“The Michigan Senate debate on Thursday was as heated and personal as the rest of the race has been,” the Washington Sun reports.

“Republican nominee Mike Rogers repeatedly called Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed a ‘glitchy AI chatbot’ and suggested the Muslim American has ties to terrorists. El-Sayed called Rogers cowardly and accused him of going after the ‘Peeping Tom vote’ by supporting local government control of Flock cameras.”

New York Times: 5 key moments from hostile Michigan Senate debate between El-Sayed and Rogers.

CBS News: El-Sayed and Rogers toss insults in Michigan Senate debate.

“Michigan GOP Senate nominee Mike Rogers signaled he would accept support from AIPAC as he remains locked in a tight contest against Democrat Abdul El-Sayed,” Politico reports.

“Rogers was asked during a debate Thursday whether he would welcome public backing from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee — and he pointedly did not rule it out.”

“Former president Barack Obama expressed surprise at Democrats’ expanding midterm map at a private fundraiser Wednesday night, but warned donors not to get complacent about the party’s chances, according to excerpts provided to The Washington Post,” the Washington Post reports.

Said Obama: “There are states right now in play that I would not have imagined being in play. If you had told me, and — I know I’m the hope guy — but if you had told me that the polling currently shows James Talarico ahead of Ken Paxton … I would have said, eh, I don’t think so.”

For members: The Senate Map Has Turned Upside Down

“James Talarico has been absent from the campaign trail over the past 12 days as the Texas Senate race enters a critical stretch, prompting Republicans to open a new line of attack on the Democratic nominee,” CNN reports.

“At a campaign rally in San Antonio Wednesday, Texas attorney general and GOP Senate nominee Ken Paxton led the crowd in a chant about his opponent’s whereabouts.”

Said Paxton: “Where is James Talarico?”

“Talarico’s campaign said the Texas Democrat is recovering from the flu.”

“Presidential races traditionally start in Iowa, where the state’s caucuses often produce bustling, energetic—and sometimes confusing—outcomes. It’s the beautiful backdrop of early political euphoria,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Novembers in Iowa don’t traditionally bring as much drama.”

“Republicans in recent years have tightened their hold on the state, controlling the governor’s mansion since 2011 and holding both U.S. Senate seats since 2015.”

“That could be about to change.”

“Republicans thought they had one of their best shots at flipping a Democratic Senate seat in purple New Hampshire this year after longtime Sen. Jeanne Shaheen announced her retirement. It’s looking less that way every week,” the Washington Sun reports.

“Party leaders did have reason to be hopeful, even in a difficult national environment for Republicans.”

“President Trump held a rally in San Antonio, Texas, Wednesday night to help out the Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton, whose race has gone wobbly with less than a month to go before the midterm elections,” the New York Times reports.

“Mr. Trump was in fighting form, tossing out red meat reminders to Texans about why they voted for him in 2024. He was interrupted nearly a dozen times by protesters, several of whom were led out in handcuffs. He talked a lot about the border, and Democrats, and himself.”

“What he didn’t talk a lot about was Ken Paxton.”

“President Donald Trump’s rally in San Antonio for Senate candidate Ken Paxton and other Republicans was interrupted multiple times within minutes of him taking the stage Wednesday, as protesters shouted from the floor of the Freeman Coliseum,” the Washington Sun reports.

“One took a video of himself as he walked toward the exit, only to be rushed from behind by an elderly man in a red Make America Great Again hat, who appeared to yank the protester’s shirt and hair before other attendees pulled him away.”

Said Trump: “These are paid protesters. They’re paid by enemies of our nation.”

CBS News: Protesters ejected from raucous Trump rally in Texas.

“The Republican triage effort is underway,” the Washington Sun reports.

“Senate GOP leaders kick-started the decision to shift resources, all but conceding the North Carolina Senate race as they face the need to shore up other contested races as their majority comes under increasing threat.”

“Instead, party leaders are plowing funds into Kansas and South Carolina — two reliably red states where the battlefield has expanded amid President Donald Trump’s bottom-of-the-barrel approval ratings and rising costs that have put the party on the back foot.”

Ed Kilore: “The first is that his party is frantic to save him from an increasingly plausible loss to Democrat James Talarico. Both statistically and symbolically, losing a Senate seat in the second-largest state, a GOP bastion for a generation, could be catastrophic for Republicans…”

“The second thing to know is that Paxton is, in a word, unlovable. Yes, he is an ideological MAGA warrior of the highest order with a base of loyalists in Texas that has saved his career again and again. But he’s a man of many vices, a serial adulterer (or so his estranged wife has suggested) with questionable financial ethics who seems perpetually on the brink of the scandal that will finally bring him down…”

“The third important thing to understand is that even as Republicans go to the mat for this difficult man, spending money they’d far rather spend elsewhere, Paxton is undermining the effort to help him with comments that enrage his would-be saviors.”

“Michigan Senate Republican nominee Mike Rogers broke with President Trump Wednesday over the trade war with Canada, the latest step to distance himself from the administration’s economic agenda in the tight battle against progressive Democrat Abdul El-Sayed,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

Said Rogers, in a new ad: “Here in Michigan, we know that Canada is not our enemy. We need to end this tariff war. Now.”

The Downballot: “Two Southern states that haven’t elected Democrats to the Senate since the last century are suddenly drawing late spending as Democrats hope the political environment will allow them to pull off major upsets.”

“In South Carolina, the Senate Leadership Fund plans to spend $5 million to protect Republican Sen. Darline Graham… An unnamed GOP source described the move as an ‘insurance policy’ to help the new senator, the sister and successor to the late Lindsey Graham, fend off pediatrician Annie Andrews…”

“Meanwhile, in Mississippi, American Bridge PAC informs the National Journal that it will spend just over $2 million to help Scott Colom, a Democrat who serves as district attorney for four counties in the eastern part of the state, against Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith.”

“Abdul El-Sayed barely won the Democratic primary in Michigan just two months ago. Now he’s drawing a ton of attention from the top leaders in both parties with less than a month to go in a U.S. Senate race that he…just…might…win,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“He went from being seen as a potential anvil for the Democrats to a game-changer within the party.”