Axios

The Department of Homeland Security is coming under fire for publicly attacking Democratic congressional candidate Janelle Stelson less than a month before the midterm election.

Why it matters: The Stelson campaign is threatening a lawsuit over the allegations, while a watchdog group is seeking an investigation into whether an ICE official violated restrictions on partisan political activity by federal employees.

Middle- and lower-earners' inflation-adjusted incomes rose during the Biden years — but high earners saw their incomes fall.

• That's a surprising finding from one of the most thorough datasets on American household finances, released Friday morning by the Federal Reserve.

Why it matters: The data sheds granular new information on a much-contested question: What happened to Americans' real incomes during the post-pandemic period? It featured an exceptionally tight job market and the highest inflation in decades, followed by aggressive Fed rate hikes.

House races in Iowa, Pennsylvania, Washington, Michigan and more are shifting in Democrats' direction, according to a Friday update from the closely watched Cook Political Report.

Why it matters: The GOP's midterm outlook was already bleak, anchored by an unpopular war and high fuel prices. But staving off a blue resurgence, despite heavy spending, is looking increasingly complicated as Election Day approaches.