2022 Midterm election updates as GOP, Democrats fight to control Senate, House of Representatives
Live updates from the 2022 Midterm Election campaign trail as Republicans and Democrats battle it out with just a weeks of campaigning left before election day in November. Stay up-to-date on events and latest news surrounding the 2022 midterms from Fox News!
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Democrat Ohio Senate candidate Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, speaks at the UAW Local 12 union rally in Toledo, Ohio on Saturday, August 20, 2022. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Democrat Ohio Senate candidate Tim Ryan accepted campaign donations over the years from drug distributors that have faced criticism for their role in the opioid crisis, according to a report from The Associated Press.
Ryan received contributions from AmerisourceBergen, McKesson and Dublin, Ohio-based Cardinal Health, the three biggest drug distribution companies in the U.S., between 2007 and August of this year.
Earlier this year, the companies finalized a $21 billion settlement with state, local and Native American tribal governments and others over the toll of the opioid crisis. The settlement is the largest over opioid claims and keeps the companies from facing thousands of lawsuits.
The trio’s combined giving to Ryan of $27,000 represents a fraction of the campaign contributions he has collected over the years, which include $8.6 million for the Senate race as of July. They are notable as Ryan hammers the spotty record of the anti-opioid nonprofit started by his Republican opponent, “Hillbilly Elegy” author JD Vance.
The distributor most generous to Ryan was from Cardinal Health Inc., a multinational health care services company headquartered in his home state. The company’s PAC has given him $21,000 since 2007, including $5,000 this August. McKesson Corp. Employees PAC gave Ryan $5,000 in 2012. Amerisource Bergen Corp. PAC gave him $1,000 in 2019. The opioid crisis was ongoing during all those years.
Ryan, who currently represents the Buckeye State's 13th District in the House, will face off against Vance in the state's Nov. 8 Senate election.
Luke Schroeder, a spokesperson for the Vance campaign, insisted that Ryan's acceptance of the donations after criticizing Vance over the issue of the opioid crisis is "shameless hypocrisy."
“Tim Ryan has spent millions spreading lies about JD, despite the fact that JD’s own mother struggled with addiction for years," Schroeder said in a statement shared with Fox News Digital. "All the while, Tim Ryan was taking money from the very companies responsible for the opioid epidemic, and even voted against legislation that would have delivered needed relief. This shameless hypocrisy from Tim Ryan disqualifies him from higher office.”
The Associated Press contributed to this update.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams again claimed that she never denied the outcome of 2018 Georgia governor's race she lost to current Gov. Brian Kemp, despite never conceding the race.
"I have never denied the outcome," Abrams told CNN's Erin Burnett Monday. "I have always questioned the process and the access. And I think it’s dangerous and disingenuous to conflate concerns about access and concerns about outcome," she added.
Burnett asked whether Abrams would concede that she lost the 2018 election, something she has not publicly done.
Abrams told Burnett about why she brought a lawsuit challenging the election processes after the 2018 loss, but Abrams said she always acknowledged that she would not be governor.
"In 2018, on the day I made that speech, if you play the beginning of the speech, I acknowledged that I am not the governor, that Brian Kemp won the election. What I said is that the process denied access to too many voters. And that was proven by more than 3,000 voters who made their voices heard of trial and a process that was the first full-length trial held on voting rights in more than a decade in the state of Georgia."
Though she never conceded the race, Abrams said her objections were not about wanting a different outcome, but about ensuring the process is fair.
"Outcome is about who wins. And no one is entitled to victory, including myself," Abrams said. "I have never been unclear about the fact that I did not win the race. But access belongs to every eligible American. And it is incumbent upon every person at every level of government and in our society to demand that equal access to the right to vote be made available in this country. And that’s what I continue to fight for."
Read more from Fox News' Lindsay Kornick:
The Cook Political Report shifted ratings for 10 House seats in the upcoming midterm elections on Wednesday, with most of the changes favoring Democrats.
Four out of the ten shifts now place races in four different states with ratings of "Likely D" or "Lean D." In addition, four races from three different states are now rated as "Solid R" or "Lean R."
In Pennsylvania's 7th District, the rating for the race featuring incumbent Democrat Rep. Susan Wild changed from "Lean R" to "Toss Up." In Texas' 34th District, the race featuring GOP Rep. Mayra Flores and Democrat Rep. Vicente Gonzalez changed from "Lean D" to "Toss Up."
FIRST ON FOX: The Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF), a Republican-aligned Super PAC, on Wednesday announced the release of a new ad attacking Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., for renting a condo owned by a lobbyist and contributor to her campaign.
The ad, titled "Slotkin's Been Caught," references the story first reported by Fox News Digital in September concerning Slotkin's relationship with the lobbyist and donor landlord.
"Elissa Slotkin's been caught," the ad says, before showing a clip of the moderator in a debate last month between Slotkin and her Republican opponent, Tom Barrett, questioning the congresswoman about her relationship with her landlord.
The ad went on to note the millions in federal grant money given to the lobbyist's company, a Lansing-based pharmaceutical manufacturer, suggesting he might be unethically benefiting from his relationship with Slotkin.
In a statement to Fox News Digital last month, Slotkin's campaign denied there was any connection between the grant money her landlord's company received and her renting property from the individual.
"One hundred percent shady. One hundred percent Elissa Slotkin," the ad later said.
The ad is part of a larger nation-wide buy of $190 million by CLF this fall, and will run on Lansing, Michigan TV and digital platforms.
Fox News' Power Rankings has rated the race as a toss-up.
FIRST ON FOX: Oregon Republican gubernatorial nominee Christine Drazan on Wednesday announced the release of a new campaign ad attacking Tina Kotek, her Democratic opponent and the former speaker of the state's House of Representatives, over her handling of sexual assault allegations.
The ad, titled "Bully," includes an unidentified woman who discusses her experience being assaulted at work, and blasts Kotek for, according to her, attempting to cover up sexual assault allegations made by women who worked at the Oregon state house.
"Being assaulted at work is horrifying. I know because it happened to me. And when you're not supported, it's devastating," the woman says in the ad.
"As speaker, Tina Kotek blocked an investigation into repeated sexual abuse because she was worried about how it would make her look. She's been called a bully, willing to do anything to protect her power. But covering up sexual abuse because it might make you look bad? I'm a Democrat, but Speaker Kotek, we've all had enough," she adds.
The ad will run statewide on TV and digital platforms starting Wednesday, and is part of a larger seven-figure ad buy.
Fox News' Power Rankings has rated the race as a toss-up.
Republican Gov. Brian Kemp of Georiga holds a re-election rally in Alpharetta, Ga. on Sept. 27, 2022
FIRST ON FOX: Republican Gov. Brian Kemp brought in approximately $30 million in fundraising over the summer, as he runs for a second four-year term steering Georgia.
The fundraising figures spanning July 1 through September 30 for the Kemp for Governor re-election campaign and the allied Georgians First Leadership Committee were shared first nationally with Fox News on Wednesday. The two entities combined had $15.4 million cash on hand as of the end of September.
Kemp is facing a rematch with Democratic gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams, a former state Democratic legislative leader, voting rights champion, and rising star in her party who narrowly lost to Kemp in the 2018 election for governor.
Rep. Tim Ryan’s Democratic campaign for U.S. Senate raised $17.2 million in the third quarter of 2022, nearly double the campaign’s previous record-breaking haul of $9.1 million in the second quarter (which more than doubled the prior record he set in Q1).
“While San Francisco fraud JD Vance relies on his out-of-state allies to bail out his struggling campaign, we’re proud to have grassroots support from Ohioans in all 88 counties who know Tim is the only candidate who will fight for them in the Senate,” campaign spokesperson Jordan Fuja emphasized. “With Election Day nearing, we couldn’t be prouder of the strong and growing grassroots team that has powered our campaign since day one.”
Ryan is facing off against GOP nominee and former hedge fund executive and best-selling author JD Vance in the contest to succeed retiring Republican Sen. Rob Portman, in a race that's among a handful across the country that will determine if the GOP recaptures the Senate majority.
Vance, who's yet to release his third quarter numbers, has struggled with fundraising since launching his campaign over a year ago.
For more, check out Ryan's sit down interview in Niles, Ohio with Fox News Digital here.
EXCLUSIVE: Republican Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland believes that attending "prestigious colleges and universities" isn’t the only pathway to achieve the American dream.
Instead, the term-limited governor who’s mulling a potential bid for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination has been focused on expanding career opportunities "outside an expensive four-year college degree" as part of his push to reduce the costs of post-high school education.
On Wednesday, the pro-Hogan public advocacy group An America United unveiled four guidelines that leaders across the country could embrace which follow steps already implemented by the governor in Maryland. The new effort was shared first with Fox News.
"A good education is the foundation to career success, but there’s a fine line between investing in developing the talents of the next generation and subsidizing needless credentialism on the taxpayer’s dime. The American dream can't only run through prestigious universities like Harvard," Hogan emphasized in a statement.
An America United, in their release, claimed that "colleges and universities have developed bloated administrations that would be recognizable to the federal apparatus subsidizing them." The release of the plan comes as Hogan addresses the Institute of Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Following his stop at Harvard University, Hogan heads to neighboring New Hampshire, where on Thursday morning he’ll headline the latest edition of "Politics and Eggs" at Saint Anselm College. Read Fox News' Paul Steinhauser full report here
Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes speaks to the crowd during the 48th Annual Juneteenth Day Festival on June 19, 2019, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Dylan Buell/Getty Images for VIBE)
Wisconsin Democratic Senate nominee and Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes hauled in more than $20 million during the past three months, as he challenges Republican Sen. Ron Johnson in a race that’s one of a handful across the country that may determine if the GOP wins back the Senate majority.
Barnes campaign announced on Wednesday that they raised over $20.1 million during the July-September third quarter of 2022 fundraising, with nearly half a million individual contributions coming from more than 230,000 total donors. The campaign also touted that they didn’t take “one dime” in corporate PAC money.
“It’s clear from the unparalleled grassroots support across the state that Wisconsinites stand with Mandela Barnes as he holds Ron Johnson accountable for supporting an abortion ban with no exceptions for rape, incest, or the life of the woman,” Barnes campaign spokesperson Maddy McDaniel argued in a statement.
Barnes’ haul is a massive boost from the $2.1 million he brought in during the April-June second quarter of fundraising, when he was part of a competitive primary for the Democratic Senate nomination. Barnes easily won the August 9 primary after building a healthy lead in the polls that forced his main rivals to withdraw from the race in the days and weeks before the ballots were counted.
Johnson has yet to announce his third quarter fundraising. Federal candidates have until Oct. 15 to file their reports with the Federal Election Commission. The senator hauled in $7 million during the second quarter.
The senator, whom Democrats view as the most vulnerable Republican incumbent in the chamber running for re-election, holds a three-point edge over Barnes in an average of the latest public opinion surveys in the race that was compiled by Real Clear Politics.
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