Midterm Elections Updates: Security Threat Prompts Shutdown of Kari Lake Campaign HQ in Phoenix

Midterm Elections Updates: Security Threat Prompts Shutdown of Kari Lake Campaign HQ in Phoenix
Republican nominee for Arizona governor Kari Lake speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas, Texas, on Aug. 6, 2022. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
11/6/2022
Updated:
11/6/2022
0:00

The latest on the midterm elections.

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Security Threat Prompts Shutdown of Kari Lake Campaign Headquarters in Phoenix

The delivery of an envelope containing a suspicious white powder prompted the Arizona gubernatorial campaign of Republican nominee Kari Lake to shut down its Phoenix headquarters two days before the election, the campaign said in a statement on Sunday.

The envelope, opened by a member of Lake’s staff, was one of two confiscated by law enforcement for analysis in Quantico, Virginia, site of an FBI forensics laboratory, after the incident was reported, according to the statement.

The staff member “is currently under medical supervision,” the statement said, adding that the campaign was awaiting results of the analysis.

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Trump Tells Florida Supporters to Vote for DeSantis

After calling Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis “Ron DeSanctimonious” on Saturday night, former President Donald Trump called on his Miami supporters to vote for the Florida GOP governor during the 2022 midterms.
“With thousands of proud, hard-working American patriots, incredible people–just two days from now, the people of Florida are going to reelect the wonderful, the great, a friend of mine, Marco Rubio to the United States Senate, and you’re going to reelect Ron DeSantis as your governor of the state,” he said at an event while stumping for Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). “And you’re going to elect an incredible slate of true MAGA warriors to Congress.”

Trump drew headlines when he made the quip about DeSantis at a rally for Dr. Mehmet Oz and Doug Mastriano, Republicans who are campaigning for Pennsylvania’s Senate and gubernatorial seats, respectively. DeSantis and his campaign have not responded to Trump’s comment on Saturday.

DeSantis is facing off against former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, a Democrat, and Rubio, meanwhile, faces Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.).  Recent polls have shown DeSantis is ahead of Crist and have shown that Rubio leads Demings.
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Trump Says US ‘In Decline’; Biden Has His Own Dire Warning

Former President Donald Trump is predicting America’s decline if his fellow Republicans don’t deliver a massive electoral wave on Tuesday. Democrats, led by President Joe Biden and two other former presidents, are warning that abortion rights, Social Security, and even democracy itself are at stake.

Three of the six living presidents delivered dire closing messages Saturday in battleground Pennsylvania entering the final weekend of the 2022 midterm elections, but their words echoed across the country as millions of Americans cast ballots to decide the balance of power in Washington and in key state capitals. Polls across America will close on Tuesday, but more than 39 million people have already voted.

On Sunday, Biden was set to campaign in suburban New York, while Trump was headed to Florida.

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Cheney Endorses Virginia Democrat Abigail Spanberger

Republican Rep. Liz Cheney crossed the political aisle again this election year and endorsed a Democrat colleague in a competitive House race, backing former CIA officer Abigail Spanberger on Saturday as she seeks a third term in a newly redrawn district in northern Virginia.

Cheney, vice chair of the House committee investigating the Capitol breach and a critic of former President Donald Trump who lost to a Trump-backed challenger in her Wyoming primary in August, said in a statement that Spanberger was focused on finding solutions and “dedicated to serving this country and her constituents and defending our Constitution.”

The GOP nominee in Virginia’s 7th Congressional District, which is centered around the Interstate 95 corridor in exurban Washington and rural communities to the east and west, is Yesli Vega, a county official, and former police officer recently endorsed by Trump.

In October, Cheney endorsed former CIA analyst Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), the first time that Cheney had formally supported a Democrat. She also recently visited Michigan to campaign with Slotkin.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.