The Latest: Trump makes final midterm pitch as administration appeals to Supreme Court over ballots
(AP) — President Donald Trump’s administration appealed to the Supreme Court on Monday in its push to sideline thousands of disputed California mail ballots the day before the pivotal midterm elections. The emergency appeal came after an appeals court rejected the request to set aside some 20,000 ballots from people the federal government suspects may not be U.S. citizens.
Trump closed out the final weekend before Election Day with rallies in two states he had handily won in the past.
At the same time, Democrats began to fracture in Michigan, risking their effort to retake the Senate. Michigan Democrat Abdul El-Sayed’s former opponent in the U.S. Senate primary, Haley Stevens, stunned party officials Sunday by endorsing Republican Mike Rogers as Democratic tensions boiled over days before the election.
Trump will make his closing pitch of the midterms Monday afternoon at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, pushing his slow, expensive and problem-plagued efforts to repair it back into the spotlight on the eve of Election Day.
The Latest:
Trump says the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has reopened
In a speech to mark the reopening of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool after repairs, President Donald Trump joked that he would rename it after himself.
The president is speaking about the troubled repairs to the pool, which he said was damaged by vandals despite an admission in court that shoddy renovations commissioned by Trump caused its shuttering.
The president has chosen this site to address voters on the final day before the Tuesday midterm elections, which will determine control of the House and Senate.
Democratic challenger in red-leaning Virginia district says voters want change
Shannon Taylor, the prosecutor seeking to oust longtime Republican Rep. Rob Wittman in Virginia’s 1st Congressional District and help Democrats flip control of the U.S. House, says voters are fired up and demanding change in this year’s midterm election.
Taylor held a news conference Monday in suburban Richmond, where she said voter enthusiasm and early voting trends leave her confident she’s headed to victory Tuesday.
“People are mad, and people want to see change,” said Taylor, who has run on an anti-corruption platform and focused on the cost of living.
Wittman, who has been in Congress for nearly two decades and touted his experience during this race, was scheduled to campaign later Monday with House Speaker Mike Johnson. Taylor said Johnson’s visit to a district that’s long leaned red highlights the struggles Republicans face this year.
Flooding in a Colorado tourist town is affecting Election Day voting plans
Flooding in the Southwest has forced a Colorado tourist town to alter its Election Day voting plans.
In Pagosa Springs, town residents impacted by the floods who haven’t voted yet can “visit any voter center across the state to request and receive a replacement ballot,” the Secretary of State’s office said in a news release.
People who cast in-person ballots outside their home county can vote only for statewide races, the office said. But if they have access to their mail ballot, they can return it to any drop box or voter center in the state by 7 p.m. on Election Day, and it will be sent to their county clerk for signature verification and tabulation, the office said.
Voting centers will still be open in La Plata County, but some county offices, including the clerk’s office, will have special hours on Tuesday.
Trump to deliver remarks in front of the revamped Reflecting Pool
The president’s closing argument for the midterms will have a backdrop of a cleaned-out reflecting pool and the Washington Monument in the distance.
He will stand on a platform decorated with signs that say “Restoring Our Capitol” and “The Reflecting Pool.” Behind him on the lectern is a sign with an aerial image of the pool that reads: “Back, and more beautiful than ever!”
It doesn’t appear that the event, occurring on a cool, clear autumn day, will be open to the public.
There are two short, reserved rows for administration officials and guests, including Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.
The rest of the space is dedicated to the press.
Vance rallies in upstate New York as Election Day nears
Vice President JD Vance campaigned in rural upstate New York, disparaging Democrats as “lunatics” and warning that failing to elect Republicans could lead to a leftward swing for the country.
Speaking in an airport hangar in the town of Rome, Vance also touted Trump’s achievements, pointing to legislation he signed to end taxes on tips and overtime, even as the president’s approval ratings on the economy slipped to 25% last month.
He stumped for two Republicans running for Congress but did not talk about Bruce Blakeman, the Republican competing to unseat Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul.
Vance said voters could send a message to Democrats “that here in the New York 21st Congressional District, we are fighting for people who love the United States of America, not those who hate it.”
Rubio meets Venezuelan counterpart as US pushes for progress on election preparations
Secretary of State Marco Rubio was holding talks with Foreign Minister Oliver Blanco at the State Department on Monday, just two weeks after Venezuelan authorities and opposition figures agreed on a blueprint to reform the country’s electoral process so that free and fair elections can take place at some point in 2027. Neither man spoke as they posed for photographs ahead of their meeting.
Rubio said last week that the Trump administration, which ousted former President Nicolas Maduro in a January military operation, would be watching events closely and urged all sides to comply with the new process. He said the goal is a sustainable election architecture that will give all parties confidence in the vote.
El-Sayed’s message to those worried about Stevens’ support of Rogers: ‘Go vote’
“If we’re nervous about where we’re going to go from here, go vote,” Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed said Monday at a campaign event in Ypsilanti.
El-Sayed spent the final day before the election campaigning alongside fellow Michigan Democrat Debbie Dingell and Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
Much of his speech focused on getting corporate money out of politics and establishing universal Medicare.
Haley Stevens, whom El-Sayed defeated in the August Democratic primary, endorsed Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers on Sunday, exacerbating tensions among Democrats on the eve of the midterm elections that will determine control of Congress.
Hundreds are without power in downtown DC after smoke was reported near maintenance holes
A spokesperson for Pepco, the electric utility provider in Washington, says the company is working to restore power to about 1,100 customers after an outage this morning in the city’s Foggy Bottom neighborhood.
Jessica Babb says they’re investigating what caused the outage.
The city’s fire department said on its X account that it was responding to multiple reports of smoke coming from maintenance holes in the area. Photos of the area shortly after showed the smoke had cleared.
The power outages appeared to cover at least a five- or six-block radius between 21st and 17th Streets and from Virginia Avenue to Pennsylvania Avenue.
That area includes the State Department. The agency’s headquarters had brief and limited power interruptions, but several off-site annexes, including the Washington Passport Agency, lost power and closed to the public.
The World Bank building was also without power, as were numerous businesses in the vicinity.
Trump administration appeals to Supreme Court in push to sideline 20,000 California mail ballots
The Trump administration appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday in its push to sideline thousands of disputed California mail ballots the day before the pivotal midterm elections.
The emergency appeal came after an appeals court rejected the request to set aside some 20,000 ballots from people the federal government suspects may not be citizens. The Republican Trump administration has prioritized identifying noncitizen voters this year, despite them being rare.
The federal government says those ballots should not be counted until the voters’ status can be verified. California officials say the list is highly unreliable and likely includes many people who are U.S. citizens.
A district court judge forcefully denied the Justice Department’s request and warned that the demand could disenfranchise citizens in the Nov. 3 midterm elections to determine control of Congress.
Iowa candidate Rob Sand greets volunteers getting ready to knock doors on a rainy day
On a rainy Monday ahead of Election Day, Democrat Rob Sand asked canvassers in the suburbs north of Des Moines, Iowa, to keep knocking doors during the final stretch.
“We have had some of the closest races in the country right here every single election cycle,” said Sand, a candidate for governor. “This is it. We have thirty-whatever hours to change the direction of the state of Iowa.”
Sand passed the microphone to Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, who cited his own races as proof that a Democrat can win over Trump-backed candidates in states like his own and Iowa. He, too, reminded the volunteers in the room that even those were by tight margins.
Most Iowans want to vote for a person, not a party, Sand told reporters after. Up and down the ballot this year in Iowa, he said, “there’s a lot of situations where that person might happen, this time around, to be a Democrat.”
Trump would preemptively pardon people ‘if I needed to’
In a new interview released Monday, the president indicated he’d have no qualms about issuing pardons to those surrounding him to protect them from potential criminal liability.
The comments come as Democrats could take control of at least one chamber of Congress, giving them investigative powers such as subpoena authority.
“I would if I needed to, sure,” Trump told the New York Post’s Miranda Devine on her “Pod Force One” podcast. “I would not even think about — I’d do it.”
He pointed to preemptive pardons former President Joe Biden issued to family members, administration officials and key lawmakers, such as those who worked on a special committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol.
‘I’m learning what’s going on within our country, and this actually brought me out’
The stakes in Tuesday’s midterm elections are so high that Shane Dunn voted for the first time in his life, at age 65.
After a career as a cook up and down the East Coast, Dunn moved to the Philadelphia suburbs and voted last week in Levittown. “I was always a busy man,” he said outside his polling place. But now, “I’m learning what’s going on within our country, and this is actually what brought me out.”
Voters across the United States are getting their word in, too, as they determine which party controls the Senate and the House and takes charge of governors’ offices, legislatures and state leadership posts in the final two years of Republican Donald Trump’s presidency.
In dozens of Associated Press interviews with people who cast ballots at advance polling places or drop boxes across the country, the angst was palpable, most sharply from those who oppose Trump but also from many who support him.
Analysis: Republicans face a midterm reckoning of Trump’s making
For President Donald Trump, this week’s elections are about him. For his fellow Republicans, the risk is voters will agree.
Midterms almost always serve as a referendum on the president’s party, and losses typically ensue. But Trump’s decisions to impose tariffs, start a war and oversee extravagant Washington renovations — largely without congressional consultation — have made it harder for Republicans to navigate those historical headwinds.
There is a direct connection between his actions and higher gas prices, costlier groceries and persistently high inflation.
Republicans cannot blame the fallout from those decisions on past administrations when Trump has owned them so fulsomely. They also cannot easily distance themselves from an unpopular president who demands loyalty and routinely tells voters the economy is just fine.
At virtually every juncture before Election Day on Tuesday, Trump has complicated the task of protecting Republican majorities in Congress.
The Iran war is “making it exponentially harder for Republicans to keep the House and Senate,” Rep. Derrick Van Orden of Wisconsin, one of the most vulnerable House Republicans, said in a debate while noting his support for the effort.
NAACP asks judge to bar federal law enforcement agents from serving as poll monitors
The NAACP is asking a judge for an emergency order limiting which federal staffers can monitor the polls on Election Day.
The group wants law enforcement agents from the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to be barred from the role because they could intimidate voters.
“DOJ’s decision to deploy federal law enforcement agents and personnel to election sites is unlawful and serves a plain purpose: to intimidate voters and election workers alike, and to have a chilling effect on in-person voting on Election Day,” the group wrote in its overnight filing.
The Justice Department has insisted its election monitors around the country on Election Day will be there to observe and will not interfere with voting.
Trump administration promises US farmers $15 billion in the weeks before the midterms
President Donald Trump’s administration has made $15 billion in promises to agricultural producers in the weeks before Tuesday’s midterm elections, initiatives intended to offset higher diesel and fertilizer costs that farmers have endured largely due to his tariffs and the Iran war.
Whether that will motivate more voters to turn out in agricultural states where traditionally Republican seats are now seen as competitive is unclear. It may explain Trump’s increased attention on rural areas, including visits Sunday to Iowa and Kansas.
Of the $15 billion, more than half will go toward a one-time payment plan for farmers impacted by soaring diesel prices. Beyond the $15 billion, the agency also plans $13.8 billion in payments to offset shortfalls during the 2025 crop year for farmers who grow key crops such as corn, soybeans, wheat and rice.
Increased fertilizer and fuel costs have made it difficult for farmers to turn a profit this year. Last year, tariffs drove up expenses for other equipment farmers use, and the trade war with China caused a near boycott of U.S. agricultural goods.
Justice Department defends voter list that it says contains suspected noncitizens
The Justice Department has defended the accuracy of a list that it says has more than 20,000 suspected noncitizens registered to vote in California and suggested that an immigrant rights group should face contempt charges over an analysis of the names.
U.S. District Court Chief Judge James Boasberg had allowed the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights access to data on people the Trump administration alleges are noncitizen voters. Boasberg ordered the plaintiffs not to disclose any names and to use the data only for arguments about why they have legal standing to challenge its use.
In a Saturday court filing, the group said more than 40% of the people on the list do not appear in the state’s voter file. The filing also identified 22 people who were likely naturalized U.S. citizens while saying that thousands more American citizens appeared to be on it.
The Justice Department argued Sunday that the group’s filing had nothing to do with its legal standing and therefore violated Boasberg’s order. The agency also suggested that Boasberg refer the matter for investigation into possible contempt of court.
