On the campaign trail
• Early voting numbers: In Iowa and North Carolina, early in-person voting turnout data has added to the growing pool of evidence since President Donald Trump returned to office that Democrats are motivated to vote while Republicans are not.
• Georgia on his mind: Trump held a rally in Georgia for GOP Rep. Mike Collins, who’s waging an uphill battle to unseat Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff. The Republican enters the final stretch at a huge financial disadvantage. It was style over substance at the Friday rally where Trump took shots at Ossoff’s physical appearance.
• Fundraising reports: One of the most eyebrow-raising new campaign finance reports comes from the surprisingly competitive Kansas Senate race. While Democratic pastor Adam Hamilton raised more than $9 million between mid-July and September, GOP Sen. Roger Marshall raised only about $800,000. In reliably red South Carolina, Democratic Senate nominee Annie Andrews outraised her Republican opponent, Darline Graham, by more than five times in the third quarter.
Updates
(34)Trump continued his recent midterm blitz in red cities. Catch up on the day here
President Donald Trump rallied in Georgia today for Rep. Mike Collins — the GOP candidate waging an uphill fight to unseat Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff.
Meanwhile, early in-person voting turnout data in Iowa and North Carolina has added to the growing pool of evidence since President Donald Trump returned to office that Democrats are motivated to vote while Republicans are not.
If you’re just joining us, here are the highlights from today:
- During his remarks in Dalton, the conservative northwest corner of the state, Trump took shots at Ossoff’s physical appearance and complimented Collins, saying “he’s all man.” The president also criticized the Democratic senator as “Open Borders Ossoff.” Trump then asked voters in Georgia to pretend he’s on the ballot this fall, as he has in his recent red-state travel blitz. He also claimed he jokingly called Google to float the idea of naming an ocean after himself.
President Donald Trump, appealing to the crowd in a conservative area of Georgia, claimed he jokingly called Google to float the idea of renaming the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, as well as the Strait of Hormuz.
- Elsewhere in Detroit, Michigan, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez held the first “Latinos for Abdul” rally, calling on the Latino community to organize and help deliver a win that could determine whether Democrats hold the Senate majority next year. “We can reemphasize the definition of what it means to be an American,” she said.
- Data from the North Carolina State Board of Elections showed that 201,609 people voted early in-person on Thursday. That’s a nearly 47% jump from the first day of early in-person voting in the 2022 midterm elections, when 137,387 people cast ballots.
- And data from the Iowa Secretary of State shows a 23-point Democratic edge over Republicans (up from a 3-point advantage through two days in 2024). Democratic turnout has been 85% of 2024 turnout, compared to 52% for registered Republicans.
- Today’s debates saw Minnesota’s Democratic Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan and her Republican opponent, former sportscaster Michele Tafoya, exchange sharp words over key issues such as the state’s welfare fraud scandal and Trump’s record.
- Ocasio-Cortez is providing $1 million to help Michigan’s Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El -Sayed. Sen. Bernie Sanders has also transferred $250,000 to help elect El-Sayed to the Senate, according to a person familiar with the move.
- In South Carolina, Democratic Senate nominee Annie Andrews outraised her Republican opponent, Darline Graham, by more than five times, $9.4 million to $1.8 million, in the period.
CNN’s Kaanita Iyer, David Wright, Kit Maher Tierney Sneed, Dianne Gallagher, David Wright, Patrick Svitek, Gloria Pazmino, Aditi Sangal, Ellis Kim, Arlette Saenz, Molly English, Edward Wu and Sarah Ferris contributed reporting.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez rallies Detroit's Latino community for Abdul El-Sayed
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez held the first “Latinos for Abdul” rally in Southwest Detroit on Friday, calling on the Latino community to organize and help deliver a win that could determine whether Democrats hold the Senate majority next year.
The rally was held inside the Western International High School auditorium, where dozens of people lined up to hear the New York congresswoman speak. Ocasio-Cortez railed against the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement and deportations.
Ocasio-Cortez campaigned across Southwest Michigan today, making stops in Pontiac, Dearborn and Detroit. Reps. Ayanna Pressley, Rashida Tlaib and Debbie Dingell joined Ocasio-Cortez.
Ana Sandoval, a Latina voter who attended the rally with her family, told CNN she showed up to support El-Sayed but also to see Ocasio-Cortez.
Early voting in Iowa and North Carolina opens with a Democratic advantage
Early in-person voting turnout in Iowa and North Carolina adds to the growing pool of evidence since President Donald Trump’s return to the White House that Democrats are motivated to vote while Republicans are not.
Registered Democrats outvoted registered Republicans by nearly 28 points on Thursday, up from just a 2-point advantage on the first day of early voting in 2024, according to data from the North Carolina State Board of Elections.
This shift was largely driven by low Republican turnout: just 32% of registered Republicans turned out relative to the first day in 2024, compared to 73% of registered Democrats and 64% of unaffiliated voters. A similar story unfolded through the first two days of early voting in Iowa, which began Wednesday.
Data from the Iowa Secretary of State shows a 23-point Democratic edge over Republicans (up from a 3-point advantage through two days in 2024). Democratic turnout has been 85% of 2024 turnout, compared to 52% for registered Republicans.
The geographic distribution and primary participation history of voters in other states suggest strong Democratic turnout to open early in-person voting relative to 2024. But voters in these states do not register with a party.
Iowa and North Carolina both have party registration, which can provide a clearer view into the electorate’s partisanship.
As early voting has continued in states such as Ohio and Virginia, an initial Democratic advantage has grown smaller over time, though it continues to outpace the 2024 differential on a day-to-day basis.
North Carolina also reports the race of voters. Black voters made up 26% of Thursday’s voters, up from 21% on the first day of 2024.
Trump says he doesn't think Ossoff is "a good looking man"
It was style over substance at President Donald Trump’s rally in Dalton, Georgia, where he said Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff isn’t a good looking man and complimented the looks of GOP Rep. Mike Collins.
“Somebody said he’s a good looking man. I don’t think he’s a good looking man,” Trump said of Ossoff, going on to claim that he “spends more money on makeup than any man or woman in the history of the Senate.”
Trump added: “I actually think Mike Collins is a good looking man, and he’s all man. He’s all man. I’m not so sure about Ossoff.”
Trump’s visit to the conservative northwest corner of Georgia comes as Collins is waging an uphill battle to unseat Ossoff in a state that Trump narrowly carried in 2024 after narrowly losing it in 2020.
Besides dwelling on appearances, Trump criticized the Democratic senator as “Open Borders Ossoff.” And the president asked voters to pretend that he’s on the ballot this fall, as he has in his recent red-state travel blitz.
Less than a half hour into his remarks, protesters interrupted the speech, prompting a familiar line from the president.
“First of all, their mother and father are watching, and they’re going to smack those kids around when they get home tonight, because they both voted for Trump,” he said.
Trump jokes about calling Google and asking for an ocean to be named after himself
President Donald Trump, appealing to the crowd in a conservative area of Georgia on Friday, claimed he jokingly called Google to float the idea of naming an ocean after himself.
“The only thing we’re missing is a freaking ocean,” Trump said after recounting his efforts to rename the Gulf of Mexico and Lake Ontario.
“So, I called up Google, and I said, ‘Let me ask just one question. … We need an ocean. How do you feel about the Trump Ocean for the Atlantic or the Pacific?’”
Trump went on: “They said, ‘Sir, look, okay, this one we can’t do. Oceans are different. Oceans cover many, many countries. We can’t do it.’ I said I was only kidding.”
Trump signed an executive order in August to rename Lake Ontario as “Lake America,” following his effort last year to rename the Gulf of Mexico as “Gulf of America.”
The president has also floated renaming the Strait of Hormuz the “Trump Strait.”
Former Sen. Joe Manchin endorses California Rep. Kevin Kiley
Former West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin has thrown his support behind Rep. Kevin Kiley — a former Republican who is now running as an independent.
Manchin spent his final months in office as an independent after serving as a Democrat for decades. Earlier this year he launched a new effort called the Independent Leadership Council to recruit and support independent candidates across the country.
CNN’s Patrick Svitek and Tori B. Powell contributed reporting.
Oil is back at $110 a barrel, threatening to push gas and diesel prices up for midterms
Global oil futures climbed to $110 a barrel today for the first time since May, a surge that threatens to push gas and diesel prices even higher ahead of the midterms.
Energy market traders blamed the spike on renewed fears about the supply of oil and fuel as the US-Iran war drags on.
Although President Donald Trump has repeatedly insisted that prices will soon come tumbling down, oil has rarely been as expensive in recent years as it is today.
Tom Kloza, global energy adviser at Gulf Oil, said energy markets were also roiled by rumors of more energy infrastructure getting hit in the Middle East and the introduction of bipartisan legislation to block Trump’s deal to buy diesel from Russia.
Meanwhile, tech stocks had a tumultuous week as concerns, including higher interest rates and mounting AI debt, weighed on investor sentiment.
The Nasdaq Composite fell 2.14% today, bringing its weekly losses to roughly 4.5% — its worst week since June. The S&P 500 fell 1.09%, putting its weekly losses at almost 2%, also its worst week since June.
CNN’s John Towfighi contributed to this report.
Why Republican concern is growing in Alaska
President Donald Trump traveled to Alaska this week to shore up Republican support for Sen. Dan Sullivan in the midterms. CNN’s Kristen Holmes explains why Republicans may have cause for concern in the reliably red state.
Sen. Bernie Sanders donates quarter-million dollars to El-Sayed campaign
Sen. Bernie Sanders has transferred $250,000 to help elect Dr. Abdul El-Sayed to the Senate in Michigan, according to a person familiar with the move.
The transfer, which was made earlier this month, has not been previously reported.
The quarter-million-dollar transfer comes amid mounting pressure within the Democratic Party for Sanders to use his sizable campaign war chest to help in critical Senate races. Top Democrats had specifically asked Sanders to step up in Michigan, where the party has been massively outspent by Republicans on the airwaves.
Sanders, an independent from Vermont, has been one of El-Sayed’s top surrogates this fall, campaigning with him and helping him raise money from his famously powerful grassroots operation. He had previously helped raise $595,000 for El-Sayed’s campaign.
Sanders had also been one of El-Sayed biggest supporters in his tough primary fight this summer — against an establishment-backed moderate — and called his victory “unprecedented in modern American history.”
Trump lands in Georgia ahead of rally for Mike Collins
President Donald Trump has landed in Georgia ahead of his rally for GOP Rep. Mike Collins in Dalton.
“Just landed in Georgia, heading over to the Big Rally — Lots of people! See you soon,” Trump posted to Truth Social.
“We must get Congressman Mike Collins elected to the U.S. Senate — He is far superior to Pee Wee Herman (Jon Osoff). Likewise, Rick Jackson will be a fantastic Governor of the Peach State!” Trump continued.
Flanagan and Tafoya debate Trump and fraud in Senate race giving some Democrats jitters
Minnesota’s Democratic Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan and her Republican opponent, former sportscaster Michele Tafoya, exchanged sharp words over key issues such as the state’s welfare fraud scandal and President Donald Trump’s record during a debate on Friday.
Flanagan strove to link Tafoya to Trump amid the president’s low approval ratings, repeatedly noting that the president endorsed her, and slamming cuts to federal health care spending in legislation passed by the GOP Congress last year.
Tafoya was later pressed on whether she’d appear with Trump if he held a rally in the state, and sought to avoid a direct answer, saying that she welcomed both supporters of the president and his 2024 Democratic opponent, former Vice President Kamala Harris. “I am talking to Minnesotans. Theirs is the only endorsement that I care about,” Tafoya said.
Throughout the debate, the Republican harshly criticized Flanagan’s record as lieutenant governor, highlighting the state’s welfare fraud scandal and implicating her rival.
And she reiterated calls for change in a state dominated by Democrats at the statewide level. “Peggy Flanagan has been a career politician for 20 years,” she argued. “You can decide – she’s asking for a promotion. You’re her boss. You pay her. I think she deserves a pink slip.”
The trajectory of the race has made some Democrats uneasy, with one state official telling CNN that it’s “far too close for comfort” as the party brims with optimism in other parts of the map. Still, a Republican hasn’t won statewide in 20 years, and outside groups haven’t targeted this year’s Senate race.
Democratic group goes hyperlocal in Texas Senate race
Texas voters have been overwhelmed with ads in their highly competitive — and expensive — Senate race.
One Democratic group is trying something different.
Government that Works PAC is launching a digital ad targeted exclusively at the East Texas city of Lufkin, featuring a former local football coach and superintendent, Roy Knight. In the 30-second spot, Knight compares politics to football and argues the Democratic candidate, James Talarico, is more of a team player than GOP rival Ken Paxton.
“With James Talarico, you’ve got a man who works hard for other people more than he works for himself,” Knight says in the ad, which is set to run in the Lufkin area during college football games on Saturday.
Vice President JD Vance visited another East Texas city — Tyler — on Tuesday as part of the national GOP effort to keep the seat red. Republican groups have flooded the airwaves with over $150 million in ads to help Paxton defeat Talarico in a state where Democrats have not won statewide office in decades.
A spokesperson for Government that Works PAC, Lauren Hitt, said that the group “is betting that in such a crowded environment, trusted local messengers will break through.”
Why Epstein is all over campaign ads this election season
Jeffrey Epstein has been dead for seven years, but he’s all over campaign ads this election season, invoked overwhelmingly by Democrats — and occasionally by Republicans — to attack opponents or promote themselves.
Jeffrey Epstein has been dead for seven years, but he’s all over campaign ads this election season, invoked overwhelmingly by Democrats — and occasionally by Republicans — to attack opponents or promote themselves. CNN’s David Wright reports.
A CNN analysis found that candidates and outside groups have aired more than 160 unique Epstein-related ads in the 2026 midterms, backed by more than $35 million in airtime.
That marks a striking jump from the 2024 presidential election, when only three such ads aired — all in local Florida races, where the Epstein scandal first erupted.
Jeffries, courting key Latino vote, says Trump’s ICE raids were “not what was promised”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries blasted President Donald Trump’s “deportation machine” and invoked the names of American citizens killed by federal officers at a Florida campaign stop today as he seeks to persuade voters to elect a Democrat to a seat that’s been held by a Republican since 2021.
“Donald Trump’s violent mass deportation machine is out of control. It’s not what was promised,” Jeffries said during a campaign stop for Eliott Rodriguez, the Democratic nominee in Florida’s 27th Congressional District.
“Immigration enforcement should be fair. It should be just, and it should be humane,” he told supporters.
Jeffries’ sales pitch underscored just how much voters’ discontent with Trump’s aggressive immigration enforcement has animated the race for this Miami-based seat, which GOP Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar won by 20 points in 2024. The president won the district by 14.5 points.
The debate over Trump’s raids means this GOP-leaning seat is up for grabs, with Democratic groups pouring money into the race and courting the Latino vote.
In a sign of voters’ anger over immigration policies, Salazar broke with the president in an ad last month, saying that Hispanic voters feel betrayed by him.
“This is an incredibly winnable seat because we have an incredibly compelling candidate,” Jeffries said on Friday.
Recap of the key details in the stunning fundraising reports for some competitive races
The third quarter Federal Election Commission (FEC) reports are out, and Republican candidates are being outraised by their Democratic opponents in many competitive races.
In Kansas, GOP Sen. Roger Marshall raised only about $800,000 between mid-July and September in comparison to Democratic pastor Adam Hamilton’s more than $9 million. That’s a huge, more than 11-to-1 disparity. In South Carolina, Darline Graham raised $1.8 million, five times lesser than her Democratic opponent Annie Andrews, who raised $9.4 million. These are both surprisingly competitive contests.
We’ll talk more about money and other key developments in the race today:
• Cash on hand: A key metric for both parties in reports is how much money candidates have at the start of October to spend during the critical weeks before Election Day. Democrats significantly outraised their Republican opponents in the 10 Senate races rated by CNN as most likely to flip, but they also spent those funds aggressively in the third quarter. So in several cases, Democrats were left with less cash on hand than their opponents. Still, reports indicate that Democrats will have little difficulty refilling their coffers and it’ll all get left on the field.
• Progressive support: Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, who is campaigning in Michigan for Senate nominee Abdul El -Sayed, is providing $1 million to help his campaign. The unusually high transfer for a House member backing an out-of-state Senate race is yet another sign of the importance Ocasio-Cortez is placing on a potential El-Sayed win.
If you’re curious, the FEC reports also gave a glimpse at the money moves of several potential 2028 presidential candidates.
• In North Carolina: Early voting began yesterday, and 201,609 people voted early in-person on the first day, according to data from the North Carolina State Board of Elections — nearly 47% jump from the first day of early in-person voting in the 2022 midterm elections.
• Minnesota: Democrats are closely watching the race that could harbor signs of trouble if a blue wave fails to materialize. In the race to replace retiring Sen. Tina Smith, the contest between Democratic Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan and former sportscaster Republican Michele Tafoya is “far too close for comfort,” a state Democratic official told CNN.
• The diesel issue: A number of key GOP Senate candidates are gently breaking with Trump on his Russia diesel deal. Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan and Iowa Rep. Ashley Hinson at their respective debates said they didn’t agree with the deal. Prior to that, both Michigan Senate candidate former Rep. Mike Rogers and incumbent Maine Sen. Susan Collins signaled their opposition.
Finally, take a look at CNN’s deep dive into Republican states’ steps to make it harder to vote this November.
CNN’s Jeff Zeleny, David Wright, Aaron Blake, Kaanita Iyer and Dianne Gallagher contributed to this report.
Trump's AI agenda is driving away some of his most loyal supporters
President Donald Trump’s pro-AI, pro-data center agenda is driving away some of his most loyal supporters.
CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan spoke to a mother and daughter in Mason County, Kentucky, about their fight against a data center project on their farm and how the issue of AI is influencing their opinion of the president:
Delsia Bare and her mother, Ida Huddleston, have voted for Trump in every election. After learning their family farm was being targeted for an AI data center, they turned down a $26 million offer for their land, and joined the growing fight over AI. Watch more the full documentary "Maga Ever After?" on The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper Saturday, October 17, at 8 p.m. on CNN and stream it on the CNN App for subscribers.
Supreme Court's decisions have really helped Republicans in the midterms
Things aren’t looking great for Republicans in the 2026 midterm elections. But they’d look a whole lot worse if not for the Supreme Court’s recent campaign finance decisions.
Third-quarter fundraising reports show Democrats swamping Republicans in virtually every Senate race across the country, often raising a multiple of the GOP’s candidate’s haul.
Republicans also saw South Carolina Sen. Darline Graham ($1.8 million) and Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall ($800,000) both raise remarkably meager sums for candidates in difficult races in their most recent reports.
The big one was 2010’s Citizens United v. FEC, which lifted the previous limits on outside expenditures. This has allowed wealthy figures to flood races with money through super PACs; Elon Musk has spent $276 million for Republicans since the summer – more than $150 million alone to essentially keep Texas Republican Senate nominee Ken Paxton’s campaign afloat even as he was badly outraised by Democrat James Talarico.
According to a Brennan Center analysis of FEC data, Republicans have benefitted from 66% of all spending by the top 20 groups making independent expenditures on the midterms, compared to 29% going to Democrats.
On a smaller scale, the Supreme Court this year has also made a series of rulings that benefitted the GOP. Those include allowing the campaign arms of House and Senate Republicans to pay lower ad rates that previously were only allowed to candidates. The court also previously rolled back limits on how much political parties could coordinate with candidates.
The reason those rulings benefit Republicans is that the GOP tends to raise more money through those groups. And all of it decreases the importance of the money actually raised by candidates – which, again, overwhelmingly favors Democrats this year.
Reading the 2028 tea leaves in FEC fundraising reports
Several potential 2028 presidential candidates made notable money moves in the third quarter, according to new Federal Election Commission reports, flexing their influence and stockpiling cash for potential use in a bid for higher office.
New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the subject of growing presidential speculation, reported $17.4 million in cash on hand after raising $4.8 million, continuing an exceptionally strong run of fundraising for a House member. It’s more than she needs to win reelection in her safe Democratic House seat, and transferrable to any federal campaigns.
Georgia Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff, meanwhile, raised $33.1 million in the third quarter — and despite spending a staggering $49.5 million in the period, he still ended September with $26.3 million in cash on hand. With his reelection looking increasingly likely, any funds left over could also be used to seed a potential White House bid.
Sen. Cory Booker, facing a reelection campaign not expected to be particularly competitive in blue New Jersey, reported $22.5 million in his campaign account, a sizable war chest for the 2020 Democratic presidential primary participant. And Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, who in 2024 was one of a number of officials reportedly considered as a running mate for Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, disclosed $26.5 million in cash on hand, another large reserve for a candidate not facing reelection until 2028.
Meanwhile, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker — whose has also been speculated to be weighing a presidential run — gave $5 million to his federal PAC, Ready For The Fight, which has been active trying to expand the House map for Democrats, spending in races just outside the top battlegrounds, in states like Alabama, Arkansas, and Tennessee.
AOC pours $1 million into Abdul El-Sayed’s final push in Michigan
Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York is providing $1 million to help Michigan’s Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El -Sayed just weeks ahead of the midterm elections.
Ocasio-Cortez donated the funding to the Abdul for Michigan Victory Fund, a coordinated fundraising effort between his campaign, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the Michigan Democratic State Central Committee, according to a spokesperson for Ocasio-Cortez.
The unusually high transfer for a House member backing an out-of-state Senate race is yet another sign of the importance Ocasio-Cortez is placing on a potential El-Sayed win.
In an interview with the New York Times, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said she will decide whether to run for president in 2028 after the midterm elections. The 36-year-old New York representative questioned in the interview whether a Latina could be elected in today’s political climate. CNN’s Gloria Pazmino reports.
Ocasio-Cortez is campaigning for El-Sayed across Michigan this week and has made it clear his win would be pivotal for the Democratic party’s progressive movement and her own political future.
Ocasio-Cortez will head to Dearborn and Detroit for campaign events alongside Reps. Ayanna Pressley and Debbie Dingell on Friday.
Ossoff and Collins sparred over the Epstein files in their last debate
On Tuesday, Republican Rep. Mike Collins attacked Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff over campaign donations from LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, who has acknowledged meeting Jeffrey Epstein. Ossoff countered, accusing Collins of voting against releasing Epstein-related records.
Today, President Donald Trump will be in Georgia to stump for Collins.
