Closing summary
We are less than two weeks away from the 8 November midterms, and here’s where things stand: Joe Biden is growing more unpopular. Democrats’ chances of keeping control of the House of Representatives are slim, while predictions for the new Republican majority are expanding. And Senate control is coming down to a handful of races, including Pennsylvania, where the Democratic candidate struggled in last night’s debate. In Georgia, a new poll showed Republican Herschel Walker trailing in voter support, while his campaign is contending with a new allegation that the abortion foe paid for another woman to undergo the procedure.
Elections were not the only sources of news today:
Mark Meadows, Donald Trump’s former chief of staff, was ordered to appear before a special grand jury investigating election meddling in Georgia. Meadows’ lawyer says he plans to appeal.
Trump’s legal team received a subpoena compelling the ex-president’s testimony before the January 6 committee, but he may still challenge it in court.
A Michigan jury convicted three men of charges related to plotting to kidnap the state’s Democratic governor Gretchen Whitmer.
Twelve GOP candidates to oversee voting in states nationwide deny the outcome of the 2020 election, presenting a threat to democracy. Arizona is home to one of the most high stakes of these races.
Speaking of people in legal trouble in Washington, reports have emerged the Democratic senator Robert Menendez is under federal investigation – again.
“Senator Menendez is aware of an investigation that was reported on today, however he does not know the scope of the investigation,” an advisor to the New Jersey lawmaker told Semafor, which first reported on the inquiry. “As always, should any official inquiries be made, the Senator is available to provide any assistance that is requested of him or his office.”
The investigation is being handled by prosecutors in New York, who have issued one subpoena in the case and contacted people connected to the senator, according to Semafor.
Menendez represents a reliably Democratic state, and is not up for re-election until 2024. Federal prosecutors brought corruption charges against him in 2015 over accusations Menendez accepted gifts and campaign funds from a Florida eye doctor in exchange for using his clout in Washington on the doctor’s behalf. The case collapsed three years later after a jury deadlocked on the charges, and prosecutors decided not to retry Menendez.
Trump's legal team accepts subpoena from the January 6 committee
Lawyers for Donald Trump have accepted a subpoena compelling him to sit for a deposition before the January 6 committee next month, but he may still choose to challenge the summons, Politico reports.
At what was likely its final public hearing earlier this month, the bipartisan House panel voted unanimously to subpoena the former president, saying he can resolve unanswered questions about the deadly insurrection at the Capitol. Their summons requires him to provide documents they requested by 4 November, and sit for a deposition by 14 November.
Reports have indicated the former president is open to speaking to the lawmakers. But Politico notes that Harmeet Dhillon of the The Dhillon Law Group, which is representing Trump in his dealings with the January 6 committee, has retweeted posts attacking the lawmakers’ work on Twitter.
Herschel Walker responded to the unnamed woman’s claim this afternoon that he paid for her to have an abortion by saying, “it’s a lie”.
That’s the same answer he gave last week when pressed on reports he paid for another woman to undergo the procedure.
ABC News has video:
Herschel Walker addresses reporters as a new woman comes forward alleging Walker drove her to a clinic to have an abortion.
— Lalee Ibssa (@LaleeIbssa) October 26, 2022
“I’m done with this foolishness. I’ve already told people this is a lie and I’m not going to entertain,” Walker said.
He didn’t answer any Q’s. #gapol pic.twitter.com/hdthWIlZgR
Attorney Gloria Allred has publicly presented some of the evidence her unnamed client has to substantiate the account of her relationship with Walker.
These include greeting cards from Walker to the woman, and a photo of Walker in bed in the woman’s hotel room:
Jane Doe's attorney, Gloria Allred, presents what is alleged to be a photo of Herschel Walker (R) in the bed in Doe's hotel room.
— The Recount (@therecount) October 26, 2022
Doe alleges Walker pressured her into having an abortion. pic.twitter.com/PKHVXQVuQP
Woman 'devastated' by Walker 'pressure' to have an abortion
Using the pseudonym Jane Doe, the woman accusing Georgia’s Republican senate candidate Herschel Walker of paying for her to have an abortion recounted in an emotional statement how he “pressured” her to go through with it.
“I was confused, uncertain, and scared,” the woman, who declined to reveal her name and face, said at a press conference.
Walker, who was married at the time but had told Doe he was going to seek a divorce, gave her money to pay for the procedure. Doe said she was “confused, uncertain, and scared,” and when she want to a clinic, “I simply couldn’t go through with it. I left the clinic in tears.”
Doe then recounted how Walker drove her again to the clinic and waited for her until the procedure was finished.
“I was devastated because I felt that I had been pressured into having an abortion,” Doe said. She described herself as “naive,” and said Walker “took advantage of me.”
“Most significantly, and the reason I am here today, is because he has publicly taken the position that he is ‘about life’ and against abortion under any circumstances, when, in fact, he pressured me to have an abortion and personally ensured that it occurred by driving me to the clinic and paid for it,” the woman said.
She noted she was an independent and voted for Donald Trump twice.
“I do not believe that Herschel is morally fit to be a US senator,” she said. “And that is the reason why I am speaking up and providing proof.”
Updated
Jane Doe found out she was pregnant in 1993, her attorney Gloria Allred said.
When she told Herschel Walker, he “clearly wanted her to have an abortion, and convinced her to do so. Our client alleges that Mr. Walker gave her cash to pay for the abortion,” Allred said.
Doe went to a clinic in Dallas, Texas to have an abortion, but could not go through with it. When Walker found out, Allred said he was upset.
“He pressured her to go back to the clinic within the next day to go through with the abortion,” her attorney said. “The following day, Mr. Walker drove her to the clinic and waited in the parking lot for hours until the abortion was completed… Then he drove her to the pharmacy to pick up medications and supplies… And then he drove her home.”
“In the days following the abortion, Mr. Walker began to distance himself from our client. She was very distraught because she felt that Mr. Walker had pressured her into having an abortion. She left Dallas and she did not return for more than 15 years because she was so traumatized,” Allred said.
“Mr. Walker professes to be against abortion, even though he paid for and pressured our client to have an abortion,” Allred said, noting that Walker was married at the time he saw Doe, but said he was going to seek a divorce.
“Our client feels that Mr. Walker is a complete hypocrite and does not deserve to be a United States senator from the state of Georgia,” Allred concluded.
Attorney Gloria Allred has started the press conference where she’s introducing a woman using the pseudonym Jane Doe, who says Georgia’s Republican senate candidate Herschel Walker paid for her to have an abortion.
“Today my client, also known as Jane Doe, will come forward for the first time to share her truth about Herschel Walker, a man with whom he had a romantic and intimate relationship for a number of years,” Allred began.
The woman began dating Walker in 1987, said Allred, and saw him for a number of years. The attorney said she had a receipt from a hotel stay from when Doe went to visit Walker in Minnesota. She also played a voicemail from Walker to the woman, in which he tells her he loves her.
Updated
Is Mike Lee, the Republican senator representing deep-red Utah, in trouble? His conservative colleague Ted Cruz thinks so.
Lee is not facing a Democrat this year, but rather an independent: Evan McMullin, who has surprising momentum in a state that hasn’t sent anyone but a Republican to the Senate in more than four decades.
Texas’s Republican senator Cruz thinks that Democrats’ tactic of staying out of the race in favor of McMullin might actually work:
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) thinks Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) is in “jeopardy” of losing to Evan McMullin (I):
— The Recount (@therecount) October 26, 2022
“Democrats have done something really devious and dishonest … decided not to run a candidate.” pic.twitter.com/mvIlyM8QY8
McMullin was last heard from in 2016, when he stood as an independent against Donald Trump and managed to syphon the support of a few Republicans who abhorred their party’s nominee. This year, Utah’s other Republican senator, Mitt Romney, declined to endorse either McMullin or Lee, saying he considered both friends. Lee recently went on Fox News to press Romney for his backing.
Nonetheless, most polls show Lee ahead in the state, though a couple have McMullin leading.
We’re a few minutes away from a press conference where attorney Gloria Allred says she will introduce a woman whom Georgia’s Republican senate candidate Herschel Walker paid to have an abortion.
The woman would be the second to come forward and say that Walker, who supports a national ban on abortion without exceptions, helped her afford the procedure. The woman’s identity and face won’t be revealed publicly, Allred said.
Walker is in a close race for Georgia’s senate seat, which is currently occupied by Democrat Raphael Warnock. Polls have lately showed Warnock with an advantage, though an internal survey for the Walker campaign just released puts the Republican ahead:
We’re just out of the field with a new poll for @TeamHerschel :
— Erik Iverson (@erikjiverson) October 26, 2022
Walker: 46%
Warnock: 42%
Oliver: 3%
N=800 live calls
MoE +\-3%
October 22-25
Moore Information Group
Updated
A new Reuters/Ipsos poll finds two in five US voters fear violence or intimidation at polling stations during the midterm elections. Two thirds of voters responding to the poll feared violence from rightwing extremists after the elections, if the results do not go their way.
A Republican party fueled by Donald Trump-supporting election deniers seems poised to retake the US House and maybe the Senate, and to win key state races including posts which involve the overseeing of elections.
Kathy Boockvar, a former top election official in Pennsylvania who now advocates for secure elections, told Reuters: “Our country is based on democracy. We should be excited about election day.”
The Reuters/Ipsos poll also found that “among the registered voters … 43% were concerned about threats of violence or voter intimidation while voting in person, [a fear] more pronounced among Democratic voters, 51% of whom said they worried about violence, although a still-significant share of Republicans – 38% – harbored such concerns.
Reuters added: “About a fifth of voters – including one in 10 Democrats and one in four Republicans – said they were not confident their ballots would be accurately counted.”
Some further reading: Ed Pilkington’s interview with Adrian Fontes, running for secretary of state in Arizona against a rightwing election-denying opponent, Mark Finchem…
Ed Pilkington, our chief reporter, has filed his report on the fallout from Tuesday night’s potentially momentous US Senate debate in Pennsylvania…
As the dust settled over Tuesday night’s sole televised debate in the crucial US Senate race in Pennsylvania, pundits were starkly divided over the impact of the Democrat John Fetterman’s struggles with speech in his recovery from a stroke.
The Pennsylvania lieutenant governor raised the issue of his auditory processing disorder, which makes it difficult for him to understand certain spoken words, in his opening remarks in the debate with his Republican rival, the former TV doctor Mehmet Oz.
“Let’s also talk about the elephant in the room – I had a stroke,” Fetterman said.
Fetterman used closed captioning to help deal with his speech difficulties. Questions and answers were transcribed in real time and beamed through large screens in front of both candidates.
Reporters present in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, noted that Fetterman occasionally struggled to articulate his views in the hour-long debate. The Philadelphia Inquirer said that he “spoke haltingly and at times mixed up his words”, remarking that “his speaking has been much smoother in stump speeches on the campaign trail and in a recent interview with the Inquirer than during the back-and-forth” of the debate with Oz.
Rightwing news outlets and commentators were much harsher, with several calling for Fetterman to drop out of the race. John Podhoretz, a conservative columnist with the New York Post, described the Democratic candidate as “impaired” and said “it is an act of personal, political, and ideological malpractice that Fetterman is still contesting for the Senate”.
Full story:
Biden targets bank 'junk fees'
Joe Biden spoke at the White House earlier, announcing an effort to remove “junk fees”, charges made by banks for services including overdrafts, or when a cheque turns out not to be valid.
Before the coronavirus pandemic, US banks charged customers around $15bn in junk fees every year.
Appearing with Biden, Rohit Chopra, director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, said: “We’re making progress. Banks across the country are cutting and even eliminating fees, saving families billions. This morning, the CFPB announced more actions to combat illegal and unexpected junk fees. One on surprise overdraft fees, and another on surprise depositor fees.
“We’re putting companies on notice about their obligations under law. We’re taking enforcement actions like one against a large bank for charging illegal overdraft fees. And customers will see hundreds of millions of dollars in refunds. We also sued a payments company for cramming $300m in extra fees on families who were just trying to sign up their kids for YMCA camps, or were just registering for a charity walkathon in their community.
“And we’re going to continue by finding ways to reduce burdens of other fees like the billions and penalties charged by banks and credit card companies through new rules and guidance. This is real money back in the pockets of American families is good for them. And it’s good for businesses that follow the law.”
Biden said his administration would “lower the cost of everyday living for American families, to put more money in the pockets of middle-income and working-class Americans, to hold big corporations accountable”.
There are, of course, less than two weeks to go before midterms election day, 8 November. Biden’s approval rating is falling and Democrats fear a battering at the ballot box, with Republicans poised to take back the House and maybe the Senate.
Saying “one of the things that I think frustrates the American people is the world’s in a bit of disarray”, Biden told reporters: “A lot of you come from backgrounds like I came from, we’re not poor, just regular folks. But that matters. It matters in your life … So anyway, I’m optimistic, it’s gonna take some time. And I appreciate the frustration in American people.”
The day so far
Less than two weeks to go before the 8 November midterms and here’s where things stand: Joe Biden is growing more unpopular. Democrats’ chances of keeping control of the House of Representatives are slim, while predictions for the new Republican majority are expanding. And Senate control is coming down to a handful of races, including Pennsylvania, where the Democratic candidate struggled in last night’s debate, and Georgia, where voters appear disinclined to support the Republican.
Elections haven’t been the only source of news today:
Mark Meadows, Donald Trump’s former chief of staff, was ordered to appear before a special grand jury investigating election meddling in Georgia. Meadows’ lawyer says he plans to appeal.
A Michigan jury convicted three men of charges related to plotting to kidnap the state’s Democratic governor Gretchen Whitmer.
Twelve GOP candidates to oversee voting in states nationwide deny the outcome of the 2020 election, presenting a threat to democracy. Arizona is home to one of the most high stakes of these races.
New polling in Georgia from Monmouth University shows Herschel Walker trailing his Democratic opponent, senator Raphael Warnock.
The state’s race is considered one of the GOP’s best chances to oust a sitting Democratic senator, but Monmouth finds Warnock has the edge, with 39% of those surveyed saying they will “definitely” vote for him and 10% saying they will “probably” do so. There’s slightly less enthusiasm for Walker with “definitely” at 33% among voters and “probably” at 11%.
GEORGIA VOTER POLL: US Senate race – Definite backers of Raphael Warnock (D) and Herschel Walker (R) are each up 7 pts. from Sept.
— MonmouthPoll (@MonmouthPoll) October 26, 2022
More say they will definitely *not* vote for @HerschelWalker (46%) than @ReverendWarnock (40%). https://t.co/tRZ1ESjiSx pic.twitter.com/WGoU5RL1c3
Warnock has a clear advantage in favorability, coming in at 51% among voters as opposed to Walker’s 43%. Monmouth notes that those figures have changed little over the past month, the time period when Walker was accused of paying for a woman’s abortion, even though he says he supports a national ban on the procedure, without exceptions.
“Walker’s path to victory is narrow, but it’s still there. He needs to get enough voters to overlook their misgivings about him to come over to his support or benefit from a turnout disparity among the two parties’ base voters. At this point, the latter option looks like his better bet,” director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute Patrick Murray said in a statement.
Georgia’s Republican senate candidate Herschel Walker backs a national ban on abortion without exceptions, but has been accused of hypocrisy after reports emerged he paid for a woman to end her pregnancy. His credibility problem may worsen later today, after a lawyer announced plans to introduce another woman who will say Walker paid for her abortion, Martin Pengelly reports:
The lawyer Gloria Allred was due on Wednesday to introduce to reporters a woman who alleges Herschel Walker, the Republican candidate for Senate in Georgia, took her to an abortion clinic to have an abortion.
Walker has voiced strict anti-abortion policies but has already been accused of paying for an abortion for another woman.
Allred said the woman now stepping forward, named as Jane Doe, would speak on Wednesday afternoon in Los Angeles.
The woman, Allred said, would “allege that she had a romantic, intimate relationship with Herschel Walker and that he drove her to an abortion clinic to have an abortion after she became pregnant as a result of her relationship with him”.
Allred also promised to reveal “some of Jane Doe’s evidence in support of her romance with Mr Walker”, and said her client would read a statement to reporters but would not reveal her name or her face.
Updated
Jury convicts three men in plot to kidnap Michigan governor
A jury in Michigan has convicted three men on charges related to a plot to kidnap Michigan’s Democratic governor Gretchen Whitmer, the Associated Press reports.
The unsuccessful scheme was attempted by anti-government extremists and came after two other defendants were found guilty of similar charges in August.
Whitmer is standing for re-election in the 8 November polls against Republican Tudor Dixon.
Here’s more on today’s verdict from the AP:
Joe Morrison, his father-in-law Pete Musico, and Paul Bellar were found guilty of providing “material support” for a terrorist act as members of a paramilitary group, the Wolverine Watchmen.
They held gun drills in rural Jackson County with a leader of the scheme, Adam Fox, who was disgusted with Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and other officials in 2020 and said he wanted to kidnap her.
Jurors read and heard violent, anti-government screeds as well as support for the “boogaloo,” a civil war that might be triggered by a shocking abduction. Prosecutors said COVID-19 restrictions ordered by Whitmer turned out to be fruit to recruit more people to the Watchmen.
“The facts drip out slowly,” state Assistant Attorney General Bill Rollstin told jurors in Jackson, Michigan, “and you begin to see — wow — there were things that happened that people knew about. ... When you see how close Adam Fox got to the governor, you can see how a very bad event was thwarted.”
Ex-Trump chief of staff ordered to testify in Georgia election meddling investigation
Mark Meadows, who served as White House chief of staff near the end of Donald Trump’s administration, has been ordered by a judge to appear before a Georgia special grand jury investigating efforts to meddle with the state’s 2020 election results, The New York Times reports.
Meadows had sued in South Carolina, where he lives, to challenge a subpoena compelling his appearance before jurors empaneled in Fulton county that is looking into attempts by Trump’s allies to overturn Georgia’s vote for Joe Biden two years ago.
According to the Times, Meadows’ lawyer James Bannister plans to appeal the ruling. He had unsuccessfully attempted to convince judge Edward W. Miller that the Georgia jury was not criminal in nature, and thus could not force Meadows to testify.
The former chief of staff is not the only Trump White House official summoned by the grand jurors, nor the only one to resist. Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani appeared before the panel, and has been told he was a target of its investigation. GOP senator Lindsey Graham was also summoned, but has challenged his subpoena all the way to the supreme court, which has temporarily blocked it as the justices consider his petition.
It’s not just control of Congress that’s on the ballot this year. Republicans who deny the validity of the 2020 election are running to overseeing voting in 12 states this year – including Arizona. The Guardian’s Ed Pilkington reports on the danger posed by secretary of state candidate Mark Finchem:
“BELIEVE”. The word is written in large blue letters above the door of Adrian Fontes’s campaign office in Scottsdale, Arizona, a replica of Ted Lasso’s motivational sign from the hit TV show featuring an American football coach thrown into the bear pit of the English Premier League.
“It speaks to me,” Fontes explained. “It says that ‘You can do it’ is a question of faith.”
Then there’s the sign on the other side of the door. Pinned discreetly to the back, where few visitors get to see it, is a printed notice that says: “Adrian, don’t fuck it up!”
If the “BELIEVE” sign speaks to Fontes, then the F-sign – created by his campaign chair – should speak to millions of other Americans. They may not know it yet, but their future as citizens of one of the world’s oldest democracies could depend on it.
At least that’s how Fontes sees the upcoming midterm election in which he is standing for statewide office. Asked what is at stake on 8 November, what hangs upon him not F-ing it up, he replied: “Literally the fate of the republic, and the free world too if you accept that America is still its leader. We are potentially looking at the democracy that upholds the United States of America no longer functioning.”
Two prominent American poll watchers have increased their forecasts for how many seats Republicans will win in House of Representatives – the chamber they have the best chance of retaking in the upcoming elections.
Cook Political Report now has the GOP winning 12 to 25 House seats, much more than the five necessary to gain control of the chamber:
NEW @CookPolitical House ratings: 211 seats at least Lean R, 191 seats at least Lean D, 33 Toss Ups. Our new outlook is a GOP gain of 12-25 seats. Full analysis: https://t.co/fSRaeBY2JM pic.twitter.com/RsyN70KZl0
— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) October 26, 2022
University of Virginia poll doyen Larry Sabato also predicts Republicans have the advantage in House seats:
.@LarrySabato's Crystal Ball now rates 218 House seats — the magic number for winning a majority — as at least Leans Republican in our House ratings. New analysis by @kkondik: https://t.co/DujzgtMqUb pic.twitter.com/LL0XFEzsRj
— Center for Politics at UVA (@Center4Politics) October 26, 2022
Biden's approval rating falls ahead of midterms
Americans are feeling even more sour about president Joe Biden ahead of the 8 November midterms, according to polling firm Gallup.
They report that his approval rating is now at 40%, retreating from the modest recovery it saw in August but above his low point of 38% the month prior:
President Joe Biden’s latest job approval rating is 40%, similar to his 42% September rating but down from 44% in August. https://t.co/78BFFakqJX
— GallupNews (@GallupNews) October 25, 2022
The data confirms that the Democratic leader’s popularity appears to have peaked over the summer amid a series of legislative wins and declining gas prices. Biden has been unpopular with voters for more than a year now, as Americans soured on high inflation and objected to his handling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The trend is a negative one for Democrats’ chances of holding their majorities in Congress in the 8 November midterms, though many of the party’s candidates are polling more strongly than Biden, indicating voters may be divorcing their opinions of the president from their preference for control of Congress.
Biden will in a few minutes speak about his administration’s actions to help families deal with rising costs. This blog will cover the speech as it happens, and you can watch it below:
That Donald Trump is planning another run for the presidency in 2024 is well known, and Martin Pengelly reports he’s considering hiring a Republican operative who played a key role in taking down Democrat John Kerry’s presidential campaign in 2004:
As he prepares a possible new presidential campaign, Donald Trump is seeking to recruit an operative who was behind a group which famously questioned the Vietnam war record of the 2004 Democratic nominee, John Kerry, the Washington Post reported.
The operative who ran Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, Chris LaCivita, worked for one Trump-aligned political action committee during the 2020 election and now runs another. He is also a consultant for Ron Johnson, a Trump-supporting Wisconsin senator fighting for re-election.
The Post cited four anonymous sources. It also reported LaCivita’s response: “Thank you for the opportunity but I don’t comment on rumours!!”
Joe Biden is the oldest president ever inaugurated, and will turn 80 this year – but still plans to run for re-election, according to a reporter who recently interviewed the president, Martin Pengelly reports:
Joe Biden is “totally running” for a second term, the MSNBC host Jonathan Capehart has said, just days after interviewing the US president.
The oldest president ever inaugurated, Biden will turn 80 on 20 November.
He told Capehart: “I can’t even say the age I’m going to be. I can’t even get it out of my mouth. You think I’m joking. I’m not joking.”
Speculation about Biden’s age and ambition has become a constant in US politics. Some Democrats have avoided saying he should run again or committing to supporting him if he does. Republicans – members of a party dominated by Donald Trump, a decidedly erratic 76 – regularly claim Biden is too old.
Regular Biden gaffes, this week including calling Rishi Sunak, the new British prime minister, “Rashi Sanook”, have reinforced such impressions in some quarters.
Conservative justice Supreme Court Samuel Alito last night spoke before a prominent Washington rightwing group, and claimed the leak of the court’s opinion overturning abortion rights nationwide put the justices in danger, Ed Pilkington reports:
The leak of the draft supreme court opinion abolishing the right to abortion put members of the conservative majority at risk of assassination, Samuel Alito, the author of the draft, has said.
Speaking in Washington at a rightwing thinktank, the Heritage Foundation, Alito called the leak a month before the final ruling was released “a grave betrayal of trust by somebody” that put several justices in danger.
“The leak also made those of us who were thought to be in the majority in support of overruling Roe and Casey targets for assassination because it gave people a rational reason to think they could prevent that from happening by killing one of us.”
Here’s a full rundown of last night’s Pennsylvania Senate debate between Democrat John Fetterman and Republican Mehmet Oz, from The Guardian’s Adam Gabbatt:
Abortion rights took centre stage during the debate for Pennsylvania’s US Senate seat on Tuesday night, as Mehmet Oz, a celebrity doctor and the Republican candidate, said decisions over abortion should be left to “women, doctors, local political leaders”, while John Fetterman, the Democrat candidate, criticised the GOP’s hardline stance.
The debate in Harrisburg started with Oz, a former surgeon and long-time host of the Dr Oz television show, discussing his desire to make “Washington civil again”. The Trump-backed Republican said he wanted to “unify, not divide”.
But Oz was soon reverting to a 2022 Republican playbook that has been characterised by pugnacity in races across the US, as he referred to Fetterman, Pennsylvania’s lieutenant governor, as a “left-wing extremist” who had “radical positions”.
Take a look at some of the highlights of the Pennsylvania Senate debate, courtesy of The Washington Post:
It was plain that John Fetterman, the state’s Democratic lieutenant governor, was still recovering from his stroke. He attempted to lean into it, saying “it knocked me down, and I’m going to keep coming back up.”
His Republican opponent Mehmet Oz didn’t have that problem, but made a gaffe when he said “women, doctors, local political leaders” should decide abortion access. That’s exactly the type of comment Democrats were looking for to remind voters of the threat to reproductive rights posed by the GOP.
It was still a rough night for Fetterman, and an online poll from a Pittsburgh television station confirms that viewers noticed:
NEW: WPXI Online Poll
— InteractivePolls (@IAPolls2022) October 26, 2022
Who won the PA Senate Debate?
(R) Mehmet Oz — 82%
(D) John Fetterman — 18%https://t.co/IBfFJGetal pic.twitter.com/qsp265y8EJ
Here’s how the state’s departing Republican senator Pat Toomey put it:
Anyone watching today could tell there was only one person on that stage who can represent Pennsylvania in the U.S. Senate: @droz.
— Pat Toomey (@PatToomey) October 26, 2022
It’s sad to see John Fetterman struggling so much. He should take more time to allow himself to fully recover. #pasenatedebate @abc27
Bob Casey Jr, Pennsylvania’s sitting Democratic senator, tied Fetterman’s debate performance, where he was assisted by a closed caption system, to the larger issue of rights for people with disabilities:
My office adds closed captions and alt text to our social media because we know that inclusivity and accessibility bring folks closer to our democracy and the governing process. Accessibility makes our democracy stronger. #PASenateDebate
— Bob Casey Jr. (@Bob_Casey) October 26, 2022
Meanwhile, an independent running as a write-in candidate on the ballot last night withdrew his candidacy, telling his supporters to vote for Fetterman:
U.S. Senate Announcement: I am polling around 3% which places Democracy at risk. In the interest of protecting the United States I am dropping out of the U.S Senate Race in PA. I fully endorse John Fetterman. The Democrats must win. PA must be Blue. It has been an honor running.
— Everett Stern (@EverettStern1) October 25, 2022
Brave or misguided? Fetterman's halting debate performance in crucial Senate race splits Democrats
Good morning, US politics blog readers. The candidates in Pennsylvania’s high-stakes Senate race faced off last night, where the effects of a recent stroke on Democrat John Fetterman became clear. He struggled to get his words out against Republican Mehmet Oz in the sort of performance that – rightly or wrongly – has sunk candidates in the past. Pennsylvania’s Senate seat is considered crucial for determining which party controls the chamber overall, and Democrats are now split over whether Fetterman did the right thing by showing up for the debate despite his recovery, or whether he should have skipped it. Expect to hear more about this today.
Here’s what else is going on:
Joe Biden is doing a flurry of campaign events for Democrats with less than two weeks before the 8 November midterm elections, appearing virtually today at receptions for Pennsylvania congressman Matt Cartwright, Iowa congresswoman Cynthia Axne and Nevada’s congressional delegation.
More debates are planned for today, including the New Hampshire governors race at 6pm eastern time and the South Carolina governors race at 7pm eastern time. Both states are currently led by Republicans.
Kamala Harris is in Washington state, where she’ll appear with Democratic senator Patty Murray amid fears her re-election could be in jeopardy despite the state’s longstanding blue tilt.
