Sunday shows preview: Trump boosts midterm candidates in final stretch; Supreme Court opens new term

With roughly a month remaining before midterm voting, former President Donald Trump is mounting a concentrated October campaign tour through reliably Republican states where he won comfortably in 2024. The planned stops in Oklahoma, Alabama, Ohio, Texas and Nebraska are intended to boost turnout in areas the GOP views as foundational to protecting its congressional majority even as Trump’s approval ratings have weakened.

The Republican push comes amid shifting electoral dynamics: the nonpartisan Cook Political Report recently moved the Senate contests in Kansas and South Carolina toward Democrats, and analysts note about 10 GOP-held House districts have grown more likely to flip. Campaign messaging is being complicated by voter concerns over rising consumer costs and the U.S. conflict with Iran, which has driven up energy prices and become a political liability for some Republican contenders.

Trump has linked the prospect of ending the Iran war and delivering economic relief to the election outcome, and told reporters he believes the conflict could influence midterm results. Some Republican nominees have publicly distanced themselves from administration policy: for example, Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-Iowa) criticized the war’s domestic economic effects, saying constituents “shouldn’t have to foot the bill at the pump or the checkout line for the war in Iran.”

On the legal front, the Supreme Court is starting a new term Monday with several consequential cases ahead, including challenges related to immigration detention, gun rights, voting and religious liberty. The court agreed to review prominent disputes over the Trump administration’s immigration policies, including arguments that the government can detain certain individuals without bond even after years in the U.S. Justice Samuel Alito is scheduled for a rare Sunday-show interview on Fox News Sunday alongside Attorney General Todd Blanche.

Separately, the administration advanced an AI agenda this week: the president signed an executive order and rebranded the effort as focusing on “superintelligence,” while launching an AI-powered federal portal, America.gov. Executives from major tech firms — including Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Nvidia’s Jensen Huang and xAI founder Elon Musk — made voluntary pledges concerning advanced AI development, which the president described as “morally binding.” Other national stories generating attention include a high-profile sexual assault investigation at Cornell University and Tennessee’s halted executions after failed lethal injection attempts drew scrutiny and prompted an independent probe ordered by Governor Bill Lee.