The Catchup: 5 major political stories this week, from the Middle East war to the Hunter Biden subpoena

Jon Ward is a Yahoo News senior correspondent who has covered national politics for over 15 years.

You’re shifting gears to head into the weekend, so here’s what happened with the top five political stories worth remembering this week.

The week of Nov. 5 sent a flurry of mixed signals about the 2024 presidential election, which is now one year away. New polling showed former President Trump leading President Biden, but midterm elections Tuesday in a handful of states saw Republicans suffer setbacks due to their position on abortion.

And next week, a government shutdown is looming as the new Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, made little progress this week in uniting House Republicans around a position on how to fund the government.

Here’s what to know about the top five stories this week:

The war in Gaza grinds on

· The Israeli military pushed further into Gaza this week, after its initial invasion of the Palestinian territory last weekend. Troops have moved closer to the heart of Gaza city from the north and the south, according to eyewitness reports and satellite imagery.

· Israel agreed to daily 4-hour pauses of hostilities to allow civilians to flee northern Gaza. President Biden and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken have pressured Israel to do so. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a more lasting ceasefire would be possible if Hamas released the more than 200 hostages it is still holding.

· A top Biden administration official told Congress that the number of Palestinian deaths over the past month of Israeli airstrikes may be “higher than are being cited.” The Gaza Health Ministry has said 10,000 people, including 4,000 children, have been killed. But President Biden has previously expressed skepticism about the numbers coming out of Gaza.

Good reads on this:

· The Associated Press: Israel-Hamas fighting heats up in Gaza City, accelerating the exodus of Palestinians to the south

· The Hill: Death toll in Gaza likely ‘higher than is being reported’: U.S. official

· The Associated Press: Israel agrees to 4-hour daily pauses in Gaza fighting to allow civilians to flee, White House says

Democrats worry about Biden’s reelection prospects

· A new survey from Siena College/New York Times found Biden trailing Trump in five states that will likely determine the winner of the presidential election a year from now: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada and Pennsylvania.

· The poll showed Trump would lose to a Democrat other than Biden by 8 points, but leads Biden by 5 points. Biden’s age was a significant factor for respondents.

· The poll showed Biden having lost significant ground among Hispanic voters, Black voters, and younger voters. He still leads in each category, but by much smaller margins than he did in 2020.

· A former pollster for Biden’s 2020 campaign published a New York Times op-ed titled: “Joe Biden is in Trouble.” He cited Biden’s “fulsome support” for Israel as one reason why the president is bleeding support among younger voters.

Good reads on this:

· The New York Times: Democrats express deep anxiety as polls show Biden trailing Trump

· The New York Times: Why Biden is behind, and how he could come back

Abortion issue hands Democrats big wins in Tuesday elections

· In Virginia, Democrats held on to the state Senate and took control of the House of Delegates, handing the state’s Republican governor, Glenn Youngkin, a significant defeat.

· Youngkin had run on a 15-week abortion ban, seeking to cast Democrats as extreme on the issue. The move backfired, and talk of a Youngkin run for president was stopped dead in its tracks.

· In Ohio, 57% of voters approved a measure to enshrine the right to have an abortion in the state constitution.

· In Kentucky, Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear won reelection over Republican Daniel Cameron.

Good reads on this:

· Yahoo News: 2023 election results: Democrats score big wins in Kentucky, Virginia; Ohio votes for abortion rights, legalized weed

· The Columbus Dispatch: Everything you need to know about Ohio's abortion issue on the November 7, 2023 ballot

Trump sits out third straight Republican presidential debate

· Trump didn’t show up for the third straight time, as the other Republicans debated in Miami on Wednesday night.

· Nikki Haley, former South Carolina governor and former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, was again the center of attention, and articulated a hawkish foreign policy. When businessman Vivek Ramaswamy criticized her daughter for using TikTok, Haley muttered, “You’re just scum.”

· Haley has supplanted Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the minds of many as the top alternative to Trump. But DeSantis still has significant financial resources and a large political operation in Iowa.

· Trump still leads in all polling by large margins over DeSantis and Haley, with his support around 47% in Iowa and New Hampshire, the first two states to vote in the primary.

Good reads on this:

· Semafor: Seven takeaways from Wednesday’s GOP debate in Miami

· Yahoo News: 'Trump won': 3rd GOP debate unlikely to change dynamic of primary race

House Republicans subpoena Hunter Biden for testimony

· The House Oversight Committee issued a demand for President Biden’s son Hunter, and his brother James, to appear in private depositions next month about their financial records.

· Hunter Biden used his family name to reach lucrative arrangements with foreign business partners. But Republicans have failed to produce evidence that President Biden was involved in those deals.

· A lawyer for Hunter Biden called the Republican investigation a “political stunt,” but also said that Hunter is “eager to have the opportunity, in a public forum and at the right time, to discuss these matters with the committee.”

Good reads on this:

· NBC News: House subpoenas James and Hunter Biden in GOP-led probe of the president's family

· Yahoo News: Biden impeachment: How to understand Hunter Biden's role

· The Hill: Special counsel in Hunter Biden probe rejects claims he was stymied from pursuing the case