9 days until midterms, Trump and Obama rally Michigan as Alaska race faces legal fight
President Donald Trump is set to campaign in Michigan as Democrats deploy Barack Obama and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez while a Justice Department lawsuit threatens to complicate the closely watched Alaska Senate race.
Democrats hope to reshape foreign policy by taking congressional majorities
Democrats stand a good chance of winning the House, even if the Senate is a tossup in the midterm elections.
Here are some ways a Democratic Congress could hem in Trump's foreign policy.
Democrats can curb the Iran, deliver big dollars to Ukraine against Russia again, end military aid for Israel, restore free foreign aid and reduce the size and spending on U.S. defense and military priorities.
With control of the House or the Senate, Democrats could cut defense spending to pressure Trump to obtain permission from Congress to continue the war. They could also require administration officials to testify publicly about their plans.
That could allow them to approve new aid to Ukraine, which likely would pass with the two-thirds majorities needed to overcome a Trump veto.
Support for Israel has plummeted among Democrats over its conduct in the Gaza war. Democrats could limit or end military aid to Israel, which amounted to $3.8 billion in the most recent fiscal year. That is more than was provided to any other country.
Nearly half of House Democrats voted this summer to cut off aid to Israel.
Democrats are far more likely than Trump's Republicans to limit military spending. Trump asked for an unprecedented 67% increase in the military budget this year, to $1.5 trillion, but Democrats blocked it in the Senate, citing his refusal to consult Congress about the Iran war and his steep cuts to social programs.
Trump has also withheld or canceled billions of dollars in foreign aid approved by Congress. Many Democrats have been angered by the cuts and say they will try to restore funding.
Reuters contributed to this report.
Obama endorses Angie Nixon for Senate against GOP Sen Ashley Moody
Former President Barack Obama officially endorsed Democratic Florida Sen.-nominee Angie Nixon for Senate this weekend.
"We got to flip that circuit breaker, bring some accountability to this government," Obama said.
Nixon is running on a progressive platform against conservative crime-fighter Sen. Ashley Moody, R-Fla.
El-Sayed mocks Trump ahead of Michigan visit: 'I don't think he knows what he's going talk about'
DETROIT, Mich. – Democratic Senate nominee in Michigan Abdul El-Sayed took aim at President Donald Trump on the eve of the president’s Sunday afternoon rally in the Great Lakes battleground state.
“Donald Trump is going to be here tomorrow. I don’t know what he’s going to talk about. Nobody knows what he’s going to talk about. I don’t think he knows what he’s going to talk about,” El-Sayed told reporters after joining former President Barack Obama at a large rally in Detroit.
El-Sayed is facing off in an expensive and contentious ballot box battle with Republican rival former Rep. Mike Rogers in the race to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters. The seat is a must hold for the Democrats as they try to win back the Senate majority from the GOP in the midterm elections. Republicans currently control the chamber 53-47.
El-Sayed predicted that Trump, at his rally Sunday afternoon in Port Huron, Michigan, would “praise tariffs, praise this war in Iran and praise this big ugly bill.”
Big ugly bill is a term Democrats use to describe the sweeping One Big Beautiful Bill Act past along party lines last year by the GOP controlled Congress and signed into law by Trump.
The measure included extending the president's signature 2017 tax cuts — which were set to expire last year — and eliminating taxes on tips and overtime pay. The law also provides billions for border security and codifies the president's controversial immigration crackdown.
But the measure also restructures Medicaid -the almost 60-year-old federal program that provides health coverage to roughly 71 million low-income Americans – with critics charging millions will lose their health insurance over the next decade.The massive legislation is also projected to surge the national debt by $4 trillion over the next decade,
Midterm scenarios: How 2026 vote can reshape Trump’s final 2 years
President Donald Trump urges his backers to "pretend" he is on the ballot, but that could actually understate the impact of Democrats retaking control of the House and Senate.
Reuters broke down the scenarios and how the final two years of Trump's last presidential term will be impacted.
Control of Capitol Hill hangs on razor-thin margins. Democrats need a net pickup of just four seats in both the House (currently 218–214 Republican) and the Senate (53–47 Republican) to flip the chambers.
Scenario 1: Democrats take House, Republicans hold Senate
The most anticipated baseline outcome creates a split Congress with aggressive oversight but little new federal legislation.
Narrow House flip (5 to 20 seats): Democrats seize committee gavels, subpoena authority, and the power to launch investigations into the administration. Democrats can pass messaging bills on abortion rights, healthcare, AI data centers, and housing, but Senate Republicans will bottle them up. A debt ceiling showdown by summer 2027 becomes a prime market risk.
Decisive House blue wave (21 to 40 seats): A larger Democratic caucus can withstand intraparty defections and ramps up pressure from progressive freshmen to impeach Trump. A broader majority strengthens the party's leverage during budget standoffs, while vulnerable congressional Republicans may break ranks on unpopular policies such as tariffs and military involvement in Iran.
Scenario 2: Democrats take House, Senate splits 50–50
Republicans retain formal control of the upper chamber courtesy of Vice President JD Vance’s deciding vote, but every floor vote becomes precarious. A handful of swing lawmakers – such as Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., and moderate Republicans – become critical power brokers.
Trump secures confirmations for judges and executive branch nominees via Vance, but fiscal and debt negotiations grow deeply volatile because neither party can absorb a single defection.
Scenario 3: Democrats sweep House, Senate
Winning the Senate dramatically elevates Democratic leverage by seizing the confirmation spigot for judicial appointments, cabinet posts, and ambassadorships.
Razor-thin Senate majority (2 seats): Democrats freeze or drastically slow down Trump’s judicial pipeline, likely attempting to hold any Supreme Court vacancies until after the 2028 election. Even so, the 60-vote legislative filibuster and Trump's veto pen mean transformative progressive legislation cannot pass into law without compromise.
Comfortable Senate majority (4 to 6 seats): Democrats routinely send messaging bills restricting presidential war powers, curtailing tariffs, and addressing cost-of-living concerns directly to Trump’s desk, forcing public vetoes designed to frame the 2028 presidential campaign.
Decisive Senate blue wave (8+ seats): Democrats claim an explicit national mandate rejecting Trump's agenda, entering budget and debt ceiling fights with peak leverage.
Scenario 4: Republicans hold both chambers
The past two years have delivered this scenario but to mixed results.
But Trump can avoid congressional inquiries and accelerate judicial and administrative appointments through the Senate.
Reuters contributed to this report.
Trump hails Sen Husted, says former Sen Sherrod Brown 'was already fired by the People of Ohio'
President Donald Trump hailed former football player and incumbent Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio, in a key Senate battleground race against another former senate.
The power of incumbency versus Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, who "was already fired by the People of Ohio for doing a lousy job," Trump wrote early Sunday morning on Truth Social.
"This great Athlete, All American and Winner of the Championship, Jon Gruden’s teammate and friend (who said he was the Best Player on the Championship Team with 17 Interceptions as a Safety!), Jon Husted, has just taken the lead in the Polls for the next Senator of the Great State of Ohio!" Trump wrote.
"Ohioans love Champions, especially people that are humble, like Jon, and never talked about his Football Greatness. It took other people to figure it out, and let the Public know (Many of whom already knew)!
"His opponent, Sherrod Brown, was already fired by the People of Ohio for doing a lousy job. Bernie Moreno beat him, and is doing a fabulous job as Senator!"
Trump goes toe to toe with Obama in push for battleground Michigan Senate seat
President Donald Trump is welcoming the battleground of the Michigan Senate race in being a referendum on him versus former President Barack Obama.
"Obama was a grossly incompetent President!" Trump wrote early Sunday morning on Truth Social. "He paid off Iran with $Billions, and gave them a road to a Nuclear Weapon. He said that Crooked Hillary Clinton was going to WIN, he campaigned hard for her, and she lost in all directions and ways. He then campaigned full out for Kamala, and likewise, she lost."
Obama is campaigning for Abdul El-Sayed, but Trump says Michigan will reject Democrats and their policies.
"Now he’s campaigning for a Muslim Brotherhood Jihadist, who hates Jews and Blacks and AMERICANS and TRUMP, and he is going to lose, also," Trump's Truth continued. "He’s a Fake Doctor, who runs what is considered to be the WORST CLINIC IN AMERICA.
"I won Michigan, BIG, have brought back the Car Industry, the Air Force Base, and everything else. Also, more jobs than ever before.
"Michigan doesn’t want an arrogant, Open Borders, Fake Doctor, Jihadist, whose reputation will only get worse as more information is revealed - And there’s plenty."
Trump threw his weight behind moderate Sen.-nominee Mike Rogers, R-Mich.
"VOTE FOR MIKE ROGERS!" he concluded. "He will never let you down!"
Trump lays out stakes: $5,000 dividend if GOP wins; '1929-style economic depression' if Dems win
President Donald Trump framed the upcoming midterms as a stark binary choice at a Georgia campaign rally Saturday night, dangling a direct $5,000 cash payout to every adult American citizen if Republicans take both chambers of Congress – while warning that Democratic control would trigger a "1929-style economic depression."
Trump dubbed the proposal the "Trump dividend," estimating its cost at roughly $1 trillion and claiming it would be financed by tariff revenues and domestic economic growth.
Under the pitch, married couples would receive a combined $10,000, attached to a single domestic spending requirement.
"If Republicans win the House of Representatives and the Senate, I'm going to give all adult citizens in the United States, man and wife, separately – in other words, double $5,000," Trump said. "The only caveat that I ask for on the Trump dividend is that you have to spend the money in the United States."
Trump argued that only unified Republican leadership could sustain historic economic gains, while painting a catastrophic picture of the alternative.
"If the Democrats win, in my opinion, and I hope I'll be wrong," he warned, "you will have a 1929-style economic depression the likes of which you have never seen before."
He broadened the attack to cultural and border issues, accusing Democrats of pushing to raise taxes by $5 trillion, open the southern border, and support transgender policies in schools and sports. He also highlighted his standing among Hispanic voters, arguing that border communities share his focus on strict enforcement and economic opportunity.
Trump rails on 'ranked-choice voting scam,' Alaska GOP Sen Lisa Murkowski
President Donald Trump took aim at Alaska’s electoral system and one of his most frequent Republican critics, slamming ranked-choice voting as a "SCAM" and railing on its introduction in the state by Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska.
She only secured her past reelection because of the setup, Trump wrote late Saturday night on Truth Social.
"They’ve been trying to get rid of Lisa Murkowski forever in Alaska, then she came up with the Ranked Choice Voting SCAM, and pulled a nice hot iron out of the fire," Trump wrote. Everyone thought she came in second or third, but then she 'won.' Miracles happen!"
"The Republicans' Worst Senator, by far, Lisa Murkowski, of the Great State of Alaska (A State for which I produced, on a continuing basis, Billions and Billions of Dollars, and which Crooked Joe Biden and the Dumocrats had totally shut down — Then I came back, and delivered even more!), who only got elected because of Corrupt Ranked Choice Voting, is upset because I revealed what everyone knows, that the Ranked Choice Voting Ballot is a TOTAL DEMOCRAT SCAM meant to confuse the Voter, so that Senator Dan Sullivan will lose Votes to a man who has never participated in Politics before, named Daniel J. Sullivan, Jr. He is only there because the Democrats want to steal the Election, and Murkowski probably wants that to happen, which is why she is against the DOJ filing a Lawsuit in order to stop this impending crime and tragedy. I have delivered for Alaska at Historic Levels, nobody has ever seen anything like it, and all I’m asking for is a FAIR AND HONEST SENATORIAL ELECTION! Lisa Murkowski is a DISGRACE to Alaska and our Country. You just don’t get any worse! I hope the Great People of Alaska understand what is happening. The Democrats are trying to steal this important Republican Seat and, if that happens, everything we’ve done for Alaska will come to an immediate hault. VOTE 'YES' AGAINST RANKED CHOICE VOTING, on Ballot Measure 2. SAVE ALASKA!"
Trump’s renewed broadside over ranked-choice voting comes as national Republicans closely monitor Alaska’s high-stakes Senate race between two-term incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, and former Rep. Mary Peltola, D-Alaska.
The contest – one of several battlegrounds that could determine the balance of power in the Senate – has drawn heightened scrutiny due to Alaska's open-primary and ranked-choice general election process.
The system previously allowed Peltola to win a special and regular election for the state's at-large House seat in 2022, while also enabling Murkowski to defeat a Trump-backed challenger.
With early voting underway and the race expected to come down to thin margins, Trump’s comments underscore lingering conservative frustration with Alaska's voting rules as both parties fight down to the wire for every seat in the chamber.
GOP Sen Husted warns Senate control runs through Ohio, blasts Sherrod Brown on border, energy
Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio, took direct aim at his challenger, former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, blaming liberal economic and energy policies for driving up consumer costs and forcing power plant closures.
"I have the responsibility to win the Senate race that likely is going to determine who keeps the majority in the Senate," Husted told his late-night Saturday rally on his statewide bus tour to Batavia, Ohio, emphasizing the razor-thin margins that will determine Senate control.
Husted urged voters to resist campaign fatigue and mobilize their personal networks in the race's final stretch.
"Are you going to fight for me?"
Ramaswamy pledges property tax relief, frames Ohio Gov race as 'common sense vs. communism'
With just over a week until Election Day, Ohio Republicans brought their statewide bus tour to Batavia for a late-evening rally.
Headliners Vivek Ramaswamy and incumbent Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio, delivered closing pitches centered on kitchen-table economics, cultural defense, and base turnout, framing the upcoming vote as an existential choice for both the state and the country.
Ramaswamy leaned heavily on his local roots in Cincinnati before turning to his core campaign pledges: a major crackdown on crime, eliminating sanctuary cities, and passing "the biggest property tax relief package" in Ohio history.
Ramaswamy cast the statewide contest as a fundamental philosophical dividing line for voters.
"It is common sense versus communism: That is the choice," he said.
Another Bush backing Democrat Talarico in Texas
Another member of the Bush family dynasty, Neil Bush, is throwing his weight behind Texas Democratic Senate hopeful James Talarico, saying he voted against a political style he believes has "damaged our country."
"I have never posted a political message on Facebook, not wanting to offend friends whose views may be very different than mine. I'm breaking that tradition because I voted early today, and I voted for James Talarico for the United States Senate," Neil Bush wrote on Facebook Tuesday.
"My vote was motivated by two things: deep concern about Ken Paxton's record and genuine admiration for the character and principles I see in James Talarico."
Bush, the son of former President George H.W. Bush and brother of former President George W. Bush, broke with his family's longstanding Republican political tradition in backing the Democrat.
Former President George W. Bush has maintained friendly relationships with Democratic former presidents, but his relationship with President Donald Trump has been strained since the 2016 Republican presidential primary, when Trump repeatedly attacked his brother Jeb Bush and mocked their mother, former first lady Barbara Bush.
"I believe Donald Trump and those who have enabled him have done enormous damage to the Republican Party," Neil Bush added. "I worry about a political culture in which loyalty to an individual takes precedence over loyalty to principle, and where those who hold power begin to believe they are no longer accountable."
Paxton is backed by Trump and losing a Texas Senate seat in the largest red state would seal Trump's legacy in his final two years in office.
This is an excerpt from Fox News Digital's Ashley J. DiMella's report.
Leavitt says Trump is defying midterm headwinds as he barnstorms country
MANCHESTER, N.H. - Former White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt says President Donald Trump is determined to defy a challenging midterm political landscape as Republicans fight to defend their narrow majorities in the House and Senate.
"The president is defiant, and he always is optimistic," Leavitt said this week in a Fox News Digital interview in her home state of New Hampshire.
The GOP is fighting political history, as the party in power in Washington has traditionally lost seats during midterm election years.
Republicans also face a challenging campaign climate fueled by persistent inflation Americans see at the grocery store, high gas prices tied to what polls show is an unpopular war with Iran and Trump's increasingly negative approval ratings.
This is an excerpt from Fox News Digital's Paul Steinhauser full report.
Alaska Senate race faces legal fight over second Dan Sullivan
The Alaska Senate race is facing a legal battle that could delay or complicate certification of the results.
The Justice Department has sued to block certification if Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan loses to Democrat Mary Peltola, arguing that voters could be confused by the presence of another candidate named Daniel J. Sullivan on the ranked-choice ballot.
President Donald Trump said he personally directed the administration to file the lawsuit.
Alaska courts previously rejected efforts to remove the second Sullivan from the ballot, and state officials have said the candidates are clearly distinguished by their party designations and ballot information.
The race is among the most closely watched Senate contests in the country, and its outcome could help determine control of the chamber.
Obama, AOC test whether progressive energy can translate into votes
Democrats are turning to former President Barack Obama and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in the final stretch of the midterm campaign as the party works to mobilize its base and compete in traditionally difficult territory.
Obama campaigned in Ohio and Michigan on Saturday, criticizing President Donald Trump and defending El-Sayed against Republican attacks over his name, faith and political views.
Ocasio-Cortez has also campaigned for Democrats in Michigan, Maine, Ohio, California and Nevada, drawing large crowds of young voters and progressives.
Her appearances are testing whether her national following and progressive message can help Democrats win competitive races beyond traditional liberal strongholds.
The results could influence Ocasio-Cortez’s political standing ahead of a possible 2028 presidential campaign.
Trump heads to Michigan as GOP fights to hold Senate seat
President Donald Trump is scheduled to campaign in Port Huron, Michigan, on Sunday as Republicans work to protect the party’s Senate majority.
Trump is expected to speak at 3 p.m. ET at McMorran Place Arena in support of Michigan Republicans.
The rally comes as Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers faces Democrat Abdul El-Sayed in one of the country’s most closely watched contests.
Trump’s appearance follows former President Barack Obama’s Detroit rally for El-Sayed and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jocelyn Benson on Saturday.
With nine days until Election Day, both parties are deploying their highest-profile surrogates to energize voters and increase turnout in a key battleground state.
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