Friday morning news: October 30, 2026

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Campaign stuff » Candidates are gearing up for one final weekend of campaigning before Tuesday’s election.

On Thursday, President Trump campaigned for Sen. Darline Graham and told a crowd in South Carolina:

TRUMP:  If you elect a Republican House and a Republican Senate on November 3rd, we will continue to put America first. Every single day, we will do that

While former Vice President Kamala Harris told Democrats in Georgia:

HARRIS: Folks feeling like, I’m watching all this happen, but I can’t do anything about it. Well that moment has passed.

Democrats are widely expected to claim a majority in the House while the Senate remains up for grabs.

All eyes will be on several very tight races in particular that could tip the balance of power in the Senate. Those include Texas, Kansas, Iowa, Ohio, Maine, and Alaska.

Alaska Gov. orders probe of ballot controversy » And speaking of Alaska, Gov. Mike Dunleavy has ordered an investigation into the Democratic candidate running for the U.S. Senate over an alleged scheme to trick voters. That, after a new report, revealing that her campaign appeared to be involved in recruiting another candidate with the same name as Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan to confuse voters.

WORLD’s Harrison Watters has more.

HARRISON WATTERS: The New York Times says it obtained texts, documents and interviews showing Democrat Mary Peltola’s team worked with people trying to recruit potential spoiler candidates with the same name as Senator Sullivan.

Peltola side-stepped questions about the Times report on Wednesday.

PELTOLA: This is just another distraction, it’s another diversion.

WATTERS: Alaska courts earlier this year ruled retired teacher Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. could appear on the same ranked choice ballot as incumbent Senator Dan S. Sullivan. The Justice Department sued Alaska last week, arguing the two Sullivans will confuse voters. President Trump told reporters:

TRUMP: Nobody knows. They have no idea who the Dan Sullivan is.

WATTERS: Governor Mike Dunleavy said Wednesday the state is checking to see if Peltola’s campaign broke the law in recruiting the second Sullivan.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Harrison Watters

Economic growth and inflation » Meantime, new economic data gives voters a mixed picture ahead of Election Day.

The Commerce Department says the economy grew at a strong 3.4 percent annual rate in the third quarter, beating economists’ expectations.

Higher consumer spending and the AI investment boom helped drive that growth. Business investment surged nearly 13 percent, the strongest since 2020.

But Americans were dipping into their savings to spend more. The savings rate fell to 3.8 percent in September.

And consumer prices were still climbing, up 3.6 percent from a year ago.

Israel latest » Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claims Tuesday's election was stolen amid allegations of bribery and outside influence. WORLD’s Travis Kircher is in Israel and has the story.

TRAVIS KIRCHER: High Arab voter turnout helped Arab-led parties make historic gains .The completed count gives them 19 seats, up from 10.

Israel’s domestic security agency is investigating suspected foreign interference. Israeli media say the allegations involve Qatar, which denies interfering.

NETANYAHU: [Speaking Hebrew]

KIRCHER: Netanyahu pointed to arrests in a suspected vote-buying scheme involving members of the Arab-led Ra-am Party, who were allegedly caught with envelopes full of cash.

The party denies wrongdoing. And Arab Knesset member Ahmad Tibi told reporters:

TIBI: Netanyahu is very much afraid because of the results of the election and the high turnout of the Arab community and the Arab voters. We acted in a very democratic way in order to change the reality and to bring down the Netanyahu government.

KIRCHER: Meanwhile:

EISENKOT: [Speaking Hebrew]

KIRCHER: Netanyahu challenger Gadi Eisenkot is also calling for a thorough investigation. But he accused the prime minister and his party of a coordinated campaign to discredit the election results.

Those 19 seats could help Eisenkot form a government if he can win the Arab parties’ backing and keep his other allies on board.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Travis Kircher in Jerusalem.

DHS data breach » A massive data breach at the Department of Homeland Security may have exposed more than 40,000 current and former DHS employees and contractors, including undercover federal agents.

A left-wing hacking group that says it is anti-ICE claims it stole the records. Another group published them online.

Reports say they include names, phone numbers, email addresses and information that could reveal sensitive assignments and put agents at risk.

Patrick Stewart obituary » Hollywood is mourning the loss of an actor who added a dash of Shakespere to Star Trek.

CLIP (Star Trek TNG intro): Space, the final frontier …

Patrick Stewart has died at the age of 86. He portrayed Captain Jean-Luc Picard on Star Trek: The Next Generation. He also played Professor Charles Xavier in numerous "X-Men" films.

CLIP (X-Men): You’re in my school for the gifted, for mutants. You’ll be safe here from Magneto.

Stewart was a classically trained Shakespearian stage actor long before he became known for his iconic sci-fi roles.

He died Wednesday after a brief illness. He had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and Lewy body dementia.

Tributes have poured in, including from another former captain of the Starship Enterprise, William Shatner, who called Stewart a “friend, a colleague, and a magnificent actor.”

And Stewart’s X-men co-star Hugh Jackman called him “one of the greats of stage and screen.”

I'm Kent Covington.

Straight ahead, John Stonestree joins us for Culture Friday. And later, your listener feedback.

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