Election Brief: Final countdown to election day 2022

Welcome to Fox News’ Election Brief, a newsletter with the latest updates from the 2022 midterm elections campaign trail. Subscribe now to get Fox News’ Election Brief in your inbox. 

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TOP STORIES

FINAL COUNTDOWN: Control of the House, Senate and numerous governorships are at stake in the 2022 midterm elections. With one week to go until Nov. 8, 20 million ballots have already been cast as the GOP and Democrats vie for the nation’s future. Read more from Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser: Here’s what’s at stake in next week’s midterm elections

POWER RANKINGS: It’s all but certain that Republicans will win control of the House, but both parties have a pathway to Senate domination. Get the latest Fox News Power Rankings: Republicans expected to control House, but both parties hold on to pathways in Senate

BATTLEGROUND OHIO: Fox News will host a town hall Tuesday evening with Ohio Senate candidates Rep. Tim Ryan, a Democrat, and Republican nominee JD Vance. Tune in to Fox News for the town hall starting at 6 p.m. ET. 

MOST DANGEROUS LAW IN AMERICA? A Democratic prosecutor in the Chicago-area is sounding the alarm over a criminal justice reform law that will “tie the hands” of prosecutors and “destroy the criminal justice system in Illinois.” Read more from Fox News’ Sophia Slacik and Andrew Murray: Top Democratic prosecutors revolt against criminal justice reform law they say will ‘destroy’ Illinois

CALLING IN BACKUP: Making his return to the campaign trail on behalf of fellow Democrats with just a week and a half to go until Election Day, former President Barack Obama is on a mission. “I am here to ask you to vote,” the former president told approximately 7,000 people packed into an arena steps away from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Georgia. Obama, who remains the most popular person in the Democratic Party nearly six years after he left the White House, is trying to perform some last-minute political magic as Democrats desperately try to hold onto their razor-thin congressional majorities in the midterm elections. Read more from Fox New’s Paul Steinhauser: Obama makes last-minute push to get Democrats to vote in midterms, some supporters ‘wish he’d come more often’

MAKE DONATIONS GREAT AGAIN: With Election Day fast approaching and some Donald Trump-endorsed Republican nominees battling in highly competitive and high-profile races, the former president is dipping into his massive war chest to make some sizable investments to back those candidates. After facing complaints that the GOP’s most ferocious fundraiser had failed to spread his wealth to help fellow Republicans in crucial Senate and gubernatorial contests, Trump over the past three weeks has opened his wallet to back MAGA-friendly Republican nominees in six key battleground states. Read more from Fox News’ Mark Meredith and Paul Steinhauser: Trump putting his money where his mouth is in midterm elections

CAMPAIGN TRAIL UPDATES

FETTERMAN MAKES HIS CASE: In an opinion column for Fox News, Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman says that crime is the reason he got into politics in the first place, and claims his Republican opponent, celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz, has no record tackling crime. Read more: I’m John Fetterman: This is why I want Pennsylvania’s vote in the midterm election

LIBERTARIAN TAKES THE L: Libertarian candidate Marc Victor dropped out of the race for Arizona Senate, endorsing Republican nominee Blake Masters in the race against Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly. Read more from Fox News’ Timothy H.J. Nerozzi: Arizona Senate race: Libertarian candidate drops out, endorses Blake Masters

WHITE HOUSE WFH: President Joe Biden made three virtual appearances at campaign last Wednesday in an effort to campaign for some of the House’s most vulnerable Democratic candidates less than two weeks before the 2022 midterm elections. The new additions to Biden’s campaign schedule came after a reporter recently pressed the president on his seemingly bare itinerary, with rumors swirling that Democratic candidates do not want Biden joining them on the campaign trail due to his low approval rating and fears that it could negatively affect their races this fall. Read more from Fox News’ Aubrie Spady: President Biden hits the virtual campaign trail, making appearances with vulnerable House Democrats

FETTERMAN FUMBLE: Pennsylvania Democratic Senate candidate John Fetterman stumbled during Tuesday’s debate with his GOP challenger, Dr. Mehmet Oz, after he was asked about prior statements he made in opposition to fracking, a process he now says he has “always supported.” Read more from Fox News’ Kyle Morris: Fetterman stumbles during debate when questioned about flip-flop on support for fracking

HOUSE DIVIDED: As hopes look increasingly bleak for Democrats less than two weeks from Election Day, a number of the party’s candidates at risk of losing their races have begun calling for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and President Biden to be replaced despite their voting records largely aligning with party leaders. Read more from Fox News’ Brandon Gillespie: Democrats turn on party leadership as midterm hopes fade despite supportive voting records

AIR FORCE FESSES UP: The Air Force has taken responsibility for the release of an Indiana Republican House candidate’s confidential personnel records that contained details about her sexual assault, according to two GOP congressmen from the Hoosier State. Read more from Fox News’ Kyle Morris: Air Force takes ‘full responsibility’ for Jennifer-Ruth Green sexual assault leak, GOP congressmen say

AMERICA’S MOST ‘RACIST’ SPORT: Gisele Fetterman, the wife of Pennsylvania Senate candidate Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, claimed that “swimming in America is very racist,” weeks after being called the “de facto candidate” in her husband’s Senate race following his stroke. Read more from Fox News’ Aubrie Spady: ‘Very racist’: ‘De facto’ Senate candidate Gisele Fetterman makes bizarre claim about swimming

TAKE A MULLIGAN: Republican Kris Kobach, the party’s nominee for Kansas attorney general, released a campaign ad Thursday advocating the use of capital punishment for “cop killers” and “mass murderers,” but mistakenly included a clip of pro-golfer Tiger Woods’ 2017 DUI arrest in the ad’s footage. The ad, titled, “Just Intentional,” slammed Kobach’s opponent, Democrat Chris Mann, over what it said was his opposition to capital punishment, and, in addition to Woods, included footage of the Carr brothers, two convicted murderers currently on Kansas’ death row. Read more from Fox News’ Brandon Gillespie: Clip of Tiger Woods mistakenly included in campaign ad advocating for the death penalty

TRUST ISSUES: Florida Democratic gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist on Tuesday described himself as “a trustworthy person” despite a number of his former staffers and colleagues announcing they would be supporting his opponent, incumbent Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, for re-election. In an interview with Fox News Digital just one day following his fiery debate with DeSantis, the former Republican governor pushed back on the notion that he was untrustworthy for changing his political party affiliation multiple times, arguing that the GOP had left him rather than the other way around. Read more from Fox News’ Brandon Gillespie and Andrew Murray: Crist claims he’s ‘trustworthy’ after his former staff, colleagues endorse DeSantis

‘WAR-FIRST, AMERICA-LAST’: Michigan state Sen. Tom Barrett, Republican congressional candidate running to represent Michigan’s 7th Congressional District, believes it is “no surprise” that Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., turned on her party and endorsed his Democratic opponent, Rep. Elissa Slotkin, in her attempt to seek re-election this fall. “My entire adult life has been committed to service in the Army, and sadly I’ve lost too many friends as part of America’s endless wars. Now establishment Warhawks like Liz Cheney and Elissa Slotkin are standing together because I oppose their senseless thirst for more foreign entanglements,” Barrett said. Read more from Fox News’ Aubrie Spady: ‘War-first, America-last’: GOP candidate says it’s ‘no surprise’ Liz Cheney endorsed his Democratic opponent

JIM CROW 2.0? Despite Stacey Abrams doubling down on voter suppression claims earlier this week, numbers from early voting show that a higher share of Black voters in Georgia are turning out in the midterm elections than in the 2020 election. According to figures from the United States Election Project, Black voters make up 30% of early votes cast so far — up three percentage points from 27% in the 2020 election — while the share of the White vote in Georgia has remained steady at 57% in both elections. Read more from Fox News’s Sophia Slacik: Black voter turnout is up in Georgia as Stacey Abrams, White House double down on voter suppression claims

POLLS & PREDICTIONS

POLL DEMOCRATS LIKE: Democrats hold a slight edge over Republicans to secure control in the U.S. Senate, according to a Monday poll from the New York Times. NYT polled likely voters in Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and Pennsylvania from Oct. 24-26, finding that Democratic candidates hold slim leads in each of the states except Nevada, where the race is a dead heat. Read more from Fox News’ Anders Hagstrom: Democrats hold slight edge in Senate races heading into final week before midterms: poll

TWO WEEKS TO GO…

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