Free Republic

WASHINGTON, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Democrat Scott Colom won a stunning upset in Mississippi's US Senate race on Wednesday after days of counting, US media projected, defeating ​Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith to become the Southern state's first Black ‌senator since the Reconstruction era that followed the US Civil War. It was one of the final outstanding races to be called since Tuesday's elections, in which Democrats overwhelmed Republicans ​to win control of both chambers of the US Congress. Mississippi ​officials took days to count ballots in a race that was ⁠so tight that Colom at times led by only a...

President Donald Trump defended the war in Iran and said it will be over "soon" during his Veterans Day address on Wednesday. Trump made the statement while speaking to a crowd of veterans and their families at Arlington National Cemetery. He highlighted the 1983 Iran-backed bombing of the U.S. Marine Corps barracks in Beirut and argued that Iran has been at war with the U.S. for decades. "America did not start a war with Iran. Iran has been waging war on America since 1979. They should have been taken care of a long time ago," Trump said. "And it was...

Trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi between Russia, Ukraine and the US aimed at ending the war in Ukraine have concluded after a second day. Although the American side said they saw "some openings", there was no hint of any breakthroughs to end the nearly five year-long war sparked by Russia's invasion. However, both Moscow and Kyiv confirmed that a large-scale prisoner of war exchange was in the works and could be carried out soon. Davyd Arakhamia from Ukraine's negotiating team said that this round of talks - the first since February - "was one of the hardest." "I believe the...

Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) has not conceded her reelection bid in Colorado’s 4th Congressional District as Democratic challenger Eileen Laubacher maintains a narrow lead, with thousands of ballots potentially remaining uncounted and the Associated Press (AP) yet to call the race. According to AP’s election results, updated Monday at 8:14 p.m., Laubacher received 186,199 votes, or 48.8 percent, compared to Boebert’s 182,847 votes, or 47.9 percent. Libertarian candidate Douglas Mangeris received 12,615 votes, or 3.3 percent.

Republicans in the US ​House of Representatives ‌banded together on Tuesday to ​derail an effort ​to impeach Defense ⁠Secretary Pete Hegseth. The ​chamber voted 211 ​to 204 in favor of a motion ​to refer ​the impeachment charges to the ‌Republican-led ⁠House Judiciary Committee, effectively stopping the effort to ​impeach ​Hegseth ⁠sponsored by Kentucky Republican ​Representative Thomas ​Massie.

Divided House Republicans elected Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio to be their leader on Tuesday, elevating a pugilistic firebrand who has been a close ally of President Trump as they reel from a crushing defeat in the midterm elections. Mr. Jordan, the current chairman of the Judiciary Committee, will replace Speaker Mike Johnson next year, when Republicans are relegated to the minority and effectively shut out of power. He will inherit a fractious and diminished conference that was already plagued by bitter infighting before it lost control of the House. Mr. Jordan, 62, who was elected in a closed-door party...

Twenty million new voter registrations. Thirty-seven states. No requirement to provide documentary proof of U.S. citizenship. Those are the striking figures circulating on social media after a viral post on X showed voter registration data from the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. ... 20 million new voter registrations occurred between 2022 and 2024 in states that did not require documentary proof of citizenship. The controversy has reignited debate over the SAVE America Act, which would establish stricter citizenship verification requirements for federal voter registration. ... election officials processed more than 103 million voter registration transactions between the 2022 and 2024 general...

Ahmed Moor, a Palestinian American writer who was born in Gaza and worked in international development, on Monday became the first candidate for U.S. Sen. John Fetterman’s seat in 2028 — launching an early and progressive campaign set to reflect the polar opposite of Fetterman’s view of Israel and the war in Gaza.⁠

Saudi Arabia has sentenced a domestic worker from Kenya to 100 lashes after she gave birth outside of marriage. The sentence is a crushing blow to the mother, who has attempted for more than a year to return to Kenya with her child but has been blocked at every turn. The ruling, issued last month, shows the limits of a decade of social and legal reforms in the kingdom, where women can be jailed for 'illegal pregnancy'. The mother of five, Esther Wanja Muthoni, is among thousands of East African domestic workers who were recruited as housekeepers and nannies in...

A progressive podcaster has seemingly lost millions in major sponsorships after laughing at a joke about 'digging up' the late Charlie Kirk to assassinate him again last week. Jennifer Welch, 53, and cohost Angie Sullivan read the crass post on Thursday's I've Had It before cackling. The two had been taking a victory lap after the Democrats' success during last week's midterms. 'We’re digging up Charlie Kirk and doing it again,' Welch said, citing the post. The exchange led to a wave of bipartisan condemnation. It was ultimately deleted from the episode and the pair issued a joint apology. But...

Everything is bigger in Texas. And that now includes the epic repudiation of Donald Trump by the American voters in the midterm elections. Yes, Republicans got pummeled in several conservative redoubts, including the loss of Senate seats in Kansas and South Carolina. But the biggest, most expensive and most stunning losses happened in the Lone Star State. After 32 years in the wild1erness, Texas Democrats won eight statewide races in a single day, including the thumping of incumbent governor and Trump ally, Greg Abbott, by Gina Hinojosa. They also won the lieutenant governor, attorney general, comptroller and three other offices,...

The 2026 midterm rout exposed Republican failures on the economy, Iran, and immigration. Trump can still recover, but Democrats risk overplaying their hand with a radical agenda.Midterm RealitiesIn the 126 years since 1900, nearly 90 percent of the midterm elections have led to the party in the Oval Office losing House seats, and two-thirds of those same elections have led to it losing Senate seats. Given this history, midterm losses of some sort in 2026 were almost a sure bet. But what ensued in November went well beyond all normal expectations. When all the votes are tabulated, the current...

Representative Thomas Massie, Republican of Kentucky, set in motion a vote that must occur by Wednesday. If the House approves the charges, it will prompt a Senate trial.Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth could face an impeachment vote in the House as early as this week, as lawmakers return to Washington after an election in which voters delivered a sweeping rebuke of the Trump administration and the president’s handling of the war with Iran.The effort is being led by Representative Thomas Massie, Republican of Kentucky, who on Monday called up a resolution accusing Mr. Hegseth of violating federal law and the Constitution,...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Monday told reporters he believes the war in Iran “militarily is effectively over,” suggesting that — at least for now — he’s not prepared to resume the bombardment that has devastated the Islamic Republic and caused reverberations across the global economy. The president made a surprise visit to the White House briefing room after meeting earlier in the day with Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani. “Iran militarily is effectively over,” Trump said. “We’re just keeping it the status quo.” He added that Iran has been “decapitated” but...

Michigan has elected Abdul El-Sayed, the first Muslim U.S. senator in American history. This is an extraordinary moment. But anyone seeking to understand how it happened must begin with the people who made it possible, especially Black Detroit, whose organizing, relationships and determination helped secure this victory.

Comedian Dave Chappelle, performing back-to-back shows as part of his “Karmageddon” tour, told a sold out Madison Square Garden crowd he “feels better” after Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk was murdered. “I feel f****d up saying this. It’s scary being a public speaker. And I mean look, ever since that guy Charlie Kirk got murdered … and I shouldn’t say this publicly but, I feel better,” Chappelle said, receiving some applause and laughter from the crowd. “I know I shouldn’t say that but, it’s just a feeling,” Chappelle continued. “I didn’t ask to feel this way. I just be...

In plain English: for every 1,000 Trump points from 2024, roughly 850 stayed with the Republican candidate while 150 landed on the Democrat side. Republicans retained about 85% of Trump’s share in Senate races and 86% in gubernatorial races. The formula explains 88% of the variation. What makes the pattern so suspicious is its uniformity. It did not matter how red the state was. Wyoming, Ohio, Illinois, and Massachusetts all showed the same roughly 15% shift (p = 0.69).

After replacing his former boss Susie Wiles as the White House Chief of Staff, Stephen Miller has urged the president to end the war in Iran. That war was undertaken with the idea of eliminating Iran’s nuclear research program but was incredibly unpopular with the American people. “Miller's pitch for the job, according to people who heard it, was that the president needed to wind down the Iran war, a conflict that the president's core supporters viewed as a betrayal,” said The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman in live updates. The war in Iran, launched by Trump along with close...

Americans have now delivered on what they’ve been telling pollsters all year: They’re mad as hell and they’re not going to take it anymore. In a stunning rebuke to U.S. President Donald Trump and his Republican Party, voters have entrusted Democrats with both the House and the Senate, flipping their control simultaneously for only the fourth time in a midterm election since World War II. The reverses for the GOP include defeats in usually deep-red states such as Kansas, South Carolina, and Texas. Trump is already distancing himself from the results—after encouraging voters to pretend he was on the ballot....

AN ARMED man has been arrested near the White House after he allegedly said threatened to kill Donald Trump. Secret Service agents found the Venezuelan migrant in a stolen car packed with firearms, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Officers said they approached the suspect after spotting him “acting suspicious in his car while parked on Constitution Avenue in Washington.” He reportedly told police that he heard voices in his head telling him to come to the capital and kill Trump, the DHS said.