It was official at 9:44 p.m. ET: Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) won a nip-and-tuck reelection over Republican Adam Laxalt.

• That means Democrats keep control of the Senate — with at least 50 seats, and Vice President Harris to break ties.

"We love America," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said during a late-night victory lap in Manhattan.

• The last Senate seat will be decided in the Georgia runoff on Dec. 6.

Why it matters: Even if Republicans eke out a House majority (expected but not certain), holding the Senate gives President Biden more power and flexibility than if the GOP controlled both chambers.

🧠 How it works: Having the Senate makes it easier for Biden to win confirmation of judicial nominations — and more feasible for him to make big changes in his Cabinet.

• "More judges, more judges, more judges," a former top Senate Democratic aide told me.
• A Democratic Senate will also help Biden with functions of government — making it easier to raise the debt ceiling, and avoid government shutdowns.

🕶️ What we're watching: Steve Kornacki said on MSNBC that the House outcome likely will be known this week — but could take until Nov. 23, when Alaska holds its ranked-choice runoff.

• Of NBC's 19 uncalled House races, 10 are in California.

💡 Axios' Josh Kraushaar says it's looking like 6 to 8 Republican pickups.

• The GOP needed to flip 5— so the party is heading for a super-narrow majority.

🏛️ Speaker Pelosi — interviewed by Dana Bash on CNN's "State of the Union" — refused to talk about her own future, saying she was focused on winning and the coming lame-duck session.

• "I have a day job," she said.

🗞️ For history ...

Every election denier who sought to become the top election official of a battleground state lost, the N.Y. Times' Nick Corasaniti reports (subscription).

• Why it matters: Democracy held. Voters mostly rejected candidates who had threatened to restrict future voting, or had backed overturning the 2020 presidential election.

⚡ The latest: Democrat Cisco Aguilar was elected as Nevada's secretary of state, winning the elections post over Republican Jim Marchant, who pushed to scrap voting machines and claimed all Nevada winners since 2006 have been "installed by the deep-state cabal," AP reports.

• Marchant organized a coalition of 17 Republican candidates for the 2022 election. All lost except two — Diego Morales, who was elected secretary of state in Indiana, and Kari Lake, whose contest for Arizona governor remained too close to call.

Marchant, Mark Finchem of Arizona and Michigan's Kristina Karamo were the deniers running for secretary of state in top presidential swing states.

• Their bids drew millions of dollars in spending from Democrats and their allies.
• All three lost.

Go deeper: Interactive AP maps show how deniers fared for governor, secretary of state and attorney general.

Browsing job listings is now a lot like browsing real estate listings: You check them out even if you're not in the market for something new, writes Emily Peck, c0-author of Axios Markets.

• Why it matters: New York City's new salary transparency law, which requires employers to post salary ranges on job listings, makes the postings a lot more interesting for lookie-loos.

💬 "I click on every posting in NY to see what the range is purely out of curiosity," Renee Ernst, a Microsoft employee who lives on the West Coast, told Axios via LinkedIn.

• "People are doing the job-hunting equivalent of daydreaming about mega-mansions," said Phoebe Gavin, executive director of talent and development at Vox.
• "I should be making more," a podcast producer in New York said after a few days of gawking.

🥊 Reality check: Many people said they hadn't seen salary ranges on job postings in New York in their field — and in some cases companies bury the information at the bottom of a listing, or link out to a separate page.

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Sonic booms were heard across Florida yesterday as the U.S. Space Force's space plane landed early after spending a record 908 days (2½ years) in orbit.

• The Boeing-built X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV) is shown above after landing at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.

Why it matters: The craft's purpose is largely a secret. But the Defense Department says duties include hosting military research payloads, science experiments, and even NASA investigations, Florida Today reports.

The uncrewed, solar-powered vehicle looks like a miniature space shuttle.

• Read the release ... Read the story.

The U.S. —the world’s wealthiest economy, with the deepest and most liquid market — is a riskier place than it used to be for investors.

• Politics is a big reason, writes Javier E. David, Axios managing editor for business and markets.

Why it matters: The Capitol riot, widespread mistrust of institutions and a polarized electorate are symptoms of an increasingly anfractuous politics making policy decisions less predictable for investors.

🔭 Zoom out: "Political risk" is an investment thesis used to evaluate developing economies with histories of weak governance and social instability.

🔬 Zoom in: The photo finish of the midterm elections — which helped send markets into a brief tailspin — show just how polarized and unpredictable things have become.

🥊 Reality check: The world is becoming more volatile. But the relative strength of U.S. institutions "means that this is still the first option for investment," Clayton Allen, U.S. director at Eurasia Group, tells Axios.

• Share this story.

That didn't take long. After resisting for a day, Chris Magnus — head of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the nation’s largest law enforcement agency — resigned amid a spike in illegal immigration.

• Why it matters: This is the start of what's expected to be an extensive post-election Biden administration shuffle.

President Biden immediately accepted the resignation, and "wishes him well."

• Read the story.

NFL data show games were faster and closer during the season's first half (this is Week 10 of the 18-week regular season), AP reports.

• Through Week 9, game time is down to 3:01:55. That would be the fastest for a full season in nearly 30 years. Games averaged 3:00:01 in 1993.
• The average margin of victory is 9.43 points this season — the lowest at this stage since 1970.

Many games are coming down to the final minutes, and fourth-quarter comebacks are on the rise.

🇩🇪 Go deeper: NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell says the league will stage at least four games in Germany through 2025 (starting today), with Munich and Frankfurt each hosting twice.

Roughly 1 in 5 tweets include an emoji. While the emoji du jour is ever-changing, ❤️ and 😂 remain consistently popular across Twitter, Axios visual journalist Erin Davis found.

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