“House Democrats are pouring money into three new congressional districts President Donald Trump won handily in 2024, pushing their party deeper into GOP territory in the final two weeks of 2026 cycle,” the Washington Sun reports.
“The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is adding TV reservations in Arizona’s 2nd District, Ohio’s 10th District and South Carolina’s 1st District — two of which Trump won by double digits last election.”
“It really is disgraceful, and the Republicans that I associate with, there’s a lot of us, can’t stand it. I think the president’s leverage in this Congress is shot.”
— Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE), quoted by The Guardian, on President Trump’s softening stance on Russia.
Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball: “Nearly 30 House rating changes push the number of seats at least leaning Democratic into the 220s, and we can see Democrats ultimately at least getting close to 235 seats, the number of seats they won in the most recent similar election, the 2018 midterm.”
“In addition to pushing several longstanding battlegrounds from Toss-up to Leans Democratic, we are also flagging several Republican-held seats to watch as potential credible Democratic targets in the Leans Republican column.”
For members: What Would a Blue Wave Really Look Like?
A new Salve Regina University’s Pell Center poll in Rhode Island finds Helena Foulkes (D) leading Ken Block (I) in the governor’s race, 39% to 28%, with Aaron Guckian (R) at 17%.
“Seven Boeing Co. 737-700 jets, acquired for hundreds of millions of dollars and meant to ramp up President Donald Trump’s deportation campaign, have barely left the ground at southwest Louisiana’s Lake Charles Regional Airport,” Bloomberg reports.
“They are the fleet that was acquired this year by Kristi Noem for the Department of Homeland Security, before she was fired after spending more than $200 million on a self-promotional ad campaign and amid withering criticism from Republicans over her leadership.”
“Each of the planes has conducted fewer than five flights since April 2026.”
“Around this time every election year, Democrats begin to wonder: Where is Michael Bloomberg?” the New York Times reports.
“And then, like clockwork, he makes his move — spending big money to help Democrats.”
“Mr. Bloomberg, the former New York City mayor and Democratic megadonor, is again serving as a late-arriving white knight for the party, sending about $80 million in September and October to help Democrats in the midterms.”
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“The Trump administration is being sued over the president’s imposition of 50% tariffs on an array of Canadian goods,” Bloomberg reports.
“The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday, comes amid an ongoing trade war between the U.S. and one of its largest trading partners. The food import business that sued argues President Donald Trump lacked authority to invoke a never-before-used section of U.S. law to order the levies against Canada and that this is part of a broader trend of illegal taxing actions by the administration.”
“I met the owner of the restaurant. He said, ‘Mr. President, I’d like to kiss you.’ He’s a very powerful man. I don’t want this guy kissing me, but he’s a powerful, influential man. He said, ‘Sir, I want to kiss you.’ I said, ‘Why?’ He said, ‘Sir, I really want to kiss you.’ So I said, ‘No, thank you.'”
— President Trump, talking to reporters.
“As the French right-wing National Rally is seizing on fiery protests in the country for its pre-election pitch, so are President Trump and his Republican allies in the U.S,” Axios reports.
“The Trump administration has used the unrest, which began over education grievances, to bolster its messaging on immigration and the threat of ‘communists,’ a group Trump has repeatedly claimed is threatening American civilization.”
Said Trump: “When you see burning steeples and raging fires in France, just remember that is what the radical ‘Dumocrats’ want to do to America.”
Vice President JD Vance was interviewed by Mark Halperin, who asked if Vance would get Donald Trump’s endorsement if he ran for president in 2028:
VANCE: I’ll tell you Mark that I’m focused on the midterm elections and I want to get as many good Republicans elected in early November as possible. Look, I really have not made up my mind about what to do in 2028, I really haven’t focused on it… Look, I think if I run, the president will endorse me.
HALPERIN: Right away? Right at the beginning? In other words, the day you announce. He’d endorse you, right?
VANCE: I don’t know, man, I haven’t talked to him about it.
HALPERIN: It would be kind of weird though if you said, “Mr. President, I’m going to run,” and he said, “Let me think about it.”
VANCE: No, it wouldn’t be weird. I think I’d get his endorsement, but I also think there’s something to be said for people actually running their own race. And because the president’s endorsement is so dispositive, you could absolutely see a scenario where the president says, “You know what, we need to let this race play out and not preemptively prejudge the results.”
“Dan Osborn, an independent who has vowed not to caucus with Republicans or Democrats if elected to serve as Nebraska’s next senator, will hit the campaign trail Saturday with progressive Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna,” CBS News reports.
“Khanna is the first elected official to campaign with Osborn, who is trying to unseat incumbent Sen. Pete Ricketts, a former Nebraska governor. There are no Democrats in the state’s congressional delegation, making it the most heavily Republican state where the California congressman has campaigned for any 2026 candidate.”
The New York Times has the backstory after the mother of Ohio gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton (D) released an ad calling her daughter a liar:
“In 2019, Dr. Acton gave an interview to The Vindicator, the since-folded daily newspaper of Youngstown, Ohio, in which she disclosed being sexually abused between the ages of 9 and 12. In 1978, after her biological father made a report to police, her stepfather was charged with rape and indicted by a grand jury. He pleaded not guilty.”
“In 2020, Ms. Arthur came forward to a conservative website to say her daughter’s claims of homelessness were exaggerated. Ms. Arthur shared that after her husband was arrested, Dr. Acton testified against him in court. Ms. Arthur supported her husband, rather than her daughter.”
“Both women have said that they have not seen or spoken to each other since that day in court in 1978.”
“Harris County, Texas—Texas’s most populous county, which Kamala Harris won in 2024 with 52 percent of the vote—broke its early voting record on Monday, eclipsing the previous mark by a whopping 41,000 votes,” the New Republic reports.
“Hundreds of Democratic ads over the last two months have zeroed in on a common message: GOP corruption is costing you,” Punchbowl News reports.
“It’s an interesting way for Democrats to cast Republicans as self-serving and ethically challenged while continuing to emphasize the affordability crisis. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries even acknowledged the push to amplify this message in recent days.”
Said Jeffries: “The cost of corruption is an incredibly important theme that our candidates have been communicating all across the country. The cost of living is way too high, and Donald Trump, along with his Republican sycophantic members of Congress, have actually decided not to do anything about it, because so many of them are so focused on enriching themselves.”
For members: It’s the Corruption Too, Stupid
“Jasmine Crockett insists she is in James Talarico’s corner and wants him to win in Texas,” the Houston Chronicle reports.
“Ever since Talarico defeated the Dallas congresswoman in the Democratic Primary in March, she’s been dealing with criticism that she’s not doing enough to help her former colleague in the Texas Legislature.”
Said Crockett: “I’ve endorsed him 100 times.”
Punchbowl News: “If a year ago we’d said Senate Republicans would be scrambling to save their endangered majority in October 2026 by building a ‘red wall’ in Kansas, Texas, Ohio and Alaska, you never would’ve believed us.”
“But that’s exactly the predicament GOP leaders find themselves in just two weeks before Election Day. Democrats haven’t won a Senate race in Texas since the 1980s and in Kansas since the 1930s. Now a rapidly deteriorating political environment is upending long-held views about the national map. Much of it has to do with President Donald Trump and the GOP candidates.”
Foreign Policy: “This is supposed to be the most fateful election in Israel’s history—a vote on whether the country continues down the path of illiberalism, insularity, and aggressive military policies that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pursued over the past four years or whether it will return to its more liberal values and mend ties with a world that is increasingly shunning it.”
“Yet, for all that is at stake, the legislative election on Oct. 27 may not issue a clear decision on the country’s future. Even this late in the campaign, the polls show neither of the two major blocs winning outright.”
Taegan Goddard
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.
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