Shutdown stalemate drags on as candidates make final campaign push before elections

President Donald Trump urged New Yorkers to vote for former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the city’s mayoral race on the eve of the election.

Trump has previously offered tepid support for the former Democratic governor who’s running as an independent, casting the election as a choice between the better of two bad options, while discounting the Republican candidate, Curtis Sliwa.

“I’m not a fan of Cuomo one way or another, but if it’s going to be between a bad Democrat and a communist, I’m going to pick the bad Democrat all the time, to be honest with you,” Trump told CBS’ “60 Minutes” in an interview airing Sunday.

A small bipartisan group of House lawmakers announced an outline for a potential agreement on how to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies, which are at the heart of the ongoing government shutdown.

It is unclear if party leadership has signed off on this proposal, but the framework indicates that rank and file lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are working to find an end to the shutdown stalemate.

The “statement of principles” from the four House lawmakers would include a two-year extension of the subsidies, an income cap between $200,000 and $400,000 for eligibility, and guardrails to prevent improper payments.

The group is comprised of GOP Reps. Don Bacon of Nebraska and Jeff Hurd of Colorado, and Democratic Reps. Tom Suozzi of New York and Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey.

The ongoing government shutdown has largely centered around what to do with these expiring enhanced premium subsidies. Democrats have said they need a deal on the expiring subsidies before they would deliver the votes to reopen the government, while Republicans have maintained that they will not engage in negotiations until Democrats vote to reopen the government.

Curtis Sliwa, the GOP nominee for mayor of New York City, mocked doubters of his longshot campaign, saying that “everybody loves Curtis, like the show ‘Everybody Loves Raymond,’ and now I have to translate it into votes tomorrow.”

Speaking today to CNN’s Kasie Hunt, Sliwa ripped tech billionaire Elon Musk for backing independent Andrew Cuomo. He accused Cuomo, who is running as an independent, of making a “corrupt” deal with Musk when he was governor and saying that “we got like 25 solar panels out of Buffalo.”

Sliwa also castigated opponents of Zohran Mamdani who have suggested they might leave New York City if the self-professed democratic socialist is elected.

Some students at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) who are headed to the polls say they are concerned about the targeting of the Latino community by the Trump administration.

Elizabeth Zepeda-Cantarero: “We’ve been targeted a lot by this administration,” the college junior told CNN. “So I believe that it’s important to come out and support (Democratic candidate) Abigail Spanberger so that I can see a change in in my community for the better.”

Cynthia Mora: Also a junior at VCU, Mora plans to vote for Spanberger as she is worried over the rising cost of living and seeing attacks on the Latino community. “I think that there’s so many things that I see on the news and so many things about this administration that I see that it’s terrifying,” she said. “I love my community to death, and I want to make sure that people feel safe.”

“It’s scary, but I’m really hoping that in Virginia, we fight back against it,” she said.

Anna Garcia: Spanberger is “bringing hope back to politics,” the sophomore said, arguing that the Republican nominee Winsome Earle-Sears is “out of touch.”

The latest Washington Post-Schar School poll found that Spanberger leads Earle-Sears by a wide margin — 64% to 30% — among likely voters under 30.

California Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi on Monday castigated President Donald Trump as a “vile creature” who is “the worst thing on the face of the Earth.”

In an interview with CNN’s Elex Michaelson, Pelosi was discussing Thomas Jefferson’s vision of the United States and the separation of powers that formed three branches of government, in contrast with Trump’s expansive view of executive power.

“Our founders did not want to have again — how can I say this? It’ll sound like I’m awful about Trump, because he’s just a vile creature, the worst thing on the face of the Earth,” she said.

Asked whether she really believes that, Pelosi responded: “Yeah, I do. Because he’s the president of the United States, and he does not honor the Constitution of the United States.”

“In fact, he’s turned the Supreme Court into a rogue court,” the former House speaker said. “He’s abolished the House of Representatives. He’s chilled the press.”

Elon Musk is seen in Glendale, Arizona, on September 21.

Tech billionaire Elon Musk weighed in on New York’s high-drama mayoral race with one day to go, posting “VOTE CUOMO!”

The misspelling or mispronounciation of Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani’s name is common among his opponents, including former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is running as an independent.

Musk has largely pulled back from his conservative politicking after he contributed more than a quarter of a billion dollars backing Donald Trump and other Republicans in the 2024 elections, serving a short stint in the new Department of Government Efficiency, and pouring more than $20 million into a high-stakes state Supreme Court race in Wisconsin earlier this year.

But his post reflects heightened anxiety among opponents of Mamdani who is leading in polls heading into election day. Other ultra-wealthy supporters of Cuomo have also sought to marshal their large social media followings to the polls.

“Vote like your city depends on it!,” the billionaire investor Bill Ackman wrote on X today, sharing a public poll showing Mamdani leading.

More than a month in, the impacts of the government shutdown are being felt across the country — from people who receive food assistance to federal workers to air travel passengers.

Here’s the latest:

CNN’s Alison Main, Manu Raju, Ellis Kim, Tami Luhby, Devan Cole, Aaron Cooper, Kit Maher, Morgan Rimmer and Pete Muntean contributed reporting to this post.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Monday he is “optimistic” but not necessarily “confident” bipartisan senators will reach a deal to reopen the government this week.

“Based on sort of my gut of how things operate, I think we’re getting close to an off ramp. But this is unlike any other government shutdown in terms of the way Democrats reacted to it,” he said.

Thune told reporters in the Capitol that talks need to make “progress” by the middle of the week to have a chance to reopen the government by week’s end.

The Senate is scheduled to be in recess next week for Veterans Day, but Thune said he would “leave all options on the table.”

Congress, he said, will need to pass a new continuing resolution, because the stopgap spending bill that Democrats have blocked so far would only fund the government through November 21.

He said he was open to extending it until January to give appropriators time to do their work, but some key Senate appropriators oppose the idea. The January date is something favored by many House Republicans.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi arrives at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on May 21.

California Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi on Monday declined to say whether she plans to run for another term in Congress, saying any decision about her future will be announced after Election Day on Tuesday.

She would not “do anything,” she said, until after it is determined whether Proposition 50, the California ballot initiative that seeks to increase Democratic seats as a response to similar Republican-led strategies in other states, passes or fails.

“I want to win big tomorrow night,” she told Michaelson. “That’s my goal. I don’t want any confusion about what it means to me or my mission in life.”

Pelosi projected confidence should she choose to launch a reelection bid.

“I have no doubt that if I decided to run, I would win,” she said. “That isn’t even a question.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, who has long-opposed abolishing the filibuster, and declared that the GOP majority would defend the 60-vote threshold in the Senate, insisted that President Donald Trump’s push to do away with the procedural hurdle wouldn’t be successful.

“No, the votes aren’t there,” he told reporters.

Asked if he’d broached the topic with Trump in the past, Thune laughed and said, “Oh yeah, yeah. I think we all know his view.”

House Oversight Chairman James Comer told reporters that he doesn’t think the filibuster is going anywhere anytime soon, despite frustration from some House Republicans.

“You know, I’ve always been against getting rid of it, but it’s to the point they cannot get to 60 on anything over there. And for the 60-vote rule to work, I think we all agree, you have to have compromise. To have compromise, you have to have moderates,” said Comer.

“There are no moderates left in either party. You can’t win a primary, in the Democrat primary or Republican primary, if you’re a moderate. So, it makes it difficult to get to 60. So, I don’t know what the solution is. I don’t think they have the votes to change it.”

A sign advertises that WIC and Food Stamps are accepted at a convenience store in Chelsea, Massachusetts, on October 24.

The Trump administration is shifting $450 million in unused tariff revenue to keep the WIC food assistance program afloat into November, according to the National WIC Association. It comes after the program received a $300 million infusion last month amid the government shutdown.

The latest funds may cover about three weeks of benefits for the nearly 7 million pregnant women, new moms and young children who participate in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, known as WIC. However, the money might run out sooner since families will only receive half of their usual allotment of benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as food stamps, for November.

“With other vital assistance programs like SNAP disrupted, demand for WIC is likely to surge, and states could exhaust these funds even faster,” Georgia Machell, the association’s CEO, said in a statement.

A number of states have said that more people are signing up for WIC and that they are using more of their monthly benefits, Ali Hard, the association’s director of policy, told CNN. WIC helps enrollees purchase infant formula, cheese, bread, fruits, vegetables and other staples, as well as providing breastfeeding and nutrition support.

“WIC absolutely cannot replace SNAP,” she said. “They are really meant to work together to support families.”

The infusion, first reported by Politico, comes as the Trump administration said it will not use the leftover tariff funds to provide full food stamp benefits for November because it doesn’t want to put at risk the child nutrition programs that the revenue supports. Instead, the US Department of Agriculture will drain its roughly $5.3 billion contingency fund to pay partial SNAP benefits.

Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries speaks during a press conference on Capitol Hill on Monday.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries predicted “significant” victories for Democrats in key elections Tuesday, including in New Jersey, Virginia and California, where voters will decide whether to approve redrawing the state’s House districts.

Jeffries was also pressed on his support of the Democratic nominee for New York City mayor, Zohran Mamdani.

Asked by CNN’s Manu Raju about his answer this weekend identifying House Democrats – not Mamdani – as the future of the party, Jeffries explained, “What I indicated is that if we truly believe, as many of us do, that Donald Trump represents an existential threat to everything, that in order for us to get from where we are to where we need to go, and end the national nightmare, that House Democrats are going to have to be successful in taking back control of the House of Representatives.”

Asked about his slow embrace of Mamdani, the Brooklyn Democrat said his late October statement backing Mamdani spoke for itself.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries on Monday accused the Trump administration of intentionally refusing to fund the federal food stamps program in full this month.

He again accused Republicans of being “missing in action” amid the government shutdown, saying lawmakers are on a “taxpayer funded vacation” instead of negotiating a bipartisan path forward out of the government shutdown.

“What’s Donald Trump been doing this weekend? He was on the golf course, spitting in the face of the American people with his inaction and his indifference,” he said.

As the government shutdown nears the record for the longest one ever, the White House says its position has not changed, two officials told CNN.

This means the administration is standing firm against negotiating with Democrats on health care until the government reopens.

The other official noted that talks with Republicans on Capitol Hill will continue this week.

The White House and its social media accounts are hammering Democrats, branding the impasse as the “Democrat shutdown.”

On Halloween, the White House posted a video of a “haunted” Capitol Hill, mocking Democratic leadership. And today, the White House blamed flight delays on Democrats.

The administration’s messaging campaign comes as 61% of Americans disapprove of President Donald Trump’s handling of the shutdown, according to a new CNN poll released Monday.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Winsome Earle-Sears speaks at a campaign rally in Hanover, Virginia, on Sunday.

Virginia’s Republican nominee for governor often planted herself outside of school board meetings to call attention to policies related to which bathrooms transgender students can use in school buildings and the participation of transgender athletes in youth sports.

Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears blanketed the airwaves with ads that characterize her Democratic rival, Abigail Spanberger, as “being for they/them.” This echoes President Donald Trump’s campaign messaging in the 2024 election against former Vice President Kamala Harris.

Republican voters showing up to her campaign stops in the closing days of the race say it’s an issue that’s important to them.

Some context: During their only debate last month, Spanberger was asked whether transgender students should be allowed to play sports and use locker rooms corresponding to their gender identity, and whether she would rescind Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s policy requiring boys and girls to use bathrooms aligning to their biological sex. She didn’t take a position, saying those decisions should be made locally. In September, the Democratic candidate ran an advertisement challenging the anti-trans GOP campaign.

A plane prepares to land at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, on Monday.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the US government would ground every flight in the country if there were not enough air traffic controllers to keep flights safe.

“If we thought that it was unsafe… we’ll shut the whole airspace down. We won’t let people travel. We’re not there at this point. It’s just significant delays,” he said on CNBC this morning.

Duffy acknowledged that there is “absolutely” more risk in the system when there is a shutdown.

For now, the Federal Aviation Administration delays flights to a level where the staff who show up can handle the workload. Thousands of delays were reported across the US this weekend due to air traffic controller staffing problems, Duffy has said.

“We slow traffic down because we don’t have enough controllers in the towers and TRACONS to make sure we can navigate the flights. So that’s a tool that we have to keep the system safe,” he told CNBC.

Duffy also said he understands the hardships controllers face and will not fire them even if they call out sick to work.

Mikie Sherrill, Democratic candidate for New Jersey governor, holds a rally at a Morris County Democratic Committee office in Morristown, New Jersey, on Monday.

Mikie Sherrill, the Democratic nominee for governor of New Jersey, rallied supporters at a Morris County Democratic Committee office today and reflected on her campaign.

Sherrill said she felt “nostalgic” visiting the county that helped elect her to the US House in 2018.

Sherrill said voters can send a message to the country by electing her as governor as she attempts to extend Democratic control in the governor’s office for a third straight term.

Commuters arrive from a Virginia Railway Express train near L'Enfant Plaza in Washington, DC, on October 1.

Very few states are as exposed to President Donald Trump’s dramatic attempt to reshape the federal government as Virginia, home to tens of thousands of federal workers and billions of dollars in federal contracting.

“For Virginia, it’s really the key problem,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics.

Zandi analyzes economic data, like state-level unemployment insurance claims and retail sales, to determine the health of state economies. His research shows Virginia is currently in a recession.

Voters in Virginia will be heading to the polls tomorrow to vote for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general.

While Virginia’s unemployment rate of 3.6% is lower than the national rate of 4.3%, unemployment has risen sharply this year due to the impact of DOGE layoffs and spending uncertainty.

“We’ve definitely seen a pretty significant slowdown in the Virginia economy,” said Eric Scorsone, executive director of the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service at the University of Virginia.

Moreover, as government employees pull back on spending during the peak holiday shopping season, that will be “adding to something that’s already been a problem,” Scorsone said.

Old Dominion is also home to “Data Center Alley,” massive facilities that house computing infrastructure for AI. While their presence in the state has compensated for weakness in other parts of the economy, they have also significantly raised electricity prices for local residents.

Winsome Earle-Sears, left, and Abigail Spanberger.

History will be made in Virginia tomorrow when voters elect the first woman to serve as the state’s governor.

Neither Abigail Spanberger, the Democratic nominee, or Winsome Earle-Sears, the Republican candidate, mention it much on the campaign trail. But that doesn’t mean it’s not on the minds of voters who watch them.

“It’s crazy that it’s 2025, and we haven’t had a female governor,” said Maribel Ramos, a Democrat who saw Spanberger at a rally in Alexandria, Virginia, late last week. Ramos wrote a message on Spanberger’s campaign bus about the historic moment. “I’m very excited that Abigail Spanberger will be the first.”

Whether it’s Spanberger or Earle-Sears, Virginia will join the majority of American states that have elected a woman to lead the state. Only 16 more states to go.

Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger poses for a photograph with a supporter during a rally at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia, on Monday.

Abigail Spanberger declared today that “as Virginia goes, so goes the nation,” as the Democratic gubernatorial candidate made her case to college voters on the last full day of campaigning.

Appearing with Democratic Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin at a campaign event at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Spanberger expressed optimism about the outcome of tomorrow’s election, which polls show her consistently leading.

“The exciting thing is that tomorrow, we get to set an example for the rest of the country,” Spanberger said.

Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger speaks alongside Sen. Elissa Slotkin, center, and Rep. Jennifer McClellan, right, during a rally at Virginia Commonwealth University on Monday.

Slotkin, who entered Congress alongside Spanberger in 2019 after being elected in 2018, touted their relationship and echoed Spanberger’s call for Virginia to set an example for the rest of the country.

“Abigail and I came in together in 2018 and for those of you who are new to voting, that was the first midterm after Trump was elected the first time. There was this fundamental question of like, does America feel ok with the direction of the country?” Slotkin said.

She continued, “The country was not ok with what was going on. And Virginia has the opportunity to do that tomorrow.”