Vast sums of money are being ploughed into November’s midterms, with the billionaire Michael Bloomberg spending $80m to help Democratic candidates, and Donald Trump announcing he intends to spend $400m to aid Republican candidates, with $300m already disbursed. Bloomberg made the contributions in September and October, particularly focused on Democrats running to flip the US House of Representatives. Democrats believe they are favored to take back the House, though they’ve acknowledged trailing Republicans in fundraising.
Republicans are also being aided by the president’s ally Elon Musk, who has spent $366m so far. What are the main issues for voters in the midterms? In this explainer, Robert Tait looks at six key issues swaying how people might vote – the economy, Iran, immigration, Trump’s use of power, AI and datacenters and the state of democracy and voter rights in the US.
What is happening between the DoJ and California over voter rolls? The justice department’s list of suspected noncitizens in California includes a “high percentage” of people born in the US, Los Angeles election officials said. The statement, made in court papers, raises further questions about the reliability of the list of 20,000 people the DoJ is demanding be investigated.
What was strange about how the ADL reminded people about an antisemitic slur? The Anti-Defamation League ADL has denounced the use of the term “shylock” as antisemitic, without explaining that the slur had been used a day earlier by Trump in a speech in Kansas. Some Republicans have spoken out against Donald Trump’s softening stance on Russia, threatening to pull financial support for his agenda over his handling of the Ukraine war.
Don Bacon, an outgoing congressman in Nebraska, condemned Trump’s actions – which include an agreement to buy Russian diesel and pausing sanctions on Moscow – as “absolutely disgraceful” and accused the US president of cozying up to a “war criminal” in Vladimir Putin. On Tuesday, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said his country was again receiving advance warnings of ballistic missile attacks, which were seemingly suspended last week by the White House. A sorority member at the University of Arizona has alleged she was sexually assaulted by two men at a fraternity house during a night of drinking in late August.
The sexual assault allegations surfaced two weeks after the university had suspended activities for its 21 fraternities amid reports of misconduct, including assault, hazing and drug- and alcohol-related behavior. What are the latest developments at Cornell University? The former Cornell University student who accused seven men of sexually assaulting her at a fraternity house in 2024 recently wrote a letter to campus faculty leaders saying that she felt “unsupported and disbelieved” by the Ivy League institution’s president.
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