Republicans are retreating from a handful of battleground U.S. House races, while Democrats are racing to raise money to boost candidates who seemed like long shots earlier this year. The strategy in the final three weeks of midterm campaigns points to an increasingly defensive posture by Republicans, who have already trimmed their expectations in U.S. Senate races, and new aggression from Democrats, who are trying to capitalize on President Donald Trump’s weak approval ratings.
House Democrats are preparing an ambitious 100-day agenda focused on delivering their campaign promises and say they'll be united in trying to make life more affordable and conducting vast oversight of the Trump administration — if the party seizes majority control in next month’s elections.
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A federal judge on Tuesday extended an order blocking Trump’s administration from banning reporters for three news outlets from the White House, a pivotal operational development for the organizations as the extraordinary case — pitting the president against the media that cover him — makes its way through the legal system.
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A federal judge on Wednesday said her temporary order blocking Trump’s controversial taxpayer-funded television ads from airing will now extend through Nov. 8, several days past the Nov. 3 midterm elections.
U.S. District Judge Jennifer L. Rochon in New York said that would give the plaintiffs time to seek discovery from the government and request a longer-term preliminary injunction, which she’ll consider on Nov. 4.
The plaintiffs, including the government watchdog Common Cause, want to know why some of the pro-Trump political ads paid for by a $20 million Department of Homeland Security contract kept running on Monday, despite Rochon’s order Sunday siding with the plaintiffs, who challenged the ads as an illegal misuse of funds.
Government attorney Jeffrey Oestericher said Wednesday that he had theater tickets Sunday and didn’t take all the steps he could have to ensure compliance.
The federal government is planning to dramatically shrink its most influential health survey. Some researchers worry it will underestimate how many Americans are disabled.
At least half the questions could be axed to save some of the $40 million a year spent gathering responses from about 30,000 households to the 69-year-old National Health Interview Survey.
Answers have shaped understanding of how common chronic fatigue syndrome is, how many people get X-rays, what proportion of U.S. children suffer seizures, and how many Americans have health insurance. Survey responses also enable how progress — or backsliding — is measured on problems such as obesity and smoking.
Questions proposed for removal deal with memory, fatigue, arthritis, difficulty walking and climbing stairs, and using hearing aids, canes, wheelchairs and scooters. “We just won’t know any of that anymore,” said Scott Landes, a Syracuse University sociology professor who researches people with disabilities.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Wednesday that the U.S. military has gained knowledge about drone warfare from Ukraine, but noted the vulnerability of Ukraine’s dependence on Chinese parts.
“We’ve learned a lot from Ukraine, but you can’t use everything that’s in Ukraine because of all the Chinese components involved in it,” he said during a panel discussion at the U.S. Army’s annual conference in Washington. “So you’ve got to be able to ensure that we take the best of that and the lessons learned.”
Since Russia invaded more than four years ago, Ukraine has become a global leader in military drone innovation. But Ukrainian drone makers are highly dependent on electronics made by China, a key Russian ally.
Ukraine has concerns the Chinese government could severely restrict its access to these critical parts. It also worries that Russian defense companies needing these same supplies could be given preferential treatment by Chinese factories.
Ukrainian drones lost some of their fighting capacity after restrictions were suddenly imposed on the battlefield use of the country’s U.S.-made Starlink communication terminals, officials said Wednesday as Kyiv endured another night of missile attacks.
Ukraine also did not receive the usual advance warning from its Western partners of incoming Russian ballistic missiles, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, triggering fears that the U.S. is starving Ukraine of vital intelligence.
Zelenskyy did not specify which partners he was talking about, and Trump later said the U.S. has not stopped sharing intelligence with Ukraine.
But the developments have frustrated the Ukrainian military and deepened concerns that Kyiv’s relationship with Washington is unraveling.
Trump has sought to blame Zelenskyy for high diesel prices in the U.S., saying Saturday that it’s time for Ukraine to get a new president.
Neither SpaceX nor the White House offered immediate comment.
Much of the House Democrats’ agenda, if they regain power, would depend on the size of the majority. Details also depend on the Senate, and whether it flips to Democrats.
“We cannot simply go back to the status quo,” said Usamah Andrabi, a spokesman for Justice Democrats, an outside group that supports the far-left progressives.
But Trump has veto power at the stroke of his pen.
“We’re going to do a lot and we’re going to be very busy,” said Louisiana Rep. Troy Carter, who hopes to become chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. “We will not be able to fix everything overnight.”
Jeffries launched five working groups to tackle the affordability agenda, focused on healthcare, housing, groceries and goods, gas and utilities, and care-giving.
Each group is co-led by a progressive and a centrist — healthcare, for example, is run by Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Terri Sewell of Alabama — with the goal of striking common ground on draft policies all House Democrats can support.
At the same time, Jeffries has tasked ranking Democrats on the House Oversight and Judiciary committees with preparing investigations focused on Trump, his family and his administration as part of a sweeping anti-corruption agenda. Impeachment, Jeffries has said, is neither on nor off the table.
“We need to lower the cost of groceries and gas. Two, we need to make healthcare affordable for every single American. Three, we’re going to hold the crooks accountable who’ve visited unprecedented corruption on the American people,” Jeffries said.
Republicans are portraying Democrats as beholden to a far-left socialist agenda as they try to hold onto their congressional majorities.
Rep. Greg Casar, D-Texas, the chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said he’s often asked if Democrats will be confronting their own version of the Freedom Caucus, referring to the far-right Republicans who often grind the House agenda to a halt.
“It doesn’t work that way,” Casar told The Associated Press in an interview. “The Freedom Caucus breaks things. But if you’re a progressive, you want to pass things.”
Protesters shouted at Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other military leaders on Wednesday as they spoke at a panel on drones during the U.S. Army’s annual conference in Washington.
The six protesters appeared to yell about the war with Iran as well as Trump’s proposed $1.5 trillion military budget for next year.
The speakers acknowledged the disruptions but continued their discussion, which focused initially on a need to open more military contracts to smaller businesses to develop more drones.
Others in the audience chanted “USA, USA” to counteract them at one point, but for the most part, the panel continued its discussion as the protesters were removed one by one.
House Democrats are preparing an ambitious 100-days agenda focused on delivering their campaign promises — making life more affordable and conducting vast oversight of the Trump administration — if the party seizes majority control in next month’s elections.
Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, in line to become House speaker if the party wins power, said Democrats will be united “right out of the gate” on reinstating Affordable Care Act tax breaks, reversing Republican Medicaid cuts, holding votes against the Iran war and undoing President Donald Trump’s tariff regime.
“That’s our commitment to the American people, because the cost of living is way too high and far too many people who are working hard, playing by the rules, can’t thrive and can barely survive — and are drowning — in the Trump economy,” Jeffries said recently at the party campaign headquarters in Washington.
A Texas prosecutor says a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent appeared to use a vehicle to intentionally strike a man who took off running in Houston, and that an investigation opened by his office could result in criminal charges.
“The most obvious criminal charge is aggravated assault with a deadly weapon,” Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare, a Democrat, told FOX 26 Houston. “Meaning the car was used as a deadly weapon. And it certainly is what appears to have happened based on the surveillance footage.”
Miguel Parra Hernandez, 48, needed surgery for a broken leg on Saturday. ICE spokesperson Tim Oberle said in a statement that he “ran in front of an ICE vehicle and was struck.”
Teare also is investigating the fatal shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, one of at least 10 deaths in ICE encounters during Trump’s deportation campaign.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy voiced outrage Wednesday over Russia’s continuing aerial bombardment of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in apparent defiance of Trump’s demand for a ceasefire.
Moscow’s forces pounded Ukraine’s power grid, as well as oil and gas facilities, for the third straight night, Zelenskyy said, after Trump claimed that Russia and Ukraine had agreed to avoid striking energy infrastructure 4 ½ years after Moscow’s forces invaded.
Zelenskyy has agreed to halt Ukraine’s monthslong campaign targeting Russian oil refineries, which caused fuel shortages for Russians. Ukraine’s last reported hit on an oil refinery was last Friday.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday that details of the energy ceasefire are still being decided. Meanwhile, Trump’s efforts to stop the fighting have made no progress.
The U.S. and other wealthy nations need to urgently tackle mounting global debt levels that are weighing most heavily on low-income countries and straining the global financial system, the head of the International Monetary Fund said Wednesday.
IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and other U.S. leaders recognize that the federal deficit and national debt are too high. But she said the U.S. can’t grow its way out of more than $40 trillion in national debt.
Meanwhile, rising bond yields, reflecting higher premiums demanded by investors for taking on greater risk, have been disrupting financial markets.
“We believe that growth, of course, helps, but it cannot deliver fast enough the necessary adjustments,” Georgieva said at the autumn meeting of the IMF and World Bank in Bangkok. “There is no magic.”
The Social Security Administration projected Wednesday that the annual cost-of-living adjustment for older adults and people with disabilities will go up by 3.6% beginning in 2027. Some recipients are already complaining it’s not enough to offset soaring prices.
The adjustment translates to $75 extra per month for the 73 million people who receive monthly Social Security benefits and nearly 7.5 million beneficiaries who get Supplemental Security Income.
The cost-of-living adjustment is financed by payroll taxes collected from workers and their employers, up to a certain annual salary. The cap is set to increase to $192,300 in 2027, from $184,500 in 2026.
Water polluted by industrial agriculture runoff and high cancer rates have been the focus of debate questions, roundtable events and campaign advertisements for both Republicans and Democrats, up and down the ballot in Iowa.
The issue has historically been politically taboo in Iowa, where chemical fertilizers and animal waste from huge corn, soybean and hog operations get washed into drinking water sources. The political calculus has shifted amid restrictions on water use in the Des Moines area and a burgeoning “Make America Healthy Again” movement in rural communities.
“The real issue is the water and the nitrates,” Democratic Senate nominee Josh Turek told cancer patients.
The Republican congresswoman running against Turek, Ashley Hinson, said Iowans can feel safe because tap water meets federal regulations.
“I don’t think water quality is a partisan issue,” Hinson said as she gathered farmers, researchers and local officials to discuss the water problems.
Senate Democrats are pouring another $6.7 million into two competitive Senate races, announcing Wednesday that they will spend an additional $3.7 million to support Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan and $3 million to back Troy Jackson in Maine.
The Senate Majority PAC, which is aligned with Sena te Democratic leadership, is increasing its investment as both candidates face significant Republican spending advantages. Jackson is challenging Republican Sen. Susan Collins, a longtime Democratic target, while El-Sayed is locked in a close race with Republican Mike Rogers for an open seat.
Senate Democrats have pulled back spending meanwhile from North Carolina and Georgia, where their candidates have money advantages against Republican opponents.
Katie Zacharia, now the official voice of the world’s most powerful person, put the “brief” back in briefing during her initial White House press conference, reading from a prepared text before answering just four questions.
“I get to do what I was doing on the outside already, which was hoping to amplify, multiply and expand upon President Trump’s incredible agenda for the American people,” Zacharia said.
Nowhere did she mention the task of disseminating accurate information to Americans.
How will Zacharia fare in coming days and weeks and, if her tenure lasts, months? That, like so much else, depends on one thing: Donald Trump.
U.S. inflation accelerated last month as gas, clothes, and air fares got more expensive just as Americans prepare to vote in elections focused on affordability.
The consumer price index rose 3.7% in September compared with a year ago, the Labor Department said Wednesday, up from 3.4% in August. Monthly costs showed the biggest gain in five months.
The figures reflect the lingering impact of the Iran war on gas prices and surging investments in data centers and artificial intelligence. Core prices rose 2.6% in September from a year ago, up from 2.4% the previous month, well above the Federal Reserves’s 2% target.
The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found just 17% of U.S. adults approve of Trump’s handling of the cost of living, and only 26% approve of his handling of the economy overall, a new low.
Trump said “massive” oil, gas and mineral exploration is set to begin in “our new and beautiful Greenland ” early Wednesday.
It wasn’t immediately clear what exploration or developments the U.S. president was referring to in his post, and Greenland is a self-governing territory of Denmark, rather than a part of the United States.
Rising energy prices — a direct result of Trump’s war in Iran — are creating serious and sustained financial hardships for America’s working class ahead of the midterm elections next month. Trump’s comments Wednesday are likely aimed at addressing voters’ concerns before they head to the polls.
But despite Trump’s optimism, resource exploration and extraction in Greenland has stymied companies for decades thanks to the island’s harsh climate, lack of key infrastructure and difficult geology. Previous efforts to extract so-called rare earth minerals, as well as oil and gas, have never progressed beyond the exploratory stage.
A federal judge on Tuesday extended an order blocking Trump’s administration from banning reporters for three news outlets from the White House, a pivotal operational development for the organizations as the extraordinary case — pitting the president against the media that cover him — makes its way through the legal system.
In a victory for media organizations at a time when tension between the White House and journalists is high, U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly ruled that CNN, MS NOW and Politico are likely to succeed in their constitutional free speech and due process claims.
“Still,” he added in his late-night order, “no one should interpret the Court’s decision to suggest that President Trump’s concerns about accuracy and fairness in the media’s reporting are unfounded, or that the government is powerless when its true aim is to protect national security when classified information is unlawfully disclosed.”
But Kelly agreed with the plaintiffs that the national security arguments came after the fact and were unsupported by the administration.
Kamala Harris is building out her final fall campaign blitz on behalf of other Democrats, completing a midterm schedule that by Election Day will have taken her to multiple early presidential primary states on Democrats’ 2028 calendar as the former vice president mulls whether to seek the White House again.
Spanning from Oct. 21 to Oct. 30, Harris’ expanded closing stretch will now include New Hampshire, Wisconsin and Mississippi, along with a virtual event in Florida, according to a schedule her office shared first with The Associated Press. Harris already had announced late October stops in Georgia and Nevada.
Harris has said in multiple recent interviews that she’s focused on helping Democrats win in November. But she’s not ruled out another presidential campaign after losing the 2024 general election to Donald Trump.
Her late October tour focuses on nominees for governor and U.S. Senate, including pairings that put the first Black woman to serve as vice president alongside potential history-making candidates.
Republicans were retreating Tuesday from a handful of battleground U.S. House races while Democrats were racing to raise money to boost candidates who seemed like long shots earlier this year.
The Congressional Leadership Fund, the leading House Republican super PAC, canceled spending in four races from the Midwest to the East Coast and increased its investment in 16 other races from Texas to Pennsylvania. Another super PAC allied with President Donald Trump is cutting back in a battleground district in the Las Vegas area.
Meanwhile, Democrats’ House campaign committee is eyeing openings in Republican-held districts and hoping to raise millions of dollars in the next week to fuel a late round of advertising that they say could net at least a half dozen more seats.
The shifting money in the final three weeks of midterm campaigns points to an increasingly defensive posture by Republicans, who have already trimmed their expectations in U.S. Senate races, and new aggression from Democrats, who are trying to capitalize on President Donald Trump’s weak approval ratings.
