🚨 HAPPENING RIGHT NOW 🚨
One day before Tuesday’s midterms, Michigan Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens endorsed Republican Mike Rogers for the state’s pivotal open Senate seat, saying nominee Abdul El-Sayed had told her she was “no longer welcome” on his campaign. “And he’s right,” Stevens said in a video announcing the switch. Her chief of staff and other aides resigned, calling themselves “heartbroken.” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer condemned the move, while Sen. Bernie Sanders backed the staffers’ resignations. El-Sayed dismissed the defection, saying he remains focused on the cost of living, with Senate control on the line.
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 2nd, 2026
Before we get to today’s news, here’s what happened on this date in history. Howard Hughes himself climbed into the cockpit of his own creation on November 2, 1947, and unexpectedly lifted the massive, birch-and-spruce flying boat nicknamed the “Spruce Goose” about 70 feet above Long Beach Harbor for a roughly one-mile test flight — its only flight ever. Built under a wartime government contract to ferry troops and cargo across the Atlantic, the $23 million, eight-engine aircraft had drawn skepticism from Congress, which demanded proof it could even get off the water. It never flew again, but Hughes kept the prototype maintained in a climate-controlled hangar at a cost of about $1 million a year until his death in 1976; it’s now displayed at Oregon’s Evergreen Aviation Museum.
Pollsters and nearly every major newspaper had already called the 1948 presidential race for New York Gov. Thomas E. Dewey by the time voters went to the polls on November 2, but incumbent Democrat Harry S. Truman pulled off one of the biggest upsets in American political history, winning a second term outright. The result left the Chicago Tribune famously stuck with an early edition proclaiming “DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN,” a printing error Truman later held aloft and grinned over for photographers. Seventy-eight years later, with another Election Day looming Tuesday, the race remains a go-to reminder that pre-election polling doesn’t always get the last word.
⚖️ Federal Judge Tosses DOJ’s ‘Decoy Dan’ Lawsuit Seeking to Delay Alaska Senate Certification
A federal judge in Alaska on Sunday dismissed the Justice Department’s long-shot lawsuit seeking to delay or block certification of the state’s U.S. Senate race if Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan loses to Democrat Mary Peltola, two days before Tuesday’s election.
U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason ruled the government hadn’t shown how its proposed investigation into a ranked-choice ballot “spoiler” named Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. could determine voters’ intent while protecting ballot secrecy, and said the relief sought would intrude on Alaska’s authority to run its own elections.
The DOJ said it will appeal to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, arguing the judge dismissed the case on procedural grounds without addressing its claim that the second Sullivan entered the race to confuse voters.
Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy has suggested he may not certify a Peltola win regardless of the ruling, while Sullivan has said he’ll accept Tuesday’s results.
✈️ All 9 Aboard Killed as Private Jet Crashes in Fireball Near Trump’s Mar-a-Lago
A Learjet 60 bound for the Bahamas crashed into a residential street near Cresthaven, Florida, less than 10 miles from Mar-a-Lago, around 12:50 p.m. Sunday, killing all nine people aboard, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy confirmed.
The flight had originated in Austin, Texas; bystander video captured the jet in a nosedive before it slammed into the roadside and erupted into a large fireball, leaving a smoldering crater.
Palm Beach Fire & Rescue closed Military Trail between Cresthaven and 10th Avenue North to all traffic as crews worked an extended scene; the FAA confirmed the aircraft type and location.
No victims had been publicly identified as of Sunday evening, and officials hadn’t released a cause.
🌍 Iran Says Hormuz Could Fully Reopen ‘Within Two Days’ as Rubio Says Trump Still Weighing New Strikes
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Saturday a proposal on the table with Qatari mediators in Doha could let the Strait of Hormuz fully reopen within two days, even as Secretary of State Marco Rubio said President Trump “hasn’t made a decision” on resuming military action against Iran.
Araghchi said Tehran sees “no need to meet with the Americans at present,” after Iranian negotiators spent more than 12 hours in talks in Tehran Friday before returning to Doha Saturday.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on X that Hormuz shipping traffic is already back to pre-conflict levels, “minus Iranian barrels,” while Trump said talks are “going fine” but questioned Iran’s reliability: “They make a deal and then they back out.”
Rubio said Trump prefers a diplomatic resolution, but the administration hasn’t ruled out further strikes.
🗳️ Maine’s Nail-Biter: New Poll Shows Jackson Widening Lead on Collins as She Accuses Dems of ‘Outright Lies’
A new poll out Sunday showed Democrat Troy Jackson widening his lead over Republican Sen. Susan Collins in Maine’s pivotal Senate race, even as Collins accused Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Democrats of running false attack ads against her in the race’s closing days.
A Fox News poll conducted Oct. 16-20 had found the two tied at 49% apiece, with Jackson leading by 40 points among Mainers who had already voted and Collins leading by 12 among those planning to vote on Election Day itself.
Collins said she’d never seen a campaign with “so many outright lies,” calling Schumer’s tactics part of his “playbook.”
Collins is the only GOP senator on the ballot this year from a state Trump lost in 2024, and the race could help decide Senate control.
🪖 Hegseth Fires Top Pentagon General for Leaking Classified Iran, Ukraine War Details to Media
War Secretary Pete Hegseth fired Army Lt. Gen. Brett Sylvia, the Joint Chiefs’ top strategy and policy officer, after an investigation found he met reporters outside the Pentagon to leak classified information about the Iran conflict and the war in Ukraine.
A War Department official said Sylvia failed three separate polygraph exams on the leaks, and that the case has been referred to the Justice Department for further action.
Hegseth said “urgent action was needed and could not wait another second,” according to the official; Sylvia is the second officer removed from the post in about a year, after his predecessor was pushed into early retirement last October.
Officials said Sylvia wasn’t a central Iran War planner — that responsibility belongs to U.S. Central Command and its commander, Adm. Cooper.