“Andrew Cuomo has repeatedly said that it would be difficult for him to win with Curtis Sliwa in the race. Sliwa, the Republican candidate, said in an interview that he was not going anywhere and was not interested in meeting with Cuomo or talking to him,” the New York Times reports.
Said Sliwa: “I would impale myself before I’d meet with him. If I saw him on the corner, I’d walk the other way. If he called me, I’d hang up.”
Bloomberg: “November 4 effectively marks the unofficial kick-off to the 2026 election season. That’s when three states and the biggest city in the US will go to the polls for the first major ballots since Trump was elected.”
“Together, they’ll form an early referendum on the president’s second-term, and a test of what campaign messages are moving voters in Trump’s second term when he isn’t on the ballot. Midterm elections historically tend to favor the party out of power, and polls entering the final weekend showed Democrats ahead in the night’s marquee elections.”
Punchbowl News: “It was subtle, and it’s not clear that anyone is any closer to getting to a resolution, but after weeks of groundhog days, we’ll take any signs of movement we can get.”
“So, what changed? We saw some bipartisan conversations over appropriations spark to life. Senators suddenly seemed more optimistic that they could find an off-ramp to this shutdown. Democrats ran a hotline on several appropriations bills, which was the first movement we saw on funding bills in a long time.”
“Still, none of that means we’re getting out of this shutdown soon. Lawmakers are on track to set the infamous record of the longest shutdown ever. Republicans and Democrats aren’t closer to a deal on the expiring Obamacare subsidies, which have been at the crux of the shutdown fight.”
Wall Street Journal: Trump’s demands throw wrench into delicate shutdown talks.
“Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada said on Saturday that he had apologized this week to President Trump for an anti-tariff television ad from a Canadian province that led the American leader to abruptly cut off talks about U.S. tariffs on steel, aluminum and other products from Canada,” the New York Times reports.
“Former President Barack Obama is expected to join Representative Mikie Sherrill Saturday night in Newark, the latest in a string of visits by Democratic Party leaders as New Jersey’s hotly contested governor’s race enters its closing stretch,” the New York Times reports.
“Three Democratic governors — Wes Moore of Maryland, Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania and Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan — also swept into the state over the past several weeks, as did Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota…”
“The Republican nominee, Jack Ciattarelli, has had fewer reinforcements from his party show up, although several big names have jumped in to support his campaign in the final sprint before Election Day on Tuesday.”
Jonathan Martin: “The most revealing element of next week’s election is that President Donald Trump is all but ensuring defeat for Republicans, and his party is doing next to nothing about it.”
“The mere fact of his election last year handed Democrats a powerful turnout lever in blue-leaning New Jersey and Virginia, but Trump has further undermined GOP hopes in the two states with his conduct and has seemingly abandoned California Republicans.”
“President Trump on Friday said he isn’t considering ordering military attacks in Venezuela, two weeks after suggesting ground strikes were possible,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
New York Times: “The pain of the government shutdown is growing more acute as it grinds toward the five-week mark, with Congress showing little movement toward a resolution. But President Trump has been attending to other matters.”
New York Times: “It was 2013, and conservative Republicans in the House and Senate pushed their leaders to block legislation to extend government spending unless it also repealed the Affordable Care Act. The result was a 16-day shutdown that produced no changes to the sweeping law.”
“While some of the characters are the same, the dynamic of today’s shutdown is the complete opposite. This time, it is Democrats using their leverage to try to fortify Obamacare by extending tax credits for rising premiums, while Republicans assail them for the hardships mounting from the cutoff of government services.”
“The 2013 case ended as a debacle for Republicans as they tried and failed to kill President Barack Obama’s signature legislative achievement while Democrats controlled the Senate. It was never going to happen.”
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) went after “pathetic Republican men” after Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) implored people to ignore her, arguing that such directives were misogynistic, The Wrap reports.
Sid Greene: “Sorry I’m not sorry I don’t obey Republican men’s demands that I, as a woman, don’t remain seen but not heard.”
President Trump sat down with Norah O’Donnell on Friday for an exclusive interview airing Sunday on 60 Minutes, CBS News reports.
“The top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee said on Friday that the Pentagon had refused for weeks to share with Congress key information about its strikes on marine vessels that the Trump administration says are carrying drugs, despite repeated requests that it divulge the directives initiating the operation as well as its legal justification,” the New York Times reports.
The United Nations said Friday that U.S. airstrikes on alleged drug trafficking boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific Ocean violate international human rights law and must stop, ABC News reports.
Said U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk: “These attacks – and their mounting human cost – are unacceptable. The U.S. must halt such attacks and take all measures necessary to prevent the extrajudicial killing of people aboard these boats, whatever the criminal conduct alleged against them.”
“It’s one of the most thorough legal rebukes in recent memory,” Politico reports.
“More than 100 federal judges have now ruled at least 200 times that the Trump administration’s effort to systematically detain immigrants facing possible deportation appeared to violate their rights or was just flatly illegal.”
“The rulings come from judges appointed by every president since Ronald Reagan, including 12 appointed by President Donald Trump. One of those appointees took the bench just last month.”
At an airport in South Carolina on Thursday, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) called police officers “fucking incompetent” and berated them repeatedly, Wired reports.
So far, just 15% of weekly news quiz takers have gotten every question right.
“President Donald Trump returned from an action-packed and trade-focused swing through Asia to the U.S. government still stuck in shutdown mode,” Bloomberg reports.
“But negotiating an end to the standoff, now in its 31st day, wasn’t on the agenda. The president left this morning for a weekend in Palm Beach, Florida, where he will attend a Halloween event tonight and a MAGA Inc. dinner tomorrow at his Mar-a-Lago estate.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.