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Good morning, it's Tuesday, Nov. 3. On the eve of the vote, President Trump admitted history is against his party and promised to veto "everything" if Democrats win Congress.

Also in today's issue: Courts clear the ballots, Strikes amid Iran talks, Abortion on four ballots, New rules for voting, Data centers face voters.

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President Trump stood beside the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on Monday afternoon and admitted something presidents rarely say out loud. The sitting president's party, he said, historically "doesn't win the midterms." Republicans, he added, "gave this a very strong shot."

He spent the start of the speech on the pool's renovation, then turned to his record on the border, taxes and energy. But his most telling words came in a podcast with the New York Post, published the same day. If Democrats win Congress, Trump said, "I'll become Mr. Veto." He would veto everything, he said, and expected the two sides to strike agreements down the road.

He also said he would pardon aides, family members or Elon Musk without hesitation if a Democratic Congress came after them.

For most families, the stakes are less about speeches than about money. The first test of a split government could put SNAP food aid and federal paychecks at risk before the winners are even sworn in.

Start with today's math. Republicans hold the House by about three seats and the Senate 53 to 47. The party in the White House hasn't gained House seats in a midterm since 2002.

So what would "Mr. Veto" actually look like? A president can only veto a bill that passes both chambers. If Democrats win just the House, a Republican Senate can stop their bills before Trump ever sees them. The veto becomes his main wall only if Democrats win both. Overriding a veto takes two-thirds of the House and Senate, a bar neither party comes close to.

Trump's side has a case. Divided government often forces compromise. A veto threat is how presidents protect their own laws, like the 2025 tax cuts, from being rolled back.

Democrats say the bigger stake is oversight. A House majority can hold hearings and issue subpoenas. Democrats have said they could look into Trump's control of the Justice Department, Homeland Security and the pardons themselves.

That's where the pardon pledge runs into how Congress works. A pardon can wipe away a federal crime. It can't cancel a subpoena. If someone refuses to testify, Congress can vote to hold them in contempt. But the Justice Department decides whether to prosecute, so that fight would likely end up in court.

Now the money. The government's current stopgap spending law runs out on Dec. 11. It keeps agencies running at last year's levels, SNAP included. The outgoing Congress, including members who lose today, returns Nov. 9 to handle it. If they fail, a shutdown would start Dec. 12, weeks before the new Congress takes office in January.

Watch the House tonight. If Democrats flip it and Republicans hold the Senate, expect investigations more than vetoes. If Democrats win both, the veto becomes Trump's main tool, and every spending bill turns into a test of who blinks first.

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The Supreme Court on Monday rejected the Trump administration's last-minute bid to make California set aside about 20,000 mail ballots. The government says the ballots likely belong to noncitizens. The short, unsigned order came within hours. It gave no reason, and no justice publicly disagreed. Later that night, Judge Tanya Chutkan in Washington went further. She barred the Justice Department and Homeland Security from sending any state lists of suspected noncitizen voters, or asking officials to hold those ballots. She said the data may be wrong, so legal voters could lose their votes. The department says it's just enforcing the law that bars noncitizens from voting. Prosecutors also charged 12 more noncitizens in California the same day. For today, though, states count under their own rules, Reuters reported.

U.S. forces struck Iran's Qeshm Island on Monday, after Iran fired at an American aircraft over the Strait of Hormuz, U.S. officials said. They called the strikes limited and defensive. They said similar strikes have happened quietly for weeks and don't mean major combat is back. Iran claimed it shot down two U.S. drones, which a U.S. official called false. Talks kept moving anyway. Iran said it could reopen the strait within two days if Washington meets its demands, such as lifting the naval blockade of its ports. Qatari mediators headed to Tehran Monday night. Asked by NBC News whether he was weighing new strikes, Trump shook his head no. Brent crude fell nearly 7% in early trading on the hopes (Spectrum News).

Missouri voters decide today whether to undo the abortion-rights amendment they passed in 2024 with about 52% of the vote. Amendment 3 would bring back a ban, with exceptions for medical emergencies, fetal anomalies, and rape or incest up to 12 weeks. It would also write a ban on gender-affirming care for minors into the state constitution. Its sponsor, state Sen. Adam Schnelting, says it fits Missourians' values better than the narrow 2024 measure. Opponents say lawmakers are overriding voters, and that the transgender language hides the abortion ban. Under the old ban, more than 12,000 Missouri women traveled to other states for care in 2023. Idaho, Nevada and Virginia vote on measures to protect abortion rights instead (Yahoo News).

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Several states vote today on how their future elections will work. Alaska's Measure 2 would end ranked-choice voting and open primaries, and repeal some campaign disclosure rules. A similar repeal failed in 2024 by just 737 votes out of nearly 321,000. Supporters call ranking candidates confusing and slow. Opponents say it pushes candidates to appeal beyond their base and keeps hidden "dark money" in check. Elsewhere, California, Arizona, Colorado and Nevada weigh stricter voter ID rules. Missouri and Maryland vote on changes to how congressional maps are drawn. And Virginia decides whether people with felony convictions get their voting rights back when they're released (CBS News).

Dozens of communities vote today on data centers, the giant computer warehouses that power artificial intelligence. Ballotpedia counts 35 local measures on today's ballots across eight states, and 21 of them are in Ohio. Many would ban sites that draw more than 25 megawatts of power. Others would require voter approval or money guarantees from developers. Backers of the projects point to investment, construction work and keeping the U.S. ahead in AI. Opponents worry about higher electric bills, water use and losing local control. In all four data center votes held earlier this year, voters chose tighter limits. The fight even runs through Ohio's Senate race between Republican Sen. Jon Husted and Democrat Sherrod Brown.

That's how many of President Trump's 12 vetoes Congress has overridden: the 2021 defense bill. Both of his second-term vetoes, issued in December 2025, survived House votes in January. Overriding takes two-thirds of both chambers, a bar Congress almost never clears.

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