“Neither Pete Buttigieg nor Sen. Rafael Warnock of Georgia are on the ballot this year, but both have been all over the campaign trail, stumping for candidates across the country ahead of Tuesday’s midterm elections,” Time reports.

“Democratic operatives say they are two of the most in-demand boosters this cycle. While the likes of Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York are surefire base pleasers and former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton are draws for legacy Democrats, Warnock and Buttigieg offer an efficient and plain-spoken manner that admirers say cuts across ideologies and generations.”

Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball: “Our final ratings of the 2026 midterm show Democrats favored to easily win the House of Representatives.”

“The more interesting fight is in the Senate. After exiling Senate Democrats from red states in 2024, capturing all 50 Senate seats in the 25 states that voted for Trump all three times he was on the ballot, Republicans appear to be in serious jeopardy of squandering the Senate edge they just so recently secured.”

“At the start of the cycle, we wrote that Democrats netting two Senate seats in 2026 would be a good result for them, narrowing the Senate to a 51-49 Republican edge and teeing up a competitive race for the majority in 2028. Such a result now would be a success not for Democrats, but for Republicans, who now appear to be underdogs in the lion’s share of key races at the center of the Senate map.”

Jonathan Chait: “Haley Stevens nearly won the Democratic nomination for Senate in Michigan in August, then immediately endorsed the winner, Abdul El-Sayed. She has spent the months since then vacillating, expressing doubts about his campaign while maintaining her support. But last week, her fiancé said that he intends to vote for El-Sayed’s opponent, Mike Rogers, and now she has followed, endorsing the Republican just two days before the election.”

“Stevens’s dramatic reversal met with immediate cries of opportunism or political stupidity. But Stevens seems instead to be following through on a principled objection to El-Sayed’s rhetoric and associations that threaten the state’s Jewish population. The trouble is that her application of those principles is misguided, undermining the values she claims to uphold. Before this weekend, Stevens could credibly accuse El-Sayed of overlooking the bigotry of his allies out of political expedience. Now she, too, is guilty of that very sin.”

“With less than 24 hours until Election Day and control of Congress at stake, Republican National Convention Chairman Joe Gruters believes some ‘big surprises’ are coming,” NewsNation reports.

Time: “It’s the most expensive election cycle in U.S. history in terms of political ad spending, with more than $11 billion expected to be spent… States have redrawn congressional maps between censuses at a rate the National Conference of State Legislatures says has not been seen since the 1800s, as parties try to secure victories. And Donald Trump has an historically low approval rating for a President heading into the midterms.”

“This election is also set to see massive turnover on Capitol Hill, with dozens of members of Congress resigning, retiring, or seeking other office.”

“Depending on the results, it could see a number of identity barriers broken, too. A record 26 women are vying for Governor posts across the country… A handful of candidates for Congress could also become national historic firsts if they win.”

William. Kristol: “We are on the cusp of a thoroughgoing defeat for Donald Trump, his administration, and his party. That is not something we could have taken for granted. On key occasions over the last decade, we’ve fallen short. In 2018, Democrats picked up forty-one seats and flipped the House—but Republicans gained two senate seats and strengthened their hold on that body. In 2020, Trump was defeated, but not in a landslide, and Republicans gained thirteen House seats. Then, following the insurrection and Trump’s impeachment, the Senate failed to convict him. And while Democrats did relatively well in the 2022 midterms, Republicans still managed to regain the House.”

“And about 2024, the less said the better.”

“In other words: Since Trump entered national politics in 2015, there’s never been a decisive electoral repudiation of him. This year looks likely to be that.”