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Donald Trump talks about Reflecting Pool and his Washington DC construction projects on eve of midterms
Donald Trump has been speaking for nearly 20 minutes, and he’s yet to actually make any substantial reference to the midterm elections which will take place tomorrow – and will decide the makeup of Congress in his final two years in office.
Instead, the president is using the opportunity to talk about his construction and makeover projects throughout Washington DC, including on the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
“It’s really a beautiful thing. It’s a work of art in many ways, but it was a work of art that never worked, but now it will work,” Trump said, while joking that the pool should be renamed after him.
Key events
Joseph Gedeon
Abdul El Sayed, the Democratic Senate candidate in Michigan, told over 300 supporters in Royal Oak on Monday that Republicans’ Islamophobic attacks against him were an attempt to distract voters from the policies driving up their costs.
“In MAGA terms, whenever they’re trying to distract you, it’s because they’re picking your pocket,” El Sayed said.
He argued that Donald Trump and JD Vance would rather talk about him than about the price of gas and groceries or how people can afford to see a doctor, and he mocked his Republican opponent, Mike Rogers, as an “NPC,” or non-player character.
El Sayed blamed the administration’s war in Iran, its tariff fight with Canada and its health policies for rising costs and higher premiums, speaking a day before the midterm elections in the Detroit suburb.
He finished by saying that Michiganders take differences in a name or in prayer as an invitation to talk. “Royal Oak, when they come for us, we won’t back down,” he said.
A federal judge on Monday ordered the Trump administration to stop demanding that California election officials set aside ballots from 20,000 people the Department of Justice says might be noncitizens, the Associated Press reports.
The ruling by James Boasberg, a federal judge in the District of Columbia, is the latest loss for the Trump administration in its push to force California to separate ballots from people on a list of possible noncitizens. California officials say the demand comes too close to the election, with millions of ballots already cast, and that the list is riddled with errors and likely contains many US citizens.
Boasberg ruled that the administration’s demands to California violate the US constitution.
“The Executive Branch has likely violated the Constitution’s Elections Clause, which commits authority over election rules to the states and Congress alone,” wrote Boasberg, who is based in Washington.
Boasberg’s order came just hours after the administration asked the US supreme court to intervene and issue a “limited injunction” that would direct California to set aside the ballots while a separate, but related case, US v California, plays out in court.
In that case, a district court judge had forcefully denied the Justice Department’s request to California and warned that the demand could disenfranchise citizens in Tuesday’s midterm elections to determine control of Congress.
The Trump administration’s emergency appeal to the supreme court came after a divided appeals also court rejected the request to set aside the 20,000 ballots.
The day before the midterm elections, Trump posted a video on X reiterating his pledge to give $5,000 “all adult citizens in the United States of America” if Republicans maintain control of the House and Senate.
“If the Republicans win, you will each have $5,000 in your pocket,” Trump said in the video clip.
Trump’s claim of paying out $5,000 per person for political victory for his party has been sparking bipartisan shock and condemnation since he first suggested it in September, prompting accusations that Trump is trying to buy votes, not from a subset of swing voters, but from the entire US electorate.
The cost of a theoretical payout of that size is estimated at $1.2tn.
Here's a recap of the day so far
Haley Stevens, the Democratic congresswoman who said she would now back the Republican nominee for US Senate in Michigan, defended her decision in an interview today. The representative who has faced fierce backlash for her eleventh-hour defection, also rejected any notion that she was “forced” into her decision to pull her endorsement and support Mike Rogers, the former GOP congressman. “This is what happens to women,” Stevens told conservative commentator Scott Jennings. “Any notion that I was forced into my decision is all more of the same.”
Meanwhile, El-Sayed’s campaign announced that it received $2.4m in donations on Sunday, the day that Stevens announced she would now support Rogers. El-Sayed’s campaign that the amount is a single-day fundraising record for his Senate bid. His staff also noted that more than 26,000 people contributed for the first time on Sunday.
A day before the midterm elections, the justice department has asked the supreme court to force Califronia election officials to set aside 20,000 mail ballots, that the administration claims were submitted by non-citizens. Last week, a federal judge declined to order California election officials to segregate and not count ballots from people the Trump administration claimed were non-citizens, rebuffing a legally thin request from the justice department that appeared designed to cast doubt over the results of the midterms.
As we bring you the latest polling and predictions ahead of Tuesday’s election, one notable shift is in Louisiana – where a Democrat hasn’t won a US Senate seat since 2008. Republican Julia Letlow, a Trump-backed congresswoman who beat the incumbent Bill Cassidy in her primary, will face Jamie Davis, a Democrat and third-generation farmer. Sabato’s Crystal Ball has moved the Senate race in the Pelican state from “likely Republican” to “leans Republican” – a sign that the Davis might be diluting Letlow’s strength. One of the country’s leading election forecasters, Crystal Ball also moved several of their “toss up” races to “leans Democratic”. This includes the key Senate races in Maine, Kansas, Texas and Ohio.
Haley Stevens rejects suggestions she was 'forced' to pull endorsement of Abdul El-Sayed
Haley Stevens, the Democratic congresswoman who said she would now back the Republican nominee for US Senate in Michigan, defended her decision in an interview with conservative commentator Scott Jennings today.
“I gave him an opportunity to the Senate nominee here in in Michigan to unite around something that everyone can agree on, and then I got disinvited instead,” Stevens said, referring to her comments last week where she said any appearance alongside Abdul El-Sayed was preconditioned on his denouncing an outside group’s campaign ad that had blamed US support of Israel for the rising cost of living.
El-Sayed declined the request, accusing Stevens of needlessly reopening debates from a settled primary. His campaign subsequently disinvited Stevens from a campaign event scheduled for this past weekend. El-Sayed also condemned the ad, saying that he did “not agree with its contents”.
“This is what happens to women,” Stevens said in the interview. “Any notion that I was forced into my decision is all more of the same.”
She added:
I made a decision, and you know what? I’m hearing from a ton of people, and maybe they don’t want to come forward, but I’m hearing from a ton of people all over who are agreeing and are thanking me for just saying what I feel.
After Stevens lost the August Senate primary by a close margin in this year’s primary, she offered El-Sayed a lukewarm endorsement, but refused to openly campaign for El-Sayed for months.
Trump noted that he’d spent the last two weeks crisscossing the country, holding rallies on behalf of several embattled Republicans.
“America is ready to go. They’re ready to vote. I hope they’re ready to do the right thing,” he said, while downplaying the effects of the ongoing Iran war in a final plea to voters.
“I don’t know if you even call it a war because we haven’t been doing any fighting for months,” Trump said. “Oil prices are plunging now. They’re plunging a record. Nobody’s ever seen a plunge like this, and they’ll be down. I hope people realize that when they go into the voting booth, because we had to stop Iran from having a nuclear weapon.”
On the eve of the midterms, national average fuel prices have surged to $4.10 per gallon for gasoline – a $1.00 increase over last year – while diesel has climbed to $6.20 per gallon, nearly double its price a year ago.
Trump has now mentioned the upcoming elections, running through his greatest hits of talking points, and repeating several falsehoods in the process.
“These are the most dangerous candidates ever put up. There’s never been anything like what we’re seeing: jihadists and Muslim Brotherhood members,” he said, baselessly claiming (again) that Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for US Senate in Michigan, is a member of the Islamist group.
Trump added that Democratic candidates are “all committed to the same radical agenda: open borders, raising your taxes by trillions of dollars, taking away your guns, transgender mutilation of your children, abolishing oil and natural gas, sending energy costs skyrocketing and opening the floodgates to millions of migrants from all over the world, hoping to get them to be able to vote”.
Donald Trump talks about Reflecting Pool and his Washington DC construction projects on eve of midterms
Donald Trump has been speaking for nearly 20 minutes, and he’s yet to actually make any substantial reference to the midterm elections which will take place tomorrow – and will decide the makeup of Congress in his final two years in office.
Instead, the president is using the opportunity to talk about his construction and makeover projects throughout Washington DC, including on the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
“It’s really a beautiful thing. It’s a work of art in many ways, but it was a work of art that never worked, but now it will work,” Trump said, while joking that the pool should be renamed after him.
As we bring you the latest polling and predictions ahead of Tuesday’s election, one notable shift is in Louisiana – where a Democrat hasn’t won a US Senate seat since 2008.
Now, Republican Julia Letlow, a Trump-backed congresswoman who beat the incumbent Bill Cassidy in her primary, will face Jamie Davis, a Democrat and third-generation farmer.
Sabato’s Crystal Ball has moved the Senate race in the Pelican state from “likely Republican” to “leans Republican” – a sign that the Davis might be diluting Letlow’s strength.
One of the country’s leading election forecasters, Crystal Ball also moved several of their “toss up” races to “leans Democratic”. This includes the key Senate races in Maine, Kansas, Texas and Ohio.
Meanwhile, the forecaster also moved the competitive Iowa Senate race from “toss up” to “leans Republican”. Here, Democrat Josh Turek is attempting to beat Republican congresswoman Ashley Hinson to win the open seat in the Hawkeye state.
As I noted earlier, we’re due to hear from Donald Trump shortly, as he delivers a speech at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington DC – just a day before voters head to the polls in the midterm elections.
According to the press pool, the president is set to leave the White House shortly. We’ll bring you the latest as it gets started.
Vice-president JD Vance is rallying in Swanton, Ohio, ahead of tomorrow’s critical midterm elections.
Opening his remarks just now, he told a joke about his daughter wanting to donate two of her brother’s favorite toys to a Christmas toy drive.
“I realized, ladies and gentlemen, that I’ve got a little work to do, because a little girl who’s taking from her brothers … maybe she’s a Democrat.”
There was a mix of groans, boos and some laughs from the audience. Vance then merged into more bullish Republican territory, talking about his own humble beginnings and how great it is to be American.
Ariana Baio
A federal judge has dismissed criminal charges against two former FBI officials who were accused of lying about their involvement in the investigation into Hunter Biden, the son of former president Joe Biden.
Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui said prosecutors failed to show probable cause that the two former officials, Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides, had knowingly made false statements.
Faruqui also suggested prosecutors purposefully brought the charges at a sensitive time, just 10 days before the midterm elections.
The judge said during the hearing:
What has transpired here cannot be described as anything other than weaponization. I will not bury my head in the sand and pretend I cannot read a calendar.
The judge criticized federal prosecutors for rushing the prosecution and making “critical mistakes”. Faruqui said that some of the former officials’ statements were not actually false and others could be attributed to “honest mistakes of memory”.
My colleague Ariana Baio has the story:
Chris Stein
in Wever, Iowa
On a Monday afternoon in late September, Donald Trump gathered Iowa Republicans in the Oval Office to make a big announcement: the firm Mesabi Metallics would invest $15bn to make the midwestern state the site of the largest steel mill in the country.
One month later, and just days before the midterm election, word has spread in the small town of Wever, population 142, that the mill will be built somewhere nearby. And that’s been about it – no shovels in the dirt, workers on a job site or machinery on the dirt roads leading down towards the Mississippi River.
Ask about the project in town, and the reaction isn’t enthusiasm, but skepticism.
“More jobs,” Missy Pollpeter, 52, said of the project’s potential as she dined at the Green Bay Bar and Grill, Wever’s only restaurant. “If they bring it here,” her husband, Mike Pollpeter, 60, said as he finished a burger.
On paper, a steel mill seems like a great development for a corner of Iowa that has a long history both of manufacturing and the disinvestment that has struck so much of the industrial midwest. According to the White House, the project would create 6,000 jobs during its construction and then 1,750 when it is complete, and generate $95bn in economic activity.
What people can’t get over is how the project was debuted, and who was announced it. The president made the plan public just over a month before tomorrow’s midterm elections, when Iowa will play a major role in determining if Democrats regain control of Congress amid Trump’s downbeat approval ratings. Wever itself lies in a congressional district that is viewed as the most competitive in the state.
And then there’s the fact that Trump has a history of making proclamations that don’t quite pan out.
You can read Chris’s dispatch here:
Trump administration appeals California ballot case to supreme court
A day before the midterm elections, the justice department has asked the supreme court to force Califronia election officials to set aside 20,000 mail ballots, that the administration claims were submitted by noncitizens.
This is the government’s latest attempt to block the Golden state from processing the votes, after the justice department gave California officials just 48 hours to review the list and said it would sue the state if officials did not sequester ballots from those whose citizenship it could not confirm.
Last week, a federal judge declined to order California election officials to segregate and not count ballots from people the Trump administration claimed were non-citizens, rebuffing a legally thin request from the justice department that appeared designed to cast doubt over the results of the midterms.
A reminder that there are more than 23 million registered voters in California and non-citizen voting is extremely rare.
As I noted earlier, the latest polling from the New York Times/Siena College shows Democrats leading in key Senate races ahead of Tuesday’s midterm elections. One of the major battlegrounds is the competition in Texas, where Democratic state representative James Talarico has a seven-point lead against Republican challenger Ken Paxton, the scandal-ridden attorney general who has Donald Trump’s endorsement.
My colleague David Smith reports from Austin on Talarico’s meteoric rise, and how he stands a chance of winning a Senate seat that has eluded Democrats for almost 40 years.
Read his full dispatch here:
In an interview with CNN, Debbie Dingell, the Democratic congresswoman from Michigan, addressed the anger directed at Haley Stevens, her colleague, after the representative announced she would endorse Republican Mike Rogers in the state’s bitter US Senate race.
“I have been worried about her because I know it’s really hard to be in these kinds of circumstances. I talked to her multiple times last week,” Dingell said. “And I was shocked. I can’t lie about that.”
Various reports noted that just hours before Stevens made her announcement pulling her support for Abdul El-Sayed, she spoke to Dingell on the phone and assured her that she would still be backing the Democratic nominee in the upcoming election.
“I was very shocked at what she [Stevens] did, but the hate and the anger in this country right now is very scary and it’s coming from all sides,” Dingell added in the interview.
When asked specifically what was worrying Dingell about Stevens’ decision, the congresswoman said that it was clear “she has had some hurt feelings”.
Dingell added: “It’s very difficult to lose an election. There are many people that respect her. She was feeling torn. She has a very significant Jewish community that itself was torn on this issue. She’s had a lot of people saying many things to her.”
While Dingell said that she wouldn’t “speculate” about what changed for Stevens and why she ended up backing Rogers, she noted just how hard it has been to quiet the vocal frustration from within her party towards Stevens.
“I tried to get many of my colleagues to focus on tomorrow’s election because this is a distraction. It’s been a distraction for 10 days and focus on what the real issues are,” Dingell said. “But there are a lot of people that don’t understand what she did and are very, very angry and you’ve heard those words and seen those statements.”
She noted that the way the four-term congresswoman went out “has probably permanently hurt her” and her future within the Democratic party.
While Donald Trump will rally in Washington DC today, his vice-president, JD Vance, will be in Rome, New York, to stump for Republican House candidates in competitive races in the state.
This includes, Anthony Constantino, the sticker company exec and rapper trying to keep Elise Stefanik’s seat in Congress red, and Kailee Buller, who served as a senior official at the agriculture department and is trying to flip her district.
Vance will be joined by the president’s son, Donald Trump Jr, on the trail today, and the pair will head to Ohio later for another set of campaign events.
Chris Pappas is stopping himself from getting too excited ahead of Tuesday’s midterm election.
“I take nothing for granted,” said the four-term US representative and Democratic nominee for New Hampshire’s open Senate seat. “This is a very purple, competitive state. Elections are never in the bag here.”
The race to replace the retiring Democratic senator Jeanne Shaheen has emerged as a source of 11th hour anxiety for the party.
In their attempt to gain four seats and reclaim control of the Senate, Democrats can’t afford to lose one they already hold. But September polling showing Pappas virtually tied with his Republican opponent, former senator John Sununu, rattled party strategists and raised the prospect that New Hampshire could become an unexpected battleground.
The warning signs were striking in a state Donald Trump has lost in each of his three presidential bids.
While Pappas has regained a narrow advantage in most polls, and the Cook Political Report moved the race in early October from “toss-up” to “lean Democrat”, his closing message has focused heavily on tying Sununu to an unpopular president.
Trump’s approval rating sits at just 32% in the state, according to a recent University of New Hampshire poll, giving Democrats hope that voter frustration with the administration will ultimately benefit Pappas’s run.
“Sununu has spent most of the last year on team Trump, and now that we’re getting within range of the election, he’s recognizing how unpopular the president is,” Pappas said as he traveled the state in the final days on the trail, often joined by party heavyweights, like Arizona senator Mark Kelly and former vice-president Kamala Harris.
Sununu, however, has spent much of the campaign arguing that independence, not loyalty, defines his political record.
The former senator has emphasized his criticism of Trump’s trade war with Canada, which has affected several industries in the state, and in a recent campaign advertisement, he even claimed to have “never met” the president.
The former senator’s anti-Trump bona fides do have some roots. In 2024, he voiced his support or Nikki Haley in an op-ed during Republican primary campaign, and also branded Trump a “loser”.
Read my full dispatch from New Hampshire here:
El-Sayed campaign reports record-breaking fundraising day after Stevens pulls endorsement
Abdul El-Sayed’s Senate campaign announced that it received $2.4m in donations on Sunday, the day that Haley Stevens announced she would now pull her support from the Democratic nominee and back Republican Mike Rogers.
El-Sayed’s campaign said that the amount is a single-day fundraising record for his Senate bid. His staff also noted that more than 26,000 people contributed for the first time on Sunday.
In the four hours after Stevens defected on Sunday, Politico reported that El-Sayed’s campaign raised $1.2m, which was already its second-highest day of donations.
