2022 Midterm Election updates as GOP, Democrats fight for Senate, House of Representatives

Abortion was one of the main talking points during the debate pitting Arizona Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly against Republican challenger Blake Masters. (Ross D. Franklin)

Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., has avoided making his position on abortion clear, stating that he supports some late-term abortion restrictions but declining to elaborate.

Kelly, who is seeking re-election in the Senate this fall, skated around the question of abortion limits during his first midterm debate Thursday against GOP opponent Blake Masters, stating he supported the "protections and restrictions" under Roe v. Wade but not clarifying exactly what those were."

Under Roe v. Wade, there were protections and there were restrictions that were allowed under that law," Kelly responded, "And late-term abortion in this country only happens when there is a serious problem. And that's what I support."

Fox News Digital reached out to Kelly, asking him exactly which protections and restrictions he supported under Roe v. Wade. A spokesperson for the campaign said Kelly supports codifying the "protections" under Roe but did not give any specific examples.

Read more from Fox News' Aubrie Spady here.

Cheri Beasley speaks with potential voters at Fourth Ward Barber & Hairstyle on Sept. 17, 2022 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Sean Rayford/Getty Images)

North Carolina Democratic Senate candidate Cheri Beasley is a strong proponent of "ending the cash bail system," and during her time as a judge on the North Carolina Supreme Court, insisted that there is "great value in that premise" of dismantling the criminal justice system and restructuring it.

As outlined on Beasley's campaign website, the Tar Heel State Democrat supports "ending some mandatory minimums and ending the cash bail system particularly for nonviolent offenders."

Beasley, who was appointed to the state's Supreme Court in 2012 and concluded her tenure in December 2020 as chief justice, delivered the State of the North Carolina Judiciary address in July 2019 and touched on the subject, noting that "many judicial districts are evaluating their bail policies."

Read more from Fox News' Kyle Morris here.

With just four weeks until the midterm elections, the re-election campaign for Gov. Kristi Noem, R-S.D., launched its latest ad highlighting 12-time All-American female swimmer Riley Gaines, who said girls' athletic aspirations are "being stolen by men competing in women’s sports" after tying with a biological male at the NCAA national championships.

The ad, titled "Girls Dream," focuses on Gaines and her experience of being forced to compete against, and eventually tying with, a biological male, Lia Thomas, in the 200-yard NCAA championships in March. 

Gaines praised Noem in the ad, exclaiming that she trusts the GOP governor "to fight for girls across South Dakota."

"I’ve worked hard to accomplish my dream, becoming a 12-time All-American swimmer. But for girls across America, that dream is being stolen by men competing in women’s sports. And the extreme left supports it, like Jamie Smith," Gaines stated in the ad.

Read more from Fox News' Aubrie Spady here.

Former Republican Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey (left) joins GOP nominee Allan Fung in Rhode Island's Second Congressional District (center), greet voters at the Scituate Art Festival, on Oct. 10, 2022 in North Scituate, Rhode Island. (Fox News)

EXCLUSIVE - NORTH SCITUATE, R.I. – As he aims to do what no Republican has done in more than three decades, Allan Fung highlights his independence from GOP leadership.

"I’m a Republican yes, but most importantly I’m going to go down to Washington, D.C., to vote with the people of the state of Rhode Island and vote their values and be a voice for them," Fung pledged in a Fox News interview as he campaigned at the annual Scituate Art Festival in the northwest corner of this southern New England state.

Fung is the former longtime mayor of Cranston – the state’s second-largest city - who made history as the first mayor of Chinese ancestry in Rhode Island. He was also the state’s 2014 and 2018 GOP gubernatorial nominee.

Now, he is aiming to make history again in this solidly blue state. It has been 34 years since a Republican has won a House election in Rhode Island’s Second Congressional District, which covers the western half of the nation’s smallest state. However, Fung, the GOP’s nominee in the district, may break the losing streak in November’s midterm elections.

Read more from Fox News' Paul Steinhauser here.

Joe O'Dea, Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate seat held by Democrat Michael Bennet, speaks during a primary election night watch party, late June 28, 2022, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

The latest public opinion poll in Colorado indicates that Republican Senate challenger Joe O’Dea trails Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet by just six points among those who say they’ll definitely vote in November’s midterm elections.

According to a Marist College Poll conducted Oct. 3-6 and released on Tuesday, Bennet tops O’Dea 49%-43%. And among independent voters, the incumbent Democrat holds a narrow 43%-40% edge over the GOP nominee, with 13% undecided.

O’Dea, a Denver area construction company owner and first-time candidate, is challenging Bennet, a former superintendent of the Denver Public Schools who’s held the Senate seat in Colorado since 2009, in a race that became increasingly competitive over the summer and could become one of a handful that determines if Republicans win back the chamber's majority in next month’s elections.

Read more from Fox News' Paul Steinhauser here.

Officials in Milwaukee present a mock-up of the 2024 GOP presidential nominating convention. (RNC/Milwuakee 2024 host committee)

FIRST ON FOX: The Republican National Committee (RNC) claims to have broken records with over 70 million voter contacts made this cycle-to-date, with just four weeks to go until the highly anticipated midterm elections.

The RNC announced their plans exclusively to Fox News Digital, revealing that they raised over $273.6 million this cycle-to-date.

"The Republican Party is out-raising, out-hustling, and out-working the Democrats, and we’re ready to catapult our candidates to victory in one month," RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said in a statement. "Families cannot afford this failed Democrat one-party rule, and Americans will reject Biden and Democrats’ reckless spending, soft-on-crime policies, and open border agenda and vote for commonsense over crazy." 

According to the release, the RNC made major headway over the past few years, after not hitting 70 million voter contacts in 2018 until the last week of the election cycle.

Read more from Fox News' Aubrie Spady here.

U.S. Senate candidates JD Vance and Tim Ryan accused each other of being extremists during a heated debate in Cleveland. (NewsNation via Reuters)

U.S. Senate candidates JD Vance and Tim Ryan participated in a heated debate in Cleveland on Monday night, with both candidates accusing each other of being party loyalists.

The two men are vying for retiring Sen. Rob Portman's seat in one of the most closely watched races of the 2022 midterm season. 

Ryan, a 10-term Democratic congressman, sought to portray Vance as an extremist by echoing his associations with "crazies" who believe in 2020 election fraud claims and contributed to the Jan. 6 attack. Republican candidate Vance consequently accused Ryan of distracting from more important issues like inflation.

The two men also sparred over abortion, with Ryan wholeheartedly supporting Roe v. Wade and Vance calling himself pro-life with "reasonable exceptions." Vance did not answer if he would support Sen. Lindsey Graham's proposed 15-week federal abortion restriction, but said "some minimum national standard is totally fine with me."

Read more from Fox News' Andrea Vacchiano here.

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Pennsylvania Democratic Senate candidate John Fetterman once advocated for the elimination of cash bail in an effort not to "criminalize poverty" or "criminalize race."

The revelation of Fetterman's prior remarks favoring an end to cash bail come after Huffington Post reported late last month that the candidate "has not advocated for eliminating cash bail or called for 'defunding' the police."

Speaking about the Democratic Party's mission as it relates to criminal justice reform in 2018, Fetterman said the party should support ending cash bail because "we are the party of second chances. We are the party that believes — we don't believe in death by incarceration."

"We're the party that doesn't want to criminalize things like marijuana, small-scale marijuana possessions. We don't want to criminalize. We want to get rid of cash bail where it's appropriate, so we don't criminalize poverty, we don't criminalize race," Fetterman told the Delco Young Democast at the Pennsylvania Young Democrats Convention in August 2018.

Read more: Fetterman supported ending cash bail 'so we don’t criminalize poverty and we don’t criminalize race'

McCarthy announces the GOP's "Commitment to America" agenda (AP Photo/Barry Reeger)

FIRST ON FOX: As he works to win back the majority in the House of Representatives, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy brought in $20 million in fundraising the past three months, according to figures shared first with Fox News on Tuesday.

His political team highlighted that McCarthy’s July-September third-quarter haul by his joint fundraising committee brings the amount that he’s raised this year to $72 million, a record for a House Republican leader. And the longtime congressman from California has brought in a record $145 million for the entire election cycle.

While Republicans lost the White House and their Senate majority in the 2020 elections, they defied expectations and took a big bite out of the Democrats’ large House majority. The GOP now needs a net gain of five seats in the 435-seat chamber in November's midterm elections to recapture the majority it lost in the 2018 midterms.

McCarthy will likely succeed Democrat Nancy Pelosi as House Speaker if Republicans, as pundits expect, win back the chamber’s majority.

"As we get closer to Election Day, Republicans are charging ahead in our pursuit to take back the House. Thanks to our tremendous supporters we are closer than ever to achieving this goal, and bringing accountability back to our nation’s capital. We need to continue to focus on the end goal, and ensure that come November 8th we finally fire Nancy Pelosi," McCarthy said in a statement.

Read more from Fox News' Paul Steinhauser here: Republican leader McCarthy says GOP ‘closer than ever’ to winning back House majority