Hegseth under pressure after Democratic midterm wins as Newsom commutes death sentences

Democratic victories in the US midterm elections have increased pressure on Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth. Donald Trump has backed him, saying he is doing a fantastic job, but the president conceded that Hegseth probably has opposition, Sky News reported.

BBC News reported that Republican congressman Thomas Massie intends to introduce articles of impeachment against Hegseth as soon as next week. Sarah Smith, the BBC's North America editor, said newly elected Democrats do not arrive in Washington until the new year. She said existing Republicans might be more tempted to vote to impeach Hegseth after the election losses. She added that if Trump removed Hegseth before the end of the year, he could try to get a replacement confirmed while Republicans still control the Senate.

Republicans have blamed the Iran war that Hegseth championed for their election losses, the BBC reported.

Stock markets closed with more than $2 trillion of value lost, especially at major tech companies such as Tesla and Nvidia, the BBC reported. Sky News reported that hundreds of billions of dollars were wiped off tech stocks specifically, with shares in Nvidia and Samsung slashed and markets in Asia plunging.

Sky News business and economics correspondent Paul Kelso reported that Elon Musk spent an estimated $483 million on the midterms, three times more than the next biggest donors, Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein. Sky News also reported that the spending failed to deliver: Vivek Ramaswamy lost the Ohio governor's race to Democrat Amy Acton, and in Texas, Republican Ken Paxton lost a Senate race to Democrat James Talarico. The channel said Texan voters made Gina Hinojosa the state's first Democratic governor in 30 years.

Musk had poured around $200 million into Texan congressional and gubernatorial races, Sky News reported. The channel said the new governor has called for a moratorium on data centres, which emerged as a major campaign issue in Texas.

Separately, Gavin Newsom, the Democratic governor of California, has commuted all death sentences in the state to life imprisonment without parole. Sarah Smith of the BBC said Newsom was coming to the end of his second term and could not run again. She said he had always opposed the death penalty and did not want to see anybody executed. Smith added that Newsom, who has never shunned the spotlight, was likely making an eye-catching announcement as Democrats look ahead to the 2028 presidential race.

Sky News noted that some news organisations were again blocked from reporting from the White House, and that Trump's event was carried only on the White House live stream.