolina who took on the challenge, knowing that previous NRCC chairs who did well used the gig as a springboard to bigger and better things.
The trouble is, Hudson, while focusing on several dozen key races nationwide, ended up facing a tougher-than-expected challenge in his own conservative district.
On Thursday, The Associated Press called the race: In an outcome that proved surprisingly emblematic of the entire election cycle, the sitting chair of the NRCC narrowly lost his own re-election bid in a district that Donald Trump won by 16 points in 2024.
* On a related note, North Carolina’s 1st Congressional District proved to be the most expensive U.S. House race in American history, but the Republican spending was for naught: The incumbent Democrat, Rep. Don Davis, prevailed. This is the same district GOP officials in the state redrew specifically to defeat Davis in a failed gerrymandering scheme.
* The state of Indiana apparently has a new political party called the Lincoln Party. As NBC News reported, “The party’s first candidate, former two-term Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard, won more than 3% of the vote in the Indiana secretary of state’s race Tuesday, according
by Steve Benen | Nov 6, 2026 | Congress, elections, Maddowblog, Science
A few days before Election Day, The New York Times published a deeply disheartening report on the extent to which Donald Trump is “dismantling America’s scientific research machine,” adding that the president and his team are imposing regressive policies that are “jeopardizing the nation’s advantages in defense, medicine and technology.”
The report was remarkable but not altogether surprising. Indeed, among the most consequential disasters of Trump’s second term is the relentless war the Republican administration has waged on science and research, starting early last year.
It was therefore heartening to see empiricism strike back in the midterm elections. The New York Times also reported:
[Democratic Rep.-elect Daniel Biss of Illinois] is one of several scientists and physicians who was elected to Congress on Tuesday. Like him, most are Democrats and most were elected to the House. They plan, they say, to use their knowledge to combat what they see as the anti-science policies promoted by the Trump administration.
The incoming scientists represent “a real repudiation of what has been two terrible years for science and public health,” said Shaughnessy Naughton, president of 314 Action, a group that recruits Democratic doctors and scientists to run for office.
Along with Biss, a mathematician at the University of Chicago, the incoming contingent includes Democratic Rep.-elect Jasmine Clark of Georgia, who will soon become Congress’ only microbiologist.
What’s more, the number of Democrats with medical training who won key contests in the midterms is also striking, and the list includes Sen.-elect Abdul El-Sayed of Michigan (a former public health director), Sen.-elect Annie Andrews of South Carolina (a pediatrician) and Gov.-elect Amy Acton of Ohio (a doctor who served as the
by Steve Benen | Nov 6, 2026 | Economy, Maddowblog, White House
Expectations heading into this week showed projections of about 59,000 new jobs being created in the United States in October. As it turns out, according to the new report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the totals far exceeded those expectations.
All told, the economy added 165,000 jobs in October, and the overall unemployment rate inched lower, falling from 4.2% to 4.1%. Adding to the good news, job totals from August and September were also revised up by a combined 84,000 jobs.
The news wasn’t entirely encouraging — the BLS report showed more subdued wage growth, which is a problem for consumers trying to keep pace with rising inflation — but overall, this is one of the more promising monthly job reports of the year.
As for the larger context, 10 months into 2026, the U.S. economy has created 861,000 jobs so far this year — a monthly average of roughly 86,000 — which is a deeply underwhelming total that plainly contradicts the White House’s routinely happy talk about current conditions.
All told, the U.S. economy has added 977,000 jobs over Trump’s 22-month second term. Over the previous 22 months, the economy added nearly 3.25 million jobs. To date, the White House hasn’t even tried to explain why the domestic job market worsened after the Republican president took office.
To contextualize the data, I put together this chart to show month-to-month totals since the 2020 election. The blue columns point to Joe Biden’s presidency, while the red columns point to Trump’s.
This post updates our related earlier coverage.
The post Job market showed signs of life in October, in an otherwise disappointing year appeared first on MS
by Steve Benen | Nov 6, 2026 | Maddowblog
Today’s edition of quick hits.
* A bold move in Sacramento: “California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday he is commuting all death sentences in the state, sparing roughly a quarter of the nation’s entire death row population in a move he acknowledged ‘may surface excruciating memories for victims’ families.’ The decision shifts ‘all Californian death sentences to life without the possibility of parole,’ and applies to 548 people, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.”
* It’s probably not a good day to check on your 401(k): “Stocks had their worst day in nearly two years as investors’ concerns about weaknesses in the A.I. industry re-emerged after Democratic midterm victories raised the prospect of tighter regulation. The S&P 500 fell 4.3 percent on Thursday, marking the most severe drop for the index since April 2025, when President Trump unveiled sweeping global tariffs.”
* SCOTUS news: “It’s looking more and more like President Donald Trump will be stuck with only having appointed the three Supreme Court justices at whom he has lashed out for not siding with him in every single case. Despite Democrats winning Senate control this week, Justice Samuel Alito has reportedly discussed his intention not to retire immediately and give Trump a chance to have the outgoing GOP-controlled Senate confirm his successor in the lame-duck period.”
* Document retention matters: “A top House Democrat is warning members of the Trump administration not to hide or destroy documents as the party plans to investigate top officials in the next Congress. Virginia Rep. Bobby Scott, who is primed to lead the House Education and Workforce Committee next year, sent letters to the heads of
by Steve Benen | Nov 5, 2026 | 2026 election, elections, Maddowblog
Earlier this year, longtime Republican Rep. Mark Amodei of Nevada unexpectedly announced his retirement, though his party wasn’t too concerned about holding on to the seat. Not only is this a congressional district that Donald Trump carried two years ago by 14 points, but voters in Nevada’s 2nd District have also quite literally never elected a Democrat.
That is, until now. The Nevada Independent reported:
Teresa Benitez-Thompson became the first Democrat ever to win Northern Nevada’s 2nd Congressional District as a nationwide blue wave slammed into Nevada.
The social worker, former pageant queen and former Assembly majority leader defeated small-business owner David Flippo (R) in a district President Donald Trump won by double digits.
With roughly 93% of the ballots tallied, Benitez-Thompson appears to have prevailed by a roughly 6-point margin, and MS NOW has called the race.
The results come a few weeks after Amodei, the outgoing congressman, reiterated that he would “absolutely not” vote for Flippo, his own party’s nominee.
Why not? As it turns out, Flippo has been accused of repeatedly exaggerating his military record — he’s said he received a Bronze Star for valor, for example, which did not happen — and falsely having claimed to have served during Operation Desert Storm in the early 1990s. (Flippo denied any wrongdoing and blamed his claims about his military record on clerical errors.)
Mother Jones also reported last month on Flippo having been fired as a financial adviser two years ago, after his employer accused him of “willful misrepresentations and/or omissions of material fact” (Flippo’s campaign did not respond to Mother Jones’ request for comment about his firing).
Amodei nevertheless called his own party’s nominee to
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
