What Democrats Plan to Do Next, and What JD Vance Says Went Wrong

From The New York Times, it's The Headlines. I'm Tracey Mumford. Today's Thursday, November 5th. Here's what we're covering. The midterms dust is settling. There's a lot happening. To start, we're going to dig into three of the biggest questions this morning. What drove the big blue wave? What was incredible about last night was how far we reached into deep red territory. How is the GOP responding to its loss? This is close to an extinction-level event for Republicans. And what is the Democrats' plan for what's next? The North Star for the Democratic caucus is going to be affordability. First, with more detailed results coming in, it's clear that every demographic group nationally, across the country, across race, age, gender, and education swung left on election day. It's really hard to overstate just how good a night this was for Democrats. Democrats made gains across so many states where they were never competitive before and across every single demographic group we looked at. Ruth Gelnick analyzes voter data for The Times. She says one of the biggest shifts to the left was among Hispanic voters who moved toward Democrats by 28 points. Young people shifted by more than 30 points and young men specifically by nearly 40. One thing that was really interesting that we saw is that white voters without a college degree who have really been the backbone of Trump's base also shifted about 14 points towards Democrats, which is really showing sort of cracks in Trump's key support, cracks in Trump's base. Overall, the staggering results are on track to deliver Republicans the worst loss in half a century. Which brings us to. Now envision chandeliers all over your ceiling, envision marble floor. The Republican response in his first appearance after his party's defeat. President Trump went on camera yesterday to talk about the White House ballroom. See the thickness and size of that ceiling. In a kind of surreal scene, Trump led reporters through the construction zone, pointing out beams, talking about varieties of marble. And he generally shrugged off what had happened the night before. And if I was on the ballot, we would have won. But they just you couldn't transfer that love. There was such love at those rallies. It was incredible. We weren't able to transfer the love to candidates. Other Republicans, though, have been quicker to start trying to diagnose the issues. Mortgage rates are over seven percent. Gas is four dollars a gallon. Grocery prices have gone up and all these. And so I think it was more kitchen table issues. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis came out to criticize his fellow Republicans over the state of the economy and Vice President J.D. Vance offered his own striking critique in a post on social media. Vance placed the blame for the GOP wipeout squarely on the war with Iran. And he was not shy about ripping into the administration's agenda and messaging. But President Trump told reporters he was fine with it. And later, his own son, Donald Trump Jr., even reposted Vance's comments. And for the last midterms update. We made a promise to the country that we would fight for an affordable America and we intend to keep it. What will Democrats do with their newfound power? Democrats know exactly what they want to do in their first hundred hours. They have sort of a shock and awe beginning to the new Congress where they want to show voters immediately that they are delivering on the affordability message that they campaigned on. And they have like four broadly popular things they're going to bring to the floor. People are right out of the gate. My colleague Annie Carney covers the House of Representatives. One is reinstate the expired Affordable Care Act subsidies. Another is to reverse the Medicaid cuts that were in Trump's big, beautiful bill. Another is to do something on tariffs to bring congressional power back over trade policy. And another is to do some sort of war powers resolution to force Trump to end the war in Iran. Some of these items they think will even attract Republican support. And have in the past. They think that these are so popular that these can pass the Senate and really force Trump's hand. For more on the midterms, The Times chief political analyst Nate Cohn is on today's episode of The Daily with a look at how much the $10 billion in campaign spending really mattered. In France today, the country is bracing for a nation wide strike. A huge number of people are expected to not show up for work, which could paralyze travel by bringing railroads to a halt and disrupt services at hospitals, schools, banks and other institutions. There will also be demonstrations organized by the country's labor unions who say they will be out in the streets to protest the rising cost of living and the government's proposed budget cuts. The strike comes amid waves of student led protests. That have rocked the country, organized by young people angry about poor conditions in schools like not enough teachers or sometimes even not enough chairs. While most of those demonstrations have been peaceful, some degenerated into arson and looting, especially on one day last month when photos and video of burning buildings, smashed windows and police in riot gear were everywhere. This new strike is not strictly part of that student led movement, but is clearly intended to show solidarity with it. For France's leaders, there are no simple solutions to the growing public anger. They're facing big budget deficits and high levels of national debt and putting more money towards schools or social services would increase that debt, which in turn could make it more expensive for the country to borrow more money to pay for more services. Experts say the whole situation risks pushing France toward a kind of, quote, doom loop. Two years ago, the members of the K-pop girl group New Jeans, fresh off their album debuting at number one on the US charts, shocked people by announcing they were quitting their record label. One of the band members told a reporter, quote, staying at the company will only prolong our psychological pain. Their choice to leave set off a lengthy legal and power struggle. And The Times has now obtained the contracts at the heart of it. The agreements the singer signed when they were just 14 to 17 years old. Getting access to K-pop contracts is incredibly rare. There has been snippets of contracts in court cases, but having a full contract gives us an incredibly exclusive look at how much control the label holds over these artists. Sarah Hertz is an investigative reporter at The Times. She says the K-pop industry has been notorious for how strictly it manages its performers, with companies sometimes recruiting singers as children to come live in dorms and controlling many aspects of their lives. Some artists have described near starvation diets and making almost no money. But despite years of promised overhauls, Sarah says the New Jeans contracts show how little has changed, even for such a successful group. When you put it all together, these contracts give the label a lot of control over how the members act, who they date, what they say, how they look. And even the right to use A.I. generated New Jeans voices was no end date indefinitely. Another thing is plastic surgery in K-pop. So this is a kind of open secret in the industry. There is a lot of pressure on these performers to fit a very specific beauty standard. Some of them get surgery. Before they're even adults. And that pressure made its way into a contract that we got a hold of. It said clearly that the members can be on the hook to pay back some of the money the label spent on them, including for plastic surgery. Sarah says the South Korean government has tried to promote a contract template to address concerns about the K-pop industry. In that template, there's a guaranteed right to education, physical and mental health, and sleep. But that was all stripped out for the New Jeans contracts. In response to questions from the Times, the parent company of the label, which is behind other huge groups like BTS, said the contracts were legal and negotiated in good faith. For the full investigation and to see the contracts, check out the Times app or go to NYTimes.com. And finally, in San Francisco, yesterday, hundreds of thousands of people lined the streets for a parade. We're talking politicians waving, a marching band, motorcycles, the whole shebang, with people out in full force to paint the town violet. The Golden State Valkyries are champions of the WNBA. That's the team color for the Golden State Valkyries, the 2026 WNBA champions who just clinched the title over the weekend. Their victory marks a stunning rise. The team only debuted last year, and they managed to win it all in their second ever season. Since they hit the court, they've been wildly popular. The Valkyries have sold out every home game they've ever played. In their glitzy waterfront arena, they share with the Golden State Warriors, the Bay Area's NBA team. And there's a waiting list for season tickets for the Valkyries next year. One fan at the parade yesterday told the Times that all this success is a, quote, big testament to what happens when you support women in sports. The league has plans to keep expanding, with teams coming to Cleveland, Detroit, Philadelphia. And the Valkyries have underscored just how big of a business it is. Three years ago, the owners spent $50 million on the rights to launch the team. Now, the Valkyries are valued at a billion dollars, a record for a women's sports team. Those are the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. We'll be back tomorrow with the latest and the Friday. News quiz.