“Early voting for the midterm elections has begun in states across the country, and enthusiasm — and voter turnout — both appear to be high, with hundreds of thousands of mail-in ballots arriving in Florida and voters lining up around the block in Texas,” the New York Times reports.

“Turnout has surged among Republicans, Democrats and independents, according to poll data. As of Tuesday afternoon, more than seven million people had voted early.”

Said political scientist Michael McDonald: “If these patterns persist, we could see a turnout rate at least equaling the turnout rate in 1966, which was 48 percent, and if we beat that then you have to go all the way back to 1914, when the turnout rate was 51 percent. We could be looking at a turnout rate that virtually no one has ever experienced.”

Washington Post: Who’s voting early? Mostly people who would have voted anyway.

Washington Post: “Republicans are starting to point to evidence — and some fresh numbers — that their chances of retaining the House majority when voters go the polls in 13 days may have slightly improved. And even some Democrats agree.”

“Most of the battleground House races are being fought on Republican turf (63 out of 69 seats, according to a new Washington Post-Schar School poll). That means that Democrats have a built-in edge that makes it easier to capture the net 23 seats needed to regain House control.”

“But there’s decent evidence those House races remain tight or could be tightening. That’s not to say Democrats aren’t still favored to take over the House — by polls, history and sky-high enthusiasm to vote against President Trump.”

Associated Press: “Top operatives in both political parties concede that Democrats’ narrow path to the Senate majority has essentially disappeared, a casualty of surging Republican enthusiasm across GOP strongholds. At the same time, leading Democrats now fear the battle for the House majority will be decided by just a handful of seats.”

President Trump “will hold at least another 10 rallies before the midterm elections and his campaign will spend $6 million more on advertising, in a widening effort to defend Republican majorities in Congress,” USA Today reports.

“By the time voters head to the polls in two weeks, Trump will have spoken at more than 30 rallies in the final five weeks of the campaign, putting him on the midterm trail more than his recent predecessors.”

For the second consecutive election, a Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY) campaign mailer has the wrong deadline for voters to return absentee ballots, Newsday reports.

The mailer told voters to postmark their ballots by Nov. 6. The actual deadline is Nov. 5.