Newsweek is reporting that with exactly one month until Election Day, polls and forecasters show Democrats competitive or ahead in races that could decide control of both the House and the Senate. It said the generic ballot tilts toward Democrats by more than eight points, and Democrats need four seats in each chamber to take the majority.
Newsweek said Democrats are hoping polling surges and low approval ratings for President Donald Trump help them ride a blue wave into the majority in both chambers, while Republicans have pinned their hopes on the president hitting the campaign trail. It said voters describe being worn down by high prices, economic uncertainty and the war with Iran, and that the frustration is reaching states once considered safe for Republicans, including Texas, Ohio, Alaska and Iowa. It said Maine's Senate contest is close enough that polls point in both directions.
Newsweek said a shift in the House majority would carry consequences beyond the number of Republican seats lost, noting the majority party elects the Speaker, controls committee leadership and determines which legislation reaches the floor. It said many House Democrats have indicated a desire to impeach Trump, and that if Democrats take the Senate, the president could face an impeachment trial even without the 60 votes required to remove him from office.
Separately, Newsweek is reporting that Brazilians head to the polls Sunday in an election it describes as the most consequential test yet of Trump's push to remake Latin America in his image, a policy it calls the "Donroe Doctrine."
Newsweek also reported that one month before the midterms, Trump is underwater in 39 states and every major battleground state, according to new polling.
In other items, Newsweek reported that at least two people were shot dead at a Los Angeles strip mall in Northridge on Friday. It said Trump warned late Friday that Democratic policies would devastate America, citing an October 1 White House report projecting a $49 trillion decade-long cost. It said the co-pilot accused of attacking the captain of a FlyDubai flight bound for Israel on Wednesday was identified as 29-year-old Hamam Al Hammami, an Omani national previously barred from flying over concerns he had adopted extremist views. It also said a federal court ordered a temporary halt to construction of the president's border wall and associated infrastructure in the Big Bend region of Texas.