Contributing Writers

As Democrats prepare to take control of Congress in January, party leaders say they intend to hold Trump officials accountable with stepped-up hearings and investigations. The administration, however, has responded with threats to launch its own investigations into lawmakers for carrying out their oversight responsibilities.
“The oversight function of Congress is well established by the founders. It’s a normal part of government.

Israel’s latest bombing of Nasser Hospital in Gaza on Thursday killed six Palestinians, including surgeon Dr. Rizk Abu Shaira. He was featured in the recent documentary American Doctor, which follows international medical volunteers in Gaza’s battered hospitals as they work alongside Palestinian colleagues.
Israel claimed, without providing evidence, that it targeted a senior Hamas militant in the hospital strike.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang resigned Thursday after reports of multiple extramarital affairs, including with an employee and a Chinese businesswoman whom U.S. intelligence officials accuse of spying for Beijing. The company says Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress will serve as interim CEO as the board searches for a permanent replacement.

Alaska is the only Senate race yet to be called. Democratic challenger Mary Peltola is narrowly leading Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan with about 86% of votes counted. Alaska uses ranked-choice voting, a system where voters choose not only their top candidate, but can also indicate an order of preference for remaining candidates on the ballot. If no candidate wins a majority as the top choice, then second-choice votes are added to the totals and so on until there is a winner.

Alaska is the only Senate race yet to be called. Democratic challenger Mary Peltola is narrowly leading Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan with about 86% of votes counted. Alaska uses ranked-choice voting, a system where voters choose not only their top candidate, but can also indicate an order of preference for remaining candidates on the ballot. If no candidate wins a majority as the top choice, then second-choice votes are added to the totals and so on until there is a winner.

As Democrats prepare to take control of Congress in January, party leaders say they intend to hold Trump officials accountable with stepped-up hearings and investigations. The administration, however, has responded with threats to launch its own investigations into lawmakers for carrying out their oversight responsibilities.
“The oversight function of Congress is well established by the founders. It’s a normal part of government.

Israel’s latest bombing of Nasser Hospital in Gaza on Thursday killed six Palestinians, including surgeon Dr. Rizk Abu Shaira. He was featured in the recent documentary American Doctor, which follows international medical volunteers in Gaza’s battered hospitals as they work alongside Palestinian colleagues.
Israel claimed, without providing evidence, that it targeted a senior Hamas militant in the hospital strike.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang resigned Thursday after reports of multiple extramarital affairs, including with an employee and a Chinese businesswoman whom U.S. intelligence officials accuse of spying for Beijing. The company says Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress will serve as interim CEO as the board searches for a permanent replacement.

Alaska is the only Senate race yet to be called. Democratic challenger Mary Peltola is narrowly leading Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan with about 86% of votes counted. Alaska uses ranked-choice voting, a system where voters choose not only their top candidate, but can also indicate an order of preference for remaining candidates on the ballot. If no candidate wins a majority as the top choice, then second-choice votes are added to the totals and so on until there is a winner.

With Democrats set to take control of both chambers of Congress in January, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders says he will not support Chuck Schumer for another term as the Democratic Senate leader, calling for the party to move in “a new and bold direction.” Michigan Democratic Senator Elissa Slotkin has said she will not support Schumer unless he presents a plan to govern differently, and several senators-elect have called for new leadership or declined to endorse Schumer.

Democrat Scott Colom has defeated incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith to become Mississippi’s first African American senator since the post-Civil War Reconstruction era. The electoral breakthrough is particularly meaningful given Mississippi’s history in the civil rights movement. In 1964, three civil rights activists — James Chaney, Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman — were murdered by the Ku Klux Klan after traveling to the state to register Black voters.

Democrat Scott Colom has made history as Mississippi’s first Democratic senator since 1982 — and its first African American senator since the post-Civil War Reconstruction era. Colom narrowly defeated Republican incumbent Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith in a state that President Trump won by nearly 23 points in 2024. Colom’s victory brings the incoming Senate Democratic caucus to 55.

Progressive candidate Will Lawrence of Michigan has defeated Republican incumbent Tom Barrett, flipping the state’s 7th Congressional District, a closely watched swing district that includes Lansing. Lawrence, the co-founder of the youth-led climate organization Sunrise Movement, refused corporate PAC money, instead building a people-powered grassroots mobilization campaign.

We speak with Janay Boulos and Abd Alkader Habak, filmmakers and subjects of the new documentary Birds of War, which tells their epic love story through years of upheaval in the Middle East.

Voters in Providence, Rhode Island, approved a ballot measure last week that could result in the city divesting from Israel. The successful grassroots campaign makes Providence the first U.S. city to pass a binding divestment measure through a popular vote. The measure instructs the city to divest from countries and companies implicated in “ethnic cleansing, apartheid, illegal military occupation, or genocide.” The language does not mention Israel by name.

We speak with historian Kai Bird about American Scoundrel, a new biography of the notorious political fixer Roy Cohn, who rose to fame as chief counsel to Joe McCarthy during the senator’s anti-communist campaign, served as a lawyer for the New York mob, and was an influential voice in Republican circles until his death from AIDS-related complications in 1986.

Lina Attalah, editor-in-chief of Egypt’s leading independent news outlet Mada Masr, faces a criminal trial this week on charges of “spreading false information,” just two weeks after being convicted of operating an unlicensed website and fined more than $50,000. A judge also ordered the publication to be shut down.

Progressive candidate Will Lawrence of Michigan has defeated Republican incumbent Tom Barrett, flipping the state’s 7th Congressional District, a closely watched swing district that includes Lansing. Lawrence, the co-founder of the youth-led climate organization Sunrise Movement, refused corporate PAC money, instead building a people-powered grassroots mobilization campaign.

The prominent journalist Abed Abu Shehadeh, a Palestinian citizen of Israel, has been released from Israeli custody after five days in detention. He was arrested on Wednesday by armed police and Shin Bet agents who conducted a nighttime raid on his home in the Israeli city of Jaffa. Abu Shehadeh’s detention was related to his reporting on the October 27 Israeli election and the role of Palestinian political parties.

The House of Representatives is moving toward a vote this week on whether to impeach Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. Outgoing Republican Congressmember Thomas Massie of Kentucky introduced eight articles of impeachment against Hegseth on Monday.

Tuesday was a historic night for progressive Democrats and, in particular, candidates backed by the Democratic Socialists of America. Six new DSA-endorsed candidates were elected to the House, and democratic socialists won mayoral races in Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and Providence.
“The Democratic Socialists of America had a phenomenal night, and this movement is only going to continue to grow,” says prominent leftist political commentator Hasan Piker.

Lina Attalah, editor-in-chief of Egypt’s leading independent news outlet Mada Masr, faces a criminal trial this week on charges of “spreading false information,” just two weeks after being convicted of operating an unlicensed website and fined more than $50,000. A judge also ordered the publication to be shut down.

The next Congress will include about 100 new lawmakers in the House of Representatives, the largest freshman wave in decades. That also includes six newly elected members of the Democratic Socialists of America, bringing the total number of DSA members in Congress to eight. One of the incoming DSA congressmembers will be California’s Angela Gonzales-Torres, who worked two other jobs while campaigning and was massively outspent by her opponent, incumbent Democratic Congressmember Jimmy Gomez.

Stephen Miller, the architect of the Trump administration’s mass deportation policies, has replaced Susie Wiles as White House chief of staff. In a recent 60 Minutes interview, President Donald Trump acknowledged that his immigration policies may be “too tough” and contributed to his party’s steep losses in the midterm elections, but in elevating Miller, he is “choosing to double down,” says journalist Jean Guerrero.

Tuesday was a historic night for progressive Democrats and, in particular, candidates backed by the Democratic Socialists of America. Six new DSA-endorsed candidates were elected to the House, and democratic socialists won mayoral races in Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and Providence.
“The Democratic Socialists of America had a phenomenal night, and this movement is only going to continue to grow,” says prominent leftist political commentator Hasan Piker.

The midterms saw a landslide of Latinos vote for Democrats. In Texas, California, Kansas and Colorado, Latinos who had voted for Republicans just two years ago voted for Democrats in large numbers, helping secure Democratic control of both the House and the Senate. Latino lawmakers will make up about a fifth of the Democratic majority in the House. And in an historic victory, the two most populous states in the country, California and Texas, will soon be led by Democratic Latino governors.

Mississippi’s race for the U.S. Senate remains too close to call: Democrat Scott Colom is narrowly leading Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith by nearly 2,000 votes with 96% of votes counted as of Friday morning. Donald Trump carried Mississippi by 23 points in 2024. If elected, Colom would be the first Democrat to win the state in 40 years and the first African American since 1875, during the Reconstruction era.

Democrats regained control of both the House and the Senate in Tuesday’s historic midterm elections, a comeback fueled largely by voter anger over high prices and the war on Iran. But surveys also found that corruption was a major concern, with 76% of voters telling a Harris poll that elected officials care more about enriching themselves than improving the economy for ordinary people.

Tuesday was a historic night for progressive Democrats and, in particular, candidates backed by the Democratic Socialists of America. Six new DSA-endorsed candidates were elected to the House, and democratic socialists won mayoral races in Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and Providence.
“The Democratic Socialists of America had a phenomenal night, and this movement is only going to continue to grow,” says prominent leftist political commentator Hasan Piker.