World· Verified
Taiwan counts on steady US arms support following midterm vote
While US President Donald Trump last December approved US$11 billion in arms for Taiwan, a second package worth about US$14 billion has stalled.
Topic
Americans vote on November 3, 2026 for every seat in the House of Representatives, about a third of the Senate and many governors and state offices. This page gathers our latest reporting on the campaigns, the races and the results.
World· Verified
While US President Donald Trump last December approved US$11 billion in arms for Taiwan, a second package worth about US$14 billion has stalled.
World· Verified
BEIJING, Nov 5 - The midterm drubbing of Donald Trump's Republicans may strengthen China's hand in trade talks with Washington, but Beijing is unlikely to revel in the misfortunes of a US president whose successor could prove less accommodating.
Politics· Verified
Democrats will hold Congress but President Donald Trump still has the power to block their plans.
Politics· Developing
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, urged his party to prioritize pocketbook issues after Democrats swept elections across the state.
Politics· Verified
President Trump has no regrets about his war with Iran, despite CBS News projecting that Democrats will win both the House and Senate in the midterm elections. Weijia Jiang reports.
Politics· Verified
Hinojosa wins momentous victory, shatters Republican grip on key office and will become state’s first Latina governor US midterm elections – live updates Track live results from all 50 states In a stunning political upset that would have seemed improbable only a few weeks ago, Democrat Gina Hinojosa has defeated three-term governor Greg Abbott on Tuesday, shattering the Republican grip on the state’s highest and most powerful executive office. Hinojosa’s historic victory – she will be the state’s first ever Latina governor – ended Abbott’s bid for an unprecedented fourth term, and delivered Democrats their most consequential victory in the state in a generation. Continue reading...
Politics· Verified
US Vice President JD Vance said on Wednesday that the Iran war had doomed Republicans in the midterm elections, moving to distance himself from the unpopular conflict ahead of a possible 2028 White House run. “The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night,” Vance said in a lengthy post on X — apparently referring to President Donald Trump’s remarks that the Iran war was “part of it” but that it was still justified. “If you’d like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next 6 years was worth it, then do so. Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay. Agree or disagree, that’s at least honest,” added Vance. “But everyone knows why we lost. And any honest conversation about where we go from here must start there.” The Democratic wave in Tuesday’s midterms has raised major questions over Vance’s previous status as the frontrunner for the Republican nomination in the 2028 presidential election. He has not yet formally declared that he will run. Vance, a longtime vocal critic of US foreign interventionism, had reportedly been sceptical behind the scenes about the war on Iran that Trump and Israel launched in late February. Vance also acknowledged that Republican voters who backed Trump and himself two years ago had switched sides due to the war and its effects on the US economy. “The main problem is that many people who voted for Trump/Vance in 2024 voted for Democrats in 2026,” the vice president said. He said a pollster that he respected showed that the Iran war and the economy were key factors in voters abandoning Republicans. “In his polling, he saw that a lot of Trump 2024 voters were angry and planning to vote for Democrats,” Vance wrote. “He asked those voters who had abandoned us what would cause them to come back on our team. The top four answers, accounting for nearly all of the responses, were: End the war Focus on cost of living/inflation Put America First Change our relationship to Israel.” Top Senate Democrat says Iran war ‘must end’ Meanwhile, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said that the Iran war “must end” and suggested his party’s incoming majority in Congress could use their control over government funding to press for that goal. “The American people don’t know what the heck we’re fighting for in Iran,” Schumer tells journalists, adding that Trump has never made it clear and “changes his mind day to day, minute to minute”. “This war must end. It must end,” Schumer added. He later noted that the “power of the purse” is “one of the ways of deterring a president who does war without the consent of the American people”. “Make no mistake: whenever Trump defies the will of the American people or the law, we will launch investigations, take him to court and entangle him in legislative razor wire,” Schumer warns. “The days of Trump’s supplicant Senate are over.”
Politics· Verified
WASHINGTON, Nov 4 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Wednesday the Iran war has been worth it despite acknowledging its role in losses in US midterm elections in which his Republican party lost control of Congress.
Politics· Verified
Reported move from Republican speaker of House comes in light of party’s disastrous midterms defeat US midterms 2026 live – latest updates Tell us: what do you want to know about the midterm election results? Mike Johnson, the Republican speaker of the House, has said he is not planning to pursue the role of minority leader once his party loses its majority in the chamber, according to multiple reports. Coming in light of Republicans’ disastrous midterm defeat, Johnson’s decision effectively yields the position of highest-ranking Republican in the House to whichever member of his party can claim it. Continue reading...
World· Verified
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said on Wednesday that anyone expecting a shift in US policy was “seriously mistaken”, hours after midterm elections dealt a blow to President Donald Trump. “Those who still harbour even the slightest hope that the behaviour of the hegemonic system might change through partisan or factional shifts, or who imagine that making concessions to the United States can dissuade it from hostility towards the Iranian nation, are seriously mistaken,” Khamenei said in a written statement published on his website. Democrats seized control of the US Congress in Tuesday’s midterms, reflecting anger over living costs, tariffs and the US war against Iran, which has sent fuel prices soaring. Khamenei’s remarks come with diplomatic efforts underway to avert renewed fighting in the war, which broke out on February 28. US and Israeli leaders have in recent days threatened to resume attacks against Iran. “Should such aggressions be repeated, the war’s scope will become much wider,” said Khamenei, who has yet to appear in public since he took power in March. Earlier, Iran’s chief negotiator in talks with the US, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said Americans had voted against war. “Conscience or the cost of living, Americans said NO TO WAR, and we endorse this message,” he posted on X. “If the US govt betrays their public will to serve international paymasters and blackmailers, it will learn our NO comes with a Nightmare,” Ghalibaf said. Iran’s judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei also hailed the election results, saying Trump had been “defeated both militarily and politically”. “We will certainly inflict further defeats on him,” he added.
World· Developing
Iran celebrates its claimed role in ‘regime change’ amid pressure on Trump to ‘finish the job’ with attack US midterms live – latest updates Iran this week unveiled a huge billboard and banners over Enqelab Square in central Tehran. The billboard pledged in English: “We will kill Trump” – elevating the degree of personal animus with which Donald Trump is viewed in official Iranian circles. The poster depicts the US president behind bars with his head bowed. And in a sense, given the US midterm election results on Tuesday, Iran has indeed killed Trump, or at least the second term of his presidency. Trump’s reverse is all the more piquant because it comes on the day Iran’s leadership celebrates the anniversary of the seizure of the US embassy in Tehran in 1979, an event that ensnared Jimmy Carter, and a reminder of how Iran has ruined the prospects of more than one US president. Continue reading...
Politics· Verified
With Democrats in power, Trump may be under siege and lose his dominance over the Republican party – but his id will relish the prospect of fighting US midterms 2026 live – latest updates Tell us: what do you want to know about the midterm election results? Donald Trump posted a document on social media this summer by a supposed historian that compared him with, among others, Napoleon Bonaparte and Adolf Hitler. That now seems fitting: the US president has himself fought one battle too many, and appears to have brought about his own destruction. Tuesday’s US midterm elections were a thumping, shellacking and extinction-level event rolled into one. Ruby-red Republican strongholds once deemed safe toppled like dominoes. Democrats won Senate seats for the first time in Kansas since 1932, in Texas since 1988 and in South Carolina since 1998. Continue reading...
World· Verified
"We endorse this message," Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf says, as Donald Trump acknowledges the conflict's role in the Republican Party's defeat.
Politics· Verified
Iran's top negotiator says US voters sent a “NO TO WAR” message, as Trump's Democratic opponents take Congress.
Politics· Verified
US voters elected the first black female governor and the first Muslim to the Senate on a night of history The US midterm elections have ushered in a slew of historic wins, shattering racial and gender ceilings, among other barriers, for races at the state and national level. Here are some of the ways winning candidates are making history: Continue reading...
World· Developing
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says the vessels had hit sea mines while trying to cross a prohibited route.
Politics· Verified
Democrat defeats Mike Rogers in race marked by Islamophobic attacks from Trump and Republican allies Abdul El-Sayed, the doctor and progressive insurgent, has made history in winning the closely watched US Senate race in Michigan, defeating the Republican Mike Rogers and becoming the country’s first Muslim senator. El-Sayed’s victory adds to a decisive Democratic majority in the Senate after the party wrested control of the upper chamber on Tuesday. Continue reading...
Politics· Verified
Follow the SCMP’s live coverage here After weeks of insults, fearmongering and eye-popping spending on advertising, Americans settled down to vote on Tuesday, unleashing a blue wave that saw Democrats projected to take the House and the Senate, in a sharp rebuke to US President Donald Trump and his controversial governing style. In a stunning development, the Associated Press also projected that Democrat James Talarico won the Texas US Senate election, defeating Republican nominee Ken Paxton and...
Politics· Developing
The change in the balance of power sets up a clash with the Trump administration on oversight and other legislative priorities.