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Democrats miss complete takeover of North Carolina state government — by the smallest of margins



One race in North Carolina has prevented a complete takeover of the state's government by Democrats, if the final tally after a provisional-ballot count holds.

Democrats control the governor's office of North Carolina, and unofficial election counts indicate they will take over the state's House of Representatives.

Republicans may have avoided losing control of the state Senate by only 228 votes.

Control of the state's Senate depends on Republican state Sen. Danny Britt Jr. defeating a challenge from Democrat Catina Hamm in District 24.

The latest update of unofficial results from the North Carolina State Board of Elections shows Britt with 28,047 votes and the Democrat with 27,819 votes.

That means Republicans may have avoided losing control of the state Senate by only 228 votes in the pivotal contest.

The results will become official after canvassing and certification is completed.

Democrats across the country not only won both chambers of the U.S. Congress but won hundreds of state-level elections that flipped several states into the "trifecta" column for them.

In North Carolina, Republicans lost their veto-proof majority against Democratic Gov. Josh Stein. But if the results hold for Senate District 24, they will avoid handing Democrats another state trifecta.

RELATED: Democrats' state-level takeover is staggering

If Hamm is somehow able to defeat Britt, both Republicans and Democrats would hold 25 seats each in the state Senate. The deadlock would be decided by the lieutenant governor, who is a Democrat.

A recount is not automatic, but the losing candidate can request a recount if the margin is less than 1%, which is currently the case in the Britt-Hamm contest.

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Senate Committee Advances Trump Judicial Noms To Floor For Final Vote

The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced several of President Trump’s judicial nominations to the full Senate for final confirmation on Tuesday. The move came as part of Republicans’ efforts to confirm the president’s picks before losing Congress in January. The committee voted along partisan lines (12-10) to send District Court nominees Daniel Ballou (Eastern District of […]

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Did Obama steal 'first Muslim senator' title from Michigan's El-Sayed?



Abdul El-Sayed shares more in common with former President Barack Obama than just a Saracen name and Democrat politics: both have been credited with at least one identity-politics first.

It appears, however, that El-Sayed's first — his election as the first Muslim to the U.S. Senate — qualifies only because one of Obama's provocative assertions has been dismissed as a slip of the tongue.

'A historic turning point for American Muslim political engagement.'

First Muslim

Overlooking or perhaps rewarding his radicalism and "anti-white racial hatred," Michiganders voted on Tuesday to seat El-Sayed in the U.S. Senate.

The Democrat decisively defeated former Rep. Mike Rogers (R), a win that was not only consequential in terms of Democrats' conquest of the U.S. Senate but — according to radicals, foreigners, and the liberal media — historic because of his religious identity.

In his victory speech, the Democrat introduced himself as Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed and gave praise to Allah in Arabic. He then boasted that he had proven wrong an alleged doubter who told him "a Muslim was unelectable."

Linda Sarsour — the Islamic activist who told fellow radicals last year to "abolish Israel" — was among the many radicals who touted El-Sayed's election as historic. She told Democracy Now, "To elect the first Muslim American to the United States Senate is no easy feat in a country that has the most powerful people spewing anti-Muslim hate."

Nihad Awad, the national executive of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, congratulated El-Sayed on "making history as the first American Muslim elected to the U.S. Senate and for defeating both anti-Muslim hate and the anti-Palestinian lobby in the process."

"Dr. El-Sayed’s victory represents a historic turning point for American Muslim political engagement and a historic defeat for the politics of hate," added Awad.

RELATED: Last-minute dirty tricks: Michigan voters reportedly being told they can't split their ticket as Democrats defect for Rogers

MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images

Obama, not just the 'first gay president'?

In his heyday, Obama was credited with multiple firsts besides being the first American president with a noncitizen father and the first president born in Hawaii.

For his support of homosexual "marriage," Newsweek celebrated the former president with a cover story in 2012 calling him the "first gay president."

Years earlier, he was widely celebrated as America's first black president — even though Bill Clinton was previously conferred that title for displaying, according to author Toni Morrison, "almost every trope of blackness: single-parent household, born poor, working-class, saxophone-playing, McDonald’s-and-junk-food-loving boy from Arkansas."

A supposed slip-up in an interview with ABC's "This Week" just prior to the 2008 presidential election prompted some Americans to suspect that then-Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) was also the first Muslim serving in the U.S. Senate.

In the Sept. 7, 2008, interview, Obama said to George Stephanopoulos, "You're absolutely right that John McCain has not talked about my Muslim faith, and you're absolutely right that that has not —"

"Your Christian faith," Stephanopoulos interjected.

"My Christian faith," said Obama.

While Obama's "Muslim faith" remark was written off as a flub, he provided skeptics with additional fodder, specifically his reported recollection of the opening lines of the Arabic call to prayer and recital "with a first-rate accent"; his repeated defense of Islam; his Islamic heritage; and his assertion in a June 28, 2007, speech that America was no longer just a Christian nation but also a "Muslim nation."

Despite speculation and numerous fact-checks about Obama's faith, Obama has long maintained that he is a Christian, "rooted in the Christian tradition."

Obama's professed faith means that El-Sayed might, after all, be the first openly Muslim elected to the U.S. Senate.

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Good news in Nebraska: Republican US senator re-elected



Amid the Democratic slaughter of Republicans in the 2026 midterm elections, there was good news for the GOP in Nebraska, as U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts defeated independent Dan Osborn, NBC News projected.

Osborn, a pipe fitter, faced a barrage of attacks calling him a secret Democrat, the news network reported, adding that Osborn said he wouldn't caucus with either party if elected, but the Nebraska Democratic Party still backed him.

'We don't need a socialist ideology.'

“Democrat Dan is too extreme, and he would be the most extreme senator we’ve ever sent to the U.S. Senate from Nebraska,” Ricketts said at a September debate, according to NBC News. “And if he were in charge of the Senate and gave it to the Democrats, that would be a disaster for Nebraska.”

More from NBC News:

The sharp attacks underscored the tougher-than-expected nature of the race in a state Donald Trump won by 20 points in 2024. The same year, Ricketts won a special election to serve the final two years of GOP former Sen. Ben Sasse’s term by 25 percentage points. Osborn, however, lost by just 7 points in his first Senate bid, against Republican Sen. Deb Fischer two years ago.

Ricketts’ bid for a full Senate term became competitive amid Trump’s sinking approval ratings, with voters frustrated by high costs and the war with Iran. High diesel prices due to the war with Iran and Trump’s sweeping tariffs also hit farmers in heartland states, including Nebraska.

At a rally in Nebraska in early October, Trump signed an executive order expanding access to diesel used in farming, known as “red dye” diesel.

“Prices are all going down. Prices are all going way down, but they really are going to plummet as soon as that war ends," Trump said at the rally, according to the news network. "It’s going to be very soon."

“And today, I’m announcing another unprecedented step to bring down costs for many years. Farm vehicles, construction equipment, and other off-road vehicles have used what is known as ‘red dye’ diesel,” Trump said, NBC News reported. “Do you know what that is? I don’t know what the hell it is, but whatever it is, it’s supposed to be very good.”

The news network noted that Osborn — a Navy veteran and former union organizer — backed Trump’s move but called it a “Band-Aid.” NBC News also noted that while Osborn frequently emphasized Nebraskans' economic struggles, he "rarely directly criticized Trump by name in a state with plenty of his supporters."

Ricketts tried to remind voters that they elected him to statewide office three times.

While Ricketts was behind Osborn in the vote tally early Tuesday, the incumbent shot past Osborn later in the night.

RELATED: Democrat Kansas pastor — whom Trump reportedly called a 'pervert' — upsets Republican US Senate incumbent in historic win

Ricketts' chances may never have been too much in doubt, as The Hill on Saturday reported that Ricketts led Osborn by six points in a New York Times/Siena University poll — 49% to 43% — among likely Nebraska voters.

The Associated Press' latest vote tally Wednesday showed Ricketts leading Osborn by nearly the same margin: 50.4% to 43.7% with 91% of the votes counted.

On Wednesday morning, Ricketts in his victory speech emphasized that "we don't need a socialist ideology."

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The Best And Worst Explanations For Republicans’ Midterm Losses

The big result to watch for now is what lesson Trump and the GOP will take from Tuesday night. Recovery depends on taking the right ones.