2022 midterm election news and updates as Biden hits the campaign trail

Madison Gesiotto Gilbert, Republican nominee running in Ohio's 13th Congressional District, spoke to Fox News Digital, addressing Biden's MAGA rhetoric comparing the Republican Party to being "like semi-fascism," as he prepares to make another speech Thursday.

While speaking at a campaign rally in Maryland, Biden compared the philosophy of MAGA Republicans to "semi-fascism" and said they are a "threat to our very democracy."

"What we’re seeing now is either the beginning or the death knell of extreme MAGA philosophy," Biden said during his speech, "It’s not just Trump, it’s the entire philosophy that underpins the — I’m going to say something, it’s like semi-fascism."

Read more: Madison Gesiotto Gilbert says Biden comparing MAGA Republicans to 'semi-fascists' is 'comical, insulting'

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

A new poll released Thursday showed Democrats with a slight lead in the Nevada gubernatorial and Senate races ahead of November's midterm elections, but with significantly less support from Hispanic voters than in previous election cycles.

The poll, conducted by AARP, consisted of likely Nevada voters, and included oversamples of voters over the age of 50, as well as oversamples of Hispanic voters over the age of 50.

According to the poll, incumbent Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto leads with 44% support, compared to former Republican state Attorney General Adam Laxalt at 40%, while incumbent Democrat Gov. Steve Sisolak leads Republican Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo, 41% to 38%.

Cortez Masto has an 11% advantage over Laxalt with Hispanic voters, while Sisolak has a 14% advantage over Lombardo. That advantage drops to just 9% when only considering Hispanic voters over the age of 50.

Despite the double-digit leads, both Democrats received significantly less support from Hispanics than they did in the 2016 election (Cortez Masto) and the 2018 election (Sisolak), which saw the demographic favoring the two candidates by more than 30% in each instance.

The more than 50% drop in Hispanic support for the two Democrats appeared to be a continuation of the trend taking shape across the country in which the party has hemorrhaged support from Latino voters to Republicans.

Read more: Democrats losing support from Hispanic voters in key Nevada races, new poll shows

With 12 days to go until the Republican Senate primary in the general election battleground state of New Hampshire, former President Donald Trump says he’s seriously considering endorsing one of the two polling front-runners in the race.

"I'm looking at that race very closely," Trump said Thursday on conservative radio host John Fredericks' nationally syndicated radio program.

The race is the final high-profile and competitive GOP Senate nomination contest this election cycle. 

The winner of the Sept. 13 primary will face off in November against former Democratic governor and first-term Sen. Maggie Hassan — whom Republicans view as very vulnerable due to her lackluster poll numbers — in a midterm election showdown that may determine if the GOP wins back the Senate majority.

"I'm looking at it very strongly," Trump added. "Literally yesterday I took some phone calls on that one."

Read more: Trump moves closer to endorsing in the final major GOP Senate primary showdown this election cycle

Current Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt is running for governor. (Mark Reinstein/Corbis via Getty Images)

Kansas Attorney General and GOP Senate candidate Derek Schmidt said he would "enthusiastically sign" the Fairness in Women's Sports Act, which prevents biologically males from competing in girls' sports, after Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed the bill twice.

“As the father of two daughters, a commonsense Kansan, and as a candidate for governor who actually listens to Kansans, I can say with no uncertainty that biological males should not be sharing locker rooms with female athletes or competing in girls' sports,” Schmidt said at a campaign event in Overland Park.

“That's why today, I am calling on the Kansas Legislature, within the first 100 days I’m in office, to send to my desk the Fairness in Women’s Sports bill that Laura Kelly twice vetoed. I will enthusiastically sign it.”

The bill also bars students from using bathrooms or locker rooms of the opposite biological sex, regardless of gender identity.

Schmidt said Kelly, who pitches herself as a moderate, is "well outside the mainstream in Kansas to say that girls should be forced to compete with and share locker rooms with their biological male counterparts."

Mary Peltola, photographed at the Resource Industry Trade Organizations Host Congressional Candidate Forum, on May 12, 2022. (Ash Adams for The Washington Post via Getty Images)

The Cook Report updated the ratings for five congressional midterm races, and all in the favor of Democratic candidates.

Mary Peltola, D-Alaska, beat Sarah Palin in the special election for Alaska’s only House seat, causing a major shift Thursday in rating the race “Likely Republican” to “Toss Up.” After winning the ranked-choice voting election, Peltola will take office and serve for the remainder of the term, until November when she will be on the ballot for the full term.

Rep. Greg Stanton, D-Ariz., who ran unopposed in the Democratic primary for Arizona’s Fourth Congressional District, had his midterm race against Republican Kelly Cooper shift from “Lean-Democrat” to “Likely Democrat.”

Incumbent Rep. David Trone, D-Ma., is seeking to hold his seat this November, and it looks like his chances of doing so just got a little better after the Cook Report changed his race rating against Republican Neil Parrott from “Lean-Democrat” to “Likely-Democrat.”

The race for the open seat in New York’s 3rd Congressional District just took a turn, changing from “Toss-Up” to “Lean-Democrat.” Robert Zimmerman is the Democratic candidate facing off against Republican George Devolder-Santos in the fall. The seat is held by Rep. Tom Suozzi, but he did not seek re-election after making a bid for New York Governor, but did not advance through the primary race.

Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., has been vulnerable throughout the majority of the election cycle, but the recent report revealed the battle to hold her seat in Virginia’s 7th Congressional District switched from “Toss-Up” to “Lean-Democrat,” meaning things are now on the up for the incumbent Democrat.

Donald Trump during rally for Mehmet Oz

President Biden’s taking to prime time his jabs the past week targeting "MAGA Republicans" whom he argues have embraced "semi-fascism" due to their continued loyalty to former President Donald Trump.

The president will deliver a Thursday evening address where the White House says he’ll emphasize that America’s democracy remains "under attack" and highlight "who is fighting" to protect the nation’s freedoms.

And Biden will make his speech at Philadelphia’s Independence National Historical Park, where the Declaration of Independence and the nation’s Constitution were debated and signed.But the location and timing of the address are telling.

The speech, in the crucial general election battleground state of Pennsylvania, comes less than 10 weeks ahead of the November midterms, when the Democrats hope to hold onto their razor-thin majorities in the House of Representatives and the Senate. 

Biden’s apparent mission is to change the narrative of the upcoming elections by offering voters a contrast between himself and his party and Trump and his loyal legions.

But whether the president’s likely strategy will bear fruit, or backfire, in a year when inflation remains the top issue, won’t be determined until November.

Read more: Will Biden's new 'MAGA Republican' rhetoric help or hurt Democrats' chances in November's elections?

Biden in Wilkes-Barre Pennsylvania

President Biden will likely target Republicans during a Thursday speech from outside Independence Hall in Philadelphia.

Biden delivered a dark warning ahead of the 2020 election, painting the presidential race as a battle for the "soul of the nation." 

The White House called the Thursday address "a Primetime Speech on the Continued Battle for the Soul of the Nation."

The president hinted at the tone and substance of his Thursday speech during a rally in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, Tuesday, where he suggested Republicans were against the rule of law.

"You hear some of my friends in the other team talking about political violence and how it’s necessary," the president said. "No one should be encouraged to use political violence."

Biden has increased his inflammatory rhetoric in recent weeks, accusing Republicans of becoming the party of "semi-fascism" at a Maryland event. He also said the GOP and former President Trump threatened not only "personal rights and economic security, they're a threat to our very democracy." 

Read more from Fox News' Haris Alic: Biden expected to deliver dark remarks Thursday portraying his political opposition as a threat to democracy