• Ohio controversy: President Donald Trump defended Vivek Ramaswamy’s ad featuring rival Amy Acton’s estranged mother, telling him to keep it up and thank God. A source said Trump thinks Republicans are “weak” for criticizing the ad. Trump spoke on Ohio even as he rallied in Iowa, where he stumped for Senate candidate Ashley Hinson, who says the ad “needs to come down.”
• GOP struggles with younger voters : CNN examined voting data in three states that have started early in-person voting. Returns in Georgia, Iowa, and North Carolina suggest that turnout among the youngest Republicans is well behind their pace in 2024.
• Young men move away from Trump : Nearly twice as many men under 30 say they’re more likely to vote for a Democratic candidate, according to a poll, a stunning shift after a roughly even split in their vote in 2024. CNN’s Steve Contorno visited Lansing, Michigan, and talked to two dozen young men.
President Donald Trump has been undermining his own party for months, continuously causing more headaches for Republicans even long after most presidents would’ve taken the Election Day cue to rein themselves in.
So why would that stop on the eve of those elections?
Trump’s latest move is trying to bully Republicans into embracing a highly controversial political ad that seeks to weaponize a situation involving alleged child sexual abuse. The ad has clearly rubbed many GOP officeholders the wrong way, from both a moral and a political perspective.
Yesterday, Trump defended the ad from Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, which features the estranged mother of his Democratic opponent, Amy Acton , calling Acton a liar. Acton has previously said she hasn’t seen her mother since she was 12 years old , when her mother lost custody of her children and the man she married was indicted for allegedly sexually abusing Acton.
Trump also urged his party to own it and put pressure on Republicans to fall in line. He even said Ramaswamy had called him asking for advice on whether to take it down, and the president told him he needed to leave the ad up.
Trump is essentially asking his party to own something it’s very uncomfortable owning, just to help one candidate who might or might not benefit from it.
It’s too early to see credible polling on what Ohioans or Americans think of the ad yet, but Trump has repeatedly shown that he has no problem with forcing his party to deal with overwhelmingly unpopular things . That includes his tariffs, the Iran war, his taxpayer-funded political ads and his happy talk about inflation and the economy, which Trump has stuck with long after it clearly wasn’t working.
President Donald Trump told Iowans he thought he had the ability to run for a third term , even though he admitted the law says otherwise. Trump has repeatedly flirted with running for a third term, though at various points he’s definitively ruled it out.
President Donald Trump brought his midterm campaign blitz to Iowa on Thursday, aiming to boost Republican turnout in the deep-red area while also inserting a defense of a controversial ad three states over in Ohio.
Warning that his agenda would be destroyed if Democrats win, Trump said the outcome could only be avoided if his supporters turn out in big numbers.
Trump warned that if “radical” Democrats win, their policies, including on immigration, would be “the start of something very bad, very dark, very horrible for our country,” later adding, “We need the votes.”
Midway through his speech, Trump spent several minutes recounting a controversy surrounding the ad Vivek Ramaswamy is airing in the Ohio governor’s race featuring his Democratic rival’s estranged mother .
Trump said he urged Ramaswamy to buck Republican calls to take the ad down. But in raising the issue during his speech in another state, Trump also seemed keen to elevate the controversy to a national crowd.
One of the candidates he was in town to stump for, Rep. Ashley Hinson, had earlier in the day said the ad “needs to come down.”
She didn’t mention it during her time on stage alongside Trump. Nor did she mention Trump. Instead, she took the time to slam her rival and urged voters to “keep Iowa Iowa.”
Trump, introducing Hinson, said he frequently takes her calls.
The speech, held inside an airplane hanger at the municipal airport, was well attended. Unlike Trump’s recent events, he was not repeatedly interrupted by protesters.
Millions of Americans have already cast their ballots ahead of the midterm elections, and evidence suggests Democrats are generally outpacing Republicans relative to 2024. In several key states, this gap is driven by lagging Republican turnout, particularly among younger voters.
CNN examined early voting data in three states that have started early in-person voting. Returns in Georgia, Iowa, and North Carolina suggest that turnout among the youngest Republican voters is well behind their pace in the 2024 election.
In North Carolina , registered Democrats lead Republicans by about 20 points among all early votes cast through Wednesday (in-person and by mail), up from an even margin at the same point in 2024, according to data from the North Carolina State Board of Elections.
Republican turnout continues to lag. Registered Republicans have cast just 36% of the number of ballots relative to the same point in 2024, compared to 69% for Democrats. And while Republican turnout trails Democratic turnout among all age groups, the deficit is particularly severe among the youngest voters.
Democratic turnout among voters ages 18 to 29 is 60% compared to the same point in 2024. Among the youngest Republican voters, turnout is just 13% of 2024. Democratic voters 65 and older are at 78% of 2024 turnout, while Republican voters in the same group are at 50%.
This dynamic may be playing out in other places as well, according to data from Catalist. In Iowa , Democratic turnout through Tuesday among voters under 30 is 66% of the same day in 2024, while Republican turnout is at just 32%.
Voters in Georgia do not register with a party. But the number of early votes among Black voters younger than 30 is 68% relative to the same point in 2024. For younger White voters, it’s at just 31%.
CNN’s most recent poll found lagging enthusiasm among younger Republicans. Among voters under 45 identifying as a Republican or Republican-leaning independent, just 31% said they were extremely motivated to vote (51% for younger Democratic-aligned voters) and 59% said they would definitely vote or had already voted (75% for younger Democratic-aligned voters).
A caveat: It’s still early, and in many states this year, Democrats have started voting with an enthusiasm advantage that has waned over time. Younger voters also tend to cast their ballots closer to election day or Election Day itself. The CNN poll found 64% of Republican-aligned voters younger than 45 said they planned to vote on Election Day, compared to just 43% for younger Democratic-aligned voters.
