Here are the top US headlines for Thursday, November 5, 2026 — a day dominated by the fallout from Tuesday's midterm elections, a sharp reversal on Wall Street, and major developments at home and abroad.
1. Democrats sweep Congress. Democrats won control of both the House and the Senate in Tuesday's midterms, ending the Republican trifecta. The party flipped at least seven Senate seats for a majority of at least 54-44 and gained more than 30 House seats, with at least 250 seats in the chamber. The new Congress takes office in January.
2. Speaker Mike Johnson to step down. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson will step down as Republican leader following the party's crushing midterm defeat, his spokesperson confirmed. He will not seek the job of minority leader, ending three years as speaker.
3. Vance blames the Iran war for the GOP rout. Vice President JD Vance publicly blamed the war with Iran for the Republican midterm defeat, the plainest break yet with President Trump's foreign policy. Trump said Vance was "largely right" and acknowledged the stalled conflict had contributed to the result.
4. Nasdaq sinks as chip stocks tumble. A day after the Dow's 1,569-point surge, US stocks fell sharply, with the Nasdaq down nearly 5% in late trading as AMD, Micron, Qualcomm and other chipmakers slid on worries about AI regulation and data-center limits.
5. Voters rebuke AI data centers. Voters approved nearly every data-center moratorium that appeared on Tuesday's ballots — dozens in total across the country — in a striking rebuke of the rapid build-out of AI infrastructure.
6. Musk's $474 million bought little. Elon Musk spent a record roughly $474 million backing Republican candidates, including $224 million in the Texas Senate race alone, but his candidates lost — including Ken Paxton's bid, won by Democrat James Talarico.
7. Joshua Wong jailed for 10 years. Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong, the 30-year-old face of the city's pro-democracy movement, was sentenced to 10 years in prison under Beijing's national security law, his second conviction under the statute.
8. Melania Trump honored by Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy awarded First Lady Melania Trump the Order of Princess Olga for her role in the Oleshky truce, as she prepared to host Russian and Ukrainian officials at the White House ahead of talks in Abu Dhabi.
9. Bank of England expected to raise rates. The Bank of England was expected to deliver its first rate hike since August 2023, lifting its benchmark by 25 basis points to 4% after rising energy costs pushed up UK inflation.
10. Paris Agreement turns 10. A review marking ten years since the Paris climate accord found mixed progress: most major economies have fallen short of their pledges to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Sources: Reuters, Associated Press, NPR, The Hindu, Daily Drop, Seven Lights, XTB
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