Politics

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports: The first day of early voting in Georgia set a new midterm turnout record, with nearly 123,000 in-person voters casting their ballots, an early sign of strong interest in this year’s elections. Turnout on Monday far exceeded the last midterms in 2018, when about 71,000 people showed up at the start of early voting, according to …

Mediaite reports: A new campaign video from Congressman Eric Swalwell (D-CA) starkly envisions women being arrested by the police at their houses for having an abortion after the procedure is banned. The video begins with a woman called Mary Anderson having dinner with her family when police lights flash outside of her window and cops knock on her door. When …

The New York Times reports: We’ve seen it before, we’ll see it again: A little-known candidate made a memorable appearance during a debate that was almost entirely about the others onstage. Add Georgia’s Shane Hazel to a list that includes the Rent-Is-Too-Damn-High guy and the time Jim Webb casually mentioned he killed someone. It was a performance that often befuddled …

Florida Politics reports: Rick Scott again isn’t providing Ron DeSantis much rhetorical cover when it comes to Florida’s property insurance problems. During an interview that aired Sunday, Scott said that rates had “skyrocketed” in the last four years, a time roughly equivalent to DeSantis’ era in Tallahassee. “And now what you’ve seen is the cost of property insurance has just …

The Washington Post reports: Ryan zeroed in on Vance’s praise for the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, his about-face on former president Donald Trump and his support for far-right lawmakers such as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), saying he was “running around backing these extremists, the most extreme people in the country. One of the most contentious back-and-forths Monday erupted over …

“You said the president should listen to legal quack Sydney Powell, ‘Please make time for her, let her in,’ you told the White House chief of staff. “You told the president that you were working overtime – 14 hours a day, I think you said – to unravel this for him, to keep a president who had been voted out …

“You just can’t make these things up. He said very definitively more than once that COVID is over and the pandemic is over. “And because of that now – the team behind him, what I call that cabal in the White House – they have to keep this pandemic going so that they can spend more taxpayer money the way …

USA Today reports: Republican J.D. Vance has opened a narrow edge over Democrat Tim Ryan in the Senate race in Ohio, a USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll finds, as President Joe Biden’s unpopularity complicates the campaign by the moderate Democratic congressman to flip a GOP-held seat. Vance leads 47%-45%, a shift from Ryan’s one-point advantage last month, 47%-46%. Both findings are …

Oklahoma City’s Fox affiliate reports: Data shows Democrat Joy Hofmeister leading the incumbent Republican Governor, Kevin Stitt. In the survey of 638 likely voters, Hofmeister garnered 49% of responses, with Stitt pulling in 42%. Eight-percent of respondents were undecided. The incumbent governor remains steadily popular with Republicans, pulling 69% of GOPers surveyed for the poll. However, Hofmeister, a former Republican …

The Insider reports: Miami Mayor Francis Suarez said Monday that he’s considering joining the crowded field of prospective 2024 Republican presidential candidates. “It’s something that I would consider given the right circumstances and given the right mood of the country,” Suarez said Monday at a Punchbowl News event. Suarez has been getting national attention given the surge of people and …

NBC News reports: The Supreme Court on Monday declined to consider whether American Samoans have full U.S. citizenship at birth, a dispute that would have given the justices the opportunity to repudiate past rulings suffused with racist language that helped determine that those in U.S. territories would not have the same rights as other Americans. U.S. nationals can live and …

Florida Politics reports: How high a priority is Florida for national Republicans in the Midterms? The Republican National Committee is announcing that its “Take Back Our Country Tour” will hold one its first stops in the Sunshine State. U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, who heads the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), announced the tour with Republican National Committee (RNC) Chair Ronna …

CNN reports: Pete Buttigieg – whose only political experience before his failed presidential bid was serving as mayor of South Bend, Indiana – who has become the most requested surrogate on the campaign trail for Democratic candidates in the midterms, people familiar with the requests tell CNN. With invitations flowing into the White House and the Democratic National Committee, a …

Reuters reports: President Joe Biden will take on a potential 2024 presidential rival, Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis, in a November campaign event for the Democratic candidate for governor, Charlie Crist. The White House said on Sunday that Biden will travel to Fort Lauderdale, Florida on Nov. 1 to attend a reception for Crist, a former governor and member of Congress …

From the Cleveland Plain Dealer editorial board: Exhibit No. 1 is Vance’s craven political cowardice in advancing Trump’s Big Lie that Joe Biden is not the legitimately elected president of the United States. That’s disqualifying in itself. But Vance hasn’t stopped there. His accusation that Biden is responsible for the fentanyl epidemic because of his immigration policies is equally irresponsible …

“What we need is a Democratic Party that has the guts to stand up to them say, yeah, we’re going to take on the greed of the insurance companies and the drug companies and Wall Street. “And I think if we do that some of those people, I’m not saying all, will say, ‘You know what, I’m going to stand …

Sacramento’s CBS affiliate reports: Police have arrested a man they believe is responsible for the recent serial killings that claimed the lives of six people and had a city on edge. At a press conference on Saturday, Stockton Police Chief Stanley McFadden identified the suspect as 43-year-old Wesley Brownlee of Stockton. Police received tips from the public that led them …

The Guardian reports: Senior Conservatives will this week hold talks on a “rescue mission” that would see the swift removal of Liz Truss as leader, after the new chancellor Jeremy Hunt dramatically tore up her economic package and signalled a new era of austerity. A group of senior MPs will meet on Monday to discuss the prime minister’s future, with …

The Des Moines Register reports: Republican U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley’s lead over Democrat Mike Franken has narrowed to 3 percentage points with less than a month until Election Day, signaling Grassley’s toughest reelection fight in 40 years. A new Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll shows Grassley leads with 46% of the vote to Franken’s 43% among likely voters. Another 4% …

NBC News reports: Former President Barack Obama is heading to Wisconsin later this month to help boost Senate candidate Mandela Barnes, a Democrat challenging GOP Sen. Ron Johnson, as well Gov. Tony Evers’ re-election bid. The joint event, set for Oct. 29 in Milwaukee, will also promote other Democrats on the November ballot, including Attorney General Josh Kaul and Rep. …