Republicans set out to hold the House in the midterms by redrawing congressional maps in their favor, hoping to blunt the heavy losses the president's party usually suffers. President Trump began pressing Republican-led states to do so last year. According to NPR, the effort is not turning out as planned, and the party could end up spending millions of dollars defending seats that were supposed to be easy wins.
Of the 15 districts drawn specifically to favor Republicans, only five are rated by the Cook Political Report as likely or solid Republican. Most of the rest are toss-ups or lean toward Democrats.
NPR's Tamara Keith said one reason is that some lines were drawn using the 2024 Trump electorate. Since then, support for the president has weakened, especially among young and Latino voters. Several Democratic incumbents targeted by the new maps have also chosen to stay and fight for their seats. A Republican strategist involved in midterm races, who was not authorized to speak publicly, disputed the idea that redistricting failed. The strategist said it "creates new battlefields" but does not "create outcomes."
In Brazil, leftist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won a fourth term in the presidential runoff, defeating Flávio Bolsonaro, son of former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, by more than 4 million votes. It is the first time since democracy was restored in 1989 that a candidate who finished second in the first round has gone on to win the presidency.
NPR's Carrie Kahn said the result appears to have halted a right-wing sweep across Latin America, where seven conservative presidents have been elected in the past 18 months. She said a message that resonated in the final weeks of Lula's campaign was that a return of a Bolsonaro to power would pose an existential threat to Brazilian democracy.
Large demonstrations against the government continued over the weekend in France. More than 100,000 people turned out in Paris and more than 400,000 nationwide. The protests began with students demanding better conditions but have grown to include unions and public-sector workers, who are calling for more public spending and objecting to rising inequality. Similar protests have erupted across Europe, from Spain to Serbia.
NPR's Eleanor Beardsley said the grievances range from schools and housing costs to corruption, but most of the movements are leaderless and driven by young people frustrated with the world they are inheriting. In Serbia, crowds celebrated in the streets of Belgrade after a student-led movement known as the "student-list" defeated the party of longtime strongman Aleksandar Vucic in Sunday's parliamentary elections. The victory followed two years of protests over government corruption and a lack of accountability.
Elsewhere, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 4,588 confirmed measles cases across the United States this year through Oct. 22, more than double the total for all of 2025, with cases particularly high in Pennsylvania. The agency also said the general fertility rate for U.S. women fell 1% to a record low in 2025, with births declining among women in their 20s and rising among women ages 30 to 45.
