2025 has been a tumultuous year for the United States and this November has been no exception.  The U.S. has already seen many significant news stories, including the continuation of the longest government shutdown in American history, election night 2025, the release of emails sent by Jeffery Epstein discussing his relationship with President Donald Trump, and more. Ten of the biggest stories this November have been summarized below.

Government shutdown

After running out of funding on Oct. 1, 2025, the U.S. government has faced the longest shutdown in its history. On Nov. 10, a breakthrough occurred in ending the funding-pause, as eight Senate Democrats agreed to support a GOP-backed funding bill without disputed Affordable Care Act insurance premium subsidies, which reduce the cost of premiums for eligible families using an ACA insurance plan. On Nov. 13, after votes in the house and senate, the shutdown officially ended. The new funding will only last around two months, expiring again in January, putting the U.S. at risk of another shutdown. 

Throughout the spending-pause’s 43 day run, the U.S. saw economic consequences including the furloughing or salary pausing of over one million federal employees, the temporary closure of government museums, the suspension of over 100 Head Start school readiness programs for low income families, the cancellation of commercial flights, and cuts in SNAP benefits.

SNAP benefits

One of the largest concerns over the government shutdown have been the suspension of SNAP (Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program) benefits. SNAP provides food assistance to around 40 million Americans a month, over 12% of the Nation’s population. With the shutdown ending on Nov. 12, 2025, SNAP benefits for Americans are set to resume, but delays are a possibility. 

Throughout the government shutdown, this program had been in constant jeopardy, as court battles have led to the repeated pausing and unpausing of its funding. On Nov. 8, 2025, the Supreme Court overturned a lower circuit’s ruling requiring the Trump administration to continue funding the Nation’s largest food assistance program, putting benefits in further doubt after the USDA asked over 20 states to “immediately undo any steps taken to issue full SNAP benefits for November 2025.”

With the shutdown formally ending on Nov. 12, 2025, SNAP benefits should resume in full, but experts have warned that delays are still possible in many states, mainly due to the sheer volume of individuals SNAP benefits must be resumed for.

No Kings

On Oct. 18, 2025, around seven million people across the Triangle, the Carolinas, and the United States took to the streets, protesting actions from the Trump administration they view as anti-democratic. This was part of the No Kings movement, a series of demonstrations across the United States protesting policies of the Trump administration. This was the second set of No Kings protests, after the first saw over five million people take to the streets in over 2000 locations on June 14, 2025. 

These protests were the two largest in U.S. history by number of total participants. In Raleigh, like in many parts of the nation, a diverse coalition of people across generations, ethnic groups, and social backgrounds coming together in favor of a common cause, including multiple Enloe students. This includes junior Elise Snider, who noted that “Enloe is a very activist minded student body,” and highlighted the importance of “showing up for the cause” because “It’s silly to believe posting on Instagram and complaining is going to get us anywhere.”

Virginia and New Jersey Gubernatorial Races

On Nov. 4, 2025, Americans from over 32 states took to the polls, voting on local and congressional races across the nation. Virginia and New Jersey, two of the five U.S. states with off-year governors elections, both saw races for open seats come to a close. Democrats won both races by more than 13%, far surpassing expectations of close contests. Both elections were decided by less than 5% in 2021.

Virginia Democrat Abigail Spanberger and New Jersey Democrat Mikie Sherrill both attempted to frame their elections as a referendum on Trump’s presidency in states that Trump has lost in all three of his runs at the presidency. Spanberger made history as the first woman ever elected governor of Virginia. 

Some political analysts view the elections as an early preview of the 2026 midterms. Historically, midterm elections have gone against the party in control of the White House, although Democrats booted this trend by gaining a senate seat in 2022 despite Joe Biden holding the presidency. Experts generally favor Democrats to retake the house in 2026, but face an uphill battle in the senate, where they will be required to flip swing seats in Maine and North Carolina alongside at least one GOP-leaning state to earn a majority.

NYC Mayoral Race

After an election cycle that received widespread national attention, on Nov. 4, 2025, Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani bested Independent Andrew Cuomo by just under 10%. Republican Curtis Silwa received the remaining votes, taking just over 7% of the total. 

Mamdani, a self-described Democratic Socialist, has his victory fueled by young voters, who had an unusually high (for a mayoral race) 20% turnout and backed Mamdami on nearly 80% of ballots. He has promised sweeping policy changes in New York City, including free bus services, universal childcare, and raising the minimum wage to $30 an hour.

Mamdani is the first Muslim mayor of NYC, and his victory was part of an election night that was seen as generally a success for the Democratic party as a whole.

Nancy Pelosi

On Nov. 6, 2025, U.S. Representative Nancy Pelosi announced that she will not be running for reelection in 2026, setting an end date for a Congressional tenure that began during the presidency of Ronald Reagan. On Jan. 3, 2027, Pelosi’s 20th term and 40-year tenure as representative for California’s 11th district in the House of Representatives will come to an end.

Pelosi led house Democrats from 2003 to 2023. She was twice speaker of the house, between 2007-2011 and 2019-2023. She was the first female speaker in American history. Politically, Pelosi was known for her staunch advocacy for feminist ideals, her fight for AIDS recognition and research, and her staunch opposition to the Iraq war. 

Russia-Ukraine

On Aug. 15, 2025 Russian president Vladimir Putin was invited to a western nation for the first time since his invasion of Ukraine, coming to the United States for the Alaska 2025 Summit. As Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine nears its 4th anniversary, the topic of how to support Ukraine continues to be a point of contention among Western leaders. Many view Trump’s overall policy on Ukraine as inconsistent, as he has continued to allow some American funding and support for Ukraine’s military effort despite often condemning Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelenskyy and speaking positively of Russian head-of-state Vladimir Putin.

On Oct. 31, 2025, the U.S. Pentagon cleared the importation of long-range tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, assisting Ukraine in efforts to perform attacks inside Russian territory. The weapons have yet to be delivered, as the decision remains in the hands of president Trump. He has overall indicated support for giving Ukraine the missiles.

On Nov. 8, 2025, Trump exempted the European nation of Hungary from longstanding sanctions targeted at nations buying Russian oil. Trump has continued to sharply condemn nations purchasing Russian oil despite his relationship with Vladimir Putin. Trump’s relationship with Hungarian leader Viktor Orban has been a point of controversy, as Orban has been flamed for policies many experts claim to have caused severe democratic backsliding in Hungary. 

Obergefell v. Hodges

After receiving a briefing from former Kentucky county clerk and staunch anti-LGBT figure Kim Davis asking to review the landmark supreme court case Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized gay marriage across the United States just a decade ago, the U.S. Supreme Court officially denied the request on Nov. 10, 2025. This ensures that the legal decision protecting same-sex unions will stay in place, despite a majority conservative-leaning Supreme Court delegation known for their overturning of Roe V. Wade, which protected abortion rights. 

Had the case been heard and Obergefell v. Hodges officially overturned, states would’ve been able to prevent same-sex unions from occurring within their borders. However, due to the Respect for Marriage Act, signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2021, states would still have been required to recognize gay marriages that occured in other parts of the nation.

2020 Election Controversies 

On Nov. 10, 2025, Donald Trump pardoned an array of figures accused of attempting to overturn the 2020 election, including former U.S. Associate Attorney General Rudy Giuliani. The federal pardons given out by Trump do not protect against state level charges, which will continue to be levied against the figures involved in the 2020 election controversies. 

These pardons come after Trump granted complete clemency to every figure involved in the Jan. 6, 2021 riots at the U.S. Capitol building on the first day of his second term. 

Epstein Emails

Between May and June this year, renewed attention was brought to the relationship between U.S. president Donald Trump and child sex-trafficker Jeffery Epstein by the Trump administration’s backtracking on a promise to release thousands of “Epstein files.” Media and popular focus decreased after the U.S. government ran out of funding and entered a shutdown on October 1st, 2025. 

However, on Nov. 12, 2025, revitalized interest was brought to the controversies after the House Democratic Caucus released emails where Epstein discussed his relationship with Trump. In one of the emails, Epstein referred to the U.S. president as “the dog who hasn’t barked” and claimed that he had spent hours at Epstein’s home with one of his victims. 

In another, author and Epstein’s close associate Micheal Wolff noted that any claims by Trump that he had not been on Epstein’s plane or at his home could be used as “political currency” or “debt” by Epstein.