National Politics

By Marshall Cohen, CNN (CNN) — What will Vice President JD Vance say while campaigning Friday in Ohio? Will the Texas Senate candidates debate by this Thursday? And who else will get an endorsement from former President Barack Obama, who has been on endorsement spree this week? Unlike election outcomes, all of these political questions

By Annie Grayer, Manu Raju, CNN (CNN) — House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries declared Wednesday that the path to a Democratic majority goes through Trump country, with his party seriously battling for seats that the president won by double digits two years ago. But with limited resources, there’s still friction over whether to play it

By Patrick Svitek, CNN (CNN) — Ken Paxton has publicly said he would “love to have” John Cornyn’s support after their bruising Republican primary runoff in the Texas Senate race. But privately, Paxton has grown frustrated with the outgoing senator’s distance from his campaign. “He’s clearly not helping. He wants me to lose,” the Texas

CNN By Haley Britzky, CNN (CNN) — The Pentagon said Thursday it will livestream the military’s first firing squad execution in decades, allowing the public to watch as the man who killed 13 people in a 2009 mass shooting at Fort Hood is put to death. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth vowed in an interview this

By Eric Bradner, Steve Contorno, Patrick Svitek, CNN (CNN) — It didn’t take long for the personal attacks to fly in Thursday night’s debates for three marquee Senate races in Georgia, Michigan and Maine. Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff opened by effectively putting Republican Rep. Mike Collins’ record on trial, highlighting his association with a white

By Tami Luhby, CNN (CNN) — The federal budget deficit rose to nearly $2 trillion for the past fiscal year, spurred in part by ballooning interest payments and tariff refunds, the Congressional Budget Office reported Thursday. The gap between the revenue the federal government collects and the amount it spends widened by $218 billion, or

By Sean Lyngaas, CNN (CNN) — Operatives in Iran used OpenAI models and fake personas to help plant news articles critical of the US war against Iran in multiple US media outlets, OpenAI said on Thursday. About a dozen outlets around the world ran roughly 100 articles by seven fake journalists, OpenAI said in a

By Haley Britzky, CNN (CNN) — The Pentagon said Thursday it will livestream the military’s first firing squad execution in decades, allowing the public to watch as the man who killed 13 people in a 2009 mass shooting at Fort Hood is put to death. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth vowed in an interview this week

By Tierney Sneed and Jeremy Herb, CNN (CNN) — Over the course of an hour-plus hearing Thursday, US District Judge Timothy Kelly signaled skepticism about the Trump administration’s arguments for allowing President Donald Trump to ban CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House. Kelly, who was appointed to the bench in Trump’s first

By Arlette Saenz, CNN (CNN) — James Talarico has been absent from the campaign trail over the past 12 days as the Texas Senate race enters a critical stretch, prompting Republicans to open a new line of attack on the Democratic nominee. At a campaign rally in San Antonio Wednesday, Texas attorney general and GOP

By Daniel Dale, CNN (CNN) — Across the country, Republican groups are running deceptive ads attacking Democratic Senate candidates on the subject of gender surgery for children. CNN reviewed ads that have aired in competitive races in Ohio, Texas, Iowa and South Carolina. They use a variety of false or misleading tactics. In Ohio, two

By Alayna Treene, Kevin Liptak, CNN (CNN) — President Donald Trump announced Thursday that he has no plans to strike Iran before the midterm election. “We will not be attacking Iran at any time prior to the Midterm Elections to be held in the United States on November 3rd,” Trump declared on Truth Social, adding

By Kevin Liptak, CNN (CNN) — Vice President JD Vance said Thursday he took issue with anyone seeking financial gain in exchange for access to Trump administration officials after a report claimed Kimberly Guilfoyle, the US ambassador to Greece, sought funds and offered access to top administration officials ahead of her confirmation. “Obviously I don’t

By Adam Cancryn, CNN (CNN) — The Trump administration is suspending Microsoft and some other companies from seeking permanent residency for foreign workers hired through the H-1B visa program, accusing them of taking advantage of the process so that they could replace American citizens with cheaper labor from abroad. Vice President JD Vance said Thursday

By Patrick Svitek, CNN (CNN) — Annie Andrews, the Democratic nominee in the increasingly competitive race for Senate in South Carolina, is pushing back in a new TV ad after President Donald Trump disparaged her with an anti-transgender slur. In the 30-second spot, Andrews speaks to the camera, wearing a white lab coat with a

By Jennifer Agiesta, CNN (CNN) — Widespread dissatisfaction with the state of the country has opened up a prime Senate pickup opportunity for Democrats in Ohio and made for a razor-thin contest in Iowa, according to new CNN polls conducted by SSRS. President Donald Trump carried both states by double digits in 2024, and Republicans

CNN By Betsy Klein, CNN San Antonio (CNN) — President Donald Trump made his third trip to Texas in less than a month Wednesday, attacking Democrats and warning about illegal immigration as he stumped for a Senate candidate who’s privately questioned his political capital and whom the president has publicly insulted in personal terms. Such