West Coast Wrap Wednesday, 11/4/2026

Look, I mean, I'll get along probably with the Democrats unless they want to be destructive. President Trump says he's not worried about the possibility of impeachment after a blue wave swept across the country. Tonight, Democrats still waiting to see whether they will pick up another Senate seat here in the West. Good evening, everyone. Welcome to West Coast Wrap. I'm Alex Savage. Even with Republicans losing control of Congress in the midterms, President Trump says he intends to push forward with his agenda and defy the odds. Democrats have taken control of the House, winning at least 237 seats. Today, House Democratic leader and presumptive speaker, Hakeem Jeffries, said he expects his party will win at least 255 seats after the votes. In the Senate, Democrats have also seized control with at least 54 seats, including wins in some traditionally red states. Senate races in Mississippi and Alaska, though, still are too close to call, and the votes still being tabulated in Alaska tonight. That state's Senate race has been consumed by those accusations. The campaign for Democratic candidate Mary Peltola discussed recruiting a spoiler candidate with the same name as incumbent Republican Dan Sullivan. Fox's Sarah Allegra in Anchorage, Alaska tonight with the latest on this tight race. Well neither Sullivan nor Peltola have topped 50% of the vote now if that still holds, that means this race will move on to additional rounds of counting given the state's ranked choice voting system. We'll get into all of that in just a second. But the big story right now in everyone's minds, will Alaska send Peltola to this new Democratic majority or keep Sullivan and the soon to be Republican minority? Now Alaska's ranked choice voting system, it means backup picks could decide that. Peltola currently leads incumbent Dan S. Sullivan. Now, there is another candidate, Gerald Hikes. He has nearly 5,000 votes. And then there's Dan J. Sullivan, the so-called decoy candidate. He has about 3,000. He's in last place. So if no one tops 50%, he'd be eliminated first. His ballots would then transfer to his supporters' next-ranked candidate still in the race. That process continues until someone reaches the majority. Meanwhile, as the votes roll in, Peltola's Tola dismissing the controversy last night, Sullivan though defending his record, listen. They've tried to distract us, they've used shiny objects, lots of juicy gossip, Alaskans aren't having any of that. We've run a campaign based on our record and character and truth and integrity and And respect for Alaskans, and that's what Alaskans want. The fight won't end when all the votes are counted, though. The Trump administration says if Peltola wins, they'll challenge the result. After the New York Times reported her team helped recruit the other Dan to draw votes from the incumbent, she, of course, denied this. Sources tell Fox the DOJ's criminal probe now includes more than 120 subpoenas issued since the article dropped a week ago. Here's what voters had to say about the reported scheme. They're running off of, playing off of people's fear. There are insecurities and the lack of knowledge that people have. It's just wrong, but I don't think we should forget about it. I don't want to set a precedent for this to happen somewhere else. And with votes still coming in from remote communities in the state's ranked choice voting system, it could be a matter of days or even weeks until Alaska has a final answer here. In Anchorage, Alaska, Sarah LaGre for West Coast Rep. Let's get some more political perspective here and bring in our political analyst, Brian Sobel, to weigh in here on the situation still unfolding in Alaska, where they are continuing to count votes. And obviously, we also want to talk about the broader picture here nationwide, this election landslide for Democrats across the country. Brian, appreciate the time tonight. Let's start in Alaska here. You know, the Democrats have already secured a majority in the U.S. Senate. How important is it for them to win this seat in Alaska? Well, every seat, Alex, is important. The greater your majority, the greater your power in some respects. So Alaska is important. But at this point, not as important as it might have been a day and a half ago. But with respect to the Alaska election, the package that was just shown is very insightful. But this race is dead even. And if you take the two other people out of the race, including the fake Dan Sullivan, as it were, not the incumbent Dan Sullivan, you've got about 10,000 votes at play there. And I'm really interested in the Democrat talking about how this is a distraction, all that sort of thing. A New York Times piece was pretty clear that she knew about this. It's not illegal to find somebody with the same name and put them up. It is illegal to lie about it, especially in writing or anything else. So a lot more time to go. Ranked choice voting is at play in Alaska. We'll see how this all plays out. Yeah, and the other Dan Sullivan here in Alaska does have support from just under 2%, I believe, of the voters. Yes. In a tight race, does it look like this effort by the Peltola campaign may have had an impact? Oh, absolutely. You know, if just enough people, you know, vote for somebody else in the race, it's obviously votes that perhaps, perhaps should have gone to the incumbent in this case, the incumbent Sullivan. And, you know, finding another Dan Sullivan is a shenanigan. And so I guess you could say, hats off to somebody who came up with that plan, but is it really clean politics? No, no, it's not. All right, let's talk about the, beg your pardon, the situation nationwide here. Why did Democrats win so decisively across the country? Because I think this was a referendum on Donald Trump. A lot of people were learning in very early exit polling, really were voting more against Donald Trump, maybe less in some cases for Democrats. But it was a message that Democrats and some Republicans, by the way, joining with Democrats, sent to the country. This was a massive Victory by Democrats across the country and also a huge win for labor, for the labor movement, because unions and the entire labor movement really spent a whole lot of money in this campaign across the country. And more than that, they put bodies. out there to walk doors to help support these candidates. It's a real nod to the Democratic Party effort here because they were really able to turn out a lot of people in very, very surprising locations. It wasn't just that the... That the blue states remain blue, but red states gave a lot at the altar as well. I think one of the surprising races, and it's not a United States Senate or a House race, was the defeat of Governor Abbott in Texas. Thank you. Multi-term governor, very popular, but what it said is that things are changing in Texas, as evidenced also by the Tallarico win. Over Paxton, so Texas being kind of a bellwether says, hey, there's a new sheriff in town in terms of Washington, D.C., in the House, the Senate, and in many seats across the nation. Okay, political analyst Brian Sobel, we appreciate the time. Thank you very much. My pleasure, Alex. All right. All right, take a live look here at the ongoing vote tabulation happening in Arizona. Some of the state's races have yet to be called. Still, it appears Democrats on pace to become the majority party in both Arizona's statehouse and Senate. This would mark the first time in 60 years that Democrats have controlled both branches of the Arizona legislature. Another big victory for Arizona Democrats in the race for governor. Katie Hobbs is projected to win another term as well. All right, from the West Coast to Washington, D.C., the midterm election bringing historic firsts to the House, the Senate, and state capitals across the country. As KTVU's Christian Kafton explains, that includes California's first elected Latino governor. The nation watched Democrats surge to power in Tuesday's midterm elections. San Francisco State Political Science Professor Jason McDaniels said the election brought together a wide coalition with one common sentiment. So this is a historic election that was largely about rebuking Donald Trump very clearly. Californians are sending the state's first Latino governor, Javier Becerra, to Sacramento. Becerra being elected after a pretty chaotic gubernatorial primary season, right? Emerging as the leader of the Democratic Party in California, I think it's something that It's both historic and a testament to the strength of the Democratic Party amongst Latino voters in California especially. California wasn't alone in breaking ground. Nevada has elected Democrat Aaron Ford as the state's first black governor. New Mexico's Deb Haaland will be the nation's first Native American governor. Michigan is sending the first ever Muslim American, Abdul El-Sayed, to the U.S. Senate. New Hampshire is sending the first openly gay man to the Senate. Chris Pappas. Texas will be sending its first Latina, Gina Hinojosa, to the governor's office. And Keisha Lance Bottoms from Georgia will be the first black woman governor in the nation. McDaniel said it's a reflection of Democrats' big tent philosophy, not just on the political spectrum, but also in who represents the people. But right now, I think you're going to see this celebration of this within the Democratic Party, this kind of diversity. And I think it's something that Democrats are proud of, right, in terms of gender diversity, racial and ethnic diversity. While Democrats led the way with first, Florida is also breaking new ground, electing that state's first black governor, Republican Byron Donald. It's been a while now since Florida's been a purple or blue state, right? And I think partly their embrace of... You know, Latino politicians and voters and communities in Florida, African-American, they're building a kind of multiracial conservative Republican coalition there in Florida that seems to be successful. In a matter of months, the House will look very different, with Democrats filling the chamber, presumably led by the first black Speaker of the House, Hakeem Jeffries, who currently serves as the party's minority leader. The first black Speaker of the House, you know, with a large majority, is something that I think, again... People around the nation, Republican and Democratic, I think should be proud of. These firsts are expected to have a lasting impact. Most of the political leaders we've been talking about could have long careers ahead of them since most of them are in their 40s or 50s. In San Francisco, Christian Kafton, KTVU, Fox 2 News. Well, the stock markets closed on a high note today after Democrats gained control of Congress. Investors are seen as preferring a split government, which is less likely to make dramatic policy moves that could shift the markets. The Dow ended up surging 3% today, about 1,500 points. The Nasdaq was up close to 1.5%, adding 364 points, and the S&P closed nearly 120 points higher. Stocks of hospital owners and dollar stores helped lead the rally. President Trump's social media company was one of the market's biggest losers. It was down nearly 25% during the trading session. Up next here on West Coast Wrap Tonight, a gun battle in Washington leaves four people dead, including a Spokane County Sheriff's deputy. Ahead, we'll tell you what led up to that shooting. Music It was a perfect day in the Bay, the perfect day in the city of San Francisco for a parade today, the Valkyries Parade. Now, what's in store? The big change for your Thursday. That's all coming up with our West Coast Wrap forecast. We'll be right back after this break. And also coming up, a victory fit for a parade. See how basketball fans celebrated the WNBA champions, the Golden State Valkyries, earlier today. In eastern Washington, a Spokane County Sheriff's deputy was killed and a second deputy is not expected to survive after they were shot late yesterday responding to a domestic violence call. They were responding to a home in Spangle after an injured woman reportedly ran to a neighbor's house saying she was shot by her brother who had active felony warrants for his arrest. Deputies were met with gunfire when they arrived. They were both taken to the hospital where the sheriff's office says one died last night. The second remains in critical condition tonight. The sister suffered non-life-threatening injuries. Three other people, including the alleged suspect, were all found dead at that scene. The Deschutes County Sheriff's Office in Oregon is now releasing the 911 call recording from the father who killed the Bend Elementary School shooter. Yeah, someone's at the school. My daughter's at school with a gun. I have a gun and I will shoot them right now. Okay, tell me exactly what happened. Don't do anything. And the caller there is Caleb Giammanco. He was on his way home for lunch October 15th when he alerted 9-1-1 there was a shooter at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend where his daughter's a student. The call lasted just over a minute. Giammanco entered the school through an open window and fatally shot the 16-year-old who had shot and killed three children along with a teacher. A couple accused of fatally shooting their son-in-law in Dublin, in the Bay Area, appeared in court in Oakland today for a bail hearing. Shuyang Zhang and his wife, Shili Chen, have pleaded not guilty to special circumstance murder in the shooting death of Jonathan McKenzie. Chen's attorney says the shooting took place during a court-mandated supervised visit between McKenzie and his three children in a park in Dublin in September. He says his client was afraid of McKenzie due to years of alleged physical abuse and that she should not be facing the same special circumstance of lying in wait. He says her husband had already shot McKinsey and that she then shot the victim thinking her husband was in danger. And Mr. Zeng took responsibility and he told police in his recorded statement that my client had no clue what was about to happen. She was completely surprised. And we know that that's not just a fabricated statement to help his wife because if you If you look at the video, That's exactly the behavior that Ms. Chen is demonstrating, surprise. That bail hearing today was delayed. The couple will return to court in early December. Turning now to the weather and flood victims in southeast Utah bracing for a new round of flooding. They've been warned that upstream surges from the San Juan River are headed to the city of Bluff. The river is swollen due to last week's heavy rainfall. People in Bluff still are working to try to recover from widespread flooding that has been tied to those intense storms that we saw. We saw them all across the southwest last week and we saw widespread flooding. For more, we're going to bring in KTVU meteorologist Roberta Gonzalez, who is tracking the renewed flood threat. What kind of concerns are we talking about here? We've had an area of low pressure. It inundated upstream again. You were referring to the San Juan River. Well, now it's the Cottonwood Wash that is overflowing its banks, and it has been taking all this precipitation downstream. Let me show you what I'm talking about. Okay, first off, we have that system from last week. Now we're talking about this system right here that rolled across the areas of Utah and into Colorado in the past 24 to 48 hours. And then we take you to the four corners there, Kenny. You see them? Right there. Red Mesa. NF. White Mesa. And then you can see we have the cloud covering the precipitation heading that way. But it doesn't look like we have rain there as of right now. But again, as Alex was talking about, we do have concerns of more flooding from that system that passed the area from the weekend. Sunday, we had flood warnings in effect. Monday, we had shelter in place. We had more flood warnings on Monday. And now we have another flood warning in place for Thursday until 5.15 p.m. Again, it's because the rivers... Upstream now are overflowing their banks from all of this precipitation. Now we bring you back closer to the West Coast here. And what we're talking about is today in Seattle, you've got a sideswipe of a little bit of precipitation. High temperature is 57 degrees. Your average high this time of the year is 54 degrees. A great day for the city by the bay with the celebration of the Valkyries Championship, 66 degrees. Typically, your average high historically is 67 degrees. But a coastal flood. Advisory remains in effect with high tide tomorrow at 835, 7.1 feet and also going to affect a beach hazard statement and that will be Thursday through Saturday with up to 16 foot swells, 76 degrees today. Talking about the beaches and the bay sides, we had a high temperature today in Los Angeles, 76 and that's spot on for this time of the year in Phoenix. Gorgeous. Average high 83 degrees today, checking in at 76 degrees. Now, here's the deal. We still have sleet and a little bit of snow in the highest elevations of the Colorado Rockies approaching the Denver area. We have a swath of cloudiness across the Bay Area, but upstream we go here. This area of low pressure will bring some precipitation by Friday from Seattle to Medford, and then another one queues up just in time for the weekend. But let's go ahead and Place our forecast like this, we have the sunshine in San Francisco, few clouds in Los Angeles and in Yuma. Arizona, one of my pick cities for this time of the year. A high temperature of 80 degrees under mostly sunny skies for your Thursday. Here we go with the three-day forecast. Seattle, hit and miss scattered showers all the way through Saturday. Medford, you're pretty dry, but you will be cloudy. San Francisco, gorgeous autumn weather. A little bit of warm-up in your inland areas. Fresno, you're going to be nice as well in the inland sections of the state of California. And 82 degrees tomorrow in Yuma, Arizona. Alex, have a good evening. All right, you do the same. Roberta, thank you. Google is threatening to cut off access to its search engine for schools if they don't opt in to the company's generative AI tools. In a blog post, the tech giant announced plans to automatically shut off its AI tools for its Google Classroom product unless schools choose to turn them on. The problem is that Google included its basic search engine in those turned off tools Google says the change gives schools more control over how students use AI, but critics say it creates an all-or-nothing scenario that essentially forces schools to opt in to AI tools. That change goes into effect next year. Coming up tonight here on West Coast Rap, Hoops fans lined the streets of the Bay Area today to celebrate the Golden State Valkyries. We'll show you the big party for the WNBA champions. It was a historic day in the Bay Area. KTVU's Ann Rubin shows us the WNBA championship celebration for the Valkyries. Doing it in front of Valhalla are now your 2026 WNBA champions. This was a day to celebrate, not just the Golden State Valkyries, not just the championship win, but also the fans that got them here. Mentally, we're in there with them. Like, we're so happy to celebrate. This is our day. You know, this is not just for them. This is for us, too. Valhalla was out in force, decked mostly in Valkyrie violet. And though the team won it all on Halloween, this fan says it's more like Christmas came early. This is such a gift. It's so awesome to be here, and it's so awesome that they have won the finals. It's more than just basketball. The festivities spanned two cities, starting with a ceremony in Oakland. Together, they brought us together, and they won. And so we're so proud of our champs. This was a chance for the team, including MVP Gabby Williams, to address fans and family. I just want to take a second to let everyone know that I couldn't do what I did without them here. You guys gave us that roar, that hostility, that care, like... I couldn't believe it. I'm like, you guys, it's an honor to play in front of Valhalla. The celebration then hit the road or rather the water, cruising by ferry over to San Francisco for the parade. This is what happens when you invest in women's sports. Valhalla. Here fans lined the streets, taking in the music, the marching and hoping to catch a glimpse of their favorite players. Why do you like Abby? After such a new franchise, this championship came quickly. It's inspirational. We're women's basketball. They're women's basketball. They gave them five. They got it done in two. The Valkyries took it all in, soaking up every moment with the fans. You feel the love every day. We love them so much. So thank you so much. Oh, they're amazing. They're the best fans in the world. Some skipped school and work to be here, but say they wouldn't have missed this for the world. Every time we win, I always say, we, we, we. And my husband's like, what do you mean, we? And I'm like, because it is me. Like, it is us. We are Valhalla. And a live look at San Francisco tonight. You're watching West Coast Rap.