GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Green Bay coach Matt LaFleur says the Packers plan to keep Josh Jacobs on their roster following the news of previous allegations against the running back, who has pleaded no contest to two misdemeanor charges stemming from a May altercation with his then-girlfriend.
“We’re going to allow the NFL to do its process, but I would anticipate him being a member of us moving forward,” LaFleur said Monday. “That’s really all I have to speak on.”
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Detroit Lions linebacker Derrick Barnes (55) breaks up a pass intended for Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs during the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Rey Del Rio)
Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs, left, celebrates after scoring a touchdown with wide receiver Matthew Golden, right, during the second half of an NFL football game in Green Bay, Wis., Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Mike Roemer)
Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs (8) breaks a tackle by Detroit Lions cornerback Keith Abney II (6) during a touchdown reception in the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs (8) is tackled by Detroit Lions safety Chuck Clark (36) during the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Rey Del Rio)
LaFleur was asked why the Packers weren't cutting ties with Jacobs.
“Because we’re just going to let everything kind of play out and obviously go from there,” he replied.
Jacobs pleaded no contest on Sept. 10 to misdemeanor charges of battery and criminal damage to property. He was arrested May 26 after his then-girlfriend said he had thrown her to the ground three days earlier.
In response to a public records request, the Hobart-Lawrence (Wisconsin) Police Department released records from their investigation Friday night that included the accounts of three other women who reported similar incidents from years before.
After spending the first six games of the season on the commissioner’s exempt list, which prevented him from playing or practicing, Jacobs returned to play in the Packers’ last two games. The NFL has said its investigation into Jacobs is ongoing, which means he still could be subject to more discipline from the league.
Lawyers representing Jacobs said he has a “substantial body of tangible evidence” disputing the allegations that surfaced in Friday’s records release.
“Josh took responsibility for what happened in May,” David Z. Chesnoff, Richard A. Schonfeld and Clarence F. Duchac III said Sunday in a statement. “He entered into an agreement with prosecutors for two misdemeanors, and he is meeting the court’s requirements.
“The three accounts are old, are hearsay, and easily disproven, yet released to the media by police without any investigation to determine whether they were accurate or contradicted by evidence. Josh is answering them in detail because of the character assassination that is occurring, unfairly threatening his career.”
Jacobs’ lawyers said that one of the three women made a claim to the NFL, which reviewed it and decided no action was warranted. They said Jacobs “has kept evidence that supports his accounts and the NFL’s decision.”
The NFL declined comment Sunday on the lawyers’ statement. After Hobart-Lawrence police released the records that detailed the accounts from the other women, NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy had said Saturday that the league would review these allegations as part of its investigation.
After charges were initially filed against Jacobs, LaFleur said on Sept. 1 that “I believe him and I trust him” and added that “I’m going to do that until proven otherwise.” When Jacobs came off the commissioner’s exempt list and started practicing with the Packers again two weeks ago, LaFleur said that “I think people learn from their mistakes and I think he’s extremely remorseful and I do believe that he’s a good person.”
LaFleur was asked Monday about his support for Jacobs and whether anything had changed in that regard.
“I’m not going to get into that up here right now,” LaFleur said. “We’ll just let the process play out.”
Jacobs’ arrest followed a May 23 incident in which police officers came to his Wisconsin home to investigate a disturbance. According to police, a woman told them Jacobs grabbed her and threw her to the ground as she was trying to exit a garage door, causing her to hit her head. Police said Jacobs also took her phone from her while she was on the ground.
Police said they noticed redness on her face and neck and could feel a bump on the back of her head.
Since returning to the Packers, Jacobs has 32 carries for 75 yards and a touchdown plus 11 catches for 68 yards and two more scores.
Jacobs scored two touchdowns in a 27-19 victory over the Carolina Panthers on Thursday and celebrated the first of those scores by briefly putting his hands together behind his back. Jacobs said after the game that he was paying homage to a gospel song titled “Break Every Chain,” but he was criticized on social media by people who believed he was simulating getting handcuffed.
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Detroit Lions linebacker Derrick Barnes (55) breaks up a pass intended for Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs during the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Rey Del Rio)
Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs, left, celebrates after scoring a touchdown with wide receiver Matthew Golden, right, during the second half of an NFL football game in Green Bay, Wis., Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Mike Roemer)
Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs (8) breaks a tackle by Detroit Lions cornerback Keith Abney II (6) during a touchdown reception in the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs (8) is tackled by Detroit Lions safety Chuck Clark (36) during the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Rey Del Rio)
WASHINGTON (AP) — As midterm campaigns careened toward their conclusion, Democrats pushed through intraparty divisions Monday to stay focused on voters’ economic frustrations, while Republicans cast their opponents as dangerous radicals. President Donald Trump, the GOP's most powerful voice, seemed more interested in his plans for beautifying Washington, D.C.
The dueling closing messages came as the nation's two major parties battled for control of Congress and key governors' offices. The outcome could fundamentally reshape Trump's final two years in the White House — and the level of power that comes with it.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court rejected the Trump administration's request to sideline thousands of disputed California mail ballots, and the president separately raised the prospect of voter fraud in Alaska.
Interest in the election was high: There were more than 57 million ballots already cast in 47 states and D.C. as of Monday, compared to a little under 44.5 million cast early in 49 states and D.C. in 2022.
Overall, Democrats expressed overwhelming optimism about their party's chances Tuesday, thanks largely to Trump's struggle to control rising prices and the war in Iran, which has already spanned eight months. The U.S. military conducted new defensive strikes on some Iranian targets in the Strait of Hormuz, even though Trump previously said he wouldn’t launch strikes on Iran before Tuesday’s midterms.
Trump himself acknowledged that the midterm election may not go well for him or his party.
“For some reason, the sitting president doesn’t win the midterms, but we gave this a very strong shot," Trump said in remarks at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, where he talked extensively about new grass, rusty pipes and algae. “We have a lot of great things planned for Washington, and I could get into (more about) the nation, but for that you don’t have enough time.”
The speech at the National Mall marked Trump's final scheduled public speech before Tuesday. The Republican president was also scheduled to participate in nine telerallies for Republican midterm candidates and he appeared on Fox News.
Emboldened Democrats, meanwhile, spent election eve pressing their economic message in places like Iowa, Ohio, Kansas and Texas — red states that have emerged as a central front in the 2026 midterms given Trump's unpopularity. In the Midwest, however, Democrats worked to contain the fallout from a messy intraparty fight a day after Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens stunned her party by endorsing Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed 's Republican opponent, Mike Rogers.
El-Sayed largely ignored the controversy at multiple events Monday, emphasizing instead that his campaign was about voters. Asked what he would tell nervous supporters, El-Sayed had a simple message: “Go vote.”
Trump, in his final speech before polls open, delivered rambling remarks Monday afternoon at the Reflecting Pool, where he repeated false statements that the project was sabotaged by vandals. The Justice Department has acknowledged in court that the new blue liner he had installed on the pool surface peeled and detached because of a rushed repair job.
He said little about the national economy, which voters say is their chief concern, aside from insisting it was “great.”
“Our country is doing great. I think it’s the greatest we’ve ever done,” Trump declared. “We had a great first term in terms of the economy. We had the best term ever. We had the most successful economy.”
Only 17% of U.S. adults approve of the Republican president’s handling of the cost of living, according to a recent poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Just 26% approved of Trump's handling of the economy overall in the poll, marking a new low.
The president spent the majority of his remarks focused on the Reflecting Pool renovation, reflecting on the challenge of removing algae and installing new grass, among other things. He also promoted new Washington-area construction projects, including a golf course and a “promenade” that would let people walk from the Lincoln Memorial to the Potomac River.
“It’s a great architectural concept, simple and beautiful and white stone,” Trump said.
Tuesday's elections were largely an afterthought in the president's remarks. He did, however, briefly portray his political rivals as extremists, claiming that Democrats had “nominated the most extreme and dangerous slate of candidates in American history.”
The president's message in the midterms' closing days was similarly detached from voters' concerns about the high cost of living. He's called affordability a “hoax” along with repeatedly praising the physiques of the GOP's nominees.
Vice President JD Vance stuck closer to the party message while campaigning Monday in Rome, New York. He touted Trump's moves to end taxes on tips and overtime and secure the border while branding Democrats as “lunatics" who have contempt for American voters.
Democratic candidates were working to capitalize on widespread disaffection over high prices, the fallout from Trump's war with Iran and historical trends that typically favor the party out of power in midterm elections.
Indeed, facing major political headwinds, Republicans are playing defense in multiple states Trump carried by double digits just two years ago.
In places like Texas, where voters have not elected a Democratic senator since 1988, Democrat James Talarico received a rock star's welcome at a packed outdoor amphitheater as he railed against the influence of pro-Trump billionaires like Elon Musk, who has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to shape the midterms.
Talarico quoted scripture during his remarks after blaming “corrupt tariffs” for rising grocery prices and “a new corrupt war in the Middle East” for higher gas and diesel prices.
At roughly the same time elsewhere in the state, Republican Ken Paxton sidestepped voters' economic concerns and instead attacked his Democratic opponent in cultural terms.
“James Talarico is a vegan who hates meat,” Paxton charged, before falsely calling Talarico a democratic socialist “just like New York Mayor Mamdani.”
Paxton acknowledged the difficult political environment Republicans are facing: “Texas has never been this close to slipping away."
Democrats were also on offense in Iowa, a state Trump carried by almost 14 percentage points just two years ago. Democrat Rob Sand called on volunteers knocking on doors to help him become the first Democratic governor elected in two decades.
“This is it," said Sand, who faces Republican Zach Lahn. "We have 30-whatever hours to change the direction of the state of Iowa.”
Later in the day, Republican Senate candidate Ashley Hinson and her family braved heavy rain to rally voters. She warned that Iowa values “are on the ballot tomorrow.”
“Grab an umbrella,” Hinson said for those voting Tuesday. “At least it’s not a blizzard.”
Democrats in Michigan — a key state in their efforts to try to retake the Senate — were trying to keep their coalition together after a shock Sunday when Stevens announced she would back the GOP candidate instead of her party's nominee.
Stevens did not attend Rogers' rally Monday night in Michigan, but she got a long ovation from the crowd as the Republican Senate hopeful spoke about her endorsement. Attendees chanted, “Haley! Haley! Haley!”
“You know courage when you see it,” Rogers said of Stevens.
Stevens is a staunch supporter of Israel, while El-Sayed is a fierce critic of the U.S. ally. He has also been criticized for past remarks regarding a Michigan synagogue attack and for appearances with controversial streamer Hasan Piker.
El-Sayed sought to ignore the controversy, focusing instead on Trump's policies and the state of the economy. He also mocked Trump, who referred to El-Sayed as “a jihadist” earlier in the day.
“My name and my faith are not the reason you can’t afford your gas. They’re not the reason you can’t afford your groceries, not the reason you can’t see a doctor,” El-Sayed told a crowd in Detroit. “It is their policies that are doing that. It is their war in Iran, the illegal, unjustifiable, unethical, immoral war that we have no business fighting.”
“I don’t really quite care that he knows how to say my name,” he continued, “because after tomorrow, he can just go on and call me senator.”
Associated Press writers Seung Min Kim in Washington, Hannah Fingerhut in Ankeny, Iowa, Mike Householder in Ypsilanti, Michigan, Sarah Rankin in Richmond, Virginia, and Mike Catalini, Moriah Balingit and Joey Cappelletti in Washington contributed to this report.
Michigan Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers greets people at an election eve event Monday, Nov. 2, 2026, in Rochester Hills, Mich. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
President Donald Trump speaks in front of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, Monday, Nov. 2, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
President Donald Trump speaks in front of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, Monday, Nov. 2, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
President Donald Trump speaks in front of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, Monday, Nov. 2, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rob Sand, surrounded by his running mate Dave Muhlbauer, left, and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, right, speaks to reporters during a canvass launch, Monday, Nov. 2, 2026, in Ankeny, Iowa. (AP Photo/Ellen Schmidt)
Vice President JD Vance speaks during for a campaign rally at Griffiss International Airport, Monday, Nov. 2, 2026 in Rome, N.Y. (Tom Brenner/Pool Photo via AP)
Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed speaks during a campaign rally at Eastern Michigan University, Monday, Nov. 2, 2026, in Ypsilanti, Mich. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
The podium is seen where President Donald Trump will speak in front of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and the Washington Monument, Monday, Nov. 2, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
