Monday, November 2, 2026

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0:46Tonight we're live at NBC News' Decision 2026 headquarters. With Election Day just hours away, two states now facing weather emergencies and new details tonight about that horrific plane crash in Florida. The president's final message tonight ahead of tomorrow's historic midterms and the surprise endorsement rocking the Michigan race. Our new reporting on that Democratic congresswoman switching sides, backing the Republican candidate. Plus, the major ruling on Alaska's race. Will any of it change voters' minds? plus our reporters spread out in those critical battleground states speaking with voters and candidates ahead of decision day the private jet slamming straight into the road the family killed on board just identified and what we know about the 20 year old pilot who issued the frightening mayday call and now the investigation was whether to blame plus right now states of emergency in Florida and Arizona historic floods leaving trucks and cars submerged and in the Southwest storms turning deadly.

1:51First responders carrying people on their backs even using fire trucks to save those trapped. Martha Stewart facing backlash after she posted this image of her Halloween costume to social media appearing to show her as a homeless person. Her apology tonight. An extreme balancing act. The slackliner walking between two cable cars nearly 500 feet above the Alps. The terrifying moments. He loses his footing. Plus, inside OpenAI's election war room, how they're battling misinformation as more Americans turn to chatbots ahead of the midterms. Top Story starts right now.

2:33And good evening. Welcome to this special edition of Top Story. We are live tonight from NBC News election headquarters in New York City. In the final hours of this midterm marathon, several twists shaking up critical races. President Trump making his final pitch to voters in our nation's capital today after his all-out rally blitz to shore up support in parts of the country he's dominated in past elections. But Democrats looking to flip some of those battlegrounds to win the Senate. They'll need to pick up four states from Republicans and hold on to the ones they already control, including Michigan, a race rocked by a last-minute bombshell endorsement.

3:09Democratic primary runner-up Haley Stevens rescinding her endorsement of Abdul El-Sayed and campaigning for Republican Mike Rogers. And all eyes still on Alaska and the tale of the two Dan Sullivans with just hours to go, a judge knocking down a lawsuit from the Trump administration to block the results if Republicans lose. Our reporters are fanned out across the country tackling these battleground races and getting a pulse check from voters in the races that could decide it all. We'll take you live to each of them in a moment. But first, Chief Capitol Hill Correspondent Ryan Nobles leads us off with the wild final days on the trail.

3:45Tonight, the final sprint. President Trump capping off his midterm blitz. 28 rallies across 19 states. If the people that voted for me, if they go out and vote just a good portion of them, we will win in a landslide. And in the critical Michigan Senate race, that November surprise showcasing a divide among Democrats. That's Democrat Abdul Al-Sayed today. Donald Trump is the worst symptom of the disease of our politics. Following that last-minute bombshell from Democratic Congresswoman Haley Stevens, breaking ranks and endorsing Republican Mike Rogers. My vote for Senate is going to be with Mike Rogers, and I will tell you why.

4:24Because we have to stand with country. We can't stand with hate. Stevens narrowly lost the primary to Al-Sayed and had called on him to more forcefully condemn an ad by al-Sayed supporters criticized as anti-Semitic, which he distanced himself from, tying grocery prices to Israel. Al-Sayed banning her from his campaign events before she endorsed Rogers. There is a chorus of Democrats around this state saying that Abdul is too extreme. Al-Sayed bristling when pressed by reporters. At the end of the day, I actually don't think about Haley Stevens. Tonight, NBC's Shaquille Brewster in Michigan with his El-Sayed voters slamming Stevens.

5:04I'm disappointed in her. I'm all for Sayed because I want to check on President Trump. While this longtime Democrat is voting Republican. This is not about Mike Rogers being the best candidate. For me, this is about him being a safer choice. And in Alaska, a judge blocking a Trump administration lawsuit to stop certification if Republican Senator Dan Sullivan narrowly loses. The New York Times has reported Democrat Mary Peltola's campaign recruited a man with the same name as the incumbent to confuse voters. NBC's Steve Patterson is in Alaska. That double Dan Sullivan controversy hanging over the election here in Alaska, but it is not deterring turnout.

5:45This line stretching out the door has had people waiting for up to an hour. Peltola was pressed if her campaign was involved in the alleged scheme. Is it possible that anybody in your campaign was potentially part of that conspiracy to plant Dan Jay? I have no idea. I honestly have no idea. All right, Ryan Nobles joins us now live in studio at our election headquarters. So, Ryan, explain to our viewers exactly what Democrats have to do to take control of the Senate. It's a pretty simple math equation when you think about it, Tom. They need to net four seats in order to win back the majority. And there are four seats that we deem competitive that they currently hold.

6:21That's Georgia, New Hampshire, Minnesota, and Michigan. They have to win all four of those, and then they need to win four more seats in states that Republicans currently hold. So, as an example, could that be Texas? Could that be North Carolina? Alaska, which we just talked about, and perhaps Maine. There's certainly a path there for Democrats, but they have more work to do than Republicans have in order to win back the majority. And we're talking about states like Kansas and South Carolina in that conversation as well. Ryan, we thank you for all of that. Let's get right to our reporters in the battleground states tonight.

6:51Up first, we're heading to Michigan, and Shaquille Brewster is in Rochester Hills. So, Shaq, you've been talking to voters, and give our voters a sense of exactly where you are in the state, because they may not know Rochester Hills. What are you hearing about sort of this 11th hour endorsement, and what do we know about early voting so far? Well, Tom, we're right in front of where Mike Rogers is speaking right now, or at least his event will be taking place. It's actually also the birthplace of Abdul El-Sayed, so a little mix of both candidates here in this town. But when you talk about the early voting numbers and the surprise endorsement that we saw there, it's important to note that across the state, according to the state, we know that more than 30 percent of voters have already cast a ballot here, either by mail or voting early in person.

7:37So for about two million people, it's too late for that Haley Stevens surprise endorsement to really have any impact. But as I've been talking to some of those last minute early voters throughout the day, you're hearing a mixed bag in terms of how this will influence their vote and how they're responding to it. I want you to listen to some of those conversations. No one cares about Haley Stevens. She lost. Hopefully some people will be swayed by Haley Stevens. I think that was a big mistake on her part. I think you stay within party lines. Let's say I'm proud of her. She got mad and she took through her toys out the pram.

8:11I think she made a big mistake. I think it's really disgusting of her to do it that quickly. She made a difficult choice.

8:20The Rogers campaign is that is hoping that this endorsement pulls over some of that support, especially from some Democrats who do have concerns and reservations about Abdul El-Sayed. But the El-Sayed campaign is saying that, one, they're not focused on this. You heard that a little bit in Ryan's package. But they're also saying that this is rallying their own base. Yesterday, they raised more than$2.4 million. They broke any single-day fundraising record of his campaign. Shaq Brewster, we thank you for that. We want to head now to Alaska next and the Senate race that could decide it all. Steve Patterson has been on the ground in Anchorage for a few days now.

8:57Steve, you've been talking to voters about the two Dan Sullivans or the decoy Dan, as some are saying. What are they telling you about it? And now that I see your shot, I mean, what a stunning line of people looking to vote there. Do they care about this? Yeah, first of all, I mean, it's done nothing to dampen turnout. The line has grown even since Ryan's piece. Look at this. Now out the door this way, it starts back that way, and then snakes around, if you follow me, all the way deep back into the mall this way. We have been talking to voters. Are people disappointed, including Democrats and Peltola supporters?

9:31Of course they are, to think that this level of dirty politics may be happening in their Senate race. Are they confused? If they are, we couldn't find them. And I got to tell you, Tom, we've been looking. I want you to hear them in their own words, though. Voters in this state not confused about who to vote for. Listen to this.

9:52There's two Dan Sullivans. Did that trip you up at all? Did not trip me up at all, no. Absolutely no confusion at all. It's pretty clear. It's like Democrat, incumbent, Republic incumbent. You should probably Google what incumbent means before you get here. like it's pretty kind of dry. Well, I mean, it's pretty clear and straightforward. It's been in the news so much. I mean, I think there's no confusion.

10:16Very little confusion, if any at all. Zero percent from what we could find. 90 ,000 or so people early voted. It's a pretty high percentage to the 300 ,000 people expected to vote this election. Tom. OK, Steve Patterson there in Alaska. Steve, thank you. We now head to Texas, where Democrats are hoping to pull off a historic upset. Polls show Democratic James Tallarico with a narrow edge over Republican Ken Paxton. But is this a story that we have seen before? Ryan Chandler joins us now from Austin outside of Tallarico's final rally before Election Day. And, Ryan, it's been a while since Democrats have won statewide office there.

10:51Do the voters you're talking to think there could be a change this time around? Well, Tom, for a generation in Texas, Democrats have never been this optimistic. Republicans have never been this nervous. James Tallarico about to close out a campaign that has been defined by his overtures to the other side, trying to impress upon this Republican state that they can reach over and put their anger to the fact that 30 years of unified rule here in Texas ends now. I spoke to James Tallarico last night. He said that will be what it takes, those crossover voters. You see the line here. Republicans are in this line.

11:30I want you to listen to a little bit of what voters told us today. Everybody's kind of sick and tired of being beat up and not being able to afford their groceries and gas and all the things. We need some change. And we're ready for someone to do good things for the people of the country and not themselves.

11:53And Tom, it is a story we have heard before, but the consensus from Republicans and Democrats this time, it feels different this year. We'll find out if Texas shocks the world tomorrow night. And Ryan, explain to our viewers if Republicans do lose this state for the first time in 30 years. They may have to blame themselves, their leadership, and even President Trump, because you had Ken Paxton there, who was a controversial candidate for some. The president endorses him late in that primary race. He decides to primary the incumbent, John Cornyn. And then you even have the governor of Texas, who's a Republican running as well, who's not exactly campaigning with Paxton.

12:29They are not running a unified campaign at all at the statewide level because Governor Abbott knows he's more popular than Ken Paxton. He's expected to run ahead of Ken Paxton at the top of the ticket. I have heard from Republican consultants and Democrats alike that Ken Paxton has run an underwhelming campaign. And you're right. I think if the Republicans had nominated John Cornyn back in March, we would not be having this conversation. Democrats feel that a uniquely weak candidate on the other side gives them this rare opportunity to make inroads with the other party. Ryan Chandler, great stuff down there in Texas.

13:04We thank you for that. Now to a shockingly tight race in Kansas where we could see the first Democratic senator in nearly a century, incumbent Republican Senator Roger Marshall, and Democratic challenger Adam Hamilton currently locked in a neck-and-neck contest. Liz Kreutz is on the ground in Wichita. Liz, people talk about ruby-red Kansas, and they'd like to know, how do we get here? And again, the Republican Party may have to blame themselves. There were allegations that Roger Marshall wasn't even paying some of his campaign staff, and now they're locked in a neck-and-neck race. Yeah, even Kansans here are shocked that it is this close.

13:40This would be historic if they elect a Democrat to the Senate. And the fact this race is so tight is about a combination of factors, Tom, both the appeal of this Democratic candidate, Adam Hamilton, and also those challenges facing Roger Marshall that you mentioned. Hamilton is a megachurch pastor. He says he's a radical moderate, that he's going to bring decency back to Washington. And that's a message that is really resonating with Kansans, some of whom are disenchanted with some of the policies from the White House, especially some of the farmers upset about diesel gas prices, the tariffs, they say, are hurting their bottom line, making them open to the idea of voting for a Democrat, especially one like Hamilton.

14:19Listen to what he told us this morning. Can you actually pull this off? I think we can, actually. And I'll tell you, the people of Kansas are going to pull it off, not me. These are a large number of Republicans and independents who are saying what's happening in Washington, D.C. is not OK. It doesn't reflect their values. It doesn't reflect who we are. It doesn't reflect our character. And we have to do better. Now, Roger Marshall, for his part, calls Adam Hamilton too woke and too weak for Kansas. But it is a tight race, leading the president to make two visits here in the last two weeks. Here is what President Trump said last night as he gave a boost to Marshall.

14:55He's one of the most respected people in Washington. I didn't want to take a chance. I could have been home watching television or some crappy thing. I'd rather be with you. And, you know, I asked Adam Hamilton, Tom, about those visits by the president to others by the vice president. He said he takes it as a sign that Republicans are terrified they're going to lose here. Tom. Liz Kreutz for us tonight. Liz, we thank you for that. Joining us here now on this set in our election headquarters, moderator of Meet the Press, Kristen Welker. Kristen, so great to see you. Great to be here. First, listen, we're talking about these red states that may flip, and we don't know what's going to happen, right?

15:33The polls are very tight. Sometimes the polls under-report Republican support. So this could be a Republican-controlled Senate when it's all said and done, but we're just seeing red states where it's never been this tight, right? Tom, what's extraordinary is that we're having these conversations. Look at the reporters you were just talking to. They're in Kansas, Texas, states that President Trump won by double digits. Alaska, exactly. And that in and of itself is extraordinary. So let's just zoom out. This battle is being fought on Republican territory. So no matter what the polls say, this is still very much uphill for Democrats.

16:07That's why you've seen President Trump out on the campaign trail saying, pretend I'm on the ballot. But as you know, he and Republicans are facing some real headwinds. I know you have some new reporting about what happened in Michigan, right? And we cover a lot of politics here. We've covered campaigns. The candidate is the soul of the campaign, right? So first, my first question, you know, how did El-Sayed let this happen, number one? And number two, how did Democratic leadership let this happen and let this get that bad? Well, let's start with the first part of your question, because there's already a lot of finger pointing and a lot of Democrats are asking that question that you ask.

16:42Why didn't Abdul El-Sayed do a better job of unifying the party, bringing in Haley Stevens on the front end? According to two sources familiar with the matter, Haley Stevens, for example, tried to campaign with him that day after that bruising primary. His campaign declined that request. Now, the broader question you ask, why didn't Democratic leadership do more? Why, for example, didn't they include her in that rally that they were going to hold? And so I think that's going to be a part of the after-action report. But, Tom, I have to tell you, Democrats are also lashing out at her. Hakeem Jeffries, for example, with this statement saying that she blindsided everyone and they'll discuss appropriate next steps after the election.

17:23There are some informal discussions about whether they should expel her from the conference. NOW LOOK, THAT WOULD BE PURELY SYMBOLIC, BUT IT SPEAKS TO HOW MUCH OUTRAGE THERE IS RIGHT NOW. I WANT TO GO BACK TO A POINT THAT SHAK WAS MAKING, THOUGH. I THINK THE REAL QUESTION IS, IS THIS GOING TO HELP MIKE ROGERS WIN OVER SOME OF THOSE HALEY STEVENS VOTERS, OR IS IT GOING TO BACKFIRE, AND WILL IT ACTUALLY ENERGIZE DEMOCRATS AROUND ELSEYED? WE'RE GOING TO HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL ELECTION DAY TO FIND OUT. WE 'LL KNOW TOMORROW, WE HOPE. WE HOPE. KRISTEN WELKER, SO GREAT TO HAVE YOU HERE TONIGHT. And join us both, along with Savannah Guthrie, Steve Kornacki, and the rest of our NBC News team, for the best and most comprehensive midterm coverage tomorrow night on NBC and streaming right here on NBC News Now.

18:08We're back in a moment with the new details on that horrifying private jet crash, what we're learning about the nine people on board, and what might have caused those planes to nosedive. Plus, states of emergency in place as floodwaters wash out roads in Florida and Arizona. Could it impact voter turnout on Election Day? Stay with us.

18:55We'll see you next time. at G-O-O dot G-L-E slash workspace with Gemini. Computers are getting smarter, Silicon Valley's getting weirder, and AI is taking over. At least that's what everyone keeps telling us. Welcome to Machine Gods, a new NPR podcast that will be your field guide to the AI-powered future. We're veteran tech journalists with front row seats to the industry. And twice a week, we'll make sure you get smarter about AI so you know what's real, what's hype, and what might come next. Listen to Machine Gods from NPR on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.

19:54right from your home or office. For a limited time, go to stamps.com and use code podcast for a free welcome gift. Taxes and fees apply. We are back now with that horrifying private plane crash in Florida. Tonight, we're learning more about those killed on board, including a family and a young co-pilot who issued that mayday call. Jesse Kirsch is at the crash site with the very latest. Car dash camera video capturing the moment a private jet nosedives into the ground near West Palm Beach, Florida. We've frozen the video before the moment of impact. Then an explosion as this massive fireball fills the South Florida sky.

20:29A flaming crater left behind. Officials say this Learjet was flying from Austin, Texas to the Bahamas Sunday afternoon when it crashed, killing all nine people on board. Mayday, mayday, we're descending 10 ,000 feet per minute. Air traffic control audio taking us inside the cockpit for the frightening final moments. A dire warning from the flight's co-pilot, now identified by family as 20-year-old Natalia Filgueras, who earned her pilot's license while still in high school. We are in an overseas condition, descending 25 minutes per minute. We're going to crash into the ground, 7-tis-you-Baba Delta.

21:03On social media, Anthony Robinson writing on behalf of the passengers' families, identifying Adam Robinson, Helen Sharp, and their 2 - and 4-year-old children as victims. The statement also identifying Anita Maria Satina, Rachel Reed, and Charmy Fair as passengers killed. ATC Audio suggests the crew may have tried flying around a powerful thunderstorm. We're making a fairly large left turn to avoid some filter. But then, Flightradar24 data shows the plane plunging 35 ,000 feet in less than 90 seconds. We do have some indication that the aircraft was breaking up before impact. Now federal investigators are on scene, even collecting files from the co-pilot's office today.

21:50What would the role of the co-pilot on the audio recording have been in the midst of all this? Would she have been at the controls or simply relaying communication? We don't yet know that, and that is one of the things that we'll seek to determine. And Tom, remarkably, officials say no one was killed on the ground, even though hundreds of people were evacuated from the area with debris and evidence scattered all around a massive crater that's just down this blocked off road. Tom. Okay, Jesse Kirsch for us. I want to bring in NBC News aviation analyst Jeff Gazzetti. Jeff, thanks for being on Top Story tonight.

22:23Listen, this is a strange one because when you see that video, it looks like that jet, that multi-million dollar Learjet was just not working anymore. What do you think happened when they were flying above or inside of those thunderstorms? Well, it's clear to me, Tom, that that was a powerful storm that can produce very powerful updrafts and downdrafts and ice and precipitation. So it was a weather-related upset in my mind. And then that rapid descent could have been an overspeed, just like the pilot indicated, and ripped chunks of the flight surfaces off the airplane, rendering it completely uncontrollable.

22:59What is an overspeed? What exactly does that mean? So every airplane is designed to a maximum speed where the wings, if you're flying too fast, the wings will actually want to fly away from the fuselage and the tail will break off. So when you're heading down at such a massive speed like that, you risk having pieces of your wing or your tail come off. What do you think with the weather? Because, I mean, we fly in turbulent weather all the time. and we fly in these storms sometimes when you're in a huge jumbo jet, it can get kind of scary. You mentioned the ice. You mentioned the rain. I mean, what does it do?

23:36Does it freeze out the engines? What does it do to the plane? Well, the ice can actually form a shape over the aerodynamics, the airfoils, and degrade performance. It can also ice up the sensitive instruments that the pilot reads. Or icing may have been just a byproduct. IT WAS THE MASSIVE UPDRAFFS AND DOWNDRAFFS COMBINED WITH THE ICING THAT COULD HAVE BROUGHT THE AIRPLANE DOWN. ONCE THAT ICING SAVE WAS THE ICE, ONCE THAT ICE TAKES OVER, IS THERE ANY WAY TO SAVE THAT PLANE OR IS IT OVER? IT'S VERY DIFFICULT. YOU KNOW, THERE'S PROCEDURES YOU NEED TO GO THROUGH. THE NTSB IS GOING TO HAVE TO DETERMINE IF THE ANTI-ICE AND DE-ICE SYSTEMS WERE TURNED ON AND EXACTLY HOW BAD THE WEATHER WAS WHEN THE AIRPLANE WAS UPSET.

24:23Incredibly scary. And what we've seen, those images, you think about the families and all those people affected. It was just a tragedy. Jeff, we thank you for being on Top Story tonight to try to explain what we know so far. We're going to turn to a developing situation there in Florida as well. Historic flash floods sparking a state of emergency across several counties. And in Arizona, some people rescued in chest-high waters. Here's George Solis. Tonight, historic flooding battering Florida and leaving millions on alert. Pounding rain, swamping cars and washing out roads. In Port St. Lucie, entire neighborhoods submerged.

24:57Rescues underway in hard-hit Brevard County, where crews had to carry this man from his home. And some residents used kayaks to get around. We could lose our house. It's already under the crawl space. David Altman sharing this video of his flooded-out home in Barefoot Bay. Right now, we can't leave. In Indian River County, this RV park closed, stranding visitors. Water was at the bottom of the truck. In Arizona, officials say two people were killed. A 73-year-old man died after he fell into floodwaters on Sunday. In Sedona, intense showers swelling waterways and rivers. The intense weather trapping cars and sweeping away trees.

25:40In Camp Verde, a good Samaritan pulling a woman from her home. It's going to be deep and cold. And carrying her through waist-deep waters. This family racing to save their dog from a camper. Rescuers pulling a rope and fighting against the moving water to get it to safety. And in Colorado, severe rainfall sweeping bridges away. This home floating down the river and crashing. Back in Florida, officials warning families. We've had our roads washed out, so our main message is shelter in place. George Solis joins us now from Palm Bay, Florida, where the weather has been coming down all night. George, we can see it coming down there, and you're expecting the storms to impact people voting tomorrow?

26:26Yeah, Tom, a bit. Now, polling places here are going to be open, but they're relocating in neighboring Indian River County. But this stormy weather is also going to have a major impact in some battleground states, with some stormy weather impacting the Plains and the Midwest, including portions of Kansas and Texas. Yes, Tom. George Solis in that range. George, get to a safe location when you can. When we come back, the wild police pursuit, an officer jumping into a passing truck to now a suspect. We'll show you how it ended.

27:01Welcome back to our final midterm countdown. We're less than 24 hours away from the first round of results. Republicans are fighting to keep control of Congress while Democrats are looking to ride a blue wave into the next term. To tip the scales in the House, Democrats need a net gain look closely of four seats. History is on their side since the party in power, currently Republicans, usually lose the seats in the midterms. It's a tougher path, though, in the Senate. Democrats need to hold on to swing states like Michigan and flip four more seats that voted red in 2024. I want to bring in our political pros tonight.

27:33Carlos Corbello is an NBC News political analyst and a former Republican congressman from Florida and a good friend of Top Story. And Julia Roginski is a Democratic strategist, co-founder of Lift Our Voices and author of the Salty Politics Substack. Also a good friend of the show. Julia, I'm going to start with you. And I was talking about this with Kristen Welker. Explain to me what happened in Michigan, right? And I'm going to use this line tomorrow. How can Abdul El-Sayed want to work in the Senate if he can't even unify Democrats in Michigan? What happened there? And do you blame him, or do you blame leadership in the Democratic Party, or is this all in Haley Stevens?

28:08I think all of the above. I mean, to be honest, look, leadership got behind Haley Stevens. They had a great candidate in Mallory McMorrow. They decided to go a different direction. That was a mistake. Abdul El-Sayed should not have blown her off this weekend. That was a mistake. But ultimately, look, Haley Stevens is a big... she's a grown-up. Yeah. And she doesn't... she makes her own decisions. I'm kind of sick of people blaming her for fiancé or Chuck Schumer or anybody else. She has agency. She is a grown-up. Right. She decided what she was going to do, and she did it. And ultimately, if you want to blame somebody, blame Haley Stevens.

28:38Do you think, and we'll know tomorrow, but do you think this could actually affect the election, or is this more of a media story? No, I think this is a total media story. I think that, if anything, it probably helped to consolidate a little bit for El-Sayed, because there are so many people who are on the fence about him. Fire them up a little bit. Who got really offended at what she did, even supporters of hers were like, you know what, that went a little too far. So actually, I think in some ways, it's probably backfired for her. Carl, sticking in the Senate here, if things don't go the way they want to for Republicans, is President Trump to blame?

29:05You have him selecting Darlene Graham in South Carolina. She's in trouble. You have him backing Ken Paxton. He's in trouble in Texas. And you have him doubling and maybe tripling down on the Vivek Ramaswamy ad in Ohio. If all these things sort of change, and I know that's the governor's race, but if all these things happen, is President Trump to blame for the Republican losses? Well, look, Tom, I remember what Mitch McConnell would always say, candidate quality matters. And we were talking earlier about the supposed red wave in 2022. A lot of Republican Senate candidates did not win because they weren't good candidates.

29:36And President Trump did intervene in this primary season to elevate some of these candidates, including Ken Paxson, who could unbelievably lose Texas for Republicans. So certainly the president's involvement is a factor. But at the end of the day, the headwinds are very strong against Republicans right now. You have just, you know, the fact that they control the entirety of the government, that automatically poses a challenge and then add inflation, add an unpopular war. It's tough out there for Republicans. Julie, historically, I think there's only been two races in our country's history where the party that wasn't in power of the White House didn't gain seats in the midterm.

30:14So the Democrats are probably going to take control of the House, likely. All they need is 218. If they don't get to 230, is it a big loss for them? If it's not a blue wave or a blue tsunami, if it's just a blue trickle, was it a problem for them? THE RACE IS A RACE. NO, LOOK, A WIN IS A WIN. IT DOESN'T MATTER HOW BIG IT IS. BUT WHAT DOES MATTER IS WHO HAS POWER IF, IN FACT, IT'S A REALLY CLOSE RACE. IF YOU HAVE 218, 219, YOU 'LL HAVE THE SAME PROBLEM REPUBLICANS HAVE HAD, WHICH IS FOUR OR FIVE PEOPLE CAN REALLY HOLD THE ENTIRE CAUCUS HOSTAGE. THAT'S A PROBLEM FOR HAKEM JEFFRIES, A PROBLEM FOR GETTING ANYTHING DONE, A PROBLEM FOR DEALING.

30:47MUCH BETTER TO HAVE DOUBLE digits where you can actually accomplish things without having to answer to, you know, one or two or three people who are going to be able to hold you hostage. Carlos, one of the first places we'll get results from and we'll be breaking down will be Florida 27, CD 27. This is in Miami-Dade County. You see it right here, the great state of Florida. This is not too far from your district where you represented when you were in Congress. It's a tight race right now. We have two former TV anchors here, Elliot Rodriguez and the incumbent Maria Elvira Salazar. She came out with an ad saying that President Trump's immigration enforcement was too tough, right?

31:21It was getting too violent. The president slammed her for that, but then just recently endorsed her. So there's been a lot of political whiplash there. What's going to happen in this district, do you think? And is this a bellwether, do you think? Tom, that's actually my district. It's where I live now, so I'm watching it very closely. And I think it is going to be a very close race. I think what's going to be put to the test in that district is we saw how well President Trump did with Hispanics in 2024. It was remarkable all across the country, especially in the state of Florida. We know that that support has fallen, right, due to some of the economic challenges, immigration.

31:56Does that support collapse? If Maria Elvira Salazar wins, it means that Cuban Republicans, that a lot of the Hispanics that the president won in 2024 stuck with the party despite some of the unpopular policies. If that support collapses, Salazar could go down and Republicans are really going to have to think of how they're going to recover the Hispanic vote ahead of the 2028 presidential election. Talk to me about the Senate race first in Florida, then let's go to the governor's race, because you were just sharing with me before we came on the air that you think Republicans are more in trouble when it comes to the governor's race.

32:30But the Senate race there, you have Ashley Moody, the incumbent. She was placed there when Secretary of State Marco Rubio left the Senate against Angie Nixon, who's had some trip ups saying that she doesn't know if Cuba was a dictatorship. Those are my words, not hers, because she's never been there. She went on to change her statement later on. Does she have a chance of winning in the Senate there? I don't think Nixon has a chance. She's just way too out of the mainstream in Florida. I think ticket splitters are going to support Ashley Moody, but they might also support David Jolly. There are a lot of people in Florida, independent voters, some soft Republicans, people who just became Republicans in recent years who may not be very happy with a state of affairs in the country.

33:08They might want to cast a protest vote against Republicans, they're going to take the governor's race as an opportunity to do that. Remember, Tom, David Jolly was a Republican just a few years ago, so it's not that much of a leap for some of these centrist voters to vote for. A bit like Charlie Criss jumping parties there. Let's talk about your map for the Senate, Julie. What do you think's going to happen? Which ones do you guys hold on to and which ones do you think you flip? Well, I think we hold on to Michigan. I think that's, this is the kind of year where no matter what El-Sayed does, people are just going to vote Democrat in places like Michigan.

33:41Look, I think if we are able to pick up something like Texas, which is just an insane kind of pipe dream that Democrats have always had, but if we're able to compete in places like Texas, Texas suddenly becomes largely on the backs of Latino voters who two years ago delivered such a huge plurality for Trump. Not plurality, but they actually did much better than people expected for Trump. Now, all of a sudden, the same people for the same reasons are starting to say, wait a second, we were kind of sold a bill of goods and not just in immigration, but mostly on the economy. If they come out for somebody like a Tallarico in Texas, that will be a message for 2028 that there are places that Democrats can compete that they have never competed before where they will start to be competitive.

34:22If, I mean, complete pipe dream, they're able to win in places like Kansas. Yeah. That changes the entire map altogether. Real quick, in your opinion, Democrats flip the House. Do they flip the Senate too? I THINK IT IS A 50-50 PROPOSITION IN THE SENATE, BUT I WOULD NOT BE SHOCKED EITHER WAY. CARLOS, YOUR PREDICTION? I THINK IT CAN COME DOWN TO ALASKA, TOM, AND THIS TRIP UP, THIS BALLOT STACKING SCANDAL COULD COST DEMOCRATS, THE SENATE, IF IT COMES DOWN TO ALASKA. THAT WOULD JUST BE HEARTBREAKER, AND THEY WOULD HAVE ONLY THEMSELVES TO... WILL IT COME DOWN TO DECOY, DAN? ALL RIGHT, CARLOS, JULIA ROGINSKI, WE THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR BEING HERE TONIGHT.

35:24Thank you. Florida. Video shows an officer trying to pull over a driver when the man hops out and runs away. The officer attempts to track down the suspect on foot before hitching a ride on the side of a truck passing by. That good Samaritan driving the officer down the road where he eventually took the suspect into custody. He's now facing multiple charges including reckless driving. And Martha Stewart is apologizing after facing backlash over her Halloween costume. Here you can see the outfit with Stewart holding a sign that says, I am hungry, help me, and wearing ripped clothes and what looks like dirt on her face.

35:58Some people online criticized her for appearing to mock homeless people. Stewart has now deleted the post and issued two apologies, saying the costume was meant to bring awareness to the subject of homelessness, before adding that it was insensitive and not funny. Okay, a record-breaking stunt high above the Australian Alps. That's Florian Zoller way up in the air on a slack line that's under an inch wide. It stretched nearly 500 feet between two freely suspended cable cars. He was tethered to the line, and after he had a few falls, he finally made it across in about 15 minutes. Zoller has been slacklining for 17 years, and this was his first official world record.

36:37Okay, taking a turn now to a contentious stay in court, Lindsay Clancy, back before a judge. Her lawyer, who says Clancy suffered from postpartum psychosis, asking for the murder charges to be tossed. as prosecutors signaled their intention to retry the case. Emily Aqueda is there. Well, here we are, huh? Round two. A dramatic day in court, and tonight, clear signal that Lindsey Clancy may be headed for a retrial two months after her murder case ended with a deadlocked jury. This man was not honest on his storm. At the center of the fireworks, the lone holdout juror, who the defense argued should have been further questioned for possible misconduct before a mistrial was declared, today urging the judge to dismiss the charges.

37:23I'm going to stop you right here. No, you're not going to stop me. Well, no, you... I am. The defense clashing with the judge after using the juror's name in court. There's no need to bring out that juror's name. It's all over the internet. One of the holdouts' attorneys insists Michael Desronville was honest during jury selection and never doubted Clancy's guilt. You can't turn a mistrial into an acquittal. The prosecution today signaled plans to retry the case, but wouldn't say whether they'll bring the same first-degree murder charges against Clancy for killing her children. And with that, Emily Akeda joins us now from outside the courthouse.

38:02Emily, when can we see a retrial for Lindsay Clancy, if there is one? So, Tom, a few things have to happen first. The judge has to make a decision on that motion to dismiss the case, to toss those charges. If the judge decides to deny the defense's push, then a retrial will likely get underway next spring. That is before this judge is set to retire. The exact charges and the exact timeline is a decision that will likely be made at the next court hearing in two weeks, Tom. Emily Akeda, good to see you. Thank you. Now to a very personal story about one of our own. Sue Kroll is one of the hardest working producers behind the scenes here at NBC News, an absolute powerhouse in the field and a friend I've worked alongside many times.

38:46Tonight, Sue is sharing her story about Alzheimer's, early detection, and the impact it's having on her family. Here's Kate Snow. Sue Kroll is a senior coordinating producer at NBC News. For work, she travels the world for some of the biggest news stories of our time, but it's her own story that will resonate with many. Sue's mom, Jan, is one of more than 7 million Americans living with Alzheimer's disease. I went down this path to try to help her and to try to educate myself. I started to realize that is this journey about me as well. In her 50s, Sue decided to take a cheek swab test readily available online.

39:25The$125 DNA test showed she was at increased risk for Alzheimer's. Follow-up blood tests she took through an online lab indicated Sue already had elevated levels of amyloid proteins in her brain, a biomarker associated with Alzheimer's. I was really scared, and I started to, like, look back at my memory, and maybe I was forgetting a few words here and there. And is this menopause, though? We hear about brain fog. Like, what is going on with me? Sue joined a research study run by neurologist Dr. Richard Isaacson. DR. He's focused on younger, at-risk patients. Full disclosure, I am also a study participant.

40:10The four-year study looks at how early interventions like diet, exercise and better sleep may impact brain health. DR. BRAINS ARE GROWING. Brain volumes are growing. Brain proteins are normalizing. AMNA NAWAZI, When people make changes. When people make changes. Cognitive function is improving. Today is a pretty big day. Her journey included hormone therapy and infusions of a medication recently approved by the FDA for people with a diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment or mild dementia due to Alzheimer's disease. Then came this moment. I just got my MyChart results from my amyloid PET scan, and it says the beta amyloid is gone, and it's been resolved.

40:54that I no longer have the amyloid on my brain. While it's unclear what the future holds, at the time of these results, a marker for Alzheimer's in her brain had dramatically improved. This is a story about early detection. That's what this is all about. Kate Snow joins us now and said, Kate, first of all, thanks for doing this story with Sue. It's so impressive and also so interesting. That cheek swab that we said that Sue started out with, Explain that to our viewers. How does it work? How much does it cost? Right. So that's just a simple test that you can do either in a doctor's office or a lab, or you can do on your own.

41:30You can sort of order them online. It is available. The Alzheimer's Association recommends, and this is to find out your risk, your genetic risk for Alzheimer's. They recommend that you consult with a physician, that you talk to your family before you jump into doing this. They recommend genetic counseling as well. They do note that it can cause anxiety, right? If you get the results that you weren't hoping for, so you need to be ready for that. But I, you know this, Sue Kroll believes very strongly that having that information set her on a path to be able to make some changes. Yeah, and information is power.

42:02So that's important. Kate, thanks so much for that. We appreciate it. Still to come tonight, can you trust a chat bot to tell you who to vote for? We'll take you inside opening eyes election war room where they're working around the clock to battle midterms misinformation as more Americans use the tech to get election advice. That's next. Ever notice how every new AI tool asks you to explain your business to it all over again? Google Workspace with Gemini skips that. You get Google's AI built right into the premium versions of Gmail, Docs, Sheets, and more. No new tools, no extra logins, just one subscription that gives you personalized AI right inside your actual workflow.

42:44Make work less work. Try Google Workspace with Gemini. at go.gle slash workspace with Gemini. Computers are getting smarter, Silicon Valley's getting weirder, and AI is taking over. At least that's what everyone keeps telling us. Welcome to Machine Gods, a new NPR podcast that will be your field guide to the AI-powered future. We're veteran tech journalists with front row seats to the industry. And twice a week, we'll make sure you get smarter about AI so you know what's real, what's hype, and what might come next. Listen to Machine Gods from NPR on the NPR app, or wherever you get your podcasts.

43:21Still waiting in line? Again? That's time you'll never get back. Save time and money with Stamps.com. Over 4 million businesses have skipped the line with Stamps.com. Join them to save up to 90 % off carrier rates from your computer or phone right now. Print postage for certified mail, registered mail, and packages in seconds. Then schedule a pickup right from your home or office. For a limited time, go to stamps.com and use code podcast for a free welcome gift. Taxes and fees apply. We're back now with the debate over AI and its growing role in elections. Some voters say they're turning the chatbots to help research races and learn more about candidates.

44:00But can they actually trust the answers? Our Savannah Settlers takes a look. You could call it a light bulb moment when ChatGPT helped Jeremiah Hine fix a household problem. And I took a picture of it and I asked chat to PT. I said, can you help me turn my lights on? After that, I was like, now I understand why people like this. It is so helpful. It wasn't long before he was experimenting with asking it to help with something else, his vote. I said, knowing what you know about how I care about human rights and LGBTQ rights and, you know, I lean this way and I'm a progressive Democrat, whatnot.

44:36I said, I'd say, who should I vote for? He says the chatbot helped him navigate races he might have previously overlooked and changed the experience of voting. I felt the proudest that I ever have because I really felt like a full-fledged, like involved citizen. And that chat GPT helped inform my voting for every single position. Jeremiah is one of a growing number of American adults who use chatbots for all kinds of information. And while relatively few Americans say they're using chatbots for election information, among those who do, the most common use is finding out where candidates stand on the issues.

45:12They're also using them to check on whether things they've heard or read are true. Did anything chat GPT provided you with make you change who you were thinking of voting for? Absolutely. But as voters turn to AI for more information about candidates and the issues, the question becomes, can they trust the answers? Max Reed and his colleagues at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue tested six chatbots, including ChatGPT, across 10 states using hundreds of prompts. None of them performed perfectly. They weren't testing who chatbots would say people should vote for, like Jeremiah asked. Instead, they tested questions about how to vote, things like election procedures and deadlines.

45:53Some of the errors were basic. One chatbot even gave the wrong date for election day. That is AI getting election day wrong. That's not exactly a difficult question. Other errors range from giving the wrong ballot deadline for one state to old rules about who can witness an absentee ballot. But some problems weren't as easy to spot. Even when they were factually correct on the baseline response to a user's question, they often were overconfident in explaining the different kind of exceptional cases that a voter might encounter. And some answers could sound authoritative, even when information was incomplete, incorrect, or didn't apply to every voter.

46:31When the AI is providing an answer that's either inaccurate or incomplete or just not exactly right in some way, how is it presenting that to the user? Is it like, hey, go look into this? Or is it like, here's your answer? It is often, here's your answer. For Jeremiah, that trust was part of the experience. Did you trust everything that it told you? I did because I didn't think, why would it need to lie to me? And he acknowledges ChatGPT could get things wrong, but he says he's still glad he used it to help navigate his ballot. It makes it so easy to be involved, informed, and make you feel the way I felt, that my vote did matter.

47:14Savannah Sellers, NBC News. And this year, for the first time, Anthropic and OpenAI are launching election night war room headquarters where they're dedicating teams are working to identify and stop the potential spread of misinformation. Joining us tonight is the person leading OpenAI's election operations center, Josh Lawson. Josh, thanks for joining Top Story tonight. So talk to us about what you and your team have been doing in the lead up to the election and what safeguards are in place. Absolutely. So we've grown. OpenAI has grown substantially since the presidential election in 24. WE 'VE ADDED ABOUT A BILLION USERS SINCE THAT FALL.

47:50SO WE BUILT A REALLY STRONG PROGRAM THAT HELPS SUPPORT USERS SEEKING CORRECT INFORMATION, RELIABLE INFORMATION ABOUT THE WHEN, WHERE, HOW TO VOTE PROCESS, BUT ALSO COMBATS MISUSE THAT YOU MENTIONED. SO TALK TO ME ABOUT MISUSE. WHAT KIND OF THINGS ARE YOU GUYS LOOKING OUT FOR? ABSOLUTELY. SO AS WE KNOW, THERE'S A LOT THAT YOU CAN DO WITH CHATGPT AND AI PRODUCTS. WHAT WE 'VE DONE IS BUILT A NUMBER OF SAFEGUARDS IN THE PRODUCT STAFF TO ENSURE THAT BAD ACTORS ARE NOT ABLE TO USE IT FOR SPEEDING UP THEIR SOPHISTICATED EFFORTS TRYING TO GET SCALE ON DISTRIBUTION OF CONTENT. SO WE 'VE ADDED FRICTION TO A NUMBER OF THOSE PLACES INCLUDING TO STOP THE SPREAD OF DEEP FAKES THROUGH WHAT WE CALL CARTOONIFICATION, TURNING PEOPLE'S IMAGERY AROUND PHOTOREALISTIC VOTER INTERFERENCE INTO CARTOONS SO IT CAN'T BE USED FOR DECEPTIVE PURPOSES.

48:39SO IF SOMEBODY TYPES IN THE CHAT GPT TOMORROW, EARLY IN THE MORNING, BLANK CANDIDATE AND HAS A MEME OF THIS PERSON, HAS DROPPED OUT, DECIDES THEY DON'T WANT TO RUN. THERE'S NO WAY THEY 'LL BE ABLE TO DO THAT TOMORROW IS WHAT YOU'RE ESSENTIALLY SAYING. YOU CAN ABSOLUTELY TYPE IN WHETHER OR NOT SOMEBODY HAS DECIDED TO RUN. IT'S GOING TO GO OUT. IF THEY POTENTIALLY HAVE, YOU KNOW, CLAIMS THAT THEY GOT SICK, THINGS OUT THERE IN THE ETHER. WHAT'S VERY HELPFUL USE CASE OF CHAT GPT IS TO TRY TO FACT CHECK SOME OF THE INFORMATION THAT WE HAVE SET UP BIG RELATIONSHIPS WITH THE ASSOCIATED PRESS AND A NONPROFIT CALLED DEMOCRACY WORKS THAT HELPS US MAKE SURE WE ARE SOURCING HELPFUL INFORMATION, RELIABLE INFORMATION.

49:18WHEN IT COMES TO DEEP FAKES, WE HAVE MADE IT SO THAT IF YOU HAVE THINGS LIKE LONG LINES ON ELECTION DAY, ALL OF THESE TYPES OF THINGS THAT WE HAVE SEEN. THAT'S WHAT I'M ASKING. COULD YOU CREATE A MEME OF A CANDIDATE SAYING I DROPPED OUT OF THE RACE? WILL SOMEONE BE ABLE TO DO THAT tomorrow. So what we do is we've detected on candidates, but we cartoonify whenever it comes to things like ballot manipulation, shredding of ballots, those types of things that we've seen bad actors use to try to sow misinformation during an election cycle. So but even of the candidates themselves, I just want to get I get the lines, I get the ballots, but the candidates themselves, you'll be able to sort of the system will be protected.

49:56Candidates themselves are not are not always cartoonified. What we're focused in on is the process of the election. There's a lot of free expressive activity that, you know, we've even seen candidates using it on purpose to try to have memes out there. But what we're doing is we're monitoring for misuse and we've built in a number of safeguards to make sure that people know that it's that it's AI. So we have different provenance tools so that you can track that something is coming from an AI platform like ours. It's great you guys are doing this on election day, but there's been a lot of time obviously before election, right?

50:27Right. So campaigns are using AI, as you mentioned, to reach voters. Reuters reporting that campaigns are optimizing campaign strategies to make sure AI finds their candidates more directly. In one instance, they report a campaign aimed to convince ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini to present their candidates as the preferred choice on key issues and went well beyond traditional search engine optimization. Now, is this strategy working for campaigns? Have you seen this on ChatGPT? And how come with a company as smart as OpenAI, can you guys not protect from this? Absolutely. To your first point, it is a year-round effort.

51:02This is not the first election and certainly not even the first election this year. We just got off of the Brazil elections. We had Israel last week as well. When it comes to SEO modification, trying to get placed on LLMs, we have taken action where we have seen that be something that actors are trying to use to astroturf or try to get their information out in a LLM. What about bad actors and asking bots to hack or to get into election systems? Is that even possible? We've stood up substantial sweeps. We know that this is a major, cyber security is a major thing right now overall with AI. WE HAVE BEEN DOING A NUMBER OF DIFFERENT SWEETS AND BEEN VERY RESPONSIBLE IN THE WAY THAT WE HAVE TRIED TO INCREASE THE INDUSTRY'S KNOWLEDGE ABOUT VOTING SYSTEMS, ANYTHING RELATED TO ELECTIONS INFRASTRUCTURE SO THAT IF BAD ACTORS ARE TRYING TO GAIN AN ADVANTAGE THROUGH, YOU KNOW, HACKING AN ELECTION WEBSITE OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT, THAT WE'RE CATCHING THAT QUICKLY, THAT OUR MODELS ARE STOPPING IT TO BEGIN WITH, AND THEN WE'RE REPORTING IT IF NECESSARY TO THE AUTHORITIES.

52:08SO, JOSH, HERE AT NBC NEWS WE We have the decision desk, right? And the guy who runs that is a guy named John Lipinski. And he will not project a race, any of the races tomorrow night, unless he is 99.9 % sure that that race is going to be that way by the time all the votes are counted. How will ChatGPT tell people when races and states are called for certain candidates? Yeah, we partnered with the Associated Press this year so that if you're asking, once the polls close, you're asking about how a candidate is doing. What you'll get is the live count from the Associated Press. And we'll indicate if the associate press ends up making a projection and making a call in a race.

52:45But of course, the state elections authorities are the final word on who has and has not won. All right, Josh Lawson, we thank you so much for joining us tonight. Good luck tomorrow. It's going to be a wild time. When we come back tonight from tragedy to triumph, how a young woman refused to let a devastating car accident stop her from fulfilling her dream of completing a marathon. Her story right after this.

53:09finally tonight a story of a young woman faced with unthinkable tragedy working to chart a new course her dedication and determination on full display at this weekend's new york city marathon

53:23most marathoners focus on the finish line but for 20 year old eugenia paris just getting to the starting line felt monumental i'm like the little engine that could like that's what i tell myself The Miami native was training for her second half marathon last year when a devastating car accident changed everything, leaving her paralyzed from the waist down. I was like, all of my plans are ruined. Now I'm not going to be able to do all the things that I wanted to do. But that mindset didn't last long. Eugenia began rehab treatments, slowly finding a new kind of strength. Let's go with 10. You got 10 for sure.

54:00Eventually, she made her way back to the sport she loves. and her dream of finishing the New York City Marathon was alive again. Sunday she took on the iconic course, one of nearly 50 hand cyclists racing through all five boroughs. Before I guess when you would go on a run and you're kind of sick of it, it's like I take it for granted less. I'm so grateful that I'm able to be outside even doing the hand cycle. That gratitude and grit carrying her through all 26.2 miles. and across the finish line. I remember, like, being on that ICU bed and thinking, like, that I was never going to be able to do something like this.

54:43One big obstacle in your life doesn't have to determine the rest of your future, and you can just make the best out of any situation. And congratulations to Ohenya and all of the finishers yesterday. We thank you for watching Top Story. I'm Tom Yamas in New York. Stay right there. More news on the way.

55:07My six-year-old little sister is taken from her bed and violently murdered, and we don't have any answers? It's been 30 years. That's not okay. We will find this person. It's not a question of if, but when. Who killed JonBenet Ramsey? You think you know this mystery? But do you know about the DNA at the crime scene? Can science finally solve this case? And who is Unknown Male One? An intruder. A third party male. So Unknown Male One is out there somewhere. Yes. The stunning all-new Diane Sawyer investigation tonight on ABC.