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Democrats are dominating the first major Election Day since President Donald Trump returned to the White House. A debate about the future of the Democratic Party may have only just begun, but there are signs that the economy — specifically, Trump’s inability to deliver the economic turnaround he promised last fall — may hurt the Republican Party for the foreseeable future. Democrats won governor’s races in Virginia and New Jersey, the only states electing new chief executives this year. Trump was largely absent from the campaign trail, but the GOP candidates closely aligned themselves with the president. They bet that his big win last year could provide a path to victory this time.

Voters head to polls Tuesday in America’s first major election day since President Donald Trump returned to the White House. The Republican president did not hit the campaign trail to help his party’s candidates or causes. But his leadership and policies dominated the debate virtually everywhere. No contests are bigger than governor's races in New Jersey and Virginia, the only two this year. The GOP candidates in both states closely aligned themselves with Trump. Strong Democratic showings could provide the party a pathway back to national relevance — even if its top candidates have taken very different approaches.

Israel has returned the bodies of 45 Palestinians, according to the Red Cross. It comes a day after militants returned the remains of three Israeli soldiers killed in a Hamas-led attack in October 2023. The exchange is part of a U.S.-brokered ceasefire aimed at ending the conflict between Israel and Hamas. Since the truce began in October, Palestinian militants have released the remains of 20 hostages, with eight still in Gaza. For each Israeli hostage returned, Israel has been releasing the remains of 15 Palestinians, totaling 270 since the ceasefire started.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the army to carry out “powerful strikes” in Gaza. This decision comes after an Israeli official reported that Hamas fired on Israeli forces in southern Gaza. Hamas has delayed handing over another hostage’s body in response to Israel’s planned strikes. On Monday, the Palestinian militant group handed over body parts that Israel identified as the remains of a hostage recovered earlier in the war, which Netanyahu called a violation of the ceasefire. The ceasefire, which began on October 10, has been fragile, with previous flare-ups. The situation remains tense, with ongoing challenges to the ceasefire.

Frontrunner Zohran Mamdani was attacked over his thin resume. Republican Curtis Sliwa strove to prove his seriousness as a candidate. And former Gov. Andrew Cuomo was pressed on the sexual harassment allegations that drove him from office in a contentious final debate in New York City’s mayoral race. They candidates met just days before early voting begins in the country's largest city. While Mamdani began the debate accusing his rivals of being too consumed by fighting, he quickly joined the fray, including inviting one of Cuomo’s accusers to appear in the studio audience. Cuomo is now running as an independent after losing the Democratic primary to Mamdani.

Protesting the direction of the country under President Donald Trump, people will gather Saturday in the nation’s capital and communities across the U.S. They're holding “No Kings” demonstrations, or what the president’s Republican Party is calling “Hate America” rallies. This is the third mass mobilization since Trump’s return to the White House and it's expected to be the largest. It comes against the backdrop of a government shutdown that not only has closed federal programs and services, but is testing the core balance of power as organizers warn of a slide toward American authoritarianism. Trump himself is away from Washington at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida.

Israel has received the remains of two more hostages after they were transferred by the Red Cross from Hamas. Their arrival in Israel on Wednesday came hours after the Israeli military said that one of the bodies previously turned over was not that of a hostage. The confusion added to tensions over the fragile truce that has paused the two-year war. After the two coffins were brought into Israel, the military in a statement cautioned that the hostages’ identities had yet to be verified. Meanwhile, the Gaza Health Ministry said it received 45 more bodies of Palestinians from Israel.

The Israeli Prime Minister's Office has confirmed that authorities received the remains of four more dead hostages. It said late Tuesday that the Red Cross handed the bodies over to Israeli forces inside Gaza. The transfer comes a day after the bodies of four other dead hostages were returned to Israel. Earlier on Tuesday, an Israeli military agency said it would halve the number of trucks allowed to bring humanitarian aid into devastated Gaza, over concerns that the militant group was returning the remains of dead hostages more slowly than agreed.

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — The fragile ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war was tested Tuesday as the slower-than-hoped return of deceased hostages from Gaza prompted an Israeli military agency to declare a “violation” of the truce agreement that it…

President Donald Trump is hailing the ceasefire deal he brokered between Israel and Hamas as the end of the war in Gaza and start of rebuilding the devastated territory. Trump said as he stood with foreign leaders in Egypt on Monday that “I think we’ve done a lot of the hardest part because the rest comes together.” But as difficult as it was to reach a fragile ceasefire in Gaza, which on Monday led to freedom for Israeli hostages and the release of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, the path to peace and eventual rebuilding will be a long and very precipitous route.

Israel and Hamas have taken a significant step in the ceasefire agreement for the Gaza war by releasing hostages and prisoners. The move raises hopes for a long term truce in the region. However, unresolved issues like Hamas disarmament and Gaza governance highlight the deal's fragility. On Monday, Israelis celebrated the return of hostages, while Palestinians welcomed freed prisoners. U.S. President Donald Trump visited the region to support the agreement, urging Israeli lawmakers to pursue broader peace. A meeting of world leaders in Egypt sought to set in motion the next phases of the agreement.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Israel and Hamas agreed Wednesday to pause fighting in Gaza so that the remaining hostages there can be freed in the coming days in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, accepting elements of a plan put forward by…

President Donald Trump says Israel and Hamas have agreed to the “first Phase” of his peace plan to pause fighting and release at least some hostages and prisoners. “This means that ALL of the Hostages will be released very soon, and Israel will withdraw their Troops to an agreed upon line as the first steps toward a Strong, Durable, and Everlasting Peace,” Trump wrote Wednesday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, "With God’s help we will bring them all home.” Negotiators have been meeting in Egypt for days to hash out a Trump-backed peace plan that he hopes will ultimately result in a permanent end to the two-year war.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Tours at the Capitol have come to a standstill. The House is keeping its doors closed, while the Senate is stuck in a loop of failed votes on a rejected plan to reopen the government. President…

To hear party leaders talk, the seventh day of the government shutdown sounded a lot like the first. Democrats are seeking negotiations on expiring health care subsidies while Republicans say they won’t discuss it, or any other policy, until the government reopens. The two sides are also offering starkly different visions of the Affordable Care Act and how to deal with the expanded premium assistance that will soon expire for millions of people — Democrats want the aid extended, while Republicans insist the subsidized health care system is broken and must be cut back.