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He has secured a place in history, but the midterm elections are another matter.
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Karl Rove
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Opinion | Gaza Deal Is a Big Win for Trump—but Voters Are Fickle
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Unearthed donations come back to haunt Mikie Sherrill’s ‘defamatory’ attack on GOP rival
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FIRST ON FOX: New Jersey Democratic gubernatorial nominee Mikie Sherrill took tens of thousands of dollars from companies linked to the opioid crisis as she hammers her Republican opponent over his alleged connection to that same crisis.
Sherrill spoke during a press conference on the Garden State’s opioid epidemic on Monday, where she accused Ciattarelli of “looking at ways to help people get access to the drugs that were killing them” through his ties to pharmaceutical-backed training programs.
“So you heard it, Jack made millions,” she said. “The opioid companies made billions, and thousands of New Jerseyans were dying.”
However, this attack might come back to haunt her campaign. Her congressional campaigns received three $1,000 donations from the AmerisourceBergen political action committee in 2018, 2019 and 2022, according to campaign finance records reviewed by Fox News Digital.
FINAL FACEOFF: CIATTARELLI, SHERRILL, BLAST EACH OTHER ON DEBATE STAGE
Democrat Mikie Sherrill participates in the final New Jersey gubernatorial debate with Republican Jack Ciattarelli in New Brunswick, N.J., on October 8. (Heather Khalifa/AP Photo)
Her campaign also received at least $4,500 from the Teva Pharmaceuticals PAC, $1,000 from the Endo Pharmaceuticals PAC and $17,000 from Johnson & Johnson.
In total, a Fox News Digital review found at least $25,500 in donations going from companies tied to the opioid crisis to Sherrill’s campaign.
AmerisourceBergen has been accused, perhaps most notably in 2021 by Washington state’s Democratic attorney general Bob Ferguson, of profiting off billions from the opioid epidemic through the shipment of dangerous prescription painkillers with no regard for how those drugs were contributing to the deaths of citizens. AmerisourceBergen, which now goes by Cencora, and two other companies would go on to reach a settlement with Washington state for over $500 million.
In early 2022, AmerisourceBergen, whose executives were exposed for previously mocking West Virginians as “pillbillies” at the height of the opioid crisis, announced it would be agreeing to a $6.1 billion settlement that would be paid out over 18 years and would cover the “vast majority of the opioid lawsuits filed by state and local governmental entities,” according to a press release.
Republican New Jersey gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli on stage before the final debate in New Brunswick, N.J., on October 8. (Heather Khalifa/AP Photo)
In late 2022, the Justice Department filed a lawsuit against AmerisourceBergen, one of the country’s largest wholesale pharmaceutical distributors, alleging the company “for years flouted its legal obligations and prioritized profits over the well-being of Americans” by failing to report suspicious orders of controlled substances, like fentanyl and oxycodone, which were then sold illegally, fueling the devastating opioid epidemic.
The other three pharmaceutical companies that donated thousands of dollars to Sherrill’s campaigns through their PACs also reached massive settlements for their roles contributing to the opioid crisis, which includes over $4 billion from Teva to participating states and local governments, according to a press release from Texas AG Ken Paxton’s office.
Johnson and Johnson agreed to pay $5 billion as part of their settlement, according to their 2022 press release.
Mikie Sherrill for Governor Communications Director Sean Higgins responded to a request for comment from Fox News Digital, calling the story a “desperate attack from perennial candidate Jack Ciattarelli, who refuses to answer for his role publishing misinformation about the dangers of opioids at the height of the opioid epidemic.”
“Mikie Sherrill has shown time and again that she will take on anyone to stand up for families and fight the opioid crisis. That’s why she helped pass landmark bipartisan legislation, signed into law by President Trump, to help fund treatment, recovery, and prevention programs in New Jersey.”
The campaign did not address a question from Fox News Digital about whether the money donated from the pharmaceutical companies would be returned.
In 2017, Ciattarelli received $1,500 from Mallinckrodt LLC PAC, a company that reached a settlement for its involvement in the opioid crisis in 2022. Additionally, the New Jersey Republican received $500 from Johnson & Johnson, a company that also reached an opioid settlement, in 2016.
Ciattarelli strategist Chris Russell told Fox News Digital in a statement, “Just like Mikie Sherrill got caught red-handed, personally profiting from investments in the same NJ utility companies she blamed for electricity rate increases, it’s no surprise to learn Mikie’s hypocrisy extends to taking thousands in campaign contributions from the very pharmaceutical companies she maligned yesterday.”
“At this point, if Mikie Sherrill’s lips are moving you can just assume she’s lying,” he continued.
Sherrill first made her claims that Ciattarelli contributed to the opioid epidemic during last week’s gubernatorial debate.
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New Jersey Democratic gubernatorial nominee Rep. Mikie Sherrill, (right), and Republican nominee Jack Ciattarelli (left), on the stage moments at the start of their second and final debate, on Oct. 8, 2025 in New Brunswick, N.J. (Paul Steinhauser – Fox News Digital)
“With regard to everything she just said about my professional career, which provided [for] my family, it’s a lie. I’m proud of my career,” Ciattarelli responded at the debate.
It was during his 2021 campaign that Ciattarelli’s connection to opioid manufacturers first surfaced. Ciattarelli sold his company, which published content promoting the use of opioids as a low-risk treatment for chronic pain, in 2017.
And Ciattarelli’s campaign fired back the day after the debate, pledging to file a defamation lawsuit against Sherrill.
“Mikie Sherrill cracked,” Ciattarelli campaign chief strategist, Russell said at the time.
“In doing so, she claimed — twice — that Jack Ciattarelli ‘killed tens of thousands of people, including children,’ a clearly defamatory attack that shocked the moderators, press, and public alike,” Russell added. “In a time where political violence and violent rhetoric are becoming all too prevalent, Mikie Sherrill baselessly and recklessly accusing a political opponent of mass murder in a televised debate crosses the line.”
Fox News Digital’s Stephen Sorace and Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.
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Trump Says Argentina Bailout Depends on Milei’s Party Winning Upcoming Elections
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President Trump directly tied the $20 billion lifeline the U.S. is extending to Argentina to President Javier Milei’s success in the upcoming midterm elections.
“If he loses, we are not going to be generous with Argentina,” Trump said, sitting across a table at the White House from the visiting South American leader, who he also endorsed for re-election in 2027. “If he doesn’t win, we’re gone.”
Copyright ©2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
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Vera Bergengruen
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Do CA envelope holes lead to discarded ballots? No
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Are holes in California mail-in ballot envelopes there so certain votes can be discarded? That’s what some social media users said.
“Gavin Newsom’s redistricting election is going to be RIGGED,” a verified X account, Wall Street Apes, said in an Oct. 9 post. “If you Vote No on prop 50 to stop the redistricting, it shows through the envelope. This makes it easier for Democrats to identify them and throw them in the trash.”
The post, which had 4.7 million views as of Oct. 14, included a photo of a vote-by-mail envelope. A small hole in the envelope showed a mark on the ballot inside.
Another post from the conservative Libs of Tiktok X account made a similar claim.
“If California voters vote ‘NO’ on Gavin Newscum’s redistricting plan, it will show their answer through a hole in the envelope,” according to the Oct. 12 post, which had 5.8 million views as of Oct. 14. “All Democrats do is cheat.”
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The Libs of TikTok post included a video originally posted to TikTok by Steve Hilton, a Republican running for California governor. Hilton said the video showed a California voter filling in the “no” oval on California’s redistricting Proposition 50. The voter folded the ballot and inserted it into a Sacramento County vote-by-mail envelope. He then tapped the left side of the envelope on a table. A filled-in oval became visible through a hole in the envelope.
Sacramento’s vote-by-mail envelopes have three small holes. They’ve had these for years. There are eight ways voters can insert a ballot into the envelope. Depending on how someone inserts a ballot, the oval voters fill out to cast their vote might be visible through the holes. But the holes don’t show the text next to the oval that indicates how a person voted. And the envelopes’ holes aren’t evidence of cheating or nefarious activity.
Two holes were designed in the envelope to make it easier for low-vision voters to cast mail ballots. The third hole gives election officials a quick view of an envelope’s contents to ensure the ballot was removed for counting. Only two of the ways voters can insert their ballots in the envelope might show voting marks. Voters can insert their ballot in a way that no marks are visible.
California Republicans have taken to social media to assure people their votes can remain secret by folding their ballots in certain ways.
“Please don’t panic people about something that is easily addressed by turning their ballot around. We need every no vote and we need them now,” the chair of the Republican Party of Los Angeles, Roxanne Hoge, who opposes the ballot measure, said in an Oct. 11 X post. Hoge shared a video of her folding and placing her mom’s mail-in ballot in an envelope so that no vote marks are visible.
C’mon people! If you’re worried about your vote showing through the hole, fold it the other way.
Vote NO on 50! pic.twitter.com/UKXuEy9g12
— Roxanne Hoge (@RoxanneHoge) October 11, 2025
On Nov. 4, Californians will vote on Proposition 50, which will determine the state’s congressional map. If it passes, California will redraw its congressional districts, likely giving Democrats five additional seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom is leading the ballot measure in response to Texas’ mid-decade redistricting effort, which added five likely Republican seats.
Sacramento County vote-by-mail envelopes have holes for accessibility purposes
Since 2008, Sacramento’s vote-by-mail envelope has featured two holes punched into the back and one punched into the front.
California vote-by-mail envelopes differ by county, so not all envelopes have holes and not all envelope holes reveal voting marks. However, the punched-in holes are considered best practice in the state, California’s Secretary of State office told PolitiFact.
The two punched-in holes on the front of Scaramento’s envelope appear on either side of the envelope’s signature area, signaling to low-vision voters where they should sign. The hole in the envelope’s front lets election officials know that the envelope is empty and therefore the ballot has been counted, Janna Haynes, Sacramento County Voter Registration and Elections’ public information manager, said in a video.
It’s possible to insert ballots in envelopes so marks aren’t visible through holes
There are at least eight ways voters can insert mail-in ballots into envelopes, according to Sacramento County’s elections department. Two of those might show voting marks through the envelope’s holes.
“There is no way to determine how a voter voted through this small hole,” the department said in an Oct. 8 news release.
The envelope holes aren’t large enough to show the filled in oval and the “yes” or “no” text showing how someone voted.
In the county’s video, Haynes recommended that voters who are concerned their votes might be visible fold their ballots so the text is on the inside. Sacramento’s ballot only has one question on it so the back of the paper is blank.
“If this is still a concern to some of you that don’t want to mail in your vote, we do have 31 vote centers that will be open for the Nov. 4 election where you can vote in person,” Haynes said.
She also recommended voters who vote by mail to sign up for BallotTrax, a service that tells voters when their ballot has been mailed, received and counted.
The social media posts claim that the envelope holes would allow for certain ballots to be thrown away. It is a felony under California law for election officials to tamper with peoples’ votes, including by discarding them.
“Our staff is dedicated to fair and ethical elections. Each employee is sworn in before they can access ballots to uphold a fair election,” Haynes told PolitiFact. “No single employee is ever alone with ballots. We have cameras and oversight in all our rooms.”
Our ruling
An X post said, “If you vote no on Prop 50 to stop the redistricting, it shows through the envelope,” making it easy for Democrats to cheat.
Sacramento County vote-by-mail envelopes were designed with two holes to make it easier for low-vision voters to cast ballots. A third hole helps election officials affirm that they’ve counted every ballot. There is no evidence that the holes are being used for nefarious purposes, and it is a felony for election officials to tamper with or discard ballots.
There are several ways to fold ballots and place them into the envelopes. Two of those might result in voting marks being visible through the envelope holes. But none shows how a person voted.
Voters can fold ballots so the blank side of the page faces outward, and no marks can be seen through the envelope’s holes.
The statement contains an element of truth; there are certain ways to insert a ballot into the envelope that might make voting marks visible. But the statement ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. The envelope design is for accessibility purposes and to ensure all votes are counted, not for nefarious purposes or to rig an election. There’s no evidence that “no” votes will be discarded.
We rate the claim Mostly False.
PolitiFact Senior Correspondent Amy Sherman contributed to this report.
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A Candidate Disappeared Months Ago After an Ocean Swim. Can He Still Win?
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LONG BEACH, N.Y. (AP) — A political candidate in the New York City suburbs went for a night swim in the Atlantic Ocean this past spring and never returned.
Petros Krommidas’ phone, keys and clothes were found on the sands at Long Beach on Long Island. The 29-year-old former Ivy League rower, who was training for a triathlon, had parked his car just off the picturesque wooden boardwalk.
As the months passed, local Democrats attempted to field a replacement to run for the seat in the Nassau County Legislature.
But two Republican voters took them to court and won: a state judge recently ordered Krommidas’ name to remain on the November ballot, ruling that he’s still considered missing and not officially deceased.
Now, as Election Day approaches, voters in Long Beach and other South Shore communities have a curious choice: reelect the Republican incumbent or the Democrat who seemingly vanished at sea.
Democrats want to elect the missing candidate
James Hodge is among those calling on residents to cast their ballots for Krommidas regardless — hoping to trigger a special election in which Democrats can put forward another candidate to run against County Legislator Patrick Mullaney.
The Long Beach resident worked with Krommidas at the Nassau County Board of Elections and had been tapped by Democrats to run in his place.
“We need to stand by and honor his name and memory,” Hodge told The Associated Press. “Let’s give him that victory. It’s the right thing to do.”
The Republican voters argued in their lawsuit that Democrats couldn’t claim Krommidas was dead because authorities still considered him a missing person. Under law, someone needs to be missing for at least three years to be legally declared dead, they argued.
Judge Gary Knobel agreed, writing in his Sept. 29 ruling that “‘missing person’ status does not qualify as a vacancy that can be filled.”
Dead candidates have won elections before
The justice, in his ruling, noted a similar situation decades earlier in Alaska.
U.S. Rep. Nicholas Begich Sr. disappeared in a plane crash weeks before the 1972 vote but still won reelection. The Alaska Democrat was eventually declared dead, and his Republican opponent claimed the seat in a special election.
More recently, Dennis Hof, owner of the Nevada brothel featured on HBO’s “Cathouse” documentary series, died weeks before the 2018 election but still captured a seat in the state Legislature. In 2022, Pennsylvania state Rep. Anthony DeLuca won reelection after dying from lymphoma the month prior.
Hodge and other Democrats argue that Republicans only sued to assure themselves victory as they seek to bolster their majority in the county legislature. They say the lawsuit has only prolonged the anguish for Krommidas’ family.
“I understand politics, but there’s a time to stop and be a human being,” said Ellen Lederer-DeFrancesco, who met Krommidas through the local Democratic Party. “Petros is someone’s son, brother, friend.”
Nassau County Republican Committee Chairman Joseph Cairo Jr., in a statement, vowed the party and its candidates will “show the highest level of sensitivity during these challenging times for the Krommidas family.”
Krommidas’ family declined to comment when reached by phone, but his mother and sister each took to Facebook recently to share a post calling for residents to “honor and vote” for him.
“My Peter cared deeply about people and his community and continues to inspire kindness and unity in our community,” his mother, Maria, wrote in her post.
Eleni-Lemonia Krommidas, his sister, described him in her own post as a first-generation American who loved his country and “believed in equality, education, and the power of unity.”
Voters weigh in on the beach where he vanished
In the days after his disappearance, family and friends joined first responders in scouring Long Beach’s broad, more than 3-mile-long (4.8-kilometer-long) swath of sand, which is located just east of the New York City borough of Queens.
Some of the missing persons fliers they put up with images of Krommidas’ youthful, smiling face are tattered and faded but still visible on telephone poles around Long Beach.
Meanwhile campaign signs for Mullaney, his opponent, are prominently displayed on fences along the main thoroughfares and on tidy residential lawns. The Republican didn’t respond to emails seeking comment.
Along the Long Beach boardwalk last week, longtime resident Maude Carione was dumbstruck at the choice facing voters in November.
“It’s insane to leave his name on the ballot. You’ll confuse people,” said the 72-year-old, who supports Republican President Donald Trump but didn’t have plans to vote in the upcoming election, which features mostly local races. “In fairness, you have to give another candidate a chance for the Democrats. You have to.”
For resident Regina Pecorella, the decision, while grim, was clear.
“If it’s between those two, I’m voting for the person that’s alive,” said the 54-year old independent, who voted for a straight Republican ticket in the previous election. “I don’t know how else to answer that.”
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Photos You Should See – Oct. 2025
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Associated Press
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Supreme Court takes up Republican attack on Voting Rights Act in case over Black representation
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WASHINGTON — WASHINGTON (AP) — A Republican attack on a core provision of the Voting Rights Act that is designed to protect racial minorities comes to the Supreme Court this week, more than a decade after the justices knocked out another pillar of the 60-year-old law.
In arguments Wednesday, lawyers for Louisiana and the Trump administration will try to persuade the justices to wipe away the state’s second majority Black congressional district and make it much harder, if not impossible, to take account of race in redistricting.
“Race-based redistricting is fundamentally contrary to our Constitution,” Louisiana Attorney General Elizabeth Murrill wrote in the state’s Supreme Court filing.
A mid-decade battle over congressional redistricting already is playing out across the nation, after President Donald Trump began urging Texas and other Republican-controlled states to redraw their lines to make it easier for the GOP to hold its narrow majority in the House of Representatives. A ruling for Louisiana could intensify that effort and spill over to state legislative and local districts.
The conservative-dominated court, which just two years ago ended affirmative action in college admissions, could be receptive. At the center of the legal fight is Chief Justice John Roberts, who has long had the landmark civil rights law in his sights, from his time as a young lawyer in the Reagan-era Justice Department to his current job.
“It is a sordid business, this divvying us up by race,” Roberts wrote in a dissenting opinion in 2006 in his first major voting rights case as chief justice.
In 2013, Roberts wrote for the majority in gutting the landmark law’s requirement that states and local governments with a history of discrimination, mostly in the South, get approval before making any election-related changes.
“Our country has changed, and while any racial discrimination in voting is too much, Congress must ensure that the legislation it passes to remedy that problem speaks to current conditions,” Roberts wrote.
Challenges under the provision known as Section 2 of the voting rights law must be able to show current racially polarized voting and an inability of minority populations to elect candidates of their choosing, among other factors.
“Race is still very much a factor in current voting patterns in the state of Louisiana. It’s true in many places in the country,” said Sarah Brannon, deputy director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Voting Rights Project.
The Louisiana case got to this point only after Black voters and civil rights groups sued and won lower court rulings striking down the first congressional map drawn by the state’s GOP-controlled Legislature after the 2020 census. That map created just one Black majority district among six House seats in a state that is one-third Black.
Louisiana appealed to the Supreme Court but eventually added a second majority Black district after the justices’ 5-4 ruling in 2023 that found a likely violation of the Voting Rights Act in a similar case over Alabama’s congressional map.
Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh joined their three more liberal colleagues in the Alabama outcome. Roberts rejected what he described as “Alabama’s attempt to remake our section 2 jurisprudence anew.”
That might have settled things, but a group of white voters complained that race, not politics, was the predominant factor driving the new Louisiana map. A three-judge court agreed, leading to the current high court case.
Instead of deciding the case in June, the justices asked the parties to answer a potentially big question: “Whether the state’s intentional creation of a second majority-minority congressional district violates the Fourteenth or Fifteenth Amendments to the U. S. Constitution.”
Those amendments, adopted in the aftermath of the Civil War, were intended to bring about political equality for Black Americans and gave Congress the authority to take all necessary steps. Nearly a century later, Congress passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965, called the crown jewel of the civil rights era, to finally put an end to persistent efforts to prevent Black people from voting in the former states of the Confederacy.
The call for new arguments sometimes presages a major change by the high court. The Citizens United decision in 2010 that led to dramatic increases in independent spending in U.S. elections came after it was argued a second time.
“It does feel to me a little bit like Citizens United in that, if you recall the way Citizens United unfolded, it was initially a narrow First Amendment challenge,” said Donald Verrilli, who served as the Obama administration’s top Supreme Court lawyer and defended the voting rights law in the 2013 case.
Among the possible outcomes in the Louisiana case, Verrilli said, is one in which a majority holds that the need for courts to step into redistricting cases, absent intentional discrimination, has essentially expired. Kavanaugh raised the issue briefly two years ago.
The Supreme Court has separately washed its hands of partisan gerrymandering claims, in a 2019 opinion that also was written by Roberts. Restricting or eliminating most claims of racial discrimination in federal courts would give state legislatures wide latitude to draw districts, subject only to state constitutional limits.
A shift of just one vote from the Alabama case would flip the outcome.
With the call for new arguments, Louisiana changed its position and is no longer defending its map.
The Trump administration joined on Louisiana’s side. The Justice Department had previously defended the voting rights law under administrations of both major political parties.
For four years in the 1990s, Louisiana had a second Black majority district until courts struck it down because it relied too heavily on race. Fields, then a rising star in the state’s Democratic politics, twice won election. He didn’t run again when a new map was put in place and reverted to just one majority Black district in the state.
Fields is one of the two Black Democrats who won election to Congress last year in newly drawn districts in Alabama and Louisiana.
He again represents the challenged district, described in March by Roberts as “a snake that runs from one end of the state to the other,” picking up Black residents along the way.
If that’s so, civil rights lawyer Stuart Naifeh told Roberts, it’s because of slavery, Jim Crow laws and the persistent lack of economic opportunity for Black Louisianans.
Fields said the court’s earlier ruling that eliminated federal review of potentially discriminatory voting laws has left few options to protect racial minorities, making the preservation of Section 2 all the more important.
They would never win election to Congress, he said, “but for the Voting Rights Act and but for creating majority minority districts.”
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Associated Press writer Gary Fields contributed to this report.
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Follow the AP’s coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court at https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court.
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NJ governor race enters final stretch as candidates trade barbs
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Last week in Nutley, Republican gubernatorial hopeful Jack Ciattarelli pitched his gubernatorial candidacy to more than 100 people crowded inside Mamma Vittoria banquet hall.
Ciattarelli, who is making his third bid for the state’s top job, opened his remarks by referencing a group of protestors gathered outside on Franklin Avenue in this Essex County town.
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“How disappointed are they going to be in 28 days?” Ciattarelli said to applause from the crowd of his supporters. “Because I’m here to tell you right here, right now, in 28 days, we’re declaring victory. We’re winning this race.”
It’s less than four weeks until New Jersey voters decide whether Ciattarelli, a former assemblyman, or Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill will become our next governor in a race that has become increasingly bitter as both sides claim the other is lying about their record. Rising costs, immigration, Sherrill’s military record, and Ciattarelli’s support of President Donald Trump have dominated the campaign in its most recent weeks.
The two are competing on Nov. 4 to replace outgoing Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat who is wrapping up his two terms as governor in January and cannot seek a third term this year. Vic Kaplan, a Libertarian, and Joanne S. Kuniansky, representing the Socialist Workers Party, will also be on the ballot.
Sherill told reporters during a campaign stop at Kean University Monday that the large turnout for June’s six-person Democratic gubernatorial primary indicated how eager the party is to remain in power for a third straight term.
“That’s the kind of enthusiasm we’re seeing on the ground. We are working to get that, take that enthusiasm and ensure that every single person gets to the polls,” she said.
Polling edge
Since polling ramped up at the start of September, surveys of the contest have usually shown Sherrill with a sizable single-digit lead.
Though some polls have suggested a closer race — including a tied result from an Emerson College poll released last month — Fairleigh Dickinson University Poll director Dan Cassino believes Sherrill has the edge.
“I think we do see Democrats freaking out and getting worried and being nervous because they’re Democrats in New Jersey and that is their species’ being,” Cassino said. “I don’t think we have any particular reason for them to be nervous, but I think they very much are.”
An Axios report cited private conversations with unnamed Democrats to say the party is increasingly concerned that Sherrill could lose the race. Sherrill brushed the criticism off on Monday, suggesting national Democrats “are in a different place.”
“This is just the kind of, I think, electorate that is ready to fight hard for the things we care about, and I think we’ll see those results in November,” she said.
Ashley Koning, director of Rutgers University’s Eagleton Center for Public Interest Polling, warned the race would come down to turnout — something next to impossible to forecast.
“Turnout has never been something that’s predictable, but it certainly is not predictable now, and when you overlay the national political context on top of our race in this state, it is incredibly difficult to get a good handle on where this actually is, other than of course it’s close,” Koning said.
Polls of New Jersey’s 2021 gubernatorial race — when Murphy faced Ciattarelli — mostly missed the mark. Though Real Clear Politics’ polling average showed Murphy up 7.8 points over Ciattarelli, the governor won reelection by just 3.2 points.
Pollsters have made some changes to prevent another miss. Fairleigh Dickinson University’s poll began weighting its results by education and region to more accurately reflect attitudes across the state, Cassino said, though the effect of such changes is so far untested.
There are other reasons to think the race will be close, and the candidates’ increasing acrimony numbers near the top of the list.
Sherrill and Ciattarelli have launched ads seeking to tar their opponent in what Cassino said is a bid to drive down turnout among their rival’s base.
“The fact that it’s turned negative tells you both candidates think this race is up for grabs,” Cassino said, later adding, “This is trying to winnow the electorate down to just the most committed voters because both sides think they have an advantage there.”
Rough and tumble
Turnout in this year’s governor’s race is expected to be low, as is typical for the state’s odd-year elections. In 2021, just 40% of the state’s eligible voters cast ballots in the general election.
But the campaigns’ turn toward mudslinging could also just reflect the growing bitterness of American politics.
“I think that’s what politics is nowadays. I think we have seen more and more nationalized campaigns, including here in the Garden State,” said Koning. “This is just what politics is. This is what it’s expected to be, and that civility and decorum that used to once, potentially, accompany it is gone.”
Ben Dworkin, director of the Rowan Institute for Public Policy and Citizenship, said this year’s negativity hasn’t reached any high-water marks.
“Negative campaigns, contrasts over policies happen all the time. Personal attacks are unfortunate, but they happen in this game. We’re not playing tiddlywinks here,” he said. “This is New Jersey politics. It’s a rough-and-tumble sport.”
Trump could also prove an unpredictable variable in the race.
Sherrill has invoked him often on the campaign trail, hoping to tap the same animus that helped propel her to her first congressional term in 2018. On Monday, she criticized the effect of Trump’s tariffs and the continued federal government shutdown, which Democrats blame on Republicans and Republicans blame on Democrats.
“Voters are seeing Trump is costing them an incredible amount of money, and every time they go to Jack to say, ‘What are you going to do about it?’ his response is largely, ‘I agree with it,’” she said.
Ciattarelli’s mentions of Trump have largely been to mock Sherrill for her focus on him.
“If you get a flat tire on the way home today, it’s President Trump’s fault,” Ciattarelli joked in Nutley. “There’s nothing this woman won’t blame on President Trump.”
Historically, New Jersey backs the governor who doesn’t share the president’s party affiliation. Murphy bucked that trend to win reelection in 2021, but at least some of that win can be attributed to the pandemic, Dworkin said.
The state also rarely selects a governor from the same party three times in a row. New Jersey last did so when Gov. Richard Hughes was elected to succeed Gov. Robert Meyner in 1961.
“I think the fact that we’re really not sure which one of these kinds of trends is going to be dominant reflects the closeness of the race,” Dworkin said.
New Jersey Monitor is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. New Jersey Monitor maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Terrence T. McDonald for questions: info@newjerseymonitor.com.
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Nikita Biryukov and Sophie Nieto-Munoz, New Jersey Monitor
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Haiti’s transitional leaders end controversial effort to rewrite 1987 constitution
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Member of Haiti’s Transitional Presidential Council returned to the grounds of the National Palace on Thursday, October 9, 2025, for a Council of Ministers meeting for the first time since January 2024
Haiti Presidential Office
Haiti’s transitional government has officially put an end to efforts to draft a new constitution, as leaders returned to the National Palace for the first time since armed gangs forced the government to abandon downtown Port-au-Prince.
The decision by the Transitional Presidential Council came Thursday during a Council of Ministers meeting at the National Palace. The government last held such a gathering there in January 2024 under then-prime minister Ariel Henry, who was forced to resign a month later by Washington as gangs launched coordinated attacks across the capital.
As leaders of the presidential panel and current Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé met inside Thursday, automatic gunfire could be heard on the Champ-de-Mars, the sprawling public square bordering the palace grounds.
“They have finally come to their senses and realized they could not embark themselves and the country on an illegal and hazardous path. All that money spent in vain,” said Bernard Gousse, a lawyer and former justice minister who chaired a Port-au-Prince Bar Association committee that recently issued a scathing report on the draft constitution.
The proposal had been spearheaded by a steering committee of the National Conference. The lawyers’ committee argued the process was illegal because it violated the provisions of the 1987 Constitution for how it can be amended, and because the steering committee had failed to meet with various social, political and professional groups to get public input and buy-in, even though that was supposed to be part of their procedures.
The lawyers and others also pointed out that on the day the nine members of the transitional presidential council took office in April 2024, rather than declare the Constitution to be void and declare the country to be in a transition, they took an oath on the Constitution and vowed to uphold it.
On Thursday, the mandate of the steering committee was terminated. The mandate of the Provisional Electoral Council also was amended to remove the need for the agency to organize a referendum to vote on a new constitution. The Council of Ministers also adopted a delayed 2025-26 budget for the country.
For months, the initiative to draft a new constitution had been mired in controversy, with political leaders, legal experts and constitutional scholars questioning the legitimacy of the process and the contents of the proposed draft. Among the most contentious issues: The draft reduced the power of Parliament, introduced a new office of vice president and created regional governors with open-ended terms, potentially making them more powerful than the president, who would be limited to two five-year terms..
Haitians living in the U.S. also objected because they were they left out of the process. They also argued that if the measure was pursued, Haiti would find itself in a new constitutional crisis.
In January, a group spearheaded by former parliamentarian Jerry Tardieu, and charged by the steering committee to get public input, stated it faced “numerous challenges” doing so due to Haiti’s gang crisis.
“The closure of Port-au-Prince airport, the isolation of the capital and the continued deterioration of security prevented the group from traveling to the provinces for important departmental meetings and consultations abroad with the diaspora —as originally anticipated,” the Working Group on the Constitution said after submitting its report, recommending a constituent assembly be put in place ahead of any referendum.
The group also noted that mounting political tensions and the widespread growing violence “created a heavy atmosphere not conducive to a serene and constructive dialogue on the constitution.”
Foreign diplomats and Haitian leaders have all laid blame for the country’s instability on its 1987 Constitution, which was drafted after the fall of the Duvalier family dictatorship and which failed to respond to the crisis Haiti found itself in when President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated on July 7, 2021. Moïse had failed to hold timely elections, leaving Haiti with only 10 elected officials, all members of the Senate, throughout the country at the time of his death.
Others have argued that while some constitutional provisions — like a burdensome governance structure and staggered elections — need amending, the cause of Haiti’s instability is not the document but the failure of politicians to enforce it.
Members of the transitional government had little to say publicly after receiving copies of the draft constitution from the steering committee. Privately, they had concerns and debated how they would discard the project. It wasn’t until the U.S. Embassy’s Chargé d’Affaires Henry Wooster earlier this month posted a pointed message in a video on X that Haitian leaders decided to finally make a decision.
In the message, Wooster called on Haiti’s transitional council and government to “fully fulfill their role by proposing a concrete plan, with a timetable for elections and political transition.”
Henry Wooster, the chargé d’affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Haiti. U.S. State Department His failure to mention the constitutional referendum, which some countries just last month has referred to in public comments at the Organization of American States, was widely interpreted as a quiet endorsement by Washington to abandon the controversial push.
During a press conference ahead of the United Nations Security Council vote for a new “Gang Suppression Force” for Haiti, Wooster said Haitians need to have elections to choose a new president. Questions about security, elections and the constitution must not be allowed to be “a red herring for taking action,” he said.
“In other words, you can’t stay in those jobs for life,” Wooster said, referring to the Transitional Presidential Council as well as members of the current government.
Wooster acknowledged that there have been obstacles to holding elections in Haiti, which increasingly looks like it will not have a newly elected president in office before the mandate of the presidential council expires on Feb. 7, 2026.
“The obstacles have ranged the spectrum from security crisis or crises, a refusal on the part of some members of the Transitional Presidential Council to act, to move, and a nettlesome matter of the Constitution,” he said during the Sept. 24 press conference on advancing U.S. foreign policies priorities in Haiti. “The question is do Haitians have to fix the Haitian Constitution before they can have a legitimate election? Or, do they have to fix the Constitution to have a credible… elected head of state, or can it wait?”
The U.S. diplomat emphasized that Haiti, which last held general elections in 2016 and last had an elected president in July 2021, needs to have “a democratically elected head of state.”
“That must happen,” said Wooster. “The question on whether or not, how, the particulars of the Constitution, that’s a matter for Haiti to decide.”
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Janet Mills chances of beating Susan Collins in Maine, according to polls
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Maine Governor Janet Mills, a Democrat, is preparing to launch a challenge to longtime GOP Senator Susan Collins in what is likely to become one of the most closely watched races of the midterms, the Associated Press reported on Friday, citing two people familiar with her plans.
Jordan Wood, a Democrat who announced his Senate campaign earlier this year, reacted to the report in a statement to Newsweek.
“Primaries are an important part of the democratic process because they give voters a real choice for our future. Since launching the campaign, we’ve organized more than 30 events across the state and voters consistently tell me they want an open and vibrant primary process. With so much at stake, Mainers want to decide which candidate can defeat Susan Collins, defend our democracy from Donald Trump, and deliver for working families,” he said.
Newsweek reached out to spokespersons for Collins, Mills and other Senate candidates for comment via email.
Why It Matters
Maine generally leans Democratic, having backed former Vice President Kamala Harris by about seven points last November, but Collins has handily won reelection in the past due to her more moderate policy positions and close ties to the state. Democrats, however, believe 2026 has the potential to be her closest race yet as President Donald Trump’s approval slips nationwide, and as he remains unpopular in the Pine Tree State.
National Democrats view Mills, who has also won by wide margins in her two gubernatorial races, as a top recruit for the race. But others are less sold on the idea of her candidacy, believing that other Democrats already in the race such as Graham Platner, whose campaign has garnered nationwide attention, could make for a stronger candidate.
What To Know
Maine is likely a must-win for Democrats hoping to reclaim control of the Senate, where Republicans currently hold a 53-47 majority. Collins is the only Republican in a Harris-won state up for reelection. Democrats also view an open race in battleground North Carolina as a prime pickup opportunity, but other potential flips would require them to win more conservative territory.
Mills will bring high name recognition into the race, as voters are already familiar with her from her stint as attorney general and governor. She flipped the governor’s office in 2020, winning by about seven points, and won reelection in 2022 by nearly 13 points against former Governor Paul LePage. She is unable to run for reelection due to term limits.
But she may face a competitive primary against Platner, Maine Beer Company co-founder Dan Kleban and Wood, the former President of End Citizens United, all of whom have already announced their campaigns.
Polling on the Senate race remains limited despite its importance for the midterms.
Polls have generally found that Mills enjoys stronger approval than Collins.
A University of New Hampshire poll from over the summer found that 14 percent of Mainers view Collins favorably, while 57 percent view her unfavorably. An additional 26 percent were neutral. Meanwhile, 51 percent of Mainers view Mills favorably and 41 percent unfavorably. Only 7 percent were neutral on Mills, according to the survey, which surveyed 846 Mainers between June 19 and June 23. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.
A Pan Atlantic Research poll yielded better results for Collins, finding that 49 percent of Mainers view her favorably and 45 percent view her unfavorable. It found that 52 percent of respondents viewed Mills favorably, while 44 percent viewed her unfavorably. It surveyed 840 likely voters from May 12 to May 26, and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
Morning Consult found earlier this year that Mills had a net approval rating of +2—making her the least popular Democratic governor in the country—though Collins’ approval was -16. That poll took place from April to June of this year, and the sample sizes varied by state.
Polls in 2020 were notably off in Maine. Although surveys showed former Maine House Speaker Sara Gideon with a lead, Collins ended up prevailing with just over 50 percent of the vote.
Mills, viewed as a more centrist Democrat, engaged in a high-profile debate with the White House over Trump’s efforts to deny states funding over transgender athletes, telling him “We’ll see you in court.”
What People Are Saying
Senator Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent, wrote on X Thursday: “Graham Platner is a great working class candidate for Senate in Maine who will defeat Susan Collins. It’s disappointing that some Democratic leaders are urging Governor Mills to run. We need to focus on winning that seat & not waste millions on an unnecessary & divisive primary.”
Pollster Adam Carlson wrote on X in August: “Sometimes to take out a modern political anomaly like Susan Collins, you need to try something different Janet Mills has been a good governor, but she’s 77, not especially popular, and has been in politics since 1980 Graham’s background might be unusual, but he’s got the juice.”
Commentator Russel Drew wrote on X on Friday: “We need to see some new, legit polling about #MESEN. The oyster farmer is absolutely an interesting candidate, but Gov. Mills has already won statewide twice. F*** our feelings. Let’s see the data.”
Anna Palmer, CEO of Punchbowl News, said during The Daily Punch podcast: “This is a huge get for Senat Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who is on a recruiting tear. But Mills will have to contend with a crowded field of Democratic challengers who didn’t wait to jump in while she made up her mind. This is something that Democrats have been waiting for, and it seemed like she was taking her sweet time to get into the race, and now it is finally here. This could potentially be a problem for Susan Collins.”
What Happens Next?
Mills and other candidates will spend the coming months making their cases to voters about why they are the best candidate to challenge Collins in the Senate race. Forecasters give Collins an edge—both the Cook Political Report and Sabato’s Crystal Ball classify the race as leaning Republican.
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Former Republican official buys Dominion Voting — target of 2020 conspiracy theories
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DENVER — DENVER (AP) — Voting equipment company Dominion Voting Systems, a target of false conspiracy theories from President Donald Trump and his supporters since the 2020 election, has been bought by a firm run by a former Republican elections official, the new company announced Thursday.
The newly formed company, Liberty Vote, also vowed to follow the executive order Trump signed last spring seeking sweeping changes to election policies that multiple judges have put on hold for violating the Constitution.
KNOWiNK, a St. Louis-based provider of electronic poll books that allow election officials to confirm voter information, announced the deal and the name change. In a possible nod to a groundless conspiracy theory that linked Dominion to the late Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez, the release highlighted that the company would become “100% American-owned.”
The announcement also quotes KNOWiNK’s owner, former St. Louis elections director Scott Leiendecker, as vowing to provide “election technology that prioritizes paper-based transparency,” one of the longtime demands of election conspiracy theorists. Almost all U.S. voting equipment already leaves a paper trail.
Dominion’s former CEO confirmed the sale in a single-sentence statement on Thursday: “Liberty Vote has acquired Dominion Voting Systems,” John Poulos said.
The release from the new company vows to reintroduce “hand-marked paper ballots” and adjust company policies to follow Trump’s executive order on voting procedures, which is not in effect because judges have ruled that Trump doesn’t have the power to mandate them. Part of the president’s order sought to prohibit voting equipment that produces a paper record with “a barcode or quick-response code” — equipment that is currently in use in hundreds of counties across 19 states.
Denver-based Dominion was at the heart of some of the most fevered conspiracy theories about Trump’s loss to Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 election., Those false allegations sparked a number of defamation lawsuits against conservative-leaning media and the president’s allies, including a settlement in 2023 in which Fox News agreed to pay Dominion $787 million and one this year that Newsmax settled for $67 million.
The announcement from the new company does not disclose the cost of the transaction, but a spokesman said all the money was put up by Leiendecker. Both companies involved are privately held.
The false allegations against Dominion made its brand toxic in many Republican-leaning states and counties. But voting machine companies are usually careful about making overt political statements, given that the market for their equipment is split between places under Republican and Democratic control.
The statements by Liberty Vote saying it will align with Trump’s executive order, which has been challenged by Democratic state attorneys general, the Democratic National Committee and an array of voting and civil rights groups, could lead to concerns in blue states that currently use Dominion equipment.
But some election officials said Thursday that KNOWiNK had seemed to steer clear of 2020 conspiracy theories and acted like a typical, nonpartisan firm.
“They have a good reputation in the field,” Stephen Richer, a Republican who was targeted by Trump and his allies when he served as the top elections official in Arizona’s Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix.
Despite years of detailed debunking of the Dominion conspiracy theories, Trump has continued to repeat them even as recently as a few weeks ago, when he vowed to get rid of voting machines. The president doesn’t have the power to do that because the Constitution gives states and Congress the authority to set election and voting rules.
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Macron is set to appoint a new French PM in last-ditch move to tackle turmoil
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PARIS — PARIS (AP) — After a week of intense political turmoil, French President Emmanuel Macron is set to appoint a new prime minister Friday in his latest bid to break the political deadlock that has gripped the country for more than a year, as France struggles with mounting economic challenges and ballooning debt.
The appointment is widely seen as the president’s last chance to revive his second term, which runs until 2027. With no majority in the National Assembly to push through his agenda, Macron faces increasingly fierce criticism, even from within his own camp, and has little room to maneuver.
Outgoing Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu abruptly resigned Monday, only hours after unveiling a new Cabinet. The shock resignation prompted calls for Macron to step down or dissolve parliament again. But they remained unanswered, with the president instead announcing on Wednesday that he would name a successor within 48 hours.
Over the past year, Macron’s successive minority governments have collapsed in quick succession, leaving the European Union’s second-largest economy mired in political paralysis as France is faced with a debt crisis. At the end of the first quarter of 2025, France’s public debt stood at 3.346 trillion euros ($3.9 trillion), or 114% of gross domestic product.
France’s poverty rate also reached 15.4% in 2023, its highest level since records began in 1996, according to the latest data available from the national statistics institute.
The economic and political struggles are worrying financial markets, ratings agencies and the European Commission, which has been pushing France to comply with EU rules limiting debt.
Macron may turn to a figure from the left, which managed to form a coalition in the 2024 legislative elections, or opt for a technocratic government to sidestep partisan deadlock.
In any case, the new prime minister will have to seek compromises to avoid an immediate vote of no confidence and may even be forced to abandon the pension reform that gradually raises the retirement age from 62 to 64. Macron fought fiercely for the deeply unpopular measure, which was enacted into law in 2023 despite mass protests.
Lecornu argued that Macron’s centrist bloc, its allies, and parts of the opposition could still rally to form a working majority. “There’s a majority that can govern,” he said. “I feel that a path is still possible. It is difficult.”
The stalemate stems from Macron’s shock decision in June 2024 to dissolve the National Assembly. The snap elections produced a hung parliament, with no bloc able to command a majority in the 577-seat chamber. The gridlock has unnerved investors, infuriated voters, and stalled efforts to curb France’s spiraling deficit and public debt.
Without stable support, Macron’s governments have stumbled from one crisis to the next, collapsing as they sought backing for unpopular spending cuts. Lecornu’s resignation, just 14 hours after announcing his Cabinet, underscored the fragility of the president’s coalition amid deep political and personal rivalries.
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Macron Is Set to Appoint a New French Prime Minister in Last-Ditch Move to Tackle Turmoil
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PARIS (AP) — After a week of intense political turmoil, French President Emmanuel Macron is set to appoint a new prime minister Friday in his latest bid to break the political deadlock that has gripped the country for more than a year, as France struggles with mounting economic challenges and ballooning debt.
The appointment is widely seen as the president’s last chance to revive his second term, which runs until 2027. With no majority in the National Assembly to push through his agenda, Macron faces increasingly fierce criticism, even from within his own camp, and has little room to maneuver.
Outgoing Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu abruptly resigned Monday, only hours after unveiling a new Cabinet. The shock resignation prompted calls for Macron to step down or dissolve parliament again. But they remained unanswered, with the president instead announcing on Wednesday that he would name a successor within 48 hours.
Over the past year, Macron’s successive minority governments have collapsed in quick succession, leaving the European Union’s second-largest economy mired in political paralysis as France is faced with a debt crisis. At the end of the first quarter of 2025, France’s public debt stood at 3.346 trillion euros ($3.9 trillion), or 114% of gross domestic product.
France’s poverty rate also reached 15.4% in 2023, its highest level since records began in 1996, according to the latest data available from the national statistics institute.
The economic and political struggles are worrying financial markets, ratings agencies and the European Commission, which has been pushing France to comply with EU rules limiting debt.
Uncertainty surrounds the choice of the next PM
Macron may turn to a figure from the left, which managed to form a coalition in the 2024 legislative elections, or opt for a technocratic government to sidestep partisan deadlock.
In any case, the new prime minister will have to seek compromises to avoid an immediate vote of no confidence and may even be forced to abandon the pension reform that gradually raises the retirement age from 62 to 64. Macron fought fiercely for the deeply unpopular measure, which was enacted into law in 2023 despite mass protests.
Lecornu argued that Macron’s centrist bloc, its allies, and parts of the opposition could still rally to form a working majority. “There’s a majority that can govern,” he said. “I feel that a path is still possible. It is difficult.”
The stalemate stems from Macron’s shock decision in June 2024 to dissolve the National Assembly. The snap elections produced a hung parliament, with no bloc able to command a majority in the 577-seat chamber. The gridlock has unnerved investors, infuriated voters, and stalled efforts to curb France’s spiraling deficit and public debt.
Without stable support, Macron’s governments have stumbled from one crisis to the next, collapsing as they sought backing for unpopular spending cuts. Lecornu’s resignation, just 14 hours after announcing his Cabinet, underscored the fragility of the president’s coalition amid deep political and personal rivalries.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Photos You Should See – Oct. 2025
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Former Republican Election Official Buys Dominion Voting — a Target of 2020 Conspiracy Theories
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DENVER (AP) — Voting equipment company Dominion Voting Systems, a target of false conspiracy theories from President Donald Trump and his supporters since the 2020 election, has been bought by a firm run by a former Republican elections official, the new company announced Thursday.
KNOWiNK, a St. Louis-based provider of electronic poll books that allow election officials to confirm voter information, announced the deal and the name change. In a possible nod to a groundless conspiracy theory that linked Dominion to the late Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez, the release highlighted that the company would become “100% American-owned.”
The announcement also quotes KNOWiNK’s owner, former St. Louis elections director Scott Leiendecker, as vowing to provide “election technology that prioritizes paper-based transparency,” one of the longtime demands of election conspiracy theorists. Almost all U.S. voting equipment already leaves a paper trail.
Dominion’s former CEO confirmed the sale in a single-sentence statement on Thursday: “Liberty Vote has acquired Dominion Voting Systems,” John Poulos said.
The release from the new company vows to reintroduce “hand-marked paper ballots” and adjust company policies to follow Trump’s executive order on voting procedures, which is not in effect because judges have ruled that Trump doesn’t have the power to mandate them. Part of the president’s order sought to prohibit voting equipment that produces a paper record with “a barcode or quick-response code” — equipment that is currently in use in hundreds of counties across 19 states.
Denver-based Dominion was at the heart of some of the most fevered conspiracy theories about Trump’s loss to Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 election., Those false allegations sparked a number of defamation lawsuits against conservative-leaning media and the president’s allies, including a settlement in 2023 in which Fox News agreed to pay Dominion $787 million and one this year that Newsmax settled for $67 million.
The announcement from the new company does not disclose the cost of the transaction, but a spokesman said all the money was put up by Leiendecker. Both companies involved are privately held.
The false allegations against Dominion made its brand toxic in many Republican-leaning states and counties. But voting machine companies are usually careful about making overt political statements, given that the market for their equipment is split between places under Republican and Democratic control.
But some election officials said Thursday that KNOWiNK had seemed to steer clear of 2020 conspiracy theories and acted like a typical, nonpartisan firm.
“They have a good reputation in the field,” Stephen Richer, a Republican who was targeted by Trump and his allies when he served as the top elections official in Arizona‘s Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix.
Despite years of detailed debunking of the Dominion conspiracy theories, Trump has continued to repeat them even as recently as a few weeks ago, when he vowed to get rid of voting machines. The president doesn’t have the power to do that because the Constitution gives states and Congress the authority to set election and voting rules.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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US buys Argentine pesos, finalizes $20 billion currency swap
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WASHINGTON — WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. directly purchased Argentine pesos on Thursday and finalized a $20 billion currency swap framework with Argentina’s central bank, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a social media post.
The intent is to provide assistance from the Latin American country’s economic turmoil.
“U.S. Treasury is prepared, immediately, to take whatever exceptional measures are warranted to provide stability to markets,” Bessent said, adding that the Treasury Department conducted four days of meetings with Argentinian Finance Minister Luis Caputo in Washington D.C. to come up with the deal.
Bessent has insisted that the Argentina credit swap is not a bailout. Last month, President Donald Trump stopped short of promising Argentina’s President Javier Milei a financial bailout from the Latin American country’s economic turmoil.
Still, U.S. farmers and Democratic lawmakers have criticized the deal as a bailout of a country that has benefited from sales of soybeans to China, to the detriment of U.S. farmers.
Argentina is one of the biggest Latin American economies and the biggest borrower from the International Monetary Fund — its total outstanding credit as of Aug. 31 is $41.8 billion.
The offer to financially help Argentina comes as Trump has frequently promoted his “America First” agenda. Critics contend that the planned intervention is a way to reward a personal friend of Trump’s who is facing a critical midterm election next month.
Milei celebrated Bessent’s announcement on social media, hailing his economy minister, Luis Caputo, as “far and away, the best Minister of Economy in all of Argentine history…!!!”
Caputo was in Washington last week for talks with Bessent about the swap line.
Argentina’s deregulation minister, Federico Sturzenegger, also congratulated Caputo and the rest of the economic team. “Let’s keep working so that our children want to stay and live in Argentina,” he wrote, adding a pitch to voters to support Milei in the crucial midterm elections later this month.
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Associated Press writer Isabel DeBre in Buenos Aires contributed reporting.
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What to Watch for in the Virginia Governor’s Race Debate Between Spanberger and Earle-Sears
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RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Republican Winsome Earle-Sears and Democrat Abigail Spanberger are slated to debate their competing visions for Virginia on Thursday in the state’s gubernatorial race. And each woman arguably has the same goal: to blame her opponent for backing the chaos in Washington.
Virginia is one of two states choosing governors this November, and its election is often seen as a bellwether for the party in power across the Potomac River ahead of midterm elections next year.
Washington politics are especially relevant this year in Virginia, as President Donald Trump’s cuts to the federal workforce and Congress’ current government shutdown have an outsize impact in a state filled with federal employees and military personnel.
Thursday will be Spanberger and Earle-Sears’ first face-to-face debate after months of criticizing each other from afar.
Virginia has elected leaders from both parties in recent years. In 2021, Republican Glenn Youngkin beat former Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe in the governor’s race. State Democrats narrowly regained complete control of the legislature in the 2023 election.
Here’s what to watch for during the debate at Norfolk State University:
Trump is not on the Virginia ballot next month. But the Republican president is expected to play a central role in the debate.
Spanberger often mentions Trump and Earle-Sears in the same breath. Just last week, Spanberger’s campaign put out a news release arguing Earle-Sears doesn’t “take the economic consequences of Trump’s firings on Virginia seriously.”
Earle-Sears and other Republicans, however, tend to do-si-do around Trump’s name. They want to reap the benefits of his popularity among Republicans without invoking the ire of Virginians who dislike him.
Earle-Sears has spoken favorably of the president and invited him to the state to campaign on her behalf. She also has refused to condemn his cuts to the federal workforce earlier this year. Given the opportunity, she declined in a televised interview to tell Trump not to fire any more as part of the shutdown.
Trump has not directly endorsed Earle-Sears in the race. Although he visited Virginia twice last week, he ignored the Republican candidate for governor.
The showdown over the shutdown is likely to continue into and beyond Thursday night.
On Thursday, Spanberger will have the opportunity to paint Earle-Sears as a candidate unable to push back against Trump. Already, the Democrat has pointed out that the Republican president’s threats of imposing mass firings would distinctly impact Virginia, where at least about 315,000 federal workers reside.
Earle-Sears likely will look to tie her Democratic opponent to the federal shutdown after Congress failed to fund the government. Democrats, who have consistently voted against a short-term spending measure, have said they will only vote in support if Congress extends health care subsidies set to expire at the end of the year.
Earle-Sears has repeatedly publicly demanded that her opponent tell Virginia Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, both Democrats, to vote in favor of the spending bill.
One key to the debate will be what the candidates hope to be talking about.
Earle-Sears wants to keep transgender youths out of high school sports and bathrooms. Spanberger would rather talk about keeping Virginia affordable.
Earle-Sears has campaigned heavily for stronger laws involving transgender girls in Virginia’s public educational systems, flooding the airwaves with ads focused on the cultural divide that helped Trump win the presidency last fall.
Spanberger has mainly led with kitchen table issues — jobs, the cost of living, health care prices.
Each candidate has addressed her opponent’s cause with some hesitancy. Earle-Sears has said maintaining the Youngkin administration’s business successes is vital to her, though she does not criticize Trump’s role in cutting jobs across the state.
Spanberger has said she supports all children, but she stopped short of highlighting her support for trans kids specifically.
Questions each candidate could field
Both candidates could be called upon to defend themselves against criticism that has surfaced during the race.
But Reid isn’t the only candidate the Republican governor has called on to exit the race. Last week, The National Review published a report revealing that Jay Jones, the Democratic candidate for attorney general, in 2022 sent text messages suggesting the former Republican House speaker get “two bullets to the head.”
Republicans across the U.S., including Trump and Earle-Sears, demanded that Jones drop out for his use of such violent rhetoric. Spanberger condemned the text messages but has stopped short of asking for his departure despite growing pressure to do so. Jones has apologized.
The debate comes as threats of political violence have escalated across the country following the shooting deaths of conservative activist Charlie Kirk and former Minnesota Democratic House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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France’s Macron to Name New PM, Shelving Threat of Snap Elections
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PARIS—President Emmanuel Macron is moving to name a new prime minister rather than calling snap elections, an approach that buys time for the country’s political establishment to pull France out of its fiscal disarray.
Macron had been wielding the unspoken threat of dissolving the National Assembly and holding parliamentary elections after his latest prime minister, Sébastien Lecornu, abruptly resigned Monday amid bickering over his cabinet choices.
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Stacy Meichtry
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Congresswoman Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, a Tireless Advocate for Detroit, Dies at Age 80
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DETROIT (AP) — Former Detroit Congresswoman Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick has died at age 80, according to her family.
The family announced Cheeks Kilpatrick’s death Wednesday in a statement, calling her a “tireless warrior” for Detroit and an “unwavering champion for her constituents.”
“For over 32 years, Congresswoman Kilpatrick held elected office with passion, integrity, and an unyielding commitment to bringing positive change to our community,” the family said. “She will be deeply missed, not only by her family and friends, but by the entire Detroit community that she loved so dearly.”
A Democrat, Cheeks Kilpatrick became the second Black woman to serve in the U.S. House following her election in 1996. By her second term, she was assigned to the powerful House Appropriations Committee, where she worked to secure federal resources for Detroit, according to a biography on the U.S. House website.
She was a member of the Congressional Black Caucus and served as its chair from 2007-2009.
A former school teacher, Cheeks Kilpatrick first was elected in 1978 to the Michigan House of Representatives, where she served nine consecutive terms.
In 2008, her son, then-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, pleaded guilty to obstructing justice in a civil trial involving retaliation against police officers. He later resigned as mayor.
Kwame Kilpatrick was convicted in 2013 of federal racketeering, fraud, extortion and tax crimes and was sentenced to 28 years in prison. He was released in 2021 after President Donald Trump commuted his sentence.
“Congresswoman Kilpatrick leaves behind a legacy of service that shines as an example to all who knew her,” the Congressional Black Caucus said Wednesday in a statement.
In addition to her son, Cheeks Kilpatrick is survived by a daughter, Ayanna, and eight grandchildren.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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A New Orleans candidate’s murder conviction was tossed but the state still challenges his past
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NEW ORLEANS — NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A down-ballot race for New Orleans clerk of criminal court has turned personal and contentious, as candidate Calvin Duncan, who spent three decades in prison before his conviction was vacated, faces attacks from Louisiana’s attorney general and the incumbent clerk over whether he was truly exonerated.
Duncan, 62, taught himself law while in prison and struggled for years access his records. He says that makes his quest to be the city’s chief criminal recordkeeper personal.
“I don’t never want to have what happened to me happen to nobody else,” said Duncan, whose murder conviction was vacated by a judge in 2021. He’s listed in the National Registry of Exonerations alongside figures like “Central Park Five” member Yousef Salaam, now a New York City councilmember.
But Duncan’s campaign has been overshadowed by disputes about the word “exoneration” in his case, injecting drama into the final stretch of an otherwise sleepy municipal race. Voters head to the polls Saturday.
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill and incumbent clerk Darren Lombard have both denied Duncan’s innocence, pointing to a 2011 plea deal for manslaughter and armed robbery that Duncan says he accepted only to secure his release. In televised debates, media interviews and campaign advertisements, Lombard has called Duncan a murderer.
Duncan, a Democrat, accuses his opponents of trying to mislead voters. Duncan’s supporters say it’s an example of bare-knuckle politics in New Orleans, where more than 10 candidates are also running to replace term-limited Mayor LaToya Cantrell, who pleaded not guilty in September to corruption charges.
Jessica Paredes, executive director of the exoneration registry, said there should be no doubt that Duncan’s case deserves to be listed among the more than 3,700 exonerations tracked since 1989.
“We err conservatively to maintain the integrity of the database,” she said. “Calvin’s exoneration was not one of these close calls. His case clearly meets our inclusion criteria.”
Duncan presented new evidence of his innocence in a 1981 fatal shooting — including that police officers had lied in court — prior to his release from prison. A judge later vacated Duncan’s conviction under a legal statute of “factual innocence” and prosecutors dismissed the charges.
Legal scholars say there is no across-the-board legal standard for exoneration, but Paredes’ group generally defines it as occurring “when a person who has been convicted of a crime is officially cleared after new evidence of innocence becomes available.”
Even before Duncan ran for office, his case drew scrutiny from Murrill, the state’s Republican attorney general. After Duncan earned a law degree in 2023 and sought to obtain $330,000 in state compensation for his wrongful conviction, Murrill threatened to contest his ability to practice law unless he dropped his claim for the money, according to Jacob Weixler, Duncan’s attorney.
Murrill’s spokesperson, Lester Duhe, confirmed that account, saying Duncan “knowingly and intentionally pled guilty to this manslaughter in court.” Duncan dropped his claim to avoid any impediment to practicing law, Weixler said.
Less than two weeks before the election, Murrill escalated the dispute, releasing a public letter accusing Duncan of “gross misrepresentation” for calling himself exonerated. On Monday, dozens of attorneys in Louisiana signed a letter rejecting her claims.
In the legal community, Duncan had already achieved a degree of celebrity before running for office.
He recalls in his memoir how an older inmate advised him to learn the law to save himself. With only an eighth-grade education, Duncan honed his legal skills and was allowed to help other inmates prepare court documents as part of a prison legal program.
His persistence eventually shaped national law. Duncan was the driving force behind a 2020 U.S. Supreme Court decision that ended non-unanimous jury convictions in Louisiana and Oregon, the only two states still allowing a practice rooted in the Jim Crow era, said G. Ben Cohen, an attorney in the case.
Duncan said getting a police report, let alone a trial transcript, could take years for inmates. The New Orleans criminal court system still leans heavily on paper records, and thousands of files were lost during Hurricane Katrina. In August, troves of criminal court records were mistakenly thrown away, requiring the clerk’s office to salvage them from a landfill.
Lombard said a new digital filing system will come online this year. He calls his opponent unqualified, while Duncan argues he would bring a unique appreciation for the weight of the office.
“I’ve seen and experienced firsthand when a clerk office does not function properly,” he said.
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Associated Press journalist Stephen Smith contributed to this report. Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
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Sherrill, Ciattarelli to Meet in Final Debate in New Jersey Governor’s Race
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NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. (AP) — Democrat Mikie Sherrill and Republican Jack Ciattarelli will go head-to-head Wednesday in their final debate for New Jersey governor, as the federal government shutdown, Sherrill’s military records and the high cost of living have become major issues in the closely watched race.
New Jersey is one of two states, along with Virginia, electing governors this fall — contests that are being viewed as a measure of how voters feel about President Donald Trump’s second term and how Democrats are responding.
The hourlong debate gives the candidates a chance to cement their pitches to voters, who have already begun mailing in ballots ahead of the Nov. 4 election. Early in-person voting is scheduled for Oct. 25 to Nov. 2.
New Jersey has gone Democratic in presidential and Senate contests for decades, but it’s alternated between Republicans and Democrats in its odd-year elections for governor. Going back to the 1980s, voters went with the nominee from the party opposite of the president’s. But term-limited Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy broke that pattern in 2021 when he won reelection narrowly over Ciattarelli, now in his third campaign for governor.
The state, however, has grown more conservative in recent years, with Trump losing last November to Democrat Kamala Harris by just 6 points — a dramatic swing from his nearly 13-point deficit in 2016.
In their first debate, the candidates clashed pointedly, with Ciattarelli calling his opponent’s promises vague and dishonest and Sherrill tying Ciattarelli to Trump and questioning the former business owner and accountant’s math skills. Trump endorsed Ciattarelli in the GOP primary, saying he’d gone “ALL IN” and was “now 100% (PLUS!)” on the president’s “Make America Great Again” agenda, despite past criticism.
Here’s what to watch for in the debate, televised locally on ABC:
Shutdown and the Hudson River tunnel
Sherrill, a four-term congresswoman elected during Trump’s first midterm to a longtime GOP-held seat, has advocated for funding throughout her time in office and has sharply criticized the freeze, holding a news conference outside a suburban New York rail station.
She could lean into the effect the shutdown could have on the project, which is continuing work for now, though it’s unclear when federal reimbursements might run out if the shutdown drags on.
“Trump has frozen the funding for this all important project. And what has Jack Ciattarelli said? Not much,” Sherrill said at the recent event in Glen Ridge, New Jersey.
Ciattarelli has blasted Sherrill as responsible for the shutdown as a member of Congress. Look for him to criticize her for voting for previous continuing resolutions that kept the government open under former President Joe Biden despite voting against the current Republican-backed measure.
The release of military records
Another topic likely to be raised in the debate stems from two related but separate stories about Sherrill’s time in the Navy. One story detailed how Sherrill’s mostly unredacted military record was released to a Republican operative close to Ciattarelli’s campaign. The other centers on news that Sherrill did not participate in the 1994 graduation from the Naval Academy amid fallout that year from a well-documented cheating scandal.
Sherrill said she was barred from walking because she did not turn in fellow classmates. She still graduated, was commissioned and went on to become a helicopter pilot.
Ciattarelli’s campaign has called on her to release additional records to back up that defense, but she has declined.
“If those sealed disciplinary records match Representative Sherrill’s current explanation, we are unsure why she would refuse to release the records and put this matter to rest,” the campaign said in an email.
In a recent interview, Sherrill said her files show a “record of service.”
“I’m certainly not going to allow him,” she said, “to rampage through the records of my classmates at the academy.”
Instead, Sherrill’s campaign has seized on the improper release of information to the National Archives with personal information unredacted.
Her campaign has publicized an inspector general’s investigation into the release, and she’s published letters online from the archives, including an apology saying the records were given out “in error.”
It’s not clear whether any of the records the National Archives released in error were related to the reasons she was not allowed to participate in the graduation ceremony.
Affordability and who’s to blame
Both candidates are hammering the high cost of living in New Jersey. Sherrill has said she’d issue an executive order freezing utility rates, which have climbed steadily over the summer. Ciattarelli talks about capping sky-high property taxes as a percentage of home value.
Ciattarelli blames the economic woes on longtime Democratic control of the state Legislature and the governorship for the past eight years. Calling for a change in Trenton has been a central plank of his campaign.
Sherrill, meanwhile, points to the president’s tariffs and trade wars as the cause of voters’ belt tightening. She regularly asks voters to elect her to stand up to Trump’s policies, which she casts as out of touch in the Democratic-leaning state.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Photos You Should See – Sept. 2025
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