A new NBC News/Telemundo poll shows Trump’s immigration crackdown has affected Latino voters. U.S. military officials have discussed the resumption of large-scale operations in Iran. And Christa Pike’s lawyer details her condition after her botched execution.
Here’s what to know today.
Poll: Latino voters are deeply unhappy with Trump
Deportations and other major immigration crackdowns have been a key part of President Donald Trump’s agenda in his second term. But sizable numbers of Latino voters are unhappy, especially those personally fearful about ICE or those who know someone who has been deported or detained.
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The latest NBC News/Telemundo poll shows 65% of Latino voters have negative views of ICE, compared to 28% who have positive views. When it comes to Customs and Border Protection, 46% view the agency negatively, compared to 34% who view it positively.
The survey also shows:
→ 69% of Latino voters disapprove of Trump’s approach to immigration, and two-thirds say his enforcement operations have gone too far.
→ An overwhelming 83% said they do support deporting undocumented immigrants who have committed serious crimes, but 60% oppose deportations of all undocumented immigrants currently in the country.
→ Notably, 18% of Latino voters say they or someone close to them has strongly considered leaving the country.
Read more top takeaways from the poll.
More politics news:
In Iowa, Trump was the main character in a Senate debate between Democrat Josh Turek, a state representative, and Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson.
The Democratic National Committee sued the Trump administration over taxpayer-funded ads that portrayed the president favorably, arguing the ads put Democrats at an electoral disadvantage.
For subscribers: The race for governor in Wisconsin between Democrat David Crowley and Republican Tom Tiffany is neck and neck, but some Democrats are feeling nervous.
For subscribers: Trump has repeatedly said he’s pulled in $21 trillion for the U.S. economy because of his policies and deal-making. But even his own website says it’s only half that.
For subscribers: A CIA probe into an agent’s disclosure of secret intelligence to a foreign official led to the discovery of nearly 300 gold bars, luxury watches and cash in his home.
U.S. military prepares new Iran war options ahead of midterms
Trump and his national security team have discussed possibly resuming large-scale military operations in Iran in the coming weeks, including the option of launching strikes before the midterm elections, according to a U.S. official and another person with knowledge of the decisions. The discussions covered the U.S. strategy on Iran and the Houthi rebels in Yemen. The military afterward prepared new options for operations in Iran for Trump to consider. No decisions have been made, the sources said.
While the White House insists the U.S. “is in a very strong position,” Trump has sent mixed messages about the war in recent days. At a campaign rally in Nebraska, Trump suggested Iran could “take out” Los Angeles or San Diego. He sought to recast those remarks yesterday during a rally in San Antonio.
A renewed military campaign would also put the unpopular war at the center of the political debate as voters begin or prepare to vote in the November elections. It also could send the price of gas and other goods even higher.
Where things stand in the Iran war.
Christa Pike went from brain-dead to awake to talking
Christa Pike was brain-dead on Monday night, according to her lawyer, Randy Spivey. Life support was supposed to be removed on Tuesday. Instead, “to the shock of everyone, including me, including her team, and including her medical team,” Pike woke up, Spivey said.
Now, Pike — the first person to survive two doses of a lethal injection after her failed execution last week in Tennessee — faces a “long road to recovery,” Spivey said, with medical issues including no function in her arms, pneumonia and the inability to swallow.
While Spivey said he was not in the room when Pike woke up, he said the first thing she said was, “Where am I and who are you?”
Still, “she is very aware that the state tried to execute her,” Spivey said.
Spivey’s remarks yesterday followed a status hearing in Tennessee court, during which Chancellor I’Ashea L. Myles ruled that the state must preserve any relevant evidence in connection with the incident. During the hearing, the state “made no promises” that Pike wouldn’t be subjected to a future execution, another lawyer said.
More on Pike’s condition.
Staff Pick: A smiling beaver and a lot of anger in small-town Colorado
Palmer Lake, Colorado is a town without stoplights, boasting mountain views, hiking and plenty of potlucks.
So, when Buc-ee’s, a Texas-based gas station chain embracing the state’s “everything is bigger” ethos, came knocking, not everyone was eager to roll out the red carpet.
For over a year, residents in Palmer Lake have feuded with each other over whether the store has a place in their community. Town officials have resigned, one on the advice of his cardiologist. Neighbors have flipped the bird. Social gatherings were canceled. But folks on both sides are tired of the town being a poster child for America’s divide.
I traveled to Palmer Lake to see what it looks like to try to get Mayberry back. — Bracey Harris, national reporter
Read All About It
A bomb killed at least 30 people in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, a regional official said, amid intensifying Russian attacks throughout the country.
Isaias strengthened into the first hurricane of the Atlantic season as it barrels toward the Gulf Coast.
The USS Abraham Lincoln is scheduled to dock in San Diego today, after two extensions of service amounting to more than 300 days at sea.
A new study pushes back on the notion that sleeping with a dog in your bed can lead to poorer sleep.
The 87-year-old woman whose eviction from her longtime home in Spain last month sparked nationwide protests has died.
For subscribers: Limited information from Russian authorities and local officials in a small Siberian town has fueled speculation that a worker at an anti-plague lab died of the pneumonic plague.
NBC Selected: Online Shopping, Simplified
Prime Day is over, but there are still tons of sales happening this week, including Walmart Deals with discounts on beauty, tech and more, and Lululemon’s “We Made Too Much” section full of deals on fall workout clothes. Find a full list of sales here.
Sign up to The Selection newsletter for hands-on product reviews, expert shopping tips and a look at the best deals and sales each week.

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With just under a month to go until Election Day, financial decisions made by both parties appear to suggest the question being asked is not if Democrats take control of the House, but how large the majority may be.
Currently, Republicans hold a narrow 218-214 seat advantage. In February 2025, the Cook Political Report’s initial ratings for the midterms found a small slice of 39 races listed as competitive, with 18 classified as “toss-ups.”
That topline number has shifted, with Cook currently listing 43 districts as competitive, including 22 toss-ups. But beyond that, under the hood, Democratic and Republican groups are marshalling hundreds of millions of dollars to influence an electoral landscape that is much larger.
An NPR analysis of both parties’ campaign targets, future ad reservations and outside spending by Trump-aligned super PACs finds more than 90 districts where resources are being committed in the closing weeks of the midterms.
Here’s a look at the types of races that will decide who controls the House in 2027.
Competitive races on paper
If the political environment remained unchanged from the 2024 presidential election, a small group of House races would be competitive no matter what, like the 10 districts that voted for one party’s presidential candidate and the other party’s House nominee. (Not counting those changed by redistricting in the last 18 months, but more on that below)
That includes the seats held by New York Republican Rep. Mike Lawler (NY-17), Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-01) and Washington state Democratic Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (WA-03).Another group of seats had very close margins in 2024, like Democratic Rep. Adam Gray’s victory by fewer than 200 votes in California’s 13th Congressional District and a 799 vote victory for Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks in Iowa’s 1st Congressional District.
But this is not the same political environment as 2024. President Trump’s unpopularity with voters has reached record highs, with the share of voters who strongly disapprove of his job performance sitting higher than any point in either term in office.
Voters are unhappy with the ongoing war in Iran, rising gas prices, tariffs and immigration enforcement, and a wave of anti-incumbent sentiment has driven a record number of Congressional retirement announcements along with a number of sitting lawmakers losing their primary races this year.
Other races to watch: CO-08, NY-03, PA-08, PA-10
Redistricting
Further scrambling the map: a redistricting arms race that resulted in new district lines for an estimated 1 in 10 registered voters across several states.
Republican-led state legislatures, at Trump’s urging and in some cases threats, tried to draw new House maps that would give them multiple additional seats in states like Texas and Florida, while Democrats countered in California.
But many of the new district lines were drawn with assumptions made about voters who backed President Trump in 2024 and what they would do in 2026, and in some cases, could backfire.
According to Strength in Numbers/Verasight polling data shared with NPR, Trump has lower-than-average job approval in communities that make up newly-redrawn districts in South Florida and along the Texas-Mexico border, like TX-28 and FL-25.
In North Carolina’s 1st Congressional District, Democrat Rep. Don Davis saw his district that Trump narrowly carried in 2024 become even more conservative. But the national environment — and a U.S. Senate race where polls show Democratic former Gov. Roy Cooper leading — has made the contest more competitive. More than $20 million in ad reservations are scheduled between now and Election Day in the rural and coastal district, making it one of the most expensive House races in the country.
Other races to watch: AL-02, OH-09, FL-22,TX-35
Following the money and messaging
Heading into the final electoral sprint, there are sixty districts that are listed as priorities of both the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee along with Trump-aligned super PACs like No Going Back.
On average, those districts voted for Trump by an 8% margin in 2024, highlighting how deep into conservative areas competitive races have moved.
The DCCC has more than 90 districts on its battlefield map, including 46 targets to flip in its “Red To Blue” program, 26 “Frontline” incumbents in potentially tight races and another 19 it considers “Districts In Play.”
The NRCC has 17 districts on its “Patriots” list of vulnerable incumbents to support and another 27 candidates in open races or challenging Democratic incumbents as part of the “MAGA Majority” program.
Not every race will ultimately end up close or see party control change hands. Many of the DCCC’s “Districts In Play” gave Trump closer to 60% of the vote in 2024 and have seen little-to-no ad spend from either party.
Then, there are races like Kentucky’s 6th Congressional District, where millions of dollars in spending has poured in from both parties — including from Trump-aligned super PACS — in a district Trump won by 15 points.
In Arkansas’ 2nd Congressional District, which Trump also won by 15 points, six-figure outside spending targeting Democratic nominee Chris Jones and boosting incumbent Rep. French Hill contributed to the DCCC adding that race to its “Red To Blue” target.
According to Ballotpedia tracking, the target lists compiled by the DCCC and NRCC are usually broader in their scope and limited in their success. From 2012-2024, the Democrats won a total of 34% of its target districts and Republicans won 29%.
In some races and places, Republicans and Democrats are beginning to pull back ad reservations for the rest of the year, according to data from ad tracking firm AdImpact, though for different reasons. The most high profile example for Republicans is halting the flow of money in the North Carolina Senate race and redirecting funds to Kansas.
Some House races have seen similar cancellations, too, like the open race in Nebraska’s 2nd District that is both a DCCC Red To Blue and NRCC MAGA Majority target.
Still, that data shows close to half a billion dollars in ad reservations have been placed between now and Election Day, showing that in this midterm election neither party is taking anything for granted.
Other races to watch: FL-13, NC-11, OH-10, OH-15

A group of anti-Israel protesters on Wednesday targeted New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, calling him a “traitor,” accusing him of “genocide” and claiming he “cannot weaponize being brown anymore.”
The crowd of more than 100 demonstrators marched from City Hall to Union Square, where a vigil was held to mark the anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks in Israel. The vigil was organized as an evening of mourning for those killed in the Oct. 7 attacks and the bloodshed that followed, including Israelis and Palestinians.
The anti-Israel crowd was just outside the barricades of the Israelis for Peace Vigil, beating on drums and attempting to drown out the speakers, according to City & State New York.
Mamdani was at the vigil and held a candle as protesters threw various insults at him, including accusations of genocide and “selling all your people out.”
ANTI-ISRAEL GROUPS RALLY ACROSS US ON OCTOBER 7 ANNIVERSARY, CHANTING ‘LONG LIVE THE INTIFADA’
“Zohran, what do you say? How many kids did you kill today?” the protesters shouted, according to the outlet.
“700,000 dead. Mamdani, your hands are red!” they also chanted.
“Traitor, traitor, come on out! You sold all your people out!” the group was also heard chanting.
The crowd also shouted: “Zohran, you can’t hide. We charge you with genocide!”
“We don’t care about where you’re from. You cannot talk about being Muslim anymore. You cannot weaponize being brown anymore. Identity politics can only get you so far,” they said.
One protester also claimed to be a former intern for Mamdani, saying the mayor “was never working for the people.”
Protesters also demanded that Mamdani take action against New York real-estate events that have marketed properties in Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which the demonstrators characterize as “stolen” Palestinian land, according to City & State New York.
“Mayor Mamdani, take a stand. Stop the sale of stolen land,” the group chanted.
The protesters also called for abolishing the City University of New York’s Board of Trustees, whose members are largely appointed by the mayor and governor. Protesters have previously accused the board of ignoring demands to divest investments linked to Israel and criticized its handling of anti-Israel demonstrations on campus.
Despite the protesters’ accusations of genocide on Wednesday, Mamdani is a longtime critic of the Israeli government’s actions in Gaza and has denounced its treatment of Palestinians in the aftermath of the 2023 attack.
MAMDANI SAYS IT WAS ‘STRANGE’ GETTING CALLED OUT BY NETANYAHU AFTER CALLING FOR HIS ARREST
In a statement on Wednesday, Mamdani condemned Hamas’ attack as a “horrific war crime” while also characterizing Israel’s subsequent military operation as a genocide.
“The suffering did not begin nor end that day,” he wrote. “It instead continued through the Israeli government’s devastating, ongoing genocide in Gaza in which it has killed more than 74,000 Palestinians — including more than 21,000 children.”
Israel has rejected accusations that it is committing genocide in Gaza, saying its military targets Hamas and other terrorist groups while seeking to minimize civilian casualties.
The mayor’s statement sparked bipartisan backlash, with Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., calling it “egregious and insulting.”
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“There are 364 days of the year to focus on that. This is a day that should just be focused on what was by all agreement a horrific terror attack,” Goldman, who is Jewish, told Politico. “What the mayor’s statement did today was to blame Israelis for the attack that they suffered three years ago. Regardless of what you actually think of the conflict and what’s happened either since or before, there’s no excuse for victim blaming.”

Welcome to From the Politics Desk, a daily newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s latest reporting and analysis from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail.
In today’s edition, we dig into yet another visit to Texas from the president. Plus, Andrea Mitchell examines what has — and hasn’t — happened since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
— Adam Wollner
Trump’s Texas two-step
By Adam Wollner
President Donald Trump is making his second trip in the past week to Texas tonight, highlighting how the midterm fight has shifted traditionally red terrain in the final stretch.
He’s set to rally in San Antonio for state Attorney General Ken Paxton and congressional candidate Carlos De La Cruz. Paxton remains locked in a tight and expensive battle with Democrat James Talarico. And De La Cruz’s race in the 35th District, which was redrawn in the redistricting process last year to be more favorable to Republicans, has been more competitive than expected. While Trump would have carried the district under its new lines by 10 points in 2024, the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter rates the race as “lean Republican.”
Notably absent from tonight’s rally? Gov. Greg Abbott, who cited a scheduling conflict.“Well, first, whenever he does show up, it leads to excitement among the base, and he does a good job of getting the base organized and turning out,” Abbott said yesterday of Trump.
“Because of the schedule that I run, where I go to multiple cities a day doing events like this, already have events like this scheduled that day, and I will not be able to make it,” he added.
Abbott is also facing a tougher re-election battle than Republicans anticipated at the outset of the cycle: He won his last three races for governor by double digits.
But the broader political environment has proven treacherous for Republican candidates across the board. And now, national Democrats are under growing pressure to spend more resources on behalf of gubernatorial nominee Gina Hinojosa, who is at a major financial disadvantage against Abbott.
Natasha Korecki reports that Latino leaders in Texas, including members of Congress, met with the Democratic Governors Association this morning to discuss Hinojosa’s campaign. In a letter, a group of Latino stakeholders in the state called on the DGA to “make a real meaningful investment of $3 million” into the race before early voting begins in less than two weeks.
The DGA recently committed $1 million to the race, while Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker announced he would send $1 million to her campaign after already giving $200,000. (The New York Times first reported on those contributions.)
Meanwhile, Abbott isn’t the only Republican on the ballot this fall who appears to be seeking some distance from Trump. Michigan GOP Senate nominee Mike Rogers said in a new ad today that “we need to end this tariff war now.” The party’s candidate for governor in the state, John James, also put daylight between himself and Trump on tariffs and the Iran war at a debate last night.
🥊 More from the debate stage: In the Maine Senate race, Republican Sen. Susan Collins and Democrat Troy Jackson traded attacks over Trump, the cost of living and abortion. In Georgia’s race for governor, Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms and Republican Rick Jackson also sparred over Trump and the economy. And in the Iowa gubernatorial contest, Republican Zach Lahn’s residency history was a major topic.
The Oct. 7 attack, three years later
Analysis by Andrea Mitchell
At dawn on a holiday weekend three years ago today, Israel was stunned when hordes of Hamas terrorists stormed across its border, slashing and and kidnapping revelers at an all-night music festival and rampaging through nearby settlements, or kibbutzim. In total, 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals, including 46 U.S. citizens, were killed, while 251 were taken hostage.
Thus began a war that shattered Israel’s confidence in its military superiority and ultimately transformed the region, sowing the seeds for the current war against Iran. Despite a ceasefire and hostage release, the conflict in the Gaza Strip and now the occupied West Bank continues at a slow burn with periodic outbreaks to this day.
How could Israel have been so taken by surprise? Although Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has blocked an official investigation into how his country’s vaunted military could have been so blindsided, NBC News has confirmed authoritative reports on the colossal intelligence failure, including a stunning account that an all-woman border patrol’s early warnings were dismissed by male superiors. Inexplicably, it took more than six hours after the massacre for the country to mobilize a response.
The human cost is incalculable. By the numbers, the Hamas-led Gaza Health Ministry estimates that about 75,000 people, including more than 44,000 children, have died in Gaza. Thousands more have been injured. Israel says it has lost 970 soldiers. Gaza has largely been leveled, its housing, schools and hospitals destroyed. The International Criminal Court, a United Nations entity that is not recognized by either Israel or the Trump administration, has cited both sides over allegations of war crimes. And the conflict has fueled cries of genocide against Israel by protesters in Europe and the U.S., an accusation that’s offensive to those in a country born as a refuge for survivors of the Holocaust.
Based on a Biden administration plan, Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner finalized a ceasefire and release of surviving hostages, as well as the return of hostage remains. The White House promises that its Board of Peace — a group of world leaders each pledging $1 billion to a nongovernment entity led by President Donald Trump — is supposed to be recruiting a multinational peace-keeping force to disarm Hamas and get Israel to withdraw to a border buffer zone. Trump has said the Gaza Strip could be rebuilt as “The Riviera of the Middle East.” None of that has taken place.
Now, Netanyahu faces a closely fought election in three weeks that has become a referendum on his conduct of the war in Gaza and failure to prevent it. His national security ministers are spearheading a campaign to seize as many Palestinian villages in the disputed West Bank as possible now as a hedge against a victory by a government less opposed to a Palestinian state. And Israel’s conduct of the war has become a political issue in the U.S. that could affect some of this year’s key midterm races as well as the Democratic Party’s nominating contest in 2028.
Fiona Glisson contributed research.
That’s all From the Politics Desk for now. Today’s newsletter was compiled by Adam Wollner.
If you have feedback — likes or dislikes — email us at politicsnewsletter@nbcuni.com

Standing before the Acropolis in Athens, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio swept through the history of ancient Greece to the rise of American industry in a speech on Wednesday that portrayed western civilisation at risk of decline.
Rubio said the world was at an “inflection point”. Nations, particularly in Europe, should return to ancient Greek values and “rebuild our institutions and our alliances to face these threats together”.
“We believe that Europe can awaken from its long slumber and rekindle the fire that was here millennia ago,” he said.
While he spoke of cooperation, Rubio also said “nations need not abandon their distinct identities in order to recognise their common interests”.
Rubio, often mentioned as a possible presidential candidate in 2028, touched on what he considered dangers in the world, such as “radical mullahs” in Iran and suicide bombers.
But most of his speech focused on a broader threat, describing the current period as a crossroads.
“The course we take will determine whether the West maintains its place at the head of the world, or resigns itself to a future of atrophy, and servitude, and decline,” he said. “The next decade will write the story of the next century.”
Rubio called for a return to the “classical understanding of politics and statecraft that the Trump administration hopes to reclaim – reclaim not just for our country, but for the whole of our civilisation”.
That appeared to include renewed national pride, which he said the ancient Greeks had embraced, but the west had abandoned as “we felt embarrassed that our achievements set us apart from the rest of the world”.
“The word ‘nationalism’ became a dirty word,” he said. “So we tore down our monuments. We condemned our own history, and in too many places, we taught our children to be ashamed of the countries they would inherit.
“In the process, we opened our borders and outsourced our industry and allowed our militaries to wither and to decay.”
Rubio’s boss, President Donald Trump, has sought to carry out an “America first” agenda during both his terms in office, and taken a more confrontational stance toward traditional allies and in longstanding trade relationships.
Just six months ago, Trump again threatened to pull the US from the Nato alliance, which he has frequently criticised while pushing members to make larger contributions to defence.