Hillary Clinton

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton toured the Youngstown Business Incubator and rallied in Liberty, stressing ties to Mahoning and Trumbull counties ahead of Election Day against Republican Vivek Ramaswamy. Acton has repeatedly addressed a Ramaswamy-backed ad featuring her estranged mother, calling her a liar and alleging mental health issues; Gov. Mike DeWine called it exploitative. Both candidates are closing with pitches on Ohio's affordability crisis, with Ramaswamy touting his business background and property-tax executive orders, and Acton emphasizing public-service experience, a working families tax cut, and school funding.

Ramaswamy has self-funded and outspent Acton nearly $80 million to $34 million overall, though Acton has outraised him recently; both have shattered Ohio's gubernatorial fundraising record, and neither has held elected office before. Democrats are banking on a late push, including a Cleveland rally with Barack Obama and expanded early voting, as prediction markets show Acton favored heading into Election Day.

Toms River's Township Council unanimously introduced zoning to add 140 apartments, including 28 affordable units, at Jamestowne Village, and approved converting 19 market-rate units to affordable at Autumn Ridge. But the council again failed to act on most of its court-ordered fourth-round affordable housing plan, originally due to the state in March. Mayor Daniel Rodrick accused the council of "betrayal"; council members blame him for the Jamestowne expansion. Fair Share Housing has asked a judge to enforce a 2025 settlement and strip the township's builder's remedy immunity, which could allow higher-density projects to bypass local zoning. A hearing is set for December 7, with disputed Route 70 and Route 9 parcels central to the standoff.

Early in-person voting opened in Grand Rapids, Michigan, giving residents 13 days to cast ballots before the Nov. 3 general election—beyond the nine days required by state law. Voters can cast ballots at any of four sites—St. Peter and Paul School, GRPS University, Ottawa Hills High School, and New Hope Baptist Church—rather than being limited to a home precinct, as on Election Day. The city is also offering live wait-time tracking online. City Clerk Joel Hondorp said absentee voting remains the most popular early option, and voters can bring absentee ballots to any early voting site or their precinct to run through the tabulator in person. The early voting window closes the Sunday before Election Day.

Prediction markets including Kalshi, Polymarket and PredictIt have favored Democrats Amy Acton and Sherrod Brown over Republicans Vivek Ramaswamy and Jon Husted in Ohio's governor and Senate races, giving each Democrat roughly 60-72% implied odds, while polling averages show both races as closer toss-ups. A Vanderbilt University study of 2,170 political contracts from the 2024 campaign found markets favored eventual winners 86.4% of the time, though most of that accuracy came from lopsided, already-likely outcomes. For closer contracts priced near 50-50, markets picked correctly only about 55% of the time. The study found markets generally well-calibrated, with slight evidence longshots were overpriced, but cautioned the results don't guarantee similar accuracy for Ohio's 2026 races.

Three Brothers Bakery in Houston has revived its novelty "cookie poll," letting customers cast informal votes by purchasing cookies decorated as candidates in the Texas U.S. Senate race. As of mid-October, state Rep. James Talarico has sold nearly 2,000 cookies, far outpacing Attorney General Ken Paxton and the bakery's gingerbread mascot, Gingy, with more than 2,200 cookies sold total across its four locations.

The bakery has run these polls since 2011, and its track record predicting real election outcomes is mixed. It correctly picked Trump's wins in 2016 and 2024, but missed on Obama in 2012, Biden in 2020 and Greg Abbott's 2022 reelection over Beto O'Rourke, each time favoring the eventual loser. While lighthearted, the poll has drawn attention as a local cultural barometer amid heightened interest in the Talarico-Paxton contest ahead of November's election, even as its predictive value remains largely anecdotal.

Rep. María Elvira Salazar, R-Fla., is facing a tightening re-election race in her heavily Hispanic Miami-area district and has picked up an endorsement from Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella, a Trump ally who called her "Colombia's best friend in U.S. Congress." De la Espriella and his wife have previously donated nearly $90,000 to Salazar's campaigns. The endorsement follows Salazar's public break with President Trump last month over immigration enforcement, which she said had "gone too far," drawing Trump's public criticism and social media attacks. She also recently received an endorsement from Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado.

Salazar's district is more than 74% Hispanic and has swung sharply between parties in past presidential elections. She faces Democrat Eliott Rodriguez, a former television anchor, in a race that forecasters have shifted toward Democrats and that national Democratic campaign groups are now targeting for a potential flip. Rodriguez has focused his campaign on local economic concerns rather than foreign endorsements.

President Donald Trump is set to rally in Youngstown, a onetime Democratic stronghold that swung sharply toward him over the past decade amid the collapse of regional steel manufacturing. Republicans, including Sen. Jon Husted, see the visit as crucial to motivating MAGA voters ahead of Ohio's statewide races, with strategists warning that even a small drop in Trump-aligned turnout could cost the GOP. Mahoning County backed Barack Obama by a landslide in 2012 before flipping to Trump, who won it by double digits in 2024.

Democrats, led by Sen. Sherrod Brown and gubernatorial hopeful Amy Acton, argue that rising costs for gas, groceries and utilities have eroded Trump's appeal among working-class voters who once saw him as an outsider fighting for them. Local Democrats accuse him of breaking promises on affordability and jobs, while Republicans counter that falling unemployment and policies like ending taxes on tips show progress. Both sides view the Mahoning Valley as a bellwether for whether Trump's coalition can still be mobilized now that he is the incumbent rather than the challenger.

A UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll shows Democratic gubernatorial nominee Xavier Becerra leading Republican Steve Hilton 58% to 33% among likely California voters, up from a 55%-37% edge in May. A separate September Public Policy Institute of California survey similarly put Becerra ahead 60% to 38%. Cost of living, including housing and fuel prices, ranked as voters' top concern. Hilton has downplayed the gap, arguing Californians want change after 16 years of one-party rule and citing campaign momentum.

The consistency of two double-digit leads is notable, but recent election history urges caution about treating September polling as a final verdict ahead of the November 3 vote. Analyses of the last three presidential elections found polls systematically underestimated Republican support relative to Democrats, and 2022 Wisconsin Senate polling swung sharply in the campaign's final weeks. Turnout modeling and late-deciding voters remain wildcards. For now, available data shows Becerra with a substantial advantage, though the race's final outcome is not yet determined.