1. The Wall Street Journal:
Two years after handing Republicans control of Washington, voters in Tuesday’s election expressed displeasure over President Trump’s job performance while voicing angst about the cost of living and the nation’s overall direction.
Results from a large national survey showed many Americans went to the polls in a sour mood and looked to the midterm election for change in Washington as Democrats won control of the House and Senate.
High fuel and food prices were a top voter concern, with roughly nine in 10 of the electorate saying the cost of living was a crucial or major factor in their thinking on how to vote for Congress, according to results from a poll of more than 79,000 registered voters, conducted for the Associated Press and all the major television and cable news networks. (Sources: wsj.com, cnn.com)
2. President Trump sought to distance himself from the midterm results. “I wasn’t on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE!” Trump posted on his Truth Social account shortly before 11 p.m. ET Tuesday. The sentiment ran counter to what he’s been saying for weeks at rallies across the country. “I want you to do me a big favor—pretend I’m on the ballot,” he said in mid-October, one of the many times over the last few weeks he has repeated the missive. In an interview with The New York Times, Mr. Trump said he was “absolutely willing” to accept the results of the midterm elections, and was prepared to work with Democrats. “We’ll, you know, look forward to working with them,” he said in a phone interview. “We’ll probably work something out.” (Sources: wsj.com, truthsocial.com, nytimes.com)
3. Democrat Gina Hinojosa toppled Greg Abbott to become first Latina governor of Texas. James Talarico defeated Ken Paxton by roughly 900,000 votes, giving Democrats their first U.S. Senate win in Texas since 1988. Democrat Vikki Goodwin declared victory over Dan Patrick to become Texas lieutenant governor. In a major upset, Nathan Johnson won the Texas attorney general’s office for Democrats. Sarah Eckhardt unseated GOP Comptroller Don Huffines in historic victory for Democrats. Texas Republicans redrew the U.S. House map to gain five seats. They could end up with a net loss. And so on (and on). (Source: texastribune.org. Excellent coverage. No paywall)
4. Beginning around Labor Day and ending on Monday, Ken Paxton and supportive PACs spent at least $200 million on television advertising, most of it attacking his opponent, James Talarico, on “cultural issues.” On Labor Day, polls showed Paxton and Talarico deadlocked. Last night, Talarico defeated Paxton by ~10 percentage points. Apparently, more than $200 million of television advertising designed to help elect Paxton to the Senate, did nothing to help his campaign and may have damaged his prospects for victory. (Sources: npr.org, realclearpolling.com, nytimes.com. Italics mine.)
5. Keisha Lance Bottoms, the former Democratic mayor of Atlanta, defeated billionaire Rick Jackson, a Republican, in the governor’s race in Georgia in a historic upset that ends a GOP trifecta in the state. She is the first Democrat to win a governor’s race in the formerly ruby-red state in nearly 30 years and will be the first Black person to serve in the role. She will also be the first Black female governor of any state. Bottoms triumphed despite the stunning financial edge held by Jackson, who poured more than $100 million of his fortune into his campaign. Jackson’s campaign had spent or reserved more than $200 million in advertising in the general election, compared with the Bottoms campaign’s roughly $1 million commitment, according to October data from the ad-tracking platform AdImpact. But Bottoms tied Jackson to President Donald Trump, who carried Georgia in 2024 by more than two percentage points but whose popularity among voters has since sharply declined. (Source: washingtonpost.com, nytimes.com. Italics mine.)
