2026 elections live updates: Trump speaks at D.C. Reflecting Pool, Michigan endorsement rift and more from the campaign trail

The Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to intervene in its effort to force California election workers to set aside mail ballots from thousands of people it claims are not U.S. citizens. 

The Justice Department's request for emergency relief came after a federal appeals court on Friday declined to order California officials to segregate the ballots cast by more than 20,000 people included on a government list of suspected noncitizens. 

More than 6 million mail ballots have been returned statewide as of Sunday, according to the California secretary of state's office. Voting has been underway in California since early October. 

The emergency appeal to the high court came in the fast-moving legal battle unfolding in the run-up to Tuesday's elections. The Trump administration so far has not been successful in convincing lower courts to require the ballots at issue to be put aside. 

But in the request to the Supreme Court, Solicitor General D. John Sauer said the government is seeking a "modest remedy" that will ensure any ballots cast by people who are not American citizens do not "debase or dilute valid votes."

"Once California commingles the challenged ballots with lawful ones, there is no way to get the challenged ballots back," he wrote in a filing. "The only way to preserve the district court's ability to grant relief to the United States after a full merits proceeding, therefore, is to segregate the challenged ballots now."

 The candidates in the New York governor's race traversed the state on Sunday, looking to score late points with voters ahead of Tuesday's election.

Gov. Kathy Hochul was in New York City, which typically votes blue, and Nassau County Executive and Republican challenger Bruce Blakeman spent part of his time in Suffolk County, Rensselaer County, and Oswego County, parts of the state where political experts say he stands a chance to gain some votes.

Sunday marked the final day of early voting. The New York City Board of Elections said the unofficial total number of ballots cast in the city was 690,526. Statewide, more than 1.7 million voted early, according to the state Board of Elections.

Read more at CBS New York. 

In an interview with conservative influencer Miranda Devine's Pod Force One, President Trump said he has "never worked the midterms like I have this one."

"This is really because I think it's so important," Mr. Trump said. "We've done so well. The country is so hot. We want to keep it that way."

Mr. Trump said he had been reflecting on how these rallies could be his last ones for a while, saying he feels "a little bit" nostalgic. 

"I bring it up," Mr. Trump said of these being his last campaign rallies. "There's never been anything like it."

Mr. Trump also said he would become "Mr. Veto" if Democrats take control of Congress, but he added that he will probably make deals with them.

"I guess I'll become Mr. Veto," Mr. Trump said. "I'm not going to let them run. And then at some point, we'll probably make deals."

Mr. Trump said he would "love to run again" for president, but he acknowledged that the language in the Constitution is "very exacting."

The campaign of Michigan Democrat Abdul El-Sayed confirmed in a statement Monday that they raised over $2.4 million for his Senate bid on Sunday, the day his primary rival Rep. Haley Stevens publicly backed Republican Mike Rogers. The statement said it's a single-day record for the campaign.

It comes as leading Democrats express that they feel betrayed by Stevens' endorsement of the GOP nominee.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called Stevens' endorsement a "despicable act" while House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi said Stevens "has chosen to dangerously betray Michigan families' healthcare, freedoms and future with her horrific endorsement of Mike Rogers."

El-Sayed said "none of this matters" and that he is more focused on issues important to the 10 million Michiganders.

"I'm a lot more focused on the 9,999,998 that are not the ones you guys are talking about, okay? They pay too much in gas. They pay too much in groceries," he told reporters, brushing off questions about Stevens and Rogers.

"At the end of the day, I actually don't think about Haley Stevens," he added. "I'm just less interested in the politics of it all than I am in the policy of it all. … None of this matters."

Vice President JD Vance is holding a morning rally for Republican Anthony Constantino, the GOP candidate in the northern New York district that stretches from Albany to the Canada border. President Trump won the district by more than 20 points, but Republicans are fighting to hold onto the seat. 

A Siena University poll in October showed Democrat Blake Gendebien with a narrow lead. Current GOP Rep. Elise Stefanik, a longtime Trump ally, is not running for reelection after she explored a run for governor, which she later abandoned. 

Control of the U.S. Senate will come down to just a few battleground states including Michigan, where a close and contentious race has been playing out between Democrat Abdul El-Sayed and Republican Mike Rogers. 

Both candidates sat down separately with "60 Minutes" correspondent Ross Douthat in the closing days of the campaign. They spoke about the experiences that shaped them and their visions for the state and the nation's future.

Watch the interview here and read our fact-check here. You can also watch extended versions of the interviews with El-Sayed and Rogers on YouTube.

President Trump will be holding an event at Washington, D.C.'s Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on Monday afternoon, the day before Election Day.

Mr. Trump told reporters that he wanted to hold an event there "just to show how beautiful it is." The president has made renovations to Washington a central theme of his second term in the White House, although the Reflecting Pool renovations have not gone so smoothly. 

"But it's finished," Mr. Trump said. "It looks beautiful. Hasn't worked since 1922. It's always leaked terribly, and it works really well now. We had it working well, but it was vandalized."

The Trump administration announced plans to resurface the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in April and paint it "American flag blue" at the president's request. Images showed the water turning green less than two weeks after Mr. Trump announced that the site had reopened to "rave reviews."

Days later, chunks of peeling paint from the blue coating were spotted in the water. Mr. Trump claimed in a Truth Social post, without any evidence, that it had been vandalized. Five people were arrested for vandalism, but the Justice Department later acknowledged in a court filing that "botched installation" by the contractor was to blame.

Charges were eventually dropped against Olympian David Hearn, who asked the Justice Department's internal watchdog to investigate — a request which was denied. 

Texas Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton's campaign will no longer hold an event on the eve of Election Day at the Alamo, as originally advertised.

The campaign has not publicly commented on the change of plans. But Monday's schedule included events in Conroe and Allen, both of which are hundreds of miles from San Antonio, where the Alamo is located. The Allen event is set to start at 6:30 p.m. CT, which would not give him time to get to San Antonio that night. 

The Paxton campaign did not respond to requests for comment. 

Read more here.

Haley Stevens gave her first interview since she endorsed Republican Senate nominee Mike Rogers on Sunday, telling CNN's Anderson Cooper she felt like there was a "weight off my shoulders."

During their 15-minute interview, Cooper repeatedly asked Stevens why she changed her mind after she reportedly told her colleague Rep. Debbie Dingell in a phone conversation Saturday night that she was not going to endorse Rogers. 

Stevens confirmed the conversation took place but never gave Cooper a direct answer about what changed her mind. She told him, "That's just where I landed with this. I woke up this morning clear-eyed, fresh and, you know, focused on what was in my heart, and that's that."

Asked again what changed her mind, Stevens replied, "I was there and just, you know, alone with my thoughts. I was writing things out, and look, this level of anger and the things that we are seeing — look, we all want Democrats to win. I'm a really proud Democrat. And by the way, Abdul's got every other Democrat with him. He just doesn't have me and a few other people who love this party."

"Nothing with me changed, Anderson," said Stevens, who had previously endorsed El-Sayed.

She cited El-Sayed's alliance with left-wing streamer and political commentator Hasan Piker and a controversial ad from Rebellion PAC that tied the war in Gaza to increased costs at home. It shows a couple in a grocery store shopping for food for their children, and the woman instructs her husband to put the eggs back, saying, "We have to set that $7 aside for killing Palestinians." El-Sayed said his campaign had nothing to do with the ad.

"That ad was very painful," Stevens said. "There are so many Democrats who want to vote for our Democratic nominee, and they're just being told, 'Hey, this is a party you don't belong in, or this is a campaign you don't belong in.'"

Stevens told Cooper she "absolutely" wants Democrats to take control of the Senate after Election Day and that it's essential for Democrats to retain the seat in Michigan to take control of the Senate.

Cooper pointed out that in August, Stevens had posted on social media that Rogers would be "another rubber stamp for Donald Trump's dangerous agenda. We can't afford to give MAGA another Senate seat in November." He asked Stevens, "Why is it OK now ... why can you afford to give MAGA another Senate seat in November?" 

Stevens replied, "Well, why is it OK to have the Democratic Party and a top nominee injecting ... this type of anger and lack of kindness?"

Cooper asked if she was referring to being disinvited from a planned joint appearance with El-Sayed Sunday.

"Anderson, I was just trying to help this campaign and stand up for people who feel hurt," Stevens replied. 

Cooper interviewed Dingell immediately following Stevens, and Dingell described Stevens' appearance as "one of the most painful interviews I have ever watched."

"I'm very concerned that this has all become a distraction," Dingell said.

President Trump spoke Sunday at campaign rallies in Iowa and Kansas, two states with unexpectedly tight Senate races. 

The president spoke for almost 90 minutes Sunday evening in Salina, Kansas, marking his final campaign stop before Tuesday's election. 

"This is my 30th rally, and I'm closing it down tonight. This is it. I had to come here to make sure that Roger got elected," he said of Kansas GOP Sen. Roger Marshall, who is being challenged by Democrat Adam Hamilton.

Earlier, in Dubuque, Iowa, he rallied for Republican Senate candidate Ashley Hinton and gubernatorial candidate Zach Lahn.

The weekend's rallies in both states were briefly called off on Thursday in favor of telerallies, but the White House announced a day later that they were back on.

Control of the House of Representatives will come down to a number of battleground seats. CBS News has identified  47 House districts that will likely determine which party will have the majority.

Of those seats, 20 are currently held by Democrats and 27 are held by Republicans.  Republicans currently hold a razor-thin majority, with 218 seats, plus an independent who normally caucuses with them. Democrats hold 214 seats. There are two vacancies.

CBS News' Battleground Tracker model estimated on Oct. 25 that Democrats are on track to take control of the House with 229 seats. There is still a path for the GOP to keep the House: The Battleground Tracker's estimates ranged from 215 Democratic seats — which would give Republicans a narrow majority — to 237 seats.

On the Senate side, CBS News has identified 11 key races that could determine control of the Senate.

Eight of those seats are currently held by Republicans: Alaska, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina and Texas.

The other three are held by Democrats: Georgia, Michigan and New Hampshire.

Republicans currently hold 53 Senate seats to the Democrats' 47. 

A federal judge in Alaska threw out the Trump administration's lawsuit seeking to block certification of the state's Senate election results in this week's midterm elections if the Republican incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan loses.

U.S. District Judge Sharon L. Gleason wrote in a 20-page order Sunday that the Justice Department did not have proper legal standing to bring the suit last week. The suit aimed to block the state's election results from being certified because a teacher named Daniel J. Sullivan is also on the state's ballot, alleging that it was a deliberate effort to confuse voters and aid the Democrat in the race, Mary Peltola.

The Justice Department filed a notice of appeal.

Read more here.