The Latest: Trump pushing to keep red-state Senate seats in GOP hands

President Donald Trump told Texans they’d better accept data centers in their communities and floated making Venezuela the 51st state as he stumped for Republican Ken Paxton, while Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico said a “corruption crisis” plagues U.S. politics.

Social media videos believed to be produced with artificial intelligence and linked to Russia are misusing real people’s names and photographs to spread disinformation about two Democratic Senate candidates in the final stretch of midterm voting.

And Republicans have spent an estimated $183 million on television ads focused on transgender-related attacks against Democrats as Americans go to vote, betting that struggling GOP candidates can leverage the divisive cultural issue to overcome concerns about Trump’s leadership and the state of the economy.

Here’s the Latest:

Who should be believed? Trump’s social media post on golf course leads lawyers back to court

Trump’s social media posts on the renovation of a historic golf course in the nation’s capital are putting Justice Department lawyers in the uncomfortable position of explaining whether the president of the United States should be believed or not.

U.S. Judge Ana Reyes said Tuesday that the department should clarify “whether any plan exists to close East Potomac Golf Course on or around November 15, 2026.” She ordered Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward Jr. to appear in court Friday or Monday for a status hearing.

Tuesday’s order came in response to Trump’s social media post late Monday criticizing Reyes’ temporary injunction stopping work at East Potomac Park.

That injunction, issued Monday, was in large part due to previous Trump announcements — via social media — that plans had been completed for the golf course and construction would begin next month. Trump said the facility would be closed for 15 months. The following day, he set the timetable to “immediately.”

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Republicans emphasize transgender ads, putting cultural issues over voters’ economic anxiety

Republicans have spent an estimated $183 million on television ads focused on transgender-related attacks against Democrats in the final phase of this year’s midterm elections, betting that struggling GOP candidates can leverage the divisive cultural issue to overcome voters’ concerns about Trump’s leadership and the state of the economy.

The massive investment through Oct. 25 produced about 217,000 TV spots nationwide and exceeds the amount Republicans spent on similar ads in 2024, a presidential election year, at the same point before Election Day, according to tallies provided to The Associated Press by data firm AdImpact.

The spending campaign matched messaging from other Republicans on the campaign trail, led by Trump, who has played down surging gasoline prices and other rising costs, but highlighted what he described as an urgent threat to America’s children from Democratic policies.

The Republican emphasis on transgender issues offers a consequential test of whether a theme that had worked in past elections — and especially in deep red states — can still be potent when voters consistently say high prices are their chief concern.

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Disinformation videos, likely from Russia, are exploiting real people to malign Senate candidates

Social media videos believed to be produced with artificial intelligence and linked to Russia are misusing real people’s names and photographs to spread disinformation about two Democratic Senate candidates in the final stretch of midterm voting.

One of the targets is Sherrod Brown, who is running against Republican Sen. Jon Husted in Ohio. The video, which appears to include some AI manipulation, depicts a newscast and includes pictures of Haya Akbik, who interned for Brown several years ago, and other former staff members.

It was appalling to Akbik, who told The Associated Press that any claims attributed to her in the clip are “completely made up.”

“It’s my name, it’s my reputation, making this allegation, and it’s just completely false,” she said. “And it harms the senator, someone else, in the process. So, it’s just messed up.”

The videos demonstrate how foreign adversaries continue to use a familiar playbook to try to influence American voters who are deciding which party controls Congress next year. The threat could be magnified with AI, a powerful tool for fabricating damaging information that can sometimes appear very real.

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Talarico vows to ‘take back Texas’ as Trump makes last-minute push to keep the state in GOP hands

Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico on Tuesday decried a “corruption crisis” he says is plaguing the U.S. political system, competing for the spotlight with President Donald Trump in deeply conservative West Texas ahead of next week’s midterm elections.

Trump was in Texas for the third time in a month in a last-minute push to back Republican Ken Paxton and block Democrats from notching their first statewide election victory in more than three decades.

Talarico took the stage in Lubbock an hour after Trump wrapped up his own speech across town. A seminarian and a former teacher, Talarico reached for metaphors from both the Bible and a famous Texas pastime — Friday night football — to cast himself as an underdog against powerful forces including Trump and Elon Musk, who is bankrolling attack ads against Talarico on Paxton’s behalf.

“We’re going to shock the nation and shock the world when we beat the billionaires and take back Texas,” Talarico said.

Moments earlier, Trump leaned into cultural issues to portray Talarico as too liberal for Texas.

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