Axios

A biography set to publish a week before the election reveals that Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell backed special counsel Jack Smith and said he hopes former President Trump will "pay a price" for his role on Jan. 6th.

• "If he hasn't committed indictable offenses, I don't know what one is," the longest-serving Republican leader told journalist Michael Tackett in an interview for "The Price of Power." The remarks came weeks after Smith brought some of the most serious federal charges against Trump in August 2023.

DETROIT — Mike Johnson and former Rep. Liz Cheney "agreed to disagree" on whether Trump is a threat to democracy after a text message back-and-forth last week, the House speaker told us in an exclusive interview.

• Cheney isn't on board with Johnson's version of the story, saying she and the speaker "used to be friends, but we did not 'agree to disagree.'"

Why it matters: Johnson says he reached out to Cheney — a former close ally and friend — after she took aim at him on NBC's "Meet the Press" over certifying the election.

Battleground House Republicans have one saving grace after they got creamed on fundraising last quarter — their cash on hand looks pretty good.

• While just two of 43 Republicans in districts rated "toss-up," "lean Republican" or "lean Democrat" by Cook Political Report out-raised their Democratic foes in the third quarter, 13 of them ended up with more cash.
• That's at least in part thanks to strong fundraising quarters for Republicans earlier this cycle.

— Andrew Solender

In a biography set to publish a week before the election, Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell backed special counsel Jack Smith and said he hopes former President Trump will "pay a price" for his role in Jan. 6th.

Why it matters: McConnell has long been a Trump critic, but a new book throws his weight behind some of the most serious federal charges against Trump.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) lambasted fellow Republicans crossing party lines to support Vice President Kamala Harris Sunday, asking: "What the hell are you doing?"

Why it matters: Graham's rebuke comes as several prominent Republicans, some of whom worked in former President Trump's White House, have lined up behind the Democratic ticket, or have vowed they won't support the GOP nominee in his third quest for the presidency.

DETROIT, Mich. — Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) engaged in a tense text exchange last week, Axios has learned.

Why it matters: Johnson told Axios in an exclusive interview on Saturday that he reached out to Cheney — a former close ally and friend — after she took aim at him on NBC's "Meet the Press" over certifying the election.

Former President Trump stood by his comments that political opponents are the "enemy from within" in a Fox News interview aired Sunday.

The big picture: The GOP nominee has dug his heels in on controversial rhetoric, even as it has garnered scrutiny, while his language becomes darker ahead of Nov. 5.

Former President Trump is deep in his dark MAGA era as he delivers an unorthodox closing message in an unprecedented election cycle.

Yes, but: While Democrats hammer Trump on his recent vulgar and sometimes violent rhetoric, House Speaker Mike Johnson brushed the comments aside Sunday as typical hyperbole.

Here's what you may have missed when newsmakers hit the airwaves this Sunday, October 20.

Vice President Kamala Harris turns 60 on Sunday, though she might not have much time to celebrate with just 16 days until Election Day.

The big picture: Harris is older than the median age of a U.S. president (55) at inauguration. But she's a political generation younger than President Biden (81) and her opponent, former President Trump (78), who would surpass Biden to become the oldest person ever elected.

Vice President Kamala Harris is capturing superstar support on Saturday with a Michigan rally featuring Detroit-born rapper/ singer Lizzo and a Georgia one spotlighting Usher.

Why it matters: Georgia and Michigan, which started early voting in Detroit on Saturday, are important swing states in a presidential race expected to come down to voters in six states.

Although Election Day is weeks away, thousands of Americans nationwide have already cast their votes. Vote counting delays due to mail-in or absentee voting are also expected to drag out the declaration of winners in key swing states.

Why it matters: The popularity and prevalence of early voting has rendered Election Day an outdated concept — for much of the country, the 2024 race countdown would be better described as election month.

Boeing and its union of 33,000 members reached a tentative deal on Saturday that could win workers a 35% wage increase and end a strike hampering the company's production, per the proposal.

Why it matters: Boeing, already dealt the blow of repeated safety issues, has been trying to increase production and salvage its reputation.

Former President Trump stands in front of a "technical difficulties" sign after his microphone stopped working during a rally in Detroit last night.

• Trump paced the rally stage in silence during the 20-min. outage.

Former President Obama takes the stage at a rally for Vice President Harris in Tucson, Ariz., last night.

Coastal states, border states and states with some of America's biggest cities saw the biggest influxes of new residents from foreign countries in 2023, Axios' Erica Pandey writes from new Census migration data.

• Why it matters: Immigration is a pressing political issue across the U.S., but there are massive gaps between the states in terms of how many new arrivals are actually settling there.

📈 By the numbers: The data tracks all the people who moved from one state to another plus those who moved to the U.S. from abroad. Of all those movers — close to 32.5 million — nearly a quarter were immigrants or Americans who had been living in a foreign country a year ago.

Human-caused climate change is having widespread and significant negative effects on young people's mental health, Axios' Andrew Freedman writes from a new study in The Lancet Planetary Health.

• Zoom in: The researchers analyzed the results of an online survey of about 16,000 young people between the ages of 16 to 25 across America.

😟 They found that 85% of respondents are at least moderately worried, with about 58% "very or extremely worried," about climate change and its effects.

• 38% said their feelings about climate change were interfering with their daily lives.

Between the lines: Respondents identifying as Democrats or Independents tended to be more worried than Republicans. But "this is a kind of less partisan issue in this younger generation," says the study's lead author, Eric Lewandowski of NYU's Grossman School of Medicine.

Skip the fancy stroller — new parents want cash for down payments and day care, Axios' Brianna Crane writes.

• The big picture: Cash funds for child care and new homes are now the hottest items on baby shower registries.

Zoom in: Baby's First Home Cash Fund, launched by Opendoor and Babylist this year, saw 1,060 total registry adds in the first half of 2024.

• Physical items are on the decline. For example, requests for Dyson vacuums decreased by 30% from the first half of 2023 to the same period in 2024, per Babylist.

The trend goes beyond registries: GoFundMe says it has seen more than 6,000 child care-related pages and more than 5,000 home-buying fundraisers in 2024.

• Read on.

Spooky election swag has infiltrated Halloween decor around Washington, Axios' Mimi Montgomery found.

President Biden is known — and sometimes criticized — for his small, tight inner circle of longtime aides. If Vice President Harris is elected president, she'd rely on a larger, younger and more diverse group of trusted allies for advice.

Why it matters: Harris, a generation younger than Biden, would bring what insiders describe as a more collaborative decision-making process involving more than a dozen confidants.

In the heat of this historic election, educated elites who should know better — billionaires, elected officials, journalists — keep falling for fakes, conspiracy theories and outright lies.

Why it matters: Human gullibility is not a new phenomenon. But social media and polarized politics are exposing it at industrial scale, fueled by a poisonous cocktail of bad actors, media illiteracy and plummeting trust in traditional news.

Coastal states, border states and states with some of America’s biggest cities saw the biggest influxes of new residents from foreign countries in 2023, according to new Census migration data.

Why it matters: Immigration is a pressing political issue across the U.S., but there are massive gaps between the states in terms of how many new arrivals are actually settling there.