Today in One Sentence. The Senate rejected a resolution directing Trump to end the Iran war and seek congressional authorization; the 30-year Treasury yield climbed to its highest level since 2004, while the average 30-year mortgage rate topped 7% for the first time since January 2025; CNN, MS NOW and Politico regained access to the White House hours after initially being denied access despite a federal judge ordering the administration to restore their press credentials; JD Vance was the anonymous “senior administration official” behind one of the Politico stories that the White House cited to justify banning the outlet from the White House; the Texas Department of Public Safety failed to send tens of thousands of voter registration records to county election officials; the California Supreme Court ordered Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco to return roughly 650,000 seized ballots; an Iowa judge dismissed Trump’s lawsuit against the Des Moines Register and pollster Ann Selzer over a 2024 pre-election poll that showed Kamala Harris leading Trump in Iowa; and the U.S. government paid to air a pro-Trump television ad ahead of the midterm elections despite federal law restricting the use of taxpayer money for “publicity or propaganda.”.

1/ The Senate rejected a resolution directing Trump to end the Iran war and seek congressional authorization. The measure failed 49-50, with four Republicans joining Democrats in support. Although it had already passed the House, the vote was largely symbolic because the concurrent resolution wouldn’t have gone to Trump for his signature anyway. Meanwhile, Iran’s president pushed for a deal before the U.S. midterms, contradicting Trump’s claim two days ago that Iran was waiting to see “how I do in the midterm election.” (Associated Press / Reuters / Washington Post / NBC News / Axios / Bloomberg / Politico / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / CBS News)

2/ The 30-year Treasury yield climbed to its highest level since 2004, while the average 30-year mortgage rate topped 7% for the first time since January 2025. The 10-year Treasury yield also rose above 5%. The Federal Reserve, meanwhile, raised rates last week for the first time in more than three years, and traders are pricing in additional rate hikes as the Iran war keeps energy prices elevated, persistent inflation, and economic growth remains resilient. Trump, however, has attacked the central bank board as “hostile” and demanded rates fall to “1%, or less.” (Bloomberg / Reuters / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / CBS News / NPR)

3/ CNN, MS NOW and Politico regained access to the White House – hours after initially being denied access despite a federal judge ordering the administration to restore their press credentials. U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly issued a 14-day restraining order, finding that the outlets would likely to succeed in showing that their passes were revoked without due process and that the administration offered “little” support for its national security justification. (Associated Press / Reuters / NPR / New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Politico / CNN / NBC News / ABC News)

4/ JD Vance was the anonymous “senior administration official” behind one of the Politico stories that the White House cited to justify banning the outlet from the White House. In court filings defending its decision to ban Politico, CNN, and MS NOW, the administration cited a June 2026 report quoting a “senior administration official” who estimated an “80, 85 percent” chance of making a deal with Iran. The senior administration official was Vance speaking on an authorized, administration-hosted background briefing, and an aide explicitly instructed reporters on the line that the call was “on background, attributable to a senior administration official.” The White House later pointed to Politico’s use of that anonymous attribution as evidence that the outlet had published information threatening national security. Vance defended Politico’s ban this week as “totally appropriate.” (Status / Washington Post / New Republic)

5/ The Texas Department of Public Safety failed to send tens of thousands of voter registration records to county election officials. A system error reportedly prevented some applications and updates from being transmitted for nearly a year, with records dating as far back as October 2025. DPS said the “system issue has been resolved,” but officials haven’t said what caused the error, how many voters were affected statewide, or whether anyone was prevented from voting in the March primary. From 2020 through 2024, about 6 million Texans used the DPS portal to register to vote. (Texas Tribune / Votebeat / Associated Press / Washington Post)

6/ The California Supreme Court ordered Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco to return roughly 650,000 seized ballots. The court said Bianco created “a substantial risk to election integrity,” ordered him to return the ballots from the state’s 2025 special election to county election officials “forthwith,” and to “refrain from further handling” them because California law requires voted ballots to remain in the custody of election officials even during a criminal investigation. Bianco seized the ballots after receiving a complaint from a local citizens group claiming Riverside County had counted about 46,000 more ballots than it received. The county registrar, however, said the group misread preliminary records and that the official ballot-tracking system differed from the final count by 103 ballots. (CalMatters / Democracy Docket / Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News)

7/ An Iowa judge dismissed Trump’s lawsuit against the Des Moines Register and pollster Ann Selzer over a 2024 pre-election poll that showed Kamala Harris leading Trump in Iowa. Judge Scott Beattie rejected Trump’s claim that the poll was consumer fraud, ruling that “simply labeling the poll a product […] does not transform it from speech into a product” or strip it of First Amendment protection. The poll had Harris ahead 47% to 44% three days before Election Day. Trump ultimately won Iowa 56% to 43%. (Axios / Politico)

8/ The U.S. government paid to air a pro-Trump television ad ahead of the midterm elections despite federal law restricting the use of taxpayer money for “publicity or propaganda.” The 30-second spot aired on Fox News and Newsmax, featured Trump declaring that “America will never be a communist country,” promoted his policies, and ended with a disclaimer saying “Paid for by the U.S. Government.” In the background is the repeated chorus “love me” from a song by the artist JMSN. The White House wouldn’t say which agency funded it and called the ad an “educational and unapologetically patriotic” public service announcement meant to remind Americans “to love their country.” (Associated Press / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Washington Post)

The 2026 midterms are in 40 days; the 2028 presidential election is in 775 days.