Rogers and El-Sayed close out bitter Senate campaign with dueling rallies in Michigan
Rep. Haley Stevens speaks with Anderson Cooper on endorsement of GOP senate candidate Mike Rogers
14:55•ement of GOP senate candidate Mike Rogers
14:55
• Michigan showdown: Republican Mike Rogers and Democrat Abdul El-Sayed are holding closing rallies tonight in their bitterly contested race that could determine control of the Senate.
• Trump’s message:President Donald Trump closed out the midterm campaign with remarks at the Reflecting Pool, where he held up photos touting his administration’s renovations. Earlier, he said he will “veto everything” if Democrats win back power in Congress.
• Top court weighs in: The Supreme Courttoday quickly shut down Trump’s effort to force California to sideline potentially thousands of ballots that the Justice Department claims may have been cast by noncitizens, rejecting the administration’s emergency request hours after it was filed.
Updates
The crowd at a rally where Michigan’s GOP Senate candidate Mike Rogers is set to appear applauded at the mention of Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens, who broke with her party yesterday to endorse Rogers for the US Senate.
She was mentioned by Michael Bouchard, who is running for Michigan’s 10th Congressional District.
At another point in the rally, Democrats for Rogers Coalition member Chelsea Rebeck took a moment to thank Stevens. The crowd then burst into chanting “Haley!”
“Haley, thank you for having the courage to stand up for what you believe in,” Beck said.
South Carolina Democratic Senate candidate Annie Andrews arrives for a campaign event at The Refinery on Tuesday in Charleston, South Carolina.
Democrat Annie Andrews wrapped her final rally tonight with a group singalong to “Happy Birthday” as her youngest child, Evelyn, blew out candles on a cake on stage to celebrate turning 10 years old.
Hundreds of her supporters gathered in Charleston to close out what has been an unexpectedly competitive Senate campaign in a state that voted for President Donald Trump by nearly 18 points in 2024.
Andrews stuck to her usual stump speech, highlighting the price of gas, groceries and healthcare – with a special emphasis on that final issue, leaning on moments from her time as a pediatrician that she says inspired her to run for office.
Andrews, who has cast herself as “an independent voice,” continued to make her case to frustrated Republicans, with thinly veiled shots at her opponent, Sen. Darline Graham, who was appointed to fill the remainder of her late brother’s Senate term in July before being asked by President Donald Trump to run for this full six-year Senate term.
Despite the digs on Graham, Andrews preached unity and cautious confidence that a Democrat could win in the Palmetto State, as she imagined what Election night look like when the race is called.
Democratic candidate Beau Bayh listens during a secretary of state debate against Republican candidate Max Engling in Indianapolis on October 22.
As Democrats look for a revival across the Rust Belt and Great Plains on Tuesday, Indiana might be the biggest reach of all. But Beau Bayh, the 30-year-old son and grandson of senators from bygone political eras in the barn-red state, says he believes a “change election” will break the GOP’s complete hold on the state’s government.
Bayh is running for Indiana secretary of state. He is vying to become the first Democrat to win statewide in 14 years.
In an interview after an election eve rally at a union hall in Indianapolis, he said the chances for a Democratic resurgence in states like Kansas, Iowa and Ohio are driven primarily by the economic fallout of President Donald Trump’s actions, including high diesel prices, hitting the region hardest.
Nervous Democrats in the state said they believe Bayh can beat Republican Max Engling and two third-party candidates, and they think they have a shot at ousting GOP Rep. Victoria Spartz in the 5th Congressional District. But here, memories of 2018 — when the party lost a Senate seat in a Democratic wave election — are still fresh, and several long-time Democratic stalwarts said they were trying not to get their hopes up.
Bayh is the grandson of one of the nation’s preeminent liberals, the late Sen. Birch Bayh. And he is the son of a well-known moderate, Evan Bayh, the former governor and senator.
But a Midwestern politician whose approach he says he admires is Iowa state auditor Rob Sand, the Democratic nominee for governor.
“He speaks to the frustration a lot of Americans have with the duopoly of our politics — something I actually agree with him on,” Bayh said of Sand, the lone Democrat to retain a statewide office in Iowa in a decade dominated by Trump. “It’s speaking to frustrations that people have with this two-party choice that they don’t like.”
Kansas Democratic Senate candidate Adam Hamilton goes to board his tour bus on Monday in Topeka, Kansas.
Democratic nominee for Kansas Senate Adam Hamilton will be writing both a concession and a victory speech, he said, but also enthusiastically pointed to recent polls looking good for his campaign.
Hamilton noted how the Cook Political Report has changed its analysis of the race — initially telling him that the state was solidly red, and recently deeming the Senate race to be a toss-up.
He also urged supporters to text or email their friends to vote for him, door-knock on Election Day and donate to his campaign. Hamilton reiterated his consistent messaging that caring for people matters more than party identity.
Rep. Haley Stevens, left, and her fiancé, Jason Turkish, right, stand with Senate candidate Mike Rogers and his wife, Kristi, during a church service Sunday in Detroit.
Haley Stevens’ decision to drop her post-primary endorsement of Abdul El-Sayed and instead back Republican Mike Rogers for Senate has uncorked simmering Democratic anger at her fiancé, who told reporters he was voting for Rogers days before Stevens did so.
Jason Turkish, a lawyer and donor, became Stevens’ fiancé this spring. A half-dozenional office said in interviews Turkish had poor political instincts and little understanding of how campaigns operate
Stevens insists Turkish had nothing to do with her decision to endorse Rogers. In an interview on conservative commentator and CNN senior political contributor Scott Jennings’ radio show Monday, Stevens blamed talk of his influence on misogyny faced by female politicians and candidates.
Turkish made more than $200,000 in federal contributions this election cycle. Many of those donations have gone to Michigan Democrats, but he’s also given to Sen. John Fetterman, a Pennsylvania Democrat who is a staunch Israel ally, as well as Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, another Israel supporter.
In the radio interview, Turkish described himself as a “lifelong Democrat.”
“Democratic politics is how I met the love of my life,” Turkish said. “I’m just not on board this one time.”
Turkish has not been far from Stevens’ side in recent appearances. He joined her in the pew Sunday at a Detroit church where she first appeared with Rogers. And he was standing just offscreen last month when Stevens stopped by TMZ’s headquarters in Los Angeles.
Georgia’s top election official pledges accurate and quick results
0:38•ck results
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Georgia’s goal is to have votes counted by midnight on Wednesday so “people can go to bed before midnight and don’t have to worry about things here,” Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger told CNN’s Jake Tapper.
Early and absentee voting will be reported by 8 p.m. ET Tuesday and will account for about 60% of all votes in the state, Raffensperger said.
In 2024, the state only had 2% of the votes left to count by midnight ET and less than 1% by 5 a.m., CNN reported.
As Democratic Senate hopeful Adam Hamilton prepared to deliver his closing message to Kansas voters just blocks away from the megachurch he cofounded more than 30 years ago, many members of the church filled the crowd to support him.
“He is what he says,” Ginny Garver, 75, told CNN, speaking to Hamilton’s authenticity.
“Think of listening to that number of speeches from a candidate,” said her husband, Frank Garver, pointing to how many sermons they have heard Hamilton deliver at the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection. “He positions himself as leading from the middle. That is what he does.”
They guessed the majority of the church’s congregation — made up of about 24,000 members — are Hamilton supporters.
Hamilton launched his Senate campaign in April, but at least a few members of his church have long thought he could make a good politician. Steve Eginoire, another member of the church, said he had written in Hamilton’s name for past elections in the state.
“He is the only person I knew who couldn’t be morally corrupted,” said Eginoire.
More than 56 million Americans have already cast their ballot in the midterm elections, with early voting well ahead of the pace in 2022, including in the key state of Michigan.
CNN’s Brian Todd asked voters if an intraparty spat between Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed and his primary opponent Rep. Haley Stevens could impact their choice in El-Sayed’s battleground race against Republican Mike Rogers.
Early voting up, including in battleground Michigan
More than 56 million Americans have already cast their ballot in the midterm elections, with early voting well ahead of the pace in 2022, including in the key state of Michigan. CNN’s Brian Todd asked voters if an intraparty spat between Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed and his primary opponent Rep. Haley Stevens could impact their choice in El-Sayed’s battleground race against Republican Mike Rogers. Discover more videos, including live streams and exclusive storytelling, on our Watch page.
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Sullivan blames Peltola for ‘decoy candidate’ in Alaska, calls her ‘face of corruption’
2:23• calls her ‘face of corruption’
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Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan cast Alaska as “the firewall for freedom” in his closing message as he set up the stakes of the critical Senate race ahead of Election Day.
Sullivan emphasized the country is focused on the race, as it could decide control of the upper chamber — and which party has an easier time setting the national policy agenda.
Republican policies are providing “generational opportunities” for Alaska, Sullivan told a crowd in Kenai, in contrast to Democratic actions that hurt key industries, including oil and gas, fishing and mining.
All of this “will come to a screeching halt” if Democrats with the majority, Sullivan said. He worked to paint one of his opponents, former Rep. Mary Peltola, as a “far left liberal who does not reflect Alaska’s values.”
“We are the firewall for freedom for America right now in terms of this election. We have to win it,” he said.
Sullivan also painted the election as a choice between “cheating versus integrity” after The New York Times last week reported Democratic involvement in getting Daniel J. Sullivan, a candidate with the same name, onto the ballot.
“Alaskans have had their eyes open in a way that even for me, I have to admit, was shocking,” Sullivan said, adding Peltola is the “face of corruption and the rigged system in DC.”
Peltola’s former campaign manager and longtime aide, who was fired in August during an overhaul of the campaign, told the Times that Peltola wasn’t directly involved but was “definitely aware.”
Peltola’s campaign has denied any wrongdoing in recruiting the second Dan Sullivan and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer also denied any involvement. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee similarly told CNN it is “not involved with Dan J. Sullivan.”
A general view of the US Supreme Court building in Washington, DC, on October 5.
The Supreme Court on Monday quickly shut down President Donald Trump’s effort to force California to sideline potentially thousands of ballots that the Justice Department claims may have been cast by noncitizens, rejecting the administration’s emergency request hours after it was filed.
The unusually fast decision by the conservative court, with no noted dissent, underscored that the administration’s case, which was based on an uncertain methodology, was a reach that has been rejected by every court to consider it. The appeal also came to the high court on an exceedingly tight time — on eve of the midterm election — with an unknown number of mail ballots in question likely already counted.
The court did not explain its reasoning and instead handed down only a one-sentence order.
Read the full story here.
How ‘Talafreako’ went from a Trump slur to a campaign slogan
0:54•ogan
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A summertime slur from President Donald Trump has become a campaign slogan.
On the eve of the election, “Talafreako” has become a rallying cry for Senate nominee James Talarico, who is locked in a close race with Republican rival Ken Paxton.
It was back in August when Trump first coined the mocking phrase.
The Odds: Talarico’s chances
4:23•
Since then, it has steadily taken off, with Talarico embracing the insult.
At Talarico rallies, one person after another wears a “Talafreako” T-shirt, which has become one of the campaign’s hottest sellers.
Angel Madrano and his friend Diego Hernandez, who cast their ballots early last week for Talarico, were each wearing blue “Talafreako” shirts.
People gather ahead of a rally in Kenai, Alaska, for Sen. Dan Sullivan on Monday.
Ahead of rally for Alaska’s GOP Senate candidate and incumbent Dan Sullivan, attendees expressed frustration at the second Dan Sullivanon the ballot, with one voter saying the alleged effort to confuse voters with another candidate of the same name is “dirty.”
The frustration comes after The New York Times reported last week the campaign of Sullivan’s Democratic opponent, Mary Peltola, and Democratic insiders recruited the second Sullivan as a spoiler candidate.
“I don’t know what Mary Peltola knew, but in any book, that’s dirty, in my opinion,” said Keith Nushart, who lives in Soldotna, Alaska. “And if this other Sullivan was really legit, where is he? Why doesn’t he debate anybody?”
Even if Peltola didn’t know about the second Sullivan, it’s not a very good look for her campaign, said Jeff Barnhart, who is also from Soldotna.
Bracelets are seen printed with Sen. Dan Sullivan’s name as it appears on the ballot.
“If you’re a candidate, you should know. Your campaign should be keeping you informed,” said Barnhart. “So I’d hate somebody to go down to Washington and have their campaign, have their people that work for them, doing things and not keeping her informed. That would be poor management.”
Part of the problem in this situation, Barnhart said, is ranked choice voting, which is on the ballot Tuesday. He and others he has spoken to find the process confusing, and he said he thinks it should go back to the previous system.
“It’s very confusing, and I would go like to go back to the one vote, one person type of a thing,” he said.
Both men are from Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula, a conservative stronghold where voters overwhelmingly voted for President Donald Trump in 2024.
A storm that caused historic flooding, evacuations and rescues in the Southwest is moving east, bringing with it soggy weather for parts of the central US on Election Day.
While the forecast predicts less severe weather Tuesday, the rain and storms could still affect turnout in key races across the Plains and Midwest, including Iowa, Kansas, eastern Texas and northern Michigan, with rain, damaging winds and the possibility of a few tornadoes in the central and southern Plains.
Voters traveling to the polls could encounter ponding on roads.
Active weather tends to suppress voter turnout while sunshine has the opposite effect, multiplestudies have found.
President Donald Trump speaks in front of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington, DC, on Monday.
In a speech that was pitched as President Donald Trump’s closing argument on Election Day eve, the president spent a good portion of his remarks focused on renovations to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
When he finally addressed tomorrow’s elections, the president didn’t sound optimistic, repeating his frequent refrain about how midterm results often go against the sitting president’s party.
His remarks come as the Cook Political Report shifted five more US House racesin favor of Democrats on the eve of a nail-biting Election Day.
Get up to speed on more campaign news:
- About 32,000 voters in Nevada’s Washoe County, which includes Reno, received mail-in ballot return envelopes with the word “FALSE” on them. The error didn’t affect the ballots’ validity or the voters’ ability to vote,Guthrie told CNN, adding the error was corrected in subsequent batches.
- A fourth federal court found that the Trump administration was exceeding its powers in trying to force California to segregate ballots based on a list of 20,000 supposed noncitizens that election officials say is deeply flawed.
- Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens dismissed questions about why she endorsedRepublican Senate nominee Mike Rogers. During an appearance on a conservative radio show Monday, Stevens also left the door open to campaign more with Rogers in the race’s closing hours. And some House Democrats are privately pushing to boot Stevens from their caucus, according to sources.
- Meanwhile, Rogers is navigating the thorny politics of abortion in the final days of his campaign, touting his longtime “pro-life” record to Christian radio listeners last week, before taking to social media to say he would respect Michigan’s right to an abortion under state law.
- Musician Bruce Springsteen returned to X to throw his support behind Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed. The musician hasn’t posted from his account since December 2024, according to his profile.
- AdImpact data shows that out of a total of more than $326 million spent on ads about data centers this cycle, about $43.5 million targeted the Ohio Senate race.
- Vice President JD Vance delivered his closing midterm message Monday in his home state of Ohio, urging voters to stand for “common sense” and reject “the crazies.” He also boosted Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.
CNN’s Tierney Sneed, Lauren del Valle, Aditi Sangal, Danya Gainor, Alejandra Jaramillo, David Wright, Kit Maher, Eric Bradner, Andrew Kaczynski and Katherine Koretski contributed to this report.
Attorney General Todd Blanche encouraged voters to report any tips about potential noncitizens voting in tomorrow’s midterm elections.
“The Department of Justice expects all federal election laws to be followed,” Blanche said on X, adding, “Violators will be found and prosecuted.”
The Cook Political Report has shifted the competitive Michigan Senate contest and five more US House races in favor of Democrats on the eve of a nail-biting Election Day.
The fierce contest between Democrat Abdul El-Sayed and Republican Mike Rogers reached a boiling point this weekend as Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens, El-Sayed’s former primary opponent, broke with her party in a shocking, last-minute endorsement of Rogers on Sunday morning.
Cook says the spat didn’t inform its shifting of the Senate seat from “toss up” to “lean Democrat.” Rather, the change was inspired by new public and private polling.
The election forecasting agency also moved four races across North Carolina, Florida and Tennessee from “solid Republican” to “likely Republican,” citing concerns including potentially low GOP turnout and high spending.
The race in Virginia’s 5th district between GOP Rep. John McGuire and former Democratic Rep. Tom Perriello was also moved from “likely Republican” to “lean Republican,” due to escalating spending on the race by both parties.
The agency has reported that Republicans appear unlikely to hold on to their House majority as Democrats hope to make gains in key states Tuesday.
President Donald Trump arrives to deliver remarks at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington, DC, on Monday.
President Donald Trump used the final hours before Tuesday’s midterm elections to say a settlement with Iran “could happen,” as the war has sent gas prices skyrocketing and dragged down his approval numbers.
“Oil Prices are DROPPING LIKE A ROCK, down almost $10 a Barrel, A RECORD, because people feel that there will not be a War with Iran. Iran wants a settlement, as soon as possible. It could happen!” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post Monday afternoon.
Multiple polls have shown the vast majority of voters do not support the war in Iran. Trump’s approval numbers have also tanked since he launched the war, with many voters taking issue with the president’s handling of both the conflict and the economy.
Just before Trump’s post, Vice President JD Vance struck a similar tone, telling reporters that the US and Iran have “made some progress.”
“The Iranians are always a little unpredictable, and as the president always says, he retains kinetic options, he retains non-kinetic options. But we’ve certainly made some progress. We’ll see if we can make some more,” the vice president said.
Earlier today, during remarks in front of the newly renovated Reflecting Pool, the president mouthed, “No,” when a reporter asked whether he would resume strikes on Iran after the midterm elections.
Trump details Reflecting Pool renovations in speech the day before midterm votes are counted
3:36•day before midterm votes are counted
3:36
The president talked for over 20 minutes about renovation projects in Washington, DC, as his party stares down a potentially challenging Election Day.
Watch what he said above.
Vice President JD Vance speaks to the press at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Monday.
Vice President JD Vance said Monday — the day before the midterm election — that the US has “certainly made some progress” in recent talks with Iran.
“Well, we’ve had a number of good conversations with the Iranians. I actually just spoke with the president of the United States about an hour ago about this,” Vance told reporters upon returning to Washington after two midterm rallies in New York and Ohio, adding that both he and Trump feel “pretty good” about a potential deal.
“The Iranians are always a little unpredictable, and as the president always says, he retains kinetic options, he retains non-kinetic options. But we’ve certainly made some progress. We’ll see if we can make some more.”
Gasoline and diesel prices dipped dramatically on Monday, although they still remain some of the most expensive ahead of any US Election Day in history. President Donald Trump also touted a possible settlement for the deeply unpopular war on Monday — as skyrocketing gas prices have continued to be a front-and-center issue for both voters and critics of the administration.
Ballots are extracted from envelopes at the Los Angeles County Ballot Processing Center in City of Industry, California, on Monday.
A fourth federal court found on Monday that the Trump administration was exceeding its powers in trying to force California to segregate ballots based on a list of 20,000 supposed noncitizens that election officials say is deeply flawed.
US District Judge Jeb Boasberg, who sits in Washington DC, issued an order halting the Trump administration from making any further demands that election officials in California set aside ballots or make other changes to their election procedures. The case was brought by an immigrants’ rights group that was allowed to obtain the list, and found that several of its members were on it, wrongly identified as non-citizens.
Boasberg wrote in his ruling that the administration was likely violating the Constitution in how it was “attempting to unilaterally impose additional procedural requirements for the mailing and counting of ballots of suspected non-citizens because it believes that the operative state procedures are inadequate.”
Simultaneously, across the country, a judge was hearing arguments on how the list was being used in California and other states. Judge Trina Thompson, of the US District Court for the Northern District of California, issued a sweeping order Friday night blocking the DOJ from making the list-related demands, while barring other recent tactics by the administration that the judge described as “threatening.”
At Monday’s hearing, she was considering whether to modify that order. A DOJ lawyer agreed that it was a “fair statement” to say that the list had a high-error rate, even as he defended DOJ communications to election officials informing them they could be prosecuted for not taking adequate steps to vet the voters on it.
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CNN Live UpdatesMidterm elections- Actualizaciones en VivoElecciones intermedias
