Good morning. In today’s edition:

• 🗳️ Democrats sweep House and Senate
• 🏈 First CFP rankings of 2026
• 💡 The world's weirdest-ever inventions

…and much more.

Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be a ~3.47-minute read (922 words).

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"It has been said that history repeats itself. This is perhaps not quite correct; it merely rhymes."

–Theodor Reik (1888-1969)

Election Day 2026 is officially in the books, ending a monthslong campaign season that featured decoy candidates, last-second endorsement switches, and an overwhelming tsunami of political ads.

Here are the results so far (as of 4 am ET):

House

Democrats earned a majority in the chamber and currently hold a 227-139 advantage with 69 races yet to be called. The party has already flipped a confirmed 28 seats compared to zero for Republicans, and could be on pace for their largest House majority in nearly two decades based on current projections of ~255 Democratic members in the 435-seat chamber.

Senate

Democrats won a confirmed majority in the chamber, with their margin over Republicans standing at 54-44, according to the AP. Dems managed to flip control of at least seven seats behind a strong performance in battleground races and some upsets in solidly GOP-leaning states.

• Kansas (Adam Hamilton) turned blue in the Senate for the first time since 1932. 
• Both Texas (James Talarico) and South Carolina (Annie Andrews) elected their first Democratic senators since 1988.
• Iowa (Josh Turek) chose its first Democratic senator since 2008.

Gubernatorial races

Three dozen states held elections for governor yesterday, with the upcoming nationwide partisan split now sitting at 27 D to 20 R. Some notable results:

• In Texas, Gina Hinojosa became the first Democrat to win a governor’s race since 1990, defeating incumbent Republican Greg Abbott.
• In Ohio, Amy Acton became the first Democrat to win the office since 2006 after defeating GOP candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.
• In Georgia, Democratic candidate Keisha Lance Bottoms became the first Black woman elected governor in US history.
• In Florida, Republican Rep. Byron Donalds became the state’s first-ever Black governor after beating Democratic candidate David Jolly.

Ballot proposals

Idaho residents rejected a measure to legalize abortion access in the state, while Missouri voters rejected a proposal to re-imposed a statewide abortion ban residents had voted to lift in 2024. Voters in Ohio, North Carolina, and Nevada approved new voter ID measures, while other major ballot proposals—like California’s billionaires wealth tax—remain too close to call. The latest news.

Looking ahead…Current legislators on Capitol Hill have 60 days remaining before the incoming 120th United States Congress will be sworn into office on January 3.

📊 Flash poll: Did you cast a ballot in the 2026 election?

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BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 🌐 AMD reports better-than-expected Q3 earnings and revenue, withthe chipmaker’s data center sales nearly doubling from a year earlier; shares rise ~7% in extended trading.
• 🐭 Disney is reportedly planning to layoff several thousand employees, with some managers asked to cut costs by up to 20%.
• 🤖 Schools restricting Google's AI tools will also lose access to web search due to its deep AI integration, the tech giant announced.

SPORTS, MEDIA, & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🏈 College Football Playoff committee publishes first ranking of the 2026 season; #1 Miami leads the pack, followed by #2 Georgia, #3 Utah, #4 Indiana, and #5 Alabama.
• 💸 Paris Jackson, daughter of the late Michael Jackson, asks Los Angeles court to order a $600 million distribution from her father's estate to a trust for Jackson and her two brothers.
• 🙏 Nicole Taylor, member of the country music triplet-trio Taylor Red, died at 35 from cancer.

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SCIENCE, SPACE, & EMERGING TECH

• 📱 Apple sets 18+ age restriction for dating apps and AI companions featuring sexual or romantic content; developers must update age ratings to reflect whether these features are offered.
• 🧬 Building blocks of DNA and RNA discovered in a 4.5-billion-year-old asteroid named Ryugu; findings suggest the key ingredients for life were present in space billions of years ago and may have reached Earth through asteroids.
• 💤 Medical cannabis research lacks sufficient evidence to determine whether it helps treat insomnia, per major review of existing studies.

US, WORLD, & POLITICS

• 🇺🇲 US military to cut aid to Israel by the end of December, accelerating the phaseout of ~$4 billion in annual assistance, President Trump announces; the change would still require congressional approval, as funding is currently authorized through 2028.
• 💥 US military struck Iran’s Qeshm Island on Monday, marking the latest in several small-scale attacks carried out in secret, per new WSJ report; President Trump has also discussed a possible diplomatic deal and has said he has no plans to resume attacks.
• ⚖️ Supreme Court hears oral arguments in case brought by Colorado Catholic pre-schools seeking public funding despite objections to the state's LGBTQ nondiscrimination rules; most Justices appear to side with Catholic schools, with a ruling expected by next summer.

☝️ The 2026 Epson International Pano Awards recently announced their winners, with landscape and aerial photographer Daniel Viñé Garcia of Spain taking top honors as the Open Photographer of the Year. This year’s contest saw 4,084 entries from photographers across 93 countries.

🤔 Did you know? Approximately one-quarter of the bones in your body are located in your feet. Each foot contains 26 bones, together adding up to 25.2% of the 206 bones in the adult human body.

📰 Worth a read: 40-somethings are having a really hard time admitting they can no longer see.

🖱️ What we’re clicking:

• 15 of the world's weirdest-ever inventions
• Netflix needs you to watch, not just pay
• Do you know your attachment style?

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We provide an incorrect stat. Your challenge is to guess whether the actual number is over or under the given value.

1. ☁️ 500,000 pouinds: How much the average cloud weighs
2. 🐜 20,000: How many ants a giant anteater can eat per day
3. 🏀 103: Most points ever scored by a single player in an NBA game

(keep scrolling for the answer)

🧶 What started as a simple hobby to pass the time turned into a Guinness World Record for Claude P. Moore of Michigan, who spent more than a decade building the world's largest rubber band ball.

His creation grew so large that he had to move it into its own storage unit, eventually weighing in at over 11,500 pounds.

1. ☁️ Over; the average cloud weighs ~1.1 million pounds.
2. 🐜 Over; giant anteaters can eat up to 35,000 ants/day.
3. 🏀 Under; Wilt Chamberlain holds the NBA record with 100 points in one game.

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