Sunday, October 4, 2026 · Morning Edition

Today

By StaffNews Desk

Good morning. Donald Trump spent Saturday in Vandalia, Ohio, predicting a "big surprise" for Republicans in a choppy midterm climate, stumping for Jon Husted in a tight Senate race against Sherrod Brown and the state's other competitive contests. At the same rally he defended the data centers under heightened scrutiny, arguing the US will lose the AI race with China without the massive facilities — the administration throwing the state behind capital's energy-hungry buildout.

The map tells the story the bosses would rather bury. In North Carolina, a state that for decades has more often preferred Republicans for federal office, former governor Roy Cooper is now Democrats' best chance to flip a Senate seat. In Arizona, Republican congressional candidate Mark Lamb — accused of sexual misconduct while sheriff — is bleeding support as Latter-day Saints women turn away and Democrats eye the red seat.

The spectacle around it is hard to miss. Senator Tom Cotton was bombarded with phone calls Saturday after Trump posted what he said was the senator's number online, the flood spreading to payment requests once a journalist found a linked Venmo account; Trump had urged supporters to call that personal cellphone over a daylight-saving bill, demanding Cotton act on the clock changes and the dark, and musing publicly that he takes a daily aspirin while doubting it works.

The class project underneath is plain. UK Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch used her party's convention to call for ending inheritance tax and extending childcare support to higher earners — handouts aimed upward. At home, the Trump Account dangles $1,000 of seed money per child through a deliberately boring investing app, while in Austin communities rally around a man shot by ICE — the bullet still lodged in his spine — as he faces criminal charges.