Trump news at a glance: US election day is an early referendum of president as government shutdown drags on

Democrats fight to rebuild in key state races on election day

One year after Donald Trump won his way back into the White House, voters are going back to the ballot box in a test of the president’s popularity and whether Democrats are able to rebound from their catastrophic losses of 2024.

With governor’s mansions, mayoral offices, statehouses and mid-cycle redistricting on the line in closely watched contests from Trenton, New Jersey and Richmond, Virginia to New York City and beyond, the party is pinning its hopes on locally rooted campaigns aiming to blunt a national conservative message that has surged in recent years.

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Californians vote on redistricting to counter redrawn Texas maps

Californians headed to the polls on Tuesday to decide on Proposition 50, a ballot measure of national significance that could play a major role in determining which party controls the US House of Representatives after the 2026 midterms.

If voters approve the proposal, the state will halt the work of its independent redistricting commission and allow the legislature to redraw congressional districts to carve out five additional Democratic congressional seats.

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Shutdown could force US airspace closures, Trump administration warns

The US may close portions of its airspace if the federal government shutdown continues, the transportation secretary, Sean Duffy, has warned. The shutdown, which began on 1 October, has since left shortages of up to 3,000 air traffic controllers, according to the administration, in addition to at least 11,000 more receiving zero wages despite working as essential workers over the last two weeks.

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US Senate rejects government funding package for 14th time

The US federal government shutdown was poised to move into record-breaking territory on Tuesday after the Senate rejected for the 14th time a funding package already passed by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives. If it continues past midnight Tuesday, it will exceed the 35-day closure that occurred during Donald Trump’s first presidency, in 2018.

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House Democrat accuses Trump’s DoJ of ‘gigantic cover-up’ over shut Epstein inquiry

Jamie Raskin, a House judiciary committee ranking member and congressman from Maryland, claimed the decision to end the investigation in July has shielded an alleged network of “powerful individuals accused of enabling and engaging in the massive billion-dollar sex trafficking operation” while ignoring the accounts of women exploited by Epstein.

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