Supreme Court hears arguments on Trump's tariffs; government shutdown becomes record longest

An official with the Agriculture Department told a federal court tonight that allotments to SNAP beneficiaries for November will be 65% of their normal rate instead of the 50% previously estimated by the Trump administration.

The administration had told a federal judge Monday that it would use more than $4 billion in contingency funds to distribute half of the monthly benefits for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as food stamps, during the ongoing government shutdown.

The revised figures mean a family of four in the lower 48 states will receive about $646 for the month.

Read the full story here.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, called yesterday's results "an electoral blowout" as Democratic candidates notched key wins in New York City, New Jersey and Virginia.

“Last night was a disaster. It was an electoral blowout," Cruz said on Fox News, calling the results "a warning sign" for Republicans.

"The left showed up in big numbers last night, and common sense conservatives did not. If that happens a year from now, we face disaster in the midterms," he added.

Trump said earlier today that he had not expected major wins in New York or Virginia, but that he had expected for a better result in New Jersey where he backed Republican candidate Jack Ciattarelli in the governor's race.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth briefed a select group of senators this afternoon at the Capitol behind closed doors about the U.S. strikes in the Caribbean against alleged drug smugglers.

Democrats left the briefing saying they believed it should be given to the full Senate.

"We need a lot more answers, and I am now asking for an all-senators briefing on this issue," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said.

During a news conference earlier in the day, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said "a full congressional briefing" is needed.

Ahead of Tuesday’s elections, Trump assured Americans that prices are coming down, the economy is picking up and the nation is flourishing in ways that make it the world’s envy.

Voters don’t seem to be buying it.

Democrats swept key races, as exit polls depicted an electorate gripped by fears that the U.S. is careening in the wrong direction, far from Trump’s glowing portrait of a nation ascendant.

Trump’s argument that he’s making groceries, gas and other ordinary household necessities easier to afford has failed to take hold, the exit survey suggested. On Election Day, he posted that the price of gas was falling to nearly $2 a gallon. (Nationally, the average price is more than $3 a gallon, according to AAA.)

Read the full story here.

Trump defended dismal election results for Republican candidates in New York and Virginia last night, but said that he expected better returns for Republicans out of New Jersey.

"I watched very closely. These are three pretty Democrat states," Trump said referring to New Jersey, New York and Virginia.

"Assuming everything is fair and balanced, as you would say, I thought that New Jersey would do better," he added.

President Trump again encouraged Republicans to do away with the filibuster during a Fox New interview that aired tonight.

“I think that if we got rid of the filibuster, we would approve so many good things, common sense things, wonderful things, that it would be hard to beat us. If we don’t, it’s always going to be a slog," Trump told Fox News host Bret Baier.

“I would say absolutely without question, I have no doubt in my mind, get rid of it, and the Republicans should do it," he added.

President Trump said during a Fox News interview that aired tonight that New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani's victory speech last night was "very dangerous" and warned that Mamdani "should be very nice to me."

"I think it's a very dangerous statement for him to make. He has to be a little bit respectful of Washington, because if he's not, he doesn't have a chance of succeeding," Trump told Fox News host Bret Baier. "And I want to make him succeed. I want to make the city succeed."

Mamdani had addressed Trump directly in last night's remarks, which Trump characterized as "a very angry speech, certainly angry toward me."

A federal judge blasted Justice Department prosecutors today several times for what he described as an “indict first, investigate later” attitude in the criminal case against former FBI Director James Comey.

Magistrate Judge William Fitzpatrick voiced his concerns at a hearing in U.S. District Court in Alexandria about how prosecutors from the Eastern District of Virginia were handling evidence against Comey, who was indicted in September on one count of making a false statement and one count of obstructing a congressional proceeding stemming from his testimony on Sept. 30, 2020, during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.

Comey, who was indicted after Trump urged Attorney General Pam Bondi in a social media post to charge Comey and other longtime enemies, has pleaded not guilty.

Read the full story here.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed to reporters aboard Air Force One this evening that Trump watched New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani deliver his victory speech last night.

Mamdani specifically addressed Trump in his remarks, saying, “So Donald Trump, since I know you’re watching, I have four words for you: Turn the volume up."

Mamdani also said that Trump's home city of New York was capable of defeating him. "If anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him," Mamdani said.

Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., warned in a statement today that a federal program aimed at assisting low-income households with paying their energy bills could run dry "by the end of this week" if the government shutdown persists.

“This is a life-or-death issue, and it is unconscionable not to fund it,” Burchett said. “I am calling on Senate Democrats to reopen the government and stop elderly Americans from being left out in the cold this winter.”

The $4.1 billion Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program helps pay heating costs during colder months. The program, known by its acronym LIHEAP, serves 5.9 million households, according to the Office of the Administration for Children and Families at the Department of Health and Human Services.

NBC News reported in April that the Trump administration terminated the entire staff that was responsible for providing oversight and technical assistance for the program at HHS.

The Federal Aviation Administration will begin cutting the number of flights in the “high-traffic” parts of the country as the government shutdown grinds on and local airports have reported staffing shortages, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said today.

“There is going to be a 10% reduction in capacity at 40 of our locations,” Duffy said. “This is about where’s the pressure and how do we alleviate the pressure.”

He said the reduction in capacity would start Friday.

The development comes as the shutdown has entered its second month and in the wake of a weekend during which dozens of American airports reported hundreds of delays.

Read the full story here.

A federal jury today began deliberating a verdict in the case against a man dubbed “sandwich guy” after he tossed a Subway footlong at a federal officer who was patrolling city streets in Washington on Trump’s orders.

Sean Dunn, a former Justice Department paralegal, faces a single misdemeanor count after a federal grand jury refused to indict him on the felony charges sought by the Trump administration. The charge stems from an incident in August when Dunn, wearing a pink shirt, confronted officers in the nightlife area at 14th and U Street NW, eventually tossing a salami sub at a federal officer’s ballistic vest.

“This case, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, is about a sandwich,” defense attorney Sabrina Shroff told members of the jury during closing arguments this afternoon.

Read the full story here.

Rep. Jared Golden, a moderate Democrat who represents a Maine district that Trump won by 9 points in 2024, announced today that he will not seek re-election next year.

Golden’s exit creates an even better opportunity for House Republicans to pick up a red district currently held by a Democrat, in what could be a closely contested battle for control of the House of Representatives.

In an op-ed in his hometown Bangor Daily News, Golden said he has grown tired of Congress and its ineffectiveness, and he added that he was worried about the risks to his family as a result of the rise in political violence.

Read the full story here.

The first thing that hit Sarah Parise was an unfamiliar, pungent smell.

She looked down at her ginger-haired 2-year-old, Leia, who was taking a turn pushing her own stroller near a grassy field where they had stopped to play on a Saturday morning walk.

Then, it kicked in.

“All of a sudden, my eyes were just burning and I couldn’t breathe,” Parise said.

Leia began to scream: “Mommy! Mommy! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!”

Parise quickly put Leia in her stroller. She ran as fast as she could down the wide streets of her Old Irving Park neighborhood, past the towering trees with their leaves full of fall color. As she struggled with her own breathing, Leia wailed in pain and terror.

Read the full story here.

Between the two gubernatorial elections on Tuesday, Virginia was supposed to be the lopsided one — and it was, with Democrat Abigail Spanberger crushing Republican Winsome Earle-Sears by 15 points.

But New Jersey looked like it was going to be a different story. The polling was competitive, and Republicans had nominated a battle-tested candidate, Jack Ciattarelli, who’d nearly won the governorship four years earlier. Recent momentum was on the GOP’s side, too, with Trump coming within 6 points of Kamala Harris there last year — a giant improvement from the 16-point Jersey drubbing he’d suffered in 2020. And Democrats were privately sharing alarm that their nominee, Mikie Sherrill, seemed to be wilting under the spotlight.

At the very least, this was going to be a close race, one that Republicans would be able to point to as proof that the national political climate wasn’t that bad for them. There was talk of New Jersey shifting away from blue bastion and into swing-state status. An outright Ciattarelli win didn’t feel out of reach.

But it was all a mirage. When the polls closed, the rout was on, and Sherrill walked away with a 13-point win, nearly matching Spanberger’s margin in Virginia.

Read the full story here.

Trump delivered a speech on the economy to business leaders in Miami today, one day after Republicans suffered brutal election losses in states where exit polls showed voters deeply concerned about financial issues.

While the president has started to acknowledge that economic anxiety — including over the government shutdown — is hurting Republicans politically, his address to the American Business Forum largely hyped his economic agenda.

“This is the golden age of America,” Trump said opening his campaign-style remarks, which even featured the song “Y.M.C.A.” — a staple of his election rallies.

Trump focused much of his time on what he views as three positive economic indicators: the stock market hitting record highs, wages ticking up and an easier environment for American-born workers to find jobs.

Read the full story here.

After Democrats’ triumphant election night, Trump this morning conceded that his party is shouldering more of the blame for the government shutdown.

So, he instructed Republican senators to abolish the filibuster and reopen the government without help from Democrats.

That demand is putting Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and other GOP leaders in an awkward spot. Thune and many other senators oppose terminating the filibuster, an arcane procedural tool that empowers the minority party to delay or block a piece of legislation they oppose.

Getting rid of it would help Republicans in the short term, but many in the party have warned that getting rid of the filibuster could come back to bite them if Democrats return to power in the Senate.

Read the full story here.

Trump said during his remarks at the American Business Forum that his administration will "help" New York City, despite having repeatedly said that he would withhold federal funding from his hometown if Mamdani were elected mayor.

“And now let’s see how a communist does in New York. We’re going to see how that works out," Trump said. "We’ll help them. We want New York to be successful.”

The Anti-Defamation League announced today it's launching a "Mamdani monitor" and a New York City-centric tip line for residents to report incidents of antisemitism.

“We expect the mayor of the city with the largest Jewish population in the world to stand unequivocally against antisemitism in all its varied forms and support all of its Jewish residents just as he would all other constituents," ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said in a statement. "We will hold the Mamdani Administration accountable to this basic standard.”

The monitor will be "watching and responding to the policies and appointments of the new Administration," the ADL said, while the tip line will "serve as a hyper-focused resource for New Yorkers to report antisemitic incidents in the city, including on the streets, in schools, in their workplace."

"ADL experts will support victims and use data gained from incidents to track and monitor the impact the new administration could have on the safety of Jewish residents," the ADL said in a press release.

Asked about the initiative, Mamdani said, "I take the issue of antisemitism incredibly seriously."

Trump again tried to paint Mamdani as a "communist," prompting loud boos from the crowd.

"If you want to see what congressional Democrats wish to do to America, just look at the result of yesterday’s election in New York, where their party installed a communist as the mayor of the largest city in the nation," he said.

Trump appeared to take aim at Republicans' electoral losses last night during his speech at the American Business Forum, saying that if politicians don't "talk about" economic wins, "you can do not so well in elections."

"Right now we have more people working," he said in a speech at the American Business Forum. "These are things you have to talk about. It doesn’t just happen. You got to tell them. It’s wonderful to do them, but if people don’t talk about them, then you can do not so well in elections."

The comments come on the heels of Republican losses in New Jersey and Virginia, among others.

Trump speaks at the America Business Forum today. Kevin Dietsch / Getty Images

California Republicans filed a lawsuit this morning challenging the new congressional map that will be implemented as a result of the passage of Proposition 50 yesterday.

The plaintiffs, which include Republican voters in California as well as the state arm of the Republican Party, are suing Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and California Secretary of State Shirley Weber. The suit challenges the new maps — which target five Republican-held seats — as unconstitutional, saying they were unlawfully drawn to skew in favor of Latino voters. 

On the anniversary of his election, Trump is set to speak at a forum of business leaders about what his administration sees as his economic achievements.

The president will focus on “affordability, gas prices, energy dominance, job creation and a manufacturing boom” in a “holistic speech about the economy,” according to a senior White House official. But Trump, of course, often veers off script.

The American Business Forum has decorated the Kaseya Center in Miami — home of the NBA’s Miami Heat — with bright blue space-age graphics. Speakers like Miami Mayor Francis Suarez walked out accompanied by eight masked figures wielding light sabers. Roughly two hours before the president’s remarks, seats were roughly two-thirds full. 

Other notable event speakers included soccer star Lionel Messi, actor Will Smith, Argentinian President Javier Milei, Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase Jamie Dimon, FIFA President Gianni Infantino, 2025 Nobel Peace Prize-winner Maria Corina Machado and U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff. Fox News' Bret Baier of Fox News is the official host of the forum. 

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey has won re-election to serve a third term, the AP projects.

Frey faced challenges from multiple other Democrats, and the race advanced to ranked choice voting last night after no candidate received a majority in the first round.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey speaks at an election night party. Stephen Maturen / Getty Images

Zohran Mamdani’s rapid rise from outer-borough state assemblyman to shock Democratic mayoral nominee was already one of the biggest political stories in years in New York City.

Now, the 34-year-old democratic socialist’s victory in yesterday’s mayoral election has put him on the verge of becoming an even bigger story nationally.

Operatives and political leaders on the progressive left and MAGA right are looking to nationalize Mamdani’s narrative for the midterm elections and beyond, as he begins his transition from campaigning to governing the nation’s largest city.

Mamdani speaks in front of the Unisphere in Queens today. Alexi J. Rosenfeld / Getty Images

Read the full story here.

Democrats added at least 10 seats in the Virginia House of Delegates, building on the party’s wins in the top statewide elections and more broadly across the country, The Associated Press projected.

The projections mark another victory for Democrats, who also scored resounding wins in the state’s races for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general. The wins also come as state lawmakers were looking to push forward redistricting efforts, a move that would not have been possible had Democrats been pushed from power.

The win puts Democrats on track to gain control of more than 60 seats and expand their narrow majority in the chamber.

Read the full story here.

Conservative Justice Samuel Alito teed up progressive attorney Neal Katyal for a rare laugh in court.

Katyal, who regularly presents cases before the Supreme Court, was making the argument today that the president and the executive branch do not have broad regulatory authority over tariffs because that power has not been expressly delegated to Trump by Congress.

Known as the nondelegation doctrine, it essentially says that executive branch agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau cannot exercise broad regulatory powers unless Congress delegates these powers to them. No delegation, no regulatory power.

But arguing for nondelegation is an unusual position for Katyal, who is typically arguing that government agencies have broad regulatory powers even if Congress doesn't expressly grant them — for example, the EPA's power to regulate emissions and CFPB's power to regulate predatory lenders.

"Mr. Katyal, I wonder if you ever thought that your legacy as a constitutional advocate would be the man who revived the nondelegation argument?" Alito asked.

"Heck yes, Justice Alito!" Katyal replied, prompting laughs from the audience.

Neal Katyal speaks outside the court today.  Eric Lee / Bloomberg via Getty Images

As the oral arguments over tariffs continues, stocks have jumped to the highs of the day on the apparent skepticism from the Supreme Court justices.

At noon, the S&P 500 rose 0.7% after opening lower. The Nasdaq Composite jumped 1% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average popped about 200 points.

The Russell 2000 Index, which tracks smaller companies that could be hit much harder by tariffs than larger firms, rose nearly 1.5%.

At the same time, U.S. Treasury bonds fell and yields rose, signaling that the market may be worried about potential refunds that would be required if the administration loses the case.

Comedian John Mulaney is attending the Supreme Court tariff hearing. Mulaney was seen entering the court's main entrance before arguments began.

The comedian was recently a guest on a podcast hosted by Neil Katyal, who is the plaintiff's lawyer in the case.

Neil Katyal, lawyer for the plaintiffs in the tariffs case, told the Supreme Court that "we have no problem" with the president executing tariffs under trade acts, but "this president has torn up the entire tariff architecture."

Katyal pointed to steep tariffs on Switzerland, a close U.S. ally, as "just not something that any president has ever had the power to do in our history."

He also noted that Switzerland runs a trade surplus with the United States.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., again rejected Trump's explicit demand this morning for Senate Republicans to kill the legislative filibuster.

“I know that where the math is on this issue in the Senate, and it’s not, it’s just not happening," Thune told reporters after he attended a breakfast Trump hosted for Senate Republicans at the White House.

“As I said before, there are not the votes there,” Thune said. “And so the main thing we need to be focused on right now, in my view, is getting the government opened up again.”

Trump, who doubled down at the breakfast on his call to kill the filibuster, has argued that eliminating the 60-vote threshold would allow Republicans to unilaterally reopen the government without votes from Democrats.

Neil Katyal, a lawyer for the businesses that sued the Trump administration over the president's tariffs, has started delivering his opening statement.

"Tariffs are taxes," Katyal began by saying. "They take dollars from Americans' pockets and deposit them in the U.S. Treasury. Our founders gave that taxing power to Congress alone."

"Is it your contention that every country needed to be tariffed because of threats to the defense and industrial base," Justice Amy Coney Barrett asked Solicitior General John Sauer.

"I mean, Spain, France? I could see it with some countries, but explain to me why as many countries needed to be subject to the reciprocal tariff policy," Barrett continued.

Sauer responded that "there's this sort of lack of reciprocity, this asymmetric treatment of our trade, with respect to foreign countries that does run across the board," repeating an argument the administration has used to invoke presidential authority to issue the duties under the International Economic Emergency Powers Act.

Justice Neil Gorsuch asked Solicitor General John Sauer if he thinks that "tariffs are always foreign affairs?"

After a pause, Sauer said that "I can't think of a situation where they're not foreign facing."

But Sauer then hedged his answer by adding that "revenue-raising" tariffs may not be considered foreign affairs.

The administration argues that the tariffs are regulatory, rather then revenue-raising, in nature, although Trump routinely makes claims about the large amount of money his sweeping tariffs will raise for the United Staters.

Justice Gorsuch asked his first question of the arguments, probing Sauer on the government's claim that tariffs are related to foreign affairs and Congress has granted the president sweeping power to conduct foreign policy.

"You say that we shouldn’t be so concerned in the area of foreign affairs because of the president’s inherent powers," Gorsuch said.

Sauer pivoted to the specific statutes at issue in the case, but Gorsuch cut him off.

"I’m not asking about the statute. I’m asking for your theory of the Constitution. ... You’re saying there’s inherent authority [for the president] in foreign affairs, all foreign affairs, to regulate commerce, duties and and tariffs and war, inherent authority, all the way down," says Gorsuch.

Justice Elena Kagan, speaking to Solicitor General John Sauer, said that "if one does not think that with respect to tariffs ... that a tariff is a taxing power, is a regulation of foreign commerce, that is really delegated by the Constitution to Congress, that argument does not sound so well."

Kagan's comment was one of many from both liberal and conservative justices questioning the assertion by the Trump administration.

Sauer argued that "everyone knows" that the U.S. is in a kind of emergency with regard to trade deficits, which is the administration's premise for issuing sweeping tariffs under the International Economic Emergency Powers Act.

"It turns out we're in emergencies about everything all the time," Kagan quipped.

In an exchange with U.S. Solicitor General Sauer, Chief Justice John Roberts appeared to be skeptical about the argument that the government is using to push for Trump's tariffs.

Roberts said "the imposition of taxes on Americans" has always "been the core power of Congress."

Roberts also said the major questions doctrine "might be directly applicable."

"The statue doesn't use the word tariff," Roberts said.

Rep. Richie Neal, D-Mass., the top Democrat on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, is in attendance at the high court this morning.

Neal, who helped to pass the USMCA trade agreement into law in the first Trump administration, led a group of congressional Democrats in filing an amicus brief arguing that the president does not have the authority to implement tariffs under the IEEPA without congressional approval. 

"Presidents don't get to decide these questions arbitrarily," Neal told NBC News during a walk from his office to the Supreme Court. “There has to be a review by the constitutional authority, in this instance, in Congress and the Ways and Means Committee in particular ... are responsible for all tax measures.”

Neal believes congressional Republicans have ceded too much of their authority to the White House when it comes to trade policy more broadly. He hopes that the Supreme Court fixes the balance of power.

“This should not be based upon the personalities that are involved. This should be based upon the law. We believe, with great evidence, that the decision that is rendered here ought to be one that supports the constitutional responsibility of the Congress of the United States,” said Neal.

Arguing the case for Trump's sweeping global tariff agenda, U.S. Solicitor General John Sauer told Supreme Court justices that "these are regulatory tariffs. They are not revenue-raising tariffs."

Sauer added that "the fact that they raise revenue was only incidental."

Trump has repeatedly said that one of the purposes of his tariff agenda is to enrich the country, which in his view, has been "ripped off" by other countries.

So far this year, more than $170 billion in tariff revenue has been collected from importers.

In response, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said, "I just don't understand this argument" that tariffs are not a tax. Congress, not the president, holds the power to tax, she noted.

U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer has begun making his case that Trump's use of the obscure International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA, to impose sweeping country-specific and fentanyl tariffs are constitutional. The justices are now questioning Sauer about the administration's position.

"Meet the Press" moderator Kristen Welker joins "TODAY" to break down the key takeaways from the 2025 Election Day results in New York City, New Jersey and Virginia, where Democrats scored major victories. She discusses the messages that resonated with voters, what the results mean for President Donald Trump as well as the Republican Party as a whole and more.

Democrats win big on Election Day 2025: What it means for the GOP

02:02

A federal judge has ordered the White House to restore American Sign Language interpreters at White House press briefings.

In a 26-page court filing, Judge Amir Ali of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia wrote that the White House press briefings engage Americans on important issues affecting their lives, including "in recent months, war, the economy and healthcare, and, in recent years, a global pandemic."

"The exclusion of deaf Americans from that programming, in addition to likely violating the Rehabilitation Act, is clear and present harm that the court cannot meaningfully remedy after the fact," Ali wrote.

At the same time, the judge noted that the plaintiffs, led by the National Association of the Deaf, "have not introduced evidence that supports extending the court’s relief to other press conferences or related events, or to events conducted exclusively by the Vice President, First Lady or Second Lady."

The White House didn't immediately respond to NBC News' request for comment.

While Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in cities like Los Angeles and Chicago have drawn fierce protests and extensive media coverage, immigration raids in Houston have quietly resulted in large numbers of arrests, according to data obtained by NBC News.

ICE agents arrested more than 1,500 people in Houston over a 10-day stretch in October, according to its field office director, Bret Bradford. While it received less attention than other raids across the country, it resulted in a higher number of arrests per day on average. 

A six-week ICE operation in Washington, D.C., from early August to late September resulted in 1,400 arrests. A seven-week operation in Chicago involving ICE and Border Patrol has led to the arrests of 3,800 immigrants since mid-September. And a 12-week operation in Los Angeles over the summer resulted in the arrest of 5,000 immigrants, according to DHS. 

The Trump administration has largely targeted sanctuary cities for large-scale immigration raids. Though Houston is run by a Democratic mayor, it is not a sanctuary city due to a 2017 state law that bans cities in Texas from passing policies that limit local police interaction with ICE.

The ICE action in Houston last month followed 10-day operations in February and August that resulted in 543 arrests and 822 arrests, respectively, Bradford said.

Youngkin: Government shutdown caused 'quite a turnout' for Virginia elections

02:08

Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin said this morning that he believes the government shutdown had an effect on the outcome of last night's elections in his state.

"I do think that the government shutdown is a big challenge. It is a big, big challenge," he said at a news conference on the results, in which Democrats made big gains in Virginia.

Youngkin said Virginia has about 330,000 federal workers, adding, "Virginia's people are going without paychecks. They're worried about mortgages and rents. They're worried about how they're going to feed their families. The challenge of this government shutdown is real, and I am incredibly understanding of that challenge for all Virginians, and I think it has, I think it caused quite, quite a turnout yesterday."

He added, "I do believe that had a major impact on yesterday."

The outgoing governor then called on the Senate to reopen the government as soon as possible.

Senate Democrats called on the Supreme Court to end what one called the president's "reign of tariff terror."

The case is "small business versus Trump, Main Street versus Mar-a-Lago. That is what's going to be heard before the Supreme Court today," Sen. Ed Markey, of Massachusetts, told reporters in front of the high court.

Markey said the tariffs are wreaking havoc on small-business owners who "will not allow Trump to destroy all that they've worked for."

Unlike bigger companies, Markey said small businesses "cannot buy a year or two of inventory" to sidestep the increased prices, which he called "an existential threat to their ability to survive."

No one thought yesterday was going to be Trump’s election night, but there were even fewer silver linings than many Republicans had hoped.

Democrats attacked the president's agenda to help score victories in Virginia, where former Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger quickly defeated Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears. They also prevailed in the attorney general’s race — where their candidate had been wrapped up in a texting controversy — and made double-digit gains in the state Legislature.

Democrats won in New Jersey, where Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill beat Republican Jack Ciattarelli in a race for governor considered the best upset opportunity for the GOP. Democrats also won redistricting efforts in California and got their preferred candidate in the New York mayor’s race. Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani, a favorite of the left and boogeyman of the political right, beat Trump-endorsed former Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

And Democrats also scored much needed victories in nearly every major state-level contest, a helpful night as they try to build on a data-based narrative that Trump and Republicans have tanked the nation’s economy and gone too far right ahead of the 2026 midterms.

Read the full story here.

NBC News chief data analyst Steve Kornacki joins "TODAY" to break down the results from the key races on Election Day 2025. He shares how Democrats were able to make gains in Virginia, New Jersey and New York City, what it could signal about next year’s midterm elections and more.

Steve Kornacki breaks down Election Day 2025 results

03:03

Trump doubled down this morning on his demand for Senate Republicans to eliminate the filibuster, which requires 60 votes to advance most legislation to a final vote.

"It's time for Republicans to do what they have to do and that's terminate the filibuster," Trump said at a breakfast he's hosting for Senate Republicans at the White House.

"If you don't terminate the filibuster, you'll be in bad shape," he said, arguing that they otherwise won't be able to pass any legislation for the rest of his second term.

Trump claimed without citing evidence that Democrats would eliminate the filibuster if they retake control of parts of the government in the next elections. Republicans, however, have resisted Trump's calls to eliminate the procedure.

Trump pushes GOP senators to eliminate filibuster as shutdown becomes longest in history

01:31

Trump brought up Election Day results right off the bat in remarks to GOP senators at the White House.

"I don't think it was good for Republicans," he said.

He added that they would discuss the results further once reporters leave the room.

The president also said he believed the shutdown affected the results, noting that people appeared to be blaming Republicans more. Polling indicates that voters are shifting more blame onto Trump and GOP lawmakers for the shutdown than onto Democrats.

In his first speech as the next mayor of New York, Zohran Mamdani made clear he and his city are coming for Trump.

“If anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him,” Mamdani said at his victory speech in Brooklyn last night. “And if there’s any way to terrify a despot, it is by dismantling the very conditions that allowed him to accumulate power.”

“So Donald Trump,” he added, “since I know you’re watching — I have four words for you: Turn the volume up.”

The crowd responded with the raucous cheers that Mamdani no doubt hoped Trump would hear.

Read the full story here.

Democrats Christian Menefee and Amanda Edwards advanced to a runoff in a special congressional election in Texas, NBC News projects, as a crowded field vied to fill the late Rep. Sylvester Turner’s deep-blue seat.

The race saw 16 candidates, including seven Democrats, five Republicans, three independents and one Green Party member, face off in a heavily Democratic district that includes downtown Houston and parts of surrounding Harris County.

Menefee is the county attorney for Harris County, becoming the first Black person to hold that office after unseating three-term incumbent Vince Ryan. Edwards is an attorney and nonprofit founder who served on the Houston City Council for four years.

Read the full story here.

Trump’s signature economic policy comes under Supreme Court scrutiny today as the justices weigh whether he has the authority to impose sweeping tariffs on imports under a law designed for use during a national emergency.

The Supreme Court has a 6-3 conservative majority that has regularly backed Trump on various contentious cases since he took office in January, but many legal observers think the tariffs dispute is a close call.

The consequences are huge for Trump and the economy at large, with Americans increasingly anxious amid signs that the tariffs are contributing to, rather than alleviating, higher costs.

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Democratic wins in yesterday’s elections gave the party a sorely needed burst of momentum ahead of next year’s midterm elections.

The party came in favored in races for Virginia and New Jersey governor, New York City mayor and a California ballot measure to green-light a Democratic gerrymander of the state’s congressional map.

But the huge margins in those governor’s races and other contests left many Democrats feeling a new emotion — excitement — for the first time in some time. The results affirmed the candidates’ decisions to run economic-centered campaigns, highlighted Republicans’ trouble replicating Trump’s coalition and included other signs of repudiation and warning for Trump.

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The lengthy standoff between Trump and congressional Democratic leaders is now the longest government shutdown in American history.

The shutdown enters its 36th day today, eclipsing the record set during Trump’s first term. That 35-day federal closure in late 2018 and early 2019 resulted from a fight over Trump’s demand for a border wall, which Democrats refused to fund.

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