Colom beat Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith after race was called eight days after midterm election day

• Democrat Scott Colom wins race for US Senate in Mississippi

• How Colom won deep-red Mississippi with little help from Democrats

• Sign up for the US Breaking News email

Some Democrats, out of the 11 who missed the key procedural vote on Tuesday to impeach Pete Hegseth, blamed a traffic jam in Washington DC for their inability to make it to the US Capitol in time.

By a vote of 211-204, Republicans referred the articles of impeachment to the judiciary committee – effectively killing the effort to oust Hegseth.

This live blog is now closed.

• House Republicans block effort to impeach Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth

• Sign up for the US Breaking News email
  

During his press conference, Hegseth was resolute that the articles of impeachment are baseless, and that all attacks were carried out legally.

“As for the articles themselves, Iran, the cartels, Maduro, Yemen, everyone was a lawful operation ordered by the commander-in-chief, then ordered by myself, notified to Congress and executed by American warriors who did their jobs,” he said. “We destroyed terror regimes’ capabilities. We sank the boats carrying poison into our communities. We put a narco dictator in handcuffs. These are not high crimes. This is the job, and it’s the job well done.”

This live blog is now closed.

• Supreme court rules against Trump over bid to force California to set aside ballots

• Sign up for the Breaking News US email

The latest and final New York Times and Siena College poll before the midterm elections also shows Abdul El-Sayed leading Mike Rogers in the US Senate race in Michigan by 11 percentage points, outside the margin of error.

The survey took place before Democratic Congresswoman Haley Stevens announced that she would back Rogers in the contest – a vital seat for her party to retain in their quest for control of the Senate.