HOUSE DEMS SEIZE POWER: With their takeover of the House Tuesday, Democrats are now positioned to rein in defense spending and create a headache for President Trump as he pursues a Space Force and controversial policies such as restrictions on transgender military service. The new majority is also expected to turn the page on two years of unified Republican rule by naming Rep. Adam Smith, a staunch critic of the president and skeptic of big Pentagon budgets, the new House Armed Services Committee chairman next year.

HAPPENING TODAY, THE COUNTING CONTINUES: There are still races that are too close to call, among them Arizona’s Senate contest, where Rep. Martha McSally has a slim 49.3 to 48.4 percent lead over Democrat Rep. Kyrsten Sinema. With 99 percent of the ballots counted, McSally, a former A-10 squadron commander, holds a 14,500 vote lead.

It’s one of four Senate races still undecided this morning, but if the trends hold it appears the Senate is heading for a split with 53 Republicans and 47 Democrats, which would give the Republicans a little more breathing room in the event any moderates break ranks and vote with the Democrats.

In Montana, the lead keeps shifting between incumbent Democrat Jon Tester and Republican challenger Matt Rosendale, with Rosendale ahead 48.9 to 48.2 percent with 82 percent of the vote tallied as of 6 a.m. The two candidates are separated by about 2,100 votes. Tester, you will recall, drew the ire of Trump when his allegations against White House doctor Rear. Adm. Ronny Jackson effectively torpedoed Trump’s plan to make Jackson head of Veterans Affairs.

In Mississippi‘s Senate race, Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith and Democrat Mike Espy are headed for a runoff in a special election. California had to pick from two Democrats, Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Kevin de Leon, after its “jungle primary,” in which the two top vote-getters move on to the general election. The AP is calling the race for Feinstein.

SEAL DIDN’T NEED SNL APPROVAL: The former Navy SEAL mocked by “Saturday Night Live” last weekend is headed to Washington after scoring an easy win in Texas’s 2nd Congressional District. Republican Dan Crenshaw, who lost an eye while serving in Afghanistan, beat Democratic opponent Todd Litton with 53.1 percent of the vote.

Though running in a relatively safe GOP seat, Crenshaw’s victory comes days after “SNL” castmate Pete Davidson compared him to “a hit-man in a porno movie” during the “Weekend Update” segment of the show. Crenshaw, who will replace outgoing Republican Rep. Ted Poe, wears an eye patch to conceal his injury.

“I’m sorry. I know he lost his eye in war, or whatever,” Davidson said. Crenshaw rebuked “SNL” last weekend in a tweet responding to Davidson’s joke. “Good rule in life: I try hard not to offend; I try harder not to be offended,” he wrote. “That being said, I hope @nbcsnl recognizes that vets don’t deserve to see their wounds used as punchlines for bad jokes.”

NORTH KOREA TALKS DELAYED: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was scheduled to meet with his North Korean counterpart Kim Yong Chol in New York tomorrow, but now the meeting is off. In a brief statement the State Department gave no reason for the postponement of the meeting, which was supposed to lay the groundwork for a second summit between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

The State Department said Pompeo’s meeting “will now take place at a later date” and the two sides would “reconvene when our respective schedules permit,” according to The Associated Press.

THE SHRINKING CARAVAN: More than 3,200 migrants who had been a part of caravans moving from Central America to the United States’ southern border have abandoned the group to either stay in Mexico or return to their home countries, according to the Mexican government.

The Interior Ministry reported 3,230 people have requested permission to stay in Mexico as refugees as of yesterday. Fewer than 2,700 people from that group have been given interim visitor documents, which allow them to work while in Mexico and waiting for COMAR, the country’s Commission for Refugee Aid, to decide whether they can permanently stay.

TARIFFS HURTING CHINA AVIATION BUSINESS: Trump’s trade war with China is hurting the Asian power’s once-burgeoning aviation industry, according to a top official at Airbus.

“This will have a negative impact on China’s aviation growth,” Xu Gang, chief executive of Airbus China, told reporters at a biennial air show in the country. “Nobody will be the winner of this kind of trade war.”

Trump and China have hit each other with billions of dollars worth retaliatory tariffs over the last year. Vice President Mike Pence has denounced Chinese regional aggression and intellectual property theft, while China has said the U.S. is undermining the multilateral global order that has facilitated its rise. But the air show and a parallel economic forum saw the communist power take a more modest and conciliatory tone.

GOP LAWMAKER CHIDES ADMINISTRATION: Trump’s administration missed a legal deadline for a second round of sanctions pursuant to Russia’s use of a chemical weapon in a high-profile assassination attempt this year, a top Republican complained Tuesday.

“It is unacceptable that the administration lacks a plan — or even a timeline — for action on the second round of mandatory sanctions required by U.S. law,” retiring House Foreign Affairs Chairman Ed Royce said as the deadline passed.

Pompeo’s team concluded in August that Russia had provoked punitive sanctions under U.S. law, due to the use of a chemical weapon to try to kill a former dole agent living in southern England. That same law, the Chemical and Biological Weapons and Warfare Elimination Act of 1991, grants a 90-day window in which Russia — which denies the charges — could abandon such weapons and invite international inspectors to prove it had done so. But the State Department “could not certify” Russian compliance with that law.

TWO GROUNDED FOR SKY PENIS: The Marine Corps said Tuesday it has grounded two of its aviators as it continues to investigate a penis-shaped flight pattern drawn over southern California by one of its aircraft last month. Any disciplinary or administrative action will not be taken until the completion of the probe into the looping phallic flight path by a T-34C Turbomentor, which was part of the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing based out of Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego, Maj. Josef Patterson, a spokesman with the wing, wrote in an email to the Washington Examiner.

“The T-34C crew that are being investigated for flying a pattern resembling an obscene image are currently not flying pending the results of an ongoing investigation. Although not flying for the time-being, the two Marine Corps aviators are still providing vital squadron ground support functions,” Patterson wrote.

THE RUNDOWN

Defense News: Democrats’ big night brings big questions for defense policy

New York Times: Navy Completes Inquiry Into Strangling Death of Army Green Beret in Mali

Washington Post: Almost two years into Trump presidency, Pentagon’s revolving door still spins

AP: Iran officials mock, warn US over renewed sanctions

Wall Street Journal: Islamic State Left 200 Mass Graves in Iraq, U.N. Says

Bloomberg: U.S. Scraps Boeing Upgrade of Surveillance Plane’s Radar

Defense News: Don’t dumb down this US Army radar

Foreign Policy: In Cyberwar, There Are Some (Unspoken) Rules

Defense One: UK Plans a Decade of Weapons Purchases As Auditors Sound Warning Bells

Task and Purpose: Trump Should Follow His Instincts And End The War In Afghanistan

AP: NATO chief appeals for peace; Taliban kill 20 Afghan guards

Business Insider: The Marine Corps is having trouble holding on to recruits, and it’s now facing its highest recruiting goal in a decade