2022 Midterm Election updates as Democrats, GOP fight to win House of Representatives, Senate
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!
Coverage for this event has ended.
Gabriel (Gabe) Vasquez, a Democratic candidate from New Mexico running for the U.S. House of Representatives in the 2022 U.S. midterm elections, appears in an undated handout photo obtained by Reuters on Oct. 5, 2022. (Gabe Vasquez/Handout via REUTERS)
A Democratic candidate in one of the most competitive House races in the country previously vowed he would "fully support" halving the police budget of the city in which he served as a member of the city council.
Fox News Digital obtained a number of emails sent in 2020 by then-Las Cruces, New Mexico, City Council member Gabriel Vasquez expressing support for defunding police, as well as for the Black Lives Matter movement, in the wake of the unrest gripping the nation following the death of George Floyd.
"I wholeheartedly and absolutely support police reform and the #blacklivesmatter movement, and will not be stopping short of transformational reform that brings justice to our city and to people of color in our community. You can count on my support," Vasquez wrote to a constituent demanding "at least" a 50% reduction of the Las Cruces police department budget.
North Carolina Democratic Senate candidate Cheri Beasley previously said there is "something deeply troubling" about efforts from Republicans to limit "the ability of trans youth to have gender-affirming surgeries."
Beasley's remarks came during a November 2021 Democratic Senate candidate forum put on by the LGBTQ+ Democrats of North Carolina.
North Carolina Democratic Senate candidate Cheri Beasley speaks during her campaign rally with Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., at Harding University High School on Saturday, Oct. 15, 2022. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
"Trans people and especially people of color face a lot of barriers around access to health care, and I know Biden reversed Trump's policies that rolled back protections for transgender people in health care," Beasley said. "We know Republicans, of course here in North Carolina, continue to launch attacks against trans people, including limiting the ability of trans youth to have gender-affirming surgeries. There's just something deeply troubling about that."
"We know that the state health care plan does not provide for trans-affirming care," she added. "This, frankly, is really a very dangerous time. Transgender adults are two times as likely than cisgender adults to have – be diagnosed by depressive disorders."
Beasley asserted that "Transgender adults are significantly less likely to get their flu shots or go to doctor's appointments" and that "half of transgender adults report experiencing some kind of physical assault or sexual assault."
EXCLUSIVE: A former acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) director, who served during the final days of President Trump's tenure in the White House, is warning of the danger some congressional Democratic candidates pose to the agency's mission of securing America's borders and protecting United States citizens.
Several Democrats running for office in states around the country have come under fire for their views on immigration and how they believe issues at the southern border should be handled as border patrol agents continue to be overwhelmed by large influxes of illegal migrants.
One Democratic Senate candidate in particular, Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, who is seeking to unseat incumbent GOP Sen. Ron Johnson in the Badger State's Nov. 8 midterm election, has liked numerous tweets that called for ICE to be abolished and criticized the agency. Similarly, in 2019, Barnes told the Wisconsin-based immigration group Voces de la Frontera Action that the "wrong ICE is melting."
In an interview with Fox News Digital, Jonathan Fahey, a former deputy assistant secretary for the Department of Homeland Security who later served as the acting director of ICE from December 2020 to January 2021, reacted to the rhetoric from Barnes and considered it to be detrimental to ICE's mission to provide safety for Americans.
"It's kind of interesting how he's trying to walk this back now because he's running for election, trying to center himself to the middle," Fahey said of Barnes. "He was associated with groups, liked tweets and other stuff to show that he wanted ICE abolished and it's really just anti-ICE. He and others have been on this crusade to just take down ICE, demonize ICE agents in every single respect by calling them racists, delegitimizing what they're doing, and treating them like they're doing something heavy-handed, unlawful, when they're simply just doing their job, trying to keep our communities safe and our country safe.… It really is disgraceful."
Read more: Dem candidate's support for abolish ICE movement is 'disgraceful,' former immigration official says
Former President Donald Trump speaks to supporters at a rally to support local candidates on Sept. 3, 2022 in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
EXCLUSIVE: Former President Trump’s plan for securing GOP control of Congress centers on rallies that energize the party's base and attract new attendees who traditionally have not turned out to vote during midterm election cycles—a strategy Trump allies say will fuel "massive victories" for Republicans.
A Trump team official told Fox News that more than half of the people who registered to attend Trump’s five most recent rallies in September and October were "first-time attendees."
"President Trump has built a massive database of those people who have registered to attend a rally since 2015," the official said. "However, when looking at the five most recent rallies, more than half of those registering are first-time attendees—they are people who have never attended a Trump rally before."
Read more from Fox News' Brooke Singman here: Trump midterm strategy: Rallies attracting new GOP voters, energizing base for endorsed candidates
Conservatives accused one of the Georgia gubernatorial debate moderators of "embarrassing" "fan service" for his question asking how it’s possible that Democratic candidate Stacey Abrams is down in the polls when she is on the "side of public opinion" on major issues.
Critics alleged moderator and local CBS affiliate reporter Chuck Williams was acting as a "cheerleader" for Abrams by asking such a leading question. A clip shared to Twitter Tuesday evening revealed Williams’ controversial question.
He said, "Ms. Abrams, public opinion polls in our state show support for the right to abortion, Medicaid expansion and banning assault weapons. You are the side of public opinion in each of these issues, yet you are behind in almost every poll. Why?"
The Federalist editor-in-chief Mollie Hemingway blasted Williams, tweeting, "Hard to believe this is real, but apparently it's real. Propaganda fan service of Abrams provided by @chuckwilliams."
Read more from Fox News' Gabriel Hays: Georgia debate moderator accused of 'fan service' for saying Stacey Abrams is on ‘side of public opinion'
Senator Michael Bennet, D-Colo., seen in the middle behind Sen. Chuck Schumer, appeared to scrub indicted state Senator Pete Lee's endorsement from his re-election campaign website. (Al Drago/Bloomberg)
FIRST ON FOX: Colorado Democrat Senator Michael Bennet appeared to quietly delete an endorsement he received from a state senator who was indicted for allegedly voting from a false address.
Bennet used to display his endorsement from Democrat state Senator Pete Lee of Manitou Springs, who was indicted by a grand jury in August for allegedly registering to vote from his daughter’s condo several miles from his home so he could run for office.
Following the indictment, Bennet appears to have scrubbed the endorsement from his website.
Read more from Fox News' Houston Keene here.
John Fetterman, lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania and Democratic senate candidate, speaks during a campaign rally in Pittsburgh on Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022. (Nate Smallwood/Bloomberg via Getty Image)
Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman is experiencing auditory processing disorder symptoms but "can work full duty in public office," his doctor said in a letter released Wednesday.
Fetterman, the Democratic candidate for Senate in Pennsylvania, is running against Dr. Mehmet Oz in the 2022 midterm elections. The Democrat suffered a stroke on May 13 — not long before clinching the primary nomination — and has been under intense scrutiny over his perceived difficulty engaging in meaningful dialogue and public speaking since.
Fetterman's campaign released a copy of the medical report Wednesday — dated Oct. 15 — asserting the lawmaker is still struggling with certain auditory capabilities, but is capable of exercising a role in public office.
Read more from Fox News' Timothy H.J. Nerozzi here: Pennsylvania candidate Fetterman showing auditory processing disorder symptoms, 'can work full duty': doctor
Sen. Mark Kelly speaks during a press conference following the weekly Democratic caucus policy luncheon on Feb. 8, 2022, in Washington, D.C. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Voters across the political spectrum reacted strongly to Democratic Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly's sharp criticism of President Biden and his fellow Democrats over what he called "dumb" decisions pertaining to the border crisis while debating his Republican opponent, Blake Masters, earlier this month.
"Democrats don’t understand this issue. And Republicans just want to talk about it and complain about it and actually not do anything about it. They just want to politicize that," Kelly said when debating the topic of border security on Oct. 6.
"You know, I’ve spent a lot of time on our southern border, and let me just say it’s a mess. It’s a chaos. It’s crisis after crisis," he said.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., faces an uphill battle keeping her House majority this November. (Anna Moneymaker)
In September, some commentators were confident Democrats might be able to avoid a "red wave," but with just three weeks to midterm election day, momentum from the overturn of Roe v. Wade and President Biden’s string of summer legislative wins could be waning.
Polling for the 2022 generic congressional vote — a closely watched indicator for midterm performance — shows Democrats’ average advantage over Republicans peaking in mid-September with a 1.3% lead, a decent advantage given that Biden’s approval rating consistently hovered in the low 40s.
However, three weeks away from the midterms, Republicans have managed to gain back momentum that they have not seen in months, leading by 2.2% on average when voters are asked which party they would support, according to RealClearPolitics.
Read more from Fox News' Sophia Slacik here: Polls show Republicans flip key metric in 2022 midterm elections, Democrats 'blew their lead'
(Getty)
An AARP poll released Wednesday indicates Pennsylvania's Senate race is tightening as Election Day approaches.
Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz is trailing Democratic candidate Lt. Gov. John Fetterman 48% to 46%, which is within the margin of error of 4.4 percentage points, the poll of likely voters found.
Approximately 4% of respondents were undecided, and approximately 2% were planning to vote for a third party. The poll was run by Republican-aligned firm Fabrizio Ward and Democratic company Impact Research.
Read more from Fox News' Tim Nerozzi: Pennsylvania Senate race: Oz closes to within margin of error against Fetterman in AARP poll
Campaigning in Las Vegas, first-term Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada teamed up with rank-and-file members of the state’s powerful Culinary Union, which represents casino, hotel and restaurant workers in Sin City and Reno.
"It was wonderful to join hundreds of @Culinary226 workers at @MandalayBay this morning. I will always have their back," the senator tweeted on Tuesday.
Cortez Masto will need all the support she can get from the politically powerful Culinary Union as she faces a very challenging re-election against Republican nominee Adam Laxalt, a former state attorney general – he succeeded Cortez Masto as the state’s top prosecutor – who’s the grandson of former senator and governor Paul Laxalt.
Nevada’s Senate race is one of a handful across the country in the November midterms that may determine whether the GOP wins back the chamber’s majority.
And according to an average of the latest public opinion polls in the crucial western battleground state compiled by Real Clear Politics, Laxalt holds a slight 1.7-point edge over Cortez Masto with three weeks to go until Election Day. Senate Republicans view Cortez Masto as the most vulnerable Democratic incumbent seeking another term.
But it’s not just the Senate race.
First-term Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak slightly trails Republican gubernatorial nominee and Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo in an average of the latest surveys. And Democratic Reps. Dina Titus in Nevada’s 1st Congressional District and Susie Lee in the 3rd District are fighting for their political lives, with Democratic incumbent Steven Horsford in the 4th District also facing a challenging re-election.
Gov. Pritzker during debate (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
Chicago's crime wave was a central topic during Tuesday's Illinois gubernatorial debate, as Republican candidate Darren Bailey argued that Gov. J. B. Pritzker's "extreme" crime policies put residents at risk.
"I’m gonna call it ‘Pritzkerville’ because every one of Gov. Pritzker's extreme policies are destroying the city," Bailey claimed.
"Out-of-control crime, devastated education, the fact that corporations are packing up and leaving every day.
Pritzkerville fits nicely because Gov. Pritzker, it's time for him to own it," the Republican candidate added.
During the debate, Bailey also argued that the influx of migrants at the southern border also made Chicago "a mess", along with the Windy City's sanctuary city status.
Read more from Fox News' Andrea Vacchiano: Illinois gubernatorial candidate blames Chicago crime on Pritzker in heated debate
Live Coverage begins here