Boston Globe: “Hackers have ramped up their efforts to meddle with the country’s election infrastructure in the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s midterms, sparking a raft of investigations into election interference, internal intelligence documents show. … Federal agencies have logged more than 160 reports of suspected meddling in U.S. elections since Aug. 1, documents show. The pace of suspicious activity has picked up in recent weeks — up to 10 incidents each day — and officials are on high alert.”
A new CNN/SSRS poll finds Democrats continue to hold a double-digit lead over Republicans in a generic congressional ballot among likely voters, 55% to 42%.
“Youth turnout rates in the midterm early vote are up by 125 percent compared to 2014, according to Catalist, a voter database servicing progressive organizations — an eye-popping and historically high figure, say strategists on both the left and the right,” the Washington Post reports.
“This is not a wave election; it’s a realignment election. The results Tuesday will not be shaped by some crest of momentum behind the Democrats. They are going to be shaped by the fact that people are hardening into their categories, and those categories tend to produce a Democratic House and a Republican Senate.”
A new NPR/PBS News Hours/Marist Poll finds that Democrats lead Republicans by nine points on the generic congressional ballot, 52% to 43% among likely voters nationwide.
The Cook Political Report has revised its House forecast to a Democratic gain of 30 to 40 seats. It was 25 to 35 last month and could change again before Election Day on Tuesday. Meanwhile, FiveThirtyEight gives Democrats a 85.7% chance of taking control of the House.
“There’s still a week to go before the midterm elections, but Wall Street has already voted — with its campaign contributions,” CBS News reports. “The securities and finance industry has backed Democratic congressional candidates 63% to 37%… Democratic candidates and political action committees have received $56.8 million, compared to Republicans’ $33.4 million.”
A new NBC News/GenForward survey of millennials ages 18 to 34 finds that just 31% of them say they will definitely vote in the November midterm elections, a number that has remained steady since August. “The survey finds that millennials don’t feel represented by Congress, which could be a sign of election disengagement heading into November. A majority of millennials overall (63 percent) do not think that Congress represents the interests of people like them well. About a third (35 percent) think Congress represents people like them well.”
A new Hart Research poll finds that suburban women prefer the Democratic Party to handle gun violence by 26 percentage points. Key finding: 68% of all women surveyed prefer stricter gun laws, compared to 54% of men.
A new USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll finds Democrats leading Republicans in the generic congressional ballot by a stunning 17-points, 57% to 40% among likely voters.
To hear Trump talk, he’s the only one
Who’s ever stood trial for crimes he’s done.
But instead of courtroom drama,
We get Trump in his pajamas,
That’s how he earned his new nickname: Don Snoreleone.
“I am not resigning. And it is, in my view, an absurd notion that someone would bring a vacate motion when we are simply here trying to do our jobs. It is not helpful to the cause, it is not helpful to the country, it does not help the House Republicans advance our agenda, which is in the best interest of the American people here — a secure border, sound governance – and it’s not helpful to the unity that we have in the body.”
— Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) on the “resign or be fired” ultimatum from the GOP’s Freedom Caucus just 174 days into his tenure as sp[eaker, reported by Punchbowl News.
“Trump’s head slowly dropped, his eyes closed. It jerked back upward. He adjusts himself. Then, his head droops again. He straightens up, leaning back. His head droops for a third time, he shakes his shoulders. Eyes closed still. His head drops. Finally, he pops his eyes open.”
— Law360 reports from the second day of Donald Trump’s “hush money” criminal trial.
“Functionally, Chris Sununu is as active a part of Trump’s campaign as Matt Gaetz or MTG, or any of the other MAGA freaks. And it seems not to bother him that these people would poleaxe him if given a second’s chance. It seems not to bother him that his political career is over. He’s not just willing to exit public life on his knees—he’s eager to do it. … In the end, it doesn’t matter if Sununu is a mountebank, a coward, or a fool. Those three characters are equally pernicious. … What matters is that the rest of us understand that it is the Chris Sununus of the world who make this ongoing authoritarian attempt possible.”
“He’s f**king crazy! The press often will ask me if I think Donald Trump is crazy. And I’ll say it this way: I don’t think he’s so crazy that you could put him in a mental institution. But I think if he were in one, he ain’t getting out!”
— New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R), quoted by the Associated Press two years ago. Sununu is now backing Trump for president.
“We have perverted the word love. We don’t understand the word love. We don’t understand what love really is. We think love is sunshine and rainbows, and put your arms around somebody saying ‘I love you, brother’ — certainly that’s a form of love. … But how many of y’all know when you hold your young’un by one arm and beat them in a circle, because they were bad — how many of you know that’s love too?”
— North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson (R) described his loving approach to disciplining misbehaving children, WUNC reports.
New York Times: “Of the 96 possible jurors brought into the room, more than 50 raised their hands to say they couldn’t be fair. They were immediately excused.”
“Nationwide, homicides dropped around 20% in 133 cities from the beginning of the year through the end of March compared with the same period in 2023. … Homicides in American cities are falling at the fastest pace in decades, bringing them close to levels they were at before a pandemic-era jump,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
The Washington Post notes that supporters of Donald Trump “investing in Truth Social is less a business calculation than a statement of faith in the former president and the business traded under his initials, DJT. … Even the company’s plunging stock price — and the chance their investments could get mostly wiped out — doesn’t seem to have shaken that faith. The company has lost $3.5 billion in value since its public debut last month.”
“In the latest quarterly survey by The Wall Street Journal, business and academic economists lowered the chances of a recession within the next year to 29% from 39% in the January survey. That was the lowest probability since April 2022, when the chances of a recession were set at 28%.”… “Economists, in fact, don’t think the economy will get even close to a recession.”
Punchbowl News: “Congress approved more than $71 million in earmarks for lawmakers who voted against the most recent minibus spending bill, according to a Punchbowl News analysis. This is a prime example of what former Speaker Nancy Pelosi says: They voted no but took the dough. We have a simple spreadsheet of the lawmakers who landed projects and then voted against the $1.2 trillion spending package.”