Medicaid

Missouri's 5th Congressional District, anchored in the Kansas City metro, will use the 2022 map rather than the 2025 redistricting plan for the November 2026 election, after the state Supreme Court ruled on the matter following legal challenges. The district, traditionally Democratic-leaning, pits longtime incumbent Rep. Emanuel Cleaver against Republican state Sen. Rick Brattin, who sued over primary disruptions caused by the map dispute, and Libertarian Randy Langkraehr. Cleaver, in office since 2005, has won previous races by wide margins, while Brattin is campaigning as a Trump ally focused on border security and spending cuts. The redistricting fight had aimed to dilute Kansas City's Democratic base across neighboring districts.

Minnesota's midterm ballot features competitive races for three constitutional offices. Incumbent Attorney General Keith Ellison (D) faces attorney Ron Schutz (R) in a contest seen as a potential GOP breakthrough, as Republicans haven't won that office in 60 years. Secretary of State Steve Simon (D) faces former state Rep. Tad Jude (R), plus Green and Libertarian candidates, over election oversight and voter ID. For state auditor, Zack Filipovich (D) faces Scott Jensen (R) and a Forward Independence candidate to replace retiring incumbent Julie Blaha, who won in 2022 by the narrowest margin of any statewide race that year.

All three offices also serve as checks on the governor and oversee state retirement investments, raising their stakes beyond their core duties.

California's Proposition 40 would create the first U.S. tax on billionaires' net worth, but two rival measures, Propositions 41 and 42, contain "poison pill" language that could nullify it even if it wins a majority. Polling shows all three measures drawing majority support, pointing to voter confusion over the ballot language. A billionaire-backed coalition, including Sergey Brin and Eric Schmidt, has bankrolled the opposition, with spending topping $350 million against roughly $34 million raised by supporters, including labor unions like SEIU-UHW. Democrats are split: Bernie Sanders backs Prop. 40 while Gavin Newsom opposes it, favoring a national wealth tax instead. If competing measures both pass, the outcome would likely be settled in court.

The Wisconsin Elections Commission voted unanimously to prohibit the state's roughly 1,800 municipal clerks from using the federal SAVE database to verify voters' citizenship status, citing a state law restricting disclosure of voter registration data. Critics note the law includes an exemption for sharing data with law enforcement agencies. The decision follows a September Supreme Court ruling allowing the Trump administration's expanded SAVE program to continue amid litigation. The move has drawn criticism from Republican state lawmakers and election-integrity advocates, while Democratic candidates for governor and secretary of state have backed expanding benefits, including driver's licenses, to noncitizens.

The dispute could carry weight ahead of November elections, given narrow past margins in statewide Democratic primaries and estimates of tens of thousands of noncitizens residing in Wisconsin.

Maine's Senate race between five-term Republican incumbent Susan Collins and Democratic state Senate President Troy Jackson has become a referendum on Collins herself, with polls showing a tight contest. Jackson, a logger-turned-legislator who entered the race after primary winner Graham Platner withdrew amid sexual assault allegations he denies, has hammered Collins over economic anxieties, heating costs, and a ProPublica report on a past FBI bribery inquiry she denies wrongdoing in. Collins has leaned on her record steering federal funding to Maine and warns her seniority loss would hurt the state. A debate exchange over road-salt tariff exemptions went viral, encapsulating the race's focus on her decades-long incumbency rather than Jackson's own candidacy.

Delaware voters head to the polls Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026, with registration and absentee ballot deadlines already passed or approaching. Polls run 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., and despite closed primaries, all registered voters may choose any candidate in the general election. Top races include U.S. Senate, where Democratic incumbent Chris Coons seeks reelection against Republican challenger Michael Katz, a physician and former Democratic state senator who later ran as an independent before switching parties. In the attorney general race, Democratic incumbent Kathy Jennings, in office since 2019, faces Republican challenger David Graham, a Delaware National Guard veteran and certified public accountant. Results will factor into national control of Congress.

Federal and state prosecutors charged 15 people in Southern California, with at least eight arrests, in a scheme allegedly siphoning nearly $2 billion from healthcare programs, mostly Medicaid and private insurers. At least six defendants are doctors, including chiropractor Hany Malek and surgeon Dr. Harold Tabaie, accused of making roughly $134 million performing unnecessary invasive artery procedures, plus a network of sham substance abuse treatment centers accounting for over $1.5 billion in false billing. Gov. Gavin Newsom disputed a federal official's framing of California as a fraud hotspot, noting most losses hit federal or private insurance. The case follows a broader Trump administration push against benefits fraud, including a new $25 million whistleblower program, SNAP fraud crackdowns in Ohio, and a new Missouri-DOJ partnership ahead of the midterms.

Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, the Democratic U.S. Senate nominee, has acknowledged she never belonged to Phi Beta Kappa despite claiming in a 2016 legislative hearing that she "graduated Phi Beta Kappa." A Wall Street Journal investigation found her 2002 University of Minnesota commencement record showed no honors distinction, and her campaign confirmed she was only nominated but never joined, citing unpaid fees. The Journal also found her official state biography overstated her academic record, describing a double major in American Indian studies and child psychology, when she actually majored in child psychology with a minor in American Indian studies.

The disclosures add to scrutiny of Flanagan's record, including prior reporting on Medicaid overpayments tied to tribal programs and a 2025 state audit citing financial-management lapses in her office.