Principals

1. Another major hurricane
2. Biden’s lead pipe rule
3. Trump campaign can’t quit health care
4. Harris’ new Medicare pitch
5. Foreign election meddling
6. SCOTUS turns away cases
7. Harris’ 60 Minutes interview

PDB: Ted Cruz’s big campaign haul

Biden to speak on hurricane response this morning … China holds back on major stimulus … NYT poll: Harris leads Trump nationally

Officials brace for Hurricane Milton

Federal, state and local governments still grappling with the damage and debris from Hurricane Helene are now staring down a stronger storm. Hurricane Milton intensified to a Category 5 storm with damaging winds as it barrelled toward Florida, on track to crash into the Tampa Bay area on Wednesday. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., warned that the storm is a worst-case scenario for Florida. Analysts are already predicting tens of billions of dollars in damages. The White House approved a new emergency declaration for Florida, while FEMA — facing a staffing shortage — sent resources and personnel to the region ahead of the storm. Even natural disasters can’t escape political controversies: NBC reported that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is dodging Kamala Harris’ calls about hurricane recovery efforts (though DeSantis and President Biden did speak on Monday evening).

Biden pitches lead pipe rule in Wisconsin

Joe Biden is stopping in two swing states today to highlight a milestone in his administration’s fight to replace toxic lead pipes. In Milwaukee, Biden will discuss a newly finalized EPA rule requiring US cities to replace lead pipes within 10 years — a rule that could be in danger if Republicans take control of Congress. “We believe and hope that ending the poisoning of our kids from lead water should and could be a bipartisan priority,” a senior administration official said. The administration is also directing $2.6 billion in newly available federal funding from the 2021 infrastructure law to support lead pipe replacement projects. Biden will travel to Philadelphia to campaign for Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey, who is locked in a tight reelection battle. Notably, Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin isn’t expected to join Biden in Milwaukee; she is instead campaigning in Rice Lake and Eau Claire, a spokesman for the Wisconsin Democrat said.

— Morgan Chalfant

Republicans are still haunted by Obamacare

Donald Trump and JD Vance keep beating the health care drum, seven years after the Republican Party’s disastrous attempt to repeal Obamacare. Democrats are taking notice: Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen called the issue “a huge political loser” for Republicans, and team Harris has run two seven-figure ads attacking Trump for his recent statements. But whether they can take full advantage remains to be seen — the high point for health care’s salience was six years ago, back when the Republican Party lost the House in a push against Trump, and the Harris campaign, while capitalizing on the topic however they can, isn’t fully focusing their messaging on the issue. And Republicans — team Trump included — don’t seem to be too concerned. “I’m just skeptical that it is something that voters are going to be really engaged on,” Alex Conant, a GOP strategist, told Semafor.

— Burgess Everett and Shelby Talcott

Harris to unveil new Medicare home aid plan

Kamala Harris will unveil a proposal today to provide in-home care services for seniors through Medicare. It’s a new plank in her economic agenda that’s aimed at shrinking costs for another segment of Americans: the so-called “sandwich generation.” Adults in that group often shuffle between caring for children and aging parents; it’s a demographic cohort with a larger percentage of undecided voters, according to a senior Harris campaign official. The US population is now graying at a faster pace, with about 11,000 Americans reaching retirement age every day in 2024, but the federal government only provides Medicare services like home health aides in very limited circumstances. Democrats had previously attempted but failed to establish a similar Medicaid benefit in 2021. Harris supports giving it another shot and will talk about her policy proposals later on The View.

— Joseph Zeballos-Roig

US warns of post-election foreign influence operations

US intelligence officials expect foreign actors to cast doubt on the US election results after polls close. US officials are concerned about foreign actors both amplifying claims questioning the integrity of the election and manufacturing those claims, an Office of the Director of National Intelligence official told reporters. Notably, the FBI accused Iran of creating websites containing death threats against election officials in 2020. US officials also revealed Monday that China, Russia, and — to a more limited extent — Cuba are trying to influence congressional and other down-ballot races ahead of the November election. While Russia is working to oppose candidates who support Ukraine, China is seeking to denigrate candidates who back Taiwan, officials said. Another DNI official said the US has provided three times the number of private notifications to candidates of foreign influence operations than in prior cycles.

— Morgan Chalfant

SCOTUS turns away emergency abortion case

The Supreme Court turned away a handful of hot-button cases, including declining to hear a case involving emergency abortions in Texas. The court declined to hear the Biden administration’s appeal of a lower-court ruling in Texas that hospitals cannot be required to perform emergency abortions that conflict with the state’s abortion ban. The decision adds to confusion surrounding state and federal laws, after the high court intervened in a similar Idaho case earlier this year. The Supreme Court also declined to hear R. Kelly’s appeal of his sex crimes conviction, Martin Shkreli’s appeal of his $64 million financial penalty, and Elon Musk’s fight over Jack Smith’s warrant for Donald Trump’s Twitter records.

Harris defends policy shifts in 60 Minutes interview

Kamala Harris defended her policy positions and economic plan in an extended interview with 60 Minutes’ Bill Whitaker, who pressed her on changes in her views while vice president and why Americans feel they don’t know her. “In the last four years I have been vice president of the United States. And I have been traveling our country,” she said. “And I have been listening to folks and seeking what is possible in terms of common ground. I believe in building consensus.” Meanwhile, 60 Minutes said Donald Trump backed out of an interview because of fact checking, then wanted an apology from correspondent Lesley Stahl related to her 2020 interview with him. Trump spokesman Steven Cheung last week called the live fact-checking “unprecedented.”

Beltway Newsletters

Punchbowl News: The super PAC aligned with House Democrats, House Majority PAC, is going up with a new advertisement in Wisconsin that hits GOP Rep. Derrick Van Orden on abortion rights.

Playbook: Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, is circulating a letter that lays out “a de facto list of demands” for the next Senate GOP leader as Republicans get ready to decide who will replace Mitch McConnell.

WaPo: Donald Trump is trying to attack Kamala Harris over the federal hurricane response, and his supporters are starting to echo false information he has been spreading about the disaster relief efforts. The Harris campaign is banking on the attacks working against Trump, believing that they play into the perception that the former president “is not serious, chaotic and divisive.”

Axios: Biden administration officials are losing trust in what the Israeli government says about its military and diplomatic efforts, as Israel weighs a response to Iran’s recent missile attack. “Our trust of the Israelis is very low right now and for a good reason,” a US official said.

White House

• President Biden and first lady Jill Biden lit a memorial candle at the White House for the 1,200 people killed in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel last year and expressed his condolences to Israeli President Isaac Herzog during a call. Vice President Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff planted a pomegranate tree at the vice president’s official residence in memory of the victims.
• White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was promoted to senior adviser. — ABC News

Congress

• Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said they traveled to Israel to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the Oct. 7 anniversary of the Hamas attack.
• Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Pa., sent letters to Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and General Mills accusing them of profiting off “shrinkflation.”

Outside the Beltway

• Philip Banks III, New York City’s deputy mayor for public safety, resigned.

Economy

• The Biden administration imposed new sanctions on Hamas on the anniversary of its Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

Business

• Deloitte is in the GOP’s crosshairs. — WaPo
• Stellantis filed new lawsuits against the United Auto Workers union for threatening a strike over delays in a planned investment.
• Western consulting firms are “treading a fine line in pursuing business in China.” — WSJ

Courts

• The Georgia Supreme Court restored a nearly total ban on abortions as the state appeals a lower court ruling that struck it down.
• A US judge ruled that Google must open up the Android app store, Google Play, to competition for at least three years.

Polls

• Kamala Harris is losing support among Latino men in the battlegrounds of Arizona and Nevada, according to USA TODAY/Suffolk University polls.
• Harris is 2.6 percentage points ahead of Donald Trump in Michigan, the widest such lead this year, according to a Detroit News poll.

On the Trail

• Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, raised $21 million in the third quarter of 2024 as he looks to fend off Democrat Colin Allred.
• Trump transition team co-chair Howard Lutnick said that employees of a second Trump administration would have to prove their “loyalty.” — FT

Foreign Policy

• Russia sentenced a 72-year-old American to nearly seven years in jail for allegedly fighting in Ukraine.
• Ukraine hit an oil terminal in Russian-occupied Crimea.

Technology

• British Prime Minister Keir Starmer brought on a former TikTok communications specialist.

Media

• CBS News said a tense interview of author Ta-Nehisi Coates on CBS Mornings on Sept. 30 did not meet its editorial standards. In the interview, co-anchor Tony Dokoupil compared Coates’ book, The Message, which features a passage on how Israel’s treatment of Palestinians is a matter Americans don’t directly consider, to other “extremist” writings.

Health

• Anthony Fauci explained how he fell very ill with the West Nile virus.

Blindspot

Stories that are being largely ignored by either left-leaning or right-leaning outlets, curated with help from our partners at Ground News.

What the Left isn’t reading: Elon Musk’s super PAC is offering $47 to people who refer swing-state voters to sign a petition pledging support for the First and Second Amendments that can be used to target possible Donald Trump voters.

What the Right isn’t reading: Trump suggested that migrants who committed murder did so because they have “bad genes.”

Principals Team

Editors: Benjy Sarlin, Elana Schor, Morgan Chalfant

Reporters: Burgess Everett, Kadia Goba, Joseph Zeballos-Roig, Shelby Talcott, David Weigel

Jeff Merkley is a Democratic senator from Oregon. He reacted to a court lifting a freeze on betting on which party will win Congress in November.