🎧 What Do Voters Really Think This Midterm?

Welcome back to the Morning Brief——brought to you by one of America’s largest independent newspapers—The Epoch Times. 

It’s Monday November 2nd, and I’m Keegan Billings.

Let’s jump right in.

Good morning, it’s Election Day eve. Here are a few things to know as we head to the big day. 

• Polls and analysts are favoring Democrats flipping the House, with the Senate too close to call. To get beyond the data, senior reporter Lawrence Wilson talked to some  voters—I’ll get into what some of them siad

• Yesterday, Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) stunned the Democratic establishment by endorsing Republican Mike Rogers in the Michigan Senate race. 

• Over in another battleground, Democrats are waging some of their strongest attacks in Ohio, challenging its status as a reliably “red” Republican state, 

• The Trump administration suffered a setback when a judge dismissed its bid to block the certification of the results of Alaska’s Senate race if GOP Sen. Dan S. Sullivan narrowly loses. The Justice Department argued that the presence of a challenger with an almost identical name to the incumbent, Daniel J. Sullivan, on the ballot would confuse voters.

• Beyond congressional and statewide offices, voters will decide on a raft of ballot measures. Perhaps the most closely watched is California’s billionaire tax proposal 

• On the foreign influence front, researchers detected that a China-linked online influence operation is using older and repurposed social media accounts to pose as American voters and spread divisive political content ahead of the midterms. 

• 🍵 Health: New findings challenge decades of saturated fat assumptions.

NOW, BACK TO OUR TOP STORY:

What Do Voters Really Think? We Asked Them.

National polls and many pundits predict a sweeping loss for Republicans in the 2026 midterm elections.

That would not be unheard of, as the party of the sitting president has lost congressional seats in nearly every midterm for decades.

Yet polling has never fully accounted for the Trump factor.

In each of the past three presidential elections, polling underestimated the share of votes gained by Republicans relative to Democrats.

To get beyond statistical data, The Epoch Times talked to  some voters—now lets get into what they said

With excitement one voter Erin Mazzoni told us she

 voted for Trump!” 

The 47-year-old wife and mother of three was drawn into politics by Trump in 2016. For her, the midterms are an opportunity to solidify the progress of the president’s second term.

Mazzoni said. “To have two years where he’s a lame duck, essentially, would just be debilitating,” 

She summed up the current state of the country in a single word: “Wonderful.”

Control of the border, toppling the Maduro regime in Venezuela, cleaning out the deep state, and greater freedom of expression are all positives, she said. (More)

Some of Mazzoni’s conservative friends aren’t quite as happy, partly because of high gas prices.

She said that’s shortsighted. Her political ideology is shaped by the differences she sees in how conservative and liberal policies affect communities.

Mazzoni described the racial tension she faced as a small business owner just outside Philadelphia and the way COVID-19 policies divided her Bucks County community.

The emotion is still fresh as Mazzoni speaks. She said “That was a war for about three years.”

So Her family pulled up stakes and moved to Franklin, Tennessee, a Republican stronghold.

Next for voter For Rowan Byrne, the appeal of Trumpism has faded—slowly at first, then all at once.

The 32-year-old law enforcement officer and graduate student from Marshfield, Maine, voted for Trump enthusiastically in 2016 and half-heartedly in 2024, and she has no plans to vote Republican—or at all—in 2026.

The movement that began with such promise has become a profound disappointment, she said, 

The problem is the uniparty, Byrne said: foreign influence in the U.S. political system and corporate money dominating electoral politics.

She expressed shock, and a touch of embarrassment for believing Trump was immune from those forces.

It felt like a betrayal, Byrne said, especially the Iran war.

“‘No new wars’ means no new wars. I thought the word ‘no’ meant no.”

The letdown drove Byrne to reassess her political philosophy. She remains a conservative, describing the shift not as left or right but inward, a return to values.

Byrne said.  “I vote principle rather than policy,” 

Whatever the outcome in 2026, Byrne said she hopes it will bring some form of reckoning on the right.

“Maybe we’ll get a shot at developing our alternative approach to right-wing politics,” she said, one focused on grassroots values from a conservative perspective.

Either way, she said she’s sitting this one out and waiting for better candidates to emerge.

“I want a candidate who is seeking to reclaim American sovereignty,” she said.

“What I mean is the American citizens’ sovereignty, our sovereignty from the billionaire-donor Epstein class.”

Next voter Greg Borchert is an energetic 75-year-old corporate recruiter from Lafayette, Colorado, he has  a simple political philosophy: vote for the best person.

he said. Character and principle guide Borchert in the voting booth, not party loyalty, 

That philosophy has led him to choose candidates from both major parties, including Ronald Reagan H.W. Bush, as well as Obama and Biden, 

It also turned him away from Trump in 2016.

He said“I’m not a Trump guy necessarily because of his politics, but because of his character.”

Listing virtues such as patience, kindness, and self-control, he said, “Trump doesn’t exhibit any of those.”

he said.  “Both sides are lacking,” “I’m sort of a disillusioned centrist.”

Borchert has worked in the metal casting industry for decades and laments the loss of high-paying manufacturing jobs over the past 30 years.

The Trump tariffs do seem to be helping, Borchert said, rattling off statistics for heavy manufacturing and the global supply chain.

“I’m encouraged by that.” he said

But Other Trump policies are a mystery.

He said “Honestly, I don’t get the anti-Canada thing.”

One reason he’s able to put party ideology aside is the value he places on individual responsibility over government solutions.

As for the economy, Borchert said he thinks it’s going OK.

“I’m paying my bills,” he said. “I have no shortage of business.”

Yet he lamented the loss of civility in public life and said he misses the open exchange of political ideas he saw growing up in northern Minnesota.

He said “It’s very difficult, being purple.”

Now voter Luke Thompson a 

39-year-old from Winter Park, Florida, speaks as knowledgeably about elections and policy as about his work designing multimedia presentations.

He generally votes for conservatives, primarily because of their policy positions. He said he’ll vote Republican across the board on Nov. 3.

That hasn’t always been the case.

Thompson didn’t vote for Trump in 2016. He described himself as a right-leaning swing voter until the COVID-19 era.

Living in Seattle gave him a front-row seat for the implications of progressive policy, which he defines as protecting feelings rather than rights.

He recalled fitness centers being shut down despite a lack of evidence that they were COVID-19 hot spots. He recalled seeing people line up in front of restaurants to have their vaccination record checked.

How does Thompson feel about Trump 2.0? “Mixed.”

He’s very happy with the border shutdown; deportations; removing diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives from the government; federal deregulation; and the push to develop artificial intelligence.

At the same time, Thompson criticizes the tariffs on U.S. allies, the slow release of the Epstein files, and the war with Iran.

Joseph Antoniello said he is a “fairly traditional” Catholic who thinks deeply about how his faith affects his choices. That makes his political philosophy a bit of a contradiction.

The 39-year-old husband and father of three from Steubenville, Ohio, is used to being mislabeled.

Antoniello said “Somebody may say, ‘Oh, you’re a moderate because you’re pro-life but you’re also pro-government subsidies,’” 

“I don’t think that necessarily means I’m moderate. It just means I understand the world in a particular way.”

That understanding has led him to vote for candidates of both parties, but lately more for Democrats.

He said he thinks Republicans have downplayed the affordability problem.

This year, his vote is driven by affordability, which has become a daily concern.

Antoniello was laid off from a marketing job this summer. He’s making ends meet with freelance income for now but still looking for full-time work.

“We’re a single-income family,” Antoniello said. “This year, even when that single income was coming in, it was really hard providing for five people under one roof.”

He voted for a straight Democrat ticket on the first day of early voting.

Antoniello said he hopes that if Democrats do make gains in this election, that may pull Republicans back toward the center 

His hopes for change are modest. He said he looks for an end to the war in Iran, a greater check on the executive branch by Congress, and especially some progress on affordability.

NOW, OVER TO POLITICS:

• Yesterday, Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) stunned the Democratic establishment by endorsing Republican Mike Rogers in the Michigan Senate race. The two appeared at a church service near Detroit. Stevens had narrowly lost a bitterly fought Democratic primary to Abdul El-Sayed in August. 

“I am endorsing Mike Rogers for the United States Senate,” Stevens said. “I don’t stand with Hasan Piker, who gets trafficked on our college campuses. … I’m still a very proud Democrat.”

Stevens mentioned online influencer Hasan Piker in her video. Piker was criticized for saying that America “deserved” 9/11 and has campaigned with El-Sayed.

In a response statement, Rogers said he was honored

President Donald Trump complimented Stevens for showing “unprecedented loyalty” to the people of Michigan.

Justin German, Stevens’s chief of staff, released a statement to media saying that he spoke on behalf of his team “in wholeheartedly supporting Abdul El-Sayed.”

“We are shocked and heartbroken by Congresswoman Stevens’ decision to support Mike Rogers,” German said in the statement.

German said he has resigned, as have many other members of Stevens’s team.

• Over in another battleground, Democrats are waging some of their strongest attacks in Ohio, challenging its status as a reliably “red” Republican state, 

The GOP is countering with an “all-out effort,” said Mark Caleb Smith, based partly on what he witnessed at his own doorstep.

“I’ve had four canvassers visit my house, all from the Republican Party,” said Smith, a professor who lives and works in Cedarville, a Republican-heavy southwest Ohio village of fewer than 5,000 people.

Smith’s experience with the repeat door-knockers hints at how many resources the GOP is devoting to shoring up its base in rural areas, he told The Epoch Times.

That effort comes as Republicans face an unusually high number of competitive Democratic challengers on Ohio’s Nov. 3 midterm ballot.

The state’s heated race for governor has drawn the most national attention recently, distracting from Ohio’s crucial U.S. Senate contest and 15 U.S. House races, a few of which are considered competitive.

With so many “blue” contenders in the Buckeye State, “It feels more like when Ohio was a true ‘purple’ state … an indicator of national trends,” said Smith, director of political studies at Cedarville University.

A political maxim holds that “as Ohio goes, so goes the nation.”

From 1900 to 2024, Ohioans chose the winning presidential candidate 90.6 percent of the time—the nation’s most accurate record, Ballotpedia says.

Ohio accurately mirrors America because no single sector dominates the state’s population, economy, or politics, opined political analyst Kyle Kondik, author of “The Bellwether: Why Ohio Picks the President.”

A five-decade presidential-pick streak for Ohio ended in 2020, when Democrat Joe Biden lost the state but won the White House.

• The Trump administration suffered a setback when a judge dismissed its bid to block the certification of the results of Alaska’s Senate race if GOP Sen. Dan S. Sullivan narrowly loses. The Justice Department argued that the presence of a challenger with an almost identical name to the incumbent, Daniel J. Sullivan, on the ballot would confuse voters. It comes after The New York Times reported that Democrat Mary Peltola’s campaign was involved in recruiting the challenger as a spoiler. The DOJ said it will appeal the decision. 

In a Sunday order, U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason ruled that the (DOJ) doesn’t have the capacity to bring the lawsuit. Further, she noted the election would be held on Nov. 3 and that ballots are already prepared.

Both Peltola, in a recent public appearance in the state capital of Juneau, and Dan J. Sullivan have denied allegations of collusion. In June, Dan J. Sullivan said in response to claims made by a state official that the shared name is a “matter of fate.”

Democrats hailed Gleason’s ruling on Sunday, claiming the DOJ was effectively attempting to subvert the state’s electoral process.

• Beyond congressional and statewide offices, voters will decide on a raft of ballot measures. Perhaps the most closely watched is California’s billionaire tax proposal that proponents say will fill holes in state budgets. Opponents warn it will drive entrepreneurs and investment out of the state.

Proposition 40, would impose a one-time 5 percent tax on the assets of an estimated 260 residents who have more than $1 billion in net worth, according to California Billionaire Wealth Tracker, which monitors the Forbes Real-Time Billionaires list.

The tax is supported by the California Democratic Party, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and unions including Teamsters California, AFSCME California, and Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West, the group that put the measure on the ballot. Supporters project that the wealth tax would raise roughly $100 billion over five years and fund healthcare, food assistance, and education, which faced federal funding cuts under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed in 2025.

The tax is opposed by many Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and the California Business Roundtable, who argue that the measure would cause wealthy residents to leave California, decreasing tax revenue in the long run. Two counter measures, Propositions 41 and 42, placed on the ballot by opponents of the wealth tax, would nullify Proposition 40 if approved.

Supporters of the tax say that relying on income taxes alone provides a loophole for the richest residents, whose wealth comes from equity holdings or other assets, rather than income. The proposed tax would apply retroactively to billionaires who resided in California as of Jan. 1, 2026, in order to capture revenue from anyone who leaves the state after that date.

Now How many wealthy residents would leave the state if the wealth tax were to pass remains a subject of debate,

AND MORE ON POLITICS:

• Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said that the total number of noncitizens on voter rolls nationwide could exceed 300,000, up by 50,000 from an earlier estimate.

he said, adding that the Department of Homeland Security is working with the Department of Justice (DOJ) to determine whether those noncitizens are illegal immigrants or not.

More information will be provided after ballots are cast, the secretary said, adding that he cannot at this time determine whether they voted in the Nov. 3 midterm election. In the interview, he did not say where the additional 100,000 possible noncitizens were found.

His remarks came as an appeals court panel ruled against the DOJ’s request to have California officials set aside 20,000 ballots based on indications that they were potentially cast by noncitizens, representing another legal setback for the Trump administration’s efforts to root out what it says is voter fraud ahead of the midterms.

• Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) was hospitalized after suffering a stroke over the weekend. On Saturday afternoon, the senator “started experiencing numbness in his arm while at his son’s hockey game,” Allison Herwitt, the Democratic senator’s chief of staff, said in a statement. 

“He was taken to a local hospital, where it was discovered he had experienced a stroke.”

The 53-year-old senator was taken to Johns Hopkins University “for further monitoring and is responding well to treatment,” she said.

“The doctors are encouraged by his progress, he is awake and alert, and we are optimistic he will make a full recovery,” she said.

• Nine people were killed in Southeast Florida on Sunday after a private jet nosedived into a fiery explosion in Palm Beach County.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said that a Learjet 60 crashed in a neighborhood near Cresthaven, Florida, at 12:50 p.m. ET. It was en route from Austin, Texas, to the Bahamas. Nine people were on board and they were all killed.

He also said the FAA was sending a team to the site to assist the National Transportation Safety Board’s investigation.

Videos of the tragedy from eyewitnesses spread across social media, showing a relatively small business jet colliding with the ground as bits of fire spread across a busy roadway in close proximity to private homes.

According to air traffic control recordings captured by LiveATC.net and others, the plane was flying over Florida at 35,000 feet when the pilots reported turbulence and icing and requested to climb an additional 2,000 feet. Moments later, the plane entered a steep dive that reached a speed of more than 30,000 feet per minute.

the pilot radioed,

“We are in an overspeed condition descending 20,000 feet per minute,” just before delivering a devastating acknowledgment of what was about to happen. “We’re going to crash into the ground.”

The pilot banked sharply to the right before crashing.

Duffy posting on X said

“the plane crash was a horrific tragedy,” and

“Please join me in praying for the families and loved ones of those we lost 

The Bombardier Learjet 60 was built between 1993 and 2007. It’s a midsize jet known to have a best-in-class climb rate, able reach 41,000 feet in 18 minutes with two Pratt & Whitney engines.

According to private jet charter platform Quantum Jets, this Bombardier Learjet 60 was built to hold five to seven passengers with a maximum of eight and is typically operated by two pilots.

NOW MOVING ONTO WORLD NEWS:

• On the foreign influence front, researchers detected that a China-linked online influence operation is using older and repurposed social media accounts to pose as American voters and spread divisive political content ahead of the midterms. 

The activity is linked to Spamouflage, a network that has operated for years promoting pro-Beijing narratives and targeting critics of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

report by online intelligence firm Graphika identified accounts that previously attacked Chinese dissidents and the Falun Gong spiritual practice but now amplify posts about immigration, mass shootings, election integrity, and other U.S. political issues.

One example is an account called Coolture that previously posted about Philippine food, culture, and lifestyle, often in Filipino.

After going inactive in August 2022, the account resumed posting on Nov. 30, 2024. Its content shifted to English-language pro-Beijing messaging, including a Chinese state television video celebrating Macao’s return to Chinese rule and offering a tribute to Mao Zedong and support for the American Communist Party.

In 2025, the account shifted heavily toward U.S. politics, publishing both pro- and anti-U.S. President Donald Trump messages, criticizing U.S. funding for Ukraine, and circulating an artificial intelligence-generated video portraying the United States as an oligarchy rather than a democracy.

By Nov. 1, Coolture had approximately 201,600 followers, most of whom Graphika assessed had likely joined before the account was repurposed. Researchers could not determine whether the account had been sold, hijacked, or otherwise changed hands.

The researchers also identified three accounts that regularly amplified Coolture and had previously posted Spamouflage content targeting Falun Gong, the New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts company, and Japan.

New Findings Challenge Decades of Saturated Fat Assumptions 

Hi it’s Helen Billings and for today’s health section I’ll be talking about New Findings that Challenge Decades of Saturated Fat Assumptions. 

First off we interviewed Dafne Wiswell about her father.  She told us how her junk food-loving dad wouldn’t be able to stick to his cardiologist’s advice to eat a Mediterranean diet. So she and her sister helped Fred start a diet he’d be more likely to enjoy: high in animal foods, with plenty of beef and cheese—and only the green vegetables he tolerates. When Fred follows it, his cardiovascular biomarkers are better.

Wiswell said“It’s pretty wild,” saying that her father’s energy improves and his weight returns to a healthier range when he adheres to the diet.

Fred’s plan contradicts decades of heart-healthy nutrition advice to eat less red meat and other sources of saturated fat. However, for Fred, who has had 10 stents, the diet is a nutritional upgrade from his regular habits.

While Fred’s diet isn’t ideal for everyone, it points to issues with the narrow approach dietary guidelines have had around saturated fats for decades.

And a new Norwegian study suggests the science behind diets like Fred’s is far messier than decades of heart-health advice has long implied.

The current U.S. dietary guidelines recommend that no more than 20 grams—or 10 percent of daily calories—should come from saturated fats. The advice we’ve heard for decades sounds like this: swap butter for vegetable oil in cooking, eat chicken and fish instead of beef, and snack on nuts rather than cheese. (More)

The study found that a low-carbohydrate, high-saturated-fat diet improved triglycerides and HDL, or what’s called “good” cholesterol, but there was also a small increase in LDL or what’s called “bad” cholesterol. 

Now going further, whether saturated fats themselves increase heart disease risk is a long-running dispute. A review published in Advances in Nutrition covering 32 systematic reviews and meta-analyses found no consistent link between eating saturated fat and cardiovascular disease or death. 

Cardiologist Dr. William Davis, author of the book “Wheat Belly,” which promotes a grain-free diet, goes further. He said no cause has ever been established, and LDL is a flawed measure of risk.

Davis told The Epoch Times that relying on increases in LDL cholesterol to link saturated fat to heart disease has led researchers down the wrong path for decades. he added  “This study adds to the wisdom to chip away at this idea,”

He recommends cutting out grains and sugar and eating nutrient-rich carbohydrates that feed the gut microbiome, such as root vegetables, legumes, peas and dandelion greens.

So getting back to Fred, swapping the fast food and ultra-processed snacks of his trucking years for whole foods has improved his biomarkers and overall health, his daughter said. The problem is what happens next: He feels better, goes back to junk food, and needs another stent. It’s frustrating to watch, his daughter said, because it’s clear the diet helps.

Well I hope you have a lovely week and stay well folks!

And before we leave, here are some words of wisdom to start the day…Today’s quote is by the writer Maria Edgeworth,

It goes,

“Surely it is much more generous to forgive and remember, than to forgive and forget.” 

—Maria Edgeworth