Biden fights to stop midterms defeat as Republicans poised for sweeping gains

Momentum appears to be with Republicans capitalising on economic frustration as experts say party peaking at right time

Joe Biden is fighting a rearguard action to stave off defeat in Tuesday’s midterm elections as Republicans look poised to make sweeping gains in the US Congress, setting up two years of political trench warfare.

The president, along with former president Barack Obama, has been criss-crossing America in a last-ditch bid to persuade voters that a Democratic victory is critical not only to Biden’s legislative agenda but the preservation of American democracy.

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Kari Lake closes campaign office over envelope with white powder – reports

Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate’s staffer opened the envelope and is under medical supervision, spokesperson says

Arizona’s Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake closed a campaign office after an envelope containing “suspicious white powder” was delivered to the premises on Saturday, according to reports.

A member of the candidate’s staff unwittingly opened the envelope and is now under “medical supervision”, campaign spokesperson Colton Duncan told CNN.

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Republicans and Democrats make last arguments as midterms loom

Democrats frame election as referendum on US democracy while Republicans say they will better address economic woes

US political leaders from both sides of the aisle on Sunday made their closing arguments to voters two days before the hotly contested midterm elections, with several top Democrats framing the election as a referendum on American democracy.

President Joe Biden accused Republicans of reveling in political violence, saying hundreds of the party’s candidates for state, federal and local office were “election deniers, who say that I did not win the election, even though hundreds of attempts to challenge have all failed, even in Republican courts”.

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US far-right group sparks legal firestorm over drive to monitor drop-box voting

Melody Jennings of Clean Elections USA teamed up with True the Vote for project that echos Trump’s false claims about 2020

A far-right group run by a Christian pastor has sparked a legal firestorm by spearheading a drive to aggressively monitor drop-box voting for fraud in Arizona and other states, in an echo of Donald Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election results were rigged.

Melody Jennings, who runs Clean Elections USA, has teamed up with the conservative group True the Vote, which has a track record for making debunked charges of voting fraud. Together they are promoting a project to hunt for alleged drop-box fraud, which Jennings boasted in multiple interviews on Steve Bannon’s podcast War Room and the MG Show, a conspiratorial QAnon program.

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‘He was chosen’: the rightwing Christian roadshow spreading the gospel of Trump

Part Trump rally, part religious service, and much conspiracy theory thrown in – on the eve of the midterms, Ed Pilkington visits the ReAwaken America tour

“There is a man by the name of Donald,” the voice on the recording says. “God said, ‘You have been determined through your prayers to influence this nation … I will open that door that you prayed about, and when it comes time for the election you will be elected.”

Three thousand people are packed into an overflowing auditorium, many with arms raised and eyes closed in prayer. The recording to which they are listening is from April 2013 and of Kim Clement, a late South African preacher, as he prophesies the first coming of Donald Trump.

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Trump speeds down runway of presidential bid as he stumps for midterm election picks

Ex-president strikes familiar notes at Pennsylvania rally as he swipes at potential rival ‘Ron DeSanctimonious’ and effectively kicks off another run for White House

A Boeing 757 plane halted on the runway with “Trump” emblazoned on the side in giant gold letters. Loudspeakers boomed Elvis Presley’s Dixie, Village People’s YMCA and Lee Greenwood’s God Bless the USA. Donald Trump descended stairs to rapturous cheers and whistles from thousands of supporters.

Officially, the former US president was rallying at a regional airport to support Republicans candidates in Tuesday’s midterm elections. Unofficially, he was already accelerating down the runway of a 2024 campaign for the White House.

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Ohio’s partisan supreme court election could decide abortion’s future in state

The midterms include key elections to the state’s highest court as the judicial system becomes increasingly politicized

In Ohio, a highly partisan fight over three state supreme court seats could determine the political direction of the court on a slew of important issues – particularly abortion.

With the US supreme court increasingly handing issues such as voting rights, abortion, gun rights and gerrymandering back to the states, state supreme court races are becoming more important than ever.

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Republicans appear better positioned than ever ahead of midterms

History shows that the president’s party typically loses seats in midterm, and Democrats seem likely to follow that pattern

With just a few days left before polls close in America’s crucial midterm elections, Republicans appear better positioned than ever to regain control of the House of Representatives and potentially the Senate as well.

History shows that the president’s party typically loses seats in midterm elections, and despite some optimistic signs over the summer, Democrats now seem likely to follow that pattern on 8 November.

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Twitter’s mass layoffs, days before US midterms, could be a misinformation disaster

Internal chaos at the company – and the decimation of its staff – has created ideal conditions for falsehoods and hateful content

The mass layoffs at Twitter that diminished several teams, including staff on the company’s safety and misinformation teams, could spell disaster during the US midterm elections next week, experts have warned.

The company has laid off around 50% of its workforce, according to news reports; a figure that Musk and others have not disputed, amounting to an estimated 3,700 people.

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Democrat John Fetterman gets boost from Oprah Winfrey in key Senate race – live

In less than an hour, Twitter employees expect official notification of whether or not they will keep their jobs under Elon Musk’s ownership.

A bloodbath is expected, and Twitter’s headquarters in San Francisco has been closed today while the news is delivered and employees digest their fates, or, as Musk may prefer, let the news “sink in”.

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Chuck Schumer insists Democrats can hold or expand Senate majority – as it happened

In Pennsylvania, Chris McGreal reports that a major pro-Israel group is facing criticism for backing Republicans who denied the 2020 election, but not a Democratic candidate who would make history if elected:

More than 240 Jewish American voters in Pittsburgh have signed a letter denouncing the US’s largest pro-Israel group for backing extremist Republican election candidates while spending millions of dollars to oppose a Democrat who would be Pennsylvania’s first Black female member of Congress.

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Mehmet Oz campaigns at venue that bans same-sex weddings

Pennsylvania Republican Senate candidate has said he supports legislation that would enshrine same-sex marriage in federal law

Mehmet Oz, the Republican nominee for the Pennsylvania Senate seat who says he is in favour of same-sex marriage, hosted a campaign event on Wednesday at a venue that bans same-sex marriages.

Oz, who has campaigned on supporting legislation that would enshrine same-sex marriage in federal law, held a campaign event at the Stone Gables Estate, a venue that only holds weddings between a man and a woman, reported the Washington Post.

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Biden addresses nation on threats to democracy ahead of midterms – live

The president speaks against election deniers running for office, saying they are leading a path to ‘chaos in America’

Donald Trump’s lawyers tailored their petition specifically to supreme court justice Clarence Thomas for reasons both practical and symbolic, Politico reports.

Thomas is well known for his conservative jurisprudence, but Politico notes he is also the justice responsible for handling emergency filings out of Georgia – which means he would get the Trump legal team’s petition about its election conduct, Politico says.

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FBI arrests two alleged far-right Boogaloo Boys group members

The arrests come amid concerns about the potential for violence around next week’s US midterm elections

The FBI has arrested two alleged members of the far-right anti-government group the Boogaloo Boys, as authorities express increasing concern about the potential for violence around next week’s US midterm elections.

Timothy Teagan was expected to appear on Wednesday in federal court in Detroit, where charges against him would be unsealed, an FBI spokesperson said.

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Republicans urged to purge extremists after attack on House speaker’s husband – live

Leading historian warns that assault of Paul Pelosi was not an aberration amid erosion of democratic norms

Supreme court chief justice John Roberts has temporarily stopped the Internal Revenue Service from turning over Donald Trump’s tax returns to a House committee, Reuters reports.

The decision comes after Trump yesterday petitioned the high court to review lower court rulings that allowed the Democratic-led House ways and means committee to receive six years of the former president’s filings. According to the New York Times, Roberts, who handles petitions filed in Washington, wants the House committee to respond by Thursday:

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US school criticizes Republican Senate candidate for repeating false litter box claim

Don Bolduc, who is running in New Hampshire against Democrat Maggie Hassan, spreads anti-trans rightwing trope

A New Hampshire school has rebuked the Republican US Senate candidate Don Bolduc for claiming schoolchildren were identifying as “furries and fuzzies” in classrooms, using litter trays and licking themselves and each other.

“I wish I was making it up,” Bolduc, a retired special forces general, said last week.

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Georgia governor debate: Kemp silent on question over harsher abortion restrictions

Republican Brian Kemp and Democratic challenger Stacey Abrams spar in final gubernatorial debate before midterms

In the final televised debate with Democratic challenger Stacey Abrams before their November election, Georgia’s governor, Brian Kemp, refused to say whether he would support harsher abortion restrictions if re-elected to a second term and if fellow Republicans dominating the state legislature sent them to his desk.

At WSB-TV’s Channel 2 Action debate Sunday, Kemp, a Republican, said it was not his “desire to go move the needle any further” on abortion restrictions in Georgia, adding that he would look into additional restrictions passed by state lawmakers “when the time comes.” Kemp at a previous debate had said he “would not” support new abortion limits.

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‘Somebody’s going to die’: Democrats warn of political violence after Paul Pelosi attack

Dire warnings after hammer assault on speaker’s husband and amid concern that security does not adequately reflect threats

Democratic politicians have ramped up their warnings about the threat of political violence in America after a man bludgeoned House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s 82-year-old husband with a hammer in their California home on Friday.

The dire warnings come amid longstanding concern that security services provided do not adequately reflect ongoing threats, especially as midterm elections loom. The Associated Press reported on Sunday that Paul Pelosi’s assailant had been carrying zip ties when he broke in.

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Man who attacked speaker’s husband Paul Pelosi facing attempted homicide charge – as it happened

Paul Pelosi was attacked at San Francisco home while House speaker was in Washington

The Guardian’s Joan E Greve has taken a close look at Democrats’ chances ahead of the 8 November midterms, and finds things are not looking good for Joe Biden’s party:

With less than two weeks to go until election day, Democrats’ hopes of defying political history and keeping their narrow majorities in the House and Senate appear to be fading, as many of the party’s candidates go on the defensive in the final days of campaigning.

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Republican and Trump critic Liz Cheney to campaign for Michigan Democrat

Wyoming congresswoman, who lost her Republican primary, endorses Elissa Slotkin in seventh congressional district

Republican congresswoman Liz Cheney on Thursday endorsed Democratic congresswoman Elissa Slotkin of Michigan and plans to campaign for her.

It is the first time that Cheney, a critic of Donald Trump who lost her Republican primary, has crossed party lines to formally support a Democrat.

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