Politico: “DeSantis has more than $90 million remaining in the bank after spending about $100 million total this election cycle on his reelection bid via his aligned committee and campaign. That huge sum is fueling speculation that the Florida governor, who cannot run for a third term, will use it to seed the early stages of a potential 2024 bid for the White House.”
House Democrats Rush to Defend Blue Seats
Washington Post: “While many Democrats have privately believed for months that Republicans were likely to take the House, they have expressed increasing fears in recent days that voters could hand the GOP a significant majority — an outcome that would amount to a major rebuke of the party in power.”
Trump Says He’s ‘Very, Very’ Likely to Run Again
Donald Trump told an Iowa rally crowd that it was likely he will run again for president, KCCI reports.
Said Trump: “I ran twice, I won twice, and did much better the second time than I did the first, getting millions more votes in 2020 than I got in 2016; and likewise, getting more votes than any sitting president in the history of our country by far.”
He added: “And now, in order to make our country successful and safe and glorious, I will very, very, very, probably do it again, okay?”
Quote of the Day
“Under Republicans, not another penny will go to Ukraine. Our country comes first. They don’t care about our border or our people.”
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), at a rally in Iowa.
Justice Department Mulls Special Counsel If Trump Runs
“As Donald Trump inches closer to launching another presidential run after the midterm election, Justice Department officials have discussed whether a Trump candidacy would create the need for a special counsel to oversee two sprawling federal investigations related to the former president,” CNN reports.
“The Justice Department is also staffing up its investigations with experienced prosecutors so it’s ready for any decisions after the midterms, including the potential unprecedented move of indicting a former president.”
New York Times: “Under federal law, a special counsel functions, in essence, as a pop-up U.S. attorney’s office with broad discretion over every aspect of an investigation in ‘extraordinary circumstances’ in which the normal chain of command could be seen as creating a conflict of interest.”
“An attorney general still has the right to approve or discard a special counsel’s recommendations. But if Mr. Garland were to reject the counsel’s recommendation, he would have to inform Congress, a safeguard intended to ensure transparency and autonomy.”
Democrats on Defense In Blue Districts
“Democrats across the country scrambled Thursday to bolster candidates in places President Biden carried safely in 2020, the latest sign of panic that they could face major losses in next week’s midterm elections,” the Washington Post reports.
“As Republicans have focused on inflation and crime to go on offense in Democratic territory over the past month — competing in traditionally blue districts in California, Oregon, New York, Illinois and elsewhere — there’s a growing sense among Democrats that there’s little they can do at this point to combat the combined forces of history and economics.”
Judge Shoots Down Mike Lindell’s Bid to Reclaim Phone
“A federal judge on Thursday sharply rejected an effort by Mike Lindell, the MyPillow CEO, to reclaim a cellphone seized by the FBI in September,” Politico reports.
House GOP to Release Road Map for FBI Probe
“Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee will release a 1,000-page document on Friday detailing allegations of politicization of the FBI and Justice Department under the Biden administration,” Axios reports.
“It’s an eleventh-hour political move by the minority members of the Judiciary Committee to stir up former President Trump’s base days before the election.”
Conservative Media Has Shifted Away from Trump
New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman told Pro Politics that she believes the conservative media landscape “has shifted” away from Donald Trump.
Said Haberman: “Jeanine Pirro is an old friend of his. Sean Hannity is an old friend of his. Will say I’ve notice he’s barely been on Sean Hannity’s show, you know, in recent weeks whereas you got used to having him on whenever he felt like it.”
She added: “I noticed he’s not there. I don’t know what the reason is. He’s barely been on Fox in general.”
Incumbents Lead in Georgia
A new SurveyUSA poll in Georgia finds Sen. Raphael Warnock (D) leading challenger Herschel Walker (R) in the U.S. Senate race, 49% to 43%.
In the race for governor, Gov. Brian Kemp (R) leads challenger Stacey Abrams (D), 52% to 45%.
Election Official Fraudulently Requested Military Ballots
Milwaukee Election Commission deputy director Kimberly Zapata was fired after she fraudulently requested military absentee ballots and sent them to state Rep. Janel Brandtjen (R), Fox News Milwaukee reports.
Trump Organization to Have Independent Monitor
“A New York state judge on Thursday ordered that an independent monitor be appointed to oversee the Trump Organization before a civil fraud case by the state’s attorney general against Donald Trump’s company goes to trial,” Reuters reports.
Said the judge: “This court will appoint an independent monitor, to be paid by defendants, for the purpose of ensuring compliance with this order.”
Midterms to Test Enthusiasm for Student Loan Forgiveness
“The public is split over President Biden’s student-loan forgiveness plan, but groups that are key to Democrats’ chances in the midterm elections—Black, Latino and younger voters—strongly support the program,” according to a new Wall Street Journal poll.
“Forty-eight percent of the public favors Mr. Biden’s proposal to cancel up to $10,000 in student debt for borrowers with federal student loans who make less than $125,000 a year. Forty-seven percent of those polled said they oppose the program, which is temporarily on hold while a court considers a legal challenge.”
Manchin Wants to Rein In Entitlement Programs
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) said that Congress needs to deal with the nation’s “crippling debt” by making changes to shore up Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other programs he said are “going bankrupt,” Bloomberg reports.
Final 2022 Midterm Forecast
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Schumer Insists Democrats Will Keep Senate
“Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer predicted Thursday that Democrats will hold the U.S. Senate, propelled by strong voter turnout to buck a wave of Republican enthusiasm for gaining control of Congress in the midterm elections,” the AP reports.
Trump’s Lawyers Tried to Stop His Latest Lawsuit
“A tirade of a lawsuit that Donald Trump filed on Wednesday against one of his chief antagonists, the New York attorney general, was hotly opposed by some members of his legal team, who attempted an intervention hours before it was submitted to a court,” the New York Times reports.
“The faction opposed to the suit told the Florida attorneys who drafted it on the former president’s behalf that it was frivolous and would fail.”
The Trouble with Running on Democracy
Josh Barro: “This is a message of primary interest to the most core voters in the Democratic Party coalition. They are sure to vote for Democrats already — in fact, many of them have already voted. The idea that telling voters about January 6 one more time would help anything is just crazy.”
“But the other problem is that the message makes no sense on its face.”
“When Democrats talk about “democracy,” they’re talking about the importance of institutions that ensure the voters get a say among multiple choices and the one they most prefer gets to rule. But they are also saying voters do not get to do that in this election. The message is that there is only one party contesting this election that is committed to democracy — the Democrats — and therefore only one real choice available. If voters reject Democrats’ agenda or their record on issues including inflation, crime, and immigration (or abortion, for that matter), they have no recourse at the ballot box — they simply must vote for Democrats anyway, at least until such time as the Republican Party is run by the likes of Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger.”
“This amounts to telling voters that they have already lost their democracy.”