The Latest: Many states deciding control of the Senate are seeing a big boost in early voting
Oct 22, 2026, 6:42 AM
President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at the T. Ed Garrison Arena, Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2026, in Pendleton, S.C. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
Credit: AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson
(AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
Voter turnout is soaring compared with the last midterm election in many of the states that are expected to decide control of the U.S. Senate, according to an Associated Press analysis of early voting two weeks before Election Day.
Advocates for greater voter identification requirements are pursuing a new approach in some states: a mandate to place driver’s license or partial Social Security numbers on mail-in ballots. Variations of the voter ID proposals are being decided in the midterm elections in California, Colorado and Nevada — three states where conservative activists collected petition signatures to bypass Democratic-led legislatures and place the issue directly before voters.
The Trump administration moved Wednesday to end its legal fight to overhaul a popular student loan forgiveness program. The Department of Justice appealed after federal judges ruled in June in favor of advocates who said the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program risked becoming a tool for political retribution. But it dropped two appeals Wednesday in single-sentence joint agreements, which stipulated that each side would pay its own fees.
Here’s the latest:
Virginia state Sen. L. Louise Lucas, one of the state’s most powerful Democrats, was charged on Thursday in connection with what federal authorities alleged was a role leading a criminal enterprise that acquired and distributed large quantities of marijuana and laundered the proceeds.
An indictment unsealed on Thursday charged Lucas and six other defendants, including several of her relatives, the Department of Justice said in a statement ahead of a news conference scheduled for 10 a.m.
Lucas surrendered on Thursday, a Justice Department spokesperson said.
The charges came after the FBI searched Lucas’ hometown office and a cannabis shop in which she has a stake in May. At the time of the search, the 82-year-old Lucas — who has been a vocal critic of the Trump administration — characterized it as an attempt to intimidate her.
“This is the circus we always expected it to be, and we will wait for further details to have a more specific response,” said Brian Woolfolk, chief counsel for the L. Louise Lucas Legal Defense Fund.
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Iowa’s Republican nominee for U.S. Senate is navigating a tricky political landscape. Ashley Hinson promises to support Trump when it benefits Iowa but also vows to push back when necessary.
Although many Republicans are walking a political tightrope in this year’s midterm elections, Hinson’s balancing act is more challenging than most. Iowans have been hamstrung by manufacturing job losses, healthcare clinic closures and shrunken farm profits since Trump returned to the White House, but Hinson is also relying on the president’s loyalists to show up for her.
On Thursday, Hinson will join Trump for a rally in Sioux City, which is in Iowa’s conservative northwest corner. The visit to safe territory is geared toward boosting turnout even as it ties her more tightly to an unpopular president.
Trump is expected to visit the state again Nov. 1. He is “anxious for Iowans to hear his message before they vote,” Iowa Republican Party Chair Jeff Kaufmann said in announcing the president’s schedule.
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The Trump administration plans to keep pressing to enforce restrictions on healthcare for transgender people in federal prison after a loss on the Supreme Court’s emergency docket.
A Justice Department spokesperson expressed disappointment with the high court’s Wednesday decision but pointed out that the justices have not made a final ruling.
Lower courts have blocked enforcement of the policy, which would halt surgeries, taper off hormones and end social accommodations like makeup and wigs.
The Trump administration had filed an emergency appeal asking the Supreme Court to intervene, but the justices declined. The government can continue to appeal through lower courts.
The Republican candidate for Wisconsin governor who supported Trump’s attempts to overturn his 2020 loss in the battleground state said Wednesday he did it because of concerns about election funding from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.
“One of the reasons that I did that is ’ Zuckerbucks,’” U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany said in a debate, using a term coined by opponents of the money.
Tiffany also said he opposed certifying Wisconsin’s election results because clerks in Milwaukee and Dane counties advised voters they could claim to be “indefinitely confined” due to the COVID-19 pandemic and receive absentee ballots without showing a photo ID.
More than 200 communities across Wisconsin received about $10 million in grants from the Zuckerberg-funded Center for Tech and Civic Life to help run elections during the pandemic.
The debate exchange was an example of how Trump’s false claims about election fraud and his attempt to prevent Joe Biden from taking office continue to ripple through American politics.
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Republicans are broadly aligned on what they want the next Congress to do — except when it comes to Trump, the new AP-NORC poll shows.
At least half of Republicans who identify as supporters of MAGA and non-MAGA Republicans want leaders to lower costs, end the Iran war and reduce the federal budget deficit.
But while about 6 in 10 MAGA Republicans want Congress to prioritize supporting the Trump administration’s agenda, only about 2 in 10 Republicans who are not supporters of MAGA say the same.
Lisa Ostlund, a 46-year-old from Massachusetts who identifies as a MAGA supporter, wants the next Congress to prioritize Trump’s agenda. She doesn’t support everything Trump does, but she credits his policies with her recent ability to find housing after struggling with homelessness.
“You got to care about your American people,” Ostlund said. “He definitely doesn’t say it right, but you do have to put them first.”
There may be schisms awaiting the Democratic Party if they win a governing majority in November, the new AP-NORC poll finds.
About three-quarters of registered voters who identify as democratic socialists say investigating the Trump administration should be one of Congress’ top priorities, compared with slightly fewer than half of Democrats who do not align with democratic socialism.
Democratic socialists are also more likely to want to end military aid to Israel and less likely to say it’s a top priority to find common ground between the two parties.
Justin Campbell, a 31-year-old Democrat in Mississippi who identifies as a democratic socialist, wants Congress to hold the Trump administration accountable.
“It feels a little cliché to just say roll back the past two years, but honestly, mostly just roll back the stuff he’s done the past two years,” Campbell said.
Voters from both parties want the next Congress to focus on making life more affordable and ending the war in Iran, while fewer are looking for an emphasis on Trump — whether it’s investigating him or supporting his agenda.
The results from a new AP-NORC poll suggest that voters are ready for Congress to tackle core issues, despite Trump’s central role in the midterm campaign.
About 8 in 10 registered voters, including most Republicans and Democrats, say lowering the cost of living should be “one of the highest priorities.”
Most voters also want Congress to prioritize ending the war with Iran, with roughly 7 in 10 saying this should be a top focus. Substantially fewer voters — about 4 in 10 — want Congress to make investigating the Trump administration a high priority, and only about 2 in 10 want Congress to prioritize supporting Trump’s agenda.
Vice President JD Vance defended an ad Wednesday by Vivek Ramaswamy that features the estranged mother of Dr. Amy Acton, his Democratic opponent for Ohio governor, and spotlights the abuse she experienced as a child, even as the Republican in a tight race to retain Vance’s former seat in the Senate distanced himself from the ad.
During a campaign visit to Ohio, Vance told reporters he was “disgusted” by fellow Republicans who were pushing back against the ad, then later drew cheers at a political rally when he defended Ramaswamy, a biotech billionaire and 2024 presidential candidate.
Vance said he has watched Democrats “throw every dirty trick in the political book at Vivek,” who he considers a close personal friend — including calling him a ‘murderer’ — while “the whole time Vivek has stood tall and talked about what he wants to accomplish.”
“I would not have run that ad,” U.S. Sen. Jon Husted said in a statement to The Associated Press. A day earlier, his Democratic opponent, former Sen. Sherrod Brown, called the spot “disgusting” and said everybody — including Husted — should denounce it.
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Democrat Abdul El-Sayed and Republican Mike Rogers clashed in their final Senate debate Wednesday, with El-Sayed trying to tie his opponent to Trump and Rogers saying his rival’s progressive policies would be too extreme for Michigan.
The debate kicked off a breakneck final stretch in one of the nation’s most closely watched and competitive Senate races. Former President Barack Obama will rally in Detroit on Saturday, followed by Trump on Sunday.
Wednesday’s hourlong debate followed one on Oct. 8 that devolved into personal insults and attacks, with the candidates continuing to argue even during a commercial break. This time, the exchanges were slightly less contentious and focused on policy, though both candidates repeatedly returned to their central attacks.
The most contentious exchange came when Rogers again tried to link El-Sayed to the Muslim Brotherhood, repeating an allegation he and Trump have raised in recent weeks. El-Sayed has denied any affiliation with the group.
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Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries listened from the front row at the old Ohio church as the Sunday congregation heard of scripture’s guidance for calming a gathering storm.
“Wind, hush!” the speaker advised, describing the power to bring about change.
Jeffries nodded along, the words resonating beyond the church’s soaring brick walls, days out from the midterm elections that will determine control of Congress for the remainder of Trump’s term in the White House.
“We’re on the verge of taking back control of the House,” Jeffries told The Associated Press in an interview afterward.
Jeffries is on track to become House speaker, if Democrats sweep to power and elect him to the job, one of the most powerful positions in the U.S., second in line to the presidency. He has been campaigning across the country in more than 50 cities for House Democrats as they try to oust Republicans and win back majority control.
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The Trump administration moved Wednesday to end its legal fight to overhaul a popular student loan forgiveness program.
The Department of Justice appealed after federal judges ruled in June in favor of advocates who said the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program risked becoming a tool for political retribution. But it dropped two appeals Wednesday in single-sentence joint agreements, which stipulated that each side would pay its own fees.
Federal officials provided no explanation, but advocates praised the ruling.
“The Trump administration’s attempt to weaponize public service loan forgiveness against organizations it disagrees with was anti-democratic and unlawful from the start,” Dan Zibel, an attorney for the group Student Defense, said in a written statement. “This is a significant victory for millions of Americans who have dedicated their careers to public service.”
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Advocates for greater voter identification requirements are pursuing a new approach in some states: a mandate to place driver’s license or partial Social Security numbers on mail-in ballots.
Variations of the voter ID proposals are being decided in the midterm elections in California, Colorado and Nevada — three states where conservative activists collected petition signatures to bypass Democratic-led legislatures and place the issue directly before voters.
The voter ID measures are among about 30 questions on November ballots affecting state policies on voting and elections. They account for roughly 1 in 5 of all state ballot measures nationwide. Some mirror policies that President Donald Trump has pushed unsuccessfully at the national level and build off a Republican narrative that noncitizen voting is a problem, though data indicates it is rare.
Several measures address changes to congressional voting districts, as part of a national redistricting battle spurred by Trump. Others could change the way primaries are conducted, make it more difficult for voters to amend their state constitutions or — in Missouri — make it harder for lawmakers to change measures that voters approve.
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Voter turnout is soaring compared with the last midterm election in many of the states that are expected to decide control of the U.S. Senate, according to an Associated Press analysis of early voting two weeks before Election Day.
In Texas, early voting is up 74% compared with 2022. In Kansas it’s more than doubled. Maine, North Carolina and Ohio also have seen increases of more than 30% in early in-person and mail voting compared with the same point in 2022.
Democrats are trying to flip Republican-held Senate seats in each of those states. In most of them, Republicans are accounting for a smaller share of advance voters than they did four years ago.
The AP’s data, which runs through Tuesday, gives a snapshot of potential voter enthusiasm — and where it might be lacking — after early voting has opened in most states during a midterm cycle that has shifted in often unpredictable ways.
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