Democrats Win Big Could Complicate Trump’s Emissions Plans – Jalopnik

Happy Wednesday! It’s November 4, 2026, and that is The Morning Shift — your day by day roundup of the highest automotive headlines from around the globe, in a single place. This is the place you may discover an important tales which can be shaping the best way Americans drive and get round.

In this morning’s version we’re taking a look at final evening’s election and its fallout on the auto trade, in addition to its results on Elon Musk’s corporations. We’ll additionally have a look at U.S. patrons dialing again their automotive luxurious spending, and Honda taking a look at European manufacturing. 

If you would like a recap of the newest auto information despatched to your inbox every weekday, you’ll be able to join Jalopnik’s free Morning Shift publication right here.

Midterm elections had been final evening, and voters overwhelmingly went blue. Not simply in battlegrounds like Ohio and Michigan, however in attain states like Texas. Votes are nonetheless being tallied, however Mississippi and Alaska might properly go blue too. Kansas has its first Democratic senator in practically a century! Voters have soundly rejected Trump and the Republicans, which might spell some actual issues for the get together and the automakers that allied with it. From NBC:

President Donald Trump instructed voters to faux he was on the poll on this 12 months’s midterm elections.

They did. And they resoundingly rejected each his insurance policies and his Republican Party.

Democrats have captured full management of Congress, NBC News tasks, with voters delivering a forceful repudiation of Trump’s agenda, coupled with a clear-cut message that Congress has not carried out sufficient to offer checks on his administration and must do extra to handle affordability and corruption.

The Trump administration of the final couple years has spent its time rolling again emissions laws, destroying EV incentives, and usually cordoning off the U.S. automotive market as a bit piece of historical past — someplace automakers needn’t innovate to compete. With the legislative department going blue, although, we might properly see new environmental laws. What will that imply for automakers that cozied as much as the MAGA camp? Will we begin to match European laws and resume our EV push? Only time will inform, however all these automakers that returned to V8s might properly remorse their investments. 

Elon Musk was the only largest donor within the 2026 election cycle, having spent practically half a billion {dollars} backing Republican candidates throughout the nation. Not solely had been his efforts for naught, however his adoptive house state of Texas has gone totally blue — governor, senate, legal professional normal, even the railroad commissioner. He’s prone to see some issues in his enterprise plans, and the markets are recognizing that. From the Wall Street Journal:

Shares in Elon Musk-led SpaceX and Tesla fell sharply premarket after Democratic candidates swept the midterm elections, handing a defeat to Republicans backed by Musk to the tune of tons of of thousands and thousands of {dollars}.

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Democratic management of Congress might derail a possible merger between SpaceX and Tesla, XTB’s Kathleen Brooks stated.

“While Congress cannot stop a merger between SpaceX and Tesla, they could slow it down via extra scrutiny,” Brooks stated. “There is now a political risk premium attached to both Tesla and SpaceX that could weigh on their share prices.”

Shares have trended upward since market open, however they’re nonetheless down from yesterday’s shut. Nathan Johnson, former composer for “Dragon Ball Z” and incoming legal professional normal of the state of Texas, has already promised to research Musk and his corporations for corruption. With strain on each the federal and state ranges, 2027 might be a tough 12 months for the world’s richest man. 

U.S. customers are getting ever dealer, and whenever you’ve acquired much less cash to spend you are unlikely to go RV or boat procuring. Yet, whereas automotive toy gross sales are down, Harley-Davidson remains to be up. In truth, the corporate is doing higher than it has in years. From the Wall Street Journal:

His buy helps clarify why Harley is bucking a downturn in gross sales of leisure merchandise: High rates of interest, punishing gasoline costs and broad financial anxiousness have dented gross sales of every part from RVs to boats.

But that downturn hasn’t come for Harley. In its major market of North America, the bike maker has recorded year-over-year retail-sales progress in every of the final 4 quarters, and is on monitor for the primary full-year enhance since 2021. Globally, gross sales are up 4% to date this 12 months.

The WSJ credit a few of this enhance to Harley revamping its Tri-Glide line, giving the trikes extra energy and luxury. Moving these trikes is sweet for Harley’s backside line, but it surely’s not addressing the elemental drawback of the corporate: It carved out a market within the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s, and has largely bought to those self same folks ever since — patrons too outdated to maintain a million-pound Harley upright. If the corporate desires new patrons, bikes like its new Sprint are the best way it’s going to get them. 

Europe is seeking to carry automotive manufacturing house to the continent, tariffing automobile imports to encourage automakers to construct in native factories. Plenty of Chinese automakers have already purchased in, however one firm remains to be cautious to dip its toes into EU manufacturing: Honda, which remains to be simply serious about what it’s going to do. From Automotive News:

Honda’s European chief stated the automaker might rebuild a producing presence within the area, relying on the ultimate consequence of latest guidelines within the European Union that may favor domestically made vehicles.

The firm has “certainly no intention of leaving Europe,” Hans de Jaeger, president of Honda’s European unit, stated Nov. 4 in an interview on the EICMA motorbike present in Milan.

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Honda registrations throughout Europe had been nearly 59,000 within the first 9 months of 2026. That’s too few to justify constructing a manufacturing facility, De Jaeger stated, although increased volumes might ultimately change the calculation.

It’s an unenviable place: Honda would not promote sufficient vehicles in Europe to justify constructing new factories there, but it surely sells sufficient that it possible would not wish to depart the bloc totally. It might share house in a manufacturing facility owned by one other automaker, or eat the tariff prices, however none of these choices are good. I’m definitely glad I’m not answerable for making that decision. 

Will we see costs crater after final evening’s election? Rise primarily based on impasse inside the authorities, with no veto-proof majorities within the House or Senate? Stay the identical? 

Libbing out is permitted by means of in the present day. After that, the work resumes.