2022 midterm election news as Democrats, Republicans vie for control of Congress

Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine (AP Photo/David Richard)

Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine will not be at former President Trump's rally in the state Saturday evening, citing a scheduling conflict.

DeWine, whom Trump endorsed last week in the gubernatorial race, told Ohio newspaper The Vindicator that he has three granddaughters running in a cross country meet at the same time as the rally in Youngstown, Ohio.

“It’s a special night for us,” DeWine said. “They’re running under the lights, which is kind of unusual for cross country.”

DeWine is running for re-election against Democratic nominee Nan Whaley, the former mayor of Dayton.

Trump will appear at the rally with GOP Senate candidate J.D. Vance. Also scheduled to speak are Ohio Republican Reps. Bill Johnson and Jim Jordan, as well as GOP congressional candidates Madison Gesiotto Gilbert, J.R. Majewski and Max Miller.

New Hampshire Republican U.S. Senate candidate Don Bolduc smiles during a primary night campaign gathering, Tuesday Sept. 13, 2022, in Hampton, N.H. (AP Photo/Reba Saldanha)

On August 14, during a Republican Senate Debate before his victories primary in New Hampshire, Don Bolduc said that he "signed a letter with 120 other generals and admirals, saying that Trump won the election..." and affirmed that he stood by that action.

Following his Republican primary win, Bolduc told Fox News "The election was not stolen. Was there fraud? Yes," and that "President Biden is the legitimate President."

In a press release Friday, Bolduc's Democratic opponent Sen. Maggie Hassan aimed to call out Bolduc for his recent statement, highlighting recent comments from CNN anchors.

"Don Bolduc continues to feel the heat for his failed attempt yesterday to erase his long record of spreading the Big Lie. Bolduc’s flimsy efforts to reverse his election denialism were deemed “disingenuous” and a demonstration of a “lack of character” that puts “his credibility on the line,"' the release stated.

“It’s disingenuous and it’s troubling to think that these people will possibly be in office and passing laws. If they are disingenuous as candidates, they will be disingenuous as politicians," Ashley Allison, Former National Coalitions Director for Biden-Harris voiced on CNN following Bolduc's remarks.

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., called out his Democratic opponent Mandela Barnes for "taking a page out of President Biden's playbook" on "Fox News Live" Monday, September 6, 2022.

In a press release Friday, Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., announced he accepted three television debates against Democratic opponent Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, as he fights to hold his Senate seat in the midterms this fall.

The three debates will be with the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association, WISN-12 Milwaukee, and TMJ-4 Milwaukee and are all set to take place in October.

“We look forward to these opportunities to share with Wisconsin voters the truth about Lt. Gov. Barnes’ desire to defund the police, abolish ICE, raise taxes and crush Wisconsin’s economy with the Green New Deal. He’s been hiding from the public for too long and he needs to answer for these extreme positions," Ben Voelkel, Senior Advisor for the Johnson campaign said alongside the announcement.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi speaks at a press conference on Capitol Hill. (Getty Images)

It appears that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is far from pleased with her Democratic colleagues in the chamber over their less-than-stellar performance when it comes to paying dues to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Pelosi, who has long been known as a ferocious fundraiser, told colleagues during a closed-door meeting of House Democrats on Wednesday that some donors had complained about how it looks when House members don't contribute to the party, according to a report from Punchbowl. 

Pelosi argued that if House Democrats don’t do their part in paying dues to their re-election arm, it doesn’t send a good message to donors, Punchbowl reported.

Read more from Fox News' Paul Steinhauser here.

Pennsylvania Senate Democratic nominee John Fetterman, left, and Pennsylvania Senate Republican nominee Dr. Mehmet Oz. (Mark Makela, Hannah Beier/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, D-Pa., recently accepted a debate against Trump-backed opponent Dr. Mehmet Oz, as they compete for Pennsylvania's open Senate seat.

After he accepted the long-awaited debate, Oz blasted Fetterman for agreeing to debate just two weeks before November’s midterm election, after early voting already started. Absentee ballots will be sent to voters in Pennsylvania on Sept. 19, while the heated matchup will take place on October 25.

Brittany Yanick, Communications Director for Oz told Fox News “… ballots go out to Pennsylvania voters on September 19th, but John Fetterman has committed to only 1 debate, just two weeks before the election. The candidates need to be debating early and often. Even the Washington Post Editorial Board is saying that Fetterman should commit to multiple debates as early as next week. If he's able to speak in front of a crowd of 3,000, he's either healthy enough to debate and wants to hide his radical record, or he’s lying about his health. He needs to be honest and transparent with Pennsylvanians."

Joe Calvello, the director of communications for Fetterman, told Fox News that, “The debate will take place two weeks from Election Day. For perspective, even during the pandemic-altered election of 2020, when historic numbers voted by mail, 83% of ballots in Pennsylvania were cast in the final two weeks leading up to the election—not that Dr. Oz would know that; in 2020, he voted in New Jersey. This year, that percentage is expected to be even higher.”

The Pennsylvania Department of State has not yet confirmed if 83% of ballots were cast in the last two weeks before election day in 2020. According to the department, in 2020, 4,216,030 ballots were cast in-person on Election Day, while 2,637,065 mail and absentee ballots were cast prior to November 8.

A record number of illegal immigrants have come over the border. (John Moore)

Vulnerable Democrats seeking re-election in the Senate and House of Representatives will not say if they think the border is secure or if they would welcome illegal immigrants into their states after over 2 million illegal migrants came through the southern border this fiscal year.

Fox News Digital reached out to 26 elected Democrats who are running in tight re-election campaigns, asking them if they too believed the border was secure and how they would go about illegal immigrants entering their state as border policies remain a top midterm issue. Only one responded.

Vice President Kamala Harris, who was put in charge of handling the border crisis, recently told NBC News that, "The border is secure, but we also have a broken immigration system, in particular, over the last four years before we came in, and it needs to be fixed." 

Read more from Fox News' Aubrie Spady here.

With less than two months until the highly anticipated midterm elections, independents in key battleground states appear to be far more aligned with Republicans than Democrats, according to several recent statewide polls.

On Tuesday, the Consumer Price Index report revealed that the annual inflation rate rose to 8.3% in August. In June, the number hit a 40-year-high of 9.1%, but lightened slightly in July to 8.1% before seeing another spike later in the summer. Inflation appears to be on the rise and is a top concern to most Independent and GOP voters nationwide, but polls indicated Democrats do not see it the same way.

Registered voters in Georgia were asked what they believed were the most urgent issues currently facing the state. A Quinnipiac University poll conducted from Sept. 8-12 with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.7 percentage points found that inflation was of top concern to both independents (43%) and Republicans (73%). However, despite the economic recession, inflation was only the issue of most concern to 8% of Democrats, ranking under election laws and racial inequality.

Read more from Fox News' Aubrie Spady here.

President Joe Biden is building 2024 campaign infrastructure, advisor says (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Longtime advisor to President Biden's political efforts Cedric Richmond made it clear in a statement to NBC News that Biden is building the groundwork for a 2024 presidential run.

“He’s running and we’re building an infrastructure for him to run and win,” said Cedric Richmond, who left the White House for the Democratic National Committee earlier this year. “Right now, it’s all an early investment in 2024 while we’re helping 2022.”

Biden's strength is that he has kept the promises he made, according to Sen. Chris Coons, a Democrat from Biden's home state of Delaware.

“The implicit contrast on ‘promises kept’ is clear and sharp,” Coons said, contrasting it with former President Trump, who "talked about fixing American infrastructure so often it became a running joke on late-night shows."

"President Biden actually got a bipartisan, strong infrastructure investment bill into law," Coons said.

Trump has himself hinted at running for president again numerous times, but has reportedly faced pressure from some Republicans who want him hold off announcing 2024 plans until after the 2022 midterms, when the GOP hopes to win back control of the House and Senate.

Democrats meddling in a New Hampshire GOP House primary may have paid off, according to Cook Political Report.

The political handicapper moved the New Hampshire 2nd Congressional District race from "Toss Up' to 'Lean Democrat' Friday, reflecting the win of a conservative candidate that Democrats believe will be easy to defeat in the November election.

"In a gift to Democratic Rep. Annie Kuster (NH-02), underfunded pro-Trump Republican Bob Burns toppled GOP leaders' star recruit, moderate Keene Mayor George Hansel, 33%-30% — a result that wouldn't have been possible if not for $569,000 spent by a liberal Super PAC propping up Burns," Cook Political Report's David Wasserman wrote in an explanation of the rankings change.

In a preview of possible midterm election messages, Democrats appeared to celebrate Burns' win, as well as other Trump-aligned Republicans who succeeded against establishment candidates in the Sept. 13 New Hampshire primary.

"It’s settled. All GOP nominees for federal office are 100% MAGA," Democratic state Rep. Matt Wilhelm tweeted.

Cook Political Report shifted its race rankings of the Oregon governor election in November from "Lean Democrat" to "Toss Up," after polls show the GOP nominee is neck and neck with the Democrat.

Former Oregon state House Minority Leader Christine Drazan has been polling better than expected in the famously blue state of Oregon's gubernatorial race against Democratic nominee Tina Kotek, a former state House speaker.

Cook changed the governors race ranking in Oregon from "Likely Democrat" to "Lean Democrat" in July.

Fox News has learned that former Army Gen. Don Bolduc, the new GOP Senate nominee in battleground New Hampshire, will attend and speak Friday night at a National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) donor retreat being held at Sea Island, Georgia. 

Bolduc struggled with fundraising during both his unsuccessful 2020 bid for the Senate nomination and his current campaign. He had a paltry $84,000 cash on hand in his campaign coffers as of August 24. Bolduc, who ran a populist and outsider MAGA-Republican style campaign during the primary, got a slight infusion of cash on Wednesday night. As Fox News first reported, six-figures in fundraising was raised for Bolduc at an event headlined in Wilton, N.H. by former Vice President Mike Pence. But Bolduc's still miles behind former governor and first-term Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan, who had a formidable $7.3 million cash on hand as of late last month.

Bolduc – due to his fundraising woes and his previous stance in support of former President Donald Trump's unproven claims the 2020 election was "stolen" – was viewed by mainstream Republicans as unelectable in the general election. A super PAC with ties to longtime Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell spent seven-figures to target Bolduc for his “crazy ideas” and boost New Hampshire Senate President Chuck Morse, who was narrowly edged by Bolduc in Tuesday’s primary. Democrats obviously felt the same about Bolduc, as a super PAC aligned with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer spent a couple of million to blast Morse, as they once again meddled in a Republican primary. 

But Bolduc’s appearance in Sea Island – along with seven figure ad spending this week by the NRSC and the Senate Leadership Fund - the top super PAC backing Senate Republicans - to target Hassan – are signs that the GOP still thinks they can win the race in New Hampshire and flip the seat red, even with Bolduc as the Republican nominee.

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Rep. Tim Ryan answers a question during Ohio's U.S. Senate Democratic primary debate on March 28, 2022, at Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio. (Joshua A. Bickel/The Columbus Dispatch via AP)

Ohio Democratic Senate nominee Tim Ryan claimed in a 2020 video shared to TikTok that police were responsible for the death of Ahmaud Arbery, who was chased down by three white men in a Georgia neighborhood in 2020 and murdered.

"In the middle of a global pandemic that has disproportionately affected Black Americans, we now have to deal with the three brutal killings by police officers who were sworn to protect us," Ryan said in the video. "George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery...they join a long list of Black Americans who have been profiled, targeted, [and] killed because of deeply engrained racism in our criminal justice system."

In the video, Ryan called for individuals who wanted to have their messages heard to send videos to him so he could "amplify it" through his social media page. He said at the time that it was an "effort to uplift black and brown voices."

Despite Ryan's claim regarding Arbery's death, Arbery was not killed by police. Three white men chased and killed Arbery in a Georgia neighborhood on February 23, 2020. Two of the three men were sentenced in August to life in prison for committing federal hate crimes.

Travis McMichael, who killed Arbery with a shotgun after the street chase initiated by his father and joined by a neighbor, was the first of the three defendants to be sentenced in August, when was ordered to spend life in prison. His father, Gregory McMichael, who initiated the neighborhood chase that ended in Arbery's death, was later sentenced to life in prison for committing a federal hate crime.

Fox News did not receive an immediate response from Ryan's campaign on his 2020 remarks.

Fox News' Stephanie Pagones contributed to this article.

Democratic Pennsylvania Senate nominee John Fetterman holds a rally with U.S. Congresswomen Madeleine Dean and Mary Gay Scanlon on September 11, 2022 in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania. (Mark Makela/Getty Images)

The campaign for Pennsylvania Democratic Senate nominee John Fetterman has released some results from two recent cognitive tests that he recently took as questions about his ability to serve in the Senate continue to circulate ahead of the November election.

According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Fetterman took two cognitive tests earlier this year, one being the Saint Louis University Mental Status Examination (SLUMS) and the other being the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS).

The SLUMS test, which consists of simple memory questions and requires patients to perform basic tasks like recognizing a shape and drawing in X inside of it, was taken by Fetterman on July 14 and the RBANS test was taken by Fetterman this week, according to the Inquirer. The RBANS test consists of an assessment related to immediate memory, delayed memory, attention, language, and other functions.

Fetterman's campaign claimed the results from the two tests were in line with Fetterman's age and educational level, according to the Inquirer.

Fetterman reportedly scored 28 out of 30 on the SLUMS test, and a score between 27 and 30 is typically considered normal for a high school graduate, the Inquirer reported. The campaign has not released the RBANS score, but told the Inquirer it was within normal limits.

Read more: Fetterman campaign says Dem nominee is healthy after two cognitive tests, won't provide documentation: Report

Stacey Abrams reported a six-figure income from Dream Project Partners, an LLC with virtually no online presence. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Georgia Democratic gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams said Wednesday that she supports abortions being conducted up "until the time of birth" in some circumstances.

Offering remarks during a Wednesday appearance on The View, Abrams insisted that abortion is "a decision that should be made between a woman and her doctor, that viability is the metric, and that if a woman’s health or life is in danger, then viability extends until the time of birth."

Abrams did not expound on what constitutes as a woman's life or health being in danger.

"I believe that abortion is a medical decision, not a political decision," she said. "And arbitrary, politically defined timelines are deeply problematic because they ignore the reality of medical and physiological issues."

"For example, a six-week ban tells women they have to make reproductive choices before they know they're pregnant. And that arbitrariness extends into these artificial timelines," Abrams said.

Abrams also declared during her appearance on the show that no one believes "there should not be a limit" on abortion, adding that "the limit should not be made by politicians who don’t understand basic biology or, apparently, basic morality."

Catch up on the latest news the from Thursday's midterm election live blog on Fox News Digital.

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