Midterms tend to be backlash elections, and the president’s party almost always loses seats when voters return to the polls to judge his performance in office. But not all midterms are created equal. On Tuesday, Democrats comprehensively routed their Republican rivals, regaining control of the U.S. House, U.S. Senate and statehouses across the country. Along the way, they shattered a series of decades-long Republican winning streaks and notched several historic firsts. So just how big was this year’s blue wave (or “blue tsunami”)?  The full scale and scope of the Democratic Party’s seismic victory is still coming into focus as officials tally every last vote. But here are some key numbers to help you put it in perspective: Winning the House26: the average number of House seats the president’s party has lost in midterm elections since World War II (pre-2026)40+: the projected number of House seats that will flip to Democrats in 2026, once all the votes are counted About 255: the projected size of the new Democratic House majority — the largest since 2008, and possibly since 19926.8 percentage points: the Republican popular vote margin in their 1994 and 2010 House midterm victories14 points: the projected Democratic popular vote margin in their 2026 House midterm victory 1974: the last time either party won their House popular vote by that much in a midterm electionMore than 100: the number of Democratic women who will serve simultaneously in the House — a historic first Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed speaks at an election night event on Nov. 4, 2026, in Detroit, as his wife Sarah Jukaku watches.AP Photo/Julia Demaree NikhinsonFlipping the Senate 4: the average number of Senate seats the president’s party has lost in midterm elections since World War II (pre-2026)9: the number of Republican Senate seats that have either flipped to Democrats in 2026 (Iowa, Kansas, Maine, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Texas) or could flip once all the votes are counted (Alaska, Mississippi)55-56: the projected size of the new Democratic Senate majority — the largest since the early 2010s2014: the last time a party — the Republicans — flipped 9 Senate seats in a midterm election1958: the last time a party flipped more than 9 Senate seats in a midterm election1982: the last time Mississippi elected a Democratic senator12 points: Trump’s average margin of victory in 2024 in the nine states where Democrats flipped or could still flip a Republican Senate seat this year1986: The last midterm in which more than two Senate seats flipped in states where the president won by double-digit margins two years earlierAt least 17: the number of senators from both parties who will be replaced in the chamber after the 2026 midterms — the largest turnover since 1980 70: the average age of this year’s departing senatorsAt least 15: the number of senators from both parties who will be under 50 when they’re sworn into office in January 2027 — up from eight previouslyGeorgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Keisha Lance Bottoms, right, embraces her daughter, Lincoln, at an election night event on Nov. 3, 2026, in Atlanta.AP Photo/Brynn AndersonClosing the ‘governor gap’7: the number of Republican governorships that have either flipped to Democrats in 2026 (Iowa, Ohio, Georgia, Nevada, Texas) or could flip once all the votes are counted (Alaska, Kansas)As many as 31: the number of governorships that Democrats could control once all the votes are counted2010: The last time Democrats controlled a majority of governorshipsAbout 75%: the percentage of Americans who will live in states with Democratic governors after the 2026 midterms At least 17: the number of women who will serve as governors, a record, up from 14How voters shifted63%: the percentage of exit poll respondents who said they disapprove of how Trump is handling his job as president54%: the percentage of exit poll respondents who said they “strongly” disapprove of how Trump is handling his job as president37%: the percentage of exit poll respondents who said they approve of how Trump is handling his job as president — the lowest midterm approval of any president since at least 200691%: the percentage of exit poll respondents who said government corruption was a crucial or major factor in their vote for Congress62%: the percentage of exit poll respondents who said Trump prioritizes his own personal interests over the country’s interests89%: the percentage of exit poll respondents who said the cost of living was a crucial or major factor in their vote for Congress66%: the percentage of exit poll respondents who said Trump’s policies have worsened economic conditions in the U.S. +15 percentage points: An early estimate of how much better Democrats performed nationwide in 2026 vs. 2024 (via the New York Times)+20 points: An early estimate of how much better Democrats performed in the South in 2026 vs. 2024 +29 points: An early estimate of how much better Democrats performed with Latino voters in 2026 +33 points: An early estimate of much better Democrats performed with young voters (ages 18-29) in 2026 vs. 2024Supporters of Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico attend at an election night event in Austin, Texas, on Nov. 3, 2026.AP Photo/Eric GayTurning Texas blue2.6 percentage points: Democrat James Talarico’s final lead in the polls, on average About 12 points: Talarico’s actual margin of victory over Republican Ken Paxton in the 2026 midterm election1988: The last time Texas elected a Democratic senator5.26 million: The number of votes Joe Biden received in Texas in the 2020 presidential election5.45 million: The number of votes Talarico has received in Texas in the 2026 midterm election — the most ever for a Democrat64%: The estimated percentage of Texas independent voters that Talarico won in the 2026 midterm election 70%: The estimated percentage of Texas Latino voters that Talarico won in the 2026 midterm election 74%: The estimated percentage of young voters (ages 18-29) that Talarico won in the 2026 midterm electionThis article originally appeared on Yahoo News at https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/article/democrats-2026-midterm-rout-was-big–really-big-here-are-the-numbers-that-prove-it-225923613.html

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is facing intense political backlash over the United States’ costly and unpopular war with Iran following the historic drubbing Republicans took from Democrats in this week’s midterm elections. But President Trump insisted on Wednesday that he is not considering replacing his Pentagon chief — at least not yet.“No, I think he’s doing a very good job,” Trump told reporters.The president also said he was unaware of a report that Hegseth has been quietly angling to fill the U.S. Senate seat that will be vacated by Tennessee GOP Sen. Marsha Blackburn, who was elected as the state’s next governor this week.“I think he’s doing a very good job, and I actually think he’d be very popular if he did that. But I haven’t heard that at all,” Trump said when asked if he would want the defense secretary to fill Blackburn’s seat. According to CBS News, though, Trump “has been asking advisers” whether Hegseth should stay or go.Hegseth, a former Fox News host who has served as defense secretary since January 2025, has been Trump’s most visible cheerleader for the Iran war, which the U.S. and Israel initiated in February and which has led to surging oil prices.Trump acknowledged Wednesday that the Iran war had partly contributed to the midterm election rout that handed Democrats control of Congress. Vice President JD Vance was unequivocal. “The real reason we lost is obvious to almost everyone,” Vance wrote in a lengthy post on X. “The reason we lost is the war.” The vice president did not call out Hegseth by name. But other Republicans did.Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina, told CBS News that Hegseth faces “a reckoning.”“He is one of the reasons why we don’t have the funding or guarantee for defense that we need,” Tillis said on election night. “I think after the election, we need to determine whether or not he’s the best person to bring those needs to Congress.”The U.S. Capitol building is seen in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 4.Kevin Carter/Getty ImagesWhen Democrats take control of both the House and Senate next year, they will have the ability to call for hearings and launch investigations into virtually any aspect of the Trump administration — and Hegseth’s handling of the military is high on their list.“In the majority, one of the first things we’re gonna do is run Pete Hegseth out of town,” Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the minority leader who is poised to become House speaker in January, said at a rally last month.They may not have to wait that long.Rep. Thomas Massie, a Republican from Kentucky and vocal Trump critic, said he intends to force a House vote on articles of impeachment against Hegseth as soon as next week, citing violations of the War Powers Resolution, bypassing Congress on war declarations and unlawful military actions in several countries. (Massie introduced articles of impeachment against Hegseth in September, but House Speaker Mike Johnson later canceled the final scheduled voting day before the midterm recess, delaying a vote.)In a post on X Wednesday, Massie wrote that “there is one contingency in which I won’t reintroduce the articles of impeachment: Hegseth resigns.”A fire burns at an oil depot in Tehran, Iran, on March 8 after U.S. and Israeli attacks.Hassan Ghaedi/Anadolu via Getty ImagesHegseth, for his part, remains defiant.“Secretary Hegseth will not back down or be deterred by politicians seeking to score partisan points or launch phony investigations where no wrongdoing exists,”  Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell told ABC News Wednesday, adding that the defense secretary is “100% committed to leading the Department until the end of President Trump’s term in office.”This article originally appeared on Yahoo News at https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/article/trump-stands-by-hegseth-after-election-losses-but-other-republicans-want-him-out-163852105.html

US stocks fell suddenly on Thursday as AI and chip stocks sold off, erasing the gains from Wednesday’s post-election rally.The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) tumbled 2.2%, or over 1,200 points. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) fell 3.3%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) dropped 5%, putting the index on track to close in a correction.The PHLX Semiconductor index (^SOX) dived 11% as Nvidia (NVDA), Micron (MU), and other chip names sank.Investors continued to process the Democrats’ sweeping victory on Tuesday and its implications for markets and the economy. Amid relief that election uncertainty has been removed, the stock market continues to sort out the perceived winners and losers of a regime change on Capitol Hill.Oil prices rose amid uncertainty that President Trump would pursue a deal with Iran to end the war in the Middle East. Optimism grew overnight after Vice President JD Vance said, “The reason we lost [the midterm elections] is the war,” in a post on X suggesting the party should push for a resolution to the conflict. Brent crude oil (BZ=F) prices traded around $97 per barrel, while US benchmark WTI crude (CL=F) stood at $90 per barrel.A report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas showed layoff plans in October fell to the lowest level since 2023 as companies turned their attention to retaining existing employees, setting the scene for Friday’s key employment report.On the earnings calendar, Duke Energy (DUK), Airbnb (ABNB), and Lumentum (LITE), among others, report results.This article originally appeared on Yahoo Finance at https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/live/stock-market-today-thursday-november-5-dow-sp-500-nasdaq-oil-rises-chip-stocks-141439950.html

The Aer Lingus plane at Evreux military air base in France after being diverted following a bomb threat [Reuters] At least 18 aircraft across Europe have been targeted by bomb threats – the second such incident this week, which the UK has called a “malicious hoax”.Flights bound for Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, France, Italy, Poland and Romania were affected, including an Aer Lingus plane from Dublin to Rome which was forced to divert to a military air base in France.Italian fighter jets escorted a Finnair flight from Helsinki to Rome, where it landed as scheduled. No explosives have been found during searches. EasyJet said two of its flights from Newcastle and Glasgow were met by Czech police after arriving in Prague as a “precautionary measure”.It is not clear if the incidents are related. Follow live updates UK Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander described Thursday’s incidents as “malicious hoax threats.”She said the government was taking “these threats seriously”, stressing that there were “established processes for dealing with hoax and malicious threats”.A UK government spokesperson later said the threats reported “in the early hours” of the day had been “resolved”, without giving any further details.The airport authorities in Italy’s capital Rome said the hoax threat against two inbound flights received on Thursday had come by email.The warnings were signed on behalf of a group or individual calling themselves “Fighters of the Male State”, claiming to be targeting a “feminist regime” and wanting to “make our mark on history”.They threatened to “turn the skies red” with explosions.These details were first reported by Italian media and then confirmed to the BBC by Aeroporti di Roma, which manages both of the city airports.The following flights were targeted by threats on Thursday: Aer Lingus said its flight from Dublin to Rome diverted to Normandy, landing safely. The company added that it was working to “re-accommodate customers to their final destination as soon as possible”. Two Finnair flights from Helsinki landed at their destinations as normal, the airline said. One was escorted into Rome’s Fiumicino airport by Italian Air Force fighter jets, Aeroporti di Roma told the BBC, while the other landed in Vienna, Austria Wizz Air said two flights which departed Milan were affected – one was heading to Warsaw, before being diverting to Vienna; the other landed safely in Bucharest, with teams inspecting the aircraft Polish airline LOT said its flight from Warsaw to Brussels landed as planned, and “no suspicious items were found”. Another LOT flight from Warsaw to Paris was stopped before take-off and the plane and baggage underwent a security screening, with no hazardous items found Three Ryanair flights landed in Bulgaria, according to Bulgarian media – one from Copenhagen and another from Madrid landed in the capital Sofia, while a third coming from London bound for Sofia landed in Plovdiv. The flights were escorted by Bulgarian air force fighter jets No explosives were found on four flights which landed in Prague, Czech police said. EasyJet later said its flights from Newcastle and Glasgow were among those affected. “Passengers on both flights disembarked normally,” the company said Aegean Airlines said it “was informed of a bomb threat” concerning two of its flights from Thessaloniki in Greece to Milan, and also from Athens to Vienna. It said threat was “unfounded”, and both flights departed from the respective airports” A Ryanair flight from Porto in Portugal landed safely in Milan as planned, with bomb disposal experts checking them on arrival, Italy’s Ansa news agency reported Spain’s airport authority said it had received bomb threats affecting three flights at Madrid airport, but any threat was ruled out following inspections. Iberia later said two of its flights – Milan-Madrid and Rome-Madrid – were affected. It was not clear whether the third plane was the above reported Ryanair Madrid to Sofia flight Air Serbia said its flight from Belgrade to Bucharest “landed safely at its destination airport”, and after checks, a reported bomb threat was “assessed as unfounded” Emily Noble, who was aboard the diverted Aer Lingus plane from Dublin to Rome, said she was about an hour into her flight to attend a friend’s wedding in the Italian capital when passengers were told about a “technical” problem.Later, as the Aer Lingus plane began circling for an unplanned landing in France, the pilot said there was a “security” issue, the 26-year-old from Dublin told BBC Verify.On board it was “an odd experience,” Noble said. “It was worrying because we didn’t know what was going on, but we were all trying to be as calm as we could.”Noble says she could hear fighter jets during the landing and saw one touch down behind the aircraft.After landing at the Évreux-Fauville air base in Normandy, passengers learned the flight had been the subject of a bomb threat.Noble said they remained on board for two-and-a-half hours while police and military personnel carried out checks, including searches with sniffer dogs.The passengers were later told they would be taken to an airport in Paris and another plane would fly them on to Rome.Philip Baum, professor of aviation security at the University of Coventry, said the industry “faces multiple bomb threats every single day” but he had been “surprised” by this week’s incidents.A flight is diverted “only when the threat is credible and the authorities believe there is a potential of explosive device on board”, he said.He said the concern was that “if you issue enough hoax threats, then complacency could set in and a real threat could be ignored – or they could be a diversion”.Marco Chan, an aviation expert at Kingston University, told the BBC the threats were “most likely a hoax, but the system is right to treat it as real”.He said they were being viewed by some experts as “possibly part of a pattern of cheap, deniable disruption” to air travel.Hoaxes can also come from copycats, he said, but “three days of incidents is too small a sample to separate coordination from contagion”.Two days ago, seven European flights, including two from the UK, were searched after bomb threats were made. No explosives were found on any of the planes after searches.On Monday, a Wizz Air flight travelling from London Luton Airport to Sofia was escorted by a Hungarian fighter jet to Budapest after a mid-air bomb threat. [BBC] Seven flights across Europe targeted by suspected bomb threats This article originally appeared on BBC at https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cmpqg08nz3pqo?xtor=AL-72-%5Bpartner%5D-%5Byahoo.north.america%5D-%5Bheadline%5D-%5Bnews%5D-%5Bbizdev%5D-%5Bisapi%5D

Democrats celebrated sweeping successes in the midterm elections as the party regained control of the House, Senate and statehouses across the country.Democrats flipped seven Senate seats to hold 54 seats to the Republican Party’s 44 in one of the most lopsided recent midterm performances. Two seats — nail-biting contests in Alaska and Mississippi — remain undeclared.Mississippi is unexpectedly competitive, and with 96% of the votes counted, Democrat candidate Scott Colom leads Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith by 0.1%, according to the Associated Press.As Republicans licked their wounds, President Trump signaled he would work with Democrats, but indicated he wouldn’t hesitate to use his veto powers. The president also acknowledged Wednesday that the eight-month-long Iran war had hit the Republican vote, but defended his actions. “If I had to do it again, I’d have to do it again,” he said, adding, “you can’t let Iran have a nuclear weapon.”Vice President JD Vance had earlier blamed the scale of GOP losses on the war with Iran in a post on X, “The real reason we lost is obvious to almost everyone,” he wrote. “The reason we lost is the war.”Democrats won a series of key battleground contests. In Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed defeated Mike Rogers in one of the most closely watched races of the midterms. James Talarico beat Republican Ken Paxton in Texas, becoming the first Democrat to win a U.S. Senate seat in the Lone Star State since 1988. Annie Andrews beat Sen. Darline Graham in South Carolina to flip a Senate seat. In Maine, Democrat Troy Jackson defeated incumbent Sen. Susan Collins, putting an end to her three-decade tenure. Sen. Jon Ossoff comfortably won reelection in Georgia. Other Senate seats to flip to the Democratic Party included Roy Cooper in North Carolina, Sherrod Brown in Ohio, Josh Turek in Iowa and Adam Hamilton in Kansas.As of 5 a.m. ET Thursday, the Democrats held 240 House seats to the GOP’s 147, comfortably passing the majority threshold of 218, with 48 still to be called, according to the Associated Press. The latest estimates show that the party is on track to win its largest majority since 2008. And there are still seats it could flip, including Colorado’s 4th district, which is held by Republican incumbent Rep. Lauren Boebert, a staunch Trump ally, whose race against Democrat Eileen Laubacher remains tight.There were also 36 gubernatorial races and numerous ballot measures on the ballot. Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms of Georgia became the first Black woman elected governor in U.S. history, while Democrat Amy Acton became the first woman elected governor of Ohio. In Florida, Republican Byron Donalds became the state’s first Black governor-elect. El-Sayed will be America’s first Muslim senator.This article originally appeared on Yahoo News at https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/live/midterms-2026-live-updates-election-day-voters-head-to-the-polls-as-democrats-look-to-flip-gop-control-of-the-house-and-senate-110000715.html