President Donald Trump will hold rallies in Iowa and Kansas after initially opting for telerallies instead. Democrats had questioned his crowd sizes and stamina.
Early voting is significantly outpacing the last midterm election, with particularly sharp increases in states hosting competitive Senate races, according to an Associated Press analysis of voting data from five days before Election Day.
The Justice Department has subpoenaed California elections workers to appear before grand juries, prompting voting groups to ask for restraining orders. And with the GOP talking up the ballot-stacking controversy in the Alaska Senate race, Democrat Mary Peltola says Republicans are bullying because they can't run on their record.
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This election’s results will shape end of the Trump era and beyond
Trump is facing the prospect of a voter rebellion that could force conservatives to rethink their undying allegiance to the 80-year-old lame-duck leader and his "Make America Great Again" movement. Already, some Republican candidates have begun to distance themselves from him.
And Democrats, who remain unpopular despite midterm momentum, are speeding toward a tug-of-war between establishment leaders and emboldened progressives demanding nothing less than transformative change.
Whether either party wins or loses Tuesday, the end of the 2026 midterms marks the beginning of a high-stakes fight over the country's political future in the twilight of the Trump era — a fight that will swiftly surge to the forefront of American politics as new members of Congress descend upon Washington and the 2028 presidential contest takes off.
Democrats pump $15 million into key governors races
The Democratic Governors Association said Friday that it and related groups have spent $15 million on races in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Ohio and Wisconsin.
The party has also spent $10 million in Iowa and seven figures in both Texas and Florida. It has put $500,000 each into races in Nebraska and Oklahoma.
Democrats are hoping to regain a majority of the nation’s governorships for the first time since 2010. But they have faced tough choices, including how much to invest in expensive and traditionally Republican states like Florida and Texas, where the Democratic candidates have insisted they have a path to victory.
"The DGA is incredibly excited about the size and ambition of the playing field that has settled in these final days," DGA executive director Meghan Meehan-Draper wrote in a memo. "However, we remain clear-eyed about the challenge of overcoming unprecedented Republican spending."
Vote Republican, or else: How Trump dangles aid in the midterms
Trump says Georgia GOP Senate candidate Mike Collins can call him whenever he wants to ask for help for his state. But if Georgia reelects Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff, Trump says it could be another story.
"There's a big difference between that and Pee-wee Herman calling," Trump said last week in Perry, Georgia, using his derisive nickname for Ossoff. The president acted out a hypothetical scenario at his rally where Ossoff calls to ask for money for his state, and Trump responds, "I don't give a damn what he wants."
It's been a recurring theme at Trump's rallies this month: From North Carolina to Ohio to Kansas, the president has dangled the idea that his administration would be far less likely to help states where Democrats win.
An ICE officer has been charged after striking a man with a car in Houston
A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer accused of intentionally ramming his car into a Mexican construction worker was charged Friday by the prosecutor's office in Houston with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
The Harris County District Attorney’s office says ICE officer Mario Alberto Morales’s unmarked vehicle struck Miguel Parra Hernandez as he was running away. The man was taken into custody with a broken leg.
Few federal officers during Trump's immigration crackdown have faced criminal charges for their actions in the field, although some encounters have come under investigation.
District Attorney Sean Teare, a Democrat, also is investigating the fatal shooting of a Mexican homebuilder that set off protests in the city.
ICE did not immediately respond to the indictment, but an earlier agency statement called the accusations false and reckless.
Teare has said the surveillance footage clearly contradicts the ICE account.
ExxonMobil and Chevron beat revenue expectations as higher prices benefit oil majors
ExxonMobil reported quarterly revenues up 33% to $113 billion on Friday. Chevron’s revenue surged 36% to $67.8 billion.
Besides the disruption caused by the wars in Iran and Ukraine that have driven up the fuel costs, both companies have increased oil extraction, and Exxon reported that its U.S. Gulf Coast diesel production was the second-highest on record.
Despite Trump 's efforts to tamp down soaring energy costs as Americans vote, diesel is about $6.32 per gallon, up 71% since last year, according to AAA. Diesel surpassed $6 last month — a record. Regular gasoline is up about 38%. Some states have stopped collecting gas taxes to ease costs.
More details on the huge turnout surge
The surge is especially pronounced in Texas, where voters are deciding closely watched Senate, House and governor's races. More than 6.3 million Texans voted early as of Wednesday, compared with 4.2 million at the same point four years ago, a 50% increase, according to the AP analysis.
In Harris County, Texas, which includes Houston, 862,700 people had voted, compared with 564,500 at the same point in 2022.
Texans are choosing between Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton and Democrat James Talarico for the U.S. Senate. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott is seeking reelection against Democrat Gina Hinojosa.
Advance voting has increased more than 30% in Maine, Michigan, North Carolina and Kansas, states with competitive Senate races. In South Carolina, where voters are choosing a successor to the late Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, early voting is up 83%.
Stevens wants El-Sayed to apologize for Israel comments ahead of joint campaign appearance
Rep. Haley Stevens is calling on Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed to apologize for his past comments about Israel ahead of the former primary rivals' joint appearance at a Sunday get-out-the-vote event.
Stevens posted Friday morning that she welcomes El-Sayed’s expected condemnation of an advertisement by Rebellion PAC, an independent left-wing group, that links high grocery prices to U.S. support for Israel. Some Jewish leaders criticized the ad, and Stevens said Democratic Party leaders told her El-Sayed would denounce it.
Stevens’s statement then said the ad echoes comments El-Sayed himself has made, and “I therefore expect him to apologize for those statements as well.”
El-Sayed has not publicly condemned the ad, though his campaign has said it is not affiliated with the group. He has apologized for earlier comments about a synagogue attack but remains sharply critical of Israel's government. His campaign declined to comment Friday.
JD Vance to stump for Republican in Elise Stefanik’s New York district
The vice president is heading to upstate New York on the eve of Election Day to campaign for a Republican in a district that just a few months ago was considered safe for the GOP.
Vance will host a get-out-the-vote rally alongside Republican congressional candidate Anthony Constantino on Monday in Rome, New York, Constantino’s campaign confirms.
The visit comes as Trump and Republican leaders increasingly seek to buttress candidates in red districts ahead of next week’s midterm elections. Constantino, a Trump ally, is running against Democratic dairy farmer Blake Gendebien to succeed outgoing Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik, who has represented the seat since 2015.
In 2024, Trump won the rural district by about 21 percentage points and Stefanik defeated her challenger by about 24 points.
Trump’s pre-Halloween flyover raises alarm in DC
At the White House on Thursday evening, the president paused from passing out candy at an annual Halloween event to watch a low flyover of the Qatari-gifted jumbo jet he often uses as Air Force One. It passed once at about 5:30 p.m. and circled back for a second flyover, passing directly over the White House.
Trump looked up and waved as it soared by.
Elsewhere in Washington, some said it was frightening to see what seemed like a passenger jet flying so low over buildings and homes. In a post on social media, Washington’s city council said the flyover came with little notice and startled many downtown.
Trump to hold rallies in Kansas and Iowa after all
Trump has rescheduled campaign rallies in a pair of critical Midwestern states that he had previously canceled, according to a person familiar with the plans.
The person said Friday the Republican president will now visit Iowa and Kansas for back-to-back campaign rallies on Sunday. The person insisted on anonymity to discuss Trump’s schedule.
The Republican National Committee initially said in canceling the rallies that Trump would do telerallies instead to reach more voters. But the person familiar with the latest plans say the Iowa and Kansas rallies have been rearranged to accommodate the new telerallies added to Trump's schedule.
Democrats seize on Trump’s pull-back from rally schedule
Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic Senate candidate in Michigan who's in a tight race against Republican Mike Rogers, said Thursday night that the president's goal of trying to gin up GOP voters has backfired and he has "given up."
“He’s an old man, he’s a loser,” El-Sayed continued. “He now understands that he has fully lost the midterms for his party.”
Trump’s in-person rallies were being held in smaller venues
A campaign strategist with Republican Senate leadership said there was widespread curiosity about why Trump’s schedule was changing to telerallies. The strategist spoke on condition of anonymity to share the content of private conversations.
Trump, who revels in big crowds, has this month held rallies in smaller venues than many he once filled. The decision to switch to telerallies means he will be expected to speak for about 10 minutes instead of more than 90, as he does at in-person events.
Trump plans to travel to Daytona Beach, Florida, for a rally Friday. It’s not clear whether he will hold additional in-person events after that. The White House has not published his schedule for Monday, the final day of the campaign.
Trump showed signs that travel and long speeches were wearing him down
Trump’s switch to telerallies is an abrupt shift from his pledge to lead in-person rallies to galvanize supporters. As of Thursday, he had done 25 rallies this month, short of a goal he once placed north of 30.
On Monday, in Corinth, Mississippi, Trump — whose voice has grown raspy — told the crowd, “God didn’t make your vocal cords to do a rally every day.”
But he bristled Thursday when a reporter asked whether he had canceled a Kansas rally because of his health. “You’ve been following me for two weeks. I feel perfect,” Trump snapped.
The president projected confidence as he returned to the White House from South Carolina, saying, “We’re going to have a strong Tuesday night.”
California workers, voting rights groups ask judges to stop DOJ election intervention
Two legal filings overnight reveal how Trump critics are fighting back as the Justice Department deepens its scrutiny of local election administration.
A group including the League of Women Voters that's challenging the administration's collection and analysis of state voter data asked for temporary restraining order.
Another coalition that includes California workers filed a new lawsuit alleging that federal threats to election workers “significantly risk interfering with the lawful administration of the ongoing 2026 midterm elections and the counting of ballots in accordance with federal and state law.”
Both filings asked federal judges to stop the Justice Department from demanding that election workers remove voters or segregate ballots, and from threatening election workers with prosecution for counting ballots that the Trump administration alleges were sent to noncitizens.
US scraps G20 ‘family photo’ after Europeans object to being photographed with Russia’s Lavrov
The United States scrapped plans for a “family photo” with participants at the G20 foreign ministers meeting on Friday in Atlanta after several European diplomats objected to being photographed with Russia’s top diplomat, Sergey Lavrov, and threatened to walk out of it.
That’s according to two U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter that has endangered prospects for the world’s largest economies to reach consensus on a number of global crises, especially the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The officials said Secretary of State Marco Rubio decided to pull down the planned photograph late Thursday after determining that controversy over the posed event would be a distraction.
Lavrov’s attendance has been a matter of concern for many European nations who are also NATO members, notably because Ukraine, which is not a G20 member but has participated as an observer at previous ministerial meetings, was not invited.
— By Matthew Lee.
Available data show more Democrats than Republicans voting early
The data compiled by The Associated Press offers a glimpse of early voter participation five days before an election that will determine control of Congress and other key contests across the country.
Across the country, more than 43 million Americans had voted early in person or returned mail ballots, nearly 10 million more than in 2022. The figures cover 47 states and Washington, D.C., compared with 48 states and the nation’s capital four years ago.
In states that provide information on voters’ party affiliation, about 6.8 million Democrats and 5.2 million Republicans have cast ballots early. Those figures do not account for all early voters nationwide or indicate which candidates received their votes.
Early voting jumps as millions more Americans vote ahead of Election Day
Early voting is continuing to significantly outpace the last midterm election, with millions more Americans casting ballots in advance and particularly sharp increases in states hosting competitive Senate races.
An Associated Press analysis of voting data five days before Election Day shows the surge is especially pronounced in Texas, where voters are deciding closely watched Senate, House and governor’s races. More than 6.3 million Texans had voted early as of Wednesday, compared with 4.2 million at the same point four years ago, a 50% increase.
Advance voting has also increased over 30% from the same point four years ago in Maine, Michigan, North Carolina and Kansas, all states with competitive Senate races. In South Carolina, where voters are choosing a successor to the late Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, early voting is up 83%.
Leo XIV becomes first pope in history to vote in a US election
The Vatican confirmed Friday that the Chicago-born pontiff submitted a mail-in ballot in Chicago ahead of November’s midterm elections, citing his long-standing belief in civic participation.
Leo, formerly Robert Prevost, “has exercised his right to vote as a United States citizen” and has done so “whenever he was eligible to do so,” the Holy See press office said. “The Holy Father expresses his belief in the right and the duty of citizens to participate in democratic processes.”
The statement said he had also voted while living in Peru whenever he was eligible.
Scott says he’s expecting more info from DOJ on Alaska Senate controversy
Speaking to Fox News Channel from Michigan, Sen. Tim Scott said Attorney General Todd Blanche was "acting expeditiously" to probe allegations that Democrat Mary Peltola's campaign appeared to be involved in recruiting another candidate on the Alaska ballot with the same name as the Republican incumbent.
Scott, who chairs Senate Republicans’ campaign arm, said Peltola must be “absolutely concerned about her inability to win the election without lying, cheating, therefore stealing the results of this election.”
Peltola on Thursday denied she knew anything about the efforts, first reported by the New York Times.
Scott wasn't asked about GOP efforts to stack ballots with candidates who could siphon votes, a long and unseemly tradition across the political spectrum in American politics.
Peltola says Republicans can’t win on their record, so they’re trying bullying
Peltola dismisses the claims as a ‘distraction’ Peltola alluded to the controversy in a fundraising post Thursday.
“They can’t win on their record so they’re trying to intimidate me into backing down,” she said, adding later: “This is just another distraction as they avoid answering for the skyrocketing cost of living we’re facing because of their tariffs and forever wars. It won’t work.”
The situation in Alaska isn't that unusual. Political parties often support extra candidates on ballots to try to pull votes from their rivals. If state courts allow it — as has the Alaska Supreme Court — legal experts say the federal government has no role challenging the results.
In Ohio's Senate race, Republicans have been tied to an effort to boost a socialist on the ballot who would pull votes from the Democratic candidate challenging Sen. Jon Husted.
Sen. Tim Scott says Norman voters ‘very disappointed’ their congressman won’t back Graham
The National Republican Senatorial Committee chairman told Fox News Channel on Friday he has “no doubt” that Sen. Darline Graham will win in their shared home state of South Carolina.
But Scott also said he spoke with constituents of Rep. Ralph Norman — who lost this summer’s special GOP runoff to Graham — who were upset with the congressman’s lackluster support for the nominee.
Norman has said he’s personally supporting Graham but that he wouldn’t campaign with her, and Norman’s son penned an op-ed last week saying he was voting for Democratic nominee Annie Andrews.
Trump rallied with Graham on Thursday in Rock Hill, in Norman's district.
Trump says he's pro-farmer as he promotes Marshall on Kansas radio instead of rally
Instead of a weekend rally with GOP Sen. Roger Marshall, Trump called into a Kansas City radio station Friday, calling the incumbent "fantastic" and saying he's "in a close race."
Talking up policy directives he says have helped farmers, like expanding the use of tax-free red-dyed diesel, Trump said the GOP incumbent is "the one that probably more than anybody else pushes us on this."
The president also called Democratic nominee Adam Hamilton, pastor of the nation's largest United Methodist Church, a "radical" who has "caused turmoil with the church because he's so liberal."
Blitzing states where Republicans are in close races, Trump had been scheduled to rally in Kansas on Saturday but is now doing rallies by phone instead. The Republican National Committee says the move maximizes Trump's ability to speak to voters nationwide.
Former US diplomats, national security officials urge Trump to enforce Russian sanctions law
Nearly 20 experts said recent U.S. policy decisions risk putting the goal of ending Russia’s war on Ukraine further out of reach, according to a letter to the president obtained by AP.
"To restore American leverage, we urge you to enforce the sanctions law you signed," they said, referring to the Lindsey Graham Sanctioning Russia Act.
They also called on Trump to reverse his Russian diesel deal, release Patriot interceptors that Ukraine is counting on for its defense and ensure Ukraine is part of any negotiations over a peace deal.
The letter was signed by retired Gen. Wesley K. Clark, retired Gen. Philip Breedlove and former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor, among others.
Pentagon accuses newly fired general of leaking sensitive information
The Pentagon has accused a newly ousted three-star general of leaking sensitive information to the media just hours after officials confirmed his removal from a top military planning post.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired Army Lt. Gen. Brett Sylvia as head of strategy, plans and policy for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a defense official said late Wednesday. Typically, the general in the position and their staff are responsible for generating and coordinating military plans for both the chairman of the Joint Chiefs and the president.
No reason was given for the firing, the latest in a series of ousters or departures of military leaders under Hegseth. However, a Pentagon official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, later said in a statement that Sylvia was under investigation over allegations of sharing classified information about the Iran war, the Russia-Ukraine conflict and other topics with journalists.
DOJ escalates its elections scrutiny with day-after subpoenas of California officials
The U.S. Justice Department has issued subpoenas to California officials in an escalation of its scrutiny of local election administration.
The Associated Press obtained copies of three subpoenas sent Oct. 21 and Oct. 24 to employees of the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder, ordering them to appear in court on Nov. 4, the day after the election.
The subpoenas request any documents and communications related to letters sent in July and October by federal officials to state election officials outlining allegations of noncitizens on the state’s voter rolls.
They also seek any information about efforts to prevent noncitizen votes from being counted. All four U.S. attorneys in California were issuing subpoenas, according to a person familiar with the matter who insisted on anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation.
The subpoenas represent the latest salvo in a fight between the Trump administration and California over the eligibility of voters in the heavily Democratic state, amplifying pressure on local election officials to comply with exhaustive government demands and setting the stage for legal challenges.
El-Sayed and Stevens appear together as Democrats seek unity in Michigan Senate race
Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed will campaign Sunday in Detroit alongside former primary rival Rep. Haley Stevens, marking their first public appearance together in months after a week in which lingering divisions spilled into public view.
The two will be joined by South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn, one of the country’s most prominent Black politicians, at a get-out-the-vote event at a Detroit church, according to two people familiar with the plans who were not authorized to discuss them publicly. The event was first reported by The Associated Press.
The joint appearance — their first since a Democratic unity breakfast days after the Aug. 4 primary — follows weeks of Democrats struggling to unite behind El-Sayed following his razor-thin victory over Stevens. She received significant support from the Jewish and Black communities, leading to concerns about turnout in the general election.
Peltola denies she knew of effort to stack Alaska ballot with same-name candidate
Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola denied Thursday that she knew anything about an effort to put another candidate on the Alaska ballot with the same name as the Republican incumbent as the Justice Department escalated a criminal investigation with new grand jury subpoenas.
“I just want to clear the air,” she said at the top of a speech in a downtown bar in Juneau, Alaska’s capital. “I knew nothing about any other candidate on the ballot except for me and the incumbent. That is all I have ever known about. I am not interested in tricking voters.”
Peltola is running against Sen. Dan Sullivan. A person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press that subpoenas seeking grand jury testimony or documents, along with records preservation demands, were issued after The New York Times reported that Peltola’s campaign appeared to be involved in recruiting Dan J. Sullivan Jr. as part of an alleged effort to confuse voters.