The Latest: DOJ subpoenas California officials in escalation of local election scrutiny
The U.S. Justice Department on Thursday issued subpoenas to California officials in an escalation of its scrutiny of local election administration. The subpoenas were being issued by all four U.S. attorneys in California, according to a person familiar with the matter who insisted on anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation. The move follows a federal judge’s appointment of a special master earlier Thursday to evaluate claims by the Trump administration that California has about 20,000 noncitizens on its voter rolls, less than 24 hours after he rejected the Justice Department’s demand that California sequester the ballots until citizenship can be verified.
The Justice Department also is escalating a criminal investigation over an Alaska Senate candidate who shares a name with the Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan, issuing a raft of new grand jury subpoenas, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press on Thursday. The subpoenas were issued after The New York Times reported that Democratic candidate Mary Peltola’s campaign appeared to be involved in recruiting Dan J. Sullivan Jr. as part of an alleged effort to confuse voters in the hotly contested race.
Trump, meanwhile, campaigned in South Carolina for the second time this month to rally Republican support for Darline Graham as she spends the final days of the midterm election trying to fend off a robust challenge from Democrat Annie Andrews for a critical U.S. Senate seat. Andrews has mounted an unexpectedly competitive race against Graham.
With a handful of campaign stops left on Trump’s schedule, the president converted a planned event in Kansas into a virtual tele-rally. Trump plans to hold more than 20 tele-rallies before Tuesday’s Election Day, according to the White House.
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Harris and NAACP President Derrick Johnson suggested that Trump’s push to quash diversity initiatives and the Supreme Court’s decisions gutting the Voting Rights Act sometimes draw comparisons to the Civil Rights Movement.
But they agreed that the current era is more accurately understood as a second Gilded Age, the period in the late 19th and early 20th centuries dominated by railroad, coal and oil magnates.
Johnson said similar “robber barons” have concentrated wealth in the 21st century.
He pointed to labor organizers who worked with black and white Americans during the Gilded Age as keys to preparing progressive policies that were later enacted, especially after President Franklin Roosevelt’s election in 1932.
“We are in the middle of that pre-work,” Johnson said, arguing that voters and activists cannot wait for friendlier politicians to be elected.
“We see people showing up like never before, angry, frustrated and demanding change,” said Sherrod Brown, the Democratic candidate in the competitive Senate race against Republican Sen. Jon Husted.
“Corporate profits have soared,” he continued, but “no matter how hard you work, if the pay doesn’t keep up, too often, you simply can’t get ahead.”
Amy Acton, who is running for governor in a tight race against Republican nominee Vivek Ramaswamy, continued that message at a rally for her and Brown in Toledo.
“We can make life better for all Ohioans,” she said, “and build an Ohio where no one is left behind.”
Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed will campaign Sunday in Detroit alongside former primary rival Rep. Haley Stevens, marking their first public appearance together in months after a week in which lingering divisions spilled into public view.
The joint appearance is their first since a Democratic unity breakfast days after the Aug. 4 primary. It comes after weeks of Democrats struggling to unite behind El-Sayed after he defeated Stevens by a razor-thin margin.
The event details came from wo people familiar with the plans who were not authorized to discuss them publicly.
Tensions again spilled into public view Wednesday when Stevens’ fiance, Jason Turkish, told The Detroit News that he would vote for Republican Mike Rogers.
Hours later, Stevens appeared on CNN to reaffirm that she would be voting for El-Sayed, but urged his campaign to “shut out the hate and call it out.”
At an NAACP forum in Atlanta, Harris said the U.S. Supreme Court should be enlarged to 13 justices from the current nine. It was among several ideas Harris suggested as “structural work” to improve U.S. democracy.
“There are 13 circuit courts. There should be 13 justices,” Harris said, referring to the appellate courts that come between federal trial courts and the Supreme Court that has the final say over questions of federal law.
Harris, who lost to Trump in the 2024 election, also said the U.S. said the Electoral College should be revisited, though she offered no details.
She added her endorsement to grant Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C., full statehood, a move that would add four seats to the U.S. Senate.
And she called for the Senate Judiciary Committee to start holding federal judicial nominees in contempt if they are found to have lied during their confirmation hearings.
The former vice president and 2024 Democratic presidential nominee said she’s optimistic the midterm elections can shift the country’s direction.
“The founders of our nation expected that if faced with a tyrant in the highest office in the land that we would activate a co-equal branch of government, in this case Congress, to be a check,” Harris said on stage at Atlanta’s Elizabeth Baptist Church.
She called Trump’s second presidency “the most callous, corrupt and incompetent presidential administration in the history of America” but said voters have the power to stop.
Harris and NAACP President Derrick Johnson praised early voting turnout in Georgia and elsewhere that suggest a surge among Black voters, Latino voters and young voters.
Harris is in the first of her two-day swing in Georgia, the final stop of her midterm campaign circuit that took her from her to at least seven states.
Josh Turek, a Democratic state representative seeking Iowa’s seat in the U.S. Senate, talked with farm owners in Grinnell, Iowa, Thursday about the uncertainties they face amid high costs for supplies such as fertilizer and diesel, and unstable markets to sell their corn and soybeans.
Megan Veldboom, whose family has owned Raffety Farms for more than a century, told Turek she’s “unsure what the future of farming really is,” casting doubt on whether corn-based ethanol can carry Iowa’s agricultural economy.
Turek said he supports investments to boost the ethanol industry but would also like to see incentives to diversify what Iowa farms produce.
Turek has said he wants to be on the Senate Agriculture Committee. He criticizes President Donald Trump’s tariff policies, the ongoing war in Iran and increased beef imports from other countries for squeezing farmers in an already challenging environment.
The lawsuit accuses officials in Texas’ largest county of buying “Get Out the Vote” ads that only targeted minority voters on Meta’s social media platform. The Republican is in a heated U.S. Senate race against Democrat James Talarico.
The Texas Attorney General’s Office says Paxton recused himself from the lawsuit, which asks a court to order Harris County to take down all “racially targeted voting advertisements.”
Harris County has the state’s largest Black and Hispanic populations and has been carried by Democrats in recent elections.
The Harris County clerk’s office did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.
The Republican National Committee said the changes were aimed at “maximizing opportunities” for the president to reach voters by showing up virtually in more states.
“This 72-hour sprint will be a huge boost in the closing days,” said Joe Gruters, chairman of the RNC.
The tele-rallies will be in almost 20 states, including those with tight races such as Texas, Alaska and South Carolina.
The president and his wife handed out candy to hundreds of costumed kids outside the White House residence at Thursday’s annual Halloween celebration.
A line of visitors stretched down the driveway while the Trumps, who were not wearing costumes, passed out jumbo candy bars. Trump chatted with parents and posed for photos alongside children dressed as figures including Barbie, Tigger, Batman and several founding fathers.
The White House entrance was bedecked with pumpkins, ivy and a giant faux moon for the occasion, while a military performed Halloween classics.
Midway through, Trump paused to take in a low flyover of his Qatari Air Force One jet.
After about an hour, and after Trump lightly danced to a rendition of the “Ghostbusters” theme song, the couple returned inside.
After casting her own ballot in Lexington, South Carolina, Sen. Darline Graham told reporters Thursday that the campaign to write in her GOP runoff opponent’s name — rather than vote for her as the party’s nominee — only serves to help her Democratic foe.
Acknowledging that “elections are hard on families” — something she said she knew from years at the side of her brother, the late Sen. Lindsey Graham — the interim Republican senator said that either sitting out the general election entirely or writing in Norman’s name is “essentially a vote for Annie Andrews.”
Norman has said that he would personally support Graham but not campaign for her. Norman’s son wrote in an op-ed last week that he would be voting for Andrews, saying the race lacked a “true conservative.”
Trump campaigned for Graham in South Carolina earlier Thursday, his second trip there in two weeks.
Vivek Ramaswamy says his gubernatorial campaign’s controversial attack ad featuring the estranged mother of his Democratic opponent, Dr. Amy Acton, is off the air.
The Republican said during a campaign appearance in Vandalia, Ohio, Thursday that the ad’s planned run was over.
The divisive spot had provoked backlash in Ohio and among politicians of both parties across the nation. It featured Donna Arthur calling her daughter a lifelong liar. That was despite the two having not seen each other for nearly 50 years
Arthur lost custody of her children in 1978 after her husband, their stepfather, was indicted for raping Acton when she was 12.
Ramaswamy had defended the ad — though a later version trimmed some portions out — and Trump and Vance did too. Ohio governors past and present, alumni of Ramaswamy’s Catholic high school in Cincinnati and others had urged him to pull it down.
Acton’s campaign said the ad was “despicable” and should never have run, and that Ramaswamy should have apologized.
The Justice Department on Thursday issued subpoenas to California officials in an escalation of its scrutiny of local election administration.
The subpoenas were being issued by all four U.S. attorneys in California, according to a person familiar with the matter who insisted on anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation.
Dean Logan, the Los Angeles County registrar, said, “threats and intimidated have no place in elections.”
The Associated Press obtained copies of two subpoenas sent to employees of the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder to appear in court on Nov. 4, the day after the election.
This follows a federal judge’s appointment of a special master earlier Thursday to evaluate claims by the Trump administration that California has about 20,000 noncitizens on its voter rolls, less than 24 hours after he rejected the Justice Department’s demand that California sequester the ballots until citizenship can be verified.
— Safiyah Riddle and Eric Tucker
Robert White is expected to easily win his D.C. Delegate’s race to replace legend Eleanor Holmes Norton on Tuesday.
On the campaign trail he has promised to take on the Trump administration and Republicans who dabbled in D.C. affairs.
But his fight to become delegate-elect turned into a disagreement with D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb. White said the two disagree on when he must give up his council seat if he wins.
The phrase in the law — “date of his election” — is the culprit. The result is White plans to resign November 2.
The Attorney General’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The former vice president and 2024 presidential nominee told hundreds of Atlanta University Center students to use their votes to tell Trump and others “not on my watch.”
Harris appeared with Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff before a crowd from Morehouse College, Spelman College and Clark-Atlanta University.
Harris, a Howard University graduate, noted Gen Z is the most populous U.S. generation.
She said it’s natural for young people to think, “I can’t do anything.” But she implored, “This is the moment where we turn that anger into action.”
Ossoff, she said, can be a key senator in holding Trump accountable if Democrats win a Senate majority. She also urged students to back Keisha Lance Bottoms, another HBCU alumna, in her bid for Georgia governor.
Harris is spending two days in Georgia to close her midterm campaign travel ahead of deciding whether she will run for president again in 2028.
Hours after the White House scrapped a planned weekend rally for Kansas, Trump took offense when asked by a reporter whether the cancellation was because he’s sick.
Trump, who has been on a weekslong campaign push for fellow Republicans, noted he still plans to travel to Florida on Friday to campaign and that he would do telephonic rallies for several candidates, including Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall.
“You’ve been following me for two weeks. I feel perfect,” Trump snapped at the reporter. “You are disgusting. Put yourself in shape. You look like hell.”
Trump, however, noted earlier on Thursday at a rally in South Carolina that his campaign barnstorming has left him a bit hoarse.
Asked about the cancellation of a Saturday campaign rally in Kansas and whether it was tied to an illness, Trump on Thursday denied being sick.
“I’m not going to Kansas because he’s doing very well,” Trump said, apparently referring to Republican Sen. Roger Marshall, who is locked in a competitive race.
“I feel perfect,” said Trump, who spoke with a rasp at a Thursday campaign stop in South Carolina.
“I don’t feel I have to go to Kansas,” Trump said, adding that he will hold a tele-rally instead and keep plans to travel to Florida on Friday.
The president will participate in tele-rallies Thursday night for candidates in Colorado and Montana, as part of a plan to have him hold nearly two dozen tele-rallies before Election Day, according to a person familiar with the operation who spoke on condition of anonymity to share internal plans and strategy.
Decisions about Trump’s schedule for the days coming days may change as data comes in to his team, according to the person. But Trump’s team is feeling more optimistic about Republican prospects, feels the contests are tightening in the final days and feel bullish in particular about Kansas, where Trump’s planned in-person event for Saturday is being converted into a tele-rally.
The decision to convert Kansas to a tele-rally and add many more to the president’s calendar in the final days is an attempt hit as many areas as possible in limited time, the person said.
Maine’s Democratic Gov. Janet Mills, who ran an unsuccessful bid for U.S. Senate after being endorsed by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, said Thursday she has voted for Troy Jackson.
Mills is termed out as governor and initially emerged as the establishment favorite to run against Republican Sen. Susan Collins in a race Democrats believe is key to taking back the chamber. But her campaign stalled and she suspended it before she lost a June primary to Graham Platner.
Platner then dropped out in July after a sexual assault allegation that he has denied. Democrats called a special nominating convention that month.
Jackson won, while Mills did not seek the nomination.
Mills has not endorsed a candidate in the race. She said via X on Thursday that she voted for Jackson and encourages Mainers to “vote for Democrats up and down the ballot who will stand up for our values and stand up to Trump.”
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