2022 November midterm election news and updates from the campaign trail
Live updates on the 2022 midterm campaigns from Fox News. Stay up-to-date about all events and latest news surrounding the 2022 midterm races for the House and Senate, primary elections, and more!
Coverage for this event has ended.
Catch up on Thursday's midterm campaign news on the Fox election live blog
Dr. Mehmet Oz is once again calling out Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, D-Pa., for not finalizing a debate before the November midterm elections in a new video.
It comes just days after Fetterman agreed to one debate against Oz. The location and date of the anticipated matchup have not been set, however, it is expected to take place in October.
"John Fetterman used to say that candidates need to debate. Now, he’s refusing to," Oz wrote alongside the video.
Fetterman suffered a stroke in May, leaving him with some auditory processing issues that have made him unable to debate Oz. Following the stroke, he declined a September debate against his GOP opponent until he was physically able for the task.
Over the past week, Fetterman has been speaking at rallies in his state, but has not yet confirmed the debate against Oz.
Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, D-Texas, said Rep. Mayra Flores, R-Texas, "stole" a special election in June. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/ Getty Images)
Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, D-Texas, who's running for re-election to Congress in the midterm elections, claimed during an event attended by House Intelligence Committee chairman Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., that a June special election in Texas was stolen by Rep. Mayra Flores, R-Texas, and her supporters.
The remarks from Gonzalez came during a "vote blue" event at Shotz bar in Brownsville, Texas, on Thursday.
"Our democracy is at stake," Gonzalez claimed. "There's millions and millions of dollars from outside our region and outside our state that are coming here to try to steal our elections and take away your value and take away the process that we rely on, which is elections. And we don't have the resources to compete with these outside resources. We can't compete with the Koch brothers, we can't compete with big oil, and big tobacco, and the NRA. They can outspend us, but they can't outwork us."
Taking aim at Flores, his Republican rival in the race to represent Texas' 34th Congressional District, Gonzalez said the newly elected GOP representative who defeated her Democratic challenger in a special election to represent the redrawn district, "showed up to Congress and voted against keeping our communities safe."
"They stole that last election," Gonzalez claimed. "They spent $3 million to our $250,000, they campaigned for two years, and they still only won by less than one percent. So, the way to turn this around is getting out and vote."Schiff, who serves on the House select committee investigating the January 6 Capitol protests, also spoke to Gonzalez's supporters at the event and offered remarks favoring his candidacy in the race.
"The work you're doing to support our Democratic institutions, the infrastructure of our elections, the rule of law, the rule of law applies to everyone equally could not be more important," Schiff said. "It's been such a pleasure to meet so many of you and thank you for all you're doing to support my wonderful colleague."
Read more: Democratic candidate Vicente Gonzalez claims Mayra Flores, supporters 'stole' Texas special election
John Fetterman, the Democratic nominee for Senate in Pennsylvania, will hold a rally on the anniversary of 9/11 with Planned Parenthood, featuring an activist who pushed for defunding of police.
Fetterman announced the event this week that Planned Parenthood would hold a Women for Fetterman event with Planned Parenthood Action Fund president Alexis McGill Johnson, who said in 2020 that "we must keep demanding change, including the call to defund the police."
The event will highlight Fetterman's support for abortion, and the description for the rally states that the "stakes for reproductive freedom in Pennsylvania have never been higher. That’s why this rally is so important. The more people who come out to this event, the stronger our campaign's message for reproductive freedom will be."
The Fetterman campaign sells shirts in bright pink emblazoned with "FETTERWOMAN" on the front, a play on the candidate's name.
Nearly 3,000 people died in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and in the past two decades, memorial services on the 9/11 anniversary have highlighted the heroic deeds of police, firefighters and other law enforcement officers and first responders.
Fetterman has made abortion a key part of his campaign, attacking Republican nominee Mehmet Oz for his pro-life positions.
"We *need* to stand together to protect reproductive freedom against extreme attacks from Dr. Oz + the GOP," Fetterman tweeted announcing the Planned Parenthood event.
Hillary Clinton ruled out a future presidential run (Paul Morigi/Getty Images)
Several former advisers to Hillary Clinton expressed support for the former Secretary of State's recent announcement that she will not run for president again, with one suggesting that she would not be a viable candidate due to her low approval rating with voters.
During an appearance on CBS Evening News earlier this week, Clinton told anchor Norah O’Donnell that she will not run for president again following her two failed bids in 2008 and 2016."Would you ever run for president again?" O'Donnell asked.
"No, no," Clinton responded. "But I'm gonna do everything I can to make sure that we have a president who respects our democracy and the rule of law and upholds our institutions."
Mark Penn, who served as a chief strategist on Hillary Clinton’s 2000 Senate campaign and 2008 presidential campaign, suggested that Clinton is not in a position to seek the presidency due to her standing with voters.
"Her numbers are not such that running for president would be productive, so she’s unlikely to be a serious candidate and is [polling] 5 points lower than Trump," said Penn, who also served as chief strategist on Bill Clinton’s 1996 presidential campaign.
Read more: Former Hillary Clinton advisers, supporters agree that she should not run for president
Ohio Senate nominee Rep. Tim Ryan, a Democrat, tweeted video where he tosses footballs at TV screens, blasting so-called "bullsh*t ads" from Republicans and also targets "defund the police" calls.
"They say you can know a person by their enemies. Well, here come their bulls*** ads," Ryan says in the video.
He points to TV screens showing commercials from "people who push bad trade deals with China," and throws a football that smashes the screen. He says he votes against them, every time.
Another football is lobbed at a screen representing those who "sell out Ohio workers," and Ryan says workers need a tax cut.
Then several screens show a "defund the police" slogan. "Here come the culture wars," Ryan says before throwing another football at the screens.
"I'm not that guy," Ryan says. He throws a final football to smash a screen showing an ad from J.D. Vance, the GOP nominee in the race.
Ryan and Vance face off in the Nov. 8 midterm elections.
EXCLUSIVE: Ohio GOP Senate nominee JD Vance is taking aim at Tim Ryan, his Democratic challenger in the race, over his reversal on a number of issues that are important to Ohio voters, as well as recent comments from President Biden about "MAGA Republicans" that he said are "dividing" the country.
Speaking to Fox News Digital after Biden's Friday trip to Ohio to tout his administration's work on creating jobs, Vance insisted that Ryan, who currently represents the state's 13th Congressional District in the House, is a "far left guy" who is "running a campaign that's almost impossible to run."
"I feel like each time I get out of an event, Tim Ryan's tune has changed. So it's like flip-flop, flip-flopped in a matter of a few hours," Vance said. On every issue, Vance says Ryan has tried to move away from positions he held years ago.
"He's trying to persuade people that he's a moderate — or even a conservative Democrat — when his voting record is that he's a far left guy. He always bends the knee to Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi."
Ohio Senate Democrat nominee Tim Ryan insisted Thursday that President Biden should not run for the White House in 2024, saying it is time for a "generational move" for both parties amid a "poisonous" political atmosphere in America. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Ohio Democratic Senate nominee Tim Ryan has insisted that President Biden should not run for the White House in 2024, saying it is time for a "generational move" for both parties amid a "poisonous" political atmosphere in America.
Ryan's remarks, which were made during a Thursday evening interview with Youngstown's WFMJ-TV, one day before he is slated to appear alongside Biden during his visit to the state to tour a new semiconductor manufacturing facility from Intel near Columbus.
"My hunch is that we need new leadership across the board, Democrats, Republicans," Ryan said when asked whether Biden should seek re-election. "I think it's time for a generational move for new leaders on both sides. I think the environment politically across the country is poisonous and, you know, people, I think, want some change and I think it's important for us in both parties…"
Regarding why he has not welcomed Biden to Ohio to campaign with him, Ryan insisted that he is "not really asking anybody."
Read more: Tim Ryan insists Biden should not run in 2024, but will attend Ohio event with him Friday
Kansas Democrat Gov. Laura Kelly, who is seeking re-election this November, said she makes "absolutely no apologies" for closing schools early on during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kelly's comments came during an appearance at the Kansas Chamber's 2022 candidate conversations event in Olathe on Wednesday night as she responded to a question about the actions she took during the pandemic.
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly speaks at the dedication and unveiling ceremony of a statue in honor of Amelia Earhart in Statuary Hall, at the Capitol in Washington, July 27, 2022. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
"We in Kansas had to take a look at what do we know, what do we have, and what we need to do to make sure we keep our people safe," Kelly said, describing the state's closing process as the virus spread throughout the country.
"So, when I look at what we did, I know everybody thinks about the sort of dramatic decision to close our schools and to be the first governor to close them for the entire year," Kelly said. "I'll make no apologies for that."
Read more: Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly makes ‘absolutely no apologies’ for closing schools during COVID-19 pandemic
GOP candidate's signs vandalized with "Christian Fascist" signs (Hung Cao campaign)
Yard signs for Hung Cao, the Republican candidate challenging Rep. Jennifer Wexton, D-Va., have been vandalized with labels that say "Christian Fascist" under his name, the campaign told Fox News Digital.
Cao's campaign said it spotted the labels on signs along a road in the northern Virginia district Thursday, but haven't seen more examples since then. The campaign said offensive labels are an attack on religion, and decried the apparent liberal tactic against a minority who identifies as a conservative.
“I was raised in a Buddhist family and as a child, lived for seven years in a Muslim country,” said Cao in a statement to Fox News Digital. “As a Christian, I respect all religions and I will not stand for bigotry of any kind. Congresswoman Wexton needs to denounce this attack on Christians and all people of faith.”
It's unclear who placed the labels or what the motive was, but Wexton's campaign denounced the defacement of signs in a statement to Fox News.
“These actions are not endorsed by our campaign. We condemn the defacing of anyone’s property," Wexton's campaign said.
“As an immigrant to the United States and decorated Navy Captain, Hung Cao does not fit the narrative Wexton and Democrats want you to believe,” said a spokesman for the Cao campaign.
“You have to wonder whether these petty tactics are only occurring because he is an Asian-American and a formidable Republican candidate," the spokesman added.
Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., then a candidate, during an interview at her campaign office in Lansing, Michigan, on Nov. 6, 2018. (REUTERS/Jeff Kowalsky )
Fox News Digital has learned that Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., recently moved into a Lansing, Michigan, condo owned by a lobbyist, who also happens to be one of her campaign donors, in order to run for re-election in a new congressional district.
Slotkin, who currently represents Michigan's 8th Congressional District, opted to move to Lansing from her family farm in northern Oakland County, just outside of Detroit, in order to run in the newly drawn 7th Congressional District in a year when new congressional maps were drawn following the 2020 census.
"From my perspective, if the district moves and is a Lansing-based district, and that is the district that’s most natural for me to run in, then I will move and live in the Lansing area and run in the Lansing district," Slotkin told Ingham County Democrats in their party organization's monthly meeting in September 2021.
Read more from Fox News' Brandon Gillespie here.
The U.S. Capitol on Nov. 2, 2020. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)
A nonpartisan campaign group called New Politics is seeking to bring a new perspective to the political landscape of Washington, D.C., and local governments by electing military, AmeriCorps and Peace Corps veterans to be "service-oriented" leaders.
In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, founder Emily Cherniack stressed the importance of New Politics' mission to elect leaders intent on upholding values of service, and she explained that she was motivated by what she saw as a broken system of government.
"New Politics was really my response to a broken politics," Cherniack said when asked to describe the group and its mission. "We are a bipartisan organization that recruits, develops and elects servant leaders — individuals who have answered the call to serve this country through the military, or programs like AmeriCorps or the Peace Corps, and that have proven that they will lead with courage, integrity and empathy."
Read more from Fox News' Brandon Gillespie here.
The Senate race in Georgia appears to be shifting back in the GOP's favor, according to a new poll that shows Herschel Walker as the favorite in the midterm election over incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga.
An InsiderAdvantage/FOX 5 Atlanta poll released Thursday suggests Walker has taken the lead in the Georgia race, one of the most closely watched Senate races in the nation, with the football legend receiving 47% support from voters in the Peach State over Warnock's 44% support.
The latest poll shows a two-point increase for Walker and a four-point decrease in Warnock's support since a July poll — a major shift in the race just two months before the midterm elections.
Read more from Fox News’ Aubrie Spady here.
Republican congressional candidates Monica De La Cruz (Texas), Lori Chavez-DeRemer (Oregon), April Becker (Nevada), Amanda Adkins (Kansas), Jen Kiggans (Virginia), Cassy Garcia (Texas), Senate candidate Tiffany Smiley (Washington), and Rep. Mayra Flores, R-Texas, joined POLARIS National Security founder Morgan Ortagus (second from left) and Winning For Women founder Annie Dickerson (not pictured) for a tour of the U.S. Southern border between McAllen, Texas and Reynosa, Mexico on Tuesday, August 30, 2022. (Brandon Gillespie)
A group of Republican women running for public office came together from different regions across the country last week just outside of McAllen, Texas, on the banks of the Rio Grande to see first hand the ongoing border crisis.
The group, made up of eight women running for Congress and Senate, was brought together by the conservative women's advocacy group Winning For Women, led by founder Annie Dickerson, and national security advocacy organization POLARIS National Security, led by former State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus.
The women's aim was to bring a new perspective to addressing the "humanitarian" issues at the border as they continued fighting in their respective races to bring fresh voices to Washington, D.C. and finally fix an issue that they collectively argued was being "ignored" by President Biden's administration and the Democrats.
Read more from Fox News' Brandon Gillespie here.
EXCLUSIVE — Madison Gesiotto Gilbert, the GOP nominee running in Ohio's 13th Congressional District, has a unique challenge as she hits the campaign trailahead of the November election: She is expecting a child.
Gilbert spoke with Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview about what it has been like campaigning while pregnant, her thoughts on the student loan handout, and America's concerning fentanyl crisis.
"Well, it certainly hasn't been easy, but I've been super blessed to have a very healthy pregnancy, so it's been incredible and honestly. It's just really invigorated me even more and reminds me each and every day why I'm doing this," Gilbert said of her pregnancy journey on the campaign trail.
Read more from Fox News’ Aubrie Spady here.
Rep. Val Demings questions Attorney General Merrick Garland during a House Judiciary Committee oversight hearing on Capitol Hill, Oct. 21, 2021. (Greg Nash/Pool via Reuters)
On Thursday, Democratic nominee in the Florida Senate race Rep. Val Demings joined several fellow representatives in Miami to launch the Giffords Florida Bus Tour.
Demings joined Democratic Reps. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell and Debbie Wasserman Schultz, state Sen. Annette Taddeo, and gun control advocate Fred Guttenberg at Regatta Park to start the tour.
According to a press release from the Demings campaign Friday, Demings "discussed common sense gun safety measures to fight crime and keep communities safe."
The Giffords Florida Bus Tour plans to travel around Florida over the next few weeks to talk about gun violence, as well as support Demings in her campaign for Senate.
Demings is the Democratic candidate that is set to take on Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., in the midterm elections this fall.
The National Republican Congressional Committee on Friday announced that it will spend an additional $28 million between now and November’s midterm elections to run TV ads as part of its push to win back the House majority.
The NRCC, which is the House GOP’s re-election arm, says its new financial infusion will bring the committee's total investment this cycle to $80 million.
For more, click here to read the full story
Saving Arizona PAC, a Peter Thiel-backed group, released a new campaign ad Friday as part of a $1.5 million television ad buy for the Arizona Senate race. A source close to the super PAC told Fox News that Thiel gave $13.5 million to the PAC during the primary, but did not donate any additional money to fund the latest ad.
The ad, first obtained by POLITICO, is set to air for two weeks, blasting Kelly for his stance immigration and energy policies.
“Put aside all the negative ads. Arizona has a clear choice for Senate,” the ad narrator says as the video opens on a side-by-side of Masters and Kelly. “Mark Kelly voted to allow illegal immigrants to receive taxpayer-funded benefits. Blake Masters believes illegal immigrants should not receive taxpayer funds.”
"Mark Kelly voted against the Keystone Pipeline, which caused higher gas prices. Blake Masters supports the Pipeline and American energy independence. It's a clear choice for Arizona."
As one of the most closely watched races this cycle, Trump-endorsed Masters has been largely out-spent in advertisements in his bid for the Arizona Senate seat, raising around $6 million to Kelly's $20 million.
"If it weren't for Senator Rubio, I might not even have a job," a food and beverage worker identified as Lauren says in an ad from the campaign of Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla.
Rubio's latest ad, released Friday, touts the senator's role in creating the Paycheck Protection Program loans that were offered to businesses to keep employees on the payroll as lockdowns amid COVID-19 pandemic threatened to shutter small businesses.
Rubio's ad emphasizes the PPP loans saved "up to 13 million American jobs," though estimates range as low as 2.3 million, according to Bloomberg. But Rubio was instrumental in getting PPP into the CARES Act of March 2020, Congress' initial response to the devastating effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
According to The Hill, Rubio led a bipartisan group of politicians in proposing version of PPP loans, months before COVID lockdowns struck America, as a way to protect small businesses from supply chain disruptions.
"My plan was as straightforward as it was novel: to create a federal grant for small businesses to keep their employees on payroll. This payroll grant, structured deliberately as a forgivable loan, had one key condition: that 80 percent of the funds go to payroll," Rubio wrote in an August opinion piece for FOX Business.
The PPP was "the single most effective fiscal policy ever undertaken by the United States government," according to congressional testimony from former director of the Congressional Budget Office Douglas Holtz-Eakin.
Rubio is running against Rep. Val Demings, the Democratic nominee for Senate, in the November 2022 midterm election.
Live Coverage begins here