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Republicans turn on Hegseth over Iran war as Democratic majority grows

Updated 6:54 AM EST, Thu November 5, 2026

https://www.cnn.com/2026/11/05/politics/live-news/midterm-election-congress

Black candidates for governor rack up historic victories

2:26 • Source: CNN

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Black candidates for governor rack up historic victories

2:26

Here’s the latest

• Blaming the war:President Donald Trump said it was “largely true” the Iran war contributed to the GOP shellacking, echoing Vice President JD Vance. Many Republican lawmakers and allies are moving swiftly to pin blame on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and the House could vote as soon as next week to impeach the Pentagon’s chief.

• New oversight:Senate Democrats have issued document preservation letters ahead of expected investigations into the Trump administration. And the Department of Homeland Security is bracing for an onslaught of congressional oversight efforts, according to current and former officials.

• What we’re tracking:CNN projects that Democrats will win at least 245 House seats. In the Senate, two contests have not yet been called: CNN Sightline rates the Mississippi race as neutral and Alaska as favoring the Democrat.

The Mississippi Senate race is a nail-biter. Here’s why it’s taking so long to call

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By Tierney Sneed and Lex Harvey

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Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, left and Scott Colom, right

House or Representatives/Scott Colom campaign

Votes are still being tallied in Mississippi, where the Senate contest between Democrat Scott Colom and Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith has turned into the nail-biter of the midterms.

Colom was leading by just over 1,000 votes as of midnight, with about 96% of the ballots in. While the race is still too close to call, it’s another sign of the midterms’ seismic shift toward Democrats, even in deep-red territory.

The race is expected to come down to the roughly 15,000 provisional ballots — known as affidavit ballots. Voter advocates and legal observers expect it could take until next week, at the earliest, before we know how many of those ballots will go into the final count.

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Data as of Nov. 5, 2026, at 5:30 a.m. ET

CNN

Track the latest election results here.

One reason a person in Mississippi would have to vote provisionally is a lack of photo ID. Those voters will see their ballots counted if they provide the required ID in five business days – or by November 10.

Another reason a voter may have to submit an affidavit ballots is they are not in the pollbook, something that could happen if the voter was tagged as inactive.

Voter advocates believe this could be a large portion of affidavit ballots because of new protocols the state to clean its voter rolls, which resulted in some voters being incorrectly tagged as inactive.

https://www.cnn.com/2026/11/05/politics/live-news/midterm-election-congress

Democrat holds narrow lead in nail-biting Mississippi Senate race

2:14 • Source: CNN

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Democrat holds narrow lead in nail-biting Mississippi Senate race

2:14

A final potential category of disputed ballots could be affidavit ballots cast by people who submitted registration forms, but were not registered because of incomplete forms.

State law requires that clerks try to reach out to the registrant missing that information to complete their registrations, but officials’ willingness to do so varies county by county, Merchant said.

Keisha Lance Bottoms will be governor where her ancestors were enslaved

By CNN staff

Georgia Governor-elect Keisha Lance Bottoms honored her ancestors, who were enslaved in the state over 160 years ago, in her victory speech after being elected the first Black female governor in US history.

https://www.cnn.com/2026/11/05/politics/live-news/midterm-election-congress

Keisha Lance Bottoms will be governor where her ancestors were enslaved

Georgia governor-elect Keisha Lance Bottoms honored her ancestors who were enslaved in the state over 160 years ago during her victory speech after being elected the first Black female governor in US history.

2:22 • Source: CNN

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Keisha Lance Bottoms will be governor where her …

2:22

Top Iranian official mocks Vance after VP blames Iran war for midterm rout

By Nadeen Ebrahim and Leila Gharagozlou

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Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf gives a press conference at Imam Hassan al-Mujtaba Mosque in Iraq’s central holy shrine city of Karbala on August 20.

Karar Jabbar/AFP/Getty Images

A senior Iranian negotiator mocked JD Vance on Thursday after the US Vice President blamed Republican midterm losses on the war in Iran.

Iran’s Speaker of Parliament Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf said on Thursday that Vance showed “losing-gambler energy,” and that he “can’t walk away from the table.”

“Boss is prepping the next war phase while America teeters on an Israel-First cliff. Skip the TED talk. Why not say this to your boss?” Ghalibaf wrote on X.

Trump has admitted that the war in Iran was partly to blame for the Republicans’ losses. Vance was more explicit, saying in a lengthy X post Wednesday that “the reason we lost is the war.”

Ghalibaf has been the main negotiator in US-Iran talks to end the war.

“Woke is so back”: The internet is buzzing with memes after blue wave

By CNN staff

Social media is abuzz with a “Woke 3.0” trend after Democrats took the House and Senate. CNN’s Aleena Fayaz reports and reflects.

https://www.cnn.com/2026/11/05/politics/live-news/midterm-election-congress

‘Woke is so back’: the internet buzzes with memes after blue wave

Social media is abuzz with a “Woke 3.0” trend after Democrats took the House and Senate in the midterms. CNN’s Aleena Fayaz reflects on what preceded it.

2:17 • Source: CNN

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‘Woke is so back’: the internet buzzes with …

2:17

The House is called — but dozens of races aren’t. Here are the ones we’re watching

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By Curt Merrill and Hanna Park

Democrats have already clinched the House, according to CNN projections, but with dozens of races still uncalled, the final size of their majority is an open question — and a handful of contests are worth watching closely as the counting grinds on.

• California is worth watching for how much counting remains. Its seven districts in CNN’s tracker have an estimated 41% to 72% of votes reported. Democrats have already notched projected pickups there under the state’s redrawn 2025 map — including Marni von Wilpert’s flip of the 48th and Randy Villegas’ ouster of GOP Rep. David Valadao in the 22nd (CNN also projects that, in a separate intraparty upset, Democratic socialist Angela Gonzales-Torres will unseat Democratic Rep. Jimmy Gomez in the 34th) — but more seats remain outstanding, and Democratic wins in contests against Republicans could pad the Democratic margin.
• One closely watched contest is in Colorado. Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert trails Democratic challenger Eileen Laubacher by fewer than 2 percentage points in the 4th District — a seat President Donald Trump carried by 18 points in 2024. An estimated 93% of votes have been reported. If that lead holds, it would be another sign of how far the political environment shifted against the GOP, with even a reliably Republican seat changing hands.
• Florida’s House seats are close. Several are separated by about a percentage point or less with an estimated 99% of votes reported, including the races involving GOP Reps. Maria Elvira Salazar (27th) and Mario Diaz-Balart (26th), Anna Paulina Luna (13th), and Democrat Darren Soto (9th) — a cluster of narrow leads for both parties.
• A few other races still hanging:In North Carolina, longtime GOP Rep. Virginia Foxx — who has held her seat since 2005 — is in a contest too close to call (Democrat Chuck Hubbard narrowly leads), part of what one Republican operative told CNN was a “blue tsunami from Manteo to Murphy.” In Maine’s 2nd District, former Gov. Paul LePage holds a roughly 1-percentage-point edge. And across the map, the dozens of uncalled races will determine the final size of Democrats’ majority.

CNN’s Shikha Subramaniam contributed to this report.

China assessing midterm rout while focused on possible Xi-Trump-Putin summit

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Analysis by Sylvie Zhuang

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Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump and Xi Jinping.

Getty Images/AP

China kept a watchful eye as President Donald Trump received a drubbing in the midterms.

Publicly, Beijing remains cautious and tight-lipped as any conclusion would be too soon to draw.

The only official response has been from China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning, who was quick to call the midterms “an internal matter for the United States.” She reiterated that China is ready to work with the US to build a constructive and stable bilateral relationship, a consensus reached by Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Trump during their May summit.

Beijing understands that even though the Democrats have taken back the both chambers of Congress, a lame duck Trump is still powerful when it comes to trade and foreign policy.

A fragile trade truce between the world’s two biggest economies will expire in January – and some analysts say that a Trump administration no longer concerned about Chinese countermeasures’ impact on elections may become more willing to play hard ball during future negotiations.

With the Republicans’ resounding defeat widely viewed as a rebuke to Trump, some GOP members of Congress may also be less fearful of crossing him and taking a tougher stance on China if Trump continues to laud Xi and take a perceived soft approach to Beijing.

Beijing is also preparing to host the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in less than two weeks in its high-tech hub Shenzhen, where Xi is ready to showcase a stronger China and welcome a slew of leaders.

There, Xi is expected to meet Trump for the third time this year – and the two men may hold a historic meeting with Russian President Vladmir Putin on the sidelines.

Last month, Trump said he was open to this idea. He told reporters: “We would have it to talk about nuclear weapons and denuclearization,” adding, “I’m sure we’d talk about other things like trade too.”

In Alaska, a Senate seat hangs on late ballots and a possible ranked-choice count

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By Jeremy Herb and Hanna Park

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Voters come and go from the American Legion Post 35 to cast their ballots on Election Day, Tuesday, in Wasilla, Alaska.

Lindsey Wasson/AP

The contest between Republican incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan and Democratic former Rep. Mary Peltola remains unresolved, and a winner may not be known for weeks – a delay election officials stress is routine for Alaska.

Peltola led Sullivan by just over 600 votes by the end of Wednesday, with an estimated 75% of the vote counted. The race remained uncalled, though CNN Sightline favored Peltola, whose victory would give Democrats another pickup amid their sweeping midterm gains.

Geography helps explain the wait. The state is vast, and some ballots from far-flung communities must be flown in to be counted. Because of that remoteness, Alaska allows absentee ballots postmarked by Election Day to arrive within 10 days after the election if mailed from within the US, or 15 days if mailed from overseas.

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Data as of Nov. 5, 2026, at 5:30 a.m. ET

CNN

Ranked-choice voting could add another step. If no candidate receives more than 50% of first-choice votes, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated. Those ballots transfer to each voter’s next-ranked candidate still in the race. The process continues until a candidate has a majority of the votes. Alaska waits until the 15-day ballot-receipt deadline has passed before conducting that tabulation.

Alaska’s Senate race has already been overshadowed by controversy over how a second Dan Sullivan ended up on the ballot, which has sparked lawsuits, criminal investigations and threats to block certification of the election if the incumbent is defeated.

Only a trickle of votes had come in for Daniel J. Sullivan, a retired teacher, by the end of Wednesday.

All eyes on Mississippi and Alaska as American awaits final Senate results

By Taylor Romine

As both parties digest election results, Democrats are already moving to reshape Washington’s agenda by outlining investigations and promising action on affordability, while Republicans confront divisions over the Iran war and responsibility for their losses.

Results continue to trickle in, with several Democrats flipping House seats across the country and a flip for the GOP last night.

But there are no final results yet in Mississippi’s Senate race, which could come down to roughly 15,000 provisional ballots pending verification, according to Democrat Scott Colom’s campaign.

In Alaska, a result in the controversial contest between Republican incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan and Democratic former Rep. Mary Peltola may not be known for weeks – a delay election officials stress is routine for Alaska.

Here’s what else is going on in the elections space:

• Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth faces mounting pressure as Republican lawmakers and allies are moving to blame him for the party’s historic losses, and the House could vote as soon as next week to impeach him.
• The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has issued letters asking for preservation of documents ahead of expected investigations into the Trump administration’s actions, a Democratic Senate aide told CNN. Describing it as a “standard committee process,” the aide said letters were sent to the Trump administration, to Elon Musk regarding the slowdown of Starshield in Ukraine, and to ports, banks and private entities involved in the Russia diesel deal.
• Rep. Robert Garcia, the incoming House Oversight chairman, said Trump investigations won’t distract Democrats from lowering costs, naming four targets: the Trump family’s businesses, immigration enforcement, corporate donations to the White House ballroom and the Epstein files.
• Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was critical of many Republican races, telling CNN that voters were “disappointed in the productivity” of Congress and playing the blame game on gas prices.

https://www.cnn.com/2026/11/05/politics/live-news/midterm-election-congress

DeSantis calls midterm losses close to “extinction-level event” for Republicans

3:28 • Source: CNN

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DeSantis calls midterm losses close to “extinction-level event” for Republicans

3:28

• Across the party aisle, Democratic Sen.-elect Annie Andrews of South Carolina also said the Republican party is “fractured,” with the GOP primary between Rep. Ralph Norman and Sen. Darline Graham being a symbol of that rift.

https://www.cnn.com/2026/11/05/politics/live-news/midterm-election-congress

‘People are tired’: Sen.-elect Annie Andrews joins CNN after big win

5:49 • Source: CNN

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‘People are tired’: Sen.-elect Annie Andrews joins CNN after big win

5:49

• New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani attributed Democrats win to focusing on working-class Americans and the issues that matter most to them, including cutting costs and building trust with voters.

https://www.cnn.com/2026/11/05/politics/live-news/midterm-election-congress

Mamdani speaks with CNN about the Democratic agenda

3:31 • Source: CNN

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Mamdani speaks with CNN about the Democratic agenda

3:31

• Maryland’s Wes Moore used to hold the title of the only Black governor in the US, but soon he will be joined by four others. He emphasized to CNN the historic election of Georgia’s Keisha Lance Bottoms, who is the first Black woman to hold the office.

https://www.cnn.com/2026/11/05/politics/live-news/midterm-election-congress

‘This is a pretty remarkable time,’ Maryland Gov. Wes Moore says on historic governor elections

1:50 • Source: CNN

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‘This is a pretty remarkable time,’ Maryland Gov. Wes Moore says on historic governor elections

1:50

• Looking ahead, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich put doubt on Vice President JD Vance leading the party as the presidential nominee in 2028, saying the GOP loss in the midterms, along with several strategies Vance has taken, has made “a good bit of the luster has come off the bloom.”

CNN’s Aditi Sangal, Tori B. Powell, Elise Hammond, Katherine Koretski, Arpita Dasika and Aaron Blake contributed to this report.

Is the MAGA/Trump era over?

By CNN staff

CNN’s Jake Tapper explores whether the MAGA/Trump era is coming to a close after the Democrats won control of the Senate and the House of Representatives.

https://www.cnn.com/2026/11/05/politics/live-news/midterm-election-congress

Is the MAGA/Trump era over?

After the Democrats won control of the Senate and the House of Representatives in the midterm elections, CNN’s Jake Tapper explores whether the MAGA/Trump era is coming to a close.

3:10 • Source: CNN

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Is the MAGA/Trump era over?

3:10