That might be an indication of both parties’ belief that it’s increasingly unlikely that Republicans will be able to hold their narrow House majority. Donors want to shape the contest that’s widely seen as up in the air — and that’s the race for control of the Senate.
Inside the Air Wars
There’s been lots of attention paid to the Senate race in Texas, where Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, has funneled $158 million to prop up the scandal-prone state Attorney General Ken Paxton.
But it’s actually Ohio that could be the most expensive Senate general election race of the midterms, according to AdImpact, with more than $420 million in total spending.
For the upcoming week alone, Republicans have reserved nearly $23 million in ads supporting Senator Jon Husted. Former Senator Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, has nearly $11.5 million booked.
The race appears to be a top priority for Trump, who has rallied twice in the state this month. He also held a rally in Northern Kentucky — which is part of the Cincinnati media market — over the weekend.
One Key Metric
3.7 percent: That’s how much higher prices were in September, compared with a year earlier.
The rising inflation is largely because of soaring energy prices, which have been pushed up by the war in Iran.
Top Talker
It was a messy week in Washington: A brand-new press secretary fired after five days. An ambassador ousted after she was accused of shaking down a donor. A key Trump ally accused of misallocating donations for the Kennedy Center.
None of that has anything to do with the midterms, directly. But it all amounts to a distraction from the Trump administration’s efforts to show that it is focused on getting the economy back on track.
One Poll Number
48 percent.
That’s the share of Americans who say they are financially worse off since Trump returned to office, according to a poll by The Washington Post, ABC News and Ipsos. That, The Post reported, is the highest that figure has been since 1986.
On the Issues
An unexpected Republican senator broke with Trump last week: Darline Graham of South Carolina.
Graham is campaigning for a full term in the seat that her brother, Lindsey Graham, held for decades before he suddenly died in July, and she’s been deeply reliant on the support of the president.
But on Saturday, she gently criticized Trump for exempting Russia from a sanctions measure named after her brother.
“Personally, I would choose to put the pressure on Russia to end the war and get gas prices down,” Graham told reporters at a campaign event. “Because I don’t trust Putin, and I don’t trust Russia.”
Quote of the Week
“Oh, shut up.”
That was Troy Jackson, the Democratic nominee for Senate in Maine, during his fourth and final debate with Senator Susan Collins, a Republican. Mr. Jackson’s words came after Ms. Collins accused him of coordinating with a protester who had begun yelling in the audience.
Ms. Collins has since suggested the remark was indicative of how Mr. Jackson treats women. In an interview on Sunday, Mr. Jackson stuck by his words.
“I just think that was another situation where she was talking down to me,” he said in a Sunday interview on CNN. “And so I’m not — I’m not going to apologize for that now.”
