US Midterms 2026 Latest : Blue streaks ahead?

Hello there. Welcome to Al Jazeera's Midterms Roundup. Thanks for being with us. I'm Jonah Hull. Now, there's a contentious battle playing out at the extreme northwest of the United States that could influence who gets to control Congress. It's happening in this state, Alaska, the frontier, the last frontier it's known as. And it's also where the Democrats are hoping for a big win. There's one seat in the House up for grabs, but crucially, there's also a Senate race at the heart of this drama. And here's the problem. Typically, there'd be two leading candidates in a race, a Republican and a Democrat. But here in Alaska, there's a third. And nope, you're not reading it wrong up against Mary Peltola for the Democrats. There are two Dan Sullivans, one a Republican and one an independent. Alex Baird explains how we got here. So we've been touching on all that drama in Alaska and it's really starting to heat up. And that matters because the Senate seat here is a total toss-up between Republican Dan Sullivan and Democrat Mary Peltola. They're polling just two points apart most of the time. More often than not, it's actually leaning blue. So buckle up and let's rip into what's going on, and I'll tell you all about Decoy Dan. Now, Alaska uses a system called Ranked Choice Voting. Basically, there are four people on the ballot. You rank who you think is best to worst. There they are. Those are how their names will appear exactly on the Alaska ballot. And there you see the upset. The Dan Sullivans. You've got the incumbent Republican senator endorsed by the president up against a retired teacher who's polling very, very low. And if you see their names on the ballot, problem is you might not know who is who and you might vote for whoever you think is the right Dan Sullivan. And President Trump is convinced that the Democrats and their candidate, Mary Peltola, have done that all on purpose to take votes away from this Dan Sullivan. Here's what he had to say. The Alaska situation's terrible, what Peltola's done and what Schumer and the Democrat Party have done. It was a scheme. It was election fraud, total election fraud. And now this report's from campaign staffers for Mary Peltola that they were actively trying to find any Dan Sullivan to put on the ballot. That wasn't this Dan Sullivan. So now Alaska's governor, he's a Republican, has ordered an investigation into alleged election manipulation. But Peltola has maintained that this whole thing is just noise. I feel like this is yet another diversion from the issue that Alaskans want to talk about, which is affordability. They are very concerned that Dan Sullivan is using his connections in Washington, D.C. to manipulate the situation. And all of this back and forth, it matters because President Trump is now calling for Paltola to be criminally prosecuted and removed from the ballot, all for a seat that could determine who gets power on Capitol Hill. OK, well, meanwhile, President Trump's been campaigning in South Carolina to support Republican Senator Darlene Graham. We've got correspondents following all these events across the country in Texas, in Georgia, in Kentucky, Michigan, Pennsylvania, but we begin with Tanya Noory in North Carolina. Tanya, you're just back from South Carolina, where President Trump has been campaigning in yet another seat he never thought the Republicans would have to defend. Yes, President Donald Trump is doubling down on South Carolina, and what's unique about this is that this is ruby red territory, so you wouldn't typically see a president spending so much time and energy here. And there are people even within his own party who are questioning it. Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace from South Carolina, she's asking, what the heck is going on? And her language was a bit more colorful than that, I must note. But look, in this race, this key Senate race in South Carolina, Trump-endorsed candidate Darlene Graham is neck and neck with the Democrat Annie Andrews. And this is much closer than expected. A Democrat hasn't won in this state in nearly three decades. So the president is giving all he can and all he's got to really fire up his base. And I was just texting with someone, a senior member on his team who has been crisscrossing the country with him. And he texted me that whenever he comes and does a rally, a lot of the numbers end up going up. And for Republicans, they have a better shot now than they did weeks ago, four weeks ago, before he started this campaign blitz. Jonah. Tanya, thank you. And from one red state to another, the vice president, J.D. Vance, has just been in Texas, where Phil Lavelle is standing by for us in Pasadena. And Phil, between the president and the vice president, they've been to Texas eight times in this midterms campaign. Have they got reason to worry? Well, I mean, they're worried that their voters won't turn out. They're loyal voters, which is why, you know, similar to what Tanya was just saying about how when President Trump appears, the numbers go up. They're hoping that that happens by having him here earlier this week, having J.D. Vance here. At the moment, he's just taken to the stage a few moments ago. He's campaigning with Ken Paxton in Weatherford, which is not far from Dallas. It is a very conservative, a very Republican area, which just goes to show how they're appealing to their own base to say, please come out and vote while you can, because those numbers are concerning for the Republican Party. In fact, I've got to show you some of the latest numbers that have just come out for James Talerico. Now, normally, we talk about how he's had a slight lead, but it's within the margin of error. This latest poll has James Talerico six points ahead of Ken Paxton, which is outside of that margin of error, which is going to be great for the Democrats, but not so great for the Republicans if it comes true. And the Republicans are also trying to appeal to independents and Hispanics, places like here in Pasadena, where support for President Trump and the administration has plummeted. As for James Talerico, he's holding an event later alongside Gina Hinojosa, who is the Democrat candidate for governor. she's locked in a tight race with the current governor Greg Abbott there is no clear leader although within the margin of error he does have a slight edge ahead of her but she has just won a legal battle she has won a legal case where he is now going to be compelled to release all of his emails relating to Elon Musk there is no suggestion the governor has done anything wrong here he plans to appear but it just plays into that narrative from the democrats that elon musk is really really putting so much money in here and it is not fair for them okay phil thank you for that well with Just days to go now until the midterm vote. Former President Barack Obama is becoming ever more prominent on the campaign trail for the Democrats. Rallying in Georgia this time on Wednesday, Obama said America's values were on the ballot. He called Republicans not serious people. I accused this administration based on the facts that they were engaging in unprecedented levels of corruption. They didn't say anything about that. The president wasn't even mad about the Saddam Hussein comparison. That part didn't bother him. But he was very upset about the Cheesecake Factory comments. He took great umbrage. He said, I didn't understand the work of the artisans in the White House. Matthew Torres is standing by in Atlanta, Georgia, and the glove's clearly off there for Barack Obama. Matthew, he's the Democrats' biggest star. What did they make of his visit in Georgia? Hey, well, Democrats loved it, and then you have Republicans criticizing it. Keep in mind, this is a closely watched race because it could help determine which party controls the U.S. Senate. So if President Barack Obama was not enough, then we already have former Vice President Kamala Harris in town campaigning with Senator John Ossoff. Meanwhile, his Republican opponent, Representative Mike Collins, had his own campaign event about an hour and a half south from here in Columbus, Georgia. He criticized Obama's visit, saying that this is a last-ditch effort to help Democrats and their losing platform. On the other hand, we've had Republican-side President Donald Trump coming here to Georgia to campaign for the Republican candidates twice already in about a week. Despite polls showing that Collins is trailing behind, which he publicly acknowledged a few days ago, today he told his supporters that the race is going to be tight. We were able to catch up with Mike Collins after his event. This is what he had to tell me. Is a vote for Mike Collins a vote for President Trump's agenda? And what is your reaction to President Barack Obama being here in Georgia and really calling out your affiliation with Trump? Let's take it backwards then. Obama being here shows the desperation of John Ossoff because he knows he's losing. If he was winning so big, he wouldn't have brought anybody in. He wouldn't have poured all that extra money on TV that he did yesterday. And as far as the Trump, I can assure you one thing, I don't vote 100% of the time with Bernie Sanders like John Ossoff does. I'm a businessman, so is President Trump. You're seeing what we're doing to this country. And the example that I just gave about Audi coming to the—relocating in Macon, Georgia, from other countries is an example of how I've been able to deliver for the people of the state of Georgia. So— Well, early voting is underway in Kentucky. It's another state that Trump has visited recently. Heidi, Joe Castro is in Lexington. And the president, as we've seen, trying to get his party back on track in several of these deep red states. Heidi, I wonder how do the Democrats view their chances in Kentucky? Well, they're certainly fighting hard here, Jonah, to get the vote of these voters. And it being the first day of early voting in Kentucky, you see this line. People have been waiting here for more than an hour to cast their ballots. And on election eve, this will also be one of the first places in the country where we might have some indication how this all will end. Because District 6, the House District here, is an open seat that's been held by Republicans since 2013. You would think that gives the Republican candidate, Ralph Alvarado, an advantage here. But polls show he's slightly trailing the Democrat, Zach Dembo, who's been campaigning as a moderate, telling voters that he's appealing to their cost of living concerns and who agrees with Republicans, he says, when it comes to border security. Still a hard message to sell, though, here in deep red Kentucky, especially in the more rural areas like Istil County, where we recently were and where voters told us they were still deeply skeptical of Democrats. Socialism, communism, look at it on TV All the time. I used to have this saying. I wasn't worried about it in my lifetime. I was worried about my children and my grandchildren. I know the last election, there was a big red movement where people just went straight into the booths and pulled straight Republican tickets. So I don't think that's going to happen this time. I think people are really listening and paying attention to the politics. So they could put a little bit more blue back into the country. Now, Alvarado, the Republican candidate, has largely avoided mentioning Trump in his recent speeches. He has, in fact, now tried to distance himself, saying that he would oppose the Iran war that's raising gas prices here in Kentucky and opposes Trump's tariffs that have so harmed Kentucky's bourbon industry. Jonah. Heidi, thank you. Well, let's go down to Florida now. There are tight races for governor and Congress down there, but there's something else on the ballot, a tax amendment that could save homeowners money, but at the same time leave a multi-billion dollar hole in the public finances. John Holman explains. The power and beauty of Florida's Everglades. But conservationists fear something is lurking in wait for them these midterms. An amendment to the Florida state constitution put on the ballot, which would raise the exemption for property taxes. It's called Amendment 3. It would save millions of homeowners' money. But it could also leave a hole in local budgets for a number of things, including Everglades restoration. It seems like just a tax cut, but Amendment 3 could really put Everglades restoration projects at risk. And it could also risk losing conservation lands and these public lands that we love to hike and fish and explore. But some homeowners see the tax exemption as much-needed relief, like Elba. She arrived from Honduras in the 90s for the American dream owning her own house now with florida prices spiraling she's already voted in favor of the amendment it's going to help a lot because for example with a mortgage you pay the cost of the home loan along with property taxes and insurance and that's where we'll see the difference when they lower our taxes so what does this tax exemption actually do well let's say that your primary home is assessed at $500,000. Currently the first about $50,000 of non-school property tax is exempted from that. If Amendment 3 passes the next year that will rise to up to $150,000 and then in 2028 to up to $250,000. After that it will keep increasing with inflation. Estimates suggest Amendment 3 could save a typical homeowner, like Elba, about $2,000 a year. But it could also blow an almost $12 billion hole in annual local government revenue. It's not just the Everglades. Some police officers, sheriffs, firefighters, even librarians have sounded the alarm that it could affect their departments also. Even some conservative voices have warned that this could just shift the tax burden onto other sectors. The amendment needs 60% of votes to pass on this November the 3rd. A lot of Floridians are watching it and its possible impact closely. John Holman, Al Jazeera, Florida. To Michigan now, and certainly one of the most closely watched races in the country. Richard Gaisford is in Detroit for us. And Richard, there's a new poll out that suggests the gap in the Senate race in Michigan is widening at the same time as the influence of democratic socialists appears to be rising Yes Jenna, we're broadcasting today from Michigan's 13th congressional district it is one of the poorest parts of America and it covers much of Detroit it's not the election here that's most interesting in this district it's actually the primary that came before it millions and millions of dollars were spent by Democrats all wanting to stand in this seat and eventually it was a democratic socialist who won out. His name is Donovan McKinney. I've been catching up with him, talking to him about the billions of dollars of money that's poured into American politics when people that live in areas like this go with very little. I mean, there's constant battles. You know, you get the mailers, text messages, and then the TV ads are getting out of control. All I hear from our constituents is that they're tired of the propaganda. They really want people who are going to represent them in their interests and put working people first. But it's a little chaotic and confusing, so to speak, when you spend all of that money trying to put a narrative together, a manufacture that you will represent the people. In reality, a lot of times folks are just all talk. Well, that poll you referenced, Jonah, shows Abdel El-Sayed 49 points, Mike Rogers, the Republican candidate 42. So a seven point lead for Abdel El-Sayed in that one CNN poll that gives a jump above the margin of error. And that polling, we understand, taken after President Trump and former President Obama came canvassing and rallying here in Michigan and shows that perhaps that connection between Mike Rogers and Donald Trump could well be punishing him. What a big result that would be for the Democrats if it happens. Thank you. Rory Challans is in Pennsylvania for us. And Rory, you've been looking at a number of political rallies in that Rust Belt state. Boil down the pitch for us to voters on both sides. So I was out last night at a Democratic rally in Nanticoke, which is just down the road from where I'm standing at the moment in Scranton, Pennsylvania, in the northeast of the state. Now, I was listening to Josh Shapiro, he's a star in the Democrat Party, and he was out supporting Paige Cognetti, who is the Democrat candidate in Pennsylvania District 8. That includes Scranton and the wider area. It's one of the four districts that the Democrats are hoping to flip in Pennsylvania. Fascinating hearing the lines that they think are resonating with voters at the moment. Paige Cognetti was talking about what else, of course, cost of living, how her opponent Rob Resnahan had voted for Donald Trump's war in Iran, voted for Donald Trump's tariffs. And this was driving up costs for ordinary Pennsylvanians. And she also accused him of corruption, congressional stock trading, she says, of selling his Medicaid linked stocks just before he voted to cut that medical benefit. He has always said that he doesn't have anything to do with his own stocks. He hands it off to a financial adviser. Data centers are also resonating for the Democrats on the campaign trail. The big question, of course, is whether these messages are actually getting through to the voters themselves. Let's hear now some of the views, some of the opinions that we've been hearing in Scranton around. I'm still doing my research, honestly. I'm kind of everywhere. There's not one that I want more than the other. I'm a Republican. I used to be a Democrat. And when Obama, I hate to confess, I voted for him the first time, but I didn't the second time. And definitely, I changed the party as soon as the Bidens came in. I like to fight for people's rights. Certain things are not cool with me like the like the immigration and just certain things i don't know like i'm a i'm a democrat i used to be republican but well that's it from us and the midterms round up here on Al Jazeera you can catch up with all our midterms content on YouTube and our website of course that's aljazeera.com and i'll hand you back now to our global headquarters in Doha