2022 midterm election campaign trail: News and live updates

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

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

Latest Developments

Sep 17, 3:24 PM

Ron Johnson, Mandela Barnes agree to a televised debate

Democratic Senate nominee Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes has announced he's accepted an invitation from NBC-affiliate TMJ4 to debate his Republican opponent Sen. Ron Johnson on Oct. 13 in Milwaukee. Barnes also challenges Johnson to attend a forum in Oshkosh, with further details to be announced.

Barnes' campaign manager Kory Kozloski released the following statement: "Ron Johnson has spent over a decade in Washington selling out working families and calling to put Social Security and Medicare on the chopping block. Mandela looks forward to holding him accountable for his record of putting himself and his wealthy donors first on the debate stage in Milwaukee, and then in his own backyard in Oshkosh."

Johnson had accused Barnes of "hiding" from him and said he was open to having three debates before the Nov. 8 election, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

ABC News has tracked which candidates are debating in key midterm races.

-ABC News' Paulina Tam.

Sep 16, 5:10 PM

Sanders announces she’s "cancer-free" after thyroid surgery

Arkansas GOP gubernatorial nominee and former Trump White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders declared in a statement on Friday that she'd been diagnosed with thyroid cancer earlier this month but is now "cancer-free" following a surgery in Arkansas on Friday.

"This experience has been a reminder that whatever battle you may be facing, don't lose heart. As governor, I will never quit fighting for the people of our great state," the daughter to former Arkansas GOP Gov. Mike Huckabee said in a statement.

The surgery removed her thyroid and surrounding lymph nodes, she said. Her surgeon, John R. Sims, noted in a statement released by her campaign that he didn't anticipate this health scare slowing Sanders down ahead of the November general election.

"I expect her to be back on her feet even within the next 24 hours. This is a Stage I papillary thyroid carcinoma which is the most common type of thyroid cancer and has an excellent prognosis," he said.

Sep 16, 4:56 PM

DeSantis, White House trade fire over migrant drop-offs

Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis confirmed Friday that the undocumented migrants flown to Martha's Vineyard came from Texas -- not Florida.

He defended his actions, noting that he transported the migrants -- who he said had plans to come to Florida -- with a portion of $12 million allocated in the state's budget to relocate undocumented migrants out of the state.

"They went from Texas to Florida to Martha's Vineyard," DeSantis told reporters in Daytona Beach. "I have 12 million for us to use, and so we are going to use it and you're gonna see more and more. I'm going to make sure that we exhaust all those funds."

DeSantis also took a swipe at President Joe Biden -- suggesting he has lured people out of their countries with the "false promise" that the borders were open, then leaving them "high and dry."

The White House on Friday lashed back, arguing that the Florida governor and Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott -- who routinely transports undocumented immigrants to blue states -- engage in the practice as "cruel" political theater.



"These were children. They were moms. They were fleeing communism. And what did Governor DeSantis and Governor Abbott do to them? They use them as political pawns, treated them like chattel in a cruel, premeditated political stunt," White House press secretary Karine Jean Pierre said.

DeSantis ended his presser by responding to Gov. Newsom's request for the DOJ to investigate Florida and Texas' moves.

"The governor of California sent a letter to the Department of Justice saying, 'you need to prosecute the Texas and Florida governors' and all I can say is: I think his hair gel is interfering with his brain," DeSantis said.

–ABC News' Miles Cohen

Sep 16, 1:22 PM

GOP leaders seek base-driving narratives: The Note

If the point was to make a point, the mission has already been accomplished.

That's not the same as saying the midterms look any different than they did before a few prominent Republican figures made major political moves that sure look like stunts, even if they carry significant messaging and human impact.

It is to say that they are trying to establish a new set of narratives. This week was marked by efforts from several Republicans -- Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham -- aiming to put their party on offense.

For Graham, it was a bill banning almost all abortions after 15 weeks nationwide, a move that drew praise for its clarity from anti-abortion groups and former Vice President Mike Pence, among others. But pushback also came from inside Graham’s party -- from lawmakers and candidates who want abortion rights figured out state by state and would rather be talking about high inflation anyway -- and also well outside of it.

Read more here.

-- ABC News' Rick Klein

Sep 16, 1:25 PM

In Georgia, Walker backs DeSantis' Martha’s Vineyard migrant stunt

On Friday, Georgia GOP Senate nominee Herschel Walker lauded the move by Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis to send migrants to Martha's Vineyard.

The Trump-endorsed former NFL running back, following a tour of the Port of Savannah with the president of the National Border Patrol Council, Brandon Judd, told ABC News that DeSantis' decision brought attention to the border after he said the Biden administration "did absolutely nothing."

"You weren't talking about it yesterday. Nobody wanted to talk about it. Now he got someone's attention," Walker said. "We know that we have a problem at the border. So something has to be done. So, I'm saying hey, right now, something's gotta be done. So, if they have to send people all over the country, do that."

-- ABC News' Lalee Ibssa in Savannah

Sep 16, 1:18 PM

Colorado river drought cuts through midterm races

The scorched-earth fight over a shrinking supply of water in Western states is playing out in key midterm races along the depleted Colorado River.

Paul "Paco" Ollerton, 67, a third-generation farmer and registered Republican who says he's undecided in the November midterms, worries how his cotton farm might suffer next year when Arizona sees a massive cut in its allocation of Colorado River water.

"It's gonna get tough," Ollerton told ABC News in a phone interview, one year after ABC correspondent Kayna Whitworth walked with him through his Casa Grande farm. "There's no doubt about it, and I question whether agriculture in this state will even be able to survive."

Read more here.

-- ABC News' Libby Cathey in Phoenix

Sep 15, 8:17 PM

Newsom contrasts California's abortion, immigration views with red states

California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday continued his ongoing duel with red state governors, championing liberal policies on abortion and immigration in the face of some Republican leaders' moves on those issues.

Newsom, who is speculated to be a potential 2024 presidential contender (which he has played down), used his gubernatorial reelection campaign funds to place advertisements in six states with limited abortion rights after the Supreme Court’s June decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, overturning Roe v. Wade.

All of the Newsom-funded billboards advertise that California is ready to help residents who are seeking an abortion.

“You do not need to be a California resident to receive abortion services,” one billboard said.

In a tweet on Thursday, Newsom announced that he would be responding to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott having transported immigrants to Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts and to Washington, D.C. -- which DeSantis and Abbott say is in protest of Democratic border policies -- by requesting the Department of Justice investigate their efforts.

“I’m formally requesting the DOJ begin an immediate investigation into these inhumane efforts to use kids as political pawns,” Newsom wrote in a tweet, accompanied by the his request, addressed to Attorney General Merrick Garland.

Newsom has shot proverbial arrows at DeSantis before -- in August sending money across the country to help Florida Democratic gubernatorial nominee Rep. Charlie Crist defeat DeSantis this November.

-- ABC News' Isabella Murray

Sep 15, 7:21 PM

Bolduc's big U-turn on election claims

Two days ago, Don Bolduc won his race to be New Hampshire's GOP Senate nominee after months of making false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump the centerpiece of his campaign.

On Thursday, he made a 180-degree turn after beating the more moderate state Senate President Chuck Morse. Trump-endorsed Bolduc said he's now taking a "definitive" stance that Joe Biden's presidency is legitimate.

"I've come to the conclusion, and I want to be definitive on this: The election was not stolen," Bolduc said on Fox News, even while noting he still believes there was evidence of fraud. "Elections have consequences and, unfortunately, President Biden is the legitimate president of this country," he said.

The retired Army brigadier general said he came to his conclusion after talking to voters and doing his own research.

-- ABC News' Hannah Demissie

Sep 15, 7:22 PM

Kari Lake 'not a fan' of DeSantis' migrant moves

Continuing her rare break from her GOP border state allies on immigration, ​Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake says she's "not a fan" of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis flying two planes of undocumented immigrants to Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts.

Though careful not to mention DeSantis by name, Lake told Fox host Tucker Carlson Wednesday night it is "just taking people here illegally who shouldn't be here, moving them further inland."

Even so, Lake said, she "got a kick" out of the recent stunts by DeSantis and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.

"Watching these liberal mayors just throw their hands up and say, 'We can't handle it,' because it's life every day for us in these border states," she said.

"My husband and I are saying that all the time, send them up to Martha's Vineyard," 80-year-old Yuma, Arizona, resident Sandy Fisher told ABC News.

-- ABC News' Libby Cathey in Arizona

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