Bernd Debusmann Jr
BBC News

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Georgia Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene has vowed that "not another penny" of US aid will go to Ukraine under a Republican-controlled Congress.

"The only border they [the Democrats] care about is Ukraine, not America's southern border," Greene said at an event alongside former President Donald Trump in Iowa. "Our country comes first".

Republicans have been split on the future of US aid to Ukraine as it continues to battle Russian forces.

In October, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said that a Republican-controlled Congress would be reluctant to write a "blank cheque" for Ukraine.

On the other hand, Trump's former Vice President, Mike Pence, and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell have both called for the US to ramp up aid to Ukraine.

The US has given $52bn (£46.5bn) worth of assistance packages to Ukraine since late January, twice as much as all other countries combined.

Read more about the potential impact of the midterms on the Ukraine war here.

Anthony Zurcher
BBC North America correspondent

He hasn't made a formal announcement of a White House bid, but Donald Trump is getting very, very, very close to one.

The former president has been hinting about running for president more and more in recent months, but his comment on Thursday that he will "very, very, very probably do it again" at a rally in Iowa - a key early state in the Republican presidential primary process - is the most direct yet.

Trump's remarks came on the same day that his former campaign manager and White House adviser, Kellyanne Conway, told reporters that they could expect an announcement from the former president "soon".

By all indications, the former president is itching to get back in an increasingly crowded political arena. Some of his potential 2024 rivals – like his former Vice-President Mike Pence and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, as well as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis – are laying the groundwork for their own campaigns. The sooner Mr Trump announces, if that is his desire, the sooner he can try to snuff out those efforts before they catch fire.

Image source, Reuters

That's not Trump's only concern, either. He also has a broad range of legal troubles, including a criminal investigation of his post-election pressure efforts in Georgia, a federal inquiry into his handling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago and a civil lawsuit against his business empire in New York, that would be easier for him to cast as politically motivated if he were to be an official candidate.

The timing of Trump’s latest presidential hint, however, could be fraught.

Coming just days before the midterm elections, some Republicans fear that his increased presence on the campaign trail and constant winks toward another campaign will motivate Democrats to vote and distract Republicans trying to frame these elections as a referendum on an unpopular President Joe Biden.

If the Republicans falter now, Trump will shoulder considerable blame. It appears he is making a big bet on Republicans having a very good election day next week, allowing him to prove those naysayers wrong and take credit for the success of the party and of his hand-picked candidates in key races. Then he uses that momentum to springboard to 2024, which suddenly doesn’t seem that far off.

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Oprah Winfrey has backed Democrat candidate John Fetterman - in the key Pennsylvania Senate race - despite his Republican rival Mehmet Oz having made regular appearances on her television shows in the early 2000s.

During a Zoom discussion about politics on Thursday, she said that if she lived in Pennsylvania she would vote for Fetterman "for many reasons", the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

Oz, widely known as Dr Oz, became a household name after appearing on Winfrey's talk show dozens of times from 2004.

He has been backed by Donald Trump.

As we've been reporting, Donald Trump has been heavily hinting at another presidential run.

President Joe Biden has reportedly been meeting senior advisers to plan his potential 2024 re-election campaign, setting up a possible rematch with Trump.

Trump has teased for months about a potential third campaign for the White House.

In October, he told a rally in Texas: "I will probably have to do it again." In Pennsylvania in September, he said: "I may just have to do it again."

Trump's former senior counsellor, Kellyanne Conway, said earlier on Thursday at an event in Washington DC that her former boss would "announce soon" about his possible presidential plans.

She said she gave Trump credit for resisting the temptation to declare a White House run already this year, as it would have distracted from Republican candidates in the midterms.

If he does run in 2024, he may not go unchallenged within his party. Potential Republican rivals include Trump's former Vice-President Mike Pence and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

Image source, Getty Images

Last night in Iowa former US President Donald Trump dropped one of his strongest hints yet he may run for the White House again.

On Thursday night, Mr Trump, a Republican, repeated to a crowd in Sioux City his unfounded claim that he lost in 2020 because of widespread election fraud.

"I ran twice," he said. "I won twice, and did much better the second time than I did the first, getting millions more votes in 2020 than I got in 2016.

"And likewise, getting more votes than any sitting president in the history of our country by far.

"And now in order to make our country successful, and safe and glorious. I will very, very, very probably do it again."

"Very soon," he told the cheering crowd. "Get ready."

Trump did win the most votes ever - 72 million - for a sitting president in 2020, but still lost to the challenger, Mr Biden, a Democrat, who pulled in 81 million.

Donald Trump has been heavily hinting at another presidential run in 2024. But right now, the elections we're focused on are the midterms that are just days away. Those elections will decide which party controls the House of Representatives and the Senate, which make up the US Congress.

Like the Senate, Democrats narrowly control the House of Representatives. A party needs 218 seats to hold the majority.

The Democrats are defending 220 seats, and the Republicans 212. So the Republicans need an overall gain of six seats to win the House.

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Image source, EPA

Record numbers of early voters continue to turn out in the US state of Georgia, home to some of the country's most closely-watched races in the midterm elections.

The two-million mark for in-person voting was broken yesterday, said Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.

"Georgia is the state where voters show up early, and our county election directors have created that infrastructure to make it a resounding success," he said.

The state has seen a marked increase in people keen to cast their ballots since the polls opened on 18 October.

Data from election officials on the first day of voting there showed an 85% increase in early voters compared to the first day in the 2018 midterms.

Read more about voting in Georgia here.

If you're just waking up, welcome back.

In case you missed it on Thursday night, Donald Trump dropped one of the strongest hints he may run for the White House again at a rally in Iowa.

Repeating his false claim that he lost in 2020 because of election fraud he said: “I won twice, and did much better the second time than I did the first, getting millions more votes in 2020 than I got in 2016.

"And likewise, getting more votes than any sitting president in the history of our country by far.

"And now in order to make our country successful, and safe and glorious. I will very, very, very probably do it again."

"Very soon," he told the cheering crowd. "Get ready."

Trump did win the most votes ever for a sitting president in 2020 - 72 million - but still lost to Joe Biden, who pulled in 81 million to be elected president.

Thanks for following our live coverage today. We're pausing the page for now, but we will be back tomorrow.

Today's page was edited by Marianna Brady, Nathan Williams and Jessica Murphy, with writing from Nadine Yousif, Max Matza, Sam Hancock, Aoife Walsh, Gem O'Reilly, Oliver Slow, Malu Cursino, Bernd Debusmann, Grace Conley, Mike Wendling, Peter Bowes, Kayla Epstein and Anthony Zurcher.

Join us again tomorrow for more breaking news, analysis and on the ground reporting from our BBC correspondents.

If you're just joining us, here's a quick recap of what happened today on the campaign:

• Republicans have criticised US president Joe Biden for being "divisive" after he delivered a speech Wednesday night in which he stated that American democracy is under threat and accused Donald Trump of fuelling a "dangerous rise in political violence" by denying the 2020 election results
• Both Trump and Biden have been busy on the campaign trail today - Biden made stops in Albuquerque, New Mexico and San Diego, California, while Trump is in Iowa kicking off a busy weekend full of campaign events. Trump is scheduled to speak at 20:00 EST (00:00 GMT) tonight, and Biden will follow in San Diego at 21:30 EST.
• Speaking of Trump, his former senior counsellor Kellyanne Conway hinted at an event Thursday morning that the former president will soon announce his 2024 White House bid
• Paul Pelosi, husband of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, has been released from hospital following an attack last week by a man who broke-in to the couple's home
• Election day is still five days away but early voting is already higher than past midterms, with nearly 32 million voters having cast their ballots across the country

A Milwaukee election official has been fired after she allegedly fraudulently requested absentee ballots and sent them to a Republican lawmaker, local media reports.

Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson said he fired Kimberly Zapata, deputy director of the Milwaukee Election Commission, after she allegedly sent the ballots, which were reserved for members of the military, to State Rep Janel Brandtjen.

Johnson said: "This has every appearance of being an egregious and blatant violation of trust.

"I was stunned, absolutely stunned, to hear the very serious allegations against her."

Claire Woodall-Vogg, the election commission's executive director, said: "It is my belief that she was pointing out that you can go onto the public system, make up a person and request the ballot."

In a statement, Brandtjen said she received three ballots all addressed to "Holly" with different surnames last week.

"I believe someone was trying to point out how easy it is to get military ballots in Wisconsin," Brandtjen said in a statement.

The ballots are now being investigated by the Waukesha County Sheriff's Office.

Image source, Getty Images

As we've been reporting, former US president Donald Trump has been very active in this year's midterm elections, weighing in on more than 200 races and campaigning for Republican candidates across the country.

This evening he's hosting a rally in Iowa.

Some have speculated that Trump's enduring presence in the political sphere is a hint that he is looking to run for president again in 2024.

Today, Trump's former senior counsellor Kellyanne Conway hinted that he is indeed planning a comeback.

"I think you can expect him to announce soon," Conway told a crown at a breakfast event hosted by the Christian Science Monitor.

She added she advised Trump to delay launching his 2024 presidential bid until after the US midterms to avoid pulling attention away from Republicans looking to takeover Congress.

Trump himself has dropped not-so-subtle hints that he'll run again, most recently at a Texas rally in October, where he said: "I will probably have to do it again."

Peter Bowes
Reporting from California

There is an extra layer of election buzz surrounding the congressional race in my home city of Santa Clarita, California.

The result here could be key to which party controls the House of Representatives for the next two years.

The sprawling suburb, about an hour's drive north of Los Angeles, enjoys a rich Western history, with an annual cowboy festival and prehistoric rock formations at a local beauty spot. It also encapsulates the planned community of Valencia, nicknamed Awesometown by local developers.

The area enjoys low crime rates, although a 2019 school shooting, that left two students dead, shattered its otherwise peaceful image.

Recent boundary changes have removed some of the more Republican-leaning parts of the district, which is a toss-up between the sitting Republican, Mike Garcia - an ally of Donald Trump - and his Democratic opponent, Christy Smith.

They were 333 votes apart in the third closest House race in 2020.

Image source, Getty Images

Paul Pelosi has been released from a San Francisco hospital, his wife and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi confirmed.

He had been in hospital since last Friday after he was brutally attacked by a man who broke-in to the couple's California home in search of the speaker.

The man attacked Pelosi with a hammer, leaving him with a fractured skull and injuries to his hand and arm.

In a statement, Speaker Pelosi said her husband is continuing to recover at home under doctors' care.

She also thanked hospital staff "for their excellent and compassionate life-saving treatment he received after the violent assault in our home."

Over in California, there are reports of canvassers harassing residents, asking to know people's voting history and who lives behind the door they're knocking on.

At one house in Shasta County, door knockers interrogated a couple about the whereabouts of their adult daughter, according to Reuters, external. At another, they listed names of registered voters and demanded to know if they still lived at the address.

Reuters claims it's identified at least 23 state-wide or local efforts where canvassers may have crossed the line into intimidation, according to election officials and voting rights lawyers.

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a coalition of more than 200 civil rights groups, tells the news agency it has received more such reports than in previous elections.

"These tactics are very concerning," says YT Bell, an election adviser for the coalition.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

On the opposite side of the country from Washington DC, something strange is afoot in Washington state.

Patty Murray, a Democrat who first joined the US Senate in 1993, is facing unexpectedly tough resistance from her Republican opponent, Tiffany Smiley, who started a veterans advocacy group.

Murray, who is considered a better political negotiator than a candidate, is still leading over her the challenger, but the narrow gap has triggered alarm bells in reliably Democratic states around the US such as New York.

Smiley has attacked Murray as a "career politician" and co-opted her campaign slogan from the 90s.

"There's a new mom in town," she said at a campaign event last month, calling back to Murray's "mom in tennis shoes" slogan that first brought her to DC.

Washington hasn't elected a Republican to the Senate since 1994.

Image source, Getty Images

One of the key issues Republicans have been keen to focus in the build-up to the midterm elections is crime.

They have spoken of record crime levels in Democrat-run cities, and accused them of being "the party of crime" under President Joe Biden.

But is violent crime really going up?

According to estimates released by the FBI, violent crime fell by an estimated 1% in 2021 compared with the previous year

However, the number of murders increased by more than 4%.

The fall in violent crime was largely driven by a drop of nearly 9% in the robbery rate over that period.

The longer-term trend for violent crime in the US since the 1990s has been generally downwards, although over the past few years it has remained relatively stable, according to FBI data.

Major US cities have tended to follow the national trend in becoming safer since the 1990s. But some have also seen a sharp rise in the number of murders in recent years.

Chicago has had one of the worst records for murders in the US, and saw a big increase from 2019 to 2020 (up nearly 55%) but a much smaller rise in 2021 (up just 3%).

Read more by BBC Reality Check here.

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Portland, in the Pacific coast state of Oregon, is known by a few nicknames: "Rose City" and "the city that works" (although a few other cities also claim that they "work").

But of late, it's been getting headlines that do not exactly present a rosy picture.

The city has faced a rise in homelessness and violent crime, leading to a backlash against the Democrats that run the city and state governments.

Last month, Portland's mayor announced a new ban on sleeping outside. But it remains to be seen how it will affect the estimated 3,000 people who spend the night on Portland's streets.

As voters head to the polls in the city, an overwhelming majority say homelessness is top of mind.

In an Oregonian/Oregon Live, external poll 94% said homelessness is a "big problem" in Portland, overshadowing other concerns like drug use and violent crime.

Rising crime, too, has been making headlines. The increase in violent crime in Portland between 2020 and 2021 outpaced the rest of the United States, according to the latest FBI data.

Image source, Getty Images

One big issue looming in western US is climate, and in some states, environmental initiatives will be on the ballot.

The region has been hit by a once-in-a-lifetime drought that shrunk the water level in Lake Mead on the Arizona-Nevada border - so much so that decades-old bodies of murder victims thrown in the lake have resurfaced.

This drought could also affect people being able to access water or hydropower through the Hoover Dam, which generates power for Nevada, Arizona, and California.

In California, which saw the driest start to the year on record, residents have been told to limit outdoor watering and take shorter showers in an effort to conserve water.

And farmers are feeling the pressure, too. About 75% of water from Lake Mead goes to agriculture, and over a third of America's vegetables and two-thirds of fruits and nuts are grown in California.

The region is also a hotbed for wildfires, which have grown in frequency and intensity as of late.

The topic of climate has been notably absent on the campaign trail, where conversations about cost of living have dominated instead.

But in California and Colorado, people will be able to vote directly on environmental initiatives in their states - California is looking to raise up to $1bn (£0.9bn) annually for wildfire response and prevention, while the city of Boulder is weighing a climate tax that could raise $6.5m annually.

So far it's been another busy day for President Biden as he fights to keep the Democratic majority in Congress.

A short while ago, we heard him speak in Albuquerque, New Mexico, but later today he'll be in Oceanside, California, for a get-out-the vote event at a community college.

Biden will be joined by fellow Democrat Mike Levin, who has represented California's 49th congressional district, which straddles San Diego and Orange counties, since 2018.

In recent weeks, Republican nominee Brian Maryott has gone after Levin over issues such as inflation and rising crime.

When the two candidates last faced off, in 2020, Levin won by about 6%. But Maryott and the GOP are hoping to turn that around next week.

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