Politics Ain’t Cheap

THE LATEST

Data compiled by political research firm AdImpact shows that as of today, the 2026 midterms are the most expensive election in U.S. history — surpassing even the 2024 presidential cycle.

Mike Johnson is refusing to accept widespread predictions of a Republican rout in the midterms next week.

• “Of course we’ll have a peaceful transfer of power,” he said when asked whether he will mount a challenge to any Democratic victories. “But it will not be transferring, because we are going to keep the majority, and I’m going to be the speaker of the House, and I will keep steady hands at the wheel.”

THE ADMINISTRATION

CDC Deputy Director Jennifer Shuford is leaving the Trump administration after just a few months on the job “to spend more time with my family,” she told The Washington Post.

The Russian oligarch who paid for part of Donald Trump Jr.’s wedding, Umar Kremlev, earlier this year also went on a hunting trip to Mongolia with the first son in which Trump Jr. shot and killed an endangered horned sheep, according to a new investigation conducted by the Financial Times.

• “Don has made clear that he has a personal friendship, not a business relationship, with Umar,” a spokesperson for Trump Jr. told the news organization.

Donald Trump’s ambassador to the U.N., Mike Waltz, got into a shouting match with Cuba’s foreign minister on the floor of the General Assembly today.

Rock ’n’ roll legend Neil Young filed a $10 million lawsuit over Trump’s use of his song “Rockin’ in the Free World” at campaign events.

THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL

Alaska Senate candidate Daniel J. Sullivan — not to be confused with Republican incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan — is deep in debt amid his legal battle to stay on the ballot, according to FEC filings reviewed by The Washington Sun.

THE COURTS

A federal judge ordered Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to turn over more than a thousand pages of his personal communications with Elon Musk to his Democratic opponent, Gina Hinojosa.

• Abbott quickly appealed the decision, meaning voters are unlikely to see the records before Election Day.

Federal authorities raided a Beverly Hills mansion early this morning as part of an investigation into former Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell.

The Supreme Court has declined to revive a Biden-era rule allowing immigration judges to close deportation proceedings for people in the process of obtaining lawful status.

THE WORLD

A localized ceasefire brokered by Melania Trump in the Ukrainian city of Oleshky has begun.

Far-right Brazilian Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro reportedly has fled Brazil and is en route to the United States after losing the country’s presidential election over the weekend.

MORE LIKE BIG TANK

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