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00:00Election Day is here. Voters head to the polls across the country after one final push from the candidates and
00:07President Trump.
00:08Now, it's the voters' turn.
00:11Plus, explosions on an Iranian island. U.S. officials confirm American strikes on the eve of the election.
00:18And a last-minute Supreme Court loss for Trump. The justices reject his bid to set aside thousands of California
00:25mail-in ballots just hours after the request was filed.
00:30The stories that matter. The facts you can trust. From across the country to around the world, this is Unbiased
00:40Updates from Straight Arrow.
00:43Hey everybody, I'm Christian Bryant. It's Tuesday, November 3rd, and Election Day is here.
00:48After months of campaigning, Americans are heading to the polls to decide who controls Congress and the direction of the
00:55country for the next two years.
00:56The final arguments have been made, President Trump has delivered his closing pitch, and now the decision belongs to the
01:03voters.
01:04Let's get you caught up with this extended election edition of Unbiased Updates.
01:09More than 57 million Americans had already voted before Election Day, according to the University of Florida's Election Lab.
01:15That's nearly as many as the entire early vote in the 2022 midterms, with millions more ballots still to come.
01:22And Monday night, President Trump made his final appeal from Washington's Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
01:28He urged the voters who put him back in the White House in 2024 to turn out again, this time
01:33to keep Republicans in control of Congress.
01:35But he also acknowledged the history working against his party.
01:39Because if the people that voted for me and voted in the last election where we had such a great
01:46victory, if they go out and vote just a good portion of them, we will win in a landslide.
01:52Now, that doesn't happen, because usually whoever the sitting president is, Republican or Democrat, good or bad, good president, great
02:02president, bad.
02:03For some reason, the sitting president doesn't win the midterms, but we gave this a very strong shot.
02:11Vice President J.D. Vance spent his final day campaigning in Ohio, calling this the most important midterm election of
02:18his lifetime.
02:19He said he's confident Republicans will hold Congress, but acknowledged the outcome is no longer in their hands.
02:25I feel good about tomorrow, but obviously it's in the hands of voters.
02:28So all I'd say is to remind the voters, particularly in Ohio, that Sherrod Brown is a career politician who
02:35spent 50 years in Washington delivering for Chuck Schumer.
02:38John Huston has delivered for the people of Ohio.
02:40I think they're going to reelect him, but it's up to the voters now.
02:43And across the country, some of the most consequential Senate races are coming down to their final hours.
02:49In Michigan, Republican Mike Rogers and Democrat Abdul El-Sayed closed their campaigns with appeals to a deeply divided electorate.
02:57The race has also exposed divisions within the Democratic Party after Congresswoman Haley Stevens endorsed Rogers over her party's own
03:04nominee.
03:05It's really about the heart and soul of the country and who we want to be and what country we
03:12want to give to our kids.
03:15And you think about that, what happened is doors started opening for us.
03:20People knew something was wrong.
03:23Mean, angry, divisiveness could not be the way in the future for our great state.
03:29And I believe that we have the opportunity to breach those divides.
03:32Divides of geography, of race, of sexual orientation, gender identity, of faith, to build together what we only can have
03:40together.
03:41That's what this campaign has been about from the very beginning.
03:45And while they think that somehow their intimidation tactics and their division is going to pull us apart, they don't
03:53know us like we know us.
03:55The Royal Oak, when they come for us, we won't back down.
03:58In Texas, a state Republicans have dominated for decades, the Senate race has become a major test for both parties.
04:05Democrat James Tallarico says the Republican effort to defeat him shows just how competitive the race has become.
04:12Republican Ken Paxton is warning his supporters that the party's grip on Texas is at risk.
04:17In the final days of this election, they are coming at us with everything they've got.
04:23The billionaire mega donors, the super PACs, they are spending more than 300 million dollars to try to stop us.
04:31That is the most of any Senate race in American history.
04:35And more is on the way.
04:37They are scared.
04:39They are terrified.
04:40They see what we see, that we're about to win this election tomorrow night.
04:47Texas has never been this close to slipping away.
04:50We have never been this close to losing everything that we hold dear.
04:54Our jobs, our livelihoods, our way of life in Texas.
04:59If Texas falls, we don't have another Texas to move to.
05:04Every poll shows this is going to come down to the wire.
05:07In Alaska, the final days of the Senate race have been dominated by a controversy over two candidates with nearly
05:14identical names.
05:16A New York Times report links people working with Democratic candidate Mary Peltola's campaign and National Democrats to an effort
05:23to recruit another Dan Sullivan, the same name as the Republican incumbent.
05:27The senator is accusing his opponent of trying to mislead voters.
05:31My opponent has literally been caught in the biggest election cheating scandal in Alaska history.
05:40And she is bleeding support.
05:42People are pulling Peltola signs out of their yards, right?
05:50They are saying, hey, wait a minute, I did not sign up for corruption.
05:56Peltola denies knowing about the effort and says she has no interest in tricking voters.
06:01And in Maine, Democrat Troy Jackson is trying to unseat longtime Republican Senator Susan Collins.
06:07His closing message focused on turnout and what he says voters can change in Washington.
06:12Up and down the state, people are showing up like I've never seen before.
06:17And that's how we're going to change this government.
06:19Together, we can make so much of a difference.
06:22We can make so much of a difference here in the state.
06:23We can make so much of a difference in D.C.
06:25The first polls close at 6 p.m.
06:27Eastern in parts of Indiana and Kentucky.
06:30From there, results will be coming in across the country, with the final polls in Alaska
06:34coming in at 1 a.m.
06:36Eastern Wednesday.
06:37And in some of these races, it could take longer to know who won.
06:40So, buckle up, folks.
06:43Just hours before Election Day, the U.S. launched new airstrikes on Iran.
06:47American officials say the strikes were defensive, but they come as President Trump continues to talk
06:52about a possible deal with Tehran while threatening more military action.
06:56U.S. officials say the military struck targets on Iran's Kesham Island Monday near the Strait of Hormuz,
07:03a critical route for global oil shipments.
07:05One official tells ABC News the strikes were in response to an Iranian attack on an American aircraft.
07:11Officials say this was a limited operation, not the start of a new major offensive.
07:16But it's not an isolated incident.
07:18The U.S. has carried out other limited strikes in recent weeks as Iran has stepped up attacks
07:23on commercial shipping in the Strait.
07:25And Monday night, Trump was still raising the possibility of a much bigger attack,
07:29this time on a suspected underground nuclear site known as Pickaxe Mountain.
07:33Now, we might have to go after Pickaxe, but that's not a big deal.
07:37We can do it in, literally, we can do that in one hour, okay, as soon as we want, at
07:44any
07:44time we want.
07:45Iran's Revolutionary Guard also claims it shot down two American reconnaissance drones
07:49over Kesham Island.
07:50But a U.S. official disputes that claim.
07:53And while both sides continue talking about a possible diplomatic deal, American forces are
07:58still carrying out strikes inside Iran.
08:01The Supreme Court has already dealt President Trump a setback in his fight over California's
08:06mail-in ballots.
08:07The justices rejected an emergency request from his administration Monday, just hours
08:12after it was filed.
08:13The Justice Department wanted California to set aside ballots for more than 20,000 people
08:18it suspects are not U.S. citizens.
08:20But California officials questioned the accuracy of that list and warned that eligible voters
08:25could have their ballots wrongfully excluded.
08:27The Supreme Court rejected the request in a one-sentence order without explaining its
08:32reasoning.
08:33No justices publicly dissented.
08:35The decision follows a string of losses for the administration in lower court.
08:39On Friday, a federal appeals court ruled two to one against the Justice Department's
08:44request.
08:44The two judges in the majority wrote,
08:46quote,
08:46If the United States believes different procedures are necessary for vote-by-mail ballots, we
08:51believe it should take that suggestion to Congress, not the courts.
08:55The administration had argued that once the disputed ballots were mixed with other votes,
08:59there would be no way to separate them.
09:01But the Supreme Court's decision leaves California's existing ballot counting procedures in place for
09:06today's election.
09:07As voters head to the polls today, we're also looking at what happens once the results start
09:12coming in tonight and how candidates respond.
09:15Earlier, I caught up with our senior politics reporter, Ozzy Pavera, outside the Capitol here
09:19in Washington to talk about what he's watching on election night and beyond.
09:23What is it that you're going to be watching for tonight, election night, and in the days that
09:32come, whether it's the races, whether it's how candidates are reacting to the results?
09:40Big picture, I am looking at whether the mechanics of democracy go forward, or if anyone
09:46tries to interfere with this.
09:50You said big picture, this feels like existential.
09:53Yeah.
09:54It is existential, and I do not mean it as hyperbole or a joke.
09:59Can you break that down?
10:01For 250 years, in sometimes very imperfect ways, people in the United States have elected representatives.
10:12Many people have lost elections.
10:14Many voters saw people they didn't agree with take power and enact policies that they opposed.
10:22And yet, society and the country was able to see another day coming, to see another election,
10:31and to have this fight continue.
10:35In some ways, democracy wins if it continues.
10:39And the only way democracy loses is if it stops, or if somebody changes the rules to make it ineffective.
10:44So how many races do independent election observers call?
10:52They're not official calls.
10:54But when the Associated Press and Fox News' decision desk and other outlets call races, it is because very smart
11:02people looking at very specific numbers with a lot of historical context say the numbers aren't there.
11:08I'm also looking at, obviously, voter turnout.
11:11How do candidates in Georgia do?
11:13A very contested state where, except for the Buchanan governor in the Senate, the statewide candidates are all black women.
11:21And Georgia had not elected a black woman to a statewide partisan office in its history until December.
11:28First time ever.
11:29But what I'm really looking at are the races that get called because of either blowouts or because the decision
11:38is so clear, and whether candidates accept it.
11:42And what I'm also watching is how the federal government, which has been very active in raising questions of election
11:49integrity, and to call it an existential question is exactly correct.
11:54And if it sounds like something you never thought would be happening in 2026, it is.
12:03When we think back to this midterm cycle, in the days and weeks and months and years to come, I
12:11mean, what will this cycle be remembered for?
12:15Money and whether or not the results are accepted.
12:20Now, I know in Alaska, the Mary Peltola campaign has been linked to an effort to bring in an essentially
12:29phony candidate.
12:30Which she has denied, you know, having a part in it.
12:33She has denied.
12:33The thing that is sort of being lost in that conversation is just how frequently things like this happen.
12:40This is not the only campaign that has ever been involved with or the only race that has ever seen
12:45something like this.
12:46Snacking the ballot, as it's called.
12:48So this happens.
12:50This happens.
12:50But I feel like there's a but.
12:52This happens.
12:53The but is always, do you get caught with your hands in the cookie jar?
12:59And is that cookie jar illegal?
13:03Or is it just unethical?
13:05If it's unethical.
13:05Are these illegal cookies, yay or nay?
13:08If they're illegal cookies, you're in trouble.
13:10If they are merely unethical cookies, I have news for you.
13:14This is Washington.
13:15That's considered the appetizer.
13:18So, how much this is indicative of politics in 2026, I think is something historians are going to work through.
13:25Anything else you want to leave us on?
13:28Final thoughts?
13:30There actually is.
13:31Uh oh.
13:32There's a lot of promises that candidates make on a campaign trail.
13:37I will only serve two terms.
13:40I will never vote for a tax hire.
13:42And a lot of times, reporters, advocacy groups, voters feel a sense of confidence that the question they just asked
13:50and the answer they just received is rock solid.
13:55I wish there was at least one more follow up in a lot of those exchanges.
14:02To ask the question, if you change your mind, if you break this promise, what are you willing to do
14:12to make amends for it?
14:14What should voters expect from you?
14:15Should you resign because of that?
14:17Because we hear this every election cycle. Promises are made. Promises are not always kept.
14:25Yes. And in the American democratic system, you vote for a person and they're in office for two or four
14:33years with the full amount of power, whether or not they got 50 votes plus one or they went in
14:40the landslide.
14:40So the question about how people stick to their promises and how much of their are they willing to hear
14:47people they disagree with, I think, is something that could help voters and candidates and policymakers.
14:54If that was part of the conversation more and less about whether or not people feel humiliated over a certain
15:03outcome.
15:04Our many thanks to Ozzy for that interview and we will certainly be keeping a close eye on all the
15:09races across the country.
15:11Now to some other news we're following. Federal investigators say a private jet that crashed in South Florida, killing all
15:17nine people on board, may have been breaking apart before it hit the ground.
15:21And they're now taking a close look at the severe weather the pilots encountered just before the crash.
15:26The Learjet was flying from Austin, Texas to the Bahamas Sunday when it plunged into a neighborhood near West Palm
15:32Beach, erupting into a massive fireball.
15:35Just minutes earlier, the crew reported ice buildup and turbulence at 35,000 feet.
15:40The pilots then declared an emergency as the plane rapidly lost altitude.
15:44The crash left a massive crater and scattered debris across the area.
15:48And investigators say there's evidence parts of the jet may have broken off before impact.
15:53Dan, as I indicated, we do have some indication that the aircraft was breaking up before impact.
16:00And so some of this is yet to be determined.
16:04We may find parts of the aircraft some distance away from the actual impact site.
16:08I don't think we're far enough along here to know what we found.
16:12We're finding debris, but we haven't identified parts yet.
16:17Recovering the wreckage is proving difficult, with much of it buried in the impact crater.
16:22About 600 nearby residents have been displaced.
16:25One person on the ground was injured.
16:27Among the nine people killed were Texas businessman Adam Robinson, his wife Helen Sharp, and their two young children, 4
16:34-year-old Emma and 2-year-old Charlie.
16:37Investigators say it's too early to determine what caused the crash.
16:40A second trial is now taking shape for Lindsay Clancy, the Massachusetts mother accused of murdering her three young children.
16:48Prosecutors say they intend to retry her, but haven't decided whether to pursue first-degree murder charges again.
16:55Clancy was back in court Monday, two months after her first trial ended with a hung jury.
16:59Eleven jurors favored acquittal, just one voted to convict.
17:04Her attorneys argue she was suffering from postpartum psychosis and was not criminally responsible for the children's death.
17:11Prosecutors say she knew what she was doing was wrong.
17:14At Monday's hearing, prosecutors also asked the judge to limit what attorneys can say publicly about the case, arguing that
17:20comments from the defense could influence a future jury.
17:23But things got heated when Clancy's lead attorney, Kevin Reddington, began questioning the conduct of one juror who voted to
17:30convict.
17:31Judge William Sullivan interrupted him after he identified that juror by name.
17:36You don't bring your background into a jury room and suppress it, as was done in this case.
18:04The judge didn't rule on the requests Monday.
18:07He's considering a retrial as early as March, with another hearing set for November 16.
18:12The defense is also asking him to dismiss the charges entirely, arguing that a second trial would violate double jeopardy
18:20protections.
18:21Finally this morning, after nearly 22 years in space, a NASA telescope that spent its life watching some of the
18:27biggest explosions in the universe is about to make a fiery return to Earth.
18:32The Swift Observatory launched in 2004 on a mission to study gamma ray bursts, some of the most powerful explosions
18:39in the cosmos.
18:40But intense solar activity has been pulling it closer to Earth, and an attempt to rescue the satellite failed.
18:46Still, it's had quite a run. Swift was only supposed to last two years.
18:51Instead, it kept making discoveries for nearly 22 years.
18:55It was designed for two years of science.
18:58Here we are, almost 22 years later, able to answer questions that I think, you know, people at the start
19:06of the mission hadn't even envisioned when it had started.
19:10And so I think the overwhelming sentiment is really one of appreciation, of gratitude, of pride in what we've been
19:21able to accomplish.
19:22Swift spotted more than 2,000 gamma ray bursts and 1,400 exploding stars during its time in orbit.
19:28NASA expects it to reenter Earth's atmosphere Wednesday, with most of the telescope burning up on the way down.
19:35An AP report called that a cosmic cremation, and I'm going to be thinking about that for the rest of
19:41the day.
19:41Less noise, more news. Watch unbiased updates at san.com or our app, or join our audience on YouTube, Spotify,
19:49or your favorite podcast app.
19:51We're glad to be a part of your morning routine.
19:53And a reminder, you can email us here anytime.
19:57We actually read those emails, so hit us up, unbiasedupdates at san.com.
20:03We love hearing from you.
20:05Folks, that's Unbiased Updates for this Tuesday, Election Day.
20:09For the Unbiased Updates team and all of us at Straight Arrow, I'm Christian Bryant.
20:13Thank you so much for watching. Have a good one, and we'll see you back here tomorrow.
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