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      in World Politics

      Much More than Congress is at Stake this Midterm

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      in US Politics

      Chuck Schumer insists Democrats can hold or expand Senate majority – as it happened

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      The Senate’s Democratic leader Chuck Schumer believes the party can keep or even expand its majority in Congress’s upper chamber in Tuesday’s midterm elections, despite polls showing its candidates losing their leads in crucial races.“I believe Democrats will hold the Senate and maybe even pick up seats,” Schumer said in an interview with the Associated Press published today, while acknowledging that the race is “tight.”Over the summer, Democrats appeared to have a clear path to preserving their majority in the Senate as legislative victories and the shock over the supreme court’s decision to overturn abortion rights rallied their supporters. But polls have indicated that enthusiasm ebbed as the 8 November election grows closer, and earlier this week, a survey from the New York Times and Siena College found Democrats have only slight advantages in several crucial races.Schumer told the AP he “doesn’t want to give the illusion that these are all slam dunks,” but said voters “are seeing how extreme these Republican candidates are and they don’t like it. And second, they’re seeing the Democrats are talking to them on issues they care about, and that we’ve accomplished a great deal on things.”We are five days away from the 8 November midterm elections, and last night Joe Biden gave a primetime speech in which he sought to remind Americans that many Republican candidates hold views that could threaten the country’s democracy. Meanwhile, the top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer struck an optimistic note about his party’s chances of keeping hold of the chamber. We may soon find out if he’s right.Here’s a look at what else happened today:
      Republicans rolled their eyes at Biden’s speech, with the Senate’s GOP leader calling it a distraction from crime and inflation. He was echoed by the party’s candidate for governor in Michigan.
      A noted domestic violence researcher agreed with Biden’s warnings about democracy, saying that research indicates only a minority of Americans support violence in politics – though that still may be as many as 13 mn people.
      A top aide to Donald Trump said she has advised the former president to announce his 2024 run for office after the midterms. Some Democrats hoped Trump’s return to the presidential campaign trail before the election would rally their voters.
      The Inflation Reduction Act was a major legislative accomplishment for Biden, but many people aren’t even aware it passed, a progressive polling firm found.
      Across the country, vest-wearing canvassers are knocking on doors in neighborhoods and asking people about their voting history and who they live with, Reuters reports.The canvassers aren’t affiliated with any government, but rather with groups aligned with Donald Trump that are trying to use information gathered from their visits to prove voter fraud, according to Reuters’ investigation. Officials worry the groups are impersonating government employees and intimidating voters. In Michigan, Reuters reports that one organization already has plans to use alleged irregularities they found to challenge voters in the swing state’s elections on Tuesday.Here’s more from the report:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}The activists often seem more interested in undermining confidence in U.S. democracy than trying to improve it, said Arizona’s Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, a Republican. “They’re hoping that we fail. They’re hoping that mistakes occur and they’re even trying to do things to disrupt the system,” he said.
      In Shasta County, a rugged, mountainous region of more than 180,000 people where pro-Trump Republicans dominate the local government, clerk Cathy Darling Allen said she noticed problems in the middle of September when three residents complained about canvassers on Facebook.
      When Allen contacted the voters, they all asked whether the county had sent the canvassers. Allen replied that the visitors had nothing to do with her office.
      A week later, a fourth resident called police when canvassers showed up at his door and demanded voting information that made him suspicious, according to a report by the Redding Police Department.
      In a public statement issued Sept. 26, Allen warned that canvassers’ actions amounted to intimidation and violations of election laws. “I was very concerned that it would have a chilling effect on people’s willingness to be registered to vote, and that’s not OK,” she said in an interview.
      Reuters identified at least 23 state-wide or local efforts where canvassers may have crossed the line into intimidation, according to election officials and voting rights lawyers. Some carried weapons, wore badges, asked people who they’d voted for or demanded personal information, election officials said.
      The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a coalition of more than 200 civil rights groups, said it has received more such reports than in previous elections. “These tactics are very concerning,” said YT Bell, an election adviser for the coalition.What’s deciding your vote in next week’s midterm election? The Guardian would like to hear from voters across the United States about the issues that are swaying their choices for House representative, Senator or governor when they head to the polls Tuesday. Details of how to reach us are at the link below:US voters: what issues are deciding your vote next week?Read moreThe Inflation Reduction Act is one of Joe Biden’s biggest legislative achievements, and was passed only after months of stop-and-start negotiations that at times looked like they would lead to nothing.But for all the drama that preceded its August signing, progressive think tank Data for Progress finds comparatively few Americans are aware of its passage:Despite the historic achievement in passing the Inflation Reduction Act, a new poll from @DataProgress finds likely voters are relatively unaware of its provisions — or its status.Just 39% of voters know the Inflation Reduction Act is signed law.https://t.co/BYDHXVZt9x— Sean McElwee (@SeanMcElwee) November 3, 2022
      Look closely at the numbers and many voters express ignorance about what it would do. The most known aspect of the law is that it allows Medicare to negotiate lower prescription drug prices with pharmaceutical companies, which 44% of those surveyed are aware of. But only about a third of those surveyed know it pays for the hiring of more agents at the Internal Revenue Service, raised the minimum tax on large corporations, or offers credits for clean energy production.“With the economy top of mind for voters as they prepare to cast their ballots in the midterm elections, it is clear that Democratic messaging on the key economic provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act is failing to reach voters,” Data for Progress concludes. “As Democrats work to keep their majority in Congress, it’s crucial that voters are aware of what Democrats have accomplished in the past two years.”As Andrew Lawrence writes, if a Republican wins the race for Oregon governor, it will be largely thanks to one man: a co-founder of the sportswear giant Nike.Phil Knight is the 84-year-old co-founder and chair emeritus of Nike, the house that Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods built.In the race to govern Oregon, a bastion of west coast liberalism, Knight has thrown full support behind the Republican Christine Drazan, an anti-abortion, tough-on-crime former lobbyist pushing “election integrity”. In a rare interview with the New York Times, Knight made his motive clear: Oregon’s next governor can be anyone but the Democratic nominee, Tina Kotek.Knight’s lavish support of the right would seem to betray Nike’s pursuit of social equality and environmental protection. After all, this is the “Just Do It” brand that champions Serena Williams, that kneels with Colin Kaepernick, that featured Argentina’s first trans female soccer player in a recent ad.Over the years, the company has pledged millions to organizations dedicated to leveling the playing field in all spheres of life. But it has also come under fire for crafting a progressive PR image as cover while manufacturing products in Asian sweatshops with forced labor practices …Full report:Why is Nike founder Phil Knight so desperate to prevent a Democratic win in Oregon?Read moreThe Senate’s Democratic leader Chuck Schumer believes the party can keep or even expand its majority in Congress’s upper chamber in Tuesday’s midterm elections, despite polls showing its candidates losing their leads in crucial races.“I believe Democrats will hold the Senate and maybe even pick up seats,” Schumer said in an interview with the Associated Press published today, while acknowledging that the race is “tight.”Over the summer, Democrats appeared to have a clear path to preserving their majority in the Senate as legislative victories and the shock over the supreme court’s decision to overturn abortion rights rallied their supporters. But polls have indicated that enthusiasm ebbed as the 8 November election grows closer, and earlier this week, a survey from the New York Times and Siena College found Democrats have only slight advantages in several crucial races.Schumer told the AP he “doesn’t want to give the illusion that these are all slam dunks,” but said voters “are seeing how extreme these Republican candidates are and they don’t like it. And second, they’re seeing the Democrats are talking to them on issues they care about, and that we’ve accomplished a great deal on things.”As the midterm elections loom in the US and Republican hopes of retaking Congress rise, it appears it is now a matter of when, not if, Donald Trump will announce his third White House run. Martin Pengelly reports…Donald Trump has trailed another White House campaign ever since his 2020 defeat by Joe Biden, a contest Trump refused to concede, pursuing the lie about electoral fraud which fueled the deadly attack on Congress and his second impeachment.In Texas last month, Trump said: “In order to make our country successful, safe and glorious again, I will probably have to do it again.”Now, a flurry of reports say Trump will move swiftly after the midterms, seeking to capitalise on likely Republican wins fueled by focusing on economic anxieties and law and order.“I’m like 95% he’s going to run,” Reince Priebus, the former Republican chairman who became Trump’s first White House chief of staff, told the Associated Press this week.“The real question is are other big challengers going to run? If President Trump runs, he will be very difficult for any Republican to defeat.”Full story:Trump’s third run for the White House appears a matter of when not ifRead moreMore from Hillary Clinton’s interview with CNN earlier, in which she discussed Republican midterms messaging that seems set for success next Tuesday.The former first lady, senator, secretary of state and Democratic presidential nominee focused on “this emphasis on crime that we’ve seen in every ad that I run across from the Republicans.“I find it ironic and frankly disturbing that when Paul Pelosi is attacked by an intruder in his own home with a hammer, the Republicans go silent about that crime.“They’re not concerned about voter safety, they just want to keep voters scared because they feel that if voters are scared, if they’re responding to negative messages, they’ll have a better chance and that’s really regrettable. Unfortunately, sometimes it works, and we can’t let people just hear that and believe it.”Pelosi, the 82-year-old husband of the Democratic House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, was attacked in San Francisco last week. Clinton referred to comments about the attack by Republicans including Kari Lake, the Trump-aligned candidate for governor in Arizona.“It was a horrifying incident,” Clinton said, “but sadly a real indicator of where we are in our country right now that you would have people on the Republican ticket, like the woman running in Arizona, laughing about an attack on anyone, let alone an 82-year-old man whose wife happens to be the second-in-line to the presidency.“I am rarely shocked anymore, but the reaction I’ve seen from a number of Republicans, both in person and online making fun of that attack, somehow trying to turn it into a joke, the same party that wants us to be worried about crime. The hypocrisy is incredibly obvious.”Clinton also discussed threats to democracy around the world – and linked them to what she said was the Republican threat at home.She said: “This is a time of great ferment, and it is a time when the United States should be standing strongly on behalf of our values of democracy and freedom, of opportunity and equality, instead of being engaged in this culture war driven by the political opportunism of people on the Republican side of the ledger.“… The best thing we can do to lead the world in this struggle between democracy and autocracy is to get our own house in order and I hope that we’ll do that starting Tuesday.”Hillary Clinton has been talking about the economy – which is top of many people’s minds as the midterm elections roar towards us and voting is underway.She acknowledged in talking to CNN earlier today that the economy was of course something that needed to be talked about this election cycle. Democrats’ prospects are blighted by record inflation and a cost of living crunch and Clinton wants them to talk up their record and put current economic challenges into the wider context.“What I wish we could convey more effectively, if you look at what has been accomplished in the first two years of the Biden presidency, with Congress working hand in hand, there has been an enormous amount of commitment of new building, new infrastructure, new investments in manufacturing, new ways to lower healthcare costs,” she said.The former first lady and secretary of state added: “In fact the work that’s been done by the Democrats in helping the economy and helping people deal with what is global inflation, not just American inflation, is truly impressive, and we’ve got to get that message across more effectively.”.@HillaryClinton: “The work that is being done by the Democrats in helping the economy and helping people deal with what is global inflation, not just American inflation, is truly impressive, and we’ve got to get that message across more effectively.” pic.twitter.com/rZQx1ItZ6I— The Hill (@thehill) November 3, 2022
      Tonight, Clinton is one of the headliners at a Get Out The Vote event in New York City to bolster New York state’s Democratic governor Kathy Hochul, who is not home and dry against her Republican challenger Lee Zeldin.State attorney general Letitia James will be there as well as other grandees and the top headliner will be US vice president Kamala Harris.The White House has announced that US representatives today visited US basketball player Brittney Griner in Russia, where she has been imprisoned since the early days of Russia’s war on Ukraine, Reuters reports.The two-time Olympic gold medallist was arrested on 17 February at a Moscow airport with vape cartridges containing cannabis oil, which is banned in Russia.She was sentenced on 4 August to nine years in a penal colony. Last month her appeal against that harsh sentence failed and there are fears Griner could be moved to one of Russia’s far-flung prison colonies within weeks.Although at that time, Griner’s legal team said she was not “expecting any miracles” from the appeals process, the decision nonetheless would be a blow to the sports star, who pleaded guilty to the drug charges in July and has thrown herself several times on the mercy of the Russian court only to be given an unusually harsh sentence, even for Russia.“We are told she is doing as well as can be expected under the circumstances,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters today aboard Air Force One as she accompanied US president Joe Biden on an election campaign trip to New Mexico, followed by California.Earlier in October, Brittney Griner’s wife, Cherelle Griner told CBS Mornings that Brittney, who was on her way to play in Russia during the WNBA offseason when she was arrested, is afraid of being abandoned by the United States.“She’s very afraid about being left and forgotten in Russia,” Cherelle Griner said.She said Brittney told her in a phone call that she felt “like my life just doesn’t matter.”Brittney Griner’s story always transcended sport. She’s a real American trailblazerRead moreIt’s clear that the spike in voter support Democrats experienced over the summer has worn off in the final weeks before the midterms, raising the possibility of a disastrous Tuesday for the party as it tries to defend its slim hold on both chambers of Congress.Longtime Democratic strategist Stanley B. Greenberg has published an explanation of one reason why Democrats failed to keep their momentum: their own voters lost faith in their ability to tackle crime.Writing in The American Prospect, Greenberg argues that Republicans effectively used increasing fears of violence nationwide to tar Democrats as soft on the issue, and the strategy was so potent even some racial groups that traditionally vote for Joe Biden’s allies saw the GOP as better able to tackle the problem. Greenberg based his conclusions on a polling effort he oversaw:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}New York City has seen citywide shooting incidents increase by 13 percent compared to July 2021, and the number of murders increased for the month by 34 percent compared to this time last year. Philadelphia and Chicago experienced prominent shoot-outs on the subway, and in Philadelphia overall shootings have increased by 3 percent and violent crimes are up 7 percent.
      As a result, crime was a top-tier issue in the midterm election, and that included Blacks, who ranked it almost as high as the cost of living in poll after poll. For Hispanics and Asian Americans, crime came just below the cost of living as a priority. And Republicans continued to remind voters that Democrats continued to support “defunding the police,” even by linking candidates to organizations they took money from, like Planned Parenthood, which back in 2020 called for defunding.
      The Democrats had so little credibility on crime that any message I tested this year against the Republicans ended up losing us votes, even messages that voters previously liked.The only message that worked with voters was one in which Democrats promised to greatly expand police forces and publicly called out members seen as not doing enough to fight crime, Greenberg writes. He adds that it’s a far cry from much of the party’s messaging since the racial justice protests that began in the summer of 2020, after which many Democrats focused more on police abuses than on communities’ fears of violence:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}In a mid-October poll, I was able to test a crime message that got heard. It got heard because it dramatized more police, said Democrats heard our communities on violent crime, and also called out the small minority of Democrats who failed to address violent crime, and said, “Democrats in Congress are mainstream” and support our “first responders.”
      To be honest, I didn’t want to open up this debate during the campaign when Democrats could do little to address it. That is why I am writing this article now, being published right before the election.
      Our effective crime message began with respect for police, but this time, the Democrat proposes to add 100,000 more police. That is a pretty dramatic offer that says, my crime plan begins with many more police. The message includes the same urgent reforms, but also adds, “those very communities want us to get behind law enforcement” and “fight violent crime as a top priority.”
      This crime message defeats by 11 points a Republican crime message that hits Democrats for defunding the police, being with Biden who is soft on crime, and presiding over Democratic cities with record homicide rates. Democrats are in so much trouble on crime, yet this message wins dramatically in the base and competes with working-class targets. We are five days away from the 8 November midterm elections, and Joe Biden last night gave a primetime speech in which he sought to remind Americans that many Republicans on ballots this year hold views that could threaten the country’s democracy. We’ll soon find out if voters believed him.Here’s a look at what has happened today so far:
      Republicans rolled their eyes at Biden’s speech, with the Senate’s GOP leader calling it a distraction from crime and inflation, which was echoed by the party’s candidate for governor in Michigan.
      A noted domestic violence researcher agreed with Biden’s warnings about democracy, saying that research indicates only a minority of Americans support violence in politics – though that still may be as many as 13 mn people.
      A top aide to Donald Trump said she has advised the former president to announce his 2024 run for office after the midterms. Some Democrats hoped Trump’s return to the presidential campaign trail before the vote would be positive for democratic turnout.
      One of Donald Trump’s top advisors Kellyanne Conway held forth with reporters today about what she advised the former president when it comes to announcing his next run for office, Semafor reports.Trump is widely expected to run for president again in 2024, but the bigger question is when he will announce. Some Democrats hoped he would so before the midterms, so they can steer voters’ attention back to the divisive former leader.Here’s what Conway, one of his best known aides, told reporters:Kellyanne Conway, at a roundtable with reporters, says she advised Trump not to announce before the midterms “if he does at all.” She then said it’ll happen soon and mentioned Tiffany Trump’s wedding as his estate.— Kadia Goba (@kadiagoba) November 3, 2022
      “I personally think he should do what he wants to do and I understand that he wants to make right all the issues that he made right while he was president.” — Conway when asked if she personally thinks Trump should run in 2024.— Kadia Goba (@kadiagoba) November 3, 2022
      Conway’s projection on Trump’s biggest threat. to the presidency: a spoiler. She did not name a specific potential Republican candidate.— Kadia Goba (@kadiagoba) November 3, 2022
      While Joe Biden argued democracy is on the ballot on Tuesday, Amy Westervelt reports that outcome could also have a major impact on climate change:Climate is on the ballot in a big way this November, despite the fact that it is not front and center in any of the campaigns. Even when it comes to voter turnout, the mood of climate voters has been a topic of conversation among political consultants for months.“Several months ago I was very concerned about the apathy we were seeing in young climate voters because of Democrats’ failure to even talk about the successes they have had,” Rania Batrice, political strategist and founder of Batrice & Associates, says. “But I do feel like there’s been a little bit of a renewed sense of urgency. In Georgia, for example, early voting just started and it’s already breaking all kinds of records.”Batrice says the fallout from the supreme court decision in Dobbs, which overturned the Roe v Wade precedent on abortion, is a big part of that urgency, but that the Biden administration’s increased action on climate this year plays a role too.For the campaigns she’s working on this midterm cycle – Beto O’Rourke for governor of Texas, John Fetterman for Senate in Pennsylvania, Charles Booker for Senate in Kentucky and Mandela Barnes for Senate in Wisconsin – Batrice says her advice on climate is simple: “Meet people where they’re at, and talk about climate in ways that relate to people’s daily lives.”‘A renewed sense of urgency’: climate on the ballot in US midterm electionsRead more More

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      in US Politics

      US voters: what issues are deciding your vote next week?

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      US voters – what issues are deciding your midterm vote next week?Republican, Democrat or neither – we’d like to speak to people in the US ahead of Tuesday’s midterm elections Americans will go to the polls next week to cast their votes in the US midterm elections.The midterms on 8 November will be voters’ first opportunity to deliver a national verdict on Joe Biden’s presidency, though his name will not be on the ballot. The constitution specifies every member of the House of Representatives and about a third of the Senate run for office halfway between presidential elections.Ahead of the midterm elections, we’d like to hear from US voters about the issues that are deciding their vote. Why are you planning on voting the way you are?Share your viewsIf you are 18 years or over, you can get in touch by filling in the form below or contacting us via WhatsApp by clicking here or adding +44(0)7766780300. Your responses are secure as the form is encrypted and only the Guardian has access to your contributions. One of our journalists will be in contact before we publish, so please do leave contact details.We will only use the data you provide us for the purpose of the feature. We will delete any personal data when we no longer require it for this purpose. For more information please see our terms of service and privacy policy.If you’re having trouble using the form, click here.TopicsUS politicsUS midterm elections 2022DemocratsJoe BidencalloutReuse this content More

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      in Elections

      'Democracy at risk': Biden warns against political violence as US midterms approach – video

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      Joe Biden has warned Americans against condoning ‘political violence’ as the midterm elections approach, raising the alarm about the threats to US democracy. ‘We don’t settle our differences in America with a riot, a mob or a bullet, or a hammer. We settle them peaceably at the ballot box,’ the president said during a prime time address on Wednesday. ‘It’s within our power, each and every one of us to preserve our democracy. And I believe we will,’ he added.
      Biden’s speech came after an attack on House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, 82-year-old Paul Pelosi, at their home. 

      Biden urges Americans to take a stand against political violence: ‘We’re facing a defining moment’ More

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      in US Politics

      Biden urges Americans to take a stand against political violence: ‘We’re facing a defining moment’

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      Biden urges Americans to take a stand against political violence: ‘We’re facing a defining moment’President asks voters to reject election denying candidates in midterms to ‘preserve democracy’ Joe Biden has issued a rallying cry for the preservation of democracy and a dark warning that America could face political violence as it barrels toward next week’s midterm elections.The US president used a prime time address on Wednesday to argue that his predecessor Donald Trump’s “big lie” about the 2020 election being stolen has become “an article of faith” in the extreme wing of the Republican party.‘The Trump playbook’: Republicans hint they will deny election resultsRead moreBiden delivered his address to supporters under a painted ceiling in an ornate room at Washington’s Union Station, which is within sight of the US Capitol that was stormed on January 6 last year by a furious mob of Trump supporters.Behind him were eight US flags and a blue curtain – a less dramatic backdrop than the red and blue lights of his “Battle for the Soul of the Nation speech at Philadelphia’s Independence Hall two months ago, where he spoke on similar themes.But just as that address was framed by Republicans as an attack on their voters, his latest remarks found little unity. The conservative Fox News channel ran captions such as “Biden ignores crime & inflation to talk about ‘threat to democracy’” and “Divider in chief”.Its effect on an election in which 27 million people have already voted was also uncertain. A CBS News poll late last month found that 63% of likely Democratic voters say a functioning democracy is a bigger concern than a strong economy, but 70% of Republican voters say the opposite.Biden acknowledged that there is much at stake in the midterm elections, just six days away, but insisted: “Make no mistake, democracy is on the ballot for all of us.”He began his remarks, hosted by the Democratic National Committee, by citing last week’s attack on Paul Pelosi, the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, at their home in San Francisco. He noted that the hammer–wielding assailant had asked “Where’s Nancy? Where’s Nancy?” – the same words used by the rioters on January 6.Trump’s false claims about a stolen election have “fueled the dangerous rise of political violence and voter intimidation over the past two years”, Biden said.“We’re facing a defining moment. We must with one overwhelming, unified voice speak, as a country, and say there’s no place for voter intimidation or political violence in America.”The midterms will determine control of Congress and mark the first nationwide test of American democracy since Trump lost the White House and his supporters laid siege to the Capitol. “I wish I could say the assault on our democracy had ended that day,” Biden remarked. “But I cannot.”The president warned that it is estimated more than 300 election deniers are on the ballot across America this year with an impact he described as damaging, corrosive and destructive.“As I stand here today, there are candidates running for every level of office in America, for governor, Congress, attorney general, secretary of state, who won’t commit to accepting the results of the elections that they’re running in.“That is the path to chaos in America. It’s unprecedented. It’s unlawful. And it’s un-American. As I’ve said before, you can’t love your country only when you win.”He called on voters to reject candidates who have denied the results of the vote which even Trump’s administration declared to be free of any widespread fraud or interference, urging them to “think long and hard about the moment we are in”.“This is no ordinary year so I ask you to think long and hard about the moment we’re in. In a typical year, we are not often faced with the question of whether the vote we cast will preserve democracy or put it at risk. But this year we are.”Biden sought to preempt potential disinformation and unrest on election night, pointing out that it takes time to count all legitimate ballots so voters need to be patient. In 2020 Trump falsely claimed that mail-in votes tabulated after election day were illegitimate.He again identified Trump as the architect of the chaos. “He has abused his power and put the loyalty to himself above loyalty to the constitution. He’s made the big lie an article of faith in the Maga Republican party.”Biden described “ultra-Maga” Republicans – a reference to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan – as a minority but “driving force” of the Republican party.Pointing to mounting concerns over political violence as well as threats of America’s long tradition of peaceful and accurate elections, he argued these Republicans are “trying to succeed where they failed in 2020 to suppress the rights of voters and subvert the electoral system itself”.Biden added: “There’s an alarming rise in the number of people in this country condoning political violence or simply remaining silent. The silence is complicity.”He described those who are willing to use violence to achieve political ends as a “distinct minority” in America, “but they are loud and they are determined”.Many Americans remain pessimistic about the state of democracy. An October poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that just 9% of adults think democracy is working “extremely” or “very well,” while 52% say it’s not working well.Republicans condemned Wednesday’s speech. Senator Tom Cotton tweeted: “To Biden, “democracy” means one thing: Democrats having complete power.”Ronna McDaniel, chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, said: “Desperate and dishonest. Joe Biden promised unity but has instead demonized and smeared Americans, while making life more expensive for all.“While Republicans remain focused on the issues that matter most to voters, Biden and Democrats are flailing in the final days because they have lost touch with the concerns of families struggling to get by.”Biden has made the global struggle between democracy and autocracy a defining theme of his presidency. In a heartfelt plea, he claimed that Americans can no longer take democracy for granted. “In our bones we know democracy is at risk, but we also know this: it’s in our power to preserve our democracy.”TopicsUS midterm elections 2022Joe BidenRepublicansDemocratsDonald TrumpUS politicsnewsReuse this content More

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      Trump lawyers saw Clarence Thomas as ‘only chance’ to challenge 2020 election – live

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      As they attempted to stop Joe Biden from assuming the presidency despite his victory in the 2020 election, lawyers for Donald Trump wanted to appeal specifically to Clarence Thomas, one of the most conservative justices on the supreme court, according to emails obtained by Politico.“We want to frame things so that Thomas could be the one to issue some sort of stay or other circuit justice opinion saying Georgia is in legitimate doubt,” attorney Kenneth Chesebro wrote in an email to the then-president’s lawyers on the last day of 2020.He called a ruling from Thomas “our only chance to get a favorable judicial opinion by Jan. 6, which might hold up the Georgia count in Congress.”In the weeks after he lost the 3 November 2020 election, Trump and his allies tried to convince lawmakers and officials in swing states that voted for Biden, such as Georgia, to disrupt the certification of their results and potentially delay the Democrat from taking office. They also mounted a legal campaign with the same goal.Politico obtained the emails from John Eastman, another lawyer for the president who is seen as a key architect of the campaign. The emails were among a batch Eastman unsuccessfully attempted to stop the January 6 committee from obtaining, according to Politico.In his speech, Biden plans to make the case that election deniers running for office are leading a “path to chaos in America,” according to experts released by the DNC. “There are candidates running for every level of office in America: for governor, for Congress, for attorney general, for secretary of state who won’t commit to accepting the results of the elections they’re in,” Biden plans to say. “That is the path to chaos in America. It’s unprecedented. It’s unlawful. And, It is un-American.”He will also make the point that this is an unusual, unprecedented election year. “This is no ordinary year. So, I ask you to think long and hard about the moment we are in,” Biden will say. “In a typical year, we are not often faced with the question of whether the vote we cast will preserve democracy or put it at risk. But we are this year.”Justice Democrats, a progressive political action committee, has urged Biden to draw a line between the right-wing threats to democracy with and the economy.“If Republicans succeed in their plot against democracy, their big oil and pharma donors will be free to raise prices as high as they wish without our one tool to reign them in: government of, by, and for the people,” said Waleed Shahid, a spokesperson for the group.“President Biden must make a strong case for how the MAGA Republican assault on our democracy is a pocketbook issue tied to inflation.” -@_WaleedShahidOur statement ahead of President Biden’s major speech on democracy tonight: pic.twitter.com/Dl9ZEdEjIj— Justice Democrats (@justicedems) November 2, 2022
      A slate of far-right candidates who have vowed to dismantle election systems are running in statewide and local races across the country, on a platform based on the conspiracy theory that the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump.But with early voting underway, economic concerns have been top of mind for many voters, polls show, possibly directing them toward Republican candidates. Progressives, including Bernie Sanders, have urged Democratic candidates to not to ignore voters’ economic woes even as they center threats to democracy and abortion rights.“It would be political malpractice for Democrats to ignore the state of the economy and allow Republican lies and distortions to go unanswered,” he wrote in a recent op-ed for the Guardian. “In poll after poll, Republicans are more trusted than Democrats to handle the economy – the issue of most importance to people. I believe that if Democrats do not fight back on economic issues and present a strong pro-worker agenda, they could well be in the minority in both the House and the Senate next year.”Later this evening, Joe Biden is set to give a speech about threats to democracy.In recent weeks, he has centered in on the message that “democracy is on the ballot” this election. His last primetime speech addressed threats from the “Maga forces” of Donald Trump and his supporters.Tonight, the president “will be very clear tonight that he is speaking to people who don’t agree with him on any issues, who don’t agree on his agenda, but who really can unite behind this idea of this fundamental value of democracy”, White House senior adviser Anita Dunn said today during an event hosted by Axios.He is also expected to address heightened threats against political figures, in the aftermath of a politically motivated attack on Paul Pelosi, House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband. In the spring of this year, Julie Falbaum’s 20-year-old son walked into a frat party filled with about 50 of his peers, holding a stack of petitions. They were for a campaign to protect abortion.“Who wants to be a dad?” he yelled. Like a park-goer throwing bread to pigeons, he chucked the forms around the room and watched as dozens of young men swarmed to sign them.The campaign to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution was already under way here even before Roe fell, and it has become an embittered battle in Michigan – to keep a 90-year-old abortion ban off the books. Campaigners fear that ban would criminalise doctors and pregnant people and deny essential medical care, such as miscarriage medication, now that the constitutional right to abortion no longer exists in the US.The battle in Michigan has brought death threats and vandalism from pro-choice militants. On the anti-abortion side, it has involved dirty tactics from the Republican party, which tried to block a petition brought by nearly 800,000 Michiganders over formatting errors, and has peddled a wide campaign of misinformation.Read more:‘This is a blueprint’: abortion rights ballot proposal takes off in MichiganRead moreIn Arizona, the Republican candidate for governor Kari Lake turned the assault on Nancy Pelosi’s husband Paul into a punchline:Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake (R) gets a big laugh from the crowd after joking about Speaker Pelosi’s husband Paul being violently assaulted:“Nancy Pelosi, well, she’s got protection when she’s in D.C. — apparently her house doesn’t have a lot of protection.” pic.twitter.com/8U647UTO9x— The Recount (@therecount) October 31, 2022
      Paul Pelosi was allegedly attacked on Friday by David DePape, who is accused of breaking into their San Francisco home and shouting “where is Nancy?” DePape told investigators he wanted to take the Democratic House speaker hostage and potentially break her kneecaps, and is facing an array of state and federal charges for the assault.The Guardian’s politics live blog is being handed over to Maanvi Singh, who will take you through the remainder of the day, including Joe Biden’s speech on threats to democracy at 7 pm eastern time.America’s largest trade union federation the AFL-CIO has come out in opposition to the Federal Reserve’s latest rate hike, saying working people will bear the brunt of its tighter monetary policy.“The Federal Reserve’s decision today to raise interest rates by .75% will have a direct and harmful impact on working people and our families. The Fed’s actions will not address the underlying causes of inflation—the war in Ukraine, climate change’s effect on harvests and corporate profits, and an increase in the chances that the United States enters a recession,” the federation’s president Liz Shuler said in a statement.“The Fed seems determined to raise interest rates, though it openly admits those rates could ruin our current economy as unemployment remains low and people are able to find jobs.”The AFL-CIO typically supports Democrats, who are increasingly opposed to the Fed’s rate increases, despite the central bank’s explanation that they are necessary to lower inflation in the United States.Yesterday, a coalition of progressive lawmakers including senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren wrote to Fed chair Jerome Powell, questioning the Fed’s strategy.“You continue to double down on your commitment to ‘act aggressively’ with interest rate hikes and ‘keep at it until it’s done,’ even if ‘(n)o one knows whether this process will lead to a recession or if so, how significant that recession would be,’” the lawmakers said.“These statements reflect an apparent disregard for the livelihoods of millions of working Americans, and we are deeply concerned that your interest rate hikes risk slowing the economy to a crawl while failing to slow rising prices that continue to harm families.”The governor’s race in Wisconsin is a dead heat, Marquette Law School found in a poll released today.Both Democratic incumbent Tony Evers and his Republican challenger Tim Michels are at 48% support among likely voters, the survey found. In the Senate race, GOP incumbent Ron Johnson may have an edge over his Democratic challenger Mandela Barnes, but it’s close, according to the poll. Johnson is at 50% support among likely voters, and Barnes at 48%. The race appears to have tightened up since Marquette’s previous survey conducted from October 3-9, when Johnson polled at 52% support to Barnes’s 46%.Wisconsin is viewed as one of Democrats’ best opportunities to oust a sitting Republican senator, while control of the governor’s mansion may determine whether Wisconsin remains a swing state in future elections, or if Republicans succeeded in their campaign to use gerrymandering and election restrictions to hobble Democrats in the state.Wisconsin’s Democratic governor Tony Evers called his Republican opponent a threat to democracy after he made comments indicating he would consolidate GOP control in the state if elected, The Guardian’s Martin Pengelly reports:The Republican candidate for governor in Wisconsin told supporters at a campaign event that if he is elected his party “will never lose another election” in the state.Tim Michels’ opponent next Tuesday, the incumbent Democrat Tony Evers, said the comment, which was released by a left-leaning group, showed the Republican was “a danger to our democracy”.Michels, a construction company owner, is endorsed by Donald Trump. He has repeated the former president’s lie that his defeat by Joe Biden in 2020 was the result of electoral fraud, and refused to say if he would certify results in a presidential election if he was governor and a Democrat won Wisconsin.In a debate with Evers last month, Michels did not say he would accept the result of his own election. He later said he would.Republican candidates in other swing states have cast doubt on whether they will accept results next week.Fred Wertheimer, president of the non-partisan group Democracy 21, told the Guardian this week: “There’s great danger that the Trump ‘big lie’ is going to spread to states all over the country.“If election deniers lose their elections by narrow margins we can expect that they will reject the results and refuse to accept them.”Republican says party ‘will never lose another election’ in Wisconsin if he winsRead moreIn an attempt to preserve their fragile majorities in the House of Representatives, Democrats this year have spent money to boost far-right Republicans in certain areas, banking that these candidates would be easier for them to defeat in the midterms.In an interview with The Washington Post, Steny Hoyer, the Democratic majority leader in the House, defends the tactic and pins the blame on Republican voters for choosing the more extreme candidate. Democratic congressman Don Beyer, meanwhile, signals discomfort with the strategy:New @PostVideo exclusive:House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) told The Post in a recent interview that spending by Democrats amplifying far-right Republican candidates who have questioned or denied the results of the 2020 election does not undermine U.S. democracy. pic.twitter.com/JBGO4YGc4k— JM Rieger (@RiegerReport) November 2, 2022
      The Federal Reserve has once again raised interest rates in a bid to lower the United States’ stubbornly high rate of inflation by tightening the ability of businesses and consumers to borrow money.Inflation has been a major factor in president Joe Biden’s low approval ratings among voters. In the run-up to the central bank’s two-day meeting that concluded today, some Democratic senators had urged its policy setting committee to proceed cautiously or even hold off on another increase, saying rates that are higher than necessary could harm the economy.Here’s more on the Fed’s decision from The Guardian’s Dominic Rushe:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}The Federal Reserve stepped up its fight against a 40-year high in US inflation on Wednesday, announcing its fourth consecutive three-quarters of a percentage point hike in interest rates.
      With the cost of living crisis battering consumers and Joe Biden’s political fortunes, Fed officials have now imposed six rate rises in a row, the sharpest increases in interest rates since the 1980s, when inflation touched 14% and rates rose to nearly 20%.
      The Fed’s latest increase brings the federal funds rate – which acts as a benchmark for everything including business loans, credit card and mortgage rates – to between 3.75% and 4% after sitting at 0% for more than a year during the coronavirus pandemic.
      The central bank does not expect inflation or interest rates to reach the levels seen in the 80s. Chair Jerome Powell has indicated that the Fed expects rates will reach 4.4% by the end of the year and start coming down until 2024. Fed officials had expected inflation to decline this year.
      But inflation – which the Fed initially dismissed as “transitory” – remains stubbornly high. In September, the costs of goods and services were 8.2% higher compared to a year ago, well above the Fed’s target inflation rate of 2%.Fed announces sixth consecutive hike in US interest rates to fight inflationRead moreSome of the most closely watched races this year are being held in Arizona, where Democrats are fighting to keep hold of a Senate seat, while Republicans have elevated candidates for governor and secretary of state who have promoted baseless conspiracy theories about the 2020 election.For a better understanding of how Donald Trump has transformed the politics of the southwestern state, take a look at this report The Guardian’s Oliver Laughland in Phoenix: More

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      Joe Biden is right: America needs a windfall profits tax on Big Oil | Robert Weissman

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      Joe Biden is right: America needs a windfall profits tax on big oilRobert WeissmanThe case for a windfall profits tax is straightforward. There’s a reason why the idea is so popular Consumers are paying as big oil has gobbled up more than $125bn in profits in 2022 – triple the total from last year – doing nothing other than watching world oil prices soar due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.The solution to this heist is simple enough: a windfall profits tax that extracts big oil’s unjust enrichment and returns the money to the people.Outraged by big oil’s greed, President Biden was right to call for a windfall profits tax – but wrong to encourage more oil production as an alternative.The Guardian view on Shell’s profits: enabling climate and inequality emergencies | EditorialRead moreThe case for a windfall profits tax is straightforward. The cost of getting oil out of the ground remains the same. Still, the market price of oil has skyrocketed due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. For the integrated major oil corporations, that means they have been able to charge consumers far more, despite their costs remaining flat.Whether you think the companies doing that are displaying unmitigated greed or just following the rules of the market, there’s no question that they are reaping windfall profits – and doing so at consumers’ expense. A windfall profits tax, with the revenue fully rebated to taxpayers, would offset the pain at the pump and limit big oil’s egregious rip-offs.There’s nothing revolutionary about this. Although the implementation has been uneven, a number of European countries have already put windfall profits taxes in place and others are lined up to do so. UN Secretary General António Guterres has called for such a tax. Even Shell’s CEO, Ben van Beurden, acknowledges that it makes sense for governments to tap the industry to aid struggling consumers.Not surprisingly, the American people overwhelmingly support the idea. They know they are being ripped off, they know it hurts and they’d like something done about it.All of this is deeply felt. It’s not just that, in a car-dependent society, many people have little choice about driving and fueling their cars. It’s that nothing in America is as clearly labeled as the price of a gallon of gasoline. We post it on signs outside filling stations, project it from towers along our highways and have built software to ensure people know where they can find the best price in town.It’s also that big oil’s profits are so eye-popping: $19.7bn for Exxon in just the third quarter of the year. More than $11bn for Chevron. $9.5bn for Shell and $8.2bn for BP. In a time of significant inflation, all of this stings.The main arguments against taxing big oil’s enormous profits are easily refuted. Some highlight design difficulties of a windfall profits tax, but there are a number of possible alternatives that would do the job. Others argue it would raise prices for consumers, but a tax on excess profits will not affect consumer prices at all – except perhaps to bring them down. And others say, just let supply and demand work itself out – but that’s just a way to rationalize big oil’s windfall profits.The only genuine argument against a windfall profits tax is that big oil has so much political power that it would never let such a thing come to pass. That, of course, is not a merits argument. It also overstates big oil’s political invulnerability – if a windfall profits tax gains momentum, given its popularity and simplicity, it will be increasingly hard for big oil’s political allies to stop it.That’s why it was a major breakthrough on Monday when President Biden lent his support to such a tax. Unfortunately, Biden linked the call for a windfall tax to a demand that big oil companies increase production.That’s a wrong turn. Drilling more will not lower prices for US consumers. More oil from US lands will just be exported – as 29% of US crude production now is, thanks to the 2015 elimination of a crude oil export ban – and will not affect the global price of oil.Worse, more investment in oil drilling will deepen our dependence on fossil fuels when the worsening climate catastrophe demands we speed the transition away from fossil fuels. The global energy disruption caused by the Russian invasion absolutely requires short-term and makeshift responses to address supply and price challenges. But the only sane long-term response is to accelerate the move to clean energy.Americans know they are being ripped off by big oil profiteering and they want a direct solution. A windfall profits tax on big oil is exactly that.
      Robert Weissman is the president of Public Citizen
      TopicsUS newsOpinionOilJoe BidenUS politicscommentReuse this content More

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      January 6 committee ‘in discussions’ with Trump over testifying, Cheney says – as it happened

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      The January 6 committee is “in discussions” with lawyers for Donald Trump about whether the former president will comply with the lawmakers’ subpoena for his testimony about the attack on the Capitol, CNN reports vice-chair Liz Cheney said today.At what was expected to be its last public hearing, the January 6 committee last month voted to issue a subpoena to Trump for documents related to the attack and for him to testify under oath. He has not yet said whether he would comply with their summons, but in the past has cheered instances where his allies have defied the committee, and fought aggressively against other investigations into his conduct.According to CNN, Cheney said Trump “has an obligation to comply” with the panel. She said the format of his testimony has not yet been decided but, “It’ll be done under oath. It’ll be done, potentially, over multiple days,” and the committee is not at the “mercy of Donald Trump.” She was speaking in Cleveland, Ohio at an event about the threat of political violence.Trump faces a Friday deadline to turn over documents requested in the subpoena, and a 14 November deadline for his testimony.The supreme court issued two consequential orders in cases concerning Donald Trump today, first by temporarily blocking a House committee from receiving his tax returns until it could consider an emergency petition from the ex-president. However, it turned down an attempt by Republican senator Lindsey Graham to quash a subpoena from a special grand jury in Georgia – meaning the Trump loyalist will soon have to answer questions about efforts to meddle in the state’s 2020 election results. Vice-chair of the January 6 committee Liz Cheney meanwhile revealed the committee was still negotiating with the ex-president’s lawyers over whether he would testify as part of their inquiry into the attack on the Capitol.Here’s what else happened today:
      A historian warned the attack against Paul Pelosi last week could be the latest sign of an increase in political violence in the United States. Another likened it to the 1850s, a period when tensions that led to the civil war hit a boiling point.
      Trump promoted conspiracy theories about the attack on Pelosi in a podcast interview today.
      California’s Democratic governor Gavin Newsom blamed Fox News for creating the atmosphere that fueled the violence against Pelosi.
      Meanwhile in Arizona, the GOP nominee for governor has decided to turn the attack on Paul Pelosi into a punchline, Martin Pengelly reports:The Republican candidate for governor of Arizona, Kari Lake, drew laughter at a campaign event in Scottsdale on Monday with a remark about the attack on Paul Pelosi, husband of the Democratic US House speaker, Nancy Pelosi.“Nancy Pelosi, well, she’s got protection when she’s in DC,” Lake said. “Apparently her house doesn’t have a lot of protection.”Paul Pelosi, 82, was attacked with a hammer at his home in San Francisco on Friday. He remained in intensive care on Monday but was expected to recover.His attacker, David DePape, 42, reportedly shouted “Where is Nancy?” On Monday, he was charged with attempted murder, assault and other crimes. Authorities said he told police he wanted to hold Nancy Pelosi hostage and “break her kneecaps”. DePape is also reported to have posted conspiracy-laced screeds online.Republican and rightwing responses to the attack – many seeking to advance the GOP’s law-and-order midterm elections message – have drawn controversy. Democrats and media observers have warned of the danger of stoking politically inspired violence.Republican candidate draws laughter with mockery of attack on Paul PelosiRead moreDavid DePape, who is accused of breaking into Nancy Pelosi’s home and assaulting her husband, Paul, is expected to make his first court appearance today, KTVU reports:JUST IN: Just confirmed David Depape is now being held in County Jail and is no longer in the hospital, as of yesterday. @SheriffSF confirms he was booked in absentia while under Sheriff’s Office protection in the hospital. He’s expected in court at 1:30p @KTVU— James Torrez (@JamesTorrezNews) November 1, 2022
      Federal prosecutors yesterday announced charges of attempted kidnapping and assault against DePape over the Friday attack. San Francisco police said after his arrest DePape was held on suspicion of attempted murder and elder abuse, among other charges.Liz Cheney has endorsed another Democrat facing a tight race in next Tuesday’s midterm elections: Ohio Senate candidate Tim Ryan.During an appearance in the state today, Cheney, a Republican congresswoman who is in her last weeks in office after losing her primary earlier this year, said she would not vote for JD Vance, the GOP’s nominee for Ohio’s soon-to-be-vacant Senate seat.Appearing in Ohio, outgoing Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) endorses a second Democratic candidate, Rep. Tim Ryan, who is locked in a tight Senate race with GOP nominee J.D. Vance.Judy Woodruff: “So if you were a Buckeye State voter, you’d be voting for Tim Ryan?”Cheney: “I would.” pic.twitter.com/BPoRlTqcdh— The Recount (@therecount) November 1, 2022
      Last month, she endorsed Democratic congresswoman Elissa Slotkin, who is up for re-election in Michigan. The daughter of former Republican vice-president Dick Cheney, Liz Cheney was among the most conservative members of the House, but fell out with the GOP over her opposition to Donald Trump.Republican and Trump critic Liz Cheney to campaign for Michigan DemocratRead moreThe supreme court has turned down a challenge from Republican senator Lindsey Graham to a subpoena from a special grand jury in Georgia that is investigating attempts by Donald Trump’s allies to meddle in the state’s 2020 election results.The court’s order clears the way for Graham to appear before the jurors empaneled by Fulton county district attorney Fanni Willis, which issued the subpoena to the South Carolina lawmaker earlier this year. Graham challenged the summons in federal court, but was unsuccessful.Willis has summoned a number of allies of the former president to a courthouse in Atlanta to answer questions about attempts to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s victory in the state. These include Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani, who has also been told he was a target in the investigation. Georgia’s Republican secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, has said Graham suggested throwing out legally cast ballots in the state.Georgia’s secretary of state says Lindsey Graham suggested he throw out legal ballotsRead moreThe January 6 committee is “in discussions” with lawyers for Donald Trump about whether the former president will comply with the lawmakers’ subpoena for his testimony about the attack on the Capitol, CNN reports vice-chair Liz Cheney said today.At what was expected to be its last public hearing, the January 6 committee last month voted to issue a subpoena to Trump for documents related to the attack and for him to testify under oath. He has not yet said whether he would comply with their summons, but in the past has cheered instances where his allies have defied the committee, and fought aggressively against other investigations into his conduct.According to CNN, Cheney said Trump “has an obligation to comply” with the panel. She said the format of his testimony has not yet been decided but, “It’ll be done under oath. It’ll be done, potentially, over multiple days,” and the committee is not at the “mercy of Donald Trump.” She was speaking in Cleveland, Ohio at an event about the threat of political violence.Trump faces a Friday deadline to turn over documents requested in the subpoena, and a 14 November deadline for his testimony.Federal prosecutors have asked for a three-month prison sentence for a US army veteran from Tennessee who pleaded guilty to invading the US Capitol on the day of the January 6 attack.According to documents filed by the US justice department, James Brooks admitted he spent more than two hours in the Capitol during the insurrection while equipped with tear gas, body armor and a two-way radio. He also acknowledged yelling at officers trying to defend the building: “You took an oath like I did… every one of you!”Brooks’s sentencing is tentatively set for Thursday.He is among more than 900 Capitol rioters who have been charged in connection with an attack to which officials have linked nine deaths, including suicides among law enforcement officers left traumatized by that day. Supporters of Donald Trump staged the attack as an unsuccessful attempt to keep the former president in the Oval Office after his defeat to Joe Biden in the 2020 election.Democrats are banking that outrage over the supreme court’s upending of abortion rights will help their candidates in the midterms. The Guardian’s Poppy Noor reports from one district in Michigan, where the dynamic appears to be real for an embattled Democrat:Elissa Slotkin is a straight shooter. She doesn’t miss a beat when asked a tough question. She speaks up often, and forcefully, against things she perceives as unjust – whether perpetrated by her opponents or her own Democratic party. But when asked what she’ll think if the proposal to enshrine abortion rights in Michigan’s state constitution doesn’t pass this November, she clams up.Slotkin fidgets, stroking one thumb over the other, in a repetitive, soothing motion.Is she discombobulated?“Yes,” she answers, back to her usual, rapid-fire pace.Why?“I’ll tell you this,” Slotkin begins. “If it fails to pass, I won’t be re-elected. Because it means I’m fundamentally out of touch.”She pauses, cautiously, and adds: “But I don’t believe that to be the case. I think I’m going to win.”That’s a big statement. Slotkin is running in one of the country’s most tightly contested seats, as a Democrat who won Trump voters back from the Republican party in both 2018 and 2020.She is also running in a midterm election full of twists and turns – one that has seen Democrats’ hopes to avoid the typically poor showing of the party in power begin to rise, only to plummet again. But even with a mixed economy, rising inflation and unfavourable polling for the president, people are putting their money on Slotkin in huge numbers: the race for Michigan’s seventh, a newly drawn district pitting Slotkin against state senator Tom Barrett, has become the most expensive race in the country in terms of outside spending. Outside spending, generally, is a good barometer for how important a race is, with the largest amounts coming from the national parties – and in the case of the seventh, $27m has been poured into the race.Michigan Democrat’s lead shows abortion may be the issue that decides midterm racesRead moreConcerns about political violence across the US as the 8 November midterm elections loom won’t subside after a candidate for a seat in the Pennsylvania state house of representatives was reportedly attacked at his home Monday.Richard Ringer, a 69-year-old Democrat, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that an attacker blooded him and knocked him unconscious in his backyard about 5am.“A guy was standing with his back to me – I went and bear-hugged him, wrestled, ended up on the ground,” Ringer said of the violent encounter. “He was larger than I am and he pinned me down on my left side.”Ringer also said: “He hit me 10 to 12 times in the head, in the face and by the eye and he knocked me out” and fled.The description of the attack to the Post-Gazette doesn’t suggest an overtly political motive. But the newspaper noted that the confrontation marked the third time in two weeks he has had to call 911 as his run for an open state House seat against a Republican, Charity Grimm Krupa, comes to a close.Meanwhile, though police investigators haven’t publicly identified any potential suspects, Ringer said he couldn’t help but wonder if the attack on him at this stage of his campaign pertained to his candidacy.Ringer’s attack Monday happened hours before federal authorities charged the man accused of breaking into the home of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and battering her husband, Paul Pelosi, with a hammer last week was charged with attempted kidnapping and assault.Authorities allege that the intruder, 42-year-old David DePape, wanted to break Nancy Pelosi’s kneecaps so that she would have to be brought into Congress in a wheelchair as a warning to lawmakers that actions have consequences.It was the second time in less than two years that the House Speaker was targeted by a violent attack. Her office was vandalized on the day that far-right extremists supporting former president Donald Trump staged the US Capitol attack on January 6 2021.DePape’s arrest prompted Pelosi’s fellow Democrats to ramp up their warnings of escalating political violence in America.Joe Biden is on his way to Florida today to campaign for the Democratic candidates for governor and senator, both of whom are seen as trailing their Republican opponents. Part of the reason for that is discontent with Democrats’ handling of the economy, and in a speech Monday afternoon, the president tried to regain the initiative from Republicans, according to the Associated Press:Joe Biden has accused oil companies of “war profiteering” as the president raised the possibility of imposing a windfall tax if companies don’t boost domestic production.In remarks on Monday, just over a week away from the 8 November midterm elections, Biden criticized major oil companies for making record profits while refusing to help lower prices at the pump for American people. The president said he would look to Congress to levy tax penalties on oil companies if they don’t begin to invest some of their profits in lowering costs for American consumers.“My team will work with Congress to look at these options that are available to us and others,” Biden said. “It’s time for these companies to stop war profiteering, meet their responsibilities in this country and give the American people a break and still do very well.”Biden accuses oil companies of ‘war profiteering’ and threatens windfall taxRead moreThe release of Donald Trump’s tax returns to a House committee has been delayed by the supreme court’s chief justice John Roberts, who ordered the Democratic-led panel to respond in a lawsuit from the former president by Thursday of next week. The temporary stay is a reprieve for Trump, who has refused to make his filings public since his first campaign for office in 2016.Here’s what else happened today so far:
      A historian warned the attack against Paul Pelosi last week could be the latest sign of an increase in political violence in the United States. Another likened it to the 1850s, a period when tensions that led to the civil war hit a boiling point.
      Trump promoted conspiracy theories about the attack on Pelosi in a podcast interview today.
      California’s Democratic governor Gavin Newsom blamed Fox News for creating the atmosphere that fueled the violence against Pelosi.
      This post has been corrected to say the House committee’s deadline to respond to the supreme court’s stay is Thursday of next week, not this week.The list of Republican candidates beyond the reach of conspiracy theories grows shorter. Martin Pengelly reports that a New Hampshire school rebuked the state’s GOP Senate candidate Don Bolduc for making bizarre claims about what happens on its premises:A New Hampshire school has rebuked the Republican US Senate candidate Don Bolduc for claiming schoolchildren were identifying as “furries and fuzzies” in classrooms, using litter trays and licking themselves and each other.“I wish I was making it up,” Bolduc, a retired special forces general, said last week.In response, Pinkerton Academy, in Derry, said Bolduc was indeed making it up.On social media on Monday, the school said: “It has come to our attention that at a recent event in Claremont Don Bolduc named Pinkerton in false claims suggesting that unhygienic, disturbing practices are taking place in our classrooms and spaces on campus.“We want to assure our community that Mr Bolduc’s statements are entirely untrue. We invite all political candidates to speak with members of our administration or visit our campus so they can inform themselves about our school before making claims about what occurs here.”US school criticizes Republican Senate candidate for repeating false litter box claimRead moreCalifornia governor Gavin Newsom blamed Fox News for the attack on Paul Pelosi, saying the husband of Democratic House speaker Nancy Pelosi had become a fixation for one of the network’s commentators in the run-up to the attack:“I don’t think anyone’s been dehumanized like she has consistently,” Newsom, a Democrat, said of Nancy Pelosi in an interview with CBS. “Now I watched this one guy, Jesse Watters or something on Fox News. What he’s been saying about Paul Pelosi the last five, six months, mocking him consistently. Don’t tell me that’s not aiding and abetting all this. Of course it is.”“They’re sowing the seeds, creating a culture and a climate like this,” the governor continued. “I mean, look online. Look at the sewage that is online that they amplify on these networks and in social media to dehumanize people like Nancy Pelosi and other political leaders.”On Monday afternoon, Watters attempted to blame Newsom’s policies for allowing the accused attacker David DePape to be free – though it’s unclear if DePape had any criminal history prior to the attack. “If anything, Gavin Newsom has done more to aid and abet this attack on Paul Pelosi than anybody,” Watters said on Fox News.Prior to the attack, Paul Pelosi had been in the news for pleading guilty to driving under the influence:Paul Pelosi, Nancy Pelosi’s husband, pleads guilty to drunk driving chargeRead more More