It’s Tuesday, November 5 and this is The Front Page, your daily window into the world of The Free Press—and our take on the world at large.
Before we dive into our Election Day offerings—including early voting tensions, an ode to democracy, and a fancy “self-care suite” for election-triggered college students—don’t forget to tune in to our epic livestream tonight on YouTube or X beginning at 7 p.m. ET. (More details about that below.)
Now, onto the news. . .
It’s Election Day, though for millions the election is already over. That’s because a record number of Americans have already cast their ballots.
More than 78 million Americans have already voted—half the total who voted in 2020—thanks to mail-in ballots and early voting. More than 4 million people cast early ballots in Georgia, more than 90 percent of them in person. In Pennsylvania, 1.7 million people voted by mail. Even states devastated by Hurricane Helene saw remarkably high early voter turnout. North Carolina surpassed its 2020 record, with over 4.2 million voting early. South Carolina reported 1.5 million pre–Election Day votes, the most the state has ever seen. Meanwhile, Florida saw 8 million early voters.
So: who does this help? Trump or Harris? Naturally, the campaigns are furiously spinning the numbers.
An RNC consultant to the Trump campaign said it’s good news. “Democrats are facing a precipitous decline in urban turnout according to their own ‘data experts’ and we are tracking an uptick in rural turnout,” a leaked internal memo stated. The memo added that, in four key swing states, female voting is down while rural voting is up.
But pollster Nate Silver warns against reading too much into early voting numbers, arguing that even if we knew which way these voters swung, they “aren’t a representative sample of the electorate.”
Some believe voters are rushing to the polls in an effort to save the republic, with both sides insisting the loss of their candidate could mean the end of democracy.
My colleague Tanya Lukyanova isn’t so gloomy. Perhaps that’s because she was born in Russia. She became an American citizen in August. Today she’ll be voting in her first free election.
“I won’t pretend to be thrilled about the candidates in this race,” Tanya writes. “But as anyone who has lived under an autocratic regime can tell you, there’s a world of difference between a poor choice and none at all.”
Read Tanya Lukyanova: “I’ve Voted in Rigged Elections. Now I Get to Vote in an American One.”
Legos, Cocoa, and Coloring Books for Georgetown Students
Before we continue, some comic relief, courtesy of Georgetown University. Frannie Block reports that the school is offering its students access to a “self-care suite” the day after the election. The safe space will include “tea, cocoa, and self-care,” “coloring and mindfulness exercises,” “milk and cookies,” and “self-guided meditation.” Yes, really.
Read Frannie Block’s piece on how college kids are warding off election trauma.
Who Are the Politically Homeless Voting For?
Back in January, Peter Savodnik reported on “The Great Scramble” enveloping American politics. Voters told him it was unclear what liberal or progressive or conservative or Republican or Democrat meant anymore. And that their vote was up for grabs.
Ahead of Election Day, Peter went back to eight of the characters we have featured over the past year to find out who they’re voting for. We spoke to people like Shelle Lichti, a lesbian trucker from Oregon; Brian Lasher, a former Navy commander from Pennsylvania; Stephen Horn, a blogger from North Carolina who took part in January 6; and Joe Gow, a former chancellor of the University of Wisconsin–LaCrosse who was fired for making porn with his wife.
Is Lasher, who called Trump an “asshole” when he voted for him in 2020, still sticking with his man? And which way will Lichti—who voted for Trump in 2016, then Biden in 2020—swing this year?
Read Peter Savodnik to find out who our “scrambled” subjects are voting for today.
Live from New York, It’s The Free Press!
What are you doing on the election night from hell? You know what you’re going to get on Fox or MSNBC. If you want the kind of smart, independent thinking you expect from The Free Press, tune in to our live election coverage, starting from 7 p.m. until the wee hours.
We’ve assembled an all-star lineup of politicians, pollsters, and commentators—including Bari Weiss, Coleman Hughes, Nellie Bowles, Dan Crenshaw, John McWhorter, the girls from Red Scare, and the boys from The Fifth Column—to break down real-time results and provide in-depth analysis. Throw a party, grab some friends, and watch history unfold with us. And for those needing a stiff drink, fear not: There will be drinking games.
Join us at 7 p.m. ET. Follow this link and click “notify me” to make sure you don’t miss it.
ICYMI: Douglas Murray on How to Lose Gracefully
Whoever loses this election should emulate Richard Nixon’s “gracefulness in defeat,” wrote Douglas Murray in his Things Worth Remembering column on Sunday. We thought we’d re-share his piece in today’s Front Page—partly because, thanks to an email snafu, some of you never received it, but mostly because its core message bears repeating today of all days: Grace in defeat is important for democracy. Donald, Kamala, take note.
Read “Things Worth Remembering: Whoever Loses, They Should Lose Like Nixon.”
The Free Press is unlike any other newsroom: We aren’t voting the same way. We think that’s essential for the work we do—and it’s why we aren’t endorsing a candidate in this election. Watch Bari Weiss explain why in this video monologue, or listen on the Honestly feed. Or read her op-ed.
Pennsylvania is the most important state in this election and according to the polls, there’s less than a point in it. No wonder both candidates were in the Keystone State on the final day of the campaign. Trump spoke at a rally in Pittsburgh, where he promised to “launch the largest deportation program of criminals in American history.” Kamala Harris made several stops in the state, including a rally in Allentown where she said “Hard work is joyful work. And make no mistake, we will win.”
Remember when Donald Trump made fun of Megyn Kelly for her period in 2015? What a long strange trip it’s been. Yesterday, Kelly spoke at Trump’s rally in Pittsburgh, endorsing him for president. “I hope all of you do what I did last week, vote Trump and get ten of your friends to vote Trump,” said the podcaster and former Fox host in Pittsburgh. “You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her. . . wherever,” said Trump of Kelly back in 2015. At the Pittsburgh rally, he introduced her as a woman who had recently “ripped some poor idiot apart” on television. “Come up here, Megyn,” he said, as the two exchanged a hug.
Speaking of big name podcasters: Yesterday, on the eve of the election, Joe Rogan endorsed Donald Trump for president on X. He linked to a three-hour interview with Elon Musk, saying of the SpaceX CEO, “If it wasn’t for him we’d be fucked.” He added: “He makes what I think is the most compelling case for Trump you’ll hear, and I agree with him every step of the way. For the record, yes, that’s an endorsement of Trump. Enjoy the podcast.”
Republicans are favored to regain control of the Senate, with eight incumbent Democrats fighting key races in red and swing states. Keep an eye on these four races: Montana, where Democrat incumbent Jon Tester has trailed Republican Tim Sheehy in the polls; Michigan, where Republican Mike Rogers and Democrat Rep. Elissa Slotkin are in a coin-flip race; Ohio, where Democrat incumbent Sherrod Brown is hoping to cling on against MAGA-y Republican candidate Bernie Moreno in a state moving rightward; and Pennsylvania, where Republican Dave McCormick—who lost the GOP primary for Senate two years ago—is surging in the polls against incumbent Bob Casey.
A House race in a solidly blue New Hampshire district has made waves online in recent days, with Republican candidate Lily Tang Williams lambasting her Groton-, Yale-, and Yale Law School–educated opponent Maggie Goodlander for being out of touch. Goodlander also happens to be married to Joe Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan. “You pretend you are poor, complain that rent is so high. You do not understand regular people’s concerns,” said Tang Williams in the recent showdown. Ouch. Zooming out, overall control of the House is a toss-up and will come down to 30 competitive seats—many of them in California, Washington, New York, and Virginia.
In this razor-thin election, one nightmare situation keeping constitutional experts up at night is an Electoral College tie between Trump and Harris. So what would happen? Referred to as a “contingent election,” there are three unlikely (yet plausible enough to ponder) maps in which neither candidate reaches the 270 electoral college threshold to win. Were that to happen, the House would select the president, and the Senate the vice president, potentially producing the unity ticket that truly nobody asked for: Trump and Walz.
A young woman in Iran removed her clothing and displayed her hair outside of her university to protest the “abusive enforcement” of the strict dress code. For this crime, she was swiftly and violently arrested, with footage showing her struggling beside a car with a group of men. Human rights organizations have called for an investigation into allegations of beatings and sexual assault during the arrest. Iran requires all women to wear a hijab in public, a mandate enforced by the country’s “morality police.”
Elections are a busy time at news organizations. At The Free Press we’ve been running on Clif Bars and anxiety for weeks. But the New York Times tech staff clearly didn’t get the memo. More than 600 members of the Times’ Tech Guild went on strike yesterday. Their demands include mandatory trigger warnings in meetings, a ban on scented products in break rooms, and unlimited break time. Plus a big pay raise, of course. The real question: Will the Gray Lady’s famous election needle hold up tonight?
Farewell, Mr. Jones
Last, but by no means least, an important item that has nothing to do with the election. Legendary music producer Quincy Jones died Sunday at 91. My colleague Eli Lake remembers a musical icon:
Most artists are known for their mastery of a single genre. But only the very greatest can shape-shift and influence musical styles throughout their lives. That describes Quincy Jones.
Jones was born to middle-class parents in Chicago’s segregated South Side in 1933. In 1956, at the age of 23, Jones played second trumpet for the studio audience that supported the television debut of Elvis Presley. In 1963, Jones produced the smash hit for Lesley Gore, “It’s My Party.” A few years later, he was the musical director for Frank Sinatra’s legendary live concert album with the Count Basie Orchestra at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas. That’s three seminal moments in three distinct genres: early rock ’n’ roll, bubblegum pop, and big band jazz.
And that doesn’t even scratch the surface. Before he was 30 years old, Jones became a vice president of Mercury Records. He went on to arrange and compose several movie soundtracks. He wrote the theme songs to Sanford and Son and Bill Cosby’s first television show. In the 1970s, Jones continued to evolve, releasing a string of solo records that pushed the boundaries of funk and jazz. In 1978, Jones landed the job as musical director for The Wiz, the all-black version of The Wizard of Oz. It was on the set of The Wiz that he met a 19-year-old Michael Jackson and struck up the most important friendship of his life, which led to three blockbuster albums, Off the Wall, Bad, and Thriller—the best-selling album of all time.
Jones was the Zelig of twentieth-century American song—a character who shows up in so many hinge moments, you can’t imagine what music would sound like without him.
Madeleine Kearns is an associate editor for The Free Press. Follow her on X @madeleinekearns.
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