Republican Rep. Richard Hudson, the lawmaker responsible for protecting his party’s House majority, lost his own reelection bid Tuesday in one of the most symbolic upsets of the midterms. Democrat Richard Ojeda defeated the National Republican Congressional Committee chairman in North Carolina’s 9th District, denying Hudson an eighth consecutive term. With all precincts reporting early Wednesday, unofficial results showed Ojeda ahead by roughly 6,000 votes, according to WUNC.

Historic Democratic Wave Flips Congress and Breaks Republican Strongholds Democrats swept control of Congress and flipped five governorships in Tuesday’s midterms, breaking through longstanding Republican strongholds in an election that reshaped the national political map. With ballots still being counted Wednesday, the results already marked a historic setback for Republicans heading into President Donald Trump’s final two years. The Senate produced some of the night’s most

Vice President JD Vance used a Hendersonville rally to highlight $858 million in federal highway aid for Hurricane Helene repairs, tying the recovery award to Republicans’ closing pitch in western North Carolina. The figure Vance cited represents the North Carolina Department of Transportation’s share. A separate Federal Highway Administration breakdown assigns another $13.25 million to U.S. Forest Service roads and about $2.21 million to Bureau of Indian Affairs transportati

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has sued OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman, alleging the company misled consumers about the safety of ChatGPT and failed to adequately protect Texas users, particularly children. The lawsuit, filed Oct. 23 in Collin County District Court, alleges violations of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices-Consumer Protection Act. The state also argues that OpenAI has not done enough to protect minors who use ChatGPT. According to the lawsuit, OpenAI has market

The results of Maine’s 2026 gubernatorial election will have a substantial effect on how much influence the state has over its educational system, as elected officials seek to improve student performance. According to National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) data, Maine test scores were at their lowest in three decades as of 2024. This has led to a debate over whether the state should step in to mandate specific learning curricula, which it does not currently do. Am

Last week, Gov. Greg Abbott announced that Texas employers added 154,300 nonfarm jobs over the last year, outpacing the national job growth rate. September data from the Texas Workforce Commission showed that nonfarm employment in the state totaled 14,461,300 jobs, a gain of 154,300 jobs over the last 12 months for an annual growth rate of 1.1%. The data also showed that in September, Texas had 14,461,300 nonfarm jobs, with 15,246,400 Texans working, including self-employed w

New ad spotlights California's lack of routine ID checks as voters prepare for the election in November. California's voter ID campaign is taking aim at the state's election rules with a new advertisement set to debut Tuesday featuring an AI-generated Sydney Sweeney lookalike, using satire to highlight how most Californians can vote without showing identification at the polls. "California Doesn't Require ID to Vote," the campaign's advertisement said in on-screen text. The vi

Georgia may enforce a law requiring social media platforms to verify users’ ages and obtain parental permission before allowing children younger than 16 to hold accounts, after a federal appeals court lifted an injunction Thursday. A unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit vacated the June 2025 preliminary injunction against Senate Bill 351. The judges said NetChoice, a technology trade association, had not shown it was likely to succ

Michigan progressives William Lawrence and Abdul El-Sayed have made fighting corporate influence and billionaire power central campaign messages. But wealthy donors and outside spending complicate the picture they present to voters. The Midwesterner reported that Will Lawrence, the Democratic nominee in Michigan’s 7th Congressional District, accepted approximately $63,000 from billionaires and members of billionaire families despite his criticism of billionaire influence. The

Democratic Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes and Republican Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen traded accusations over immigration enforcement, federal lawsuits, data centers and election administration during a Sept. 23 televised debate. The hourlong forum, hosted by the Citizens Clean Elections Commission and Arizona Media Association, frequently became contentious as the candidates interrupted each other. Mayes is seeking a second term, while Petersen is attempting

Republican state Rep. Curt VanderWall is pushing legislation to limit healthcare facility fees, targeting extra charges that can make routine appointments more expensive for Michigan patients. His proposal, House Bill 5770, addresses charges added to medical bills separately from the cost of the treatment itself. Supporters say patients can face higher bills without receiving additional care simply because a hospital system owns the office or lab they visit. For VanderWall, a

Attorney General Ken Paxton has proposed stronger rules to protect Texas land from foreign adversaries, strengthening recently passed restrictions on the acquisition of Texas property. Last week, Paxton’s office revealed it is proposing stronger rules to implement and enforce Senate Bill 17. The rules would add safeguards to increase transparency, encourage reporting of potential violations, and help Texans identify property owned by foreign adversaries. The new proposal buil

The barbs flew when Mike Rogers and Abdul El-Sayed met on the debate stage, but beyond the personal clashes was a proposal with potentially far-reaching consequences for Michigan: eliminating the payroll tax cap, raising taxes on middle class families and employers. “We should eliminate the cap,” El-Sayed said during the debate. The organization argues the proposal would impose substantial additional costs on Michigan’s self-employed workers and business owners. Removing the

A publicly funded Texas university contracted with an international recruiting company that receives commissions for each foreign student it recruits who enrolls at the University of North Texas. An internal contract shows UNT entered into an agreement with the Kathmandu-based Edwise Foundation in 2021 to recruit international students who reside outside the United States and are ineligible for federal student assistance. The 2021 agreement replaced a previous agreement betwe

Only about one in four Michigan high school juniors are considered college ready based on their SAT scores, continuing a decade-long decline in one measure of student academic preparedness. Just 25.3% of Michigan 11th graders met the SAT benchmarks for college readiness during the 2025-26 school year, according to state data reported by Bridge Michigan. That is down from 26.6% last year and 34.9% a decade ago. The College Board defines students as college ready when they meet

Georgia election officials are investigating Democratic state House nominee David Dillie after records indicated ballots were cast in his name in Georgia and Nevada during the 2026 primaries. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced the inquiry Sept. 24, saying investigators will examine voting records, signatures and other evidence. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution identified Dillie, 24, as the House District 161 candidate involved; the agency did not name him. The AJ

A federal judge in El Paso has temporarily halted border construction in the Big Bend region of West Texas after opponents challenged the Trump administration’s plans to expand border infrastructure in the area. On Friday, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone issued a preliminary injunction blocking the federal government from building border barriers and related infrastructure or conducting ground-disturbing construction in the Big Bend Sector unless it complies with applica

Party leaders called the procedural defection a breach of trust and referred the matter to a caucus rules panel. House Democratic leaders continued weighing possible punishment Thursday for Reps. Jared Golden, D-Maine, and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash., after the two centrists joined Republicans Tuesday to pass a procedural rule in Washington that leadership expected Democrats to oppose unanimously. The House Clerk’s tally showed the rule passed 210-208, allowing debate on

New fund targets jobs, schools and utility costs amid Meta’s $600B U.S. expansion. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently unveiled a $1 billion fund for communities hosting the company’s data centers and renewed its open-weight AI push in an online manifesto, arguing broad access and local investment are needed to prevent superintelligence’s wealth and power from concentrating among a few institutions. Zuckerberg framed concentration of AI power as the larger safety threat. “The n

Judge P. Casey Pitts vacated ICE and EOIR policies after finding the agencies failed to justify the shift under the Administrative Procedure Act. A Biden-appointed federal judge in California on Tuesday vacated Trump administration policies that expanded ICE arrests at immigration courthouses nationwide, ruling in a Northern District of California class-action case that federal agencies failed to justify the change under the Administrative Procedure Act. The court’s docket