Midterms Put Control of Congress and Trump’s Agenda at Stake

States Restrict Access as DOJ Plans 1,000 Election Monitors

Supreme Court Rejects Bid to Set Aside California Ballots

Marvell Plans $115 Billion Purchase to Speed Up AI Data Centers

US Hits Iranian Targets Amid Push for a Settlement

Midterms Put Control of Congress and Trump’s Agenda at Stake

Americans vote Tuesday, Nov. 3, in midterm elections that will decide control of Congress, with all 435 House seats, 35 Senate seats and 36 governorships on the ballot. Republicans are defending majorities in both chambers, and more than 57 million people had already voted early by Monday, CBS News reported. President Donald Trump delivered his closing message Monday at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, where he formally reopened the pool after a renovation that drew scrutiny over the summer. Much of his speech focused on Washington building projects, while a Reuters/Ipsos poll completed Monday put his job approval at 32%. The outcome will determine whether Trump retains a Republican Congress to advance his agenda or faces at least one Democratic-led chamber able to block legislation and investigate his administration. Mail-ballot counting in states including California could leave control of one or both chambers unresolved beyond election night.

CBS News / NBC News / Reuters

States Restrict Access as DOJ Plans 1,000 Election Monitors

The Justice Department plans to send about 1,000 election monitors nationwide Tuesday in what Civil Rights Division chief Harmeet Dhillon has described as the largest monitoring effort in the department’s history. Newsweek reported that the department deployed 289 monitors for the 2022 midterms and 714 for the 2024 presidential election. Planned locations include Philadelphia and Allegheny, Luzerne and Lehigh counties in Pennsylvania, Lake and Marion counties in Indiana, and Adams County in Colorado. Indiana officials say monitors cannot enter polling places, while Colorado says the 10 monitors assigned to Adams County must remain outside and at least 100 feet from voting centers. A department spokesperson said state or local approval is not required for monitoring and that personnel are trained to follow the laws governing their assigned jurisdictions. The department has monitored compliance with federal voting-rights laws for decades, but the access disputes highlight tensions over federal oversight of elections administered by states.

Newsweek / Spotlight PA / CBS Colorado / KUNC

Supreme Court Rejects Bid to Set Aside California Ballots

The Supreme Court on Monday rejected the Trump administration’s emergency request to require California to set aside about 20,000 mail ballots from people federal officials suspect are noncitizens. There was no public dissent from the one-line, unsigned order, which followed refusals by U.S. District Judge David Carter and a divided panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The underlying lawsuit continues, but the denial leaves California’s counting procedures in place ahead of an election in which the state’s House races could help determine control of Congress. In a separate case Monday, Chief U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ruled that the administration had likely violated the Constitution’s Elections Clause, which assigns authority over election procedures to states and Congress. His order bars federal demands that California segregate ballots or change its procedures based on lists of suspected noncitizens, while allowing investigations of illegal voting and continued compilation of those lists. The administration says it is enforcing the federal ban on noncitizen voting, while California officials argued that separating the ballots was logistically impossible and could not be undone once they were processed.

CBS News / NPR / Axios / Washington Examiner

Marvell Plans $115 Billion Purchase to Speed Up AI Data Centers

Chipmaker Marvell Technology agreed Monday to buy Lumentum Holdings in a deal valued at about $115 billion, including debt. Marvell makes chips that process and move information, while Lumentum makes lasers and other equipment that transmit data using light. Together, the companies aim to help computers inside data centers exchange information faster while using less electricity. Those connections help power the artificial-intelligence services people use, because running AI requires computers to move large amounts of information as well as process it. The purchase reflects how the demand for AI is driving investment in the equipment behind those services. The companies expect to complete the deal in the first half of 2028, subject to approval from shareholders and regulators.

SEC / SiliconANGLE / Quartz

US Hits Iranian Targets Amid Push for a Settlement

U.S. forces carried out limited strikes on Iran’s Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz on Monday evening Eastern time, U.S. officials told the Associated Press, CBS News and ABC News. The officials described the strikes as defensive, and CBS News reported that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had fired at an American aircraft. Iranian state media reported explosions, but the targets, casualties and the Revolutionary Guard’s claim that it downed two U.S. drones could not be independently verified. Hours earlier, President Donald Trump said a deal with Iran “could happen” amid Qatar-mediated talks, while oil prices fell more than 6% on settlement hopes, France 24 reported. AP reported Oct. 28 that U.S. officials had warned regional allies to prepare for possible escalation after the U.S. midterm elections, although diplomats said Trump had not made a final decision. The clash adds uncertainty to negotiations over reopening the strait, where disrupted shipping and a U.S. blockade of Iranian oil tankers have put global energy supplies and U.S. fuel prices at stake.

AP / CBS News / ABC News / France 24

November 3, 1948: Newspaper Mistakenly Declares “Dewey Defeats Truman”

The Chicago Tribune famously jumped the gun, printing a front-page headline announcing Thomas Dewey’s victory over incumbent President Harry S. Truman before all the votes were counted. In reality, Truman went on to win the election by 114 electoral votes, turning the premature headline into an enduring symbol of political upset.

This article was written using our proprietary AI system, Cronkite. The final decision to publish this article was made by a human. For more info, read our AI policy.

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Sources

1. CBS News / NBC News / Reuters
2. Newsweek / Spotlight PA / CBS Colorado / KUNC
3. CBS News / NPR / Axios / Washington Examiner
4. SEC / SiliconANGLE / Quartz
5. AP / AP via KWCH / CBS News / ABC News / France 24