Five days before the midterms, the Alaska Senate ballot dispute moved from allegation to investigation. Governor Mike Dunleavy ordered a state probe into claims Mary Peltola's campaign recruited a second Dan Sullivan to confuse voters, which she denied. Hours later ABC and AP reported a new wave of Justice Department grand jury subpoenas in the federal criminal inquiry, later extended to California election officials after a judge had rejected the bid to segregate 20,000 mail ballots.
On the trail, Trump canceled a Kansas rally and rallied in South Carolina while Obama campaigned in Georgia, as polls suggested unexpected Democratic Senate openings. Pentagon chief Hegseth fired a top Joint Staff general accused of leaking Iran and Ukraine secrets, referred for prosecution, as Washington warned allies of possible post-election strikes on Iran.
Late coverage shifted to the death of Patrick Stewart at 86.