Politics

(WASHINGTON) — With just a week until Election Day, Republican and Democratic party standard-bearers spanning the political spectrum are crisscrossing battleground states to rally with candidates in tight contests for federal and state offices.

Campaign events helmed by heavyweights like President Joe Biden, former presidents Donald Trump and Barack Obama and other high-profile political surrogates, including Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Democratic Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, will be in states with hotly-contested races over the upcoming week. They include Michigan, Nevada, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Iowa, Wisconsin, Florida, Maryland, New Mexico and California.

Three days before the election, on Saturday, Nov. 5, Biden, Trump and Obama all will be in Pennsylvania, a state that has seen razor-thin margins in one of the most consequential Senate races in the nation, one that could determine the balance of power in Congress. The contest to fill the Keystone State’s governor’s seat is similarly hard-fought, and its outcome will either embrace or stave off election denialism in a key governorship ahead of the 2024 presidential race.

Pennsylvania has seen some of the most political visitors this cycle, with Biden dropping into the commonwealth nine times this year. In September, House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy unveiled his midterm election agenda in the state. According to an OpenSecrets analysis of federal campaign finance, the general election for the Senate race in Pennsylvania was the first to cross the $100 million outside-spending mark during the 2022 election cycle.

The three presidents’ involvement in rousing their bases ahead of the midterms has been vastly different.

Obama embarked on a campaign swing over the weekend — spending Friday in Georgia for Democratic candidates Stacey Abrams and Sen. Raphael Warnock. On Saturday, he traveled to Michigan for Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and then to Wisconsin for Democrats Gov. Tony Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, who is running for U.S. Senate.

But notably absent from the trail this past weekend, one of the last ahead of the highly-consequential election, was Biden, who spent Saturday at home in Delaware, casting an early vote in Wilmington with his granddaughter.

Meanwhile, two of the most prominent women of his administration — Vice President Kamala Harris and first lady Jill Biden — hit the road to campaign.

Harris traveled to Baltimore, Maryland, on Saturday for the state’s Democrats, again urging voters to get to the polls in the final 10 days before the midterms, as she did during a different stop in Pennsylvania on Friday.

The first lady hit the trail in New Hampshire, campaigning alongside Sen. Maggie Hassan.

Biden has bucked the idea that his party has little need for his involvement on the trail, as still skyrocketing inflation remains one of voters’ top priorities, saying that he’ll be “engaged” with midterm campaigning for the remainder of the week, visiting Florida, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Mexico and California.

“I’m feeling good. I mean I’ve been in to, I guess now 36 constituencies, either campaigning for a specific candidate or going with a candidate who is doing some, like out at the bridge in Pittsburgh. And I’m going, I’m going to be going to the remainder of the week, I’m going to be engaged and I’m going to be back in Pennsylvania, going to be in Maryland, gonna be I believe in New Mexico, California,” he told reporters on Saturday — notably not mentioning some of the big states he has not visited, including Arizona, Nevada and Georgia.

Trump has taken a more hands-on approach throughout the election cycle, meddling deeply in the primary elections, unlike Biden and Obama.

In the weeks leading up to Nov. 8, Trump had hopscotched across Arizona, Nevada and Texas, with upcoming events in Pennsylvania, Florida and Ohio.

Also hitting the trail in the coming week is Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, Trump’s political foe who has been championing conservative candidates that deviate strongly from debunked claims that the 2020 election was fraudulent. On Tuesday, however, she’ll cross party lines for her first campaign event of the general election cycle, for Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin in Michigan.

Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, a two-time candidate for president, has notably been campaigning, perhaps appealing to a faction of the Democratic party further left than other surrogates might be able to.

He visited the Rio Grande Valley on Sunday, speaking at a rally here for Michelle Vallejo, the Democratic nominee for Texas’ 15th Congressional District. This week, he’ll be in Wisconsin and Michigan.

Another former 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, New Jersey Democratic Sen. Cory Booker, has also made a number of appearances on the trail this cycle, this past week making trips to New Hampshire and Colorado for a slate of Democratic candidates. He’ll also visit Wisconsin this week.

Here’s what the upcoming week looks like on the campaign trail:

Tuesday, Nov. 1:

Michigan: Republican Rep. Liz Cheney will join Democrat Rep. Elissa Slotkin “Evening for Patriotism and Bipartisanship” in Lansing.

Nevada: Former President Barack Obama, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, Gov. Steve Sisolak, and other down-ballot Democrats will rally in Las Vegas.

Florida: President Joe Biden travels to Fort Lauderdale to participate in a reception for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist.

Wisconsin: Sen. Cory Booker heads to Milwaukee next week to campaign alongside Mandela Barnes in a “Win for Wisconsin” bus tour focused on visiting student voter and Black voter engagement events.

Wednesday, Nov. 2:

Arizona: Former President Barack Obama travels to Phoenix, Arizona, for a campaign rally with Sen. Mark Kelly and Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, Democratic nominee for governor.

Thursday, Nov. 3:

Iowa: Former President Donald Trump holds a rally in Sioux City, Iowa with Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds and Sen. Chuck Grassley.

New Mexico: President Joe Biden, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, and other New Mexico Democrats will attend a rally hosted by the Democratic Party of New Mexico in Albuquerque.

California: President Joe Biden will travel to San Diego, California, to participate in political event for 49th Congressional District candidate Mike Levin, a Democrat.

Friday, Nov. 4:

Wisconsin: Sen. Bernie Sanders will be in Eau Claire, La Crosse, and Madison in Wisconsin, with NextGen America and MoveOn Political Action.

Saturday, Nov. 5:

Pennsylvania: President Joe Biden and former President Barack Obama travel to Philadelphia to campaign for John Fetterman, Josh Shapiro, and Pennsylvania Democrats down the ballot.

Former President Trump holds a rally at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, where he’ll campaign for Doug Mastriano and Mehmet Oz along with “special guest speakers.”

Wisconsin: Sen. Bernie Sanders campaigns in Oshkosh, Wisconsin with NextGen America and MoveOn Political Action.

Michigan: Sen. Bernie Sanders is in Ann Arbor, Michigan with NextGen America and MoveOn Political Action.

Sunday, Nov. 6:

Florida: Former President Trump hosts a “Get Out the Vote Rally” in support of endorsed candidate and special guest Sen. Marco Rubio in Florida. Notably absent from the invitation is Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican up for reelection himself and who has traveled this campaign cycle for candidates like Lee Zeldin of New York and Adam Laxalt of Nevada.

Monday, Nov. 7:

Ohio: Former President Trump holds a rally in Vandalia, Ohio, to deliver remarks on behalf of Senate candidate J.D. Vance.

Maryland: President Biden heads to Maryland for an Election Day eve rally with the Democratic National Committee and Maryland candidates.

“President Joe Biden will join Democratic nominee for Maryland governor Wes Moore, Sen. Chris Van Hollen, and Maryland Democrats down the ballot for an Election Day eve GOTV rally,” the DNC advises.

–ABC News’ Molly Nagle and Ben Gittleson contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — The Supreme Court has rejected Sen. Lindsey Graham’s wholesale bid to block a subpoena for testimony before a Georgia grand jury investigating former President Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn 2020 election results in that state.

An unsigned statement appended to the order, however, made clear that Graham does not need to answer questions about conduct protected by the Constitution’s Speech or Debate Clause.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — The 2022 campaign is shaping up to be a historic, decisive moment in American politics.

From our reporters across the country, ABC News brings you all the latest on what the candidates are saying and doing — and what voters want to happen in November’s midterm elections.

For more from ABC News’ team of reporters embedded in battleground states, watch “Power Trip: Those Seeking Power and Those Who Chase Them” on Hulu , with new episodes on Sunday.

Here is the latest from the campaign trail. All times Eastern.

Nov 01, 12:44 PM EDT
Arizona Libertarian Senate candidate drops out of race, throws support to GOP nominee Blake Masters

Arizona’s Libertarian Senate candidate Marc Victor dropped out of the race on Tuesday, putting his support behind Blake Masters, the Republican nominee.

His move, made a week ahead of Election Day, gives Trump-backed Masters a further boost as Victor’s candidacy was forecasted to split off some of the Republican vote in the race to unseat incumbent Democrat Sen. Mark Kelly.

Victor told ABC News in a written statement Tuesday that Blake Masters approached him, agreeing to the Libertarian’s offer to both his opponents on “why it was in the interests of freedom, peace, and civility for me to step down and endorse either of them.” Their taped conversation “impressed” the Libertarian, Victor said, prompting him to drop out.

“I publicly offered to meet with either Mark Kelly or Blake Masters to have an unscripted discussion about why it was in the interests of freedom, peace, and civility for me to step down and endorse either of them,” Victor told ABC News.

“Blake Masters availed himself of that opportunity yesterday, and we had a public conversation where I asked him whatever I wanted. I was impressed with Blake Masters and his commitment to being a Live and Let Live Senator from Arizona,” Victor told ABC.

In the [,]() Victor said this decision to drop out one week before Election Day will make some people “very upset” and others “very happy.”

Masters responded to the new support in a campaign press release.

“Marc Victor joins a growing list of Arizonans from across the political spectrum who are fed up with open borders, big government corruption, and rising crime. We are building a broad coalition to defeat the worst Senator in America. This is another major boost of momentum as we consolidate our support against the extreme and radical policies of Mark Kelly and Joe Biden. Live and Let Live,” Masters said.

Victor will still be on the ballot, but any votes cast for him will not be tabulated, according to a spokesperson at the secretary of state’s office.

–ABC News’ Libby Cathey

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(WASHINGTON) — Chief Justice John Roberts has granted a temporary administrative stay of a lower court order as the House Ways and Means Committee attempts to gain access to former President Donald Trump’s tax returns.

The ruling prevents the committee from accessing Trump’s tax returns as the court considers a final decision.

Trump asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday to block the House Ways and Means Committee from accessing his tax returns.

The committee has requested six years’ worth of Trump’s returns as part of an investigation into IRS audit practices of presidents and vice presidents.

In his petition to the Supreme Court, Trump accused the committee of seeking his taxes under false pretenses.

“The Committee’s purpose in requesting President Trump’s tax returns has nothing to do with funding or staffing issues at the IRS and everything to do with releasing the President’s tax information to the public,” the petition said.

A federal appeals court ruled in August that tax returns should be handed over to the House committee. The committee first sought the returns in 2019.

Trump most recently failed to block the request on Thursday when the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals shot down his request to reconsider a unanimous opinion from one of its three-judge panels approving the committee’s access to the documents.

While Trump’s team claims the panel’s bid to obtain the tax returns is purely political, the committee insists the documents are valuable to assess how the Internal Revenue Service performs. presidential audits.

“The law has always been on our side,” House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., said in a statement after Thursday’s ruling. “Former President Trump has tried to delay the inevitable, but once again, the Court has affirmed the strength of our position. We’ve waited long enough—we must begin our oversight of the IRS’s mandatory presidential audit program as soon as possible.”

At the heart of the dispute is a federal tax law mandating that the Treasury Department “shall furnish” tax information requested by the Ways and Means Committee, a law Trump’s lawyers suggest is unconstitutional.

Democrats have been clamoring to get a glimpse of Trump’s tax returns since 2015 when he launched his bid for president and broke decades of precedent by not releasing the documents.

Besides having his personal tax returns sought after, Trump is also facing pressure by criminal probes into his personal business, possession of government documents after leaving office and efforts to block the certification of the 2020 election results.

ABC News’ Devin Dwyer contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — More than 23 million people have voted early in the 2022 general election, according to data analyzed by the University of Florida’s U.S. Elections Project — about 15 million more than just one a week ago.

As of Tuesday morning, the project counted 23,919,686 early votes, of which 13,790,577 were mail-in ballots returned and 10,129,109 ballots cast in person so far. Last Monday, Oct. 24, the count was 8,018,219.

On Oct. 17, ElectProject.org had tallied 2,030,730 early votes, including 1,842,115 returned mail-in ballots and 188,615 ballots cast in person.

A number of states have opened up early voting within the past week, according to University of Florida professor Michael McDonald, who heads the Elections Project. That has led to the sharp uptick in early vote totals. Turnout in 2022 is still projected to be higher than usual for a midterm election, according to McDonald, even though midterms have historically low participation compared to presidential cycles despite growing interest in recent years.

“It does seem very robust, early voting … I think we’re looking at more like a 2018 election, definitely,” he told ABC News, noting that the last midterm election in 2018 recorded some of the highest turnout in the nation’s history.

With the general election now 15 days away, some sort of early voting option is underway in over 35 states. Early voting periods range in length from four days to 45 days before Election Day, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

The pace of early voting numbers should pick up even further this week, McDonald said, as additional states start offering in-person early voting and additional ballots should be sent out for those who have requested mail-in options.

Georgia, in its first general election test of a sweeping elections bill signed into law in 2021 by incumbent Republican Gov. Brian Kemp — legislation that Democrats widely deemed as restrictive — has been shattering past turnout trends.

Georgia has had record early voting turnout since the option to cast a ballot opened last Oct. 17, surging to nearly twice the number on the first day of early voting in 2018, according to the secretary state’s website.

Totals are within “striking distance” of the 2020 presidential election turnout.

As of Friday, Georgia was well over the one million mark with 1,250,091 voters having cast their ballots. The state noted that 18,109 showed up on the first Sunday of early voting. Sunday’s total “marks an astounding 211% of the 2018 midterm total for the first Sunday of Early Voting,” according to the secretary of state.

“One in five active Georgia voters has made a plan and gotten their ballots in early,” said Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said on Friday. “They’ve played a wonderful role in reducing the lift for their county election directors come November 8th.”

On Sunday, Raffensperger said that while one in five active voters had already voted in the state, Georgia is set to hit the 2-million-mark next week.

In Florida, in-person early voting began a week ago on Monday in 37 Florida counties. The state has already seen some of the highest numbers of the cycle, mostly leading the nation in early vote totals. The state is currently totaling at 2,774,204 cast thus far, the second highest rates in the nation.

But Texas, which also started early voting last Monday, quickly shot up in ballots cast. The Lone Star State currently now leads the country in early voting, with 3,315,896 ballots returned.

“Texas blew through 1 million voted yesterday, spurred primarily by in-person early voting,” McDonald said in a tweet on Wednesday.

California has remained competitive in early voting as well, currently at 2,359,851 ballots returned.

McDonald has said that because of Florida, Texas and California’s larger size, broader voter turnout activity is expected, along with the fact that Floridians tend to use mail ballots more frequently than some of the other states have so far been casting votes early.

Of the states that record party registration, the U.S. Elections Project shows more Democrats have voted early this cycle — 44.8% compared to only 33.3% of Republicans, though Republican totals have creeped up over the past week while Democrats’ have decreased.

The share of Republicans who are recorded saying voters should be allowed to vote early or absentee without a documented reason fell drastically in the past few years, according to a 2021 Pew Research survey– down 19% from 2018. The same survey found that Democrats were more than twice as likely as Republicans to strongly support making early, in-person voting available to voters for at least two weeks prior to Election Day.

The use of absentee and mail-in ballots have been subject to conspiracy and skepticism after former President Donald Trump said that mail-in ballots lead to voter fraud in 2020.

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(NEW YORK) — A woman who accused Georgia Republican Senate nominee Herschel Walker of pressuring her into having an abortion defended her claims in an exclusive interview with ABC News, saying he is not fit for office and that “honesty matters.”

Walker has denied the allegations, which were first made at a press conference last week, dismissing the claims as “foolishness” while adding “this is all a lie, and I will not entertain any of it.”

The woman, whom ABC News agreed to call Jane Doe, told ABC News in her first on-camera interview that she decided to come forward after another woman made similar claims that Walker had also pressured her into having an abortion.

Speaking with Juju Chang, co-anchor of ABC News’ Nightline, the woman said that in 1993 she became pregnant amid a yearslong affair with Walker, saying they saw each other “several times a week, usually in the mornings” and that they were in love.

“[Walker] was very clear that he did not want me to have the child. And he said that because of his wife’s family and powerful people around him that I would not be safe and that the child would not be safe,” the woman said.

“I felt threatened and I thought I had no choice,” said the woman, who has come forward on camera for the first time since making her allegations public at a press conference last week with her attorney, Gloria Allred.

Responding to the ABC News interview, Walker issued a statement Tuesday saying, “This was a lie a week ago and it is a lie today. Seven days before an election, the Democrats trot out Gloria Allred and some woman I do not know. My opponents will do and say anything to win this election. The entire Democrat machine is coming after me and the people of Georgia. I am not intimidated. Once again, they messed with the wrong Georgian.”

In her interview with Chang, Jane Doe recalled initially going to a clinic to have an abortion before abruptly leaving after having a change of heart.

“I guess it is part of the procedure then that they did an ultrasound. And I saw the ultrasound and I couldn’t go through with it. So I left the clinic and went back home,” she said with emotion in her voice.

According to the woman, Walker then told her he would drive her to the clinic to have the procedure.

“He came to my house and picked me up and drove me to the clinic,” the woman recalled. “I went in alone and he waited in the car while I went in and had the procedure. And then I came out and he drove me to the drugstore, and then he took me home.”

Jane Doe said Walker gave her cash to pay for the abortion. She said she has no receipt for the payment or record of the procedure.

Walker, who is running against Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock, is campaigning as a staunch anti-abortion-rights candidate.

According to Jane Doe, she maintained a friendly relationship with Walker for decades and last spoke with him by phone in March 2020.

Two women identified to ABC News as friends of Jane Doe by her lawyer Gloria Allred said that Jane Doe confided to them in the 1990s that she had a yearslong affair with Walker and that she became pregnant during that relationship.

Jane Doe said she last saw Walker at a mental health event in 2019.

“He gave — he hugged me, and was very happy to see me … He was very nice and cordial,” she said of their meeting in 2019.

One of the woman identified as a friend of Jane Doe’s said she was with her at the event and took a picture of her and Walker together, telling ABC News, “They embraced for a long time … they had clearly known each other for years and years.”

Jane Doe said she never brought up the abortion with Walker while they stayed in touch.

Walker previously denied an ex-girlfriend’s claim to various news outlets that he paid for her to have an abortion in 2009. That woman told The Daily Beast that she had documents supporting her allegation, including a receipt from an abortion clinic, a bank deposit receipt with an image of a $700 check that she said was signed by Walker sent within a week of the abortion, and also a “get well” card that she said was signed by Walker.

During an appearance last week on Fox News’ Special Report with Bret Baier, Walker issued blanket denials about the recent allegations made against him.

“Well, that’s a lie. And I’ve said that’s a lie and I hope people can see right now that Raphael Warnock and the Left would do whatever they can to win the seat,” Walker said. “I’ve said it once and I’ve moved on, my campaign moved on because we’re worried about what the Georgia people are talking about … I’ve said this a lie. I’ve moved on, and they want me to play these guessing games and all of this, but I’m not. I’m not into that. I’m into winning this great seat back for the great people of Georgia because that’s what this is about.”

Jane Doe told Chang that, following Walker’s denials, she now thinks he isn’t fit to be a U.S. senator.

Asked why, she said, “I think honesty matters.”

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(SAN FRANCISCO) — The man accused of attacking House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband with a hammer last week is expected to be arraigned in San Francisco Superior Court on Tuesday.

David DePape, 42, from Richmond, California, is facing a slew of state charges, including attempted murder, residential burglary and assault with deadly weapon, as well as federal charges of assault and attempted kidnapping. State prosecutors are expected to ask for DePape to be held without bail on Tuesday.

According to the federal complaint, DePape allegedly used a hammer to break into the Pelosi residence in the upscale Pacific Heights neighborhood of San Francisco early Friday, just before 2 a.m. local time. The intruder then went upstairs, where 82-year-old Paul Pelosi was asleep, and demanded to talk to “Nancy.” Despite being told that the speaker was not home and would not be for several days, DePape said he would wait and started taking out zip ties from his backpack to tie up Paul Pelosi, according to the complaint.

According to the complaint, Paul Pelosi told DePape that he needed to use the bathroom, allowing him to get his cellphone and call 911. Two police officers arrived minutes later and entered the home, encountering DePape and Paul Pelosi struggling over a hammer. The officers told the men to drop the hammer, at which time DePape allegedly gained control of the hammer and swung it, striking Paul Pelosi in the head. The officers immediately restrained and disarmed DePape, while Pelosi appeared to be unconscous on the floor.

The officers later secured a second hammer, a roll of tape, white rope, zip ties as well as a pair of rubber and cloth gloves from the crime scene, according to the complaint.

Paul Pelosi was struck at least twice with the hammer, sources told ABC News. He was hospitalized following the attack and underwent successful surgery on Friday to repair a skull fracture and serious injuries to his right arm and hands, according to a statement from Nancy’s Pelosi’s spokesperson, Drew Hammill. Although his injuries are significant, the speaker’s husband is expected to make a full recovery, Hammill said.

While being questioned by police, DePape stated that he was planning to hold Nancy Pelosi hostage and talk to her and that he wanted to use her to lure another unnamed individual. If she were to tell the “truth,” DePape told police he would let the speaker go. And if she “lied,” he said he was going to break “her kneecaps,” according to the complaint.

DePape told police he viewed Nancy Pelosi as the “leader of the pack” of lies told by the Democratic Party and that he was certain she would not have told the “truth.” DePape explained that by breaking her kneecaps, the speaker would then have to be wheeled into Congress, which would show other members of her party there were consequences to actions, according to the complaint.

During a press conference on Monday evening, when announcing the state charges against DePape, San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins described the attack as “politically motivated” and implored the public to “watch the words that we say and to turn down the volume of our political rhetoric.”

“This house and the speaker herself were specifically targets,” Jenkins said.

Nancy Pelosi gave an update on her husband’s condition in a statement on Monday night, saying he “is making steady progress on what will be a long recovery process.” She added that her family is “most grateful” for “thousands of messages conveying concern, prayers and warm wishes” since the “horrific attack.”

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(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden, little more than a week away from Election Day, presented something of an ultimatum to gas and oil companies: ramp up production or pay a higher tax rate.

“It’s time for these companies to stop war profiteering, meet their responsibilities to this country, give the American people a break and still do very well,” Biden said as he spoke from the White House on Monday afternoon alongside Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm.

Biden threatened imposing a higher tax on excess profits and other restrictions if companies don’t increase production and refining capacity to drive down prices at the pump.

“My team will work with Congress to look at these options that are available to us and others,” he said.

Congress is currently in recess as lawmakers return home to campaign and stump for their preferred candidates ahead of the Nov. 8 elections.

Oil companies have made staggering profits while Americans are paying higher energy prices.

ExxonMobil said last week it had its highest earnings ever for the third quarter, with a net income of $19.7 billion. Chevron reported making $11 billion in profits, while Shell made $9.5 billion in profits.

“What I mean is profits so high it’s hard to believe,” Biden said, accusing companies of passing the profits back to shareholders and buying back their stock.

“Give me a break, enough is enough,” Biden added.

As of Monday, the national average for a gallon of gas was $3.76, according to the American Automobile Association. That’s 30 cents higher than the price of gas a year ago.

If oil companies passed on their excess profits to consumers, Biden said the price of gas would go down by 50 cents.

Higher energy prices also impact manufacturers, and those costs are often passed down to consumers by raising prices on food, clothing, furniture and more. Inflation is at a level not seen in decades, with the consumer price index rising 0.4% in September and consumer prices overall rising 8.2% in the last 12 months.

Nearly half of Americans say either the economy (26%) or inflation (23%) is the most important issue this midterm cycle, according to a new poll conducted by ABC News and Ipsos.

Republicans have seized on high prices in their midterm messaging, blaming inflation on Democratic policies and spending packages. The ABC News/Ipsos poll found nearly three out of four Republicans point to the two economic concerns as a priority.

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(WASHINGTON) — Former President Donald Trump asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday to block the House Ways and Means Committee from accessing his tax returns.

The committee has requested six years’ worth of Trump’s returns as part of an investigation into IRS audit practices of presidents and vice presidents.

In his petition to the Supreme Court, Trump accused the committee of seeking his taxes under false pretenses.

“The Committee’s purpose in requesting President Trump’s tax returns has nothing to do with funding or staffing issues at the IRS and everything to do with releasing the President’s tax information to the public,” the petition said.

A federal appeals court ruled in August that tax returns should be handed over to the House committee. The committee first sought the returns in 2019.

Trump most recently failed to block the request on Thursday when the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals shot down his request to reconsider a unanimous opinion from one of its three-judge panels approving the committee’s access to the documents.

While Trump’s team claims the panel’s bid to obtain the tax returns is purely political, the committee insists the documents are valuable to assess how the Internal Revenue Service performs presidential audits.

“The law has always been on our side,” House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., said in a statement after Thursday’s ruling. “Former President Trump has tried to delay the inevitable, but once again, the Court has affirmed the strength of our position. We’ve waited long enough—we must begin our oversight of the IRS’s mandatory presidential audit program as soon as possible.”

At the heart of the dispute is a federal tax law mandating that the Treasury Department “shall furnish” tax information requested by the Ways and Means Committee, a law Trump’s lawyers suggest is unconstitutional.

Democrats have been clamoring to get a glimpse of Trump’s tax returns since 2015 when he launched his bid for president and broke decades of precedent by not releasing the documents.

Besides having his personal tax returns sought after, Trump is also facing pressure by criminal probes into his personal business, possession of government documents after leaving office and efforts to block the certification of the 2020 election results.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — When the Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade — the landmark decision that guaranteed the right to abortion — it was thought the decision would drive voters to the polls for the midterm election.

Surveys have indicated younger female voters strongly oppose restrictions and care more about abortion rights than any other issue.

Democrats were banking on abortion rights being a key issue going into the midterm elections, but a large percentage of Americans say it is not critical to their vote.

According to an ABC News/Washington Post poll released Sept. 25, abortion is not the most top-of-mind issue for most voters, Democrat or Republican.

Among all voters, the economy was the top issue, with 84% saying it was highly important. This was closely followed by education and schools, with 77% calling it highly important; inflation, with 76%; and crime, with 69%.

Abortion came fifth on the list, with 62% referring to the issue as an important one.

“I’m a little skeptical of the recent polling on this. I think we don’t know the impact of the abortion issue, because it’s not your usual public policy issue,” Elaine Kamarck, founding director of the Center for effective Public Management at the Brookings Institute, told ABC News.

Why abortion is not top-of-mind

Oklahoma State Rep. Jim Olsen, a co-author of one of the state’s anti-abortion bills and a Republican, told ABC News his constituents are concerned with what affects them directly.

While an estimated one-in-four women will have an abortion by age 45, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group focusing on sexual and reproductive health, Olsen says abortion doesn’t concern the majority of the population.

“My wife, my daughters, my mother, my mother-in-law, none of them have ever had an abortion,” he said. “It’s not an issue that directly touches us because none of them would have made that choice, legal or illegal. But what touches a lot of people is the skyrocketing inflation.”

Cathi Herrod, president of the Center for Arizona Policy, a nonprofit organization that has supported abortion-restricting laws in the state, told ABC News she hears state residents more concerned about the economy. A recent Wallethub study found the Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale area had seen inflation rise the most of all U.S. cities, with a 13% increase in prices over the last year.

“Arizonans are concerned about the economy,” she said. “The Phoenix area has one of the highest rates, if not the highest rate of inflation in the country. … That’s top of the mind for voters.”

But Supermajority, a group focused on mobilizing female voters co-founded by Cecile Richards, a former president of Planned Parenthood, told ABC News even though its polling suggests women are not single-issue voters, the group has seen a surge in volunteer sign-ups and there are indications of an increase in voter registration in some states.

In Michigan, where an abortion question is on the ballot, women are out-registering men by a margin of 8.1% and Democrats are out-registering Republicans by 18%, according to data analysis conducted by TargetSmart.

Amanda Brown Lierman, director of Supermajority, also told ABC News that on the ground, a lot of women were shocked by the court’s decision. She said there is “a lot of rage out there” and that abortion has become a highly motivating issue for them.

Could abortion be a sleeper issue?

Although polling indicates abortion is not a top of mind issue, the September ABC News/Washington Post poll found 64% opposed the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and the public trusts Democrats to handle abortion over Republicans by a wide 20 points.

Researchers told ABC News abortion could be a sleeper issue that may have an impact at the polls.

Kamarck argued it is a clearly delineated issue with Democrats supporting abortion rights and Republicans supporting some sort of abortion ban, which is not the case when it comes to things like inflation. She also said there is an intensity when it comes to how passionate voters are on the issue, regardless of their position, and that this is an issue of intense interest to women, who make up the majority of the electorate.

Unlike other voter demographics, “very small movements among the women’s vote turn into very, very big numbers,” Kamarck said.

Republicans candidates who were strongly anti-abortion are now “trimming their sails” and retreating from their previous positions to more moderate ones, according to Kamarck.

Republican Minority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell, who had previously opened the door to a federal ban, stepped away from Sen. Lindsey Graham’s proposed 15-week ban in September, saying party members would likely prefer abortion be dealt with at the state level.

Graham including exceptions for rape, incest and to save the life of the mother in the bill is also a step back from his previous harsh stance on abortion, Kamarck said.

Oklahoma has one of the strictest abortion laws in the nation, with no exceptions for rape or incest, only if the life of the mother is in danger. Rep. Olsen said he’s seen a “little bit of a push” towards allowing more exceptions to the law, although it’s not something he supports.

Voters in Kansas, a traditionally red state, unexpectedly struck down an anti-abortion measure that would have removed protections for abortion rights from its state constitution earlier this year. The measure was defeated with wide margins — 59% to 41% — in the high-turnout primary, which was the first state-level test of voter movement on abortion since Roe was overturned.

“I think that’s a good measure of intensity and how this issue may transcend party identification, because not all Republicans are avidly pro-lifers,” Kamarck said.

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