Appeals court shoots down Department of Justice request to sequester ballots in California
A federal appeals court blocked a request from the Department of Justice to require California to set aside the votes of 20,000 people it said could have been noncitizens who were illegally sent ballots by the state.
The appeals court upheld an earlier ruling from a district court judge, who found that such an action could throw California’s election system into chaos with days before the midterm, as well as disenfranchise lawful voters, the Associated Press reported.
Key events
California’s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, welcomed the federal appeals court ruling rejecting a Department of Justice demand that ballots sent to about 20,000 people the federal government suggests might not be citizens be set aside.
“Trump and his administration just lost for the third time this week in their desperate and dangerous attempts to meddle in the California election process with voting already underway and just days before Election Day,” Newsom said in a statement.
“These attacks on our democracy are serious, and the full force of our state is defending our democracy right now. We will continue to fight them on their illegal power grabs every step of the way, and deliver a free and fair election just as we’ve always done.”
California has criticized the Trump administration for suggesting, without evidence, that thousands of registered voters are not US citizens, four months after a similar claim, that nearly 16,000 noncitizens were registered to vote in Nevada, turned out to be untrue.
In the Nevada case, the Department of Homeland Security vastly reduced the number of noncitizens it claimed were registered to vote, sending state election officials a list of 185 people it believed were not citizens. Nevada officials investigated the list and found that all 185 voters were in fact citizens.
Appeals court shoots down Department of Justice request to sequester ballots in California
A federal appeals court blocked a request from the Department of Justice to require California to set aside the votes of 20,000 people it said could have been noncitizens who were illegally sent ballots by the state.
The appeals court upheld an earlier ruling from a district court judge, who found that such an action could throw California’s election system into chaos with days before the midterm, as well as disenfranchise lawful voters, the Associated Press reported.
It’s Friday afternoon. Here’s what you need to get caught up on:
Trump canceled — then uncanceled — rallies in Kansas and Iowa. After backing out of two rallies planned over the weekend, the president hastily rescheduled appearances in both states, with back-to-back events now planned on Sunday.
A key elections forecaster predicted Democrats would take control of the House. The Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan group, shifted 12 seats it previously ranked as going either way to likely Democrat victories. It shifted several others that were considered Republican-leaning to being true toss-ups.
An appeals court rebuked Trump administration’s effort to segregate disputed ballots in California. The administration had contended that up to 20,000 voters in the state could be illegally registered noncitizen voters, and asked for their ballots to be set aside. A judge rebuked that request, saying such a move could wreak havoc on the state’s election system and disenfranchise citizens.
Mary Peltola denied knowing about the alleged recruiting of a candidate with the same name as her opponent. The Alaska Democrat, whose campaign, according to The New York Times, recruited a second Dan Sullivan to join the race against her Republican opponent of the same name, said she had no knowledge of the purported scheme. Peltola faces mounting calls from the Republicans to be disqualified and criminally investigated.
Pope Leo became the first pontiff to vote in an American election. The Holy See said that the American-born pope had cast his ballot in Chicago, where he grew up. The Holy See press office said Leo had “exercised his right to vote as a United States citizen, whenever he was eligible to do so”, including during his time as a missionary in Peru.
How the “billionaire tax” became a central issue in California’s midterm election
Dara Kerr
One year ago, the idea of a billionaire tax in California was still in its infancy.
It wasn’t yet one of the most contentious ballot measure fights in state history – pitting Democrats against Democrats, drawing national attention from political heavyweights, and netting hundreds of millions of Silicon Valley dollars to fight it. Back then, it was a bold and desperate answer to Donald Trump’s healthcare cuts.
Trump had just signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which dictated a trillion dollars of Medicaid, Affordable Care Act and other healthcare funding be cut over the next decade to offset sweeping tax cuts. When the bill goes into effect in January, that could mean more than 3.4m Californians will lose their coverage, including millions of children.
“That’s why we were willing to do something that lots of people said was crazy,” said Dave Regan, the divisive architect of the billionaire tax and president of the healthcare union SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW). “To us, what’s crazy is doing nothing and watching millions of people lose coverage.”
Now, with the midterms less than a week away, California voters will decide on whether to pass the ballot measure known as Proposition 40. The proposal would levy a one-time 5% tax on billionaires living in the state as of 1 January 2026, the proceeds of which would fund healthcare programs, along with some education and food assistance.
Read the full story from Dara Kerr here:
Key elections forecaster predicts Democrats take House majority in midterms
The Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan elections forecaster, has moved the races for 12 House seats to lean toward a Democratic victory.
With the shift, the forecaster now predicts that Democrats will take a majority of House seats, as many as 240 in the chamber of 435 representatives. (It has Democrats projected to win in 222 races. Another 18 could go either way.)
Other races that had previously leaned toward the Republicans in previous forecasts have been deemed toss-ups.
The Cook Political Report has continuously shifted seats toward Democrats in the weeks leading up to the midterm elections, as Republicans fight an electorate uneasy over the war in Iran and affordability concerns that Donald Trump had vowed to address.
Affordability and Trump loom over crucial Maine Senate contest
From the outset, the Senate race in Maine has been one of the most closely watched of the 2026 midterm election cycle, a top prize for Democrats who viewed it as one of their best chances to flip a seat in the upper chamber.
Yet the race in Maine has remained close, even as Democrats have gained ground in far more reliably red states, like Texas, Ohio and Kansas. Incumbent Senator Susan Collins has proved durable, and her challenger, Troy Jackson, has been hindered by a chaotic campaign that saw him anointed as the nominee to replace a scandal-plagued Graham Platner.
As the election draws near, my colleague Shrai Popat finds that the rising cost of living, which Trump has vowed to bring down, may prove the most decisive issue in the race’s final days.
Read Shrai’s full dispatch from Maine here:
Republican Kansas Senate candidate sued by former patient
Roger Marshall, a physician Republican Senator in Kansas currently fighting an unexpectedly close reelection campaign against a Democratic challenger, has been sued by a former patient who accused him of charing illegally high interest rates on medical debt, the New York Times reported.
An investigation last month by the Times found that, during his time working as an obstetrician, Marshall had hounded more than 700 patients with lawsuits over unpaid medical bills.
The lawsuit contends that the interest rate Marshall charged, 18 percent, was so high as to violate Kansas law. Mr. Marshall’s lawyer defended the fee to the Times as “common practice” in the state.
Marshall’s Senate seat in normally deep-red Kansas has been under threat from Democratic nominee Adam Hamilton, a pastor who some polls have shown could win the race. The possibility of an unexpected Democratic pickup has drawn more attention onto the Kansas race in the final days before the midterm election.
A working-class Alaskan Native takes on a ‘multimillionaire’ Republican for seat in Congress
As Republicans fight to maintain their narrow majority in Congress, they face a unique challenge in Alaska – not from a Democrat, but from an independent commercial fisher and first-time candidate running to flip the state’s lone House seat.
Bill Hill, who is an Alaska Native and has worked in education and construction, has positioned himself as a working-class candidate who will fight to make life more affordable for people like himself and his family.
Like voters across the country, Alaskans are deeply worried about affordability and the rising cost of basic necessities. Hill counts himself among the voters who have felt squeezed by high fuel prices driven up by Donald Trump’s war on Iran.
“When the spring fuel barge showed up in my home town of Naknek this spring, I went from paying $118 to fill my truck up to over $200,” Hill said. “Our gas went from $6.70 a gallon to almost $9 a gallon.”
Hill’s campaign to unseat the Republican congressman Nick Begich has gained momentum in the final weeks before the 3 November election, as national Democrats line up behind him and ad spending ramps up. The non-partisan Cook Political Report recently shifted the race from “likely Republican” to “leans Republican”, with the district favoring Republicans by six percentage points.
Read the full story on Hill’s campaign from my colleague Michael Sainato:
Air Force One flyover for White House Halloween event causes flight delays
A White House flyover by the US presidential airplane as part of a children’s Halloween party yesterday evening delayed dozens of flights and raised concerns among some in the nation’s capital.
The flyover forced a temporary halt to traffic at one of Washington’s main airports and drew concerns from city lawmakers that residents, officials and the airport received only 15 minutes’ notice, the Associated Press reports.
The plane – which is designated Air Force One when Donald Trump is on board – made two lower-than-normal passes around the White House yesterday evening, which prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to temporarily halt traffic at nearby Reagan Washington National Airport.
Trump was hosting a Halloween party for children when the flyover occurred. The White House posted a video of the flyover on one of its social media accounts, calling it “an epic Air Force One flyover at the White House for the trick-or-treaters!”
The District of Columbia city council said in a social media post that only 15 minutes’ notice was provided before the flyover “to anyone in downtown DC, at the Pentagon, or at National Airport. It startled many, including us.”
Airline officials also said they had less than an hour’s notice before the flyover.
The plane also flew over nearby Washington neighborhoods.
Some people flying to Washington reported that their planes were forced to circle or that they faced delays due to the flyover. FlightAware, a flight-tracking website, said 26% of departing flights and 17% of arriving flights were delayed yesterday — or 202 in total. Most of those delays were tied to the airport disruption.
ICE officer charged with allegedly hitting man with his vehicle in Houston
José Olivares
Local officials in Texas charged an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) official this morning with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for striking and running over a man with his vehicle.
The ICE official, Mario Alberto Morales, struck Miguel Parra Hernandez with his 2025 Jeep Grand Cherokee on 10 October in Houston.
The Harris County District Attorney, who announced the indictment this morning, alleged Morales weaponized his vehicle against Hernandez during a chase.
Morales struck and ran over both of Hernandez’s legs, leaving him “seriously injured and hospitalized to this day,” said Sean Teare, the Harris County district attorney.
Teare added that he hopes the indictment “sends a loud and clear message to every ICE officer who feels that they have a free pass to terrorize our streets: the time to stop is now. And if you don’t, you will be held accountable.”
On the morning of 10 October in Houston, ICE officials attempted to stop and arrest two men in a car, including Hernandez. According to Teare, the ICE officers were searching for a man who has seemingly been dead for nine years. The two men fled on foot, with Morales using his vehicle to chase down Hernandez, an undocumented Mexican man with no criminal history and with no deportation order.
Surveillance footage and body camera video released this morning by the Harris County district attorney’s office shows Morales speeding his vehicle towards Hernandez and striking him in a parking lot. Morales then exited the vehicle, while Hernandez can be seen on the ground yelling and crying in pain. According to local officials, Hernandez suffered multiple fractures.
In audio of a 911 call by Morales, also released this morning by county officials, the officer tells the dispatcher in a calm voice that Hernandez “hit my car”.
Morales could face between two to 20 years in prison, officials said.
This is not the first time the Harris County district attorney’s office has expressed frustration with ICE activity on the streets of Houston. Earlier this year, an ICE officer shot and killed 52-year-old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, while on his way to work. The district attorney’s office launched an investigation into the shooting of Salgado.
Pope Leo votes in US midterms in first known political ballot for any pontiff
Angela Giuffrida
in Rome
Pope Leo has voted in the US midterm elections – the first time a pontiff is known to have cast a ballot in any political election at any time in history.
Leo, who has clashed with the US president, Donald Trump, over several issues, submitted his vote by post in Chicago, where he was born, the Vatican said on Friday. Leo became the first American leader of the Catholic church last year after the death of Pope Francis.
The Vatican said Leo “has exercised his right to vote as a United States citizen, whenever he was eligible to do so”, including in Peru, where he lived for years as a missionary.
“The Holy Father expresses his belief in the right and the duty of citizens to participate in democratic processes,” the statement added.
Leo, who before being elected pope was known as Robert Prevost, reportedly made his request for the mail-in ballot on 3 October, registering at an address in New Lenox, Illinois.
That was 10 days before he underwent surgery to remove a cancerous tumour from his right lung. The pontiff has gradually been resuming activities since being discharged from hospital on 17 October.
Leo and Trump have clashed over the US president’s harsh immigration polices, with the pontiff describing them as “inhuman”.
Earlier this year, Trump lashed out in response to Leo’s criticisms of the US-Israeli war on Iran, calling the pontiff “weak on crime” and “terrible on foreign policy”. The US president also said that Leo had only been elected pope because Trump himself was in the White House.
In response to the tirade, Leo said he was “not afraid” of Trump.
In his first key address to the US on the eve of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Leo praised the country’s history of welcoming migrants, while urging Americans to live up to the ideals put forward in the declaration, in what was seen a further rebuke to Trump.
In an interview with the US broadcaster in late July, Leo expressed “great love” for his home country and its core principles of freedom, opportunity and welcoming immigrants but qualified that he just “happens to be American”.
Leo will travel to Latin America in November for an 11-day trip covering 10 cities. Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Holy See’s foreign minister, told reporters at Rome’s foreign press association earlier this week that a papal visit to the US was expected in the “not too distant future”, adding that the outcome of the midterms might influence whether the trip goes ahead in 2027 or later.
Here’s the clip of Donald Trump attacking the appearance of a Reuters reporter and calling him “disgusting” yesterday, after the reporter asked a question about the president’s cancellation of two upcoming campaign events.
A day later, Trump rescheduled the canceled rallies in Kansas and Iowa.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2026/oct/30/trump-rally-iowa-kansas-republican-strategy-midterms-live
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