Both parties are ramping up fundraising for secretary of state races, which in just a couple of years have gone from obscure down-ballot contests to high-profile races that could reshape American democracy, Axios' Lachlan Markay reports.

Why it matters: Secretaries of state are many states' chief election administrators, making them crucial to efforts to alter election rules. Former President Trump is working to game the rules in his favor — and Democrats are trying to impede him.

What's happening: Party committees focused on those races are already breaking fundraising records.

• The Democratic Association of Secretaries of State plans to bring in about $15 million this cycle, people with knowledge of its strategy tell Axios.
• That's more than 10 times its best-ever fundraising haul, according to campaign finance records.

Republicans are breaking their own fundraising records too.

• The Republican State Leadership Committee, whose portfolio includes secretary of state races, raised $19 million for itself and an affiliated nonprofit group from January through September, RSLC said in a statement.
• Much of that money will go toward state legislature elections, which is RSLC's primary mandate. But the group expects to be able to devote more resources than ever to secretary of state contests, as well.

What they're saying: "Historically, these races have been much more technocratic and election administration-based — almost apolitical, rather than partisan," DASS executive director Kim Rogers told Axios.

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Democratic Senate candidates across the board are campaigning on a message to reform the filibuster as they seek to increase their party's majority next year.

Why it matters: Candidates have traditionally run by telling voters what policies they'll enact in office. Now, they're highlighting the tool they want to use to pass such things as voting rights legislation, a minimum wage increase and abortion access safeguards, Axios' Sophia Cai writes.

In Pennsylvania: Lt. Gov. John Fetterman told Axios: "It's incumbent on us as a party to use the opportunities that we have," referring to Democrats' Washington trifecta of controlling the House, Senate and White House.

In Wisconsin: Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes supports eliminating the filibuster as a means of passing voter rights legislation that's been stalled in the U.S. Senate.

In North Carolina: Cheri Beasley, former chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court now seeking a Senate nomination, called the filibuster "a tool of gridlock, which stops and prohibits the passage of the kind of legislation that the majority of the American people support."

Driving the news: In some of the most competitive Senate races, many Democratic candidates favor removing the threat of the 60-vote filibuster altogether, while others advocate carveouts for issues such as voting rights.

• Their position is a reflection of a caucus that — with a current 50-50 chamber — is increasingly interested in finding a way to push through legislation with the simple majority Vice President Kamala Harris provides when she votes in the Senate.

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Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) is telling colleagues the expanded child tax credit is both the most underpriced item — and biggest inflation-driver — in President Biden’s $1.75 trillion Build Back Better plan, people familiar with the matter tell Axios' Hans Nichols.

Why it matters: While Manchin’s concern over the CTC could trigger elimination of a program Democrats believe is crucial to address child poverty, it’s also an indication he's engaging with the White House about how to reduce the plan's price tag to a level he can support.

• It's still a heavy lift: The roughly $1.4 trillion difference between the White House and Manchin estimates on the program's cost highlights the distance the senator would have to move to support the president’s plan.
• Biden has proposed spending some $185 billion on a one-year extension of the CTC, which provides families with up to $3,600 per child.
• But Manchin prefers to think of all of Biden's proposed programs over a 10-year time frame, and the most recent forecast from the Congressional Budget Office puts the CTC cost at $1.6 trillion over that budget horizon.

Driving the news: Ahead of a phone call with Biden this afternoon, Manchin publicly laid down some of his markers for how big the bill can get — and how to calculate its true costs.

• “Whatever Congress is considering, we should do it within the limits of what we can afford,” he told CNN’s Manu Raju.
• “Whatever plan it would be, pre-K, child care and home care, then it should be [over] 10 years, it shouldn't just be one year here, three years here, five years here.”

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Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker told Axios Atlanta's Emma Hurt today that he’s “accountable” for past violent behavior toward his ex-wife, and people shouldn’t feel “ashamed” about confronting mental health issues.

Why it matters: The former college and pro football star is confronting his history of mental illness head-on during his campaign for the Republican Party's nomination, after the airing of some concerns among GOP leadership and voters.

• Walker said he's "better now than 99% of the people in America. ... Just like I broke my leg; I put the cast on. It healed."

Details: In his first major interview on the subject as a candidate, Walker spoke in generalities, not specifics, about past allegations of violence. He declared he's never broken the law.

• At one point, he answered a question about his relationship with his ex-wife, Cindy Grossman, by saying, "I'm always accountable to whatever I've ever done. And that's what I tell people: I'm accountable to it."
• He went on to say "people can't just make up and add on and say other things that's not the truth. They want me to address things that they made up."
• A spokesperson from his team clarified that in that case, Walker was denying allegations of threatening behavior by two other women in 2002 and 2012, not talking about Grossman.
• Grossman has spoken publicly alongside Walker about her experience, including descriptions of threats and possible choking to ABC News and CNN in 2008. Walker told Axios he considers himself "best friends" with Grossman today.

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President Biden held up before-and-after photos of Mayfield, Kentucky, as he vowed federal support for tornado-stricken states.