Politics

Democrat Jocelyn Benson leads Republican John James by about 7 points in Michigan's governor race after two debates on health care, gas taxes and Trump.

Democrat Chris Pappas leads ex-Sen. John E. Sununu 51% to 44% in a St. Anselm poll for New Hampshire's open Senate seat, and Cook now rates it Lean Democrat.

Democrat Roy Cooper leads Republican Michael Whatley by 14 points in a WRAL/WSOC poll and 7 in an ECU poll, putting the NC Senate race in Likely Democrat.

Sherrod Brown leads Sen. Jon Husted by 6 points in a new BGSU/YouGov poll, and Amy Acton leads Vivek Ramaswamy for governor, though other polls show it closer.

Gov. Josh Shapiro and Treasurer Stacy Garrity clashed over gas prices, Medicaid, skill games and Trump in their only debate; Shapiro holds a big poll lead.

The Supreme Court's new term includes major cases on AR-15 bans, proof of citizenship to vote, climate lawsuits, immigration detention and religious liberty.

Democrat James Talarico leads Republican Ken Paxton by 2 points in new Marist and University of Houston polls of Texas, a margin within the error range.

Trump's approval is 33% in a new Washington Post-ABC-Ipsos poll and 32% in Reuters/Ipsos, both record lows; Silver Bulletin puts his net rating near -22.

Polls close Nov. 3 from 6 p.m. Eastern in parts of Indiana and Kentucky to 1 a.m. Eastern in Alaska's Aleutians. Here's every state's closing time in ET.

Michigan's Democratic Senate nominee, Abdul El-Sayed, confirmed to Fox News that his sister-in-law, Mariam Jukaku, was a plaintiff in a 2016 lawsuit challenging the federal terrorism watchlist, saying she 'did nothing wrong.' The suit, brought by Muslim Americans who said they were flagged without explanation, was reported at the time by Michigan Public. The government never confirmed she was on the list. Barack Obama campaigns with El-Sayed in Detroit on October 24 in a race against Republican Mike Rogers that most forecasters rate a toss-up or lean Democratic.

Two weeks before the Nov. 3 midterms, Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff leads Republican Rep. Mike Collins in every recent public poll in Georgia, and Cook Political Report rates the race Likely Democrat. Ossoff is running against Trump, the cost of living and the Iran war; Collins is running against Ossoff's record on immigration and his donors. Georgia set a first-day early voting record, and a Democratic super PAC has pulled some ads, saying it is confident.

With 16 days until the November 3 midterms, two major national polls put Democrats 8 points ahead on the congressional ballot, and President Trump's approval has hit a record low of 33% in the ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll. House Speaker Mike Johnson says Republicans will hold 'a working majority,' though 'not a giant' one. In the Senate, where Republicans hold 53 seats, Democrats need a net gain of four, and forecasters rate several races, from Alaska to Kansas, as toss-ups.

President Trump rallied Republicans at Northern Kentucky University on Saturday, 17 days before the midterms, campaigning for Senate nominee Andy Barr and House nominee Ed Gallrein. He promised a $100 million federal investment in a drug manufacturing facility in Winchester, tied to a Republican win, and attacked Barr's Democratic opponent, Charles Booker, as 'a radical.' Booker said he was 'flattered,' and that the visit shows 'how close this race is.'

President Trump signed an executive order on Friday waiving nearly every Russia sanction and tariff in the Graham Act, the law named for the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, two days before they were due to take effect. The White House says enforcing them now 'would impede ongoing U.S. efforts,' and Trump called it 'a very good decision.' The move clears the way for a Russian diesel deal aimed at lowering fuel prices. Sens. Ted Cruz and Thom Tillis, Nikki Haley and Democrats criticised it, and Ukraine's president said it 'definitely helps only the Russians.'

At a CBS News town hall in Flat Rock, Michigan, aired Saturday, Vice President JD Vance was asked about polling on corruption and the ouster of Kimberly Guilfoyle as ambassador to Greece. 'Yes, D.C. is a corrupt town,' he said, but he had 'not seen a single shred of evidence' that Trump takes part in it, and selling access to the White House would be 'disgusting and despicable.' He blamed Biden-era refinery closures and the Iran war for high gas prices, apologised for 'imperfect' rhetoric on immigration, and said there is 'of course' a chance he won't run in 2028.

UPDATED FRIDAY NIGHT. Zacharia has now posted her own goodbye, in the past tense: 'It was an honor to work for him.' Earlier: two officials say Katie Zacharia is being removed as press secretary five days into the job, the shortest tenure in modern history. Her one briefing was widely panned. But the problem that sank her was put there by the president: his Truth Social post introduced her as an attorney. She is not one. She failed the California bar in 2011 and never retook it. Anyone could have checked that in a minute on the State Bar's public website. Nobody did until reporters did.

Trump announced Wednesday that his 28-year-old press secretary is stepping down at the end of August. The same post says she will become 'one of my top outside advisors' and 'an influential voice within the Republican Party' heading into November. She is not leaving the work. She is leaving the podium.

A former president appeared in a recorded video on Barstool Sports' flagship podcast to congratulate a personality on winning a joke award for the third straight year. The bit is funny. The venue is the story.

Party delegates chose the former state Senate president at a convention in Bangor — an unusual route to a nomination, made necessary when Graham Platner withdrew this month. Democrats need four seats for control, and they have targeted Collins before without success.

The Trump administration announced last October that it was killing 223 clean energy projects to stop waste. In a July court filing, an Energy Department lawyer acknowledged that of 284 terminated grants, all but one went to states Kamala Harris won — and that none were cut for any programmatic, statutory, cost or performance reason.

At a town hall in a majority-Black Dallas suburb, Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico said repairing the harms of slavery is 'part of my faith tradition' and described investing in Black communities. He did not name a bill, a cost, or a funding source — a gap that separates what he actually said from how the moment is being framed.

Trump put on a red 'Trump 2028' hat and said he intended to run for a fourth term — then said, in the next breath, 'all joking aside.' Accounts on X have been circulating the line without that part, and one post has passed 1.6 million views.

An executive order directs the National Park Service to post temporary signage near the National Museum of American History telling visitors its exhibits contain inaccurate information. The president has no authority over the museum itself — but the sidewalk out front is federal parkland.

State data shows 148,241 mail ballots were thrown out — a 1.73% rejection rate and a jump from recent primaries. The single biggest reason wasn't fraud or signatures but timing, and experts point to changes in how the Postal Service applies postmarks.

A revolt over water use, electric bills and vanishing ranchland is scrambling partisan lines in rural Texas. Democratic governor nominee Gina Hinojosa is betting it can dent Greg Abbott — even as prominent Republicans lead the backlash themselves.

Days after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth rolled out testosterone screening and treatment for troops, a federal judge overseeing a challenge to the transgender military ban ordered both sides to explain how offering that hormone therapy to some service members squares with prohibiting it for trans men.

Former Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, pleaded not guilty and will stand trial June 1, 2027. His lawyers plan to fight the case first on sovereign immunity — and to challenge the legality of the operation that brought him to the US.

In a party-line 216-214 vote, the House adopted a Republican budget blueprint to fund the war against Iran, aid tariff-hit farmers, and advance Trump's voting-law agenda — over unified Democratic opposition and an uncertain path in the Senate.

Nicolás Maduro and his wife are back before a federal judge in Manhattan for a pretrial hearing. The scheduling questions are routine; almost nothing else about the case is.

President Trump signed proclamations slapping 50% tariffs on a wide range of Canadian goods, reaching for a 1930 law never used this way before. Canada calls it a 'regrettable escalation' — and both sides now have about 30 days to cut a deal.