Trump ratchets up alarm about Democrats as he tries to stave off GOP losses in midterms
Kansas emerges as a surprising battleground for the Senate race
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Updates
• Campaigning in Kansas: President Donald Trump said riots and looting in France are foreshadowing what could happen to the US if Democrats win in November. And he rejected concerns about the prospects for GOP Sen. Roger Marshall in the surprisingly competitive Senate race in the solid-red state. “The polls are fake,” he said.
• All eyes on Texas: Early in-person voting began in the Lone Star State, where Democrats are hoping to break through for the first time in 32 years. Voters near Dallas told CNN they are still trying to wrap their minds around the notion that Texas might truly be a battleground state this election. Follow CNN’s early voting tracker here.
• Voter roll sweep:Federal authorities charged over two dozen foreign nationals in California as part of a statewide sweep targeting people who officials say have illegally registeredand voted in US elections.
People wait in line to vote early in-person for the midterm elections at the Marty Robbins Recreation Center in El Paso, Texas, on Monday.
Early in-person voting began today in the Lone Star State, where Democrats were hoping to break through for the first time in 32 years.
President Donald Trump also rallied in Kansas for GOP Sen. Roger Marshall, and he’ll campaign all week for candidates in North Carolina, South Carolina, Iowa, Florida and Georgia. And Trump will return to Texas next week.
Catch up on other headlines from today:
- Early in-person voting also began today in Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida and South Carolina. North Carolina and Georgia began voting early last week.
- In Kansas tonight, Trump said that riots and looting in France are foreshadowing what could happen to the US if Democrats win in November.
- In the reliably red state, Kansas voters are feeling the economic pinch, with one woman telling CNN the cost of living is the biggest issue motivating her decision on who to vote for. This midterm cycle, Kansas has emerged as one of the most unexpected battlegrounds as Democrats try to pull off their first Senate victory in the state since 1932.
Democratic Senate candidate Adam Hamilton said he sees Trump’s visit to his state as a “big compliment,” and that the president’s campaigning for his GOP opponent is “only going to hurt him.” Here’s what he told CNN:
Why this Kansas Democrat sees Trump’s visit to his state as a ‘big compliment’
1:21• as a ‘big compliment’
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- In CNN’s latest Poll of Polls average, Trump’s approval ratings stand at 34% among US adults, with 65% disapproving.
- Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed put his faith at the forefront in a new video asking voters to elect him as the country’s first Muslim senator.
- Rising cost-of-living expenses and unkept promises are among the reasons Latino voters in Miami-Dade County, Florida, say they are rethinking their support for Trump.
Democrats court Latino voters in Republican-leaning Florida
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- Federal authorities charged more than two dozen foreign nationals in California as part of a statewide sweep targeting people who officials say have illegally registeredand voted in US elections.
- And a review of AdImpact data for the final two weeks of the midterms shows more than $300 million pouring into races for the 10 Senate seats CNN rates as most likely to flip.
CNN’s Betsy Klein, Kit Maher, Elise Hammond, Aditi Sangal, Arlette Saenz and David Wright contributed reporting.
President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at Heartland Credit Union Arena in Park City, Kansas on Monday.
President Donald Trump offered a dark vision of a Democratic-led Congress in Kansas on Monday night — warning voters of a choice between “radical” Democrats who he said will destroy America or a continuation of what he often calls the “golden age.”
“A vote for any Dumo-crat this year is a vote to let that small and dangerous group of extremists hold all of us hostage in America. They’re not going to hold us hostage,” Trump later said.
He also used the riots in France as a fear-mongering tool, claiming Democrats will “burn it all down” if they take power.
“We achieved more in two years than any other presidency in the history of our country. But now the radical left Democrats want to burn it all down. They want to take it all down. Think about France. Think about what we’re witnessing,” Trump said.
Trump again asked voters to pretend he is on the ballot in an attempt to boost turnout, projecting Republican wins in the House and Senate.
Campaigning alongside Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall, Trump said Marshall “is all that stands between the people of Kansas and communists controlling the United States Senate.”
As for Marshall’s opponent in the Senate race, Adam Hamilton, a Democratic pastor, Trump said: “He doesn’t have our views, he doesn’t have our values. … He doesn’t act like a pastor.”
President Donald Trump defended Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall against criticism for suing more than 700 patients for outstanding medical bills during his time as an obstetrician-gynecologist, as first
While defending Marshall, Trump used the term, Shylock, which he’s faced criticism for using in the past and previously claimed ignorance that it’s viewed by some as antisemitic.
In July 2025, Trump used the same term during a rally in Iowa. He later said he didn’t know the word was viewed by some as antisemitic.
“I’ve never heard it that way. To me, Shylock is somebody that’s a money lender at high rates,” Trump told reporters at the time. “I’ve never heard it that way, you view it differently than me. I’ve never heard that.”
“It underscores how lies and conspiracies about Jews remain deeply entrenched in our country. Words from our leaders matter and we expect more from the President of the United States,” the ADL wrote in a postat the time.
In 2014, former President Joe Biden apologized for using the word.
Campaign finance records show Elon Musk has donated over $150 million to bolster GOP candidate Ken Paxton in the Texas Senate race. CNN’s Ed Lavandera talks to Texas voters about the megadonor’s influence in the election.
Voters appear split on Elon Musk’s donations in Texas Senate race
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Trump expresses sympathy after incident at Wichita’s Stryker Sports Complex
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President Donald Trump shared his condolences with the Wichita community after an incident this weekend at the Stryker Sports Complex, where a pickup truck sped onto a field where children were playing soccer.
Two people were killed, including a 6-year-old boy, and 10 people were injured. Officials are still working to determine what happened and why.
Speaking less than 10 miles away in the suburb of Park City, Trump expressed “profound sympathy.”
“We grieve for the beautiful lives that were lost, and pray for those who were tragically injured. What a horrible event,” Trump said roughly 90 minutes into a campaign rally.
This image provided by KAKE shows police on the scene where a person drove a vehicle through a soccer field during a game in Wichita, Kansas, on Saturday.
He added: “To all victims and their families: May God be with you. And we want to get to the bottom of what happened.”
Trump said federal authorities will work with local officials to “give them whatever help they need.”
“We want to find out what happened,” he said.
Trump says riots in France foreshadow what would happen to US with Democrats in power
0:47•to US with Democrats in power
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President Donald Trump tonight warned that riots and looting in France are foreshadowing what could happen to the United States if Democrats win in November.
Ginning up his Republican base, Trump spoke to a large crowd in Kansas, vowing, “We’re not going to let that happen to this country.”
Trump also claimed that “globalist left-wing politicians” in Europe are responsible for an influx of immigration which is leading to the unrest in France.
So far, Trump’s speech has had a few protester interruptions, which the crowd has drowned out with chants and cheers.
“How great is it to be at a Trump rally?” Trump said after one of the early interruptions.
The TV pooler observed at least five people being escorted from the rally.
Kansas has emerged as one of the most unexpected battlegrounds this midterm cycle as Democrats are hoping they can pull off their first Senate victory in the state since 1932.
President Donald Trump is here today making the pitch for Republican Sen. Roger Marshall, who’s locked in a tighter-than-expected race against Democrat Adam Hamilton, a megachurch pastor.
Trump’s presence 15 days from the election in a state he won by 16 points in 2024 underscores how Republicans have been put on defense. GOP-aligned groups have poured millions of dollars into bolstering Marshall.
CNN spoke with voters at his Park City rally who say they remain undecided.
For Haley Brozek, who brought her young son to see the president, the cost of living is the biggest issue motivating her decision.
Brozek told CNN she could wait until Election Day to make up her mind but was hoping to hear from Marshall “how things are going to improve.”
The majority of attendees planned to vote for Republicans up and down the ballot. One of those Republican candidates, Sedgwick County Commissioner Jim Howell, warned that the president’s handling of economic issues could hurt his party.
“People are feeling the economic pinch, and right now the price of gas and price of food and the price of just living has just gone up so much recently that we’re all feeling that,” he said.
Howell added: “I think down the down ballot is really going to be impacted. … Republicans are disillusioned or apathetic right now with the choices, and Democrats are motivated.”
Former Kansas Gov. Bill Graves, a Republican, told CNN’s Erin Burnett that he doubts Trump’s rallies will drive GOP turnout.
Ex-GOP Kansas governor compares Trump rally to ‘freak show’ while backing Democrat in Senate race
2:39•ow’ while backing Democrat in Senate race
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The race in Michigan’s battleground 7th District is set to see the most ad spending over the last two weeks of the midterms – nearly $20 million – as Democratic nominee Will Lawrence, a climate activist and former member of the Democratic Socialists of America, attempts to oust GOP incumbent Rep. Tom Barrett.
Meanwhile, after unprecedented mid-decade partisan redistricting by Republicans in North Carolina, Florida, and Texas, the GOP is set to spend heavily trying to cement their hoped-for gains, with races in Florida’s 25th District, North Carolina’s 1st District, and Texas’ 34th District all among the top 10 in ad spending for the final two weeks.
Combined, these 10 races are set to see more than $125 million in ad spending for the last two weeks of the 2026 elections.
Democrat US Senate candidate for Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed, speaks on stage with US Representative Ayanna Pressley (L), Democrat of Massachusetts, during a midterm campaign rally in Flint, Michigan on October 18.
Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed is putting his faith front and center in a new video, as he asks voters to elect him as the country’s first Muslim senator.
El-Sayed’s faith has been the subject of attacks during the competitive campaign, with Republicans trying to cast the Democratic nominee as sympathetic to interests connected to Islamic terror. President Donald Trump on Friday referred to El-Sayed as “Mohammed” and falsely declared that the Democratic former public health official is a “jihadist.”
El-Sayed this weekend denouncedthe Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist political movement founded in Egypt in 1928, after Republicans have sought to highlight his family’s ties to the group, but also challenged the questions he’s faced about it. “You assume … that because I am Muslim, that somehow I would have some allegiance to something that is not our Constitution,” El-Sayed said in aheated exchange with a town hall attendee.
In the new video, El-Sayed talks about how he prays daily.
The video also includes images of a menorah and El-Sayed at what appears to be a Black church.
“Faith is a thing there’s just too little of in Washington,” El-Sayed said. “So, yeah, we need a few more people of faith in Washington. I’m Abdul El-Sayed, man of faith. That’s a good thing.”
CNN’s Eric Bradner contributed reporting.
Record-breaking ad spending is pouring into states Trump won
In the final weeks of the midterm elections, hundreds of millions of dollars are targeting key races in states that Trump won comfortably in 2024. CNN’s David Wright takes a look at where the money is moving in the closing sprint.
A review of AdImpact data for the final two weeks of the midterms shows more than $300 million pouring into races for the 10 Senate seats CNN rates as most likely to flip.
Ad buys in Ohio, Texas, and Iowa loom large — three red states Trump won comfortably in 2024, but which have become major battlegrounds this year — with Michigan and Maine not too far behind.
Kansas, meanwhile, has come online late, seeing a flood of late ad money from outside groups. New Hampshire and Alaska are pretty closely matched in terms of spending. But in Georgia and North Carolina, Democrats have a clear upper hand as GOP ad money has moved out of those states.
President Donald Trump’s approval rating stands at 34% among US adults in CNN’s latest Poll of Polls average, with 65% disapproving.
That poll also finds a Democratic advantage on congressional preference among registered voters, as well as an electorate marked by potent economic concerns. Asked which of four topics — cost of living, immigration, crime and democratic values and norms — will be most important in their vote this year, 47% of registered voters say that the cost of living will be the single most important factor, with 26% picking democratic values and norms, 12% immigration and 3% crime.
The g an online probability panel, and surveyed 1,679 US adults, including 1,279 registered voters. Results among the full sample have a margin of sampling error of +/-2.4% pts; among registered voters, it is 2.8% pts
President Donald Trump is heading back to historically red Texas early next week, as state Attorney General Ken Paxton faces a tight Senate race against Democrat James Talarico.
Trump will be traveling to Waco and Lubbock on Tuesday, according to an RNC official. The stops are now listed on an events webpage featuring Trump’s upcoming rallies.
CNN’s Poll of Polls average of the Senate race in Texas continues to show a tight race among likely voters, with support for Talarico at about 50% and support for Paxton around 47%.
President Donald Trump is rallying all week for Republican candidates in Kansas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Iowa, Florida and Georgia. These are states that he won in 2024, where Republicans are competing in surprisingly competitive races.
Here’s what it tells us two weeks before Election Day:
Polls:Recent polls show voters generally prefer Democrats over Republicans for Congress by close to 10 points on the all-important “generic ballot.” But when asked to choose between a Democratic-controlled Congress that could act as a check on Trump versus a GOP-controlled Congress that could pass his agenda, voters preferred the blue side by 19 points, a new Washington Post-ABC News poll over the weekend showed.
Will Latino voters stick with the Republican Party?
Latino voters helped send President Donald Trump back to the White House in 2024, but CNN’s Arlette Sanez breaks down the signs that Democrats may be making gains with the key voting demographic this midterm season. Discover more videos, including live streams and exclusive storytelling, on our Watch page.
Travel pattern:With these numbers and what we know about Trump’s midterm travels, several patterns have emerged.
- He’s campaigning overwhelmingly in red states that voted for him by double digits in 2024.
- When he does campaign in more competitive areas, it’s generally for candidates in red states who are struggling — and seem to need to roll the dice on Trump driving up turnout among a dejected GOP base. There are exceptions to both, and Trump’s travel schedule is evolving.
- But that’s about the shape of it. It’s certainly a far cry from when Trump said during the Republican midterm convention last month that he would travel to all 35 of the biggest “swings” in the country. NPR calculates he’s been to less than one-third of them.
Stance:On his way to Park City, Kansas, today, Trump brushed away concerns about incumbent Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall and dismissed the polls as “fake.” Marshall faces stiff competition against Democrat Adam Hamilton, a pastor. The Senate race is unexpectedly tight in a state where Trump handily won by 16 points in 2024.
Voting:Meanwhile, in-person early voting began today in several states, including in some expected to be competitive: Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, South Carolina and Texas. See what some voters in a Dallas suburb and in Miami-Dade County told CNN. North Carolina and Georgia had started voting early last week.
Action:Federal authorities charged more than two dozen foreign nationals Monday in California as part of a statewide sweep targeting people who officials say have illegally registeredand voted in US elections.
CNN’s Aaron Blake, Ed Lavandera, Tierney Sneed, Molly English and Maureen Chowdhury contributed to this report.
Spot what all these states have in common: Kansas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Iowa and Florida.
Each is a state that Trump won in 2024 — and each will welcome him on midterm campaign trips over the next five days to bolster vulnerable Republican candidates.
To be frank, this Trump country triage is a little embarrassing for the president — even though he clearly loves rallies where he gets to hang out with his most loyal MAGA supporters.
“It’s a close race. It shouldn’t be,” Trump told reporters. “I want to make sure Roger Marshall gets in … so that’s why I’m going. I think that’s fine.”
It’s too early to say whether the president will be able to haul vulnerable Republicans over the line and save his party’s Senate majority.
There’s some logic to sending a president to fire up the base — if his most committed voters don’t show up on November 3, all Republicans will be in trouble.
But roaming deep red states with two weeks to go in an election is also a pretty defensive strategy for a president who often boasts about how he won all the critical swing states just two years ago.
Democrat Adam Hamilton said he’s happy to have President Donald Trump campaigning in Kansas for his GOP opponent, Sen. Roger Marshall.
Trump is holding a rally for Marshall in Park City, a suburb of Wichita, today. Marshall and Hamilton, who is a pastor, are in an unexpectedly tight race. On his way to the rally, Trump suggested that the polls “are fake.”
Hamilton, who is vowing to be an “independent voice” in the Senate, said he would work across the aisle to help farmers and business owners in the state.
Farmers across the country say they are contending with high costs for things like fuel and fertilizer.
“Our farmers are struggling. They feel it, and people — small businesses, large businesses — are all saying the same thing to me. They say, ‘In order for businesses to thrive, we need stability and predictability, and what we have right now is instability, unpredictability and chaos,’” Hamilton said. “We’ve got to do better.”
President Donald Trump said Monday that when Republicans have expressed concerns to him about his recent actions related to Russia, he tells them “he’s taking people into a winning position.”
Trump has sparked bipartisan backlash after reaching a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin to allow Russian diesel exports and waiving a further slate of sanctions relating to Russian fossil fuel sales. The waiver halts sanctions passed by Congress in a measure named for the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican and Russia hawk.
Trump said Sunday night he doesn’t want to do anything that will drive Russia away from negotiations to end the war in Ukraine, adding that he believes “great progress is being made.”
He said Monday that while he has fielded phone calls from some Republicans, he explains that he’s negotiating a deal to end the yearslong war in Ukraine.
Meanwhile Monday, a bipartisan group of lawmakers, led by GOP Sen. Thom Tillis and Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal, hosted a video call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and insisted that members of Congress “remain committed” to Ukrainian sovereignty.
CNN’s Morgan Rimmer contributed to this post.
Rep. Robert Garcia looks on during a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing in the US Capitol on March 4.
Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia said Monday he would launch a sweeping investigation into the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement policies if Democrats reclaim the House majority in the November midterm elections and he becomes chair of the House Oversight Committee.
Garcia said during a press conference on Monday has already documented over 1,000 instances of “credible, verifiable abuse by federal immigration agents and that documentation is going to lead our work moving forward.”
“Oversight Democrats and the Oversight Committee will be focused on ensuring that we take on the corruption of ICE and DHS. The corruption is staggering and they are incentivizing the mistreatment of human beings every single day. And we’re seeing it in our communities” Garcia said. “We’re here to say that you will be held accountable, you will be investigated.”
Garcia’s intentions to investigate ICE and DHS will be in addition to his other planned probes investigating allegations of corruption within the Trump family and continuing the Jeffrey Epstein investigation.
Garcia also reaffirmed his belief that ICE should be abolished, a position that Democrats will have to contend with if they reclaim the majority.
“We should be very clear: ICE is an organization that cannot be reformed. ICE must be abolished as an organization because that kind of terror should not exist in the United States,” Garcia said Monday.
Vice President JD Vance joked Monday that a non-White protester who interrupted his rally in North Carolina was someone who illegally crossed the southern border.
“I’m going to have to amend something I said earlier. I said that we have had zero illegal border crossings in the United States of America,” Vance said in Hendersonville on Monday, shortly after the person of color interrupted the rally with shouting. “But one isn’t bad, right?”
Later, the man could be heard shouting, “I’m an American citizen,” as security dragged him out of the event.
The man was seated directly behind the podium in view of cameras when he stood up and shouted: “Release the Epstein files, God bless our children, God bless the children.”
Noticing the interruption, Vance turned around and stopped speaking as the crowd started chanting, “U-S-A.”
“We know who the guy yelling at us behind us stood for,” Vance said, comparing it to the “far-left Democrats” running in North Carolina. “They stand for the idea that your government exists for fraudsters or criminals or illegal aliens, when we know the American government exists for American citizens. That’s who it belongs to.”
President Donald Trump has seen more than a few protesters at his recent rallies. Notably, rallygoers at a Trump speech in Youngstown, Ohio, could be seen in a physical altercation with a protester, who was wearing a “Release the Epstein Files” T-shirt. One manappeared to push her. Another pushed her down again and could be seen yanking her hair.
Trump claimed without evidence that the person was a “paid protester.”
Vice President JD Vance speaks at a campaign rally in Hendersonville, North Carolina, on Monday.
Vice President JD Vance announced more than $850 million of additional disaster relief money for areas affected by Hurricane Helene in North Carolina, about a month after President Donald Trump said he would withhold aid to the state unless GOP Senate candidate Michael Whatley won in November.
“I’m proud to announce today that, thanks to the hard work of President Trump and the advocacy of these fighters, Secretary Sean Duffy, and of course because Michael Whatley would not shut up about it, we’re announcing $858 million in additional disaster relief funding,” Vance told supporters at a midterm rally for Whatley in Hendersonville on Monday.
At a rally last month in Gastonia, Trump insisted he was “only kidding” when he said he would not send funds.
“We spent more than two million dollars, FEMA funding, and you know you’re waiting for some additional money to take care of the back, and I’m going go get that to you, Michael,” Trump said. “Now, if Michael loses, I’m not sending it, OK? No, I’m only kidding. You’re getting it. You’re going to get it, Michael. He’s been bugging me.”
