The Polling Desk Briefing
One short email a week with what actually changed. Free, and you can leave anytime.
What you get
- What changed: control of Congress, races still being counted and the polls that moved.
- What Congress voted on and what's next: the shutdown deadline, the January 3 Speaker vote.
- Follow the money: the week's biggest outside spending.
- A new quiz each week, plus the site's games.
- Alerts on election nights.
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A sample, built from this week's numbers
What changed this week, and what's next: House and Senate Republicans pick their leaders
Where things stand
• Senate: Democrats 54, Republicans 44, 2 not yet called (Democrats hold the majority)
• House: Democrats 254, Republicans 167, 14 not yet called (Democrats hold the majority)
• 17 races are still being counted: https://polling-desk.com/still-counting
This week in Congress
• Senate: Motion to Invoke Cloture: Motion to Proceed to H.R. 2347 (cloture on the motion to proceed agreed to)
Every vote, and how your members voted: https://polling-desk.com/congress/this-week
Coming up
• November 10: House and Senate Republicans pick their leaders (https://polling-desk.com/explainers/congressional-leadership-elections)
• November 18: House Democrats begin two days of leadership votes (https://polling-desk.com/explainers/congressional-leadership-elections)
• December 1: Georgia runoffs (https://polling-desk.com/georgia-runoff)
New on Polling Desk
• How Congress Picks Its Party Leaders After the 2026 Midterms: https://polling-desk.com/explainers/congressional-leadership-elections
• How to Force a House Vote: Privileged Resolutions, Discharge: https://polling-desk.com/explainers/how-to-force-a-house-vote
• What Happens If the Government Shuts Down?: https://polling-desk.com/explainers/government-shutdown
• Can Foreign Countries Donate to U.S. Elections?: https://polling-desk.com/explainers/foreign-money-in-us-elections
• How Impeachment Works: The House Charges, the Senate Tries: https://polling-desk.com/explainers/how-impeachment-works
• New Member Orientation: What Happens Before the New Congress: https://polling-desk.com/explainers/new-member-orientation
Play
• Daily puzzle #1: guess today's state from six clues (https://polling-desk.com/daily)
• Predictions: will the government shut down? How many votes will the Speaker get? (https://polling-desk.com/predict)
• Build your 2028 electoral map and share it (https://polling-desk.com/2028/map)
• Guess the poll: ten real polls, how close can you get? (https://polling-desk.com/guess-the-poll)
• This week's news quiz: how closely did you follow the news? (https://polling-desk.com/news-quiz)
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Generated from the site's data; the email we send is checked by our team.
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