Trail mix: DuMont steps away, more headlines as Election Day looms

👋 Hi, it's Justin with my last Trail mix column before tomorrow's election.

Beyond the Beltway host Bruce DuMont is stepping down as the host of his long-running radio and streaming political talk show, taking an "indefinite hiatus" because of health issues.

What he's saying: "I had an AFib incident that sent me to the hospital complaining of chest pain and significant shortness of breath," DuMont tells Axios. "While lying in the hospital for those days, I had a lot of time to think about my life and my health."

Context: The 78-year-old broadcaster started the syndicated program in 1980.

• DuMont also founded the National Radio Hall of Fame and the Museum of Broadcast Communications.

What's next: Taking over for DuMont are conservative politician Jeanne Ives and libertarian Eric Kohn.

Ads attacking ads

Gov. JB Pritzker and Dan Proft are using the airwaves to attack each other again, this time over ads featuring the parole of a cop killer named Johnny Veal.

• Proft's ad implies that Pritzker didn't support keeping Veal in jail.
• The Illinois Prison Review Board released Veal in 2021.

Flashback: Veal was convicted of murdering two Chicago police officers by sniper fire at Cabrini Green in 1970. He was 17 years old at the time. He's now 70.

• The niece of one of the slain officers blames the parole on Pritzker.

The other side: The Pritzker campaign created a counter ad, saying the governor doesn't have the power to parole anyone.

Final trends

Our Axios Midterms dashboard has updated its Google trends — things people search for online — for the last time before Election Day.

• 6th district: The top three issues searched are jobs, taxes and Donald Trump.
• In the downstate 13th district: Jobs, taxes and firearms.
• According to the data, abortion is a topic of "very low interest" in Illinois.