Politics & World Affairs — November 4, 2026

Thune to seek minority leader. Sen. John Thune plans to run for Senate minority leader after Republicans lost at least five Senate seats, a source said.

The move, reported by Fox News citing a source, comes in the wake of midterm results that cost Republicans at least five seats and handed Democrats control of the chamber. A leadership contest would determine who guides the diminished GOP conference as it transitions to the minority, though the source account has not been confirmed by Thune’s office and no timeline for a formal announcement was given.​

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Iran says voters rejected war. Iranian official Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf said Americans voted ‘no to war’ and that Tehran endorses the message. Trump acknowledged the conflict’s role in Republican losses.

According to the BBC, Ghalibaf, Iran’s chief negotiator, cast the Democratic sweep as a repudiation of the conflict between the two countries, a characterization Tehran’s leadership promoted publicly. The remarks followed a U.S. strike on Qeshm Island on the eve of the election. Trump, for his part, conceded the war with Iran contributed to Republican losses, an unusual point of overlap between the two governments’ readings of the results.

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