Nov. 1, 2022 US election coverage

It's exactly one week until Election Day and Democrats and Republicans are ramping up campaign efforts as the balance of power in both the House and the Senate is up for grabs.

Here are the latest headlines:

President Joe Biden called the upcoming midterm election a “choice between two vastly different visions for America” while holding a rally in Miami Gardens, Florida, on Tuesday. 

“This election is not a referendum. It’s a choice. It’s a choice between two vastly different visions for America,” Biden said at an event at Florida Memorial University.

Biden also warned Republicans were “coming after” the right to vote, warning once again that “democracy is on the ballot.”

The President spent much of the speech painting what he called, the “stark contrast” between Democrats and Republicans, including on issues of Social Security, Medicare, abortion and student loans. 

On student loans, Biden said: “They moaned and groaned about it and they challenged it in court, which they’re going to lose.”

“Who in the hell do they think they are?” Biden asked the audience.

The President used familiar names to describe Republicans, including “Mega MAGA Republicans” and “not your father’s Republican Party”.

Biden also again slammed oil company profits as “outrageous” and said companies haven’t “met the commitment to invest in America and support the American people.”

Speaking ahead of President Joe Biden in Miami Gardens on Tuesday, the top Democratic candidates for statewide office called on their supporters to make a last-minute push to win back the Sunshine State from Republican control. 

“I know they say we're the underdogs. That's fine,” said Charlie Crist, the Democratic nominee for governor. “Because I fought for underdogs my entire life." 

Crist and Rep. Val Demings, the Democratic candidate for US Senate, focused on the stakes for abortion access in Florida and the country if their opponents, Gov. Ron DeSantis and US Sen. Marco Rubio, win another term.

Crist said the abortion bill DeSantis signed into law, which banned the procedure at 15-weeks, without exemptions for rape or incest, was “barbaric.” Demings noted that Rubio has cosponsored a national abortion ban introduced in the US Senate. 

“Rape is a crime. Incest is a crime. Abortion is not,” Demings said, adding. “I refuse to let my four granddaughters grow up in a country where they have fewer rights than I have.”

Crist called DeSantis a bully who “attacks anyone who doesn’t look like him” and “only cares about the White House,” a nod to DeSantis’ future political ambitions. Crist reminded attendees that DeSantis would not commit to serving a full four-year term when pressed at their debate last week.

“He doesn’t give a damn about your house,” Crist said.

Demings, meanwhile, outlined her background in law enforcement and accused Rubio of being an absentee senator. 

“Marco Rubio does not show up for work,” she said. “When you don’t show up for work, you lose your job.”

There are eight Senate races that appear too close to call this midterm election season –and Republicans need to flip just one in order to regain control of the chamber.

In Nevada, incumbent Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto is essentially tied in polling with opponent Republican Adam Laxalt. She is considered one the most vulnerable incumbents, CNN's John King said.

Former President Barack Obama will be campaigning for Cortez Masto later Tuesday in a state that he won twice during both his presidential campaigns.

Cortez Masto has not reached out to President Joe Biden to rally for her. When asked if she would, the senator said, "Anybody is welcome here."

Biden's current national approval rating stands at 41%.

Watch King's full analysis here:

GOP Rep. Liz Cheney returned to the campaign trail in Michigan Tuesday night, receiving a standing ovation more than 1,600 miles from her Wyoming home — and a world away from the Republican politics that has been her family’s lifeblood.

A week after Cheney offered a surprise endorsement of Rep. Elissa Slotkin, a Michigan Democrat whom she praised as “a good and honorable public servant,” Cheney traveled here to deliver the message in person.

She said a peaceful transition of power was essential to a functioning democracy and should be demanded by Republicans and Democrats alike.

“The chips are down for us. This is our time of testing,” Cheney said. “Not a single one of us in this room and not a single one of us across this country can be a bystander. We all must stand and defend this republic.”

Slotkin, who was first elected in 2018, is the only Democrat serving in the House who represents a Congressional district won by Mitt Romney in 2012 and Trump in 2016 and 2020. She implored independents and Republicans to join her campaign, hoping that Cheney’s visit would offer a last-minute burst of support in a highly-competitive race.

“Welcome to Michigan!” Slotkin said, bluntly acknowledging that she would never have imagined herself sharing a stage with Cheney two years ago. 

Cheney and Slotkin serve together on the House Armed Services Committee, sitting on different sides of the political aisle and holding starkly different views on many aspects of domestic and foreign policy. They said they came together through their shared views of what they believe are urgent threats to democracy.

“The truth is that Liz and I differ on lots of substantive policy issues,” Slotkin said. “But there’s one really, really big thing that we agree on. That is preserving American democracy, the thing that all of us here and the two of us desperately, desperately love.” 

The rally, which was billed as “an evening for patriotism and bipartisanship,” drew a crowd of about 600 people to the East Lansing High School gymnasium. It was unlike anything Cheney held during her own race in Wyoming earlier this year.

Her campaign stops were largely limited to living rooms and other private events, as she faced myriad security threats and the wrath of Republicans furious at her role on the committee investigating the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 202, and on her vote to impeach Donald Trump. 

Slotkin, a former CIA officer and Pentagon official during the Bush and Obama administrations, is locked in a competitive contest with GOP state Sen. Tom Barrett in Michigan’s 7th Congressional District, which is anchored in Lansing and nearby counties. 

Michigan Republicans were also taking careful note of Cheney’s visit.

“This is going to fire up Republicans, certainly, it’s going to fire up independents,” Barrett told CNN in an interview Tuesday. “It’s going to fire up people who don’t want to see a permanent war machine continue to perpetuate in Washington DC.”

Barrett, an Army veteran who served in Iraq, delivered a blistering critique of both Cheney and Slotkin. This week, he announced the endorsement of Harriet Hageman, who defeated Cheney in the Wyoming primary and is on her way to filling her seat.

“People are sick and tired of these establishment forces hanging together, no matter what,” Barrett said during a campaign stop. “The phony idea that Elissa Slotkin and Liz Cheney are now part of some non-partisan coalition together, the only thing they brought us is the misery we’re all feeling right now.”

Slotkin dismissed the suggestion that Cheney’s visit could backfire. She said she was proud to invite her to Michigan and said it was incumbent on people in both parties to help protect the country’s fragile democracy.

“When I look at the loudest voices, particularly on the other side of the aisle, including my opponent, it is not about policy. It is about denying the results of the 2020 election, drumming up fear and exclusion of other groups,” Slotkin said. “It feels to me that at the most senior levels, the soul has left the body. But here’s the thing, when republicans are out of whack, so are Democrats.”

In a signal of where Mehmet Oz thinks his campaign is one week out from Election Day, the Republican Senate nominee appeared at a Tuesday rally in Bucks County – a county full of swing voters – where he pitched himself to independents and conservative Democrats, urging his supporters to find their friends who identify as such and persuade them to vote for him.

Oz encouraged the crowd to focus on his three key issues and not get “confused by all the messaging.”

Oz continued to lean into his closing message of moderation and fighting extremism in Washington.

“I want to go to Washington and bring balance," he said. "Because when I travel around Pennsylvania, I don’t hear people telling me to go beat up on Democrats — heck we’re a purple state, your neighbors are Democrats, and by the way, they’re gonna vote for us in this election.”

Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, a moderate Republican who currently represents the area and is running for re-election, also appeared at the rally. Oz will need a strong turnout in the district to beat his opponent Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, who Oz didn’t mention by name.

Today kicks off a week of rallies across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker offered a full-throated endorsement Tuesday for President Joe Biden to run for reelection in 2024.

Earlier in the day, the senator – who was campaigning for Wisconsin Senate hopeful Mandela Barnes – told a crowd of supporters that Barnes, who is 35, is a full 30 years younger than the average US senator today. 

He added:

“I love Schumer, I love Pelosi, I love our President, but we’ve got to start supporting young leaders coming up, getting them in positions where they can lead – Mandela is bringing a new generation of leadership — I mean, I have some colleagues that brag about not having cell phones, having flip phones — we need some digital natives.”

First lady Jill Biden voted Tuesday afternoon, casting her ballot at the same Shipyard Shops polling location in Wilmington, Delaware, that President Joe Biden, and granddaughter Natalie Biden, used on Saturday. 

The first lady flashed her “I Voted” sticker on her way out, according to a pool report.

Arizona GOP gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake drew a fierce backlash Monday after using the attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband as a laugh line during a campaign event. But she is not backing away from those comments, suggesting during an appearance on Fox News that she is being attacked for “speaking the truth.”

Lake has relished the role of provocateur on the trail – drawing heavily from the playbook of former President Donald Trump. She did so again on Monday night during an appearance on Fox News’ “Tucker Carlson Tonight” where she cited criticism of her comment referencing the attack on Paul Pelosi to suggest that her opponents are trying to silence her.

After discussing an ad that Liz Cheney’s political action committee cut against Lake, Carlson asked the GOP candidate why she is being denounced by figures like the Wyoming Congresswoman, a Republican who has vowed to do everything she can to defeat election deniers like Lake.

“I’m speaking the truth,” Lake replied. “We can’t talk about all these issues because the media has told us, they’re prohibited. You know, you can’t talk about vaccines. You can’t talk about elections. You can’t talk about Paul Pelosi – now you can’t talk about Nancy Pelosi.”

“I’m talking about all those things because I still believe we have a little bit of the first amendment left,” Lake added. “But I’m dangerous to people like Liz Cheney and the folks that she hangs out with, and they want to stop people like me.”

On Monday, Lake briefly mentioned the Paul Pelosi attack – which the San Francisco District Attorney said is politically motivated – as an aside while arguing that lawmakers should be able to keep students safe in schools during her Scottsdale event: “It is not impossible to protect our kids at school. They act like it is. Nancy Pelosi, well, she’s got protection when she’s in DC — apparently, her house doesn’t have a lot of protection.”

Lake’s comment sparked vociferous laughter from the audience and the event moderator, a Lake supporter who covered his face with his notes as he chuckled.

Lake’s Democratic rival Katie Hobbs, who is Arizona’s Secretary of State, responded by arguing that “dangerous rhetoric” from politicians like Trump and Lake has led to violence and threats against lawmakers. She noted that she has been the target of politically motivated threats.

“Last week’s attack is the result of years of demonization of Democratic leaders from the far-right, including from the likes of Kari Lake and Donald Trump,” Hobbs said in an email to supporters that included a fundraising solicitation. “Their dangerous rhetoric has led to very real, very serious acts of violence — like the one we just witnessed — and they’d rather laugh about it than accept the consequences of their actions.”

“The far-right has attacked me constantly for doing my job to keep our elections safe and secure, and I’ve faced hundreds of death threats,” Hobbs added. “Kari Lake has called for my imprisonment. At a Trump rally here in Arizona, the crowd chanted 'lock her up' when my name was said. We cannot — and should not — allow anyone to lead our government who incites danger like this, and then laughs when their supporters take their words literally.”