The Latest: Many states deciding control of the Senate are seeing a big boost in early voting

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.

Trump must sit for a deposition in his defamation lawsuit against the BBC by Dec. 11, a federal judge said, after the broadcaster’s lawyers accused him of delaying his testimony. The judge warned that, unless the discovery period is extended, Trump could face sanctions including dismissal of his lawsuit if he fails to answer questions from the BBC’s lawyers under oath.

Here's the latest:

Republican Ashley Hinson launched her remarks to hundreds of President Donald Trump’s supporters at a rally in Sioux City, Iowa, by describing her phone calls with the president. “I’m not sure, frankly, that he’s always happy when we’re talking because I ask him for a lot of things for Iowa when we’re on the phone,” she said. “And that’s exactly what you would expect me to do, right, as your next United States senator.” Hinson, who currently serves in the U.S. House, faces Democrat Josh Turek in Iowa’s competitive and costly race for Senate. While Hinson said she’d be Trump’s top ally when she kicked off her campaign a year ago, she’s increasingly taken positions that break with the White House. It’s a balancing act many Republicans have had to do as high gas and grocery prices and an unpopular war in Iran frustrate voters. Trump will speak to Iowans in the state’s most conservative district to try to boost turnout.

Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal announced a new inquiry into how Space X’s Starlink and Starshield technologies were slowed down for Ukraine’s defense systems, exposing the country to incoming Russian missile attacks they could not quickly deter.

Blumenthal’s letter to Elon Musk and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth come after reporting from the Wall Street Journal about the slowdown.

“Whether that change was directed by the White House, DoD, or SpaceX, the episode raises urgent questions,” he wrote.

Separately, Republican Sen. Thom Tillis implored those involved to “raise your hand” if they were responsible. “Otherwise, let’s get this resolved,” he said on X.

The vice president’s midterm rally is schedule for 4 p.m. Monday at the steel fabricating firm Haas Metal Engineering’s plant in north Topeka, with Vance scheduled to speak at 5:15 p.m., the Republican National Committee said.

Vance’s visit comes a week after President Donald Trump held a rally in Wichita to boost Marshall’s chances of winning a tossup race against Democratic challenger Adam Hamilton that’s become the most expensive contest in state history. Vance also headlined a Sept. 14 rally in the Kansas City suburb of Olathe.

Republican groups have so far committed to spending $26 million on television and digital advertising through the election, according to the ad-tracking firm AdImpact. That’s offsetting Marshall’s lackluster fundraising and bringing the GOP’s total to $32 million. However, Hamilton and Democratic groups have committed to spending $38 million, bringing the total ad spending for both sides to $71 million.

The tight contest is even more notable because no Democrat has won a Senate seat in Kansas since 1932. That 94-year streak of one-party dominance is the nation’s longest.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is reiterating that troops cannot use “nonpublic information” to make bets on prediction markets.

“Our enemies watch movements in these markets,” Hegseth wrote in a memo dated Tuesday and reviewed by The Associated Press. “When an American Service member, intelligence professional, or other Department civilian engages in a financial transaction on a military outcome, they create a signal.”

The document stressed that troops are forbidden from using both classified and nonpublic unclassified information to make trades on platforms like Polymarket and Kalshi.

It says violators could be subject to both administrative punishment as well as criminal charges under the Uniform Code of Military Justice or federal law.

In April, U.S. Special Forces soldier involved in the military operation to capture then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was charged with using classified information about the mission to win more than $400,000 on Polymarket.

The memo was reported earlier by CBS News.

The president, during a gaggle with reporters before departing for a campaign rally, confirmed that the military version of the Starlink satellite service offered by SpaceX is once again working at optimal speeds for Ukraine.

The Wall Street Journal reported earlier on Thursday that SpaceX founder Elon Musk agreed to lift restrictions on Starlink for Ukraine. Trump demurred when asked if he requested Musk to lift the cap.

“You know whether I called or whether somebody else called doesn’t make any difference,” Trump said. “I guess the bottom line, he put it back.”

The speed restriction disrupted front-line operations and left Ukraine more exposed to Russia’s jet-powered Shahed drones, which fly at more than 400 kph (250 mph).

The State Department is renewing three fellowship programs designed to diversify the ranks of the U.S. foreign service that had been partially or fully suspended last year amid deep cuts to the diplomatic corps.

The department and Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau announced Thursday that the Pickering, Rangel and Payne fellowships for graduate students wanting to pursue careers in the foreign service would return with higher stipends and living expense payments than had been previously offered.

The suspension of the programs -- named for six-time ambassador Thomas Pickering and the late former congressmen Charles Rangel and Donald Payne – had been criticized by many in Congress.

The fellowships will resume at a lower level of enrollment and it was not immediately clear from the department’s statements if the criteria for acceptance had substantially changed from those in the past.

Todd Blanche was referring to a lawsuit the administration filed to force Los Angeles County to set aside ballots from 20,000 people across California that the Trump administration says may not be citizens. California officials say that’s impossible at this late date and that their quick checks have shown many appear to indeed be citizens.

Blanche said there may be similar cases in other states. “Whether we’re going to do something before the election, I don’t want to get ahead of the civil lawyers working on those cases,” he added after an appearance in Virginia.

Reporters asked the Attorney General whether the Department of Justice would challenge certification of the election. Blanche said that, while he couldn’t say such a thing could never happen, “it is not DOJ’s intention to and it’s never our intention to improperly interfere with elections or the state certification process.”

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes and Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, both Democrats, filed the lawsuit. They claim Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap, a Republican, is refusing to restore voting eligibility to 25 people who investigators have determined are U.S. citizens.

Heap initially suspected them of being noncitizens and revoked their eligibility.

The complaint says that unless those affected have their voter registration status restored immediately, they risk being denied the right to vote in this year’s midterm elections.

In a statement issued Thursday, Heap said his office has been “trying to restore these voters for weeks” but has been denied the proper documentation to do so by Mayes and the county attorney.

The Trump administration and some Republican officials have prioritized finding noncitizens on state voter rolls this year, but many people initially flagged in those investigations have turned out to be U.S. citizens

President Donald Trump said Thursday that Vivek Ramaswamy, the Republican nominee for Ohio governor, should keep running a controversial ad featuring the estranged mother of Democratic opponent Amy Acton, posting on social media that it was “hitting pay dirt.”

Trump also denounced Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine, who criticized the ad as “deeply, deeply troubling” earlier in the day. Acton previously served in DeWine’s administration as a health official. Her mother lost custody of Acton and her brother after her husband — the children’s stepfather — was indicted for raping Acton.

“He strongly suggested that Vivek should, ‘take down the Ad,’” Trump wrote. “He probably wants a Dumocrat to win, and certainly doesn’t want someone who will do a much better job than he is capable of doing. I suggested, on the other hand, that Vivek should keep it up, and let everyone listen to the mother of a defective, dishonest, and incapable Candidate, explain how the daughter is a DISASTER who, uncontrollably, lies, cheats, and steals!”

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez held a rally with Maine Senate candidate Troy Jackson on Thursday in which hundreds of attendees cheered her calls to expand healthcare and get the U.S. out of Iran.

Ocasio-Cortez is stumping for progressive candidates in the run-up to the midterm elections. Jackson is running against five-term Republican Sen. Susan Collins. He and Ocasio-Cortez dedicated a lot of the event to calls for changing America’s priorities from foreign conflicts to domestic cost of living issues.

Ocasio-Cortez said the nation’s spending priorities are leaving working people behind by focusing on war.

“How are we going to afford Iran, how are we are going afford Gaza, when our people back home can’t eat, can’t afford healthcare, can’t afford to build a bridge to get to work,” Ocasio-Cortez said.

Jackson also took a jab at Collins for appearing with retired Sen. Joe Manchin, a former Democrat who became an independent, in Lewiston on Wednesday.

The Trump administration has hit 61 current and former Bolivian and Colombian officials, judges and lawmakers and their families with travel bans for alleged corruption and narcotrafficking.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Thursday he had taken the step to further efforts by the U.S., Colombia and Bolivia to crack down on drug trafficking throughout the Western Hemisphere. The sanctions will revoke any current visas those targeted may hold and deny any future applications.

They apply to 40 Bolivians, including two sitting members of parliament, a former attorney general and a number of judicial and police officials, and 21 Colombians, including a current mayor and several former lawmakers.

Rubio said the sanctions target foreign nationals “who, through corruption or narcotrafficking activities, undermine democratically elected governments in our hemisphere -- regardless of their political affiliation.”

The South Carolina Republican senator says that’s what it will take to express her thoughts to the president about his waiver of the bill named for her late brother, Lindsey Graham.

Trump campaigned in the state for Darline Graham on Wednesday, as she seeks a full term replacing her brother.

She rode back to Washington with the president afterward “because I was asked to” but told reporters Thursday in Columbia that she didn’t bring up the waiver because “there were other people on the plane,” adding, “That’s a private conversation.”

Graham helped ensure Senate passage of the sweeping new sanctions package targeting the Russian economy, which Trump signed into law but paused last week. On Saturday, she said she intended to discuss Trump’s decision, with which she disagreed.

Calley Means, a top Make America Healthy Again adviser to the Trump administration, has resigned from his role just days ahead of the midterm elections.

Means said he “leaves with tremendous respect” for Trump and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. He did not elaborate on the reasons for his departure.

“The past two years have seen historic policy and cultural change to confront the chronic disease crisis and healthcare incentives that profit from us being sick,” he said. “This movement is in the first inning and just getting started.”

Means was hired as a White House adviser early in the second Trump administration. He used that perch to attack the nation’s leading physician groups, federal agencies and government scientists, claiming they only protect their own interests in the nation’s $4.9 trillion-a-year industry.

Vice President JD Vance stopped his speech and led the audience in prayer after a person in the risers behind him appeared to collapse on Thursday.

As emergency workers responded during a rally in North Platte, Neb., Vance asked those “who are of the praying type” to join him in prayer. Vance, a Catholic, crossed himself and recited the Lord’s Prayer as some in the crowd folded their hands and joined him. Vance also asked his staff to send a doctor.

“Always in moments like this, I try to pray as the Lord taught us to pray,” Vance said.

After the prayer, Vance walked into the risers and knelt down as the person was being helped. He later returned to the podium to finish his remarks.

President Donald Trump on Thursday accused LeBron James of disrespecting the United States after the NBA star appeared to continue his warm-ups while the national anthem was performed before Philadelphia’s season opener on Tuesday.

“I said right from the beginning that he’s no good, a TOTAL DISGRACE,” Trump said of James in a social media post sharing the video. “LeBron James should apologize to all of those Great American Warriors and Heroes who died for the American Flag, and all that our Country stands for!”

James appeared to practice a golf swing and jump shot as The Star-Spangled Banner was performed at Tuesday’s game in New York. James, starting his first season with Philadelphia, was lined up alongside teammates who mostly stood still during the anthem.

Trump and James have been critical of each other for years, occasionally trading public swipes.

The order came as the BBC’s lawyers complained that Trump had delayed his appearance. Attorney Charles Tobin said that, with two months left in the discovery period, “We still haven’t been able to depose the plaintiff.”

He noted there was an agreed-upon date of Oct. 16, but Trump canceled it for a “matter of national importance.” Tobin said Trump was in fact campaigning in Georgia.

“He was participating in party politics and prioritized that over sitting for the deposition,” Tobin said.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Enjoliqué Lett said Trump must sit for a deposition by Dec. 11, or face sanctions up to dismissal of his lawsuit — unless the discovery period was extended past Dec. 18.

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The Trump administration has faced numerous questions about interruptions to the Elon Musk-made satellite internet system that Ukraine has relied on to counter Russian attacks.

In Cincinnati on Thursday, Vice President JD Vance was asked about Musk’s involvement in the slowdown of Starlink and Starshield in Ukraine and whether it warranted an investigation.

“I think that fundamentally, Elon Musk runs a private corporation,” Vance told reporters. “And I think it’s completely understandable that he doesn’t want to get in the middle of what is a war between two state actors without the United States government effectively directing him on what to do.”

Vance continued: “So I don’t think this is about Elon. I think it’s fundamentally what is America’s policy in Ukraine and Russia going to be.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, meanwhile, have said this week that the U.S. didn’t order or direct any throttling of network access in Ukraine.

Progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is in Maine on Thursday to campaign for Democrat Troy Jackson, whose Senate bid is critical for the party to take control of the chamber.

Jackson is running against five-term incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins. She campaigned with retired former Democratic-turned-independent Sen. Joe Manchin in the state on Wednesday.

Ocasio-Cortez’s event with Jackson is at a theater in Portland on Thursday and is billed as a “Students vs. Billionaires” town hall.

Ocasio-Cortez has also campaigned for Abdul El-Sayed, who is running for Senate in Michigan, another state that's key to Democrats’ efforts to flip the Senate.

Ohio’s governor has denounced a controversial ad featuring the estranged mother of Dr. Amy Acton, taking sides with the Democratic candidate for governor and former member of his Cabinet over her Republican rival, Vivek Ramaswamy.

At a gaggle with reporters at the Statehouse in Columbus, DeWine called the ad “deeply, deeply troubling.”

“It’s wrong to run this ad,” he said. “I would urge Ramaswamy’s campaign to take this down.”

DeWine’s remarks place him at odds with Ramaswamy, whom he has endorsed. The biotech entrepreneur and 2024 presidential candidate has taken responsibility for the 60-second video, which has drawn bipartisan rebukes, and is spending $4 million to broadcast it online and on TV.

The vice president laid out concerns about horserace polling and urged Republicans to tune them out because it could dampen enthusiasm among Trump voters.

“Obviously, you never know what the final outcome is going to be,” Vance told reporters on Thursday in Cincinnati, adding: “it’s important for everybody to remember that sometimes these polls actually have this, this demotivating effect on our voters.”

He cited some polls in the 2020 and 2024 presidential races that turned out to be highly inaccurate.

“But I talk to people, and I do think they have the effect of demotivating our voters, which is why I encourage people: ignore the polls, run like we’re down, and try to make the best case that we can,” Vance said. “Eventually, of course, the American people make the decision.”

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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Vice President JD Vance speaks to reporters before boarding Air Force Two, at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, in Hebron, Ky., Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, en route to a campaign rally in Nebraska. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)

FILE - Virginia Senate President pro tempore Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, listens to debate on the Senate floor, Feb. 17, 2026, in Richmond, Va. (AP Photo/Ryan M. Kelly, File)

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)

President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House, Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026, in Washington, as Vice President JD Vance listens. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at Pitt–Greenville Airport, Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026, in Greenville, N.C. (AP Photo/Matt Ramey)

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — President Donald Trump said Thursday that Vivek Ramaswamy, the GOP nominee for Ohio governor, should keep running a controversial ad featuring the estranged mother of Democratic opponent Amy Acton, as debate over the ad divided Republicans and threatened to spill into other races and states.

Trump called Acton “fair game” and denounced Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine, who criticized the ad as “deeply, deeply troubling.” Acton previously served in DeWine’s Cabinet as state director of health. Her mother lost custody of Acton and her brother after her husband — the children’s stepfather — was indicted for raping Acton when she was 12.

“All I know is Amy Acton’s mother said horrible things about Amy Acton, calling her a liar and other things and unreliable. A lot of very bad things,” Trump told reporters before leaving Washington to campaign for Republican candidates in Iowa. “And I say that she’s fair game.”

At a gathering with reporters at the Ohio Statehouse, DeWine recalled the painful experiences of rape victims he dealt with as a county prosecutor and state attorney general.

“It’s wrong to run this ad,” he said. “And, even at this late time — my wife, Fran, saw the ad just run this morning on TV — I would just urge the Ramaswamy campaign to take this down.”

The term-limited DeWine’s remarks place him at odds with Ramaswamy, whom he has endorsed. The biotech entrepreneur and former presidential candidate has said he planned to spend $4 million to broadcast the ad online and on television.

The question of whether it should be on the air reached into other contests, far from Ohio. Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson, the GOP nominee for Senate in Iowa, told a reporter before Trump’s visit to the state that the ad is “absolutely terrible.”

“I think they should take the ad down,” Hinson told ABC News.

GOP U.S. Sen. Jon Husted, in a tight race in Ohio, has said he would not have run the ad.

The governor stopped short of pulling his backing of the Republican for now. DeWine recalled a previous line of attack by the Acton campaign had mentioned Ramaswamy's mother and said that also was wrong — “family members have always historically been off limits” — though he noted it was never used in a multimillion-dollar ad campaign.

That critique from the summer cited an investigative report into Geetha Ramaswamy's role at a pharmaceutical company run by her son, whom Acton and Democrats described as “hiring his own mother to manipulate clinical trial data.” The Ramaswamy campaign called those claims “slanderous.”

It also said Ramaswamy is being held to a different standard than Acton and other Democrats who have attacked Republicans’ families, and will not be pulling the ad.

“Governor DeWine is correct that the first and only candidate to attack the mother of her opponent in this race was Amy Acton,” spokesperson Connie Luck said in a statement, adding, "We refuse to accept the media's double standards.”

Trump questioned DeWine’s loyalty to the Republican candidate.

“He strongly suggested that Vivek should, ‘take down the Ad,’” Trump wrote on social media earlier Thursday. “He probably wants a Dumocrat to win, and certainly doesn’t want someone who will do a much better job than he is capable of doing.”

By chiming in, DeWine has entered the fray among Ohio Republicans over the advertisement — as both the governor's race and a race for U.S. Senate appear far tighter than expected in a state Trump won handily three times. The video features Acton’s birth mother, Donna Arthur, calling her “a liar” and insinuating she has mental health issues.

Acton, Ohio’s COVID-19-era health director, has made no secret of facing homelessness and abuse as a child. Arthur lost custody of her children after their stepfather, Arthur's husband, was indicted on a charge of rape involving Acton. Acton's campaign on Tuesday posted a video of her brother, who supported her backstory about living in a tent and being abused.

Republican Vice President JD Vance, an Ohio native son, expressed disgust during an Ohio campaign swing Wednesday with Republicans “whining” about the ad as low and in poor taste. Husted, who was DeWine's lieutenant governor and is defending his seat from a comeback by Democratic former Sen. Sherrod Brown, has since said he would not have run the ad, as has Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose, who is running for state auditor.

Another influential Ohio Republican, former U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci, posted a lengthy essay on X overnight suggesting that “the floor may have just fallen out from under the Republican campaign for Ohio Governor” and urging every Republican to distance themselves from it.

Amid the turmoil, Ohio Republican Party Chairman Alex Triantafilou posted what sounded like a warning, or a threat.

“The final days of a tough campaign are always the best time to find out who is really with you and who just posts and pretends,” he wrote. “Yes — we are keeping score.” The quote was followed by a winking-eye emoji.

The ad is also dividing Republicans nationally, while Democrats have rallied around Acton.

Nikki Haley, who sparred with Ramaswamy during the 2024 Republican presidential primary over the personal nature of his attacks, called him “a bad guy” in a social media post Tuesday. “It’s a shame he continues to get away with it,” she wrote.

At the same time, Media Matters for America, a left-leaning media watchdog group, has reported that many within the national conservative media are promoting and praising the ad. Ramaswamy's campaign manager, Jonathan Ewing, characterized it as “a campaign-ending moment for Amy Acton.”

Wayne Allyn Root of Gateway Pundit called it “absolutely hilarious” and Daily Wire host Michael Knowles described it as “brilliant.”

Democratic Governors Association spokesperson Izzi Levy said: “Child abuse and sexual assault should never be weaponized to score partisan points. Governor DeWine is right — Vivek Ramaswamy’s ad is beyond troubling, and he should take it down immediately and apologize to survivors everywhere and all those hurt by this reprehensible attack.”

Illinois first lady MK Pritzker said she donated $500,000 to Acton’s campaign because of the ad.

Police and court records show Cledith Arthur was arrested and charged with the rape of Acton in July 1978, when she was 12, after her biological father lodged a formal complaint against him. The abuse allegedly happened from December 1976 to April 1978. Cledith Arthur failed to show for a court appearance and became a fugitive.

Donna Arthur remained married to him until his death in 2004.

A boy covers his face with an American flag as President Donald Trump walks past before boarding Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House, Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters before walking to board Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

FILE - Gov. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, speaks at an event at the National Governors Association Winter Meeting, Feb. 19, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert, File)

President Donald Trump listens as gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy speaks at a campaign rally at the Covelli Centre, in Youngstown, Ohio, Monday, Oct. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)