A new CNN/SSRS poll finds Democrats leading Republicans on the generic congressional ballot, 49% to 39%. Generic Congressional Ballot Democrats 49%   Republicans 39%   CNN/SSRS poll · registered voters · ±4.1%

“For the second time in two months, President Donald Trump is heading to South Carolina to try to save a Senate seat Republicans considered safe until recently,” MS NOW reports. “The reliably red bastion hasn’t elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since 1998. But Republican Sen. Darline Graham is locked in an unexpectedly close […]

A new The New York Times/Siena University poll finds President Trump’s approval at 36%, while 59% disapprove. Trump Approval Approve 36%   Disapprove 59%   The New York Times/Siena University poll · likely voters

A new New York Times/Siena University poll finds Democrats leading Republicans on the generic congressional ballot by 11 percentage points, 52% to 41%. Generic Congressional Ballot Democrats 52%   Republicans 41%   New York Times/Siena University poll · likely voters Nate Cohn: “Eleven is a big number. No party has won the national vote by […]

“The flagship Democratic House super PAC is urging donors to pony up more cash in the final sprint before the midterms, pointing to private polling showing a slew of deep-red House seats within the party’s reach,” the Washington Sun reports. “House Majority PAC told donors in a private memo that recent polling ‘shows that with […]

Punchbowl News: “Florida Republicans brazenly carved up their congressional map to add four new red seats at the behest of President Donald Trump and GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis.” ”It’s not quite going as planned.” ”There’s a real possibility that Republicans end up winning just one of the four newly redrawn districts next month. Trump won […]

“The man who could become Alaska’s first Democratic governor in a generation — and the youngest in the young state’s history — is a moderate who does nothing in moderation,” the New York Times reports. “Stories of Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins’s intensity are already political legend in Alaska. At 13, he became a state organizer for Howard […]

“Russia on Wednesday released an American man who was held for four years on what the State Department called fabricated charges that he was a Ukrainian mercenary,” the New York Times reports. ”The release came after President Trump made a direct appeal to President Vladimir V. Putin to let the 74-year-old teacher, Stephen James Hubbard, […]

“Sen. Roger Marshall’s re-election campaign spent $5 million from July through September as his once-safe Kansas seat turned competitive,” MS NOW reports. “None of it went to payroll.” “The Kansas Republican’s latest Federal Election Commission filing showed no outgoing payments for payroll or salary over that stretch, even as his spending jumped from just under […]

“Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign for Ohio governor is pouring $4 million into a bombshell ad in which his opponent’s estranged mother attacks her daughter — doubling down on the message despite fierce bipartisan backlash,” Axios reports. “Ramaswamy is gambling that the deeply personal attack by Amy Acton’s mother — who Acton has said sided with her […]

“Justice Elena Kagan on Tuesday criticized the Supreme Court’s conservative majority for a series of election-related decisions in recent years that she said have led to more polarization and a dysfunctional democracy,” the New York Times reports. “Justice Kagan, one of the court’s three liberals, delivered the sharp critique two weeks before hotly contested midterm […]

“JB Pritzker is pouring tens of millions of dollars of his own money into boosting Black and Hispanic candidates this cycle. That could help him win over critical voters in 2028,” Politico reports. “The billionaire Illinois governor — who’s also considered a potential presidential contender — is investing at least $38 million in battleground races.”

“The Trump administration’s disaster chief told state officials Tuesday they must increase their financial reserves and emergency capabilities to handle most disasters on their own, without federal help,” Politico reports.

“Billionaire Ken Griffin said Republicans in Congress and President Donald Trump made a mistake by cutting taxes even further last year,” Bloomberg reports. Said Griffin: “We didn’t have the fiscal space to renew the tax cuts. Republicans have their hands dirty over the tax cuts the last two years.”

New York Times: “Mr. Trump has brought up the press-eviction idea before, dating to his first term, and he has never quite dropped it. A growing number of people around him favor the idea.” “Several close to him believe that moving the news media, most likely to the Eisenhower Executive Office Building across the street, […]

FiftyPlusOne caught a pollster named Wedgewood Polls faking data — which they admitted in a statement.

“Donald Trump has spent the months ahead of the midterm elections reaffirming his opposition to the free press, and he’s only growing more combative as Election Day nears. The president snapped at reporters again on Tuesday, yelling and lashing out multiple times during an Oval Office press gaggle,” Rolling Stone reports. Said Trump: “Quiet, QUIET! […]

“Senate Republicans’ campaign arm took out $20 million in loans in September, a significant cash infusion as the party looks to fight an increasingly challenging map ahead of November’s midterm elections,” Politico reports.

“President Donald Trump still has two weeks to salvage his Republican congressional majorities and defy expectations of a midterm wipeout. But all around him, aides and allies are bracing for what happens if he fails,” CNN reports. “Administration officials have grown increasingly convinced that steep GOP losses will trigger major personnel shakeups across the government, […]

“National Democrats are making a million-dollar bet on David Jolly, the Democratic nominee for governor of Florida, as they hope to put back in play the once crucial swing state,” the Wall Street Journal reports. “The Democratic Governors Association is sending $1 million to boost Jolly’s bid for governor, the group said Tuesday. The money […]

“President Trump’s political operation has rolled out a major get-out-the-vote program online in the final days of this year’s midterm elections, flooding Facebook and Instagram with ads encouraging Republicans in a number of states to cast their ballots,” the New York Times reports. “Mr. Trump’s super PAC has emerged as the single largest spender nationwide […]

Cook Political Report: “In Senate races, the quality of individual candidates can be magnified in ways that defy national trends, especially in midterm years. That’s the impetus behind three moves we are making today: two in favor of Democrats in South Carolina and Mississippi, and one towards Republicans in Minnesota.” “The shifts in Democrats’ direction […]

“The manosphere stars who helped mobilize young men for Donald Trump in 2024 are losing their shine with that very audience,” Axios reports. “Trump and Republicans rode a wave of cultural cachet to reach young male voters. Now, the president and some of his most influential online allies are showing signs of losing their grip […]

Bloomberg: “Across 24 states that track the party registration of early voters, Democratic voters have cast 48.7% of all ballots. Republican voters have cast 28.9%, according to the University of Florida Election Lab.”

“President Trump said on Tuesday that he had asked President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to release Stephen James Hubbard, a Michigan teacher who was seized from his home in Ukraine months after Russia invaded that country in February 2022,” the New York Times reports. “The United States has maintained that the charges against Mr. […]

Helen Lewis: “Yes, after two grinding years of governance, Trump is back in his happy place, out on the campaign trail, voicing whichever disconnected thoughts crackle and fizz through his frontal cortex. His favorite rhetorical theme lately is an unexpected one: the official presidential dreamboat rankings. In multiple rallies, Trump has gone on and on […]

“President Donald Trump told reporters Tuesday that he himself would decide who gets a payout from his administration’s new rewards program for people who submit tips about fraud to the government. That’s not what the Justice Department said,” the Washington Sun reports. Said Trump: “I will be the arbitrator of all of these decisions. In […]

“Elon Musk ordered the slowdown of a military-grade version of Starlink relied on by Ukraine, a decision that sparked panic in Kyiv and confusion inside the Trump administration,” the Wall Street Journal reports. “Both Musk and President Trump have expressed anger at Ukraine for attacking Russian diesel refineries in recent weeks, which the president blames […]

Ed Kilgore: “Even in an era of increasing partisan polarization and straight-ticket voting, state elections have their own logic and rhythm, in part because salient issues at the state level can be different from those prevailing nationally and also because some state pols — notably governors — are news-commanding celebrities in their own right.” “But […]

The Atlantic: “Trump Jr. has repeatedly voiced his opposition to the ongoing Iran war in private conversations… The president’s son opposed the war from its outset and made his opposition known to his father. He has long been skeptical of foreign intervention and believed the U.S. should not enter another Middle East war.” Said a […]