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(48)Key takeaways from Tuesday's debates
• Epstein impact: A testy back-and-forth between Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff and his Republican opponent, Rep. Mike Collins, over Jeffrey Epstein illustrated how the late financier’s crimes continue to roil American politics. The debate was one of three showdowns in pivotal Senate races Tuesday night.
• Keeping tabs: In their Iowa Senate debate, Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson and Democratic state Rep. Josh Turek called each other out for what they didn’t do. Hinson repeatedly lambasted Turek for missing over 50% of the Iowa House’s floor votes in the most recent legislative session, and Turek criticized Hinson for not holding in-person town halls.
• Stance on war: In Maine, GOP Sen. Susan Collins distanced herself further from President Donald Trump in her debate against Democratic challenger Troy Jackson, saying the president “did not have a good plan” on Iran.
• Spotlight on Lone Star State: Meanwhile, James Talarico has Democrats dreaming big in Texas, where CNN’s Jeff Zeleny is reporting on the hotly contested Senate race. On Wednesday, CNN and Jubilee Media will host a town hall with the Democratic nominee. Stream with an All Access subscription.
Hinson separates from Trump on Russia, Iran
On two of the biggest foreign policy crises confronting Trump as the midterms approach — Russia’s war with Ukraine and the United States’ war with Iran — Iowa Rep. Ashley Hinson distanced herself from Trump.
At Tuesday night’s Senate race debate she criticized Trump’s deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin to supply markets with diesel fuel in a bid to lower prices that both candidates said are hurting Iowa farmers.
Hinson also pointed to a 2022 congressional ban on energy imports from Russia, a measure intended to punish the Russian economy over Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine.
“I am proud to have voted for sanctions against Russia,” she said. “I’m banned from Russia because of my stance on being tough on them and supporting Ukraine, and we cannot allow Vladimir Putin to win that war.”
She also said Trump’s war with Iran “does need to come to a resolute and successful end as quickly as possible.” However, Hinson balked when asked whether she would again vote against a war powers resolution that would halt Trump’s ability to continue military action against Iran without the approval of Congress.
Those breaks with Trump were notable in a debate in which Trump played a minor role — a reality owing to both Hinson’s awareness of the president’s sagging popularity and Turek’s need to win over a share of voters who backed Trump in the 2024 election.
Hinson rarely made direct reference to Trump. But she did say she lobbied Trump personally last week to quickly get soybean trade pacts negotiated to open up foreign markets for Midwestern farmers — an acknowledgement of the economic fallout of Trump’s tariff policies.
Turek's missed votes and Hinson's nonexistent town halls
In both of their Iowa Senate debates, Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson and Democratic state lawmaker Josh Turek have hammered each other for what they didn’t do.
Early in their clash Tuesday night, Hinson repeatedly lambasted Turek for missing 58% of the Iowa House’s floor votes in the most recent legislative session.
Turek’s defense for those missed votes was that he was campaigning for the Senate. Before facing Hinson in the general election, he had to win a competitive primary.
Turek, meanwhile, criticized Hinson for failing to conduct in-person public town halls — a decision many congressional Republicans have made after seeing the fierce backlash to Trump’s second term at early 2025 town halls.
He also said Hinson is “the least bipartisan member of the Iowa delegation.”
Trump pardons two men who pleaded guilty to violating Clean Air Act during Alaska rally
President Donald Trump signed pardons on stage during his rally tonight in Alaska for people who violated the Clean Air Act.
Trump announced the pardons for Zachary Czubak and Patrick Fleming.
In July, Trump pardoned 11 people, including several individuals who violated the Clean Air Act, which is aimed at cutting down on emissions and improving air quality. CNN has reached out to the White House for information on the Tuesday pardons.
Calling it his “important statement” of the night, Trump also reiterated his pledge to give every adult US citizen $5,000 if Republicans win the midterms.
“You’ll get it very quickly after the election if we win,” Trump said.
Trump urges Alaskans to vote for the "real Dan" Sullivan
President Donald Trump spoke for about 90 minutes at a rally in Alaska, cautioning Republicans not to vote for the other Dan Sullivan on the ballot, who has the same name as the GOP incumbent senator.
“That could be the difference. So you gotta remember Dan Sullivan, Republican incumbent,” Trump said Tuesday night, repeatedly urging people to “vote for the real Dan.”
Trump said his visit to Alaska was necessary while some other stops on the midterms trail are just to offer appreciation to Republican voters — which is how he explained a recent visit to historically red Texas.
More than 188,000 people voted in Georgia today
More than 188,000 people voted in Georgia on Tuesday, the first day of in-person early voting, according to data from the secretary of state.
As of 8:27 p.m. ET, the state was reporting 188,667 votes cast, but that number could tick up as reporting continues.
That’s about a 40% increase over the 134,901 people who voted on the first day in 2022, although early voting started a day later this year because Monday was a holiday.
That number was still well short of the 310,962 people who voted on the first day of early voting in 2024, which was a higher turnout presidential election.
Trailing Jon Ossoff, Mike Collins goes on offense in debate
Republican Rep. Mike Collins spent the first Georgia Senate debate largely on the defensive. But in Tuesday’s debate, he came out swinging.
“This is a race between Georgia and Georgetown,” Collins said at the top of his opening statement, as he tried to make up ground in a race in which he is seen as the underdog.
From there, Collins called Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff a “globetrotting trust-fund kid,” and a “coward” who hides behind “scripted online clips.” And days after Ossoff opened the debate by telling Georgians he would put Collins’ record on trial, the Republican said it was his turn to expose his opponent.
Collins spent much of the next hour criticizing Ossoff over his record on immigration, his support for green energy initiatives and the help he’s received from Democratic super donor Reid Hoffman.
“He’s using us as a platform,” Collins said in his closing remarks. “Georgians are hardworking people, and we deserve a senator that will work as hard as us for us.”
Ossoff avoids clear position on giving military aid to Israel
Democrat Sen. Jon Ossoff continued to walk a tightrope when discussing Israel’s war in Gaza during Tuesday’s Georgia Senate debate.
Ossoff, who is Jewish, said he had relatives in Israel and the “the security of the Israeli people matters to me,” but quickly added, “The safety and security of Palestinians matters to me, and it should matter to all of us.”
The question to Ossoff was whether he would put any conditions on continued military support for Israel. He mostly avoided taking a concrete position, stating that Israel had a right to go to war with Hamas after the October 7, 2023 terrorist attacks, but that “it’s right for US senators to ensure that American laws and international laws are being respected by those who fight with our weapons.”
Mike Collins ducks questions about who won the 2020 election
Republican Rep. Mike Collins repeatedly declined to answer questions about the 2020 election during Tuesday’s Georgia Senate debate.
Asked if he still believed President Donald Trump won the 2020 election, Collins ducked the question by criticizing the victor in that race, Democrat Joe Biden. Collins said in June that Trump had won.
Later, when Sen. Jon Ossoff had a chance to ask a questions to Collins, he brought the issue up again, noting Trump’s phone call pressuring Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” the votes to flip the result in Georgia in 2021. Once again, Collins declined to say who won.
“Everybody’s seen my views on that,” Collins said. “They know my views on that.”
Ossoff tried a third time later, and Collins retorted, “I have said numerous times that Joe Biden was the president.”
“That’s not what I asked,” Ossoff responded.
Georgia debate turns heated over Jeffrey Epstein
A testy back-and-forth over files related to Jeffrey Epstein illustrated how the late financier’s crimes continue to roil American politics.
During tonight’s Senate debate in Georgia, Republican Rep. Mike Collins attacked Sen. Jon Ossoff over the donations he’s received from LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman — “the same guy that’s in the Epstein files.” (After the Justice Department’s Epstein files showed several messages between Hoffman and Epstein, the prolific Democratic donor acknowledged he had multiple meetings with the disgraced financier. “I only knew Jeffrey Epstein because of a fundraising relationship with MIT, which I very much regret,” Hoffman wrote on X.)
“You voted to cover up the evidence, even though you knew 14-year-old girls had been raped, because Donald Trump told you to,” Ossoff said. “Donald Trump, who, by the way, is named 1,000 times in the Epstein files.”
Ossoff vows to serve 6-year Senate term if reelected
Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff on Tuesday sought to refocus attention on his reelection bid amid intensifying interest in his political future.
Asked in the opening question of Georgia’s Senate debate if he pledged to serve his full six-year term if voters send him back to Washington in November, Ossoff said, “Yes.”
His opponent, however, Republican Rep. Mike Collins, said voters should be skeptical.
Collins and Jackson agree on data center regulations
In a rare moment of bipartisanship, GOP Sen. Susan Collins and Democrat Troy Jackson outlined similar positions on how to regulate data centers, an example of how the polarizing issue has created unlikely bedfellows even in a hotly contested Senate race.
Both candidates said they wanted to see parameters around how data centers are built to protect natural resources and electricity costs.
The key news you should know from competitive races across America
There are only three weeks left until the midterm election and CNN reporters are spread all across the country to hear from voters and candidates on the ballot.
The homestretch of this election cycle shows a grim outlook gripping the GOP. Weeks of polling show Republicans on track to lose the House amid intense voter anger over the Iran war and rising cost of living — and at grave risk of losing their once-solid majority in the Senate as well.
Key highlights from our coverage today:
GOP concerns: For months, Republicans were pressing President Donald Trump to campaign for key candidates. Now, some worry he’s so unpopular his presence may do more harm than good. With GOP operatives alarmed, the party’s pouring resources into traditionally red districts and states at the expense of their once-expansive ambitions in Democratic areas.
What polls show: One key dynamic we’re seeing across polls is that Republicans no longer have an advantage on trust to handle economic issues. Even as overall views of the Democratic Party remain negative, many Americans see it as the lesser of two evils. Polls show most Americans think Trump’s agenda has magnified the problem they reelected him to solve. Look at the latest polls in the full analysis here.
In Kansas: GOP Sen. Roger Marshall, on his first campaign stop this morning, traded barbs with hecklers. At another stop, he deflected CNN’s question about the Iran war. The incumbent is facing a tough reelection battle against Democratic candidate Adam Hamilton. Hamilton, a pastor who describes himself as a moderate, highlights Marshall’s ties to the president and criticizes the Iran war, among other issues.
First day of early voting in Georgia: It’s likely that a healthy majority of this year’s votes in Georgia will be cast over the next three weeks, before Election Day. Voters at a polling location in Decatur, Georgia, lined up as early as 5:30 a.m. ET to cast their ballot. Several voters told CNN that affordability and the economy is a big issue for them. Democratic gubernatorial candidate Keisha Lance Bottoms expressed confidence to CNN today.
Competitive race in Iowa: Both candidates have begun deliberate outreach to voters outside their base. Democrat Josh Turek’s ad this week features a visit he made to the southern US border, a clear play for conservative voters. GOP Rep. Ashley Hinson has also run multiple ads emphasizing her willingness to work across the aisle.
Texas: Total ad spending in Texas has passed $500 million. Vice President JD Vance rallied for Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton today, claiming that Democratic opponent James Talarico is a “crazy” left-wing candidate who is pretending to be a moderate.
Notable on ad spending: The top Democratic super PAC in Senate races is canceling its ad spending for the week in Georgia, indicating confidence in Sen. Jon Ossoff’s reelection campaign. Meanwhile, Republicans enter triage mode. House Republicans’ largest super PAC is officially cutting off GOP Reps. Mariannette Miller-Meeks in Iowa’s 1st Congressional District and Thomas Kean Jr. in New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District from its ad spending. Republican officials privately believe these seats are too difficult to win at this point. The House Democratic campaign arm launched $13 million in coordinated TV ads across 39 districts, in states like Florida, Maine and Texas.
CNN’s Ronald Brownstein, David Wright, Adam Cancryn, Lauren Fox, Patrick Svitek, Manu Raju, Alison Main, Annie Grayer, Kaanita Iyer, Ryan Young, Devon M. Sayers, Sarah Ferris, Ariel Edwards-Levy, David Wright and Kit Maher contributed to this post.
Jackson says he'll share FEC report with Collins Wednesday
Democrat Troy Jackson vowed to share his FEC report with GOP Sen. Susan Collins on Wednesday, after Collins said Jackson had not been forthcoming about who is funding his campaign since he replaced Graham Platner on the ballot this summer.
Claims of corruption continue to be a major theme in the race, with the Democrat accusing Collins throughout the debate of being beholden to billionaires and special interests.
The deadline to file a third quarter fundraising report is Thursday.
GOP Sen. Susan Collins continues to seek distance from Trump
GOP Sen. Susan Collins continued to separate herself from President Donald Trump throughout tonight’s Senate debate in Maine.
Kicking off with her criticism of his approach to the war in Iran, Collins — during later exchanges — pointed to her vote against Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” and her opposition to the tariffs on Canada.
But Collins pointed out that she ultimately did not support the bill because of the cuts Republicans were making to the Medicaid program. Collins also pointed out that she helped establish a rural hospital fund. Even though Collins voted against the legislation, she said she couldn’t stop her party from passing it.
When Collins was asked about her position on Trump’s tariffs on Canada, Collins said, “I have been extremely outspoken in my opposition to Canadian tariffs and I have voted repeatedly to repeal them.”
In both cases, however, Collins argued that she was in a better position than Jackson to leverage her position in negotiations with the Trump administration.
Collins, Jackson spar over fraud claims
When GOP Sen. Susan Collins tried to attack Democrat Troy Jackson for being ineffective in cutting fraud in Medicare and Medicaid in the Maine state legislature, Jackson immediately turned the issue back on Collins.
Jackson used Collins’ decision to talk about fraud as an opening to bring up a ProPublica report of a pay-to-play scheme allegation that Collins committed to steering millions of dollars in federal contracts to a Hawaii-based defense contractor in exchange for donations to her 2020 campaign.
Collins has denounced the report as a “political hit job” and her office has called the allegations “categorically false.”
Maine debate immediately turns to Iran war
Tonight’s Maine Senate debate turned immediately to the Iran war when GOP Sen. Susan Collins and Democrat Troy Jackson were asked how to help lower heating costs in Maine.
Jackson went on offense arguing that Collins has done nothing to stop the Iran war, particularly in her position as chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and seeking to tie her to President Donald Trump, whom the incumbent has sought to distance herself from on the campaign trail.
Collins pointed out that she has voted to rein in Trump’s war powers after the conflict surpassed 60 days. Instead, she argued that high heating costs were tied to state policies, pointing to Jackson’s past tenure as state Senate president.
Both candidates said they believed the Iran war should come to an end, with Collins stressing her disagreements with Trump’s handling of the conflict.
Pennsylvania's top election official committed to battling disinformation
As mail-in ballots begin to arrive in mailboxes across Pennsylvania, the state’s Secretary of the Commonwealth is determined to battle any disinformation about the election process.
“We have absolutely worked to be more engaged (in this fight against disinformation),” Secretary Al Schmidt told CNN.
While there have been months of unsubstantiated or exaggerated claims about mail-in ballots and non-citizens voting from both the federal government and online activists, Schmidt and his office are hoping to reassure voters the election will be secure and their votes will be counted.
Schmidt also addressed concerns of ICE agents potentially showing up at polling locations.
“It’s never really about being concerned, it’s about being prepared. This is one of the scenarios obviously that we’ve discussed,” said Schmidt. “In Pennsylvania, law enforcement is not permitted within 100 feet of voting.”
Schmidt is a Republican who was appointed by Pennsylvania’s Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro.
Marshall defiant over lawsuits against patients with outstanding debt
GOP Sen. Roger Marshall has faced a barrage of Democratic attacks over his past billing practices at a medical practice after The New York Times found that he filed lawsuits against more than 700 patients with outstanding bills, 81 of whom were arrested after missing court dates in those cases.
Asked by CNN on Tuesday about the reporting, which cited lawsuits for unpaid bills as low as $101, Marshall was defiant.
“Why are we repeating the lie? You’re repeating the lie,” he said in an interview during a campaign stop.
Asked if he had done anything wrong, Marshall said: “Of course we did not. The Kansas Bill of Rights clearly says you cannot imprison or even arrest somebody because of indebtedness. I would want no one to ever go to jail because of anything they owe me … There were people being bussed from other cities to us, knowing that I would take care of them for free. Nothing could be further from the truth here.”
Marshall has denied that his debt collection practices were out of the norm, but a subsequent analysis by the Kansas City Star of similar cases across the state in the last three decades found that the 18 percent annual interest rate routinely charged by Marshall on unpaid bills was at least six percent higher than other medical providers.
When CNN asked if the 18 percent rate was fair, Marshall said: “I think you’re losing the real story here, right? So once this, when and if this ever happened, and we wrote off hundreds of people’s bills every month, and when and if it happened, like every other hospital, nonprofits alike and other doctors’ offices, some of those people by law have to go to collections. There has to be some effort to go through collections … But you’re missing the point. Whatever interest rate they charge, I have no idea. But the real story here is that this is a lie.”
Steve Johnson, a lawyer who represented Marshall in many debt lawsuits, told the Kansas City Star that Marshall’s office was responsible for setting the interest rate in those cases at 18%, which he said he would’ve advised clients was the maximum.
Kansas Sen. Marshall deflects when asked about Iran war
GOP Sen. Roger Marshall has suddenly found himself in a hard-fought battle to hang onto his seat in deep-red Kansas — in no small part because of high fuel prices caused by the Iran war.
So when CNN approached Marshall on Tuesday to ask if it was time for the president to end the war, the Republican incumbent turned his attention to something else: His opponent, Adam Hamilton, accusing the Democrat of covering up a sex abuse scandal from two decades ago at a megachurch he co-founded — something Hamilton firmly denies.
“I think what you should be talking about is my opponent, that he’s a child sex predator protector, that he’s protected a predator,” Marshall said outside of his campaign bus in central Kansas. “He let him come to his church. He had complaints about him from kids … This guy, my opponent Hamilton, ignores that and he lets the same predator go back to the church camp the next year. And he does the same thing.”
Asked again about Iran, Marshall pointed back at the church incident, saying: “I think you guys need to talk about something that Kansans want to be talking about right now.”
The senator, who has opposed numerous efforts in Congress to call for an end to the war, eventually told CNN: “I’ve given you my comments on Iran before. Look, I want this war to be over as quickly as possible. I don’t want to lose any soldiers, any more soldiers. Like Eisenhower, I hate war.”
Marshall was referring to incidents that occurred in 2005 and 2006 at a youth retreat affiliated with Hamilton’s United Methodist church where a volunteer was accused of sexually abusing children. The issue has become the subject of attack ads from Marshall – and was cited by President Donald Trump in a Truth Social post on Monday.
Hamilton has accused Marshall and Trump of distorting the facts and misleading Kansans. The Kansas City Star, which investigated the claims, said that court records showed that the Democrat’s “church conducted an internal investigation about the abuse, reported it to law enforcement after identifying the abuser and that Hamilton personally played a role in a report about additional abuse by the perpetrator.”
Asked by CNN on Monday about Trump attacking him over the matter, Hamilton pushed back on what he called a “desperate” attack.
“The president’s lying, and he’s twisting the truth around,” Hamilton said. “And every organization that looked into these claims four months ago said the same thing. This is a misrepresentation of what happened. It’s sad and tragic.”
Asked if he should have handled the situation differently, Hamilton told CNN: “Absolutely. We should have called the police immediately. That was not our policies 21 years ago, and it was it was not completely clear exactly what happened or who had done it. And so when we called the sheriff, they looked into it. They didn’t file charges. They didn’t press charges because it was inconclusive. That’s what our folks found the first year. So, but here’s the thing: we don’t ever want a kid to be hurt. We changed our policies.”
Responding to Marshall’s Tuesday comments, a Hamilton spokesperson said that Washington was “panicking” over Marshall’s campaign.
“They’re sending in millions to try to distract from Marshall’s record of supporting the war in Iran, gutting healthcare, and raising prices on everything from gas to groceries,” said Tyson Brody, a spokesperson for Hamilton. “Roger Marshall is desperate to hide from his record of protecting predators, and preying on low-income families in Kansas.”
