🚨 HAPPENING RIGHT NOW 🚨
Rep. Thomas Massie, the libertarian Kentucky Republican already headed for the exits after losing his May primary, renewed his threat to force a House floor vote impeaching Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over the Iran war, declaring there is only one contingency under which he won't reintroduce his impeachment articles: Hegseth's resignation. Massie first filed eight articles in September accusing Hegseth of launching the Iran war without authorization and ordering unlawful strikes in the Caribbean and Yemen. The Pentagon has dismissed the charges, calling Hegseth a “transformative leader” the department is unified behind as Massie heads for the door.
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5th, 2026
Before we get to today's top stories, here's what happened on this date in history: King James I's guards foiled a Catholic conspiracy to blow up Parliament and kill the king in a single stroke on November 5, 1605, catching plotter Guy Fawkes in a cellar beneath the building with roughly 20 barrels of gunpowder hours before a new session was set to open. Under interrogation, Fawkes named fellow conspirator Robert Catesby as the plot's ringleader, and authorities killed or captured the rest of the group within days. Fawkes himself was sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered, but leapt from the scaffold's ladder and died instantly on January 31, 1606. Parliament declared November 5 a day of thanksgiving the following year, and Britain still marks Guy Fawkes Night with bonfires and fireworks centuries later.
Parker Brothers began marketing a board game called Monopoly on November 5, 1935, built around a Depression-era fantasy of buying up real estate, charging rent and bankrupting the competition. The company had initially rejected the design from unemployed salesman Charles Darrow, but relented after Monopoly caught on among friends who'd been copying his homemade board by hand. Darrow went on to become the first board-game designer to earn a million dollars from a single creation, and Monopoly is still one of the best-selling games in history, translated into dozens of languages and licensed into hundreds of city-themed editions worldwide.
💸 Musk Loses $33.5 Billion in a Day as Markets Price In Democratic Majorities
Elon Musk's net worth plunged $33.5 billion on Wednesday, a 3.7% drop on Bloomberg's billionaires index, as investors reacted to Tuesday's Democratic sweep and its implications for Musk's companies' relationships with Washington.
Tesla shares fell about 3.3% and SpaceX's internal valuation dropped roughly 3.8% on the day, according to Bloomberg's tally cited in Washington Examiner's live coverage.
The hit came after Musk poured more than $276 million into Republican midterm campaigns, making him one of the cycle's biggest known GOP donors in a bid to protect the party's majorities.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis separately predicted that Texas's incoming Democratic attorney general, Nathan Johnson, would use his new office to go after Musk's companies.
🗳️ Alaska and Mississippi Senate Races Still Too Close to Call as Counting Drags On
Two Senate races remained too tight to call Wednesday night, with Democrat Mary Peltola clinging to a razor-thin lead over Sen. Dan Sullivan in Alaska and Democrat Scott Colom ahead of Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith by just 65 votes in deep-red Mississippi.
In Alaska, Peltola led Sullivan 102,701 votes to 102,075 with about 74% counted, while a third-party candidate running under the name “Decoy Dan” pulled 1.7% of the vote.
The Justice Department, which has an open election-related inquiry in Alaska, offered no new details Wednesday evening on where that investigation stands.
Mississippi hasn't sent a Democrat to the Senate since 1982, making Colom's overnight lead one of the wave's most unexpected results if it holds up.
🕊️ Vance and a Top Democrat Agree: The Iran War Helped Sink the GOP
Vice President JD Vance and Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., found rare common ground this week in blaming President Trump's Iran war for Republicans' midterm beating, with Khanna renewing his push to cut off funding for the conflict even with U.S. forces still in the region.
Days before the election, Khanna told Fox News he'd vote to stop funding “for any further actions in the Iran War” if Democrats controlled Congress, comparing it to how Congress ended Vietnam War funding.
Khanna argued the move needs no presidential sign-off: “the president can't veto that,” he said, since the power runs through appropriations bills the House and Senate control.
Donald Trump Jr. waded into the GOP's own internal blame game from the other side, enthusiastically endorsing Vance's post pinning the losses on the Iran war.
⭐ Texas Democrats' Down-Ballot Sweep Continues as Nathan Johnson Flips the AG's Office
A day after James Talarico's stunning Senate upset of Ken Paxton, Texas Democrats notched a second rare statewide win as Nathan Johnson defeated Republican Mayes Middleton by 6 points to become the state's next attorney general.
Johnson, a state senator, campaigned on a “back to basics” pitch for the office after 12 years of Paxton-era controversies and legal battles.
Gov. Ron DeSantis predicted Johnson would use the office to target Elon Musk's companies, several of which are headquartered in Texas.
The result caps a brutal overnight stretch for Texas Republicans, who also lost the U.S. Senate seat Paxton had been defending.
👀 Wes Moore's Post-Reelection Memo Fuels 2028 Speculation
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, who easily won reelection Tuesday, released a memo touting up to $4.5 million he raised and spent to help Democrats in competitive races nationwide — a show of force that immediately stoked chatter about a 2028 presidential run he insists he isn't planning.
The memo framed Moore's fundraising network as a down-ballot asset for Democrats beyond his own race, the kind of move often used to build a national profile ahead of a White House bid.
Moore has repeatedly denied any interest in 2028, even as allies continue to float him as a top-tier prospect.
The speculation comes as Democrats look for a fresh bench after Tuesday's wave, with Moore among several governors drawing early buzz.