On the campaign trail
• Texas in focus: President Donald Trump sought to bolster Republicans facing tougher-than-expected contests in the Lone Star State today with rallies in Corpus Christi and Lubbock, where Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico also campaigned tonight. Democrats are hoping to snap a 32-year statewide losing streak in the Senate and governor’s races.
• Election integrity: On his way to Texas,Trump said he would respect the outcome of the midterm elections, if they are “honest.” He has repeatedly attacked the integrity of the voting process and used the federal government to try to assert more control over how states oversee their elections.
• Political headwinds: Sabato’s Crystal Ball, an election forecasting report, has shifted 21 races in Democrats’ favor — including three Senate races in the South.
Updates
(74)It was Trump vs Talarico in Texas tonight. Catch up on campaign news here
The final sprint to Election Day is in full swing, with candidates and surrogates are rallying across the nation to turn out midterm voters.
President Donald Trump sought to bolster Republicans facing tougher-than-expected contests in the Lone Star State today with rallies in Corpus Christi and Lubbock, two miles from where Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico also campaigned tonight.
“I know we’re not the only show in town tonight, so I appreciate all 4,000 of you,” Talarico told rallygoers in Lubbock.
Here’s what else to know:
- At his rally in Lubbock for Ken Paxton, Trump announced he’s rolling back methane regulations enacted under former President Joe Biden to “save consumers and energy producers” billions of dollars.
- In Michigan, Vice President JD Vance called the state’s Senate race “the most important election in the United States of America,” accusing Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed of seeking to undermine the nation’s values.
- El-Sayed’s campaign condemned comments from Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that veered into extended untrue claims about Arab history and culture.
- Total ad spending for the midterm elections has surpassed $11.3 billion. Projected ad spending in the final week of the midterms shows money pouring into red states with competitive Senate races, AdImpact shows.
- Twenty-one midterm races shifted in favor of Democrats, according to Sabato’s Crystal Ball, an election forecasting report.
- The races for governor in Kansas and Nebraska have shifted slightly toward Democrats, according to the latest Cook Political Report.
- Trump again boasted that the US is “making a fortune” off the war in Iran, even as he acknowledged he would face blowback for the remark as Americans deal with high gas prices.
- House Speaker Mike Johnson committed to a peaceful transfer of power in Congress if Democrats win. Trump, meanwhile, said he will respect the outcome of the midterm elections — if they are “honest.”
CNN’s Danya Gainor, David Wright, Adam Cancryn, Alejandra Jaramillo, Katherine Koretski and Sarah Owermohle contributed reporting.
In dueling rallies two miles apart, Trump and Talarico appeal to Texans in final push
In sprawling Lubbock, Texas, one week out from the midterm election, a sea of red hats filed into a local convention center where President Donald Trump stumped for GOP Senate hopeful Ken Paxton, calling his opponent anti-gun, oil and meat.
The president also used the speech to announce rollbacks on Biden-era methane regulations, joke about nominating Sen. Ted Cruz to the Supreme Court, and even poke fun at Paxton, the GOP candidate he’s campaigning for.
But from two miles away up Route 82, Talarico delivered his own pitch as an appeal to Texans feeling the squeeze from high grocery and gas prices and rebuking billionaires and data centers, declaring “Texas is not for sale” from the podium at his rally inside Lubbock’s Fiesta Center.
A booming economic engine for West Texas, Lubbock on Tuesday night became the unlikely backdrop for a deadlocked Senate race that highlights the nation’s shifting partisan dynamics and threatens to upend control of Congress this January.
The Republican Party has been pouring big money into the Senate race to support Paxton in Texas — which last elected a Democratic senator in 1988 — as a CNN analysis last week deemed the state the fifth most likely seat to change hands this election.
Acton feels "full circle" moment as she returns to her Ohio hometown amid ad controversy
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton returned to her hometown of Youngstown, Ohio, just one week before Election Day, a homecoming that took on new resonance after Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign dropped an ad depicting Acton’s estranged mother calling her a liar.
She has not seen her mother since she was 12 years old.
Acton, who ran for student council president and won decades ago, said returning to Liberty High School was a full circle moment in her gubernatorial campaign —especially as her childhood has become such a focal point in the closing days of the race.
Acton spoke to CNN at length today about how she still hasn’t fully processed last week’s events, arguing she’ll need to unpack it when she’s not in the center of a high-stakes political campaign.
She continued: “I think I’ll unpack it more someday. Because in the world we’re in now, everything’s moving so quickly, and obviously we’re in the fight of our lives.”
Acton said she still has “work to do” and that she feels “in some ways, full circle and whole in a way that I can’t explain, and I hope someday it’ll all make sense to me, because it is hard to have someone say what you said was a lie when you’ve never lied in your life.”
Former Rep. Liz Cheney says "it's clear the House will flip" in Democrats' favor
When casting her predictions for the upcoming elections, former Rep. Liz Cheney says “it’s clear the House will flip” in Democrats’ favor.
During a conversation with the director of the Center for Public Leadership, Anthony Foxx, Cheney made her claims based on what she called “a situation where when you combine the fact that the party that is in power and the presidency tends not to do well in the midterms with the reality of what we’re seeing in terms of the economy, in terms of the policy decisions that have been made, in terms of corruption.”
Cheney emphasized the importance of the truth, accusing the Trump administration of purposefully sowing “chaos, and doubt and confusion.”
Trump announces rollback of regulations on super pollutant gas
President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he’s rolling back methane regulations enacted under former President Joe Biden in an effort to “save consumers and energy producers” billions of dollars.
During remarks in Lubbock, Texas — a state that boasts a booming oil and gas industry — Trump touted the rollback as a way to reduce pain at the pump, as high prices loom large for voters this election.
“Tonight I’m officially terminating Biden’s expensive and unnecessary methane regulations to save consumers and energy producers $45 billion in costs, unlock vast quantities of Texas natural gas, and produce 210 million barrels of oil,” Trump said.
Trump slammed the Biden administration for burdening operators with “crippling regulations and methane that caused prices to skyrocket.”
The Biden administration climate rule, mandated in the Inflation Reduction Act, sought to crack down on leaks of methane — a potent planet-warming gas with an outsize impact on the climate.
The president said the plan to repeal methane regulations predated the US Iran war and insisted the action would “really bring down the cost.”
Trump’s rollback is the latest in a series of sweeping efforts to dismantle climate and clean-air protections passed during the Biden administration. In September, the Trump administration finalized the repeal of regulations that limit the amount of planet-heating pollution coal and gas-fired power plants are allowed to produce.
Trump jokes every senator would confirm Cruz to the Supreme Court "to get rid of him"
President Donald Trump joked tonight that if he nominated Sen. Ted Cruz to the Supreme Court, every Democrat and Republican in the Senate would confirm him because they dislike the Texas Republican.
While describing how hard it is to get a nominee confirmed to the Supreme Court, Trump said, “I have an answer to not being able to get it past the Democrats or the Republicans together.”
Since 2020, Trump has floated nominating Cruz to the Supreme Court, describing him as “brilliant.” In his remarks tonight, he complimented Cruz, saying, he “went to law school, top student, everything, top credentials.”
"She was clearly not well," Ohio candidate Acton says about her estranged mother
Ohio gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton says she is still learning new details about her difficult childhood after a recent controversial ad featuring her estranged mother from her Republican rival put her family at the forefront.
The Democratic candidate said the Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign ad was exploitative.
“She was clearly not well and that’s why I think it’s so horrible that she was exploited in this ad in the way she was,” Acton told CNN’s Lauren Fox.
Trump again pokes fun at Paxton while rallying for him in Texas
President Donald Trump once again took a playful swipe at Ken Paxton on Tuesday, joking about the Texas Republican Senate nominee’s physique while campaigning for him in Lubbock exactly one week before the midterm elections.
Trump was revisiting a familiar riff from his stump speeches about Ohio Sen. Jon Husted’s rear end.
He then turned to Paxton. “Maybe I should do that with Ken Paxton, but I’m not sure your body is going to qualify.”
Over the weekend, Mike Rogers was luckier: Trump suggested that he might start commenting on the Michigan GOP Senate nominee’s appearance if it helps him in the polls. “I’d say that about your ass, too, Mike, if it gets you a guaranteed victory. I’ll do anything because we got to get you in,” Trump said.
Tuesday’s quip was the latest in a string of jabs Trump has aimed at the Texas attorney general, a staunch ally running in one of the GOP’s most critical races. Trump’s insults are often paired with praise for how Paxton does his job.
Earlier this month in Denton, Texas, Trump praised Paxton’s loyalty, saying he was “at my side more than anybody” when he faced criticism in the past.
“And I have to always remember that because he could be a pain in the ass sometimes. I’ll be honest,” Trump added.
Trump has poked fun at the way Paxton dresses and talks, including at the GOP’s midterm convention, which was held in Texas.
“Some may not like the way he dresses,” Trump said at the time, adding: “I don’t.”
How the Cheesecake Factory is at the heart of a partisan fight during this election cycle
CNN’s Alayna Treene reports on how the Cheesecake Factory, one of America’s most famous chain restaurants with a binder-sized menu, has been at the heart of a partisan fight during this election cycle.
The Cheesecake Factory, one of America’s most famous chain restaurants with a binder-sized menu, has been at the heart of a bitter partisan fight ever since former President Barack Obama used it to aim President Donald Trump’s gilded renovations at the White House. CNN’s Alayna Treene reports.
Republican Sen. Murkowski endorses a Democrat for Alaska governor
GOP Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski has endorsed Democratic candidate Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins for governor, according to a statement from the gubernatorial candidate.
Murkowski is one of the US Senate’s few swing votes and often breaks from party lines on issues ranging from his second-term Cabinet nominees to the war in Ukraine to the Department of Government Efficiency.
Bernadette Wilson, the Trump-endorsed Republican candidate for governor, said in a statement that Murkowski’s endorsement of the Democrat didn’t surprise her.
“I actively campaigned against Senator Murkowski in 2010, trying to sound the alarm on her liberal policies, and will continue today to sound the alarm on the liberal policies of JKT,” she said, referencing Kreiss-Tomkins.
California voter data hearing ends with promise from judge on when he’ll make a decision
The California voter rolls court hearing with the Justice Department ended after three and a half hours with no ruling, though Judge David O. Carter promised to weigh in with a decision by Wednesday on whether the DOJ could force the state to set aside the votes of 20,000 people the Trump administration claims could be noncitizens.
Carter said the parties would hear from him tomorrow, after earlier saying he planned to appoint an expert, known as a special master, to dig into the Justice Department’s allegations of noncitizens on California’s voter rolls.
The judge, a Clinton appointee, concluded with a cryptic comment: “This court believes it would be wise that any threats to state and county elected employees, cease immediately. Goodnight. You’ll hear from me tomorrow.”
It was unclear if Carter was referring to any attorneys or parties represented in the case, or other threats entirely. The Justice Department had argued during the hearing that state and county officials could be prosecuted if they allowed noncitizens to vote.
Tuesday’s hearing was just the latest step in what’s shaping up to be a drawn-out legal fight. The Justice Department had already tried to bypass the district court when it felt Carter wasn’t moving fast enough to issue a ruling — but the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected that effort on Monday, sending the case back to Carter.
Vulnerable New York GOP congressman blames Democrats for rising cost of living
While President Donald Trump’s flagging job approval ratings due to the rising cost of living is concerning Republicans about their chances of maintaining control of Congress, New York GOP Rep. Mike Lawler sought to blame the Democratic government of New York for affordability issues.
“Democrats control everything in Albany, everything in New York City, and their policies have driven up the cost of everything,” Lawler told CNN’s Jake Tapper, adding that his voters understand the need for balance.
Lawler’s seat is a prime pickup target for Democrats and one of the most expensive House races in the country, with Republicans and Democrats funneling more than $40 million cumulatively into campaign ads.
Senior Republicans feel confident in the incumbent congressman’s ability to maintain his seat.
Highlighting his bipartisan record and willingness to break with Trump, he said, “The fact is, if you want to get anything done, regardless of who the president is, you need to be able to not only work across the aisle, but you also need to be able to work with the administration.”
CNN’s Katherine Koretski contributed reporting.
Judge wants to bring in special expert to look at California voter data
A federal judge in California is bringing a court-appointed expert in to look at California voter data past Election Day and insure non-citizens haven’t voted. The unusual move by the judge, David O. Carter of the Central District of California, is the latest twist after the Justice Department tried over the past two weeks to insert itself into the state’s counting of mail-in ballots.
Carter’s appointment of an expert, called a special master, essentially derails the fast-moving court case for two weeks. The high-profile legal fight from the Trump administration against California has widely been viewed as a hail-Mary attempt to insert the Justice Department into state administration of elections in the days before the mid-term vote concludes.
Near the end of a three-hour court hearing Tuesday in Los Angeles, Carter said that he wanted to protect valid voters casting ballots.
But the judge also said, “Nobody wants non-citizens voting.”
Earlier this month, the Justice Department sent California a list of 20,000 votes it believed could be non-citizens, asking the state to review the data within 48 hours and set aside those ballots. When the state said it could not do so under its own laws, the DOJ filed a lawsuit seeking to force the state to set aside the ballots.
Carter told the Justice Department it would have until a December 3 ballot-curing deadline to theoretically find non-citizens if they had cast ballots, and indict them.
Carter noted he wanted to develop facts in the case, through the special master’s work, because of the possibility of future appeals.
Georgia's in-person early voting turnout surpasses 2 million
As of today, more than two million people in Georgia have cast their ballots, according to the US Secretary of State’s press office. It’s a 28% statewide turnout, including absentee ballots, so far, with only a week left until Election Day.
Early in-person ballots over 15 days increased in the state by 22% compared to 2022, the statement said. As for absentee ballots, more than 97,000 have been accepted in the state, according to the statement.
Early voting in Georgia continues until Friday.
Democratic candidate appeals to GOP voters in South Carolina ahead of Trump's visit
Democratic Senate candidate Annie Andrews is making broad appeal to South Carolina voters, including Republicans, as President Donald Trump returns to the state later this week to rally support behind his hand-picked GOP candidate, Sen. Darline Graham.
The pediatrician-turned-politician touted her “movement of unity,” including “unexpected collaborations” like the joint endorsement she received from a bipartisan duo of former governors.
Former Republican Governor David Beasley and former Democratic Governor Jim Hodges backed Andrews on Monday in her increasingly competitive race against Graham, who is running to serve a full term in her late brother’s Senate seat.
Trump is due to visit the Palmetto State for a second time this midterms cycle on Thursday to stump for Graham as national Republicans shift resources into the race to boost the junior senator.
In her remarks, Andrews highlighted a lifelong Republican she met in a deep-red county who said he donated to her campaign, as well as Warren Norman, the son of Graham’s former primary rival, Rep. Ralph Norman, who announced Friday he would not vote for Graham and was leaning toward Andrews.
These Trump voters in battleground Pennsylvania are standing by Republicans
CNN's Omar Jimenez talks to a father and son during his Battleground Road Trip in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, about what issues are driving their vote in the midterms.
Despite historically low approval ratings for President Donald Trump and other signs of bleak voter sentiment for Republicans, many of the president’s supporters, including in battleground states and districts, are sticking with the GOP in the midterm elections.
In Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where a tight race for the House seat is underway, some Trump voters told CNN’s Omar Jimenez they’re happy with how things are going — or at least happier than when Joe Biden was president.
Burnett and her son, Daniel Eby, said they’re in favor of the war in Iran but wish Trump had already ended it. They both said they support GOP Rep. Scott Perry in his competitive reelection bid against Janelle Stelson in Pennsylvania’s 10th District.
Burnett and Eby also said that abortion was one of the most important issues to them, a sentiment echoed by some other voters in Pennsylvania’s capital.
McIlhenny, who was sitting with his son, acknowledged the cost of living is high and said “things are tight.”
These are the 4 Senate campaign ads backed by the most money over the last week
One week remains in the 2026 midterm elections, and candidates and their allies are making their final arguments to voters. Four campaign ads from different Senate races backed by the most money over the previous week, according to AdImpact data, show what those messages look like.
The ad with the most money behind it comes from Texas PAC, a super PAC specifically formed for the blockbuster US Senate race in the Lone Star State, and funded by more than $150 million linked to tech billionaire Elon Musk.
Backed by nearly $20 million in the last week alone, it seizes on James Talarico’s recent flu-induced absence from the campaign trail to tell voters, via a sheriff’s warning, that the Democratic candidate “has been absent when it comes to public safety and his liberal crime agenda – it’ll make it harder for us to protect you.”
Second is an ad from WinSenate, the principal Democratic super PAC focused on Senate races, backed by about $5.7 million over the last week in Ohio. The spot implies corrupt dealings between Republican Sen. Jon Husted and an energy company, though Husted was not charged with any wrongdoing. Anti-corruption messaging has emerged as a key theme in midterm races this year.
Third is another ad from WinSenate in Iowa, which it spent $3.7 million airing over the last week. It hammers GOP nominee, Rep. Ashley Hinson, for supporting the Trump administration. “Hinson voted 7 times for the war, and now gas is through the roof. She voted 5 times for the tariffs. Now Iowa farms are going under,” the ad says.
Fourth is an ad from a GOP outside group, Great Lakes Conservatives Fund, targeting Michigan’s heated Senate race. Also backed by $3.7 million over the last week, it blasts Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee, over alleged associations with the Muslim Brotherhood. “El Sayed, we just can’t trust him,” the ad ends.
Hinojosa doubles down on lawsuit against Abbott over Musk emails
Democratic Texas gubernatorial candidate Gina Hinojosa said she stands by her lawsuit seeking the release of unredacted emails between Gov. Greg Abbott, her Republican opponent, and trillionaire Elon Musk, arguing that Texans “have a right to know” the details of the pair’s business dealings in the state, which involve billions of dollars in taxpayer funds.
“There’s billions of dollars in business between these two men, and this is taxpayer money, the people have a right to know, and I, as their representative, have a statutory right to know,” Hinojosa, currently a Texas state representative, told CNN’s Jake Tapper on The Lead Tuesday.
Travis County Judge Catherine Mauzy on Monday issued a temporary restraining order requiring Abbott’s office to “promptly, and in no event later than 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, October 29, 2026, allow Plaintiff Gina Hinojosa to inspect the records … in their complete and unredacted form.”
Musk gave $5 million to Abbott’s reelection campaign last month, according to new campaign finance filings in the state, which covered a period that ended Saturday. Musk previously gave $500,000 to Abbott in May.
Abbott’s office has appealed the ruling, his press secretary Andrew Mahaleris said.
“This lawsuit is a baseless stunt and nothing more than an act of desperation. State Representative Gina Hinojosa is misusing her official capacity as an outgoing lawmaker to generate headlines for political purposes,” Mahaleris said in a post on X.
The party affiliation saga of Alaska's Daniel J. Sullivan
Daniel J. Sullivan, the Alaska Senate candidate with the same name as the state’s incumbent Republican senator, switched his party affiliation from Republican to undeclared over the summer.
The move is just the latest twist in the story of his party affiliation, which has played out over the course of the year.
Two days before Sullivan filed for the state’s all-party top-four primary, he affiliated as a Republican. State election officials used that fact as part of a June decision that his candidacy was an effort to confuse voters and blocked him from the ballot.
The state Supreme Court affirmed that decision and wrote, “This matter is remanded for the Division of Elections to determine, in the first instance, how appellee Sullivan shall be listed as a candidate within the confines of existing Alaska ballot design law.”
Sullivan appeared on the ballot, but officials didn’t include party affiliation for him at all. General election ballots have been printed the same way.
The Alaska Beacon reported Sullivan first said he hadn’t requested the change, but after being told about the form he replied in an email, “holy cow … I did! – I can only guess I was thinking that since they didn’t affiliate me on the ballot, I should go with that, but to be honest with you, I am frazzled by all of this.”
The story of the two Dan Sullivans has been something of a political novelty story this year, amid a key Senate race which Democrats are eyeing as a top pickup opportunity.
But it’s taken on added importance in recent days, as the Trump administration has filed a lawsuit seeking to delay certification if the incumbent Sen. Sullivan loses by fewer votes than Daniel J. Sullivan received.
FEC electronic filing system disrupted
The operations of the electronic filing system at the federal agency that enforces campaign finance rules has been disrupted and is offline, according to the agency.
The Federal Election Commission has not disclosed the reason behind the outage. Reuters said the site had been targeted by a hacker or hackers, citing an email seen by the news agency. CNN has not independently verified that information.
“At this time, we can point to the status update posted to the FEC’s website that the electronic filing system is currently offline and our IT staff are actively working to restore service,” an FEC spokesperson said in a statement.
A notice on the agency’s website indicated that the problem began at 10:15 p.m. Monday.
The outage affects the ability of candidates and committees to file reports detailing last-minute contributions and spending on specific contests. The agency does not oversee how elections are conducted, and the outage does not affect voting in the midterms, which is currently underway across the country.
The FEC has operated without quorum for more than a year, hobbling its ability to take major actions to police federal campaign finance laws.
