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Senate candidate Scott Colom (D) in Mississippi lashed out at the Cook Political Report on Monday, criticizing the vaunted election forecaster for underestimating his campaign’s strength against incumbent Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R).
In a post on social media, Colom, who is leading Hyde-Smith by nearly 2,600 votes, argued that Cook’s race ratings hurt his campaign by hampering his ability of fundraise. In its final pre-election forecast, Cook rated the race as “Likely R,” its second-strongest behind “Solid R.”
“At some point, we have to talk about @CookPolitical and other ‘prognosticators’ who had me and other southern candidates labeled as solid R for much of the campaign cycle,” Colom wrote in his post. “They made it much more difficult to fundraise and are part of the reason the South has been neglected for so long.”
Founded in 1984, Cook has developed a reputation as one of the most reliable nonpartisan election forecasters in Washington. Its race ratings, which rank elections on a seven-point scale based on their likely outcome, historically have been extremely accurate, with 97 percent of its “Likely” ratings and 94 percent of its “Lean” ratings proving correct, according to a 2024 internal review.
But like many forecasters this cycle, Cook’s 2026 ratings underestimated Democratic strength, with Democrats winning over a dozen House races that Cook had “Lean R” or “Likely R.” (Several races are still outstanding.) On the Senate side, Cook had rated the Senate seat in South Carolina won by Annie Andrews (D) as “Lean R” — its first missed call in the Senate since 1992.
Vanderbilt University officials urged people to shut down university devices, disconnect from school WiFi and “remain extremely vigilant” Monday as they investigated an active cybersecurity incident.
“Take immediate action if you notice any unusual or suspicious activity on your devices,” they wrote on the school’s website.
A website claiming to be that of the BYOD ransomware group posted a message online to Vanderbilt: “If you could not tell already, your databases are locked, We have your entire estate and research data. Over 1 Million SSNs, Full Names, Email addresses, Phone Numbers, Student & Employee Records, Full takeover of your DC, whatever was on your network, we possess.”
A spokesperson for Vanderbilt said the school had not confirmed those numbers. It was unclear Monday afternoon whether the hackers had demanded a ransom. The university, which has its main campus in Nashville, has about 14,000 students and more than 7,000 faculty and staff members.
Vanderbilt advised people on campus to take immediate steps if they see any suspicious activity: “DO NOT CLICK on any links, pop-ups, attachments, or unfamiliar prompts,” don’t try to troubleshoot, shut down the device immediately, and contact the information technology service desk immediately with another device or phone to report the incident.
The Vanderbilt Hustler, a campus newspaper, reported that some students were seeing pop-up README tabs on their university devices, and that university information technology officials entered classrooms with warnings.
Athletic icons Pat Summitt and Willie Mays will be featured on stamps to be issued next year by the U.S. Postal Service.
Also, unicorns, Halloween monsters and vegetables. The 2027 collection is to spotlight “sports legends, mythical creatures and celebrations.”
Summitt coached the University of Tennessee women’s basketball team to eight national titles in her 38 years and the U.S. national team to its first Olympic gold medal in 1984, while raising the profile of the women’s game.
The first coach, men’s or women’s, to 1,000 college wins, she was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2000. She is known for leveraging Title IX, the federal civil rights law against sex-based discrimination in schools, to fight for equal funding and facilities for female athletes.
Mays was the quintessential five-tool player, among baseball’s greatest ever at hitting for average, hitting for power, speed, fielding and throwing.
He spent a year playing for the Birmingham Black Barons in the Negro American League before joining the New York Giants. Over the following 22 seasons, the Say Hey Kid was a 24-time National League all-star (the game was played twice a year from 1959 through 1962), 12-time Gold Glove winner and two-time NL MVP.
Mays retired in 1973 with 660 home runs, behind only Babe Ruth and Henry Aaron, and a lifetime batting average of .301. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979, the first year he was eligible.
His stamp depicts “The Catch,” his over-the-shoulder grab of Cleveland Indian Vic Wertz’s eighth-inning, 420-foot drive to center field at the Polo Grounds in New York to keep Game 1 of the 1954 World Series tied. The Giants went on to win the game and sweep the series.
The collection also features unicorns, and “Veggies Forever” — stamps decorated by closeup shots of mushrooms, cabbage and other vegetables. More subjects are to be announced soon, the Postal Service said.
A New Jersey community lost about $26 million in a “sophisticated financial theft” while attempting to wire money to acquire property for affordable housing, the mayor of Cranbury Township said in a statement.
Mayor Lisa Knierim detailed the theft in a statement posted on Facebook on Friday, more than five weeks after the Sept. 28 wire transfer. Knierim oversees the five-member Cranbury Township Committee.
“Our responsibility as elected officials are not only to respond to this incident, but also to ensure the continued stability and effective operation of Township government,” Knierim wrote, adding, “We recognize that news of this magnitude will understandably raise questions and concerns among our residents.”
Cranbury Township, located in central New Jersey, has a population of about 4,000 residents and an annual budget of about $15 million.
Knierim said local, county, state and federal law enforcement agencies investigating the theft have so far identified $17.3 million that has been “successfully frozen.”
The timing of Knierim’s announcement angered some residents and Republican leaders. They accused Knierim, a Democrat, of withholding the information until after Tuesday’s election, when a Democrat defeated a Republican for a seat on the Township Committee.
“Why were taxpayers kept in the dark?” the New Jersey Republican Party asked in a statement. “What safeguards failed? Who is being held accountable?”
Township officials plan to discuss the theft at a community meeting on Monday night.
A judo champion and five-time Olympic gold medalist said Monday that he is running for president of France.
In a video posted to social media, 37-year-old Teddy Riner, one of France’s most famous athletes, said the country does “not need a professional politician who lectures and bickers all day. It needs common sense, firmness, justice and a state that puts things in their place.”
People might see the unexpected bid as “crazy,” he said, acknowledging that he lacks political experience. “If refusing chaos makes me crazy, then, yes, I am completely crazy.”
France has been gripped by protests over the cost of living and political divisions as the government warns it must rein in record debt. The unrest is flaring six months before a vote that will determine the successor of President Emmanuel Macron, who has led for two terms, and that could reshape European politics.
Far-right leader Marine Le Pen is leading in the polls, followed by hard-left candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon, echoing voter discontent with Europe’s embattled centrists. Over a dozen political figures have declared plans to run or been nominated, but the formal qualification period has not begun.
In an interview with the French newspaper Le Parisien, Riner said he was “neither right- nor left-wing” but aspired to be a “president who unites.” He has said that he is worried about the rise of the far right.
Alongside his campaign, Riner said that he intends to continue with judo and that, as president, he would seek to participate in the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles if possible.
“I won’t be among those who stand by and watch the country burn, looking for excuses,” he said in his announcement. “Fighting has always been a part of who I am.”
HOUSTON — Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) told a conservative radio host Monday that Republican lawmakers should strip the Democrat who defeated him of power as the state Senate president before she takes office.
The lieutenant governor of Texas is powerful, unlike those in other states. The officeholder can write the budget, appoint committees and chairs, and set legislative priorities with the governor.
Texas GOP state senators can use their simple majority once they reconvene in January to transfer powers from Democrat Lt. Gov.-elect Vikki Goodwin to a Republican majority leader.
Goodwin warned on MS NOW last week that Republicans would strip her authority “at their peril because we will have elections again in 2028.”
But Patrick told radio host Mark Davis that Republicans state senators should take such steps to “protect the conservative majority.”
“I support the Republicans standing up for their voters,” Patrick said.
Goodwin defeated Patrick by six percentage points as part of a Democratic sweep of every statewide race on the Texas ballot.
Goodwin has contacted Republican state senators in hopes of working together. Her transition team said in a statement that she “believes that Texas is best served by a deliberative, collaborative body.”
Since taking the helm of the Senate in 2015, Patrick consolidated power to become arguably the most influential lieutenant governor in the country.
Patrick led the acquittal of Attorney General Ken Paxton after Paxton was impeached by the Texas House in 2023. Patrick defended GOP legislative priorities, including a school voucher program.
The post-midterm shake-up at the top of the Justice Department continued Monday with a senior official resigning and President Donald Trump considering nominating another department leader to the federal bench.
Brett Shumate — head of the department’s civil division, which has been responsible for leading the defense of many of the Trump administration’s most controversial policies in court — submitted his resignation Monday, Attorney General Todd Blanche said.
Meanwhile, a White House official said Trump is “actively considering” nominating T. Elliot Gaiser — head of the department’s Office of Legal Counsel — to the federal bench in North Texas. The OLC is charged with assessing the legality of actions or policies the executive branch wants to pursue.
Although the official described Gaiser’s nomination as a possibility, a Senate Judiciary Committee aide said members were sent Gaiser’s responses to a detailed questionnaire for the judicial role Sunday night. That step normally takes place only after a nomination has been made. Both the official and the aide spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss nonpublic details of the process.
Gaiser, a former Ohio solicitor general, appears to have no professional ties to Texas outside of a judicial clerkship he held between 2016 and 2017, according to his questionnaire response, which was reviewed by The Washington Post. In it, he said the office of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) contacted him about the potential opening the day after the election. He had subsequent conversations with Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and the White House, Gaiser said on the form.
Gaiser would need to be confirmed as a judge by the Senate before he officially secured the new job.
Shumate’s departure and the potential loss of Gaiser come amid a greater post-Election Day exodus at the Justice Department, an agency that has seen significant personnel churn and an overhaul of priorities since the start of Trump’s second term.
Following last week’s election, Harmeet K. Dhillon, the head of the department’s civil rights division, John Eisenberg, head of the national security division, and Jason Reding Quiñones, the top prosecutor in South Florida, have all announced their resignations.
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