Hanging

Republican Rep. Tom Kean Jr. faces a tight reelection fight in New Jersey's 7th Congressional District, a race seen as a bellwether amid broader shifts in state politics. Kean, part of a political dynasty dating to the state's first governor, has tied himself closely to President Donald Trump, a move critics say conflicts with the moderate "Kean brand" built by his father, former Gov. Tom Kean Sr.

Once-reliable Republican suburbs like Somerset County have trended Democratic in the Trump era. A Kean loss would mark at least the third New Jersey GOP political dynasty ousted since Trump's rise, underscoring the collapse of the state's old patrician Republican order.

Tennessee Republican lawmakers are reviewing the state's execution protocols after problems with recent lethal injections, including the execution of Christa Pike, and are considering alternative methods for the next legislative session starting in January. State Sen. Richard Briggs cited a 2014 Amherst College study showing firing squads have no documented botched executions, unlike gas chambers, hanging, or electrocution. House Speaker Cameron Sexton said no method is off the table. Death penalty opponents, including execution witness Rev. Jeff Hood, dispute firing squads' reliability, pointing to South Carolina's April execution of Mikal Mahdi, where shooters reportedly missed the heart target. Five states currently permit firing-squad executions.

Tennessee's botched execution of Christa Pike on Sept. 30 came after months of warnings that officials dismissed, according to court records and attorneys. Pike's lawyers had told the state nine months earlier that her unusually difficult veins and a blood disorder, thrombocytosis, made her a high risk for a failed lethal injection, predicting she would suffer "unnecessary and superadded pain and suffering, terror, and disgrace." Courts, including the Tennessee Supreme Court, rejected requests for alternative methods or additional safeguards.

The warnings proved accurate just months after the state botched the May execution of Tony Carruthers, who survived more than an hour strapped down before officials abandoned the attempt. The same doctor, Mark Fowler, oversaw both botched procedures despite not having placed a central line in over a decade.

Gov. Bill Lee has ordered an investigation, canceled the state's remaining execution this year, and announced the resignation of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada, but has resisted calls to commute Pike's sentence. The episode adds to Tennessee's long history of execution complications dating back nearly two decades.

Tennessee's Sept. 30 lethal injection attempt on death row inmate Christa Pike failed when she survived two doses of pentobarbital, the first known case of its kind. Pike, convicted in the 1995 torture-murder of 19-year-old classmate Colleen Slemmer, spent nearly a week unconscious on a ventilator before waking and speaking in a Nashville hospital. Her attorneys say execution team members could not properly establish IV lines, and had unsuccessfully asked the court to allow hanging instead given Pike's platelet disorder and small veins.

It marks Tennessee's second botched execution this year, after officials in May could not establish an IV line for Tony Carruthers, who received a one-year reprieve from Gov. Bill Lee. Corrections Commissioner Frank Strada, hired in 2023 after overseeing botched executions in Arizona, has since resigned. The incident has prompted renewed scrutiny elsewhere, including in South Dakota, where lawmakers this year considered (and effectively killed) a bill to repeal the death penalty. The cases add to wider scrutiny of lethal injection protocols nationally, including past moratoriums in Alabama, and fuel ongoing arguments over capital punishment's reliability as roughly 29 executions have been carried out across the U.S. so far in 2026.

Tennessee Republican lawmakers are reconsidering the state's lethal injection protocol after the failed execution of Christa Pike, who reportedly remains unconscious on a ventilator after receiving two doses and surviving. Sen. Richard Briggs (R-Knoxville) called it one of the worst cases he's heard of and said the state should consider a more humane method, including the firing squad, citing research showing it has had zero botched executions compared to higher failure rates for gas chambers and electrocution. Concerns had already been building since May, when eight Republican lawmakers demanded a review of the Department of Correction after officials failed to establish IV access for Tony Carruthers' execution.

Rep. Scott Cepicky wants Gov. Bill Lee to call a special session rather than wait for the legislature's January return. Lee has tapped former U.S. Attorney Ed Stanton to investigate the Pike execution, and the state's last scheduled 2026 execution has been called off. Gubernatorial candidate Marsha Blackburn has proposed reviving the electric chair, injecting the issue into the 2026 governor's race.

The Senate adjourned for a five-week recess until after the midterm elections, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer expressing confidence Democrats will retake the majority, citing strong candidates and a favorable political climate. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Republicans still expect to hold their majority, though likely narrower, given the map favors states Trump carried previously. Democratic strategists remain split between targeting flippable states like Alaska, Ohio, and Iowa versus reach states such as Mississippi and Florida. Separately, Cook Political Report shifted its Florida and Texas governor's races toward Democrats, now rating both Lean Republican rather than safer categories, citing Trump's weak approval ratings and a difficult midterm environment for the GOP, though Republicans remain favored in both pricey, traditionally red states.

Other developments: a bipartisan Senate permitting reform deal faces resistance in the House, where Democrats say they'd rather wait until after the election to negotiate from a stronger position. House Judiciary's Jamie Raskin asked federal watchdogs to probe taxpayer-funded Trump administration TV ads ahead of the midterms. Schumer also said he'll push AI safety legislation next year, with some Republican support, while Third Way unveiled a Supreme Court reform platform featuring 18-year term limits and an ethics code, aiming to shape Democratic discourse through 2028.

For 25 years, residents of York County, South Carolina have gathered on the Sutton Road overpass above I-77 in Fort Mill to wave American flags in remembrance of the September 11 attacks. The tradition began the morning of the attacks in 2001, when Leonard Farrington grabbed a flag from outside his Rock Hill home and stood on the bridge waving it for hours. Others joined him over the years, including volunteer firefighter Rose DeBus, who has returned nearly every anniversary since. Farrington died in 2012, and the bridge was renamed in his honor the following year.

On the 25th anniversary, dozens of people, including firefighters, first responders and members of the veterans' advocacy group Rolling Thunder, lined both sides of the overpass as passing drivers honked in support. Organizers said turnout has fluctuated over the decades but saw a resurgence this year, with participants describing the ritual as a way to keep the memory of 9/11 alive for younger generations.

President Donald Trump held a rally in Myrtle Beach urging South Carolina Republicans to back Sen. Darline Graham in Tuesday's runoff against Rep. Ralph Norman, the contest that will decide the GOP nominee for the U.S. Senate seat once held by her late brother, Sen. Lindsey Graham. Trump, not on the ballot this cycle, told supporters to "pretend" he was in order to boost turnout and reiterated his "complete and total endorsement" of Graham. Gov. Henry McMaster, who appointed Graham to the seat after her brother's death, formally endorsed her hours before the rally.

The race tightened after Graham stumbled in a debate when asked about Taiwan and the South China Sea, admitting she was "not that informed on national security." Trump defended her as being "honest." The debate moment fueled momentum for Norman, who picked up a notable endorsement from former Gov. Mark Sanford, who broke with Trump, citing the nation's fiscal challenges after the national debt hit $40 trillion. The runoff winner becomes the GOP nominee for the November general election in the reliably red state.