Semafor Recommends

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Leslie A. Fiedler’s recently reissued seminal text Love and Death in the American Novel is “an incredible repository of vexations, bafflements, witticisms, and brilliancies.”

Ceri Isfryn’s documentary Aberfan: The Village That Fought Back revisits the deadly Welsh coal mining disaster and the authorities’ callous response.

Simon Garfield’s whimsical deep dive into an everyday object, The Pen, “will make you want to rush out and buy a writing implement to cherish.”

Charting a century of Chinese immigrants’ experience in the US, Beth Lew-Williams’ John Doe Chinaman is “highly relevant in today’s fraught political climate.”

“In prose that is sharp and entertaining,” Sarah Anderson’s debut novel Fallow imagines the life of the world’s first in-house surrogate at a tech firm.

Lu Xun’s Jottings Under Lamplight, edited by Eileen Cheng and Kirk Denton, is a collection of essays offering “an analysis of China’s modern dilemma.”

Democratic pro-AI regulation PAC spends against Senate Republicans

Tomorrow Together is moving into Senate races with $2.5 million in ads against Republican Sens. Jon Husted in Ohio and Roger Marshall in Kansas.
Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio
Jacquelyn Martin/Pool via Reuters

Manchin, Ocasio-Cortez deliver Maine Senate closing arguments

Susan Collins is running to be the “soul of the Senate.” Troy Jackson isn’t.
Former Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Sen. Susan Collins of Maine visit a New Balance factory.
David Weigel/Semafor

Brazil deadlocked ahead of Sunday vote

Whoever comes out on top will have to navigate a tricky balance between maintaining strong ties to China and the US.
Lula and Bolsonaro.
Lula and Bolsonaro. Jean Carniel/Reuters

Israel’s leading parties in a dead heat ahead of high-stakes election

The outcome of party negotiations could have “profound” implications for Palestinians and Israel’s relations with neighboring states.
Billboards featuring Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of the Likud party (left) and former Israeli military chief Gadi Eisenkot, leader of the Yashar party (right).
Amir Cohen/Reuters
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Politics

Dems make a Kansas play as GOP eyes a California seat

Democrat Don Coover is down by three points against incumbent Republican Rep. Derek Schmidt, within the 3.9% margin of error, according to Democratic polling conducted in mid-October and shared with Semafor.
Democratic US Senate candidate Adam Hamilton
Matt Mills McKnight/Reuters

Betting operators and prediction markets spent record amounts on campaign donations and lobbying

Sports-betting and casino companies want to win back millions of bettors and gambling dollars that prediction markets have lured away.
People make bets at the FanDuel sportsbook
Eduardo Munoz/Reuters

El-Sayed’s new ad pitch: Republicans love me

The Michigan progressive, locked in a close Senate race, is spotlighting the praise he’s gotten from conservative pundits.
Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed
Rebecca Cook/Reuters

Manchin, Ocasio-Cortez deliver Maine Senate closing arguments

Susan Collins is running to be the “soul of the Senate.” Troy Jackson isn’t.

Democratic pro-AI regulation PAC spends against Senate Republicans

Tomorrow Together is moving into Senate races with $2.5 million in ads against Republican Sens. Jon Husted in Ohio and Roger Marshall in Kansas.

US monitors new Ebola cases

The virus, now in Kenya and Nigeria, continues to spread well beyond the initial site of the outbreak.

Trump’s Iran sanctions run into limits

Experts and former officials say the penalties thus far are having a limited effect on the Islamic Republic’s willingness to negotiate.

Manchin suggests Collins should become independent

The former West Virginia senator is running a project to elect more members of Congress outside the major parties.

SpaceX-Tesla merger could face antitrust scrutiny

One former Justice Department official told Semafor that the risks for the merger are real.

Where Democrats think Republican gerrymandering will backfire

Democrats are becoming increasingly confident about their chances in Texas and Florida.

AI is reshaping high-stakes elections around the world

Partisan actors are gaming AI platforms to regurgitate misleading information ahead of critical elections in Brazil, Israel, and the US.
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