Scoop: Senate GOP to send $5m to shore up Graham in South Carolina  —  The main super PAC supporting Republican Senate candidates plans to inject $5 million into the South Carolina campaign as an “insurance policy” to help GOP nominee Darline Graham, a source familiar with the move tells Axios.

Trump suggests letting Iran ‘take out’ Los Angeles and San Diego at campaign rally  — 3 min Click here to listen to this article  — California Gov. Gavin Newsom called the president ‘deranged and dangerous.’  — The crowd in Grand Island, Neb., cheered the remarks about Los Angeles and San Diego.

Facing Backlash, Trump Says His Super PAC Will Pay for Taxpayer-Funded Ads  —  The president said that his PAC, MAGA, Inc., would pay for TV ads promoting him which had been paid for with taxpayer money.  —  President Trump reversed course on Monday and announced that his super PAC would now pay …

Midterm Elections in Maine, October 2026  —  Jackson and Collins Competitive in Senate Contest in Maine... Pingree Leads Charles by Double Digits in Race for Governor  — Jackson (51%) is +4 points against Collins (47%) among registered voters in the U.S. Senate race in Maine.

More Than 500 U.S. Citizens Have Been Detained, Including Handcuffed or Held at Gunpoint, in Trump's Immigration Crackdown  —  How Abortion Bans Lead to Preventable Deaths  —  How Recent Arrivals at the Border Have Changed the Country and Its Attitudes  —  SCOTUS Justices' Beneficial Relationships With Billionaire Donors

Potential Iranian Drone Attack Led to Exit of U.S. Aircraft From British Air Base  —  According to U.S. and British officials, 12 B-1 Air Force bombers from R.A.F. Fairford air base were withdrawn because of the risk of a drone attack ordered by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Trump approves firing squad execution for Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan  —  President Donald Trump has approved the execution by firing squad of Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan for the 2009 shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas.  —  The U.S. military has not carried out the death penalty since 1961.

Jim Bakker, Television Preacher Felled by Sex and Financial Scandals, Dies at 86  —  With his wife, Tammy Faye, Mr. Bakker built a broadcasting juggernaut around the gospel of prosperity.  —  Jim Bakker, a television evangelist who lost his popular and prosperous ministry in a 1980s sex scandal …

256. So Unexplained: Justice Alito's Non-Responsive Emergency Docket Defense  —  Justice Alito's new book purports to answer the Court's shadow docket critics—by rebutting a caricature and by ignoring the ways in which his own behavior has contradicted nearly every claim he makes.

Energy prices loom large in key Senate, House races  —  Scratch the surface of the year's biggest stories — the Iran war and AI — and both are bound up in the costs of energy. … - The war has kept gasoline prices way above $4 per gallon for months, and helped push diesel to record highs.

Germany's ex-spy chief arrested for espionage  —  August Hanning, the man who once led Germany's spy service, is now under investigation for passing on state secrets.  —  Police have arrested the former head of Germany's BND foreign intelligence agency, August Hanning, on suspicion of espionage …

Trump administration unveils plan to tie high birth and marriage rates to transit funding  —  Communities with high birth and marriage rates could soon gain an advantage in securing federal transit money — a long-sought goal of the Trump administration but one that a top Democratic appropriator calls “bizarre and dystopian.”

US, Israeli and European far-right figures to gather for conference in Israel  —  Trump's counter-terrorism ‘czar’, Sebastian Gorka, was scheduled to speak at conference but White House says he will no longer attend  —  A National Conservatism (NatCon) conference beginning today …

Megyn Kelly on Cornell's Jane Doe: “I'm just going to be honest, she's not the most attractive gal.  She's extremely beefy in her arms and her legs.”  —  Kelly: Jane Doe “liked the feeling of being sexy and desired and wanted, ... and that's why she kept saying yes”

America.gov: Branding in Search of a Product  —  Last week the Trump administration held a big event, featuring Trump, his Cabinet, and Big Balls, to unveil America.gov.  —  What is America.gov?  Two answers.  — As of today, it's a chatbot that searches government websites and collates the answer using Grok and Gemini AIs.

If the polls end up missing, this may have been our early warning sign  —  “Low-effort” survey respondents vote very differently than other poll-takers, and that could be biasing polls by up to 3.5 points against  —  The biennial freak-out over potential error in election polls is now in full force.

Texas Pediatricians Face Paxton Investigations for Vaccinating Children  —  Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general and Republican Senate candidate, has alleged a sprawling profit-driven conspiracy.  Pediatricians say the accusations are an attempt at intimidation.

Why deep-red Kansas has become an unexpected Senate battleground … In a state that hasn't elected a Democratic senator since 1932, Republican Sen. Roger Marshall suddenly finds himself in a competitive race with weeks to go until the 2026 midterm elections.

Trump calls for media outlets to be ‘arrested’ over rally coverage  —  President Trump said Monday that reporters from The New York Times and other media outlets should be “arrested” over their coverage of his Saturday rally in Ohio.  —  “The Ohio Arena was already full to the brim …

What voters in 6 key states could tell us about the 2026 midterms  —  A version of this essay first appeared in the Up First newsletter.  Subscribe here to get the news you need to start your day — plus a little fun — every weekday and Sunday.  —  Four weeks from now …

Arkansas campaign ad sparks conservative backlash for portraying lazy welfare recipient as white  —  A new video from Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders was standard issue Republican messaging for promoting her state's stricter rules for people on Medicaid.

Trump wants to rewrite the midterm lexicon  —  President Trump has long nicknamed his opponents, and now, as November approaches, he's even trying to dictate the vocabulary around key issues. … - But as polling on those issues continues to haunt the president's party, Trump's new vocabulary may not be enough to change voters' minds.

Ex-CIA official expected to plead guilty in $40 million gold bar case  —  FBI agents seized gold bars, money and luxury watches this year at the home of David J. Rush, according to an affidavit.  —  SummaryLoading...  A former senior executive at the CIA is expected to plead guilty …

Ohio early voting begins with US Congress control on the line  —  Early voting begins on Tuesday in Ohio, where the winners of November's midterm elections will help determine whether Republicans or Democrats control the US Congress for the next two years, given the state has one Senate seat …

The permitting deal is good and should pass  —  Against the underpants gnome theory of climate action  —  I don't agree with her position on the new permitting reform bill, but I think Genevieve Guenther perfectly captures the disagreement between the left and center-left …

Spain is becoming Europe's Cuba — and American capital is the next target  —  Spain is rapidly becoming a serious hazard for international investors.  Instead of upholding property rights, the country's political climate now drives its institutional decay, threatening to compromise a fragile legal system.