2026 midterm elections live updates: Latest news, results, and analysis

Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA) called out Josh Turek’s claims that she blocked the release of the Department of Justice’s files regarding the investigation into the late convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Turek has accused Hinson of taking donations from individuals with ties to Epstein and alleged she voted “no” on releasing the files. Her campaign previously called Turek’s attack line “astounding and disgusting.”

“This week, I had to explain to my boys, ‘No, mom does not protect pedophiles,'” Hinson said in the ad. “Josh Turek is lying, and he knows it. Of course I voted to release the Epstein Files and spent years working across the aisle to protect survivors of sexual abuse.”

“Men like Epstein, who hurt children, they’ll have to answer to God,” she continued. “But men who lie about it to win an election, they’ll have to answer to you.”

NEW DEMOCRATIC AD IN IOWA SENATE TIES ASHLEY HINSON TO JEFFREY EPSTEIN

Last month, the Win Senate political action committee, which backs Democrats running for U.S. Senate, alleged Hinson’s top donors appear in the Epstein files hundreds of times, adding that the congresswoman voted to oppose releasing the documents and missed other votes on them.

A Real Clear Politics average of polls conducted from Sept. 22 to Oct. 9 shows Turek with a less-than-1-point lead. The two Senate candidates are looking to fill the seat being vacated by Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA).

President Donald Trump is heading to Arizona and Montana on Wednesday to rally support for Republican candidates ahead of the November midterm elections.

Trump is scheduled to hold a political rally in Mohave County, Arizona, before traveling to Kalispell, Montana, to campaign for Republican congressional candidate Aaron Flint.

The stops follow Trump’s Oct. 13 trip to Wasilla, Alaska, where he campaigned for Republican incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK), who is facing a difficult reelection bid against Democratic nominee Mary Peltola. The president then stayed overnight in Las Vegas.

Trump is expected to return to Washington, D.C., on Thursday before resuming his campaign travel later in the week. He is scheduled to hold a rally Friday, Oct. 16, in Dalton, Georgia, before traveling to Truist Arena in Highland Heights, Kentucky, on Saturday.

The president is also expected to visit North Carolina to stump for GOP candidates early next week. The travel schedule reflects Trump’s continued efforts to boost Republican candidates across the country as the party seeks to maintain its congressional majorities in November.

Former Vice President Kamala Harris will stump for Rep. Chris Pappas (D-NH) later this month in his competitive Senate race against Republican nominee John E. Sununu.

The Pappas campaign confirmed to the Washington Examiner that Harris will be there Oct. 24, but additional details were not yet available.

The trip will mark Harris’s first to the Granite State since a campaign stop in September 2024 and will undoubtedly raise further speculation about another presidential run in 2028. New Hampshire is slated by the Democratic National Committee to be the third-in-the-nation primary for the party’s nomination.

The state is one of many that are part of a fall campaign blitz Harris is carrying out to buoy Democratic candidates for governor and Senate across the country, including Wisconsin, Mississippi, Georgia, and Nevada.

Pappas and Sununu, a former senator and the brother of former New Hampshire GOP Gov. Chris Sununu, are vying to replace retiring Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) for a seat that slightly favors Democrats.

Former President Barack Obama will travel to Ohio on Oct. 24 to rally support for Democrats in two closely watched races ahead of the November midterm elections.

Obama will campaign alongside former Sen. Sherrod Brown, a three-term Democrat seeking to reclaim his Senate seat from Republican Sen. Jon Husted (R-OH), who was appointed to replace Vice President JD Vance. He will also support Democratic gubernatorial nominee Amy Acton, who is working to win over voters in traditionally Republican parts of the state. Acton faces tech billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy, a former Republican presidential candidate, as they seek to succeed term-limited Gov. Mike DeWine (R-OH).

The Ohio appearances are part of a broader effort by Obama to bolster Democratic candidates in competitive races as the party seeks to regain control of Congress. Obama is also scheduled to campaign in Detroit on Oct. 24 with Abdul el Sayed, the Democratic nominee for Michigan’s open Senate seat.

Turek told moderators during his second debate for Iowa’s open Senate seat that biologically male athletes should not be allowed to play in women’s sports.

“I’ve been really clear and unequivocal on this issue,” Turek said. “I do not believe that biological males should compete in female sports, and this is something that has already been decided in Iowa.”

Turek is a two-time Paralympic gold medalist in wheelchair basketball. He has spina bifida, a congenital condition affecting the neural tubes, and is a lifelong wheelchair user.

Turek added that he believes the rules governing transgender participation in sports “should be decided by sports governing bodies because we don’t want to see a patchwork of 50 different standards be in place.”

Hinson said her opponent “does support kids changing gender at school and tax benefits going to illegal immigrants and fake meat to be sold in Iowa schools.”

“He’s too liberal for Iowa,” Hinson said.

Both Hinson and Turek said they opposed President Donald Trump‘s deal to purchase diesel fuel from Russian President Vladimir Putin, which critics say will be used to fund Russia’s war in Ukraine.

“We need to lower diesel prices, but I don’t think we need to be making a deal with Russia to do it,” Hinson said.

Hinson said she would support “lowering the gas tax temporarily, making sure we’re actually looking at potentially a diesel rebate program for our producers, [and] investing in America’s biofuels.”

“I think we need to bring an end to the war in Ukraine, and we need to bring an end to the war in Iran,” Hinson said.

Turek said he agreed with Hinson, saying he wants “to do everything that [he] can” to lower gas prices, but “I don’t think it should be at the expense of benefiting the economy of someone like a Vladimir Putin, who we clearly cannot trust.”

Turek blamed Hinson for voting to continue the war in Iran. Hinson said she attended the funerals for the two Iowa service members who have died in the Iran war and wants to end the war quickly.

Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA) slammed state Rep. Josh Turek during their second televised debate for skipping critical votes in the Iowa legislature to campaign for Senate.

“If you don’t show up to work two out of five days, you’re not getting a promotion, you’re getting fired,” Hinson said.

The debate moderator pressed Turek twice on his record of only participating in 42% of the Iowa legislature’s votes this year.

“I’m out campaigning,” Turek said. “I’m out meeting Iowans all over, all 99 counties. I’ve done hundreds of in-person town halls. Meanwhile, Ashley Hinson, since she’s running for the U.S. Senate, has not done a single in-person town hall.”

Hinson said she’s done “more town halls than the percentage of times he’s shown up to work this year.”

Early voting in Iowa starts on Oct. 14.

Collins accused Ossoff of refusing to “lift a finger” in the congressman’s effort to introduce and pass the Laken Riley Act, a bill that was passed in January 2025 that required federal immigration authorities to detain illegal immigrants arrested for criminal offenses, such as shoplifting, larceny, and other serious crimes.

Collins said he asked Ossoff for help on a bill in memory of their shared constituent Laken Riley, who was sexually assaulted and murdered by an illegal immigrant in Georgia while on a run.

“You just stared at me. We could have passed her bill under President Biden, but you wouldn’t lift a finger,” Collins said. “I mean, were you too cowardly to stand up for what’s right, or was it, or was it just politically convenient to wait until it was going to pass anyway?”

Ossoff denied Collins’s accusation and said he did, in fact, vote in support of the bill.

“Mike, you know I voted for the bill. You’re not just lying about my record. You’re lying about a young woman’s death because your campaign is in collapse,” Ossoff said. “And your campaign is in collapse — collapse because the whole state knows that you’re currently under federal investigation for the illegal misuse of tax dollars.”

Collins refused to answer a question about whether President Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election despite claiming online on several occasions that former President Joe Biden was not the real winner.

“You’ve said as recently as June that President Trump won the 2020 election. Do you still believe that Trump defeated Joe Biden in 2020?” a moderator asked Collins.

“Joe Biden went into office, and boy, Georgia’s paid for it,” Collins said. “Look at what happened during the Biden years. Look at what happened with Jon Ossoff voting for that Bidenomics mess that caused historic inflation. That’s what caused your prices to blow up. That’s what caused all of your housing, your food, your clothing, your cars, your thing, whatever you buy, went up because of Jon Ossoff and the Democrats with that Bidenomics department.”

Ossoff then followed up with Collins and asked him directly about the 2020 election.

“The press has heard the tape. I’ve heard the tape. I think you’ve heard the tape. Donald Trump demanding that Brad Raffensperger deliver the votes to win,” Ossoff said. “You didn’t answer earlier. Answer now. Did Donald Trump win the 2020 election?”

“You know, the 2020 election. Everybody’s seen my views on that. They know my views on that. There was a lot of doubt in that election. Yes, Joe Biden was the president, and yes, we saw the results of the Biden presidency along with Jon Ossoff. But you saw what happened under that debacle of an administration, whether it was the Bidenomics that they passed,” Collins said.

“That’s what caused all this high inflation. He’s trying to — he’ll talk about anything he can except his record. That’s why we’re going to continue to talk about his record tonight to make sure that you understand the reason that everything is so high — your groceries, your clothes, you name it — it’s because of what they put on the backs of the American people in that Green New Deal.”

Ossoff rebutted that the question was “whether Donald Trump won the 2020 election.”

“Not only will Mike Collins refuse to answer tonight, but he’s on record repeatedly insisting that Donald Trump did in fact win the 2020 election, an election that he lost,” Ossoff said. “And Mike Collins is on record supporting handing your tax dollars to the violent thugs and criminals who sacked the U.S. Capitol and tried to overturn the election. Aren’t you, Mike?”

Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) said he will not abandon office to run for president in 2028 if he is elected to a second term as a senator this November.

Ossoff was asked by a reporter during a debate in Atlanta on Tuesday night if he would “pledge to serve your full six-year term if you win?”

“Yes, I will. I have zero interest in running for president,” Ossoff said. “I’m running for Senate.”

Republican nominee, Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA), responded that Ossoff was running for president in the long run and claimed he would go further to the left.

“He is running for president. He’s going to be your DSA candidate,” Collins said.

The race is the only Senate race in the country where a Democratic incumbent has a seat in a state that President Donald Trump won in 2024. A RealClearPolitics average of six surveys taken between Sept. 10-23 of Georgia voters showed that Ossoff had a 7.8-percentage-point advantage over Collins, 51% to 43.2%.

Jackson corrected Collins on the name of the immigrant killed by an ICE officer in Biddeford, Maine, as the two sparred over how they would address immigration enforcement.

“My heart goes out to the family of the man who was shot in Biddeford, Mr. Duran Guerrero, and we’ve seen other shootings as well,” Collins said in her opening. “I believe that ICE needs reform, and I have proposed and got enacted into law significant reforms for ICE, but more needs to be done.”

When it came Jackson’s turn to answer the question, he corrected Collins’s identification of the man who was shot.

“Well, the man’s name was Johan Sebastian Duran Guerrero,” Jackson said. “That was his name. I mean, he had a family. He had a daughter, and he’s not coming home anymore to that family because ICE — and you just heard Sen. Collins — they weren’t vetted. They didn’t have the training. I mean, so I don’t know how you could stand up here and argue that it’s a good thing to let them out onto our population, out onto the American public, when we’ve seen consistently that they will murder people if you don’t comply explicitly with them.”

Jackson promised to give Collins a copy of his Federal Election Commission donor report after the incumbent called out his lack of reporting on his campaign finances.

The Democrat brought up a ProPublica report alleging Collins’s PAC director solicited donations after the senator secured contracts for defense companies. Collins addressed Jackson’s repeated jabs while discussing healthcare availability and costs.

“Troy said that I have all these billionaires,” Collins said. “Well, I would point out that we have no idea who is financing Troy’s campaign because he has yet to file a single FEC report outlining his contributors and his expenditures.”

Jackson said he would get Collins the report, while noting her failure to deny receiving billionaire donations.

“We will give you,” he said. “So she didn’t deny that 90 billionaires are funding her. But look, I’ll give you the report tomorrow morning. How about that? Is that enough? Because we see yours, and I know that there’s no billionaires funding me. So we’ll look. I’ll give you the report tomorrow, and then we’ll talk about it on Thursday.”

Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) emphasized her agreement with her Democratic opponent, Troy Jackson, that the Iran war should come to an end as the two hit the debate stage for a third time in the highly contested Maine Senate race.

The two candidates were asked what they would tell President Donald Trump about the conflict. Jackson took to pointing out that Collins chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee and alleged she helped fund the war. Jackson acknowledged there may not be any getting through to the president.

“I don’t know if there’s anything you can tell him,” Jackson said. “I mean, clearly he wants this. He’s got into it, and he doesn’t have a plan about how to get out of it.”

Collins began by explaining her votes on the war powers resolution and acknowledged the common ground with Jackson.

“Troy and I agreed that the war should come to an end,” she said, explaining similarly to Jackson that she feels Trump did not consider the repercussions of the war.

Top Republican super PACs pulled resources from more races on Tuesday afternoon, with spending being cut from Nevada‘s 3rd District and California‘s 13th District, according to AdImpact.

The Safety and Affordability PAC, an arm of President Donald Trump’s MAGA Inc. PAC, pulled almost $1 million from Nevada’s 3rd Congressional District, where musician Marty O’Donnell is hoping to unseat incumbent Rep. Susie Lee (D-NV).

Meanwhile, the Congressional Leadership Fund pulled over $4 million in broadcast reservations from California’s 13th District, where former Stockton Mayor Kevin Lincoln is facing incumbent Rep. Adam Gray (D-CA).

The spending revisions come after Republicans diverted spending from the races of Reps. Tom Kean Jr. (R-NJ) and Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA) earlier on Tuesday.

Tuesday evening sees Senate hopefuls in Georgia, Maine, and Iowa take the debate stage, with President Donald Trump rallying in Alaska for Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) as Republicans look to maintain control of Congress with the midterm elections just weeks away.

The evening begins with Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) facing off again against Democrat Troy Jackson at 7 p.m. in Maine’s Senate race, followed by Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) taking on Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA) at 8 p.m. for Georgia’s Senate seat following an intense debate the week before.

Trump is set to take the stage in Alaska at 7:30 p.m. to stump for Sullivan, who is facing former Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola for the Frontier State’s Senate seat.

Finally, Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA) will take on Democrat Josh Turek for Iowa’s Senate seat at 10 p.m.

Follow the Washington Examiner’s coverage throughout the night for live updates on key quotes and takeaways.