Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s effort to restore voting rights to tens of thousands of convicted felons sparked controversy Thursday after an attorney obtained an executive citation addressed to "Betty No Last Name," purportedly notifying the recipient that her voting rights had been restored.
The citation identifies No Last Name as one of more than 66,000 Virginians whose rights to vote, serve on juries and seek public office have reportedly been restored under Spanberger's administration. The controversy comes ahead of a Nov. 3 ballot measure that would make voting rights restoration automatic upon release from prison.
"It’s a big deal," said Virginia Beach attorney Tim Anderson, who first obtained the citation for No Last Name and shared it with Fox News Digital.
"It’s clear [Spanberger] didn’t sign it. No governor and no secretary of the commonwealth would sign a restoration order that says Betty No Last Name, so they’re not looking at it; they didn’t review anything," Anderson told Fox News Digital in an interview Thursday. Each citation bears the signatures of the governor and Secretary of the Commonwealth Candi Mundon-King.
"Whereas, Betty No Last Name, by reason of conviction(s), suffers political disabilities …," the citation obtained by Fox News Digital says.
Anderson said he obtained the citation through a public records request to the Chesapeake Sheriff's Office after reports emerged that restoration notices had been sent to felons who are now deceased. He said the document originated from Spanberger's office and was sent to the sheriff's office.
He speculated that the citations were generated through a mail merge of records and signed using an autopen despite language in the documents indicating that each case had been individually reviewed.
Former Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares also questioned whether the administration had individually reviewed the restoration cases.
"Four mentions of ‘Betty No Last Name’ and still no last name. I’m thinking perhaps Abigail Spanberger’s ‘individualized review’ is just imaginary," Miyares said in a statement.
Fox News Digital reached out to Spanberger, Mundon-King and the Chesapeake Sheriff's Office for comment. A sheriff's office official also confirmed veracity of the citation received in No Last Name's name, and provided an additional copy to Fox News Digital.
Anderson said he found the questionable citation after contacting only a handful of Virginia law enforcement agencies and believes similar cases may exist elsewhere in the state. He also suggested that officials whose signatures appear on the citations could face criminal liability if the documents were found to be fraudulent, potentially resulting in forfeiture of office.
Anderson’s finding went viral on social media Thursday, and critics pointed out how No Last Name’s citation colored the upcoming ballot question on automatic rights restoration for felons.
Some Virginia lawmakers have called for an independent audit of Spanberger's rights-restoration process. State Sen. Glen Sturtevant, R-Chesterfield, who has called for the audit, said reports have since emerged of restoration citations being sent to deceased individuals.
FOX One unveiled a new interactive election experience on Thursday that will give users unprecedented access to results, polling, and analysis.
FOX One, Fox Corporation's wholly owned direct-to-consumer streaming service, announced the new election experience developed in partnership with FOX News Media. The experience is designed to give viewers more context and more local relevance as results come in for the upcoming midterm elections.
"Election night is expected to be among the most demanding live events we cover. The results don't arrive in order, and no two viewers are following the same set of races," Amit Dudakia, SVP & Head of Product at FOX Direct to Consumer, said in a statement.
"With FOX One, we're keeping coverage from Fox News and FOX Stations at the center and building the context around it, so viewers aren't toggling between a stream and a second screen to understand what just happened," Dudakia added. "The reporting stays front and center and the answers come to you."
The features will roll out on FOX One in the lead-up to Election Day, and the full experience will be available as election coverage begins.
Hundreds of House, Senate, gubernatorial and local races will be called across every time zone on Nov. 3, and the story of the night is rarely told by any single one of them.
FOX One's tool is built for exactly this kind of live event. As results break in parallel, a race in one state could reframe the math in another and what matters most to viewers may be a ballot measure in their own county.
Fox News Channel and FOX Local Stations’ election coverage will anchor the experience.
FOX One will add a layer of real-time context drawn from Fox News’ industry-leading election coverage and data capabilities, aggregating results, polling and race analysis into the viewing experience itself, so viewers can follow the night at the national level and the local level at the same time.
Feature highlights debuting on the platform for the 2026 midterm elections include a command center, an election hub offering a curated destination for the full breadth of FOX's election coverage, and an in-house built data platform.
Ask FOX, the in-app companion for the questions a live event raises in the moment, will feature an Elections Mode that lets viewers ask election-specific questions and get clear, sourced answers in real time.
When election coverage begins, the command center is the first thing living room viewers will see when opening FOX One. The live stream holds the center of the screen while a surrounding set of widgets carries the context, including voter polling, race-by-race results and Fox News insights on the night's key contests, all updating in real time.
The election hub will include video on battleground races, key ballot measures and the contests shaping control in Washington, editorially programmed by Fox News and Fox News Digital. The hub also surfaces coverage from FOX's local stations based on viewers' markets, so viewers in Los Angeles see what is on the ballot only in Los Angeles.
Elections Mode is being powered by "ElectionAI" – a new AI technology platform deployed for this election cycle that was developed in-house by FOX News Media, allowing for real-time answers to election-related questions.
The results, polling and insights across all FOX One experiences are powered by a single, unified data layer that FOX built alongside FOX News Media, unifying multiple election data sources into a single real-time feed for the app experiences. It is the same underlying infrastructure that also powers live context across FOX One's sports and news programming.
High-profile races that will determine which party controls the Senate for the next two years are extremely tight, according to a new CNN poll, as Maine and Kansas remain close and Democrats extended their leads in Texas and Michigan.
Democrats, who are widely projected to win a majority in the House of Representatives, need to flip four Senate seats from red to blue in order to gain a 51-seat majority, protecting their majority from the vice presidential tiebreaker.
Maine
In Maine, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, is the only Republican incumbent running in a state that went for Kamala Harris in 2024.
Collins' Democratic challenger is Troy Jackson, the former president of the state Senate who jumped into the race as a replacement for the previous nominee, scandal-plagued Graham Platner.
The race has no clear frontrunner, according to the CNN poll, though Jackson holds a marginal lead.
Forty-nine percent of respondents told the outlet's pollsters they favored Jackson, compared to 45% for Collins. While Jackson is slightly ahead, at least 12.5% of voters say they could still change their minds.
Respondents tied Collins to her party less than any other Republican running for Senate in the nation, with 46% of respondents saying they believe she would choose her constituents over the Republican Party.
With Collins managing to distance herself from Trump, her race has largely become a referendum on her own career. Three-quarters of respondents from either party told CNN pollsters that their choice was motivated more by Collins than Jackson.
In Michigan, despite warnings from some mainstream Democrats and the state's Jewish community, Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed is building a lead over former Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich.
Respondents favored El-Sayed at 49% compared to the 42% who favored Rogers, according to the poll. CNN's previous poll, released in early September, showed El-Sayed with a 47% share compared to Rogers' 44%, showing the former public health director El-Sayed building on his lead.
The Democrat has consolidated his party's support after a contentious primary with Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich. Ninty-five percent of likely Democrat voters say they'll punch the ticket for El-Sayed, up from 90% in the September poll.
Rogers voters, meanwhile, are motivated more by dislike for the Democratic candidate than faith in the Republican. 57% told CNN pollsters they were voting against El-Sayed, up from 41% in a previous poll.
Rogers' favorability has also taken a hit, moving from 58% in September to 50% in October.
Texas
Texas State Rep. James Talarico also built upon a narrow lead over Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton, despite Talarico's extended absence from the campaign trail in early October.
Forty-nine percent of likely voters told pollsters they'd vote for Talarico, while 43% said they would vote for Paxton, according to the poll.
Texas, a state that has voted for exactly one new Democratic Senate candidate into office since Lyndon B. Johnson vacated his seat to become vice president, also voted more strongly for Trump in 2024 than in either of his previous elections.
Despite the typically steadfast support for the GOP in the Lone Star State, Talarico is riding a wave of favorability and minority support to remain in pole position five days before polls close.
CNN's poll says 64% of likely voters of color support Talarico, including 22% of the cohort that voted for Trump in 2024.
Talarico is also leading Paxton in favorability within their own parties. 24% of Republicans have an unfavorable view of Paxton, according to the poll. Just 2% of Democrats, meanwhile, view Talarico unfavorably.
Kansas
In Kansas, a state which Trump won by 16 percentage points in 2024, incumbent Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., is falling behind Democratic challenger Adam Hamilton.
Forty-nine percent of likely voters say they support Hamilton, 45% say they support Marshall.
Hamilton, a relatively unknown candidate, is far outperforming his own party in a state where Democrats are broadly unfavorable. 57% of voters view the Democratic Party as unfavorable while only 38% of them feel the same about Hamilton.
Like Republicans in Michigan, likely voters in Kansas appear to be more highly motivated by a dislike for one candidate than strong positive feelings for another. 59% of Hamilton backers say they're motivated by opposition to Marshall.
Hamilton, a Christian pastor, is even drawing support from across the aisle. Roughly 12% of Republicans and Republican-leaning likely voters say they support Hamilton, according to the poll.
CNN conducted its polling via telephone between Oct. 20 and Oct. 27. Registered voters were randomly sampled, according to the outlet. 838 likely voters were considered in Kansas, 783 in Maine, 768 in Michigan and 923 in Texas. CNN tabulated its margins of sampling error at plus or minus 4.5% for Kansas and Maine, 4.7% in Michigan and 4.2% in Texas.
Fox News Digital contacted all eight campaigns for further comment.
TEL AVIV, Israel - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's governing coalition remained well short of a parliamentary majority Thursday as newly counted ballots showed a dramatic surge in support for Arab parties, potentially giving the opposition enough votes to challenge his control of parliament.
With 93.8% of ballots counted as of 4 a.m. ET Thursday (10 a.m. local time in Israel), including votes from the double-envelope count, Netanyahu's right-wing and religious bloc was projected to win 53 seats in Israel's 120-member Knesset, compared with 48 for the opposition bloc led by former military chief Gadi Eisenkot. The two predominantly Arab parties were projected to secure a combined 19 seats, bringing the potential anti-Netanyahu parliamentary majority to 67.
The updated figures showed Netanyahu's Likud remaining the largest individual party with 26 seats, followed by Eisenkot's Yashar party with 21 and former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's Beyachad party with 12. The figures remain preliminary.
The results leave neither Netanyahu nor Eisenkot with the 61 seats required to form a government independently, raising the prospect of difficult coalition negotiations or another election.
The biggest shift came from Israel's Arab voters, whose turnout surged compared with previous elections, potentially reshaping the country's political balance.
Arab voter participation reached approximately 80%, compared with 53.2% in the 2022 election, according to the Israel Democracy Institute. The 2026 figure remains preliminary.
The Joint List was projected to win 11 seats, while Ra'am was projected to secure eight. Together, their 19 seats would nearly double the Arab parties' representation from the 10 seats they won in 2022.
Overall voter turnout reached 77.7% by the official 10 p.m. closing time on election night, the highest level at that hour since 1999, according to Israel's Central Elections Committee.
The increased Arab participation could prove decisive in determining the next government's composition. Although Eisenkot and several other opposition leaders ruled out including Arab parties in their governing coalition during the campaign, their parliamentary support could allow the opposition to replace Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana, a Netanyahu ally, and gain greater control over the legislative agenda even before a new government is formed.
The political stakes intensified Thursday following a Channel 12 report alleging that substantial sums originating in Qatar may have been transferred to influence voter participation in Arab communities.
According to N12, some of the funds allegedly traveled through financial channels previously used to transfer money to terrorist organizations, including currency exchanges.
The allegations have not been independently substantiated, and investigators have yet to establish whether foreign financing occurred or whether election-related crimes were committed.
Channel 12 reported that Shin Bet Director David Zini presented intelligence concerning suspected foreign interference to Central Elections Committee Chairman Justice Noam Sohlberg, prompting the judge to order an investigation.
In a letter published by N12, Sohlberg instructed the domestic security agency to investigate the allegations and identify evidence that could either substantiate or disprove them. He requested findings within one week, citing the limited time available during the election count.
The judge's letter did not publicly identify Qatar as the suspected foreign actor. That identification came from N12's reporting.
Qatar strongly denied the allegations Thursday, accusing Israeli politicians of attempting to drag the Gulf nation into Israel's domestic political disputes following the election.
"We categorically deny allegations that Qatar has interfered in Israeli elections or funded any activities intended to influence their outcome," Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesperson Dr. Majed Al-Ansari wrote on X.
Al-Ansari accused Israeli politicians and their allies in the media of launching a "disinformation campaign," saying Qatar had been accused of financing Netanyahu, the Israeli left and now Arab voters.
"If these claims were to be believed, Qatar would apparently own all of Israel," he wrote. "Qatar should not be used as a scapegoat for the political failures of certain Israeli politicians," Al-Ansari added, insisting that Qatar had no involvement in Israel's electoral process and would continue its diplomatic and humanitarian efforts in the region.
Acting Central Elections Committee director general Dean Livne also rejected the allegations in a letter to Yesh Atid MK Vladimir Beliak, who sits on the committee. "The Knesset elections were conducted lawfully. The integrity of the elections at polling stations was rigorously safeguarded, and to the best of our knowledge, there is no basis for allegations of systematic violations of election integrity."
Israel's Shin Bet security agency clarified Thursday that the intelligence behind the investigation was gathered independently and did not originate from any political party. It said no one outside the agency, except Central Elections Committee Chairman Justice Noam Sohlberg, had access to the information before the election ended.
The agency stressed that the investigation remains ongoing and warned against drawing premature conclusions.
The investigation "does not cast aspersions on or accuse an entire sector that went out to vote democratically and lawfully," the Shin Bet said in a statement translated from Hebrew.
The agency also confirmed that Shin Bet Director David Zini had briefed Netanyahu, Eisenkot and opposition leader Yair Lapid on the allegations, with Sohlberg's approval.
But the allegations have already become part of the political confrontation over whether opposition parties should cooperate with Arab lawmakers.
Netanyahu and Likud had challenged the legitimacy of the Arab parties' electoral gains. On Wednesday, before the latest Qatari allegations emerged, Likud accused Arab parties of stealing the election through alleged voter fraud, accusations that had not been substantiated.
In a statement Thursday, Likud argued that the suspected foreign interference made cooperation with the Arab parties unacceptable.
"After it became clear that foreign actors attempted to take control of the Knesset, it is obvious that no Zionist party must cooperate with Ra'am and the Joint List, replace the Knesset speaker using votes bought with cash, or establish a government dangerous to Israel," the party said.
The assertion that parliamentary seats were obtained through purchased votes has not been established by the investigation.
Hauser Tov, a political reporter for Israel's Haaretz newspaper, argued on X that the statement revealed Likud's immediate political objective: preventing the opposition from using its potential parliamentary majority to replace the Knesset speaker.
Israeli journalist Amir Tibon wrote on X, "The main reason they want to prevent this is so that the Knesset won't vote to establish a state commission of inquiry into October 7." He argued that such an investigation could examine Qatari involvement in Gaza and Israel.
Eisenkot responded to the allegations Thursday, after meeting with Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) Director David Zini. "Foreign involvement in Israel is unacceptable and profoundly serious, particularly when it involves a country that funds and supports Hamas," Eisenkot said. "It is serious when it occurs in the Prime Minister’s Office, and it is serious if it occurs in the electoral process."
He called on the Shin Bet to investigate the allegations thoroughly and take the strongest possible action against anyone found to have attempted to compromise the election's integrity.
Eisenkot also accused Netanyahu and his allies of conducting "an illegitimate influence operation targeting the Israeli public," claiming its purpose was to delay the publication of the results and undermine the legitimacy of the newly elected Knesset.
Israeli political commentator Amit Segal also cautioned against assuming the allegations would lead to the cancellation of election results.
"The likelihood of the entire election being invalidated is extremely slim, given the time constraints," Segal wrote on X. He suggested the developments could instead intensify discussions about a unity government or another election.
Meanwhile, Democrats party leader Yair Golan urged opposition leaders to move quickly toward forming a new government.
"The people have spoken. Sixty-seven seats demanded change," Golan wrote Thursday on X, adding that he intended to spend the day meeting with political partners and coalition negotiators. "I intend to leave no stone unturned, act in every possible way and do everything necessary to fulfill the voters' will," he added.
The comments underscored the central question emerging from the election: whether parties united in their opposition to Netanyahu can overcome their differences, particularly over cooperation with Arab lawmakers.
Could Trump help broker a unity government?
Another possibility is a national unity coalition involving Netanyahu's Likud and Eisenkot's Yashar party, potentially excluding the Arab parties and Netanyahu's far-right allies.
Such an arrangement could also align with the preferences of figures close to President Donald Trump, who publicly endorsed Netanyahu ahead of the election.
According to Ynet diplomatic correspondent Itamar Eichner, sources close to Trump said the president wants to ensure that far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir is excluded from the next Israeli government, with Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich potentially excluded as well.
A separate Ynet report said Trump associates had contacted Israeli political figures to assess the prospects for a unity government and expressed a preference for a stable coalition without Ben-Gvir.
Trump himself has not publicly endorsed a specific unity arrangement.
Asked Wednesday by Axios whether he would become involved in efforts to establish a Netanyahu-led unity government, Trump said, "I will take a look."
A unity government involving Netanyahu and Eisenkot would face substantial obstacles. Eisenkot repeatedly pledged during the campaign not to join a Netanyahu-led government, while Netanyahu's far-right partners have warned against efforts to exclude them.
The ultra-Orthodox parties present another potential route to a parliamentary majority. Netanyahu's projected 53 seats include 14 held by Shas and United Torah Judaism, which have traditionally aligned with him.
Those 14 seats, combined with Eisenkot's projected 48-seat opposition bloc, would mathematically produce a 62-seat majority. But such an arrangement would face major disagreements over military conscription, as Eisenkot has pledged to expand mandatory service to ultra-Orthodox men, while the religious parties have sought to preserve exemptions for yeshiva students.
Political divisions within Eisenkot's own bloc would present additional obstacles to such a coalition.
For now, the foreign interference allegations remain under investigation, while the election results continue to show Netanyahu's existing coalition without the parliamentary majority required to govern on its own.
He has also urged California to lower fuel prices by getting rid of high gas taxes and the costly "green energy" policies that add massive costs to household budgets without doing anything for the planet.
On housing, Hilton has urged California to build out, not up, returning to the single-family homes that people want — not ugly high-rises.
And Hilton has stood up to the madness on the transgender issue, defending the rights of girls in sports and the rights of parents to know what is going on with their children.
Despite the odds stacked against him, Hilton has worked tirelessly across the state, even going to Skid Row and "fentanyl alley" to show the consequences of decades of bad policy in Sacramento.
His opponent, Democrat Xavier Becerra, was nobody’s first choice in the primary. Even former Obama administration staffers were appalled that he might move ahead to the general election.
Close Obama advisor Susan Rice once called Becerra an idiot, a remark she did not deny even when backing her party’s nominee.
Becerra is simply an empty suit. He has failed upwards his entire political career.
Becerra was a do-nothing congressman in Washington. Then he became California’s attorney general when Kamala Harris left, despite his dormant law license. He was invisible as Joe Biden’s HHS secretary, and has no real achievements to speak of, despite decades of involvement in politics.
Businesses that started here are leaving the state, taking jobs with them. That’s especially true in Hollywood, which is losing tens of thousands of jobs.
For 16 years, Democrats have done whatever they wanted to in California, and the results are a disaster.
We have watched the California dream being trampled by the politics of extremism, envy and division. Our big cities have been trashed by rioters. And now socialists want to take over.
While our politicians lecture us about climate change, they allow hundreds of thousands of acres to burn in wildfires every year, erasing all the gains in emissions, and causing untold misery to tens of thousands of homeowners.
Fraud is rampant throughout our government programs, even as spending is out of control.
We’re updating this forecast to move South Carolina from Lean R to Toss-up.
As this week’s Power Rankings reported, Republicans already viewed this as an uncomfortably close race. That belief is now widely shared.
Tonight, the president is headed back there to help Sen. Darline Graham in the Upstate, where she underperformed in her primary runoff against Rep. Ralph Norman.
New polling has Democratic challenger Annie Andrews and Graham tied at 48%-48%.
The Senate is still a toss-up with six states to decide the majority. On a good night for the Democrats, their ceiling rises to 54 seats. A good night for the Republicans could see them retain control with up to 52 seats.
It seems like there are two electorates in these midterms.
The first is frustrated with President Trump and ready to reject Republicans. It includes growing numbers of independent, rural and Hispanic voters who say they’ll vote for a Democrat.
That’s what the latest round of House polling shows, including a survey last week that had Democrats up 11 points on the generic ballot and Fox’s most recent national poll.
The second electorate is wavering on Republicans but won’t necessarily hand Democrats the Senate. These are the voters in the Midwest and a few other places. They say they prefer the Democrat or Republican in their states by a point or two at most.
That’s the right conclusion from most of the battleground Senate polling.
How could both things be true? In other words, if Democrats have such a wide lead in the House, won’t the Senate fall too?
Both are true, and a big lead in the House doesn’t necessarily translate to the Senate. These voters are all in the same electorate, and they only seem divorced from each other because the House and Senate maps are so far apart this year.
The president’s declining approval rating and Democratic advantages on the issues will likely deliver them the House and possibly by many seats.
Those advantages have also allowed the blue team to play in a lot of Senate races that Republicans thought were unreachable, but only to the point of making them battlegrounds.
The road to a Senate majority goes through several states that Trump won by 11 points or more. Democrats can win any of these races. If Republicans turn out and stay loyal to their party, the climb for the left will be steep.
That’s why the Senate is a toss-up. Voters could give Democrats a majority and maybe with several seats to spare. They could also let the Republicans keep control.
We’ll find out in seven days.
Democrats have strong advantages on most key issues
In his 11-year political career, President Trump has triumphed over almost all of the threats to his power. The exception was the coronavirus pandemic, which was the top issue for voters in the 2020 election and ushered in the Biden presidency.
It was also one of the few threats that Trump has faced from abroad.
This time, Trump and the Republicans face a new foreign opponent: Iran. The administration’s decision to start joint U.S.-Israeli military strikes against the nation in February has cast a shadow over the GOP.
First, it has impacted Trump’s approval rating, which will decide the fate of many congressional Republicans and has fallen since the war began. It was 44% in the last pre-war survey and sits at 36% now.
The war has also given Democrats advantages on the top issues. In Fox’s October survey, Iran played a role in four issues that more than two-thirds of voters said they were concerned about: inflation (85%), gas prices (83%), government leadership (79%) and the war in Iran itself (75%).
Most voters said they preferred the Democrats to handle those issues: 16 points on inflation, 12 points on gas prices, 11 points on leadership and 9 points on foreign policy.
Republicans are competitive on home turf
Still, voters are not convinced that the Senate should change hands.
That comes down to the territory. Trump won seven of these 10 battleground states in 2024 and six of them by double digits. That includes Alaska, Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, South Carolina and Texas.
Democrats don’t need to win all of those states to take the Senate, but it’s hard to see how they get to 51 seats without at least two of them.
While former Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown leads in Ohio, the other states are close. Turnout, a polling error in either direction, or both could decide them.
There are also a lot of undecided voters. In Alaska, Iowa and Kansas, three states with recent high-quality polling, an average of 10% of voters say they haven’t decided who they will support or won’t support the major candidates.
Any guess on how those voters will break at the ballot box is only a guess. All we know from prior results is that the overall electorate leans conservative, so the Democrats have the tougher assignment to bring them over to their side (or keep them at home).
There are far fewer undecided voters in Texas, where last week’s Fox News Poll showed a tied race at 49%-49%.
If Democrats only win two Trump-won battlegrounds, they’ll need to win three other races where former Vice President Harris delivered single-digit victories in 2024: Maine, Minnesota and New Hampshire.
Democrats are ahead in the latter two. Maine could go either way. While Democrats win its presidential races, it could just as easily be considered a Republican state when Susan Collins is on the ballot.
The final Fox News Power Rankings for 2026 feature three shifts in the Senate and 19 in the House. A tight gubernatorial race is also on the move.
Senate: Democrats are favored in 48 seats; Ohio moves to Lean D and South Carolina moves to Toss-up
Both parties are short of a majority in this forecast. Democrats are favored in 48 seats, and Republicans are ahead in 46 (they would control the Senate with 50 seats because the vice president breaks ties).
On a good night for Democrats, the party would win most or all the toss-ups, taking the majority with up to 54 seats. In that scenario, other competitive states would also come into focus, including one rated Lean R, and on a great Democratic night, two more rated Likely R.
A good night for the Republicans would see them simply hold on to most of the states they already have, up to a ceiling of 52 seats. The party also has opportunities to flip a couple of states, including Minnesota and New Hampshire.
Three states are moving in this forecast.
Ohio
In Ohio, Brown has enjoyed a lead in three Fox News polls this year, including last week’s survey, which had him five points ahead of Republican incumbent Sen. Jon Husted at 52%-47%.
Ohio voters are very familiar with Brown, having sent him to the Senate three times. That has made it hard for Husted to campaign on socialism and woke politics, themes that Republicans elsewhere see as their strongest cards to play.
Ohio moves from Toss-up to Lean D.
("Lean D" means the Democrat has an edge, but it’s still a highly competitive race. We define every ranking and the process for setting them on FoxNews.com.)
South Carolina
As this week’s Power Rankings previously reported, Republicans already viewed this as an uncomfortably close race. That belief is now widely shared.
Tonight, the president is headed back there to help Senator Graham in the Upstate, where she underperformed in her primary runoff against Rep. Ralph Norman.
South Carolina moves from Lean R to Toss-up.
Mississippi
Mississippi is a Republican stronghold, but Trump’s decision to rally there over other deep red states is a sign that the party thinks it’s competitive.
GOP Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith faces Democratic District Attorney Scott Colom in a race where protein choice has become a breakout issue.
Mississippi moves from Solid R to Likely R.
House: The floor for Democrats ticks up four seats to 223
Democrats are still likely to flip the House this November, and in this forecast, they’re predicted to take at least 223 seats.
Since a good night for the Democrats would see them take most of the toss-up races, they could end up with as many as 240 seats.
(On a great Democratic night, the party would pick up most of the Lean R districts as well, taking them as high as 252 seats.)
Republicans have 195 seats in their columns. A good night for them would take that total up to around 212. That’s six short of a majority, but enough to make life difficult for the next Democratic House Speaker, who would have to balance the demands of the moderate and far-left wings of the party.
Nineteen more races have shifted in the Democrats’ direction this week, all on the same themes outlined in the last House update: national and district polling, top-of-the-ticket strength and rural voter erosion.
The earliest-closing districts on election night will give some sense of the House’s future. Keep an eye on Kentucky’s 6th district, which covers Lexington and a large central area of the state. Trump won here by 15 points in the last presidential election. Thanks to a combination of left-leaning college voters and farmers grappling with higher costs, it looks close this cycle. The district moves from Lean R to Toss-up.
Governor: Ad or no ad, the Ohio governor’s race moves to Lean D
Finally, Ohio’s gubernatorial race is also on the move. The campaign between Democrat Amy Acton and Republican Vivek Ramaswamy was the top story in politics last week after Ramaswamy ran an ad featuring Acton’s mother, who called her daughter a liar.
Acton has been estranged from her mother since age 12, when she says she and her brother left her family home because her mother’s husband was sexually abusing her. Acton’s brother now appears in a response ad discussing their family history.
This ratings change is less about the response to the ad (Ramaswamy and President Trump are supportive of the commercial; most others, including Husted and Governor Mike DeWine, are against it) than it is about the fact that the Ramaswamy campaign felt the need to run it.
While Ramaswamy sat only two points behind Acton in last week’s Fox poll, he’s an average of seven points behind in other high-quality polls since September.
The businessman and onetime presidential hopeful has struggled in favorability ratings throughout his political career. This ad is unlikely to help.
The Ohio governor’s race moves from Toss-up to Lean D.
Fox News’ special coverage of the 2026 midterm elections begins at 6 p.m. ET next Tuesday, November 3, anchored by Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum. Tune in for the latest race calls and projections for control of the House and Senate from the Fox News Decision Desk.
In the wake of a New York Times report detailing an alleged Democrat-linked election scheme that involved the recruitment of a candidate with nearly the exact same name as an incumbent GOP senator, Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy announced that he was ordering a probe into the matter.
"Today’s New York Times reporting reveals disturbing new evidence of an organized effort to manipulate Alaska’s elections by recruiting candidates — including one with the same name as an incumbent U.S. Senator — to deliberately confuse voters and misdirect their votes. The Alaska Division of Elections investigated these very concerns in June of this year. The new reporting substantially supports the Division’s findings," Dunleavy noted in a post on X.
"I am therefore directing the Department of Public Safety to investigate whether this scheme violated Alaska’s laws and whether criminal charges or civil action are warranted. The evidence will determine what happens next," the GOP governor continued.
"Alaskans have a fundamental right to vote for the candidate they actually intend to support. Deliberately tricking voters into casting their ballots for someone else strikes at the integrity of our elections. Anyone or any organization found to have broken the law must be held accountable," he added.
While incumbent Republican Sen. Dan S. Sullivan is one of the candidates on the ballot in Alaska's ranked-choice U.S. Senate voting contest, there is another candidate on the same ballot named Daniel J. Sullivan, Jr., a retired teacher who is listed without party affiliation.
According to the paper's article, titled "Inside Democrats’ Secret Effort to Stack Alaska’s Ballot," the Times found "that not only did Ms. Peltola’s team work with people trying to recruit Mr. Sullivan to run for Senate, but the effort was much broader. The group worked to coax other would-be spoilers into the race, to dilute the incumbent’s support and help catapult the Democrat to victory."
On Oct. 22, the DOJ filed a federal lawsuit seeking to delay certification if Sen. Dan S. Sullivan loses and votes cast for Daniel J. Sullivan could have changed the result, pending an investigation into whether voters mistakenly selected the wrong candidate.
In an interview with Sean Hannity on Wednesday night, Sen. Dan Sullivan said, "This is what happens when you have a candidate like Peltola, far left, who's got nothing to run on. I have a much stronger record we're running. We have a vision for Alaskans that the Alaskan people want, and when they recognize that, they're like, ‘shoot, I guess we got to cheat.’
"What's remarkable here is that even today, she has not apologized. Even today, she's kind of playing as if nothing happened," Sen. Sullivan added.
"The Alaskans for Mary campaign has no involvement with either Sullivan campaign and did not recruit any candidates into the race," the Peltola campaign asserted in a statement to the Times.
With less than a week until Election Day, both parties are making a final push to shape the fight for control of Congress.
President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance are rallying Republicans across the country, while former President Barack Obama and former Vice President Kamala Harris are campaigning for Democrats.
The map traces their campaign stops so far this month, with states visited by both sides shaded gray.
Trump has been on the campaign trail nearly every day this month, visiting states from Oklahoma to Florida.
He said in early October he planned to hold five to seven rallies a week, a pace he maintained last week with stops in Corinth, Mississippi; Corpus Christi and Lubbock, Texas; and Chillicothe, Ohio.
His schedule continues this week, with rallies planned in South Carolina, Florida, Kansas and Iowa.
The map tracks campaign travel, not a ranking of the most competitive races. Still, the stops show both parties deploying high-profile surrogates in states where control of Congress could be decided.
Ohio, Texas and Iowa have competitive Senate contests. Recent Cook Political Report polling showed Democratic candidates narrowly ahead in all three, while Michigan is also a key Senate battleground.
Obama and Harris have campaigned in several states with closely watched contests. Obama stumped in Ohio and Michigan, while Harris made recent stops in Nevada, Mississippi and New Hampshire to support Democratic candidates.
Their visits show Democrats leaning on familiar national figures to boost candidates ahead of Election Day.
Login
