Here’s what you need to know to Get Up to Speed and On with Your Day.
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1. US presidential election
Right now, the electoral map looks fairly predictable, with Trump dominating in the South and Biden the Northeast and West Coast. Trump has also picked up the major swing states of Florida and Ohio, but the key battlegrounds of Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan are too close to call. So are Georgia, North Carolina and Arizona. This was an expected wrinkle, since states are having to add up absentee votes, early votes and day-of votes. While several electoral combinations could make the difference in the race, you’ll want to keep your eye on those Rust Belt states. If the race remains unclear over the next day or so, things could get ugly. Early this morning, Trump attacked legitimate vote-counting efforts and said he would go all the way to the Supreme Court to get “all voting to stop.” The Trump campaign has also threatened legal action to curtail counting in Pennsylvania, where the typical late start on absentee ballot tabulations could hold up the process.
2. US congressional races
So far, there haven’t been too many surprises in Senate contests, but the race for control is still on. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Sen. Lindsey Graham retained their seats, and the parties traded a pair of flips: Democrat Doug Jones was ousted by Republican Tommy Tuberville (yes, the former Auburn football coach) in Alabama, and Colorado’s former Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper usurped a Republican Senate seat in his state. In Georgia, the special Senate race between Trump loyalist Sen. Kelly Loeffler and Democrat Raphael Warnock will go to a runoff. Other close races are still going on in Arizona, North Carolina, Maine and Georgia. In the House, prominent Democrats Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib and Ayanna Pressley all held onto their seats.
3. Other US ballot decisions
Some voters had to make other notable decisions for their states:
• Arizona and New Jersey voted to legalize recreational marijuana use, CNN projects.
• South Dakota became the first state to approve both medical and recreational marijuana use on the same day.
• Republican Greg Gianforte will be Montana’s next governor.
• Colorado voters rejected a proposition that would have tightened restrictions on abortion.
• Louisiana voters added language to their constitution stating it offers no protections for a right to abortion or funding the procedure.
• Mississippians approved a new flag design featuring a magnolia and the phrase “In God We Trust.” State leaders decided to replace the old flag, which featured Confederate symbolism, over the summer.
4. Coronavirus
While Americans voted, watched and waited yesterday, the US recorded 91,000 new coronavirus cases. That’s the country’s second-highest daily case total ever. More than 50,000 Americans are currently hospitalized with the virus, and those numbers are trending upward in the vast majority of states. Overseas, China and Japan are seeing new spikes, as is India’s capital city of New Delhi. There have now been more than 46 million cases of the virus worldwide. Meanwhile, a study has found that pregnant women are more likely to become severely ill and die from Covid-19. Contracting the virus also puts pregnant women at increased risk for premature delivery, it claims.
5. Hurricane Eta
Hurricane Eta thrashed parts of Central America and is now headed toward the US Gulf Coast as a tropical storm. Eta brought massive storm surges and widespread damage to Nicaragua and Honduras, and ongoing heavy rains could lead to days of life-threatening flash floods and river flooding. The storm is expected to linger in the region for the next few days, dumping even more rain. Then it will travel over the Caribbean and possibly threaten the Gulf Coast and southeastern US by the end of the weekend.
BREAKFAST BROWSE
Why Democrats are donkeys and Republicans are elephants
Might as well learn some political trivia while you wait!
This 5-minute meditation routine will calm you down
For whatever is stressing you out today.
How to talk politics with angry loved ones who disagree with you
Might as well hash it out before Thanksgiving.
Bats can predict the future to hunt their prey, researchers find
But can they predict the outcome of an election, hmmm?!
TODAY’S NUMBER
That’s how many hours a 2-year-old girl was trapped under the rubble of a fallen building after a devastating earthquake hit the Aegean coastal Turkish city of Izmir last week. At least 105 people died and 1,027 were injured after the quake, and this week’s rescue of the young girl was a moment of much-needed hope.
TODAY’S QUOTE
“No attack will ever stop the music in Vienna.”
A concertgoer at the Vienna State Opera, who was among the people held inside the building by security officials as a terror attack unfolded on the city streets beyond. ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack, in which a gunman killed four people and injured 22.
AND FINALLY
Anyway, here are some goats yelling like humans. (Click here to view.)
