Midterms are theoretically local and state elections, but Tuesday's contests add up to a remarkable snapshot of a quickly changing America: more women running than ever ... more Muslim Americans ... more Native Americans ... more veterans ... more teachers ... more millennials ... and more LGBTQ Americans.
With turnout expected to hit record levels, the results will tell us a lot about the type of candidate who matches up best against Trump in 2020.
President Trump's decision to deploy up to 15,000 troops to the border to handle the migrant caravan traveling north through Central America could cost as much as $200 million by the year's end, the Washington Post reports.
The big picture: The deployments won't put a major dent in the military funds relative to the $716 billion defense budget, but the move goes against the Pentagon's request to cut unnecessary expenditures to battle the federal deficit.
President Trump and President Obama have gleefully turned Tuesday's midterms into a proxy fight over their legacies, while President Clinton is sidelined during a season when he had dreamed of being back in the spotlight.
Both presidents are onsprints: Trump is hitting 11 rallies in eight states in six days. Obama will hit Illinois and Indiana tomorrow, after stops yesterday in Florida and Georgia.
A woman who accused Brett Kavanaugh of raping her "several times" has been referred to the Department of Justice and FBI by Senate Judiciary Chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley for making "potential...materially false statements."
The big picture: The woman, Judy Munro-Leighton, was not one of the primary accusers brought up during Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing to the Supreme Court. She detailed her accusations in a "Jane Doe" letter which was provided to Sen. Kamala Harris. According to Grassley, the letter "listed no return address, failed to provide any timeframe, and failed to provide any location." Per Grassley's referral, when the committee reached out to Munro-Leighton to speak about her allegations, she said she had not ever met Kavanaugh and "just wanted to get attention."
TechCongress announced Friday it will be receiving $1 million over three years from the Knight Foundation to send more technologists, engineers, and computer scientists to Congress for year-long fellowships to help Capitol Hill better tackle emerging technology policy.
Why it matters: Many lawmakers’ understanding of technology — and how to regulate it — is trailing behind innovation, as was all too apparent during Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s testimony this spring. TechCongress already placed 13 fellows on their tours of duty in Congress after being founded three years ago.
President Trump said at a campaign rally Friday in West Virginia that it's possible that the Democrats win the House this midterm election.
Why it matters: Trump has been rallying for Republican races across the country in a last-ditch push for Republican voters to turn out to the polls and vote in favor of the party to maintain control. Many of the candidates he is campaigning on behalf of are in tight races against their Democratic opponent. Trump said in West Virginia, the Democrats "will try to erase our gains and eradicate our progress. It’ll be bad for the country, the Democrats. And it could happen. Could happen."
Speaking to reporters before taking off on Marine One, President Trump blamed the media for inciting violence in the U.S. and, when asked if his rhetoric sparked violence, the president specifically told one reporter that "you're creating violence by your questions."
"The fake news is creating violence....if the media would write correctly and write accurately and write fairly, you'd have a lot less violence in the country."
— President Trump
The big picture: Trump is blaming the media for violence in America on the heels of the mail bomb attacks and a string of hate crimes that shook the nation. Go deeper: Hate, at scale
President Trump's request for a stay in a lawsuit alleging that the business his company conducts with foreign governments is in violation of the constitution has been denied by a federal judge, the Washington Post reports.
Why it matters: According to the Post, Trump claimed the term emoluments is a "subject of such 'substantial grounds of disagreement' that payments his business received from foreign governments could not qualify." The judge, Peter J. Messitte, found that his proposition was "dubious." Messitte questioned Trump's assertion that his business doesn't accept gifts or payments from foreign government entities. The decision creates a path for the attorneys general in Washington, D.C. and Maryland who filed the suit to seek information from Trump's hotel in D.C.
President Trump said Friday there are no plans to have troops shoot at the caravan of Central American migrants approaching the U.S.-Mexico border. When asked if he promises troops won’t shoot, Trump said, "well I hope they won’t."
Why it matters: Trump claimed Thursday troops deployed to the south border would shoot at migrants if they threw rocks, but many military experts have been claiming such action would violate the military’s rules of engagement. Per the Pentagon's rules, troops are allowed to use lethal force in the face of "imminent threat of death or serious bodily harm."
