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On Politics

Tue Oct 6 2026

Emily R. Condon | Trending politics reporter

@emily_r_condon

Hey readers! With Congress taking their recess, so is your usual author, Zach Schermele (for just a few days). Politics reporter Emily Condon here with you today to give you your daily dose of political news. The midterm elections are four weeks from today. Let's get caught up:

Unprecedented: TV ads, $90 senior checks, $5000 promises & voter roll combs

Tax-payer funded television ads, government checks headed to seniors' mailboxes, renewed promises of $5,000 checks if the GOP wins and federal agents combing through voter rolls: these are all pushes in the past week by President Donald Trump 's White House to boost Republicans' chances in the final weeks before the midterms.

Recent polls are showing that Democrats are poised to win in the midterms – just four weeks from today.

But Trump isn't buying it. Or so he says. He's still doubling down on claims that the polls are "fake" and made to suppress Republican turnout in November. Critics are sounding alarms on Trump's new methods.

"I think the president is trying to use all of the powers at his disposal to control the election results, and almost all of those efforts are illegal, but that has not deterred the administration," said Adav Noti with the Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan watchdog group that has fought some of the administration’s actions in court, told USA TODAY.

Other experts told USA TODAY that these moves are worrisome, and the White House doubled down on defending the president. Read what they had to say of Trump's approach from within the Oval Office to bolster the Republican Party.

US President Donald Trump dances on stage during a rally at Pinnacle Bank Expo Center in Grand Island, Nebraska, US, October 5, 2026. REUTERS/Nathan Howard

Nathan Howard, REUTERS

A politics roundup:

•	Trump said his White House aide Natalie Harp is "perfect," and like a "Price is Right" presenter.
•	Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the U.S. has limited information about the suspected pneumonic plague death in Russia, but he pressing Russia to be more transparent.
•	Millions of American seniors are expected to receive $90 government-funded checks, through an initiative launched by Trump.
•	The Department of Homeland Security is moving to strip citizenship from 40 people accused of crimes, in a denaturalization effort.

Trump is making his midterm rounds.

Nebraska. Maryland. Texas.

Those are the states on Trump's schedule this week, as he takes another, more traditional, method to advancing Republicans in the home stretch of the midterms.

In a Monday night trip to Nebraska – a state he handily won in 2024, Trump championed Republican candidates and signed an executive order for tax-free diesel fuel.

Today, he is in Baltimore County, Maryland for an event where he will unveil an investment in "American maritime dominance," through a new submarine manufacturing facility for the U.S. Navy, according to the White House. Maryland is no campaign stop for Trump, as the heavily blue state has no toss-up districts this midterm season. The new investment comes shortly after his announcement to make a steel mill in Iowa and while economic concerns are driving Trump's approval rating down.

Tomorrow, he will join Texas Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton , the state's attorney general, at the "Midterm Rally" in San Antonio. The appearance comes as Republicans are ramping up campaigning in the toss-up Texas race, where the Democratic candidate James Talarico is leading Paxton, according to a New York Times poll this week.

Former president Donald Trump pats Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on the shoulder as he leaves the stage during a rally at the Richard M. Borchard Regional Fairgrounds in Robstown, Texas on Saturday, Oct. 22, 2022.

Lucas Boland/Caller-Times/USA To, USA TODAY Network via Reuters Co

Supreme Court sessions kicks off, and USA TODAY's new interview with Alito.

On Monday, the Supreme Court opened their new term, where they debated whether to toss climate change lawsuit against big oil. Today, the high court is hearing arguments about employers investing in employee retirement and investment plans under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

Follow along with USA TODAY's Supreme Court correspondent Maureen Groppe as the term continues.

Justice Samuel Alito responded to questions from USA TODAYY's Groppe , upon the publishing date today of his new book "So Ordered: An Originalist's View of the Constitution, the Court, and Our Country." When asked by Groppe what role his Catholic faith plays in his approach to the law, Alito said his faith "commands me to be true to the oath that I took when I was appointed, and in that oath I promised to 'well and faithfully discharge the duties’ assigned under the Constitution."

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Emily Condon is a politics reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach her by email at econdon@usatodayco.com.

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