NPR's Daniel Estrin says Netanyahu pulled ahead by morning in a race too close to call

Estrin says neither candidate has a clear path to a majority coalition

Israelis went to bed thinking Gadi Eisenkot had the advantage, but by morning Benjamin Netanyahu had pulled ahead, making the election too close to call, NPR’s Daniel Estrin said. Voters had turned out in record numbers to decide whether to keep Prime Minister Netanyahu in office or oust him for an alternative, and Netanyahu was in a tight race with his top rival Eisenkot, a center-right former military chief of staff.

Election officials told NPR they expected to finish counting votes by tomorrow afternoon. Final vote tallies may take time, and if no bloc secures a majority, party leaders could need days or weeks to form a governing coalition and determine the next prime minister.

The leading candidate would have six weeks to form a governing coalition and would likely compete for support from defectors in each other’s camps. Eisenkot could gain the support of a majority of lawmakers in parliament because Arab-led parties had a strong showing and wanted him as prime minister. “Eisenkot’s camp is hesitant to form a coalition with Arab parties due to mistrust and demonization of Arab political leaders after the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks,” Estrin said. Estrin said neither Netanyahu nor Eisenkot had a clear path to a majority coalition.

According to the latest figures from the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Ebola outbreak had surpassed 10,000 people infected since its declaration in May. The outbreak has spread faster than any in history. It is also the largest in geographic scope, spanning from Nigeria to Kenya, and ranks second in death toll with nearly 5,000 deaths. Around one-third of those who died were children.

U.S. midterm campaigns entered their final stretch with advertising spending at a record level. Ad Impact said spending had surpassed a record $11 billion, and an NPR analysis found that candidates in four major Senate races spent more than $15 million on fundraising ads in the 2025-26 election cycle. President Trump has been campaigning in tight races across states like Texas, Mississippi and Kansas.

Trump was not sticking to his standard midterm pitch, NPR’s Danielle Kurtzleben said. That pitch included touting GOP tax cuts and attacking Democrats. His jokes, including comments about Ohio Sen. Jon Husted’s physique, entertained rally crowds but distracted from the issues Kurtzleben said the median voter cares about, such as the economy and gas prices. Midterm turnout is usually low, she said, but the GOP base still supports him, suggesting many MAGA votes are available. Kurtzleben said Trump’s need to rally votes in very red states indicated a potential problem for his party.

The Federal Reserve typically combats inflation by raising interest rates. Prices were currently rising faster than average wages, and investors did not expect a rate hike at that day’s meeting. NPR’s Scott Horsley said the Labor Department’s latest cost-of-living report showed consumer prices rose 3.7% in September compared with last year, marking a larger annual increase than the previous month. Fed policymakers raised rates in September, but investors believed the central bank would remain low-key ahead of Election Day and might increase rates again in December.

A supplementary reading from the University of Michigan inflation expectations series, published through the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, put the median one-year-ahead household expectation at 4.6% as of Oct. 28, 2026, in raw form (FRED). The series measures what households expect prices to do over the coming year, not the prices they have paid.

The results of the 2026 midterm elections will shape the final two years of Trump’s second term and serve as a precursor to the 2028 general election, NPR said. This month, Morning Edition has been reporting from six states that could change the balance of power in Washington. With Election Day less than a week away, Morning Edition’s Michel Martin went to the Midwest to hear from voters about what is important to them this midterm cycle.

In Springfield, Ohio, NPR reported that the Trump administration had conducted a campaign to deport Haitian residents living legally in the country with Temporary Protected Status. The administration revoked TPS for Haitians during Trump’s second term. Some Springfield voters said they were voting early because they were angry about the administration’s treatment of Haitians.

In Michigan, NPR reported, Abdul El-Sayed had narrowly won the Democratic Senate nomination, a victory for the party’s progressive wing. As a swing state, Michigan was important to both parties, which is why Trump and former President Barack Obama campaigned for their party’s Senate candidate over the weekend. Many Michigan voters expressed burnout as they worried about gas prices and healthcare.

NPR reported that Trump’s tariffs were hitting Michigan households harder than in any other state because many people depended on cross-border trade, though affected voters said the issue was not so clear-cut. Winning a statewide office in Michigan without Detroit was challenging, and El-Sayed did not perform well there in the primary. Some Black Detroiters said they remained skeptical of him.

Outside the election coverage, author Caroline Sylge recommended a “say no” retreat for the approaching holidays, as appointments and commitments began to pile up. She described the retreat as a day dedicated to figuring out which obligations you want to decline in the coming weeks and months, a practice she said could seem unconventional but could help create space for what truly matters.

Sylge shared her suggested schedule for the retreat. It began as soon as a participant woke up, with a list of things they wanted to say no to and the obvious tasks they wanted to avoid. After a break, the participant would return to the retreat space, expand the list and review requests, appointments, volunteer work and commitments for the coming days, weeks and months, noting the tasks they wanted to decline and why. After another break, the plan called for reviewing the list and starting to say no, beginning with a small win such as crossing off a demanding task and then moving to the tougher rejections that may involve saying no to someone the participant cared about or worked with.

The newsletter’s “3 things to know before you go” included news that the latest installment of Sarah J. Maas’ A Court of Thorns and Roses came out on Tuesday, prompting thousands of fans to attend midnight release parties at bookstores nationwide.

A federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s plans to further change East Potomac Park, the municipal D.C. golf course the president wants to turn into a championship-level venue. And Harvard astrophysicists said they had found what they believe is a previously undiscovered dwarf planet in our solar system, as reported by WGBH.