Texas Senate race is now a $500 million contest

On the campaign trail

• The $500 million race: The Texas Senate race has become a marquee contest, reflected in ad spending surpassing half a billion dollars . Tonight, CNN and Jubilee are hosting a town hall with Democratic nominee James Talarico . Submit your questions if you’re a Texas voter, and stream the town hall live with an All Access subscription .

• A big debate night : Tuesday’s Senate debates in Maine, Georgia and Iowa offered a revealing look at how Republicans are navigating a difficult political environment, with control of the narrowly divided Senate at stake.

• Happening today : President Donald Trump will visit Arizona and Montana as part of his campaign blitz to shore up Republican votes. He’s already been to Alaska and Ohio this week.

As the midterm elections draw closer, here's the latest on debates, rallies and town halls

With the US midterm elections now less than three weeks away, politicians are ramping up their campaigning, with control of the narrowly divided House and Senate at stake.

Yesterday saw Senate candidates debate in Maine, Georgia and Iowa , with more events taking place in the coming days.

At yesterday’s debate in Maine, Sen. Susan Collins emphasized her independence from US President Donald Trump as she sparred with Democratic challenger Troy Jackson over the Iran war , healthcare cuts and a trade war with Canada.

Meanwhile, in Georgia, Republican Rep. Mike Collins attacked Sen. Jon Ossoff over his ties to a donor named in the Jeffrey Epstein files — an issue that has largely put Republicans on the defensive.

In Iowa, Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson and Democratic state Rep. Josh Turek also made their case to voters for the state’s open Senate contest.

Today, Trump is set to hold rallies in Arizona and Montana, as part of a campaign for Republican candidates that his newly-minted press secretary Katie Zacharia called a “midterm blitz.”

This evening, CNN and Jubilee will be hosting a town hall with Democratic Texas Senate candidate James Talerico at 8 p.m. ET.

The town hall will be moderated by Erin Burnett. Viewers can stream it live with an All Access subscription .

Registered voters in Texas can submit their questions for Talarico here.

CNN’s Annie Grayer, Steve Contorno, Eric Bradner and Donald Judd contributed to this reporting.

In the midterm election ad wars, Republicans are spending more to get less

Republicans are spending hundreds of millions of dollars on advertising in battleground Senate races as they scramble to defend increasingly competitive GOP seats in the final stretch of the midterms.

Across nine of the most competitive Senate races last month, Republicans cumulatively outspent Democrats on broadcast TV ads by nearly 100% more, $233 million to $121 million, according to AdImpact data, but only saw about 40% more rating points.

The disparity comes down to a difference in strategy. Republicans are relying heavily on outside groups, like super PACs, that pay elevated rates for ads and are making big buys late in the campaign, when inventory is stretched.

By contrast, Democrats are taking advantage of discounted rates for candidates and earlier, less expensive reservations.

At this stage in the game, Republicans are spending more to get less, which means the “shock and awe” of their massive dollar advantage isn’t necessarily translating to an actual impact on the ground, according to veteran Republican strategist John Thomas.

A better metric, he said, is to consider the gross rating points, or GRPs, a unit advertisers use to measure the reach and frequency of an ad campaign, independent of how much was paid for it.

In Texas – where Democrats were blasted by Republican ad money in September, outspent more than 4 times over – Republicans got only 2.6 times more GRPs than Democrats.

Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico ’s campaign spent a little under $4 million to air its most aired ad , casting Paxton as “the most corrupt politician in Texas,” about 8,000 times. That amounts to less than one-fifth the spending for about half the airtime.

Susan Collins distances herself from Trump in Senate debate

Republican Sen. Susan Collins further distanced herself from President Donald Trump in the Maine Senate debate against Democrat Troy Jackson on Tuesday.

Republican Sen. Susan Collins further distanced herself from President Donald Trump in the Maine Senate debate against Democrat Troy Jackson on Tuesday. The incumbent criticized Trump's approach to the Iran war and his signature "One Big Beautiful Bill" legislation.

More than 188,000 people voted in Georgia on first day of early voting

More than 188,000 people voted in Georgia on Tuesday, the first day of in-person early voting, according to data from the secretary of state .

That’s about a 40% increase over the 134,901 people who voted on the first day in 2022, although early voting started a day later this year because Monday was a holiday.

That number was still well short of the 310,962 people who voted on the first day of early voting in 2024, which was a higher turnout presidential election.

在竞选活动中

• 这场耗资5亿美元的竞选：德克萨斯州参议员竞选已成为一场焦点之战，广告支出已超过5亿美元。今晚，CNN和Jubilee将联合举办一场民主党候选人詹姆斯·塔拉里科的市政厅会议。如果您是德克萨斯州选民，请提交您的问题，并通过All Access订阅观看市政厅会议的直播。

• 一场重要的辩论之夜：周二在缅因州、佐治亚州和爱荷华州举行的参议院辩论，揭示了共和党人如何在艰难的政治环境中应对，而参议院的控制权正处于微弱的平衡状态。

• 今日要闻：唐纳德·特朗普总统将访问亚利桑那州和蒙大拿州，这是他巩固共和党选票竞选活动的一部分。本周他已经访问了阿拉斯加州和俄亥俄州。

随着中期选举临近，以下是关于辩论、集会和市政厅会议的最新消息。

距离美国中期选举不到三周，各路政客正在加紧竞选活动，争夺势均力敌的众议院和参议院的控制权。

昨天，缅因州、佐治亚州和爱荷华州的参议院候选人进行了辩论，未来几天还将举行更多活动。

在昨天于缅因州举行的辩论中，参议员苏珊·柯林斯强调她与美国总统唐纳德·特朗普保持独立，并与民主党挑战者特洛伊·杰克逊就伊朗战争、医疗保健削减和与加拿大的贸易战等问题展开辩论。

与此同时，在佐治亚州，共和党众议员迈克·柯林斯抨击参议员乔恩·奥索夫与杰弗里·爱泼斯坦文件中提到的一位捐赠者的关系——这个问题在很大程度上让共和党人处于守势。

在爱荷华州，共和党众议员阿什利·欣森和民主党州众议员乔什·图雷克也向选民阐述了他们竞选该州空缺参议员席位的理由。

今天，特朗普将在亚利桑那州和蒙大拿州举行集会，这是他为共和党候选人开展的竞选活动的一部分，他的新任新闻秘书凯蒂·扎卡里亚称之为“中期选举闪电战”。

今晚，CNN 和 Jubilee 将在美国东部时间晚上 8 点举办一场与德克萨斯州民主党参议员候选人 James Talerico 的市政厅会议。

本次市政厅会议将由艾琳·伯内特主持。观众可通过订阅“全权访问”服务观看直播。

德克萨斯州的注册选民可以在这里提交他们想问塔拉里科的问题。

CNN的Annie Grayer、Steve Contorno、Eric Bradner和Donald Judd对本报道亦有贡献。

在中期选举的广告大战中，共和党投入更多，却收效甚微。

在中期选举的最后阶段，共和党人正竭尽全力保住竞争日益激烈的共和党席位，为此他们在关键的参议院竞选中投入了数亿美元的广告费用。

根据 AdImpact 的数据，在上个月竞争最激烈的九场参议院竞选中，共和党人在电视广告上的累计支出比民主党人高出近 100%，达到 2.33 亿美元，而民主党人仅为 1.21 亿美元，但共和党人的收视率只比民主党人高出约 40%。

造成这种差异的原因在于策略的不同。共和党严重依赖外部团体，例如超级政治行动委员会（Super PACs），这些团体支付高价广告费，并在竞选后期广告资源紧张时进行大手笔投放。

相比之下，民主党人则利用候选人折扣价和更早、更便宜的预订方式。

资深共和党策略师约翰·托马斯表示，在现阶段，共和党人花费更多却收获更少，这意味着他们巨大的资金优势所带来的“震撼和威慑”效果并不一定能转化为实际的影响。

他表示，更好的衡量标准是考虑总收视点（GRP），这是广告商用来衡量广告活动覆盖范围和频次的单位，与广告费用无关。

在德克萨斯州——9 月份民主党人遭到共和党广告资金的猛烈抨击，支出比共和党人少 4 倍多——共和党人的总收视点 (GRP) 也只是民主党人的 2.6 倍。

民主党参议员候选人詹姆斯·塔拉里科的竞选团队花费了近400万美元，播放了其播放次数最多的广告，将帕克斯顿描绘成“德克萨斯州最腐败的政客”，播放次数约为8000次。这相当于花费不到其他候选人广告的五分之一，但播放时间却只有后者的一半左右。

苏珊·柯林斯在参议院辩论中与特朗普保持距离

周二，在缅因州参议院与民主党人特洛伊·杰克逊的辩论中，共和党参议员苏珊·柯林斯进一步与唐纳德·特朗普总统保持距离。

周二，在缅因州参议院与民主党候选人特洛伊·杰克逊的辩论中，共和党参议员苏珊·柯林斯进一步与唐纳德·特朗普总统划清界限。这位现任参议员批评了特朗普对伊朗战争的处理方式及其标志性的“一项宏伟法案”（One Big Beautiful Bill）。

在佐治亚州提前投票的第一天，超过18.8万人参加了投票。

根据佐治亚州州务卿办公室的数据，周二是佐治亚州提前现场投票的第一天，当天有超过 18.8 万人投票。

与 2022 年首日投票的 134,901 人相比，今年的投票人数增加了约 40%，尽管由于星期一是假日，今年的提前投票晚了一天开始。

这个数字仍然远远低于 2024 年提前投票首日 310,962 人的投票率，而那次总统选举的投票率更高。