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US midterm elections: 10 under-the-radar races worth watching

Though Democrats have a strong edge heading into the midterms, some races have openings for Republicans

While marquee races from Maine to Michigan get all the attention, and draw in a ton of money, a significant batch of lower-profile contests across the US could result in upsets.

Democrats have a strong edge heading into November’s US midterm elections, polls show. In recent days, election prognosticators have shifted even more races in favor of Democrats.

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© Composite: Guardian Design/Getty Images

© Composite: Guardian Design/Getty Images

© Composite: Guardian Design/Getty Images

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Democrats rebuke federal raid of Ilhan Omar’s home: ‘rogue abuse of power’

Par : Maya Yang

Top House Democrats question the ‘corrupt weaponization’ of federal government against Trump’s adversaries

Ilhan Omar’s Democratic colleagues have condemned federal agents’ search of the Minnesota congresswoman’s home on Monday morning, describing it as “deeply disturbing” and emblematic of the Trump administration’s “corrupt weaponization” of the US government.

House Democratic leaders, including the minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, party whip Katherine Clark and caucus chair Pete Aguilar, issued a joint statement excoriating the president for the search.

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© Photograph: J Scott Applewhite/AP

© Photograph: J Scott Applewhite/AP

© Photograph: J Scott Applewhite/AP

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Duel in the desert: US marine veteran aims to win back working-class voters for Democrats

JoAnna Mendoza draws on unique biography to connect with voters in Arizona battleground – can she flip a key swing seat?

On a recent morning, Tucson mayor Regina Romero knocked on a yellow door above a mat emblazoned with a cat’s silhouette and the words “go away, peasants”. A young man cracked the door open and stood there silently, a toothbrush dangling from his mouth.

After giving him a moment to finish brushing his teeth, the mayor introduced herself and asked if the man had heard of JoAnna Mendoza, the Democrat running to unseat Republican congressman Juan Ciscomani. Romero handed him a pamphlet and rattled off her candidate’s virtues. The young man stood stone-faced, until she mentioned that Mendoza had served for nearly two decades as a US marine.

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© Photograph: Rebecca Noble/Reuters

© Photograph: Rebecca Noble/Reuters

© Photograph: Rebecca Noble/Reuters

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Ilhan Omar says she will not be silenced after federal agents raid her home

Trump and key allies have accused Omar of immigration fraud, and have called to expel her from the country

Federal agents searched Representative Ilhan Omar’s home on Monday morning as part of a criminal investigation, according to the Department of Justice and reports in the Associated Press and Fox News.

In a social media post later on Monday, Omar criticized the raid as an attempt by the Trump administration “to target political enemies and weaponize law enforcement” and said she would “not be silenced”.

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© Photograph: Mark Schiefelbein/AP

© Photograph: Mark Schiefelbein/AP

© Photograph: Mark Schiefelbein/AP

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This Georgia county is one of the US’s most diverse – and that could flip multiple elections

Gwinnett county is home to many immigrants and other newcomers, and how it votes could be decisive for Congress

Johanna Park might just be an ambassador for Gwinnett county, Georgia, one of the 10 most ethnically diverse counties in the United States.

Park owns Cafe Amico at Suwanee Town Center, one of her three Italian coffee shops in the area just north of Atlanta. She was born in Korea and lived much of her life in Argentina and Peru. She’s been in Gwinnett for more than 20 years, part of an early wave of Korean immigration that’s built Korean American car dealerships, banks, insurance agencies, supermarkets and restaurants like her own. It’s also a population that’s increasing in influence and not just numbers.

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© Composite: George Chidi/The Guardian

© Composite: George Chidi/The Guardian

© Composite: George Chidi/The Guardian

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Democrats Tie Corruption to High Costs in Final Midterms Push

Party leaders are working to connect Washington profiteering and the influence of billionaires and corporate America to affordability, in what they hope will be a potent closing message.

© Alex Kent/The New York Times

“Corruption is why things don’t work for the American people.” Senator Jon Ossoff, a Democrat running for re-election in Georgia, said in a recent campaign video.
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Abdul El-Sayed: Democrats must ‘win by massive numbers’ to fend off Trump election denial

Democratic Senate candidate’s remarks come as Trump has long baselessly claimed his 2020 election loss was stolen

Democrats must “win by massive numbers” during November’s federal midterm elections because Donald Trump and his Republican allies are bound to try to sow doubt about the integrity of the results, Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed of Michigan said on Sunday.

El-Sayed’s comments on NBC’s Meet the Press came with the Democrats favored to win control of the House of Representatives during the 3 November midterms – and polls show that the party could also win Senate seats in states that traditionally elect Republicans and gain a majority there, too.

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© Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

© Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

© Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

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‘When you look at the numbers, we win’: the prophetic Texas pastor poised to take Jasmine Crockett’s House seat

Rev Dr Frederick Douglass Haynes III is reclaiming a faith-based politics to counter Trump-allied white evangelicals

It was that point in the evening: dinner plates were cleared; speeches had run long; people were chatting, milling or eyeing the exit. But then the Rev Dr Frederick Douglass Haynes III took the stage. Bald, bearded, bespectacled and dressed in black, he delivered a mix of fiery sermon and performance poetry. Soon the guests were back in their seats – rapt, listening, clapping and whooping.

Haynes’s rolling cadence was evocative of the pulpit but the political message was far from kumbaya. Aiming to succeed Democratic star Jasmine Crockett in Texas’s 30th congressional district, he danced like a butterfly with references to the boxer Muhammad Ali and rapper Tupac Shakur. But he also stung like a bee, branding Donald Trump as “President Pickpocket” and Republicans as the authors of racist gerrymandering and voter suppression.

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© Composite: The Guardian/Getty Images

© Composite: The Guardian/Getty Images

© Composite: The Guardian/Getty Images

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Economic Pain and an Unpopular Trump Put G.O.P. on its Heels With Three Weeks to Go

Inflation has hurt Americans at many levels: Farmers, truckers, consumers. It has also expanded the electoral map into what was safely Republican country just a few months ago.

© Jamie Kelter Davis for The New York Times

Fuel prices have soared throughout the country since President Trump started a war against Iran.
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Why This Election Could Be More Complicated for Democrats Than Polls Suggest

The last two midterms where Democrats surged against an unpopular Republican president were in 2006 and 2018. They had notably different outcomes.

© Doug Mills/The New York Times

President Trump at a rally in Nebraska on Monday. The Republican Party is defending seats even in states that Mr. Trump won by double digits in 2024.
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Arizona Congressional Candidate Says She Was Raped While Fixing Sign

Bernadette Greene-Placentia, a Democrat, said the attack in August occurred while she was repairing a damaged campaign sign.

© Anna Watts for The New York Times

Bernadette Greene-Placentia, a Democratic candidate for Congress in Arizona, said on Wednesday that she was raped in August while repairing a damaged campaign sign.
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As Race Tightens, Republicans Resume Tepid Support For Max Miller in Ohio

The embattled congressman, accused of throwing scalding water at his ex-wife and breaking his daughter’s collarbone, rebuffed earlier Republican calls to drop out.

© Alex Kent/The New York Times

Representative Max Miller of Ohio speaking to media in front of the Capitol last month.
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The US midterm races that will decide control of Congress – mapped

These graphics explain what the Democrats would need to do to flip the Senate and House of Representatives

A turning point in Donald Trump’s second term will soon arrive. On 3 November, voters across the US will decide whether to keep the president’s Republican allies in control of Congress, or return Democrats to the majority.

Many indicators of voter sentiment suggest the Democrats are favored to take back control of the House of Representatives, and potentially the Senate. Winning either would be a significant victory for the party and give it the power to block Trump’s legislative agenda and more aggressively investigate his administration.

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© Illustration: Guardian Design / Getty Images

© Illustration: Guardian Design / Getty Images

© Illustration: Guardian Design / Getty Images

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