Bastian Prockner
The first polling stations are open
The US midterm elections officially began at 11 a.m. German time. It starts with the polling stations in the state of Vermont in the northeast of the USA. They are already open at 5am local time. The other states are gradually following suit. The first polling stations in Kentucky and Indiana close at midnight German time. Then the counting begins.
Sarah Sendner
Court stops US government in dispute over postal voting in California
President Donald Trump's US government suffered a legal defeat in the dispute over postal votes in California. Federal Judge James Boasberg ordered the government to stop requiring California election authorities to separately store the ballots of 20,000 people. According to the Justice Department, they may not be U.S. citizens.
Boasberg stated that the government's demands violated the US Constitution. “The executive branch most likely violated the Elections Clause of the Constitution, which vests authority over election rules exclusively to the states and Congress,” Boasberg wrote in his decision. The US government had recently appealed the matter to the Supreme Court.
Eva Glaser
Trump unveils renovated “Reflecting Pool.”
A few hours before the important US midterm elections, President Donald Trump dedicated the remaining time to his prestigious project near the White House. The Republican explained in surprising detail how the reflecting pool at the Lincoln Memorial was renovated. Only later in his appearance did he use the stage to mention alleged successes in the Iran negotiations and in combating crime rates. The speech concludes with a return to the topic of the “Reflecting Pool”.
Eva Glaser
Election dispute in California: Trump turns on the Supreme Court
President Donald Trump's administration is going to the Supreme Court a day before the general election over allegedly misspelled ballots in California. With the urgent application, she wants to obtain an interim injunction until the appeal is decided, as the document shows. The government accuses California of issuing ballots to suspected non-citizens. Only U.S. citizens are allowed to vote in federal elections.
According to the proposal, California should separately store ballots that the government suspects were filled out improperly until the identity of the voter is clarified. She had listed the number of more than 20,000 possible cases. The Trump administration failed in lower courts. It remains unclear whether and when the Supreme Court will decide and whether this will have an impact on the parliamentary elections.
Eva Glaser
Lara Dehari
US auto association calls for permanent ban on Chinese vehicles
The US auto association AAI is calling for a permanent ban on Chinese vehicles in the United States. “We must protect the U.S. market from a flood of Chinese imports that pose surveillance risks and disadvantage established manufacturers who have invested in American locations for generations,” John Bozzella of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation (AAI) said Monday. The group represents almost all major automakers in the United States, including General Motors, Toyota and Volkswagen. In September, supporters of a bipartisan push in the Senate agreed to delay expedited passage of the measure until November.
Lara Dehari
Fox News ratings drop significantly ahead of midterms
The ratings on the conservative US station fell significantly before the midterms. CEO Lachlan Murdoch sees “news fatigue” as the main reason for this, as he said on a call on Monday where the company presented its quarterly figures. The company also observed a similar trend during US President George W. Bush's midterms, he continued.
Lara Dehari
Donations of 2.4 million dollars - El-Sayed benefits from his party colleague's change of course
Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed for Michigan said he received $2.4 million in campaign donations in the past 24 hours. His former primary rival, U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens, withdrew her support on Sunday and publicly supported Republican Mike Rogers. Stevens narrowly lost to El-Sayed in a controversial primary in August.
Lara Dehari
Fishing village in Alaska receives a visit from the FBI
Shortly before the US midterm elections, the sleepy fishing town of Petersburg in southwest Alaska has become the center of political attention. Former elementary school teacher Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. lives here and could cause President Donald Trump's Republicans to lose their majority in the Senate. FBI agents are now questioning residents who have donated money to Sullivan Jr., who is running as an outsider.
Republicans suspect that Sullivan only ran to steal votes from incumbent Dan S. Sullivan and help Democrat Mary Peltola win. Sullivan Jr. and Peltola deny that.
Lara Dehari
Donald Trump hopes for votes from farmers
“I love the farmers” – that’s what Donald Trump said at an election rally. Before the midterm elections, he framed his praise with financial commitments worth over $15 billion. Increased prices for diesel and fertilizer caused massive discontent in the industry, traditionally a core constituency of the US President's party.
Anna Kipnis
Midterms are coming – this is how the Handelsblatt reports on the US midterm elections
On Tuesday, Americans will re-elect a large part of the US Congress: all 435 seats in the House of Representatives and 35 of the 100 seats in the Senate. US President Donald Trump's Republicans could lose – or defend – their slim majority in both chambers.
Anna Kipnis
Trump wants to pardon confidants if necessary - including Musk
Donald Trump is prepared to preemptively pardon Elon Musk and close associates if Democrats win Congress in the midterm elections. The US President said this in the “Pod Force One” podcast. When asked whether that could also mean pre-emptive pardons, he replied: "I would do it if it were necessary, of course."
Trump rejected the suggestion that the Democrats could nationalize Musk's space company SpaceX. But he will “protect” Musk and his employees if congressional investigators target them. He specifically mentioned Edward Coristine, who was part of Musk's DOGE project. With DOGE, Musk wanted to cut government programs.
Trump referred to his predecessor: Joe Biden had granted precautionary pardons to his son Hunter and several government officials who would have feared retaliation in a second Trump administration. "That's what Biden did. He gave everyone a pardon," Trump said. He also cited the pardons given to people who investigated the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
Musk is supporting the Republicans in the election campaign with hundreds of millions of dollars. On Friday, he wrote on
Felicitas Dahmen
Trump is happy about the Democrats' dispute in Michigan
US President Donald Trump praised Democratic Congresswoman Haley Stevens after her endorsement of Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers in the state of Michigan. Stevens demonstrated courage and great, almost unprecedented loyalty to the people of Michigan, Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
The Republican leader of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, said at a campaign appearance with Trump in the state of Iowa that he had spoken to Stevens after the election recommendation. He encouraged them to stay safe and continue to speak the truth.
Luke Bay
Election recommendation for Republicans outrages leading US Democrats
The Democratic faction leader in the US Senate, Chuck Schumer, has condemned his party colleague Haley Stevens' recommendation for a Republican as a “despicable betrayal”. The Democratic congresswoman is supporting Republican Mike Rogers in the Senate election in Michigan. Michigan Democratic leader Curtis Hertel said Stevens had given up on everything she said was important to her.
The Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, however, downplayed the importance of Stevens' election recommendation for the Republican Rogers in front of journalists on Sunday. He focuses on issues that are important to voters, such as the high cost of living. He basically doesn't worry about Stevens.
Miriam Braun
Trump is using government aid as a means of pressure before the US elections
Donald Trump says Georgia Republican Senate candidate Mike Collins can call him any time he wants to ask for help for his state if he wins the election. However, if Georgia re-elects Democrat Jon Ossoff on November 3rd, it will be something completely different. If Ossoff called to ask for money, his response would be: "I don't give a damn what he wants," the president said during a recent appearance in the state, using a derogatory nickname for the Democrat.
It was a recurring theme at Trump's campaign rallies: From Georgia to North Carolina to Ohio to Kansas, he raised the possibility that his administration would be far less likely to support states where Democrats win in the upcoming midterm elections.
Those threats came at rallies where he touted tantalizing measures like new investments in the semiconductor industry, a submarine repair center and fewer restrictions on a certain type of diesel - to illustrate the concrete benefits that his Republicans' hold on power in the Senate and House of Representatives beyond November 3 could bring to voters.
Bastian Prockner
Court dismisses Trump lawsuit over Alaska election
A court has put a stop to President Donald Trump's administration's attempt to intervene in the midterm elections in Alaska. The state court granted motions to dismiss the lawsuit, the decision shows. A lawsuit filed by the government that has since been amended was also dismissed. This means that the likelihood that Trump could still succeed in intervening in the elections there is becoming ever smaller.
Essentially, the Trump administration is concerned with preventing the confirmation of a possible election defeat by Republican Senator Dan S. Sullivan. The case of the double name Sullivan on the ballot in Alaska has been in focus for weeks. Incumbent Sullivan is running against Democratic opponent Mary Peltola and political newcomer Dan J. Sullivan. Trump and his party fear that inattentive voters could place their cross incorrectly because of the similarity of names between the incumbent and the challenger.
Hannah Krolle
Internal party dispute among Democrats shortly before US congressional elections
Two days before the US congressional elections, Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed is facing headwinds in Michigan from his former Democratic rival Haley Stevens. Stevens, who narrowly lost to El-Sayed in the state's Democratic primary in August, appeared at a church in Detroit on Sunday with Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers.
Congresswoman Stevens was previously disinvited from a joint event with El-Sayed. Stevens has been critical of El-Sayed's statements about Israel. Her fiancé announced a few days ago that he would vote for Republican Rogers against El-Sayed in the congressional elections. El-Sayed had not done enough to address the concerns of the Jewish community, he said.
“Abdul promises to take money out of politics,” Stevens said in a statement Friday. “He can start by leaving Israel out of his explanation for everything Michigan can’t afford.” Stevens called on El-Sayed to condemn campaign advertising by an independent left-leaning group that blamed high food prices on U.S. support for Israel. El-Sayed reiterated on Saturday evening (local time) that the advertising did not come from his campaign team. “I do not agree with the content of this advertisement,” he said.
Eva Glaser
Trump fails in lawsuit against media report on Epstein connections
US President Donald Trump has failed in a lawsuit against the newspaper “The Wall Street Journal” and entrepreneur Rupert Murdoch over a report about his connections to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. A US federal judge in Miami dismissed the $10 billion lawsuit on Saturday. Trump had not proven that the Wall Street Journal and Murdoch had made defamatory statements with malicious intent, it said.
Judge Darrin Gayles said the lawsuit sought to "invent" flaws in The Wall Street Journal's reporting. The dismissal of the lawsuit is a setback for Trump and his administration, who have sought to marginalize several news media outlets. Trump is also involved in a legal dispute with the BBC, the AP news agency as well as CNN, MS NOW and “Politico”. The latter three have sued Trump to regain access to the White House. Trump publicly denounces media outlets that report in a way that he dislikes and often speaks of “fake news” in this context.
Marie Boms
Washington D.C. and Virginia are suing Trump's triumphal arch
US President Donald Trump envisions a huge triumphal arch in the US capital - but is now facing headwinds from Washington D.C. and the neighboring state of Virginia. They filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government in court, accusing it of failing to approve the plan yet by the U.S. Parliament, according to court documents. They therefore want to have construction banned.
Trump wants to build a huge triumphal arch that will be larger than the famous Arc de Triomphe in Paris. The plaintiffs also take exception to the height.
The triumphal arch is to be built in a central location in the capital. The Lincoln Memorial is nearby, and the huge Arlington military cemetery with hundreds of thousands of graves is not far away.
