The Current Affairs Digest

Earlier report · Published 16 Oct 2026

Federal Agents Search Rep. Ilhan Omar’s Home Three Weeks Before the Midterms

The Current Affairs Digest · Ages 15+

The Justice Department says a court approved the warrant; Ms Omar calls it political.

In the US, the executive branch investigates crimes, but courts must approve intrusive steps such as searches. On Monday 12 October, agents of Homeland Security Investigations searched the Washington-area home of Ilhan Omar, a Democratic member of the House of Representatives from Minnesota. The Department of Justice confirmed agents executed a court-authorised warrant but did not name her or give details.

Reports citing sources say the inquiry concerns possible false statements and immigration fraud tied to paperwork her late father filed when she was a child. Homeland Security Investigations, which leads it, covers immigration document fraud. Border czar Tom Homan said in September that there was an ongoing criminal investigation; Ms Omar said then that she had not been contacted. Her office says she has done nothing wrong; she “will not be silenced”, and accused the administration of trying to “weaponize federal law enforcement”. No charges have been filed. President Trump said he had “nothing to do” with the search and that it was up to the Justice Department.

Ms Omar was born in Somalia, came to the US as a child refugee, became a citizen and was first elected in 2018. The timing is contested. The search came about three weeks before the 3 November midterm elections, and House Democratic leaders called it “deeply disturbing”. The Justice Department’s confirmation that a court approved the warrant is the part of the story that is established; motive is a claim made by each side.

Two more details show the process. Sources told CBS that Attorney General Todd Blanche was personally aware of the search and that the Justice Department consulted its Public Integrity section, which handles cases involving public officials. Democrats argue that Justice Department protocol has long been to avoid legal action against politicians in the final weeks before an election, according to PBS NewsHour. Mr Trump said he thinks Ms Omar is a “terrible person”, but that the matter is up to the Justice Department.

Why it matters

It tests how courts, prosecutors and elected officials limit one another, and how a country handles an investigation of a lawmaker close to an election. A warrant signed by a judge is a check on the executive, but it does not prove guilt: no charges have been filed, and any case would have to be proved in court.

Earlier report · Published 20 Oct 2026

2026 US Midterms Set to Be the Most Expensive on Record

The Current Affairs Digest · Ages 15+

More than $15 billion has been raised to influence control of Congress.

Midterm elections, held halfway through a president's four-year term, decide who controls Congress. This year they are on November 3. NPR reports that more than $15 billion has been raised to influence the outcome and the control of Congress, making the 2026 midterms the most expensive on record.

Advertising is a large part of it. AdImpact projects $11.6 billion in political advertising in the 2025-26 cycle, more than the $8.9 billion spent in the 2022 midterms and the $11.2 billion in the 2024 presidential cycle.

Individual donors matter too. CNBC reports that Elon Musk put more than $276 million into federal political groups in the third quarter, making him the biggest known individual donor of the midterms. Whether money buys influence is contested; the figures show how much is being spent, not what it achieves.

Read the figures with care, because they measure different things. NPR's $15 billion is money raised to influence the outcome, while AdImpact's $11.6 billion is a projection of advertising alone. Neither tells us who benefits. For revision, hold three numbers: $15 billion raised, $11.6 billion projected in advertising, and the November 3 election date.

The comparison with earlier elections is the key point. The 2022 midterms saw $8.9 billion in advertising and the 2024 presidential cycle $11.2 billion, so this midterm cycle is projected to be larger than a presidential one.

Exam tip: pair this with the idea of a mandate. Because Congress writes the laws and controls public money, who wins these elections shapes policy for the next two years, and that is why so much money is aimed at them.

Why it matters

Elections decide who writes the laws. How much money flows into them is a recurring question about fairness and influence in a democracy.

Earlier report · Published 22 Oct 2026

Forecaster Shifts Three Senate Races Before Midterms

The Current Affairs Digest · Ages 15+

The 3 November vote will decide who controls Congress.

On 20 October the Cook Political Report, a non-partisan election forecaster, changed the rating of three US Senate races. South Carolina moved from Likely Republican to Lean Republican, and Mississippi from Solid Republican to Likely Republican. Both shifts favour Democrats.

Minnesota moved the other way, from Likely Democrat to Lean Democrat, because polling showed the Democratic nominee behind the national environment. A rating is a forecaster's judgement of how likely a party is to win, not a result.

Cook has been moving races for weeks. It moved 18 House races toward Democrats on 9 October and 11 more on 16 October. Axios reported that these moves put the likely outcome at Democrats picking up nine to 19 House seats. On 6 October Cook moved Kansas from Lean Republican to Toss Up, New Hampshire from Toss Up to Lean Democrat and North Carolina from Lean Democrat to Likely Democrat. Forecasts can be wrong, and the voters, not the forecasters, decide. On Cook's scale a Toss Up is a race either party could win, Lean means a narrow edge, Likely a clearer edge and Solid a safe seat.

The stakes are control of Congress. The 3 November midterm election, held halfway through a president's term, will decide whether Republicans keep their majorities in the House and the Senate. In Texas, Harris County reported more than 100,000 in-person votes on its first early-voting day. Texas had 911,468 early voters after two days, about 4.8% of its registered voters, and in South Carolina 97,968 votes were cast on day one, more than double the last midterm.

Why it matters

In the US system Congress passes laws and controls spending, so the party that holds the House and Senate shapes what a president can do.

Earlier report · Published 23 Oct 2026

Early Voting Surges in the States That Will Decide the Senate

The Current Affairs Digest · Ages 15+

More than 13 million ballots are in, against 9 million at this point in 2022.

Two weeks before the 3 November midterms, an Associated Press analysis found early voting well above 2022 levels in many states that will decide control of the Senate. More than 13 million mail-in and early in-person votes had been cast nationally, against 9 million at the same point in 2022. The midterms fill state governorships and legislatures in most states and decide whether Republicans keep their House and Senate majorities.

Texas had nearly 1 million early ballots, up 74% from about 550,000. Kansas more than doubled, to over 55,000 from 27,000. Maine rose 39%, North Carolina more than 30% and Ohio 30%, or 156,000 more ballots. Ohio had removed its mail-ballot grace period, so voters must return ballots earlier. Michigan and Georgia, whose Senate seats Democrats are defending, had high totals similar to 2022, and Iowa was down about 6%.

AP cautions that part of the rise reflects states that expanded early voting and released more data. In most competitive states where Democrats are trying to flip Republican-held seats, Republicans were a smaller share of advance voters than four years ago. Texas does not report ballots by party. NBC's tracker counted 18,154,067 early votes nationally with 12 days remaining, a different count and date from AP's. In Harris County, Texas, more than 104,600 people voted on Monday, beating the previous midterm turnout record of 63,200 set in 2018.

Polls add context but not certainty. Forbes reported that Democrats lead in at least four of seven Senate races rated toss-ups; a Cook poll had Sherrod Brown ahead of Sen. Jon Husted 49% to 43% in Ohio, and an AJC survey had Ossoff ahead of Rep. Mike Collins 48% to 40% in Georgia. Each poll is a snapshot with its own margin of error.

Why it matters

Midterms test how power is shared: states run elections, while the result decides who controls Congress. Rules such as Ohio's ballot deadline can change when and how people vote.

Earlier report · Published 28 Oct 2026

More Than 30 Million Americans Have Voted Early a Week Before the Midterms

The Current Affairs Digest · Ages 15+

Louisiana's early voting closes on Tuesday after more than 363,000 ballots.

The US midterm elections on 3 November choose a new Congress halfway through a presidential term. Voters in most states do not have to wait until that day: they can vote by mail or in person early. With a week to go, more than 30 million Americans have already cast ballots, according to States Newsroom.

The scale differs by state. Early voting in Louisiana ends on Tuesday 27 October, and Axios reports more than 363,000 people have already voted there.

The surge is sharpest in the Senate battlegrounds. An Associated Press analysis of data through 20 October, cited by AURN, found early voting in Texas up 74% from the same point in 2022, more than doubled in Kansas, and up more than 30% in Maine, North Carolina and Ohio. Republicans made up a smaller share of early voters than four years earlier in most of these states.

Texas shows the scale. Early voting there runs from 19 to 30 October, and ABC13 reports more than 4 million Texans had voted a week in. In Harris County, more than 104,000 people voted in person on the first day, a first-day record for a midterm. The Senate candidates are Ken Paxton (Republican), James Talarico (Democrat) and Ted Brown (Libertarian). Even so, the University of Houston's Nancy Sims cautions that it is 'a little hard to extrapolate' from turnout, and ABC13 notes that Harris County broke early-voting records in 2018 but Democrats still lost statewide.

High early turnout shows participation, not outcomes. Early totals do not say which candidates are ahead.

The national count is climbing fast. Spectrum News, using data from 47 states and the District of Columbia, put the total above 31 million a week before Election Day. On 21 October the University of Florida's Election Lab had counted about 14.3 million, so the number roughly doubled in less than a week.

Different trackers give slightly different totals because they collect from different states at different times, which is why careful reports say 'more than' rather than giving an exact figure. Counting the ballots is a separate step: Spectrum News reports legal fights over ballots are already unfolding in some states as the early vote surges.

Why it matters

Early voting spreads an election over days, so turnout can be measured before election day.

Earlier report · Published 11 Nov 2026

After Losing the House, Republicans Elect Jim Jordan as Their Leader by Secret Ballot

The Current Affairs Digest · Ages 15+

He beat Steve Scalise 106-73; Democrats’ Hakeem Jeffries is the favourite for speaker.

In the US House of Representatives, each party chooses its own leaders, and the result of an election changes their titles. On Tuesday 10 November, one week after losing their majority in the midterm elections, House Republicans met behind closed doors and elected Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio as their leader for the next Congress. In a secret ballot he defeated the current Majority Leader, Steve Scalise of Louisiana, by 106 votes to 73.

Jordan, 62, has spent two decades in Congress. He chairs the House Judiciary Committee, helped found the House Freedom Caucus and is a top ally of President Donald Trump. “I am battle-tested on the oversight front and I know the Democrats’ playbook,” he said. His win marks a change of course: in 2018 he lost a challenge for minority leader to Kevin McCarthy, 159-43, and Scalise is a close ally of Speaker Mike Johnson who has held leadership posts since John Boehner was speaker. Republicans also kept Tom Emmer of Minnesota as whip, the official who counts and gathers votes, after he beat August Pfluger of Texas.

The change at the top follows the scale of the defeat. Republicans lost more than 40 House seats, and Speaker Mike Johnson, who took the post in October 2023, announced the day after the midterms that he would step down from the leadership team. Democrats won roughly 260 seats, which NBC News described as the largest majority in 35 years.

In the new House, the majority party’s leader is expected to become speaker, who runs the chamber, while the minority leader speaks for the other side. Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York is the favourite for speaker. He needs 218 votes on the House floor on 3 January and can lose about 40 Democrats and still get there; he said Democrats are “confident that we will get to that number and beyond.” House Democrats choose their team next week, with Jeffries, Katherine Clark, Pete Aguilar and Ted Lieu unopposed for the top four posts.

The Senate follows the same pattern. Republicans voted on their leaders on Tuesday, with Majority Leader John Thune running unopposed to become minority leader. Senate Democrats will elect their leaders in early December, and Chuck Schumer is the favourite for majority leader.

Why it matters

Party leaders control which bills reach a vote and how a party responds to the other side, so a change at the top shapes how the next Congress works with President Trump.