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🌊 "He Did It, Joe"
Plus: Presidential results, House results, and Senate results...
Perhaps nothing summed up the night better than this....
New York was closer to going red than Texas was to going blue. We’re not sure there’s a better way to encapsulate a night where Trump won both the electoral college and the popular vote; the GOP won the Senate; and now the House is up-for-grabs.
Thank you to the 57k people who tuned into our first ever YouTube livestream. We went for 5 hours and 45 minutes and had an absolute blast. We’ll be doing those regularly moving forward — except next time we’re taking bathroom breaks…
🗳 A Trumpslide election
🇺🇸 GOP wins the House and Senate?
💭 Note from the Maxes
–Max and Max
KEY STORY
Prez Results
Donald Trump has won the presidential election in an apparent landslide
As of 10 AM EST, Trump had swept all swing states that had been called: Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin
Results for Michigan, Nevada, and Arizona are still pending, though he is likely to win all three as well
He is also projected to win the popular vote. As of 10 AM EST, he leads Harris by 5M votes nationally
By all indications, the country shifted significantly toward Trump, who scored landslides in states that had been projected to be close. Solidly blue states – including New Jersey and Minnesota – became competitive. In some states, the Democratic margin shrunk by 10+ points: In New York, for example, from 23.13 to 10.8
Dig Deeper
In Iowa – where a major poll suggested Harris had a three-point lead – Trump appears to have won by 14 points; in Florida, Trump’s lead expanded from 3.4 to 13.3
Votes were still being counted in Nevada, Michigan, and Arizona. In Michigan, where 98% of the votes are in, he is leading by 1.6%
KEY STORY
Senate Results
The Republicans gained control of the Senate
As of early Wednesday morning, Republicans have won 52 seats and the Democrats 42 seats
Five remain up for grabs, with a remaining one that belongs to Bernie Sanders, a Democrat-aligned Independent
The Democrats and Republicans each held some seats, while the Republicans picked up a seat in each Ohio, West Virginia, and Montana . Close Senate races have not yet been called in Pennsylvania, Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, and Wisconsin
Betting markets suggest the most likely outcome is that the Republicans pick up four more seats, for a total of 55
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Dig Deeper
LMNT kept us going through our five-and-a-half hour livestream last night. It got hot under the lights in our windowless studio, and we were sipping our LMNT in a can all night!
KEY STORY
House Results
Control of the House remains up in the air
Control of the House remains too close to call with the Republicans favored to win a majority
Per the AP, Republicans have 199 seats to the Democrats’ 180
A group of tight races will determine who wins control. If the Republicans win, they will be able to pass legislation
Current Polymarket and Kalshi odds give the Republicans a 95% chance of winning the House
KEY STORY
The Price Tag
Kamala Harris and Donald Trump spent a collective $3.5B on this year’s campaigns, making it the most expensive election in history
Per campaign filings, the candidates and groups supporting them collectively raised $4.2B. Harris out-raised Trump $2.3B to $1.8B and out-spent him $1.9B to $1.6B
Per an analysis by the FT, roughly half of all that spending went to buying ads: The Democratic side spent $1.03B on media buys, while the Republicans spent $760M. $400M+ was collectively spent in Pennsylvania, more than all 43 non-swing states combined
Dig Deeper
Both sides spent over $200M on their campaign operations and administration. They spent smaller sums on travel, polling, technology services, and other expenses. The Trump side spent $110M – 14% of all its spending – on legal fees
RUNDOWN
Some Quick Stories for the Office
🇺🇸 Boeing machinists in the Pacific Northwest voted to end their strike after securing a four-year contract with a 38% wage increase
📱 Shortly after AI-chip designer Nvidia dethroned Apple as the world’s most valuable company, Apple warned that its future products may not be as profitable as the iPhone
🗽 Students at one of New York City’s most expensive private schools are getting the day of election results off
🇮🇱 Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu fired the country’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant. Netanyahu had reportedly increasingly seen Gallant – a relatively moderate member of Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud Party – as an opponent
COMMUNITY
🗣️ The Big Question Results
Your predictions on the winner of last night’s election:
Trump - 63%
Harris - 37%
COMMUNITY
🧐 Today’s question: What is your reaction to last night?
POPCORN
Some Quick Stories for Happy Hour
🇨🇦 Mary Pop-Out: A Vancouver couple is suing their Irish nanny for quitting without notice, alleging that she showed "egregious disregard for the interests of the children"
🤡 Killer Clown Freed: A Florida woman who pleaded guilty to murdering her future husband's wife while dressed as a clown was released from prison due to good behavior
🇺🇸 Undercover Op Gets Rubbed Out: 13 Lewisville, Texas, police officers were disciplined after an internal investigation found they had "inappropriate physical contact" with suspects during undercover prostitution operations at massage parlors between 2022 and 2024
🚌 All-Time Bad Trade: A 40-year-old Staten Island man was arrested after evading a $2.90 bus fare, leading police to discover 52 bags of heroin and cocaine in his pocket
🇹🇭 Brit Hits Rock Bottom: A 51-year-old British tourist in Thailand fell through the ceiling of an internet café while allegedly intoxicated, naked, and covered in poo
ROCA WRAP
Official Scandal
Equatorial Guinea
This country's financial investigation chief recorded hundreds of sex tapes with elite women.
A small but oil-rich nation on Africa's west coast, Equatorial Guinea has been ruled by President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo since 1979, making him the world's longest-serving president. Despite its petroleum wealth, the country suffers from extreme corruption and inequality. Power remains concentrated among a small elite connected to the president's family.
Baltasar Engonga, the 54-year-old Director General of the National Financial Investigation Agency, was arrested after authorities discovered over 400 sex tapes during a fraud investigation. The recordings, some made in his office with the national flag visible, featured wives of high-ranking officials and even the president's sister.
While the country’s attorney general noted that the consensual relations weren't criminal, the government has suspended officials involved in sexual conduct within ministry offices. The scandal has particularly embarrassed the ruling elite, with wives of multiple government ministers among those featured in the leaked recordings.
The vice president and president's son condemned the actions as unethical and the case has prompted new workplace conduct policies. Officials say the incident raised concerns about public health risks and that they will now enact a "zero tolerance" stance on behavior that compromises trust in the government.
Yet some pointed out the irony that – sex tapes aside – almost no one had faith in the government to begin with.
EDITOR’S NOTE
Final Thoughts
As a nonpartisan news company, we had no stake in last night’s race; but we do feel vindicated from our on-the-ground reporting. We predicted that all the swing states we visited — including Wisconsin, Michigan, Georgia, and Pennsylvania — would go to Trump. Receipts on our YouTube channel.
We reached these conclusions because we actually spent time in these places and talked to voters in the hoods, rural towns, wealthy suburbs, and mid-size cities. We witnessed firsthand the stunning surge in minority support for Trump and recorded few cases of Trump-to-Harris voters and countless cases of Biden-to-Trump voters.
Journalism is in desperate need of a reset. Boots on the ground journalism must return. The media class has failed the country terribly, and they probably are placing the blame anywhere but in the mirror. Thank you for trusting our coverage during this election. We promise to continue to produce factual, nonpartisan, and curious reporting.
–Max and Max