On the campaign trail today
• Political headwinds: Sabato’s Crystal Ball, an election forecasting report, has shifted 21 races in Democrats’ favor — including three Senate races in the South.
• Election integrity: President Donald Trump said he will respect the outcome of the midterm elections, if they are “honest.” The president 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.
• Texas in focus: Early voting turnout across Texas is strong so far, but it’s especially high in the most Democratic counties. Trump is making two stops today in the Lone Star State, seeking to bolster Republicans facing tougher-than-expected contests. Democrats are hoping to snap a 32-year statewide losing streak in the Senate and governor’s races.
• Big spenders: This midterm cycle has set a new record for ad spending, according to tracking service AdImpact, with $11.21 billion spent on ads so far.
Updates
(39)Graham gets boost in South Carolina from pro-data center super PAC
Building The Future, a new super PAC aligned with the data center industry, is giving Republican Sen. Darline Graham a boost in the final stretch of her competitive Senate race.
According to AdImpact data, the group – which formed in late August – has spent nearly $2 million on pro-Graham advertising, running two TV spots.
Both tout Graham’s personal values and lay out the partisan stakes in the battle for control of the Senate.
“Now she’s in the Senate, making sure Washington liberals never get their hands on South Carolina,” one ad says. “She’s cutting taxes and saving you money. Darline Graham, always delivering for South Carolina,” says the other.
Building The Future is an offshoot of Leading The Future, another super PAC, and its affiliated nonprofit, Build American AI, established by tech industry heavyweights last year to promote the development of artificial intelligence. The new group was formed to confront the growing popular backlash to data centers, critical infrastructure for powering AI.
Graham has been more circumspect about the issue than her Democratic opponent, Annie Andrews, inclined to frame the subject in national security terms. Andrews, by contrast, has leaned into fierce opposition to the industry, calling for a moratorium on new data center construction as her allies attack Graham as “Data Center Darline.”
Building The Future has not yet disclosed any information about its donors, but AdImpact data shows that in addition to spending about $2 million on the Senate race in South Carolina, the group has also reserved six-figures’ worth of ad time for another unexpectedly competitive Senate race in Kansas, where the Republican incumbent, Sen. Roger Marshall, is also under pressure.
Trump will rally in Texas as forecasters shift races to Democrats. Here's the latest
President Donald Trump is holding a double feature in Texas today, rallying in Corpus Christi first before heading to Lubbock.
The blitz from the president and other top Republicans comes as two election forecasting reports signaled some races shifting in Democrats’ favor with just a week left until Election Day.
Here’s what to know to get up to speed:
- The races for governor in Kansas and Nebraska have shifted slightly toward Democrats, according to the latest Cook Political Report.
- Sabato’s Crystal Ball, an election forecasting report from the University Of Virginia’s Center for Politics, also shifted 21 midterm races in Democrats’ favor today. This includes three Senate ratings in North Carolina, Florida and South Carolina — though it’s still an uphill climb for Democrats in the latter two states.
- The last time President Donald Trump made a trip to Corpus Christi, he had just given the order to begin a sustained military campaign against Iran. Now, exactly eight months later, Trump arrives back to the Texas port city with the deeply unpopular conflict dragging down his approval rating and the fortunes of GOP candidates around the country.
- Just before arriving in Corpus Christi, Trump said on Truth Social that the United States will receive 1 million barrels of Venezuelan oil in Texas, calling it “just the first shipment of BILLIONS of Barrels to come.”
- Earlier, Trump said he will respect the outcome of the midterm elections — if they are “honest.” The president has repeatedly attacked the integrity of US elections despite widespread fraud being rare. House Speaker Mike Johnson committed to a peaceful transfer of power in Congress if Democrats win the majority. Still, he said he believes Republicans are “going to hold the majority, and I believe President Trump is a big part of that.
- Money has been pouring into races across the country. Projected ad spending in the final week of the midterms shows money being spent in red states with competitive Senate races, according to data from the ad-tracking firm AdImpact. This includes tens of millions of dollars in Ohio, Texas, Iowa and Michigan.
- Elon Musk also recently gave $5 million to the reelection campaign of Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, according to new campaign finance filings in the state. Musk has donated at least $276 million into the fight over control of Congress, most of it in Texas.
CNN’s Kevin Liptak, Patrick Svitek, Katherine Koretski, Alejandra Jaramillo and David Wright contributed reporting.
Vance calls Mike Rogers a "servant" for Michigan, not the Trump administration
Vice President JD Vance cast Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers as a “servant for the people of Michigan,” not the Trump administration, as he made an appeal to independent voters in the state on Tuesday.
Rogers, a former congressman who has occasionally distanced himself from President Donald Trump, is in a neck-and-neck race against Democrat Abdul El-Sayed that could determine control of the Senate.
Speaking to a crowd in Howell, Michigan, Vance called Trump “a powerful personality” who is “willing to pick a fight.”
“What Mike has done in this campaign, sometimes he has said things that have been independent of the administration,” Vance said of Rogers.
He continued: “I don’t want in Mike Rogers a servant for the administration. I want in Mike Rogers a servant for the people of Michigan. That’s his job.”
Vance’s closing message in the battleground state framed Rogers as a fighter and his opponent as a Democratic loyalist.
“Who is the candidate in this race who is willing to fight for Michigan regardless of political party, and who is bending the knee to the national Democrats?” Vance asked.
“If you cannot stand independent of Chuck Schumer, then you cannot stand for Michigan in the United States Senate,” he said, referring to the Democratic Senate leader.
El-Sayed has previously said he wouldn’t support Schumer for majority leader if Democrats win the Senate.
Election forecaster shifts 21 midterm races in Democrats' favor
Sabato’s Crystal Ball, an election forecasting report from the University Of Virginia’s Center for Politics, shifted 21 midterm races in Democrats’ favor today.
With just a week to go until the election, the shifts reflect the battle that Republicans face in holding onto their majorities in the House and the Senate amid historical headwinds.
Three Senate ratings — in North Carolina, Florida and South Carolina — all shifted in Democrats’ favor, though it’s still an uphill climb in the latter two states.
In North Carolina, where former Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper is running for the state’s open Senate seat, the rating changed to “Likely Democratic” while Florida and South Carolina’s Senate races moved to “Likely Republican” and “Leans Republican,” respectively.
In the House, the election forecaster also shifted 16 contests in favor of the Democratic candidates, including races in Alabama, Colorado, Kentucky, Missouri, Montana, Pennsylvania and Virginia that went from “Leans Republican” to “Toss-up” status.
Two governor races, in Arizona and Vermont, were also shifted toward Democrats, according to the report.
Republicans under pressure in red states for the Senate
Projected ad spending in the final week of the midterms shows money pouring into red states with competitive Senate races, according to data from the ad tracking firm AdImpact.
The Senate race in Ohio, which just crossed $500 million in total ad spending, including the primaries, will see more than $40 million in just the final week. This is only the third non-presidential election to clear the half-billion dollar mark, punctuating a historically expensive election.
Another is this year’s blockbuster Senate race in Texas, which is projected to see the fifth most ad spending in the final week, but which ranks first among all midterm races in ad spending from the start of 2025 through Election Day, totaling more than $555 million.
Heated races in Iowa and Michigan are both projected to see nearly $30 million in advertising over the final week. And the unexpectedly competitive Senate race in Kansas has shot up this list, ranking fourth in ad spending in the final week at $27 million and climbing, as last minute ad money piles in.
In the battle for the House, both parties are spending big in Florida, North Carolina and Texas seats that were redrawn to favor Republicans during mid-decade redistricting.
But Republicans are also on defense in some of the costliest races, including a pair of Michigan contests each set to see more than $10 million worth of advertising in the final week, in addition to battlegrounds in New York and Pennsylvania.
Vance calls Michigan Senate race a "proxy fight" over America's sovereignty
Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday called Michigan’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.
“More than any other state, it highlights the clash of competing visions that the far left has decided to run with against commonsense American values,” Vance said during a rally in Michigan. “The battle for your Senate seat is a proxy fight over whether America can truly be sovereign if it belongs to men who feel contempt and disdain and hatred for the United States of America.”
The vice president’s remarks represented the latest in a series of Republican attacks on El-Sayed questioning his allegiances and suggesting that he was anti-American — some of which have centered on him being Muslim.
Vance also drew a direct line between Michigan Senate race and recent riots in France that he described as “hordes of masked rioters, many from distant lands, taking over historic city centers,” speculating without evidence that El-Sayed would support similar upheaval in US cities.
“Are they really so hard to imagine here in the United States of America? And I guarantee you, if those rioters were burning down New York or Detroit, the Hasan Pikers and the El-Sayeds would be right there leading them and cheering them on,” Vance said, later adding that El-Sayed wanted to bring similar unrest “to the shores” of the US.
Someone bet nearly $500,000 on Texas Gov. Abbott to win reelection
Someone recently bet nearly $500,000 that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott will win reelection, according to data from the prediction platform Kalshi.
Analysts say this is the largest bet on a single candidate during the 2026 midterms so far.
Abbott, a Republican who has served as Texas governor since 2015, is locked in a competitive race against Democrat Gina Hinojosa.
Data analyzed by Betting Intelligence shows someone placed the trade Monday, buying $499,800 of shares predicting Abbott will win, giving him a 70% chance of victory. That means the bet will pay about $714,000 if Abbott prevails.
“This is the largest single-race bet we’ve seen for the midterms on the major platforms,” said Dan Zimmermann, chief intelligence officer at Betting Intelligence. “They’re going out on a limb. Yes, it’s likely. But it’s not a near-certain outcome.”
The Kalshi data showed this large transaction came from an institutional trader, likely a hedge fund or investment firm, Zimmerman said. Large financial institutions use prediction platforms as a way to hedge risk based on potential election outcomes.
The identity of the trader is not publicly known. The Kalshi market for the Texas gubernatorial race has seen more than $7.2 million in trading volume as of Tuesday.
CNN has asked Abbott’s campaign for comment.
There has already been more than $1.4 billion in trading on midterm-related markets on Kalshi, Polymarket and other prediction sites. The prediction frenzy has scrambled US political culture, with campaign staffers and donors obsessing over the odds. Federal regulators have pledged to crack down on insider trading related to the midterms.
CNN has a partnership with Kalshi and uses its data to cover major events, including elections. CNN editorial employees aren’t permitted to use prediction markets.
Trump touts 1 million barrels of Venezuelan oil as "first shipment of BILLIONS"
President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the United States will receive 1 million barrels of Venezuelan oil in Texas, calling it “just the first shipment of BILLIONS of Barrels to come.”
Trump said in a post on Truth Social that the oil was arriving in Corpus Christi “as a result of our Highly Successful Military Operation, followed by the Biggest Oil Deal in the History of the World.”
“Thanks to our renewed relationship with Venezuela, which has turned out to be a truly excellent one, the Oil is being provided to the United States at NO cost to the American Taxpayer,” the president wrote.
Just a week ahead of the midterm elections, Trump also claimed relief at the pump, writing that “Gasoline and Diesel Prices will soon come plummeting down — JUST WATCH!” He has made similar claims before, which have often not borne out or only provided limited and temporary relief.
Earlier Tuesday, just before departing for Texas, Trump confirmed he would visit the tanker carrying the crude, saying it would be the third stop after two campaign rallies in the state. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is joining him.
“I believe we are, yeah,” Trump said. “We took over Venezuela very successfully and they sent me, as a gift, a boatload of a million barrels of oil, and I’m giving that to the United States of America.”
Gubernatorial races in Kansas and Nebraska shift toward Democrats in latest Cook Report
The races for governor in Kansas and Nebraska have shifted slightly toward Democrats, according to the latest Cook Political Report.
Republicans are hoping to flip the governorship in Kansas next week, but the race moved from “Lean Republican” to a “Toss Up” as recent polling shows the race virtually tied, the Cook Report said.
Republicans have nominated Trump-backed state Senate President Ty Masterson. He’s served for more than 20 years in the Kansas Legislature and has campaigned on cutting taxes and addressing crime. The Democratic nominee is state Sen. Cindy Holscher, who has criticized the Democratic party establishment and is running with a populist style.
In Nebraska, the race moved from “Likely Republican” to “Lean Republican.” There are four candidates on the ballot, and the crowded race plus incumbent GOP Gov. Jim Pillen’s unpopularity is making the race uncertain and more competitive, according to the Cook Report.
The state voted for Trump by more than 20 percentage points in 2024.
Speaker Johnson says there will be a peaceful transfer of power if Democrats win majority
House Speaker Mike Johnson committed to a peaceful transfer of power in Congress if Democrats win the majority in next week’s midterms.
“Of course we’ll have a peaceful transfer of power, but it will not be transferring because we are going to keep the majority, and I’m going to be the Speaker of the House, and I will keep steady hands at the wheel,” Johnson said during an event alongside Rep. Mike Lawler in Orangeburg, New York on Tuesday.
The race in New York’s 17th Congressional District between incumbent Republican Rep. Mike Lawler and Democrat Cait Conley is shaping up to be one of the most competitive of this year’s cycle. Johnson emphasized it’s going to be close. “So, we want to thank everybody from New York 17, reminding you that every single vote is going to count,” he said.
Asked if he believes Republicans are distancing themselves from President Donald Trump, Johnson said, “I don’t think it’s happening,” adding that he spoke to Trump yesterday.
“His rallies have record numbers, record crowds. It feels like 2024 to us,” Johnson said. “I believe we’re going to hold the majority, and I believe President Trump is a big part of that.
Elon Musk donates $5 million to Texas governor's reelection bid
Elon Musk recently gave $5 million to the reelection campaign of Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, according to new campaign finance filings in the state.
Musk, who calls Texas home and has moved much of his business empire there, made the contribution to Abbott on Sept. 28, according to the filings, which covered a period that ended Saturday. Musk previously gave $500,000 to Abbott in May.
Abbott is in a competitive race against Democratic state Rep. Gina Hinojosa, who has made an issue out of his relationship with Musk. Hinojosa has sued to get access to a trove of unredacted emails between Abbott’s office and Musk. A Travis County judge on Monday ordered Abbott’s office to let Hinojosa review the emails; Abbott’s office said it appealed the ruling.
Hinojosa cited the $5 million donation in a statement Tuesday that continued to push for access to the emails. She said Texans “are sick and tired of Abbott’s corruption.”
Musk’s donations to Abbott show that he remains a major donor at the state level even as his federal contributions have drawn the most attention. Musk has poured at least $276 million into the fight over control of Congress, most of it to defend Texas’ Senate seat for the GOP.
Trump returns to Texas city where he launched the Iran war and then ordered hamburgers
The last time President Donald Trump made a trip to Corpus Christi, he had just given the final nine-word order to his military brass to begin a sustained military campaign against Iran.
“Operation Epic Fury is approved. No aborts. Good luck,” Trump directed at 3:38 p.m. ET on February 27, as recounted later by the Joint Chiefs chairman Gen. Dan Caine.
Air Force One landed in Texas twelve minutes later.
It’s not clear how heavily the political consequences of the new war were weighing on Trump at the time. He spent part of the flight chatting in his conference room with the actor Dennis Quaid about his new Ronald Reagan biopic. He would later make a pitstop at the Texas staple Whataburger, declaring to his entourage: “Hamburgers for all!”
But exactly eight months later, Trump arrives again to the Texas port city with the deeply unpopular conflict dragging down his approval rating and the fortunes of GOP candidates around the country. In turn, once-reliably red states like Texas have become freshly competitive.
He was joined on that momentous flight by Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, with whom Trump consulted about the situation. He didn’t let on, however, that he’d given the directive for the bombing to begin.
Stepping off the plane moments after giving the final go-ahead, Trump was asked how close he was to making a decision on going to war.
“I’d rather not tell you,” he said. “You would have had the greatest scoop in history, right?” And later, during a speech at the port, he repeatedly said he had a “very big decision to make,” even though the decision had at that point been made.
“I’d rather do it the peaceful way,” he said of ensuring Iran not obtain a nuclear weapon, “but they’re very difficult people.”
GOP leaders rally in red states as midterm ad spending hits record highs. Get up to speed
We’re tracking the latest developments on the campaign trail as midterm ad spending hits record highs, with $11.21 billion spent so far, according to ad-tracking service AdImpact.
Both parties are pouring money into key races, with Republicans also spending to defend seats once considered safely red.
Vice President JD Vance and Senate Majority Leader John Thune are blitzing across some of those ruby-red states today to try to get Republican voters to the polls.
If you’re just joining us, catch up on this morning’s top headlines here:
On the campaign trail:
- Vance started his attacks on Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed before he even landed in Michigan today, calling him “a little bit of a psychopath” who has “weird friends.”
- Ohio Republican gubernatorial nominee Vivek Ramaswamy released a new ad today telling voters to “relax,” days after an ad featuring the estranged mother of his Democratic opponent, Amy Acton, drew bipartisan backlash.
- A new CNN Poll of Polls average finds Democrats leading nationally by about 9 points on the generic ballot, a measure of which party voters prefer in their congressional districts.
- A new Marist College poll in Maine shows Democratic candidate Troy Jackson at 49% among likely voters, and Republican Sen. Susan Collins at 47% — a two-point gap that’s within the poll’s margin of error.
Election-related lawsuits
- In California, an appeals court panel rejected the Department of Justice’s demand that it force California to set aside about 20,000 votes from people the administration purports to be noncitizens.
- The other apparent Trump administration setback came in Alaska, where the DOJ filed a lawsuit seeking to block certification of the Senate race if the Democrat wins. US District Judge Sharon Gleason granted Democrats’ request to consider the case on an expedited basis, signaling skepticism of the DOJ’s argument. Alaska election officials are asking the judge to rule by Monday.
- Meanwhile, in Texas, a judge granted the Democratic candidate opposing Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in the 2026 gubernatorial election access to more than 1,000 pages of unredacted communications between Abbott’s office and Elon Musk.
Voters
- Texas is seeing higher pre-election voting compared to the 2022 midterms, with the roughly 4.5 million votes up about 50% from the same point in 2022, when just under 3 million ballots had been cast.
- A top Democratic fundraiser in Michigan, David Kramer, said he’s voting for Republican candidate Mike Rogers. He previously said he would leave the Senate race blank in protest against Democratic nominee El-Sayed.
- Separately, Tom Phillips, a Republican who previously served as the chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court, wrote in a guest column that he will vote for Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico.
CNN’s Ariel Edwards-Levy, Kaanita Iyer, Aaron Blake, David Wright, Rebekah Riess Tierney Sneed, Jeff Zeleny Emilie Plesset and Ethan Cohen contributed to this report.
Florida lawyer spends 8 figures helping Dems expand Senate map
As Democrats work to expand the Senate map, they’re getting an unexpected boost from a Florida lawyer named Steve Pajcic.
Pajcic told CNN he and his children are spending $14.5 million in the final stretch of the midterms to boost Democrats or independents running for Senate in six red states: South Dakota, Kansas, Nebraska, Mississippi, South Carolina and Florida.
They’re doing it through two super PACs, New Deal for All and Freedom from Politics, that are running attention-grabbing ads against GOP incumbents. Some of the groups’ latest ads feature Jeffrey Epstein survivors criticizing Republicans for voting against releasing the Epstein files.
Pajcic told CNN he’s not consulting national party groups for his spending and “doing it entirely on my own.”
“I’ve kind of thought that Democrats have really been too meek forever, not just in their election goals, but also in their policies when they get elected,” Pajcic sad. “I don’t want to have just another 51- or 52-(seat) majority in the Senate and compromise to look like you’re being responsible on everything. I wanted to do something that would make a big change.”
While the big spending by Pajcic is new, he’s no stranger to politics. He served in the Florida House of Representatives in the 1970s and 1980s and ran for governor of the state in 1986.
Pajcic, 80, said he decided to splurge on the midterms after Labor Day, when he realized just how much of an opportunity Democrats may have to make inroads in Republican-leaning territory.
“I was looking at it and thinking of, I’m kind of old,” he said. “Maybe there’s a chance to do something.”
Trump says he'll accept midterm results "if they are honest elections"
President Donald Trump said Tuesday he will respect the outcome of the midterm elections — if they are “honest.”
“I will, if they are honest elections, yeah,” Trump told reporters when pressed on whether he’ll accept the results “whatever happens.”
The president has repeatedly attacked the integrity of the voting process and used the federal government to try and assert more control over how states oversee their elections.
Last week, the president said he directed his Justice Department to preemptively file a lawsuit challenging the certification of Alaska’s Senate race if the GOP incumbent loses.
Trump emphasized on Tuesday that, should Democrats win control of the House next week, he still has the power to veto legislation.
“Look, I have a strong veto. I hope that won’t be the case, but if it is, that has happened before with many presidents. You have strong veto and you end up working out deals,” he said.
CNN Poll of Polls: Democrats lead by about 9 points among voters nationally
With a week until Election Day, a new CNN Poll of Polls average finds Democrats leading nationally by about 9 points on the generic ballot, a measure of which party voters prefer in their congressional districts.
Generic ballot polling in the past few weeks has been highly consistent, with most of the surveys tracked by CNN showing Democrats with a high single-digit or low double-digit advantage.
Two new surveys included in the average exemplify the restless mood of the electorate. A new NPR/PBS News/Marist Poll finds likely voters say 55% to 41% that it’s more important to support “candidates with new ideas who will bring about change” than “candidates with experience who have a proven record.”
And in a new Reuters/Ipsos poll, majorities of Americans say national politics as a whole, as well as issues ranging from US foreign policy to the economy and their own cost of living, are on the wrong track.
Vance says many Alaskans "won't fall" for two Dan Sullivans on ballot
Vice President JD Vance suggested that Alaska voters are smart enough to discern between two Dan Sullivans on the US Senate ballot, but he called the non-incumbent’s appearance on the ballot “the definition of electoral fraud.”
“A lot of people won’t fall for it, but some people are going to be confused by that. It’s just human nature,” Vance told reporters at Joint Base Andrews Tuesday morning.
“People are busy. People have lives. People have jobs. And when you put a person on the ballot explicitly to try to confuse voters, I think that’s the definition of electoral fraud. And I don’t think that we should endorse it,” he added.
The Justice Department has preemptively filed a lawsuit seeking to block certification of Alaska’s Senate election if Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan loses in a race that also features a candidate named Dan J. Sullivan.
"Relax," Ramaswamy tells voters after last week's ad controversy
Ohio Republican gubernatorial nominee Vivek Ramaswamy released a new ad today telling voters to “relax,” days after an ad featuring the estranged mother of his Democratic opponent, Amy Acton, drew bipartisan backlash.
The ad is in sharp contrast to the attack ad his campaign released last week in which Acton’s mother called her a liar and urged voters not to support her. Acton has said she has not seen her mother since she was about 12, when she says the man her mother married sexually abused her. He faced criminal charges and was “declared a fugitive,” Acton said.
Along with scrutiny from Democrats, Ramaswamy faced criticism over the ad from prominent Republicans, including Ohio’s term-limited GOP Gov. Mike DeWine. However, both President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance defended Ramaswamy.
Some key takeaways from Senate ad spending
With one week to go in the 2026 midterm elections, there have been some interesting trends in how the two sides have spent what looks to be a record amount of money.
- Spending has exploded in the Kansas Senate race, with $65.7 million in ad spending and future ad reservations just in the month of October, according to tracking service AdImpact. That exceeds other races that were previously thought to be more competitive, like Alaska, New Hampshire and Georgia.
- There is slated to be more spent in the final week on the Kansas Senate race ($27 million) than the long-competitive races in Texas ($26.1 million) and Maine ($16.1 million).
- There is also set to be more spending on South Carolina ($12.7 million) in the final week than on Alaska ($9.1 million) and New Hampshire ($7.9 million).
- All of those races are slated to exceed spending on Georgia and North Carolina, which both sides appear to think Democrats will win.
- AdImpact also reports that spending in the Ohio Senate race has crossed the $500 million mark. (There is set to be more than $40 million spent in just the final week.) It’s now the second $500 million race this election cycle, alongside the Texas Senate race. And it’s the first time there have been two such races in a non-presidential year.
Vance calls El-Sayed "a little bit of a psychopath" before traveling to Michigan
Vice President JD Vance started his attacks on Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed before he even landed in Michigan on Tuesday, calling him “a little bit of a psychopath” who has “weird friends.”
“I think (GOP Senate candidate) Mike Rogers is a great guy. I think Abdul El-Sayed is a little bit of a psychopath,” Vance told reporters before leaving on Air Force Two. “We’re going to just try to make the argument as well as we can and help Mike out a little bit.”
The vice president stopped short of calling El-Sayed a “jihadist,” as President Donald Trump has, rather saying that he has “weird friends” and identifies himself with a portion of the Democratic Party “who seem to align with people who justify violence against the United States of America.”
“Look, he certainly has a lot of weird friends, and he’s said a lot of crazy stuff,” Vance said.
Trump has criticized El-Sayed, who is Muslim, on the campaign trail, including in states where he’s not on the ballot, and told reporters last week that “he’s a vicious, violent jihadist” who “has no place in our government.” He has not provided evidence for those accusations.
Today, Vance also accused El-Sayed of engaging in “the kind of explicitly anti-white racial hatred that has become common in the Democratic Party.”
Last week in Michigan, Trump compared Rogers to “apple pie,” and continued to tie El-Sayed to the Muslim Brotherhood, which the candidate explicitly disavowed when pressed at a campaign event earlier this month.
