• No 9 LSU cruise to 131-22 victory over Texas Southern

• Largest winning margin ever between Division I teams

• Tigers score 40 unanswered points in second quarter

Jada Williams scored 16 of her 18 points in the second quarter and No 9 LSU scored 40 unanswered points in the period on the way to a school-record margin of victory in a 131-22 win over Texas Southern on Thursday night.

LSU (2-0) outscored Texas Southern 40-0 in the quarter, forcing nine turnovers and holding the visiting Tigers without a field goal in 13 attempts.

President seeks to make Oval Office a national monument to ensure designs are not ‘ripped down by stupid people’

Donald Trump signed a proclamation on Thursday that he says will prevent future administrations from changing his design of the Oval Office and Cabinet Room, spaces which he declared as national monuments that should be preserved.

In the days since his party suffered historic defeats in the midterm elections, the president has seemingly turned his attention to the many renovation projects he has begun across the nation’s capital. Sitting behind the Resolute Desk on Thursday, Trump declared the Oval Office a “national monument”.

Kirill Dimitrov, envoy to Russian president Vladimir Putin, delivered a gift to Melania Trump at the White House on Thursday to thank her for brokering a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russian forces in Oleshky, Ukraine. During the same event, Ukraine's human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets gifted the first lady with the Order of Princess Olga, 1st Degree award.

Trump administration push emerges from a lawsuit alleging violations of national immigration regulations

The Trump administration held secret talks with Iran on deporting Iranians even as the war there dragged on, court documents obtained by the Associated Press show.

The court documents unsealed on Thursday show the Republican administration as recently as mid-October said it had plans to deport the Iranians through an unnamed third country, although it was unclear when it intended to do so.

Bills have soared in rural state buffeted by tariffs and war in Iran – and Democrat Adam Hamilton’s stunning upset shows how deep economic frustrations run

Linda Olson always does her homework before voting – a trait she inherited from a family invested, and interested, in politics. Her father was a photographer who took portraits of political leaders in Washington, while her grandparents were farmers who cared deeply about their industry.

In 2024, Olson’s research led her to Donald Trump. She trusted that the then-former president would improve their economic realities in Junction City, Kansas – where she was born and raised – if he returned to the White House.

The judge oversaw extradition proceedings in Mexico for a Canadian citizen allegedly helping Ryan Wedding

A Mexican judge has been arrested and accused of accepting $2m in bribes in exchange for releasing a suspected Canadian drug trafficker from custody, US officials said on Thursday.

Luis Benítez Alcántara was overseeing extradition proceedings in Mexico in 2024 for Canadian citizen Andrew Clark, who was charged in the US with helping to run a billion-dollar drug-trafficking group allegedly headed by the former Canadian Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding, the justice department said in a statement.

Urban planner and outsider who bested Karen Bass has close ties to Hollywood progressives – and a complicated relationship with the DSA

• Q&A: Ask your questions about Democrats’ win in the midterms

Nithya Raman on Thursday unseated Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass after a neck-and-neck race for the leadership for the US’s second largest city.

The young progressive’s victory means that the two largest cities in the US, as well the nation’s capital, Washington DC, have now all elected democratic socialist mayors.

As war rages on in Kyiv and other cities, the first lady celebrates her single-city ceasefire with Russian and Ukrainian envoys

Beaming from a podium in the White House’s Grand Foyer, Melania Trump welcomed senior Russian and Ukrainian officials on Thursday to celebrate a ceasefire in an embattled Ukrainian town for which she has become the unlikeliest broker.

The evacuation from Oleshky, a frontline Ukrainian town now occupied by Russia where 800 people lived through a protracted humanitarian crisis, may seem like a sideshow at this point in the war. Russian missiles and drones continue to rain down on Kyiv and other major cities, and a single Russian strike described as a “double-tap” bombing killed 40 people in Zaporizhzhia on Wednesday.

Major shake-up as LA councilmember, once considered long shot, ousts Democratic rival she had once endorsed

• Who is Nithya Raman, Los Angeles’s next mayor?

Nithya Raman was elected to serve as the mayor of Los Angeles, defeating incumbent Karen Bass in a major political shake-up that reflects the growing dissatisfaction with the direction of the city.

The progressive urban planner had served on LA’s city council since 2020. She caused a stir when she entered the race earlier this year hours before the filing deadline – and shortly after endorsing Bass for re-election – and her campaign was once viewed as a long shot.

Democrat’s move prevents these people from executions under future governors, after Christa Pike’s failed execution

Gavin Newsom, California’s governor, commuted the death sentences of more than 500 people on the state’s death row on Thursday, a move that ensures they can never be executed under future administrations.

The Democrat’s mass commutation at the end of his term has converted all of the state’s death sentences to life without the possibility of parole, the largest clearing of any US death row in modern history.

The president seems to accept this is his last White House stint and is focused on renovating whatever he can get his little hands on

As you’d expect, the right is in a shambles right now. Elon Musk is making jokes about his “election-interfering space lasers” and pretending that he really, really doesn’t care that he threw away nearly half a billion dollars trying to influence the midterms. JD Vance is writing long essays on social media about how he agrees the Iran war was a bit of an oopsie.

Donald Trump, meanwhile, seems to be going through his own idiosyncratic grieving process about the Republicans’ historic midterm beating. The president has skipped all the way past shock, denial and anger and landed at the “admiring my beautiful renovations” stage of grief.

A note from our US editor: A reckoning is coming, but make no mistake: Trump is still president – we’ll need a free press in 2027 as much as we did in darker days. Please help today if you are able

• Betsy Reed is US editor of the Guardian

Over the past two years, millions of people all over the world have watched Donald Trump’s destructive reign unfold with one question in their minds: Is there no check on his power?

This week, voters deciding who controls Congress responded in a thunderous voice: there must be a check on his power. From Texas to Ohio to South Carolina, Americans surged to the polls to register their opposition to Donald Trump – and to show their support for the kind of leaders who will look out for the interests of everyday people rather than those of a corrupt ruling elite. And now many people are looking at politics with a new and unfamiliar feeling of hope.

Power is draining away at home, but the US president will see a chance to make his mark through foreign policy

• Kim Darroch was Britain’s ambassador to the US between January 2016 and December 2019

Election nights are party time in Washington. The bars and restaurants fill up and the city rocks. For diplomats, it’s an opportunity – but it’s also a long night, as you trek across the party scene in search of insight and illumination. Invariably, it has its moments. I recall being at the Washington Post party on the night of the presidential election on 8 November 2016. Washington is an overwhelmingly Democrat city and the atmosphere was raucously optimistic, reflecting Hillary Clinton’s small but consistent lead in the polls. As the first results came in a shocked hush fell across the room. People gathered in small, murmuring groups. Within 30 minutes, half the guests had left.

In contrast, I recall speaking to Nancy Pelosi, the queen of the Democrats, at a watch party on 6 November 2018, for the midterms during Trump’s first presidency. I asked her what I should put in my overnight report to London, given that most results wouldn’t be in. She said, with striking confidence, that I should predict that the Democrats would retake the House of Representatives. She was right: the Democrats flipped 41 Republican seats. It gave Pelosi a second term as speaker of the House and gave the world the enjoyable theatre of her sitting directly behind Trump at his State of the Union speeches, rolling her eyes at the bombast.

Kim Darroch was British ambassador to the US from 2016 to 2019, and is author of Collateral Damage: Britain, America and Europe in the Age of Trump

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

The Democrats have gained new powers to constrain Donald Trump. But the drubbing that Republicans received could yet prompt him to new excesses

Donald Trump is a president without parallel, but history can still be instructive. Lame duck presidents often focus on foreign policy to escape domestic discontent and establish a legacy in an area where a hostile Congress offers less of an obstacle. Mr Trump, who was stunningly rebuffed by voters in Tuesday’s midterms, might seek satisfaction in construction projects, the 2028 presidential race and his family’s future. Or, amid the humiliation and with Republican critics growing louder, he could distract attention with fresh adventurism – perhaps escalating against Cuba – or more likely a vengeful new offensive against Iran.

Mr Trump won’t put in the legwork or attention to detail demanded by, say, Bill Clinton’s push for lasting peace in the Middle East. But he loves the glitz of state visits, spectacular military action, hobnobbing with strongmen and (unearned) credit for dubious “peace deals”. With a potential three-way meeting with Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping mooted for the Apec summit in China this month, Ukraine, Taiwan and others have reason to be nervous.

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

• WTA admits players were not told mics were live

• Pegula called Andreeva ‘diva’ who ‘needs to be humbled’

• Practice livestreams to continue without audio

The WTA has apologized and admitted it did not tell players their on-court conversations during practice sessions at the WTA Finals were being broadcast.

A controversy has erupted in Indian Wells after Jessica Pegula was heard on the WTA’s YouTube livestream making derogatory comments about Mirra Andreeva and her coach, Conchita Martínez.

Kirill Dimitrov, envoy to Russian president Vladimir Putin, delivered a gift to Melania Trump at the White House on Thursday to thank her for brokering a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russian forces in Oleshky, Ukraine. During the same event, Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets gifted the first lady with the Order of Princess Olga, 1st Degree award.

Unusual instance of three states administering the death penalty on the same day previously happened in 2010

Alabama, Florida and Indiana all carried out executions on Thursday in an unusual instance of three states administering the death penalty on the same day.

In a record-tying 19th execution of the year, Florida executed Jesse Guardado via a three-drug lethal injection. Guardado had pleaded guilty to fatally stabbing a 75-year-old woman inside her Walton county home in 2004 before stealing her jewelry box, $80 and other valuables to buy drugs. The woman had helped him get a job and housing.

Dhillon is first high-level justice department official to leave after historic Republican defeat in 2026 midterms

• US midterms 2026 live – latest updates

Harmeet Dhillon, a Donald Trump ally who led the justice department’s civil rights division, is leaving her position.

“Today, I accepted the resignation of Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, who led the Civil Rights Division with conviction the past 18 months. She has defended the civil liberties of every American and enforced the law without fear or favor. The Department is grateful for her dedicated public service, and we wish her every success in her future endeavors,” the attorney general, Todd Blanche, said in a post on X.

Georgia governor declares local emergencies as National Weather Service issues warning: ‘Seek higher ground now!’

Severe storms brought heavy rain and flash flooding to communities across the Georgia-Tennessee border area late on Wednesday and into Thursday morning that forced dozens of rescues, despite the hazardous conditions making evacuations and efforts to save people difficult.

McCaysville, in north central Georgia, was deluged with up to five inches (13cm) of rain by Thursday morning, triggering life-threatening flash flooding, the National Weather Service (NWS) said. The town lies just across the Toccoa River from Copperhill, Tennessee.

• Bankruptcy proceedings for LIV Golf begin in New Jersey court

• DP World Tour expecting an influx of players from LIV Golf

The DP World Tour is expecting an influx of players from LIV Golf next year and is ready to extend an olive branch to all the former rebels, including the face of its doomed revival, Bryson DeChambeau.

The two-time US Open winner had been due to sign for LIV 2.0 next season, saying recently their “business plan made a lot of sense” and that the reborn rebel tour would “last forever,” but instead they began bankruptcy proceedings in a New Jersey court on Thursday following the withdrawal of their primary financiers, BC Partners.

• Group stage to involve two groups of eight teams

• Change resembles model of Uefa Champions League

Concacaf on Thursday announced changes to the format of the Gold Cup, the confederation’s regional championship. The move is aimed at “delivering more meaningful matches and matchups between top-ranked teams”, Concacaf said in a statement.

Once the primary focus of teams in the region, the 35-year-old tournament will return for its 19th edition in 2027 having lost a bit of luster. The federation’s tweaks to the format – which center around the competition’s group stage – could help restore that. Here’s a look at the tournament, what’s at stake and what is changing.

Nearly $2tn shaved off Nasdaq value as worries of curbs to AI datacenters ripple across bourses

The Nasdaq share index had its worst day in 19 months after slumping 5.5% on Thursday amid growing signs that the artificial intelligence industry will face tougher regulation because of the midterm election results.

As Wall Street sustained widespread losses, the Nasdaq composite tumbled into “correction territory” – more than 10% below its recent record high – with more than $2tn shaved off its value by the end of trading Thursday. The tech-heavy index had its biggest one-day fall since Donald Trump announced his “liberation day” tariffs on US trading partners in April 2025.

Measure in blue state requires female athletes prove their sex, which critics warn could lead to ‘invasive’ genital exams

Voters in Washington state have passed a ballot measure banning transgender girls from playing on girls’ sports teams, a major loss for LGBTQ+ rights in a solidly Democratic state.

The measure says students in elementary, middle and high school who want to join girls’ athletics must first submit statements from their healthcare providers verifying their “biological sex”. Opponents have raised alarms the measure may force girls to endure “invasive and extreme” genital exams to participate in school sports.

From energy prices to datacenters, climate became a cost-of-living issue – and a winning one

Climate-forward Democrats swept into power on Tuesday night as a blue tsunami flipped the Senate, House and several governor’s races. Voters were laser-focused on affordability, and experts said Democrats succeeded in linking cost-of-living concerns with rising energy prices, datacenters and, to some extent, the climate crisis. They may have even created a path for a “new climate politics”.

The results delivered a sharp rebuke of Donald Trump, who started a war with Iran that raised gas pump prices across the country and exposed the fragility of fossil fuels, all while the US oil industry earned $130bn in profits since the war began. Household energy costs soared, driven by various factors including constraints on renewables, climate disasters and a datacenter boom.

Black in defamation lawsuit alleges California lawmaker made false statements about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein

Billionaire Leon Black has filed a defamation lawsuit against the California congressman Robert Garcia, accusing the lawmaker, who is the top Democrat on the House oversight committee, of making false statements about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein and the disgraced financiers’s sex-trafficking crimes.

The filing, filed in federal court in New York on Wednesday, comes almost two months after the House voted to hold Black in contempt of Congress over his refusal to comply with subpoenas issued by the House oversight committee as part of the panel’s investigation into Epstein. As of 5 November, the Department of Justice has not filed contempt charges against Black. Garcia’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

JD Vance, Ron DeSantis and Ted Cruz all pointed to Iran war and affordability as key factors in Democratic victory

• Q&A: Ask your questions about Democrats’ win in the midterms

Republican hopefuls in the race to succeed Donald Trump swiftly blamed two key pillars of his agenda – the Iran war and tariffs – for summoning the Democratic blue wave that swept the US midterm elections.

The fallout from the stunning success of Democrats on Tuesday night has left Republicans reeling – and grasping for the reasons behind the collapse in support. On Thursday, the Associated Press called more competitive House races for the Democrats, though Senate races in Alaska and Mississippi remained undecided.

The postseason is nearly upon us but there’s plenty to still be decided as the end of the regular season approaches

Just days after millions of Americans cast their votes in the midterm elections, we will soon arrive at the second-most meaningful decider in US society: Major League Soccer’s Decision Day. With eight 4pm ET kickoffs on the east coast and another seven games kicking off hours later out west on Saturday, there’s still plenty to play for at the end of the regular season.

This is an extract from Soccer Desk, a newsletter from the Guardian US. Subscribe for free here.

In Michigan, support for Israel was a kind of political hologram. But the media often made it seem real

Among the things that Abdul El-Sayed’s victory in the Michigan Senate race revealed is this: the debate over US policy toward Israel does not primarily pit the left versus the right. It pits the top versus the bottom.

There was no grassroots enthusiasm in the state for maintaining US military aid and weapons sales to Israel. That view no longer commands support even among ordinary Republicans. There was instead a massive infusion of pro-Israel money, mostly from extremely wealthy people.

For a decade, good-hearted citizens witnessed horrors and insisted: ‘This is not America.’ Finally, the conversation has shifted

For the past 10 years – such brutally discouraging years in the United States – we’ve been hearing good-hearted citizens put forth something they believed to their bones.

“This is not America,” they would insist as federal agents shot people on city streets, as immigrants were called rapists and animals, as Donald Trump and his cronies stuffed their own pockets while they shrugged at the price of gas and groceries, and humiliated the nation on the world stage, alienating allies and sucking up to autocrats.

Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain flexed their muscles, Manchester United fought back and an unlikely star stole the show for AEK Athens

Still without the recovering Vincent Kompany, Bayern Munich are among the favorites to win the Champions League, which would be their first European title since 2019-20. René Marić’s side produced a dominant display at the Metropolitano, playing Atlético Madrid off the field in a commanding 2-0 win. Lennart Karl and Konrad Laimer made the difference, with Harry Kane providing Laimer with a fine assist in his first continental appearance since winning the Ballon d’Or. Bayern remain just outside the top eight, which guarantees automatic passage to the last 16, having won two and drawn two of their opening four matches.

New policy would permit passengers to take firearms to their seats in lockboxes on 1,500 trains a day across the US

The Transport Workers Union, which represents 360 onboard service workers at the national passenger rail operator Amtrak, has lambasted the planned implementation of a new policy that would permit passengers to bring their guns on its US intercity trains.

The forthcoming protocols will allow people to carry on firearms in personal lock boxes.

Trump is still president, and we don’t know where things will go from here – but sometimes it just feels good to see some terrible people have a terrible time

The last couple of days have been very bad for Donald Trump. Of course, in Trump’s usual style, he is denying that the Republican loss at the midterms has anything to do with him – but we all know it does. While I fear the Democrats will not use this decisive moment to exercise some ambition and take meaningful action, the goings-on of the last couple of days have been undeniably fun to watch.

Seeing so many conservatives lose in such a spectacular way has blessed millions across the globe with powerful schadenfreude. It is a much-needed moment of relief, an experience of positivity to rejuvenate our ailing nervous systems (or whatever biology does). Sometimes you just need to see some terrible people have a terrible time. For me, it’s just been the icing on a cake I’ve been dining out on for the last couple of months: watching Trump supporters watch Trump describing other men’s bodies in detail.

President’s lawyers ask appeals court to toss criminal trial verdict over $130,000 sent to Stormy Daniels

Donald Trump’s legal team on Thursday continued efforts to get his 2024 conviction in the hush-money election corruption case thrown out.

Attorneys for the US president are trying to persuade a New York appeals court to toss the criminal trial verdict from May 2024, when Trump was found guilty on all charges of falsifying business records in the hush-money corruption scheme to influence his eventual victory in the 2016 presidential election.

European far-right leaders quick to distance themselves from US president and stress their own priorities

• Europe live – latest updates

• US midterms live – latest updates

The historic Republican defeat in the US midterm elections has forcibly reminded Europe’s far-right leaders of their perennial Donald Trump dilemma: they may love his nativist agenda, but the man himself is a toxic electoral liability.

Since his re-election in 2024, European populist leaders such as Marine Le Pen in France and Giorgia Meloni in Italy have carefully calibrated their public postures towards the US president, walking a delicate transatlantic tightrope.

Firefighters and police among injured as officials investigate lithium-ion battery found at scene in Sunset Park

Six people died in a fire that roared through a residential home in New York early on Thursday and nine others were injured, including three firefighters and two police officers, the city authorities said.

The major fire was reported in the early hours in Brooklyn and brought more than 200 first responders rushing to attend to the blaze and those trapped by it, in the city borough’s Sunset Park neighborhood.

The wins for Democrats come after years of cuts and upheaval to US health and science infrastructure

A political organization behind a wave of Democratic doctors and scientists winning elections up and down the ballot is calling the stunning rebuke of Trumpism the “Stem swing” and “revenge of the nerds”.

The wins come after years of cuts and upheaval to US health and science infrastructure, as Democrats spent big on health-related ads and as voters rejected the Make America Healthy Again (Maha) movement.

Criticism of US-Israel war on Iran seen as huge factor in Democrats’ sweeping victory. Plus, a spiky customer steps into a North Carolina bagel store

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Good morning.

Donald Trump has accepted the results of the US midterm elections as the system held up against attempts at election interference. His administration had waged an aggressive effort to sow doubt about the results in advance, but the worst fears have not been realized. “It was essentially too big to rig,” an unnamed Trump adviser told CNN, after Democrats swept into power across the nation on a “blue wave”. Trump made a public appearance the day after the seismic results – chiefly to talk about his new White House ballroom plans.

Follow our continued live coverage of the election results and find our full midterms coverage here.

• 22-year-old also has eight blocks in Spurs win

• Frenchman scores decisive free-throw in victory

Victor Wembanyama set a career high with 24 rebounds, then sank the winning free throw with 24.2 seconds left to ⁠cap his career-best 52-point performance as the San Antonio Spurs outlasted the Dallas Mavericks 112-111 for their sixth straight victory.

The Spurs home crowd hailed Wembanyama with MVP chants on Wednesday, and he also excelled on defense. The Frenchman blocked eight shots, three which of came in a span of just 13 seconds in the second quarter.

Bitter postmortem under way as party comes to terms with Darline Graham’s stunning loss to Annie Andrews

It’s not that Shane Brown somehow didn’t know about the US Senate election in South Carolina. Nor was he unaware that the outcome of the race between Senator Darline Graham and her Democratic challenger, Annie Andrews, was shockingly competitive when he refrained from voting on Tuesday.

The campaigns would not let him forget it.

Natural Resources Defense Council shows how federal rules changes will spike up public’s exposure to carcinogens

Amid a surge in early onset cancer, the Trump administration has taken more than 500 actions to systematically dismantle protections against carcinogens once in place across the federal government, an October report alleges.

The Natural Resources Defense Council report, and comments from current and former officials from the Environmental Protection Agency, bring into focus how myriad changes in federal rules or protocol will dramatically increase the public’s exposure to carcinogens. These are taking effect at a time when some forms of early onset cancer are spiking by about 30% per decade.

James Talarico and Adam Hamilton’s interpretations of the Bible are wildly different from the conservative vision we are regularly fed

Two-thirds of Americans identify as Christian, but since less than a third of the country actually makes it to church regularly, many rely on what they pick up from the media – social or otherwise – to know what the religion means.

And until yesterday, that received wisdom could be summed up as: a conservative, domineering and above all anti-gay force fiercely committed to the Republican party.

Well, let’s just talk about what Republicans and Democrats believe, and I value Republicans, too. But … Republicanism – often we hear it’s about fiscal responsibility, limited government, a strong defense and personal civil liberties, and let’s say conservative values in some ways. And Democrats – if you think about what they stand for, it’s education, it’s the vulnerable, it’s social safety nets, it’s a progressive spirit that’s trying to lift people up. And I said: if you think about those two, which sounds more like Jesus in the gospels?

Agents pinned down Erik Zepeda, a 20-year-old with disabilities, and left him with a broken wrist in latest example of ICE brutality as activity surges in California

The violent ICE detention of a US citizen with disabilities as he walked to his high school has sparked outrage in California where leaders are condemning the incident as racial profiling and calling on authorities to investigate.

Erik Zepeda, a 20-year-old high school student, was stopped by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers last month in the small agricultural city of Santa Maria, famed for its strawberry harvest, where 79% of residents are Latino. His wrist was broken and later required surgery.

The tech industry spent big on the midterms, but it turned out to be a poor investment. Elon Musk poured a staggering $446m dollars into Republican-aligned political action committees (Pacs) and groups since last year, but his efforts didn’t pay off. Democrats won every one of the five Senate races where Musk’s America Pac spent the most money backing Republican candidates. Carter Sherman and Kai Wright are joined by the Guardian’s US tech editor, Blake Montgomery, to ask what the ‘blue tsunami’ will mean for Musk and the wider tech industry. Will this spell the end of AI datacenters? And if so, what could this mean for the US economy?

The tech industry spent big on the midterms, but it turned out to be a poor investment. Elon Musk poured a staggering $446m dollars into Republican-aligned political action committees (Pacs) and groups since last year, but his efforts didn’t pay off. Democrats won every one of the five Senate races where Musk’s America Pac spent the most money backing Republican candidates. Carter Sherman and Kai Wright are joined by the Guardian’s US tech editor, Blake Montgomery, to ask what the ‘blue tsunami’ will mean for Musk and the wider tech industry. Will this spell the end of AI datacenters? And if so, what could this mean for the US economy?

Senior leaders say party will be ‘united’ in focus, but progressives call on party to take radical action

Progressive Democrats have declared that significant US midterm election wins across the country are as much a repudiation of their own party’s political establishment as of Donald Trump’s presidency.

After a string of leftwing candidates scored stunning victories from Texas to Michigan, senior Democratic leaders have stressed the party’s new representatives in Washington will be “united” in their focus on reducing costs for Americans and ending corruption under Trump.

Overturning Citizens United is not enough. Campaigns must be funded with public money rather than private donations

Having devoted most of my adult life to reporting on, campaigning against, and exposing the corrosive influence of money in politics, I’m gratified that this cause was – finally – front of mind in a national election.

That’s right: in the midterms, corruption topped the list of Americans’ concerns, and candidates won by waging campaigns promising to reject corporate Pac money and linking Washington’s pay-to-play culture to the affordability crisis.

Polling done for the Guardian shows plummeting support from a former key constituency of Donald Trump’s base

• Q&A: Ask your questions about Democrats’ win in the midterms

Polling conducted by the Harris Poll for the Guardian before the election shows just how angry voters were and points to one key reason Republicans lost so badly: plummeting support from rural voters, once a key constituency of Donald Trump’s base.

Over the summer, 95% of Americans indicated they believed there was an affordability crisis, particularly because of steep gas and grocery prices. By October, 61% of voters believed the country was experiencing a recession, even though technically it wasn’t.

Democrats gain hundreds of seats in historic victories – and party set to embark on aggressive legislative spree

The blue wave that swept Republicans out of power across the United States didn’t just strike Congress. In Tuesday’s midterm elections, Democrats gained hundreds of seats in state legislatures across the country, under-the-radar victories that may have major implications for life in America.

Though ballots are still being counted, the party’s success appears to be historic – Democrats haven’t won full control of government in Arizona in 60 years, in Pennsylvania since the 1990s, and Wisconsin since their wipeout in 2010. In Michigan and Minnesota, they regained trifectas lost after the 2024 election, while in Texas, they will control the state house for the first time since 2002.

A Democratic sweep has changed Washington’s balance of power. But from gambling legislation to stadium subsidies, both parties have helped build the system that enriches American sports’ billionaire owners

Before a single vote was cast this election cycle, the technocrats and oligarchs who own American sports had already voted. Pro sports owners put more than $100m into this cycle, according to Front Office Sports. But Tuesday night was a referendum not just on Donald Trump and Maga policies, but on the puppeteers who pull America’s strings. The people voted, and the owners lost.

Before anyone frames this as a rescue, a word about the rescuers. Democrats are the instrument for ending Maga, and they are also the other face of the same coin. Think Republicans are behind all of our ills? Think again. New Jersey’s governor, Phil Murphy, placed his state’s first legal sports bet in 2018. Illinois governor JB Pritzker signed sports betting into law a year later. New York’s mobile sportsbooks went live under Governor Kathy Hochul in 2022, with the state taking 51% of the revenue. Pritzker and Hochul both won Tuesday, and all of them are Democrats. In some of the biggest betting markets in the country, the bookmakers’ most reliable partner has been a Democratic statehouse.

Administration had waged aggressive bid to sow doubt about midterms results but worst fears were not realized

In the months leading up to the midterm elections, Donald Trump’s administration waged an aggressive effort to sow doubt about the results, intimidate voters and election officials, and signal they would use the power of the federal government to challenge the electoral process.

But when the results came in Tuesday night, revealing a massive blowout for the GOP, Trump did something almost unprecedented: he accepted the results. Trump said he was “absolutely willing” to accept the outcome and looked forward to working with Democrats. With the exception of the 2024 election, which he won and Republicans performed well in, Trump has raised doubt about every presidential race and midterm since his first election in 2016.