Democrats are betting that President Biden and Vice President Harris can put Democratic Senate hopeful John Fetterman over the top despite a faltering debate performance that has operatives more worried than ever they could lose the pivotal race.
Biden and Harris will head to Philadelphia to campaign together on Friday, a rare occurrence for the duo who typically don’t travel alongside one another.
With less than two weeks till Election Day, Biden and Harris are set to participate in a reception for the Pennsylvania Democratic Party.
“It’s always helpful to have the two leaders of the party out there in the final push,” one Democratic strategist said of the joint appearance. “Is it risky? Maybe. But it sends a powerful message in a really important race.”
Joel Payne, another Democratic strategist backed that sentiment: “There are a few things in politics that have more capital than the bully pulpit of the White House.”
The last time Biden and Harris shared a stage outside of the White House together was the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s Phoenix Awards in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 1. But the two haven’t appeared together for an event outside of D.C since a January event in Atlanta.
Fetterman’s race against Republican Mehmet Oz could determine which party controls the 50-50 Senate. Pennsylvania has long been seen as the state where Democrats had the best chance of picking up a seat, as Biden carried it in the 2020 presidential election.
Fetterman has led in polls all year, but his stroke in May has led to some uncertainty on whether he can close the campaign with a victory. Democrats on Wednesday were second-guessing the decision to have him debate Oz as it brought the struggles in his recovery to the forefront.
Fetterman struggled at times to answer questions and was aided by a closed captioning system to help him understand questions.
He raised more than $1 million after the debate, however, and Biden joined other Democrats in trying to take the battle to Oz by hitting the Republican over a comment that political leaders should have a say in a woman’s ability to get an abortion.
“If Dr. Oz gets his way, where does this end? Would he recommend local officials make decisions about cancer treatments? Colonoscopies? Or is this kind of scrutiny reserved just for women?” Biden tweeted, sharing a clip of Oz’s viral answer from Tuesday night’s debate.
Much will be on the line for both Biden and Harris as the two take the stage together.
While they have a string of legislative accomplishments to tout, recent polling has shown that the Biden-Harris ticket is a drag on Democratic candidates with voters concerned over the administration’s handling of inflation.
“Their agenda is on the ballot,” said one Democratic strategist close to the White House. “For Biden, it’s about how he will be able to govern the next two years and for Harris, it’s about deepening her relationships with the Democratic coalitions and expanding her name ID.”
The Philadelphia rally with Biden and Harris on Friday is an opportunity to energize Democratic voters to increase turnout, but not necessarily change voters’ minds, argued Ivan Zapien, a lobbyist and former Democratic National Committee official.
“I think this is incredibly helpful to Fetterman. I think that you may not see it in the polls but every time you see appearances together, people come out,” he said. “The rallies at this point are more of an organization tool than they are a persuasive mechanism and I think that this will be helpful.”
Biden and Harris have both been crisscrossing the country at a healthy clip in recent days, so much that their schedules in Washington rarely overlap. It’s been so hectic that aides have had a tough time scheduling their private weekly lunch.
Yet for much of this election cycle, both Biden and Harris have kept a distance from some of the key races, rarely appearing alongside the candidates. Instead, they have raised money for the Democratic committees and have participated in events aimed at getting out the vote.
Some candidates — including Rep. Tim Ryan, the Democrat hoping to defeat J.D. Vance in the Ohio Senate race — have made it clear they don’t want the help from Biden. Asked earlier this month if he would invite Biden on the stump, Ryan didn’t mince words.
“No I’m not, and I’m really not inviting anybody,” he said in an interview on Fox News.
Fetterman at Tuesday’s debate said he would support Biden if he ran for another term. Asked if there was anything he wanted to see Biden improve upon, he mentioned inflation.
Biden considers Pennsylvania home and has visited the state numerous times throughout his presidency, including just last week to campaign with Fetterman.
And Democrats say he — along with Harris — has the ability to move voters in the final days.
“This is about motivating Democratic voters to turn out and turnout big, which they will need to do to carry Pennsylvania,” said David Thomas, former deputy director of legislative affairs for former Vice President Al Gore.
“When you get towards the end of the election, and you want the sort of biggest bang for your buck, having both of them on the stage together, you’re gonna draw your biggest crowds, you’re gonna get the most media attention, if they’re both there.”
Pennsylvania has been a key swing state for years, but Democrats had long felt relatively confident in winning it.
Then former President Trump stunned them by becoming the first GOP candidate since George H.W. Bush in 1988 to win the state in a presidential year.
“I think it’s a clear demonstration of the importance of battleground Pennsylvania, not just in this election, but in elections to come,” said Antjuan Seawright, a Democratic strategist, of the Fetterman-Oz bout.
Both candidates are seeking to succeed retiring Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.).
The battle for the Senate majority is going down to the wire as a series of races across the country tighten in the days before the election, a process that is alternatively giving hope while also panicking partisans in both parties.
Democrats have their eyes on Wisconsin, where a new poll from CNN found Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) clinging to just a one-point lead over Democratic Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes.
Johnson had been seen as building a more significant lead, and the closeness of the race gave Democrats new hope about their ability to take back a seat from Republicans as they are defending their turf in other states.
In Pennsylvania, Democratic nerves are rattling after an uneven debate performance Tuesday night by Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, whose race against Republican Mehmet Oz has tightened.
If Democrats lose both races, it will greatly injure their prospects of retaining a Senate majority that is now evenly divided between the two parties as they could not afford to lose a single race where they now hold a Senate seat.
Republicans and Democrats alike are also paying close attention to a handful of races that have not been under a bright national spotlight.
In Iowa, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R) has been seen as a heavy favorite to win an eighth term. But Democrats are starting to believe Mike Franken could have a chance at an upset.
The most recent Des Moines Register poll put Grassley, 89, only 3 percentage points ahead of Franken, a retired Navy vice admiral.
In a nod to the urgency to boost Grassley, former President Trump announced that he will headline a rally to support him and Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) on Nov. 3 in Sioux City.
“Voters are deeply skeptical of Grassley and Franken has run an unorthodox campaign that has a lot of Iowans feeling that he’d be a quality replacement. It’s about that simple,” one Democratic strategist involved in Senate races told The Hill, who also noted that Franken is also outspending Grassley on the airwaves this week, a move that reflects the state of play in the state.
Republicans had long seen New Hampshire as a pickup opportunity for their party, but GOP candidate Don Bolduc’s chances seemed dim as Republican money was pulled out of the state.
Now polls show Bolduc closing in on Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), and the Senate GOP has jumped back into the state to give their candidate another boost.
Twists in the days before a midterm are hardly unusual, but this year’s ups and downs have been truly memorable.
While Republican candidates have an economic climate that is bolstering their chances, several backed by former President Trump have had to walk a tightrope to win over independent and moderate voters in states the ex-president lost in the 2020 election.
That and a favorable map has given Democrats a chance of retaining the Senate even as most prognosticators expect them to lose their House majority.
Moods about a single state can be up for a party, than down, then up again.
In Ohio, Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) has always been seen as facing an uphill climb in a state that had trended Republican in recent elections. Yet polls over the summer showed him running what many saw as a surprisingly competitive race.
Recent polls have shown Republican J.D. Vance and Ryan in a statistical dead heat.
In Wisconsin, the CNN poll released earlier this week showed Johnson, who had built a several-point lead over the past few months, with a single-percentage-point advantage over Barnes.
“Do I think it’s going to be close? Yes. Do I think some people may be taking it for granted? Possibly,” one Wisconsin GOP operative told The Hill. “Democrats are outspending Republicans on the airwaves in the final weeks, which is not ideal.”
“Wisconsin elections are always close and this could get a lot closer than many people nationally might expect,” the operative continued, adding that Johnson is not up by 6 percentage points — the margin reported by Marquette Law School’s latest poll.
In New Hampshire, the GOP has put out mixed signals as the Senate Leadership Fund, which is run by allies of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), canceled $5.6 million in ad reservations late last week and redirected those dollars to Pennsylvania to boost Oz. Now the Senate GOP campaign arm is back in New Hampshire spending about $1 million to help out Bolduc, who has been a lackluster fundraiser.
The move came after a pair of public polls showed the race within the margin of error and within striking distance for Republicans.
“It’s a crapshoot. I don’t dispute the polls. … Whoever turns out is going to win. It’s 50-50. It is tight as a tick,” said Dave Carney, a New Hampshire-based GOP strategist. Carney added a lack of third-party candidate on the ballot is one advantage Bolduc has.
In Arizona, another Republican is showing signs of life after a lackluster two-month stretch.
Polling had put Blake Masters well behind Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) but a poll released Wednesday by the progressive group Data for Progress showed the two essentially tied.
Masters’s resurgence could be due in part to Republican nominee Kari Lake, who has opened up a 3-point lead over Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs (D) in the state’s gubernatorial race, with Lake’s coattails helping to bring Masters along.
According to the latest RealClearPolitics average, Kelly leads by 1.5 percentage points over the Peter Thiel protégé.
“We’ve all thought these races were going to be close from the beginning,” said one Democratic strategist, noting that most of the races are in “straight up swing states.”
“By their nature, they are very close,” the strategist said.
The Air Force has taken responsibility for the improper release of Republican House candidate Jennifer Ruth-Green’s confidential military records that detailed a sexual assault during her time serving that were exposed in a news story earlier this month.
“Based on the preliminary findings of an investigation, it appears information was released to a third party by a junior individual who didn’t follow proper procedures and obtain required consent,” Ann Stefanek, Chief of Media Operations at the Air Force, said in a statement to The Hill on Wednesday about the release of Green’s information. “The Department of the Air Force takes its responsibility to safeguard private information seriously and the matter remains under investigation.”
Earlier on Wednesday, Indiana GOP Reps. Jim Banks and Larry Bucshon released a joint statement calling on the Air Force to take responsibility for the leak. The two congressmen detailed a Tuesday call with Air Force Inspector General Lt. Gen. Stephen Davis, who confirmed the file was actually leaked to an opposition research firm, which is how they were presumably later given a POLITICO reporter.
“On yesterday’s call, the Air Force took full responsibility for improperly releasing Lt. Col Green’s confidential personnel records to an opposition research firm just weeks before the midterm election,” the statement said. “Lt. Gen. Davis informed us that the leaker has been identified and will be held accountable.”
The POLITICO profile on Green, candidate for Indiana’s 1st Congressional District, included details from poor performance evaluations in her military personnel file. It included that in 2009, “an Iraqi serviceman sexually assaulted [Green] by grabbing her breast and exposing himself” when “she and a small group of officers visited the national training center.”
Green told POLITICO that when she reported the assault against the advice of those in her command, her career was “intentionally derailed.”
The POLITICO profile said that the records “were obtained by a public records request and provided to POLITICO by a person outside the Mrvan campaign,” referring to Green’s Democratic incumbent opponent Rep. Frank Mrvan.
Only a limited amount of information about service member records is typically available through a Freedom of Information Act request for records less than 62 years old, unless the service member or next of kin provides written consent.
At the time of the profile, Green said she had not given permission for the records to be released and demanded an investigation. She said she also asked POLITICO to not publish information about her assault.
“I’m a survivor of sexual trauma in the military, and I am being forced to discuss it publicly for the first time because Congressman Mrvan or his supporters obtained — either illegally or by egregious error — military records describing my sexual assault as well as performance reviews, and peddled those records to the media with the intent smear me and my military career…,” Green said in a statement to POLITICO.
Banks and Bucshon called for the Air Force to provide more information about the opposition research firm’s connection to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC).
“The Air Force improperly affected a competitive House race and must provide transparency before election day,” the congressmen said. “We are calling on the Air Force to publicly take responsibility for mishandling Lt Col Green’s service records. Additionally, before the midterm election, the Air Force should release any information it has regarding the financial relationship between the DCCC and the opposition research firm that sent confidential records to Politico’s Adam Wren to smear a servicemember who happens to be running for public office.”
Despite the Air Force taking responsibility, Green’s team alleges that Mrvan at least knew about the leak.
“The walls are closing in on Congressman Mrvan,” Kevin Hansberger, Green’s communications director, said in a statement to The Hill.
“He denied any involvement in obtaining and leaking Jennifer-Ruth Green’s military records. Now we know the Air Force did release documents illegally to a Democrat opposition research firm. And we know what firm it was and we know they work for the DCCC …which has been coordinating so closely with Frank Mrvan that every ad he’s aired in this race they split the cost of. To believe Mrvan and his cronies didn’t know is laughable. There is more to come.”
Though Indiana’s first congressional district has elected a Democrat since 1931, a year of inflation, increased crime and the debate around abortion rights has Democrats across the country in a perilous position.
POLITICO, the DCCC and Mrvan’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment.
Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan on Wednesday temporarily blocked the House panel investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection from accessing phone records belonging to the Arizona Republican Party’s chairwoman.
Kagan, who handles emergency matters arising from Arizona, granted a request made earlier Wednesday by Kelli Ward, the GOP chairwoman, and her husband.
The latest development comes after a lower appeals court denied the Wards’ bid to shield the records that congressional investigators are pursuing as part of their probe of last year’s pro-Trump riot at the Capitol.
The Jan. 6 panel, which subpoenaed Ward’s phone carrier, has expressed interest in her role as a phony pro-Trump elector following his loss in Arizona during the 2020 election. Ward and her husband, Michael Ward, were among a group of 11 Arizonans who signed a fake election certificate purporting to show that former President Trump won the state.
In court papers filed Wednesday, the Wards portrayed the Jan. 6 investigation as politically motivated, and said their case carried “profound precedential implications” for the constitutional right to free political association.
“In a first-of-its-kind situation, a select committee of the United States Congress, dominated by one political party, has subpoenaed the personal telephone and text message records of a state chair of the rival political party relating to one of the most contentious political events in American history — the 2020 election and the Capitol riot of January 6, 2021,” they wrote.
The Wards’ application to the Supreme Court comes after a divided panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit voted 2-1 to deny the Wards’ request for an order barring their phone carrier, T-Mobile, from complying with the Jan. 6 panel’s subpoena for records spanning the run-up to the Nov. 2020 election through January 2021.
Earlier in the case, a federal judge in Arizona rejected the Wards’ request to quash the subpoena, prompting their appeal.
The Jan. 6 House committee has described the multistate attempt to put forth fake Trump electors as central to the effort to overturn Trump’s defeat, which eventually led to the riot at the Capitol.
The White House on Wednesday warned that deepening ties between Russia and Iran are moving beyond weapons sales toward collaboration on violently suppressing dissent, signaling that the U.S. is watching the new phase of relations between Tehran and Moscow.
It’s also a show of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s potentially increasing reliance on Iran as he tries to hang on to whatever global support he’s able to still garner.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the administration is “concerned that Moscow may be advising Tehran on best practices to manage protests,” referring to Iran’s deadly and violent crackdowns on women-led, anti-government demonstrations.
The U.S. has also rejected denials by the Kremlin that Iran is supplying weaponized drones, and providing on-the-ground training to Russian forces, used in deadly attacks against Ukraine.
“The evidence that Iran is helping Russia wage its war against Ukraine is clear and it is public and Iran and Russia are growing closer the more isolated they become,” Jean-Pierre said.
“Our message to Iran is very, very clear, stop killing your people and stop selling weapons to Russia to kill Ukrainians.”
Here are five things to know about deepening ties between Moscow and Tehran.
Russia may be aiding Iran’s protest crackdowns
White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said Wednesday he could not provide more information on the sources of information that Moscow is weighing advising Tehran on its response to protests that have lasted more than a month — where the United Nations has said at least 23 children have been killed and human rights groups have reported more than 220 civilian deaths.
The protesters are demonstrating public rage against the ruling clerical government, spurred by the death of a 22-year-old woman in the custody of the “morality police” for allegedly wearing her head scarf improperly, as required by the state.
“Karine wasn’t putting forth an allegation, she was putting forth a fact, that we know they [Russia] may be considering some sort of support to Iran’s ability to crack down on the protesters,” Kirby said, without providing proof of why the U.S. believes so.
“We’ll watch where that goes, but it’s just another example of Russia and Iran now, to violate not only the human rights and civil rights of people in Iran, but put in further danger the lives of Ukrainians.”
Russia, Iran flying high with drone and missile collaboration
Russia’s use of Iranian drones in Ukraine — first documented earlier this month — is an example of “the greatest degree of military cooperation that the two countries have had,” said Becca Wasser, a senior fellow for the Defense Program with the Center for a New American Security (CNAS).
It appears to be an extension of the deeply transactional attitudes of the two countries, Wasser said.
Iran can showcase itself as a weapons supplier to potential buyers who aren’t purchasing weapons from the U.S., the West or even China — “if they’re able to get around sanctions” on Iran, Wasser added.
It also provides Iran an arena to strike back at the U.S. and Western nations in opposition to sanctions imposed against the Islamic government for a host of abuses, including its crackdown on protesters, human rights abuses, threats against Israel and Gulf allies and its supplying of weapons to proxy regional forces.
For Russia, “Iran conveniently has provided a way” to allow it to strike Ukrainian infrastructure and civilian targets as its own advanced weapons stockpiles have been depleted, destroyed and squeezed by sanctions, Wasser said.
“Here we’re seeing that play out … this transactional relationship of cooperating when it works in their favor, but not necessarily deepening ties to an extreme extent,” she said.
Israel is watching, but not budging
Israel is keeping a close eye on Iran’s involvement in Russia’s war, but is still not budging on rejecting highly critical calls from Kyiv that Jerusalem should abandon its position of withholding military and air defense to the Ukrainians.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog, speaking in Washington on Wednesday, said that there are “things we cannot supply due to national security interest.”
Still, Herzog is presenting Israeli evidence to President Biden that support U.S. claims that Russia is using Iranian weaponry to attack Ukraine and being trained by Iranian military personnel present in Russia and Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory.
Herzog previewed those claims in a talk at the Atlantic Council on Wednesday, showing side-by-side comparisons of photos disseminated by Iranian media of their Shahed-136 drones, and photos showing what appeared to be the exact models found following destructive attacks in Ukraine.
“This is only the tip of the iceberg,” of intelligence information that Israel is presenting to the U.S., Herzog said, adding that the international community must “confront Iran and ask it simple questions.”
“Can the international community negotiate with Iran and accept its lies, and believe Iran when we know they are, both, rushing to a nuclear bomb, as well as doing all the other terrible things that they are doing?” he asked.
Nearly dead nuclear deal may have new life
While talks to revive the 2015 nuclear deal have effectively ceased, the Biden administration is using a key mechanism of the agreement to bring more scrutiny on Iran’s weapons sales to Russia.
The U.S., United Kingdom, France and Ukraine have lodged a complaint with the United Nations Security Council that Iran’s sale of drones to Russia is a violation of Resolution 2231, which enshrined the nuclear deal, imposed a weapons embargo on Iran and provided a mechanism for signatory countries to trigger scrutiny into any agreement violations.
”The transfer of these drones absolutely is a violation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 2231,” Kirby said from the podium. “We’re going to continue with allies and partners and with the U.N. to see if there’s additional ways to hold them accountable.”
Violations of Resolution 2231 could, in effect, be used to snap back U.N. Security Council sanctions on Iran, but that is unlikely given Russia’s veto power on the council.
Jonathan Lord, senior fellow and director of the Middle East Security program at CNAS, said that the action at the Security Council is likely more about “bringing public pressure and attribution to something that Iran is still denying that it’s doing, as implausible as that is.”
The U.S. and European Union have imposed their own sanctions related to Iran’s drone sales to Russia, and their positions at the U.N. could help pressure other countries to join in, he added.
Oil exports in possible jeopardy
Russia and Iran’s status as oil exporters and reliance on those revenues adds another layer of complexity to their relationship, but one that is not likely to be a significant factor in either pushing them together or tearing them apart, said Antoine Halff, adjunct senior research scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University.
While Russia remains one of the top three oil producers in the world, Halff said that Iran is a “second tier producer” and a “shadow” of its former self as an oil exporter, given intensive global sanctions on its market.
The U.S., Europe and other countries aligned with Kyiv have struggled to depress Russia’s oil sales enough to bankrupt its war in Ukraine. Schemes reportedly discussed to lift sanctions on Iranian and Venezuelan oil exports to counter Russia’s position on the market have failed to take shape.
Halff said that Russia and Iran’s own interests in oil have to be weighed against their shared interests, “in their opposition to the West, and to the U.S. in particular.”
“So anything happening in oil has to be seen against the context of those other shared interests.”
Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) cases are on the rise around the U.S., especially among children.
Symptoms can be mild like those of a common cold: runny nose, coughing and sneezing.
But in young children and older adults, RSV can cause more severe illness like bronchiolitis and pneumonia.
Cases of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) are currently high across the country and experts say they may continue to rise, putting children and older adults at risk of severe disease as winter approaches.
Adults with RSV typically have symptomsof the common cold, but babies, young children and older adults who are infected with the virus can develop more serious illnesses like pneumonia.
This year, several children’s hospitals are reporting a surge in RSV cases and in the number of those cases requiring hospitalization.
The cases are also coming unusually early in the year. Testing positivity rate for the virus has been around 10 to 15 percent in recent weeks, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The number of positive cases rose rapidly starting in late August, which is early compared to a typical year, when this rise may not start until November. The early surge throws into question when cases of the virus will peak and how long this season may last.
“This year we are seeing a lot of RSV already and I don’t think we have peaked yet,” says pediatric infectious disease specialist Benoosh Afghani at University of California Irvine. “I think in the next few weeks we’re going to see a peak.”
Here’s what to know about RSV amid the rise in cases.
How is RSV transmitted?
RSV is primarily transmitted through contact with bodily fluids, and less commonly through the air or skin to skin contact.
People can get infected with the virus if they come into contact with droplets containing RSV and then touch their eyes, nose or other entryways into the body.
The coming winter season will bring holidays and large gatherings, where people sharing a space run the risk of giving each other viruses, including RSV but also others, like flu and COVID-19, that primarily spread through the air.
For RSV in particular, families should take note that touching surfaces can lead to transfer of the virus. “If they’re touching their nose and touch a surface and somebody comes and touches that surface, and then their nose or eyes, they might get it if they’re not immune to it,” says Afghani.
RSV can survive on hard surfaces, like tables and railings, for many hours and for shorter periods of time on surfaces like tissues or skin.
Transmission can also occur more directly if, for example, someone is coughing in a person’s face and they aren’t wearing a mask, allowing droplets to land in their eyes and nose.
What are the symptoms of RSV?
Both adults and children can get infected by RSV. Illness is typically more severe in young children and older adults, much like with flu.
Adults infected with the virus typically experience symptoms of a common cold like runny nose and sneezing. The common cold is caused by several types of viruses, including RSV, coronaviruses and rhinoviruses.
RSV infection in infants, children and older adults can be like a common cold, but it can also lead to severe respiratory illness. Symptoms include runny nose, decrease in appetite, coughing, sneezing, fever and wheezing, according to the CDC. For babies and children, mucus buildup and wheezing may be signs that the illness has progressed to a more severe state. Older adults may be at risk of pneumonia, exacerbation of asthma or congestive heart failure.
As well as pneumonia, which is infection of the lungs, RSV cancause bronchiolitis, which is inflammation of the small airways in the lung.
The virus typically does not cause diarrhea, but may cause vomiting if there is a lot of mucus, says Afghani. For example, if an infected person is breathing hard or coughs a lot, they can swallow the mucus and then throw it up.
Adults and children with a severe case of RSV may need to be hospitalized if they are having trouble breathing or are dehydrated. In some severe cases, the patient may need additional oxygen or intubation.
How is RSV treated?
There is no vaccine or approved treatment for RSV. In most cases, adults and children can get over the infection in a week or two without treatment.
There is a monoclonal antibody sometimes used to protect against serious illness from the virus called palivizumab, but it is meant only for prevention of severe disease in high-risk infants. It is not meant to be used as treatment once a patient has been infected with RSV. Palivizumab is given as an intramuscular shot that must be repeated about once a month during RSV season.
Caretakers can manage fever and pain in people infected with the virus with over-the-counter products. The CDC says that staying hydrated is crucial for RSV patients.
Afghani notes that suctioning, the process of extracting fluid from the airways, is the most important step to take when babies with RSV who have developed symptoms of severe disease, such as mucus buildup, get admitted to the hospital.
Why is RSV on the rise?
One of the potential reasons RSV is surging now is because fewer people have immunity from previous infections than in a typical year.
While there is no vaccine for the virus, adults and children can develop immunity to RSV from an infection.A pregnant person who is exposed and develops antibodies can even pass those antibodies on to their fetus. Once born, the baby would then have some protection from the virus.
But restrictions on in-person activities during the coronavirus pandemic prevented circulation of respiratory viruses in general.
Flu is also currently a concern partly for that reason, with cases rising quickly in the U.S. “If both viruses have the same kind of peak, that’s going to be a real strain on the healthcare system in addition to the COVID virus,” Afghani tells Changing America.
More information on RSV can be found on the CDC’s website.
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The chairwoman of the Arizona Republican Party on Wednesday asked the Supreme Court to temporarily shield her phone records from the House panel investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection in support of former President Trump.
The emergency filing by Kelli Ward is the latest twist in her months-long effort to fend off congressional investigators’ pursuit of her records, and comes just days after a divided federal appeals court panel denied her request to block the House committee’s subpoena.
The filing by Ward and her husband, Michael Ward, was directed to Justice Elena Kagan, who handles emergency matters arising from Arizona.
Following the 2020 election, the Wards were among a group of 11 Arizonans who falsely claimed to represent a slate of pro-Trump electors, signing a phony election certificate that purported to show former President Trump won Arizona, despite his losing the state to Joe Biden.
The Jan. 6 panel, which subpoenaed Ward’s phone carrier for her records, has described the multi-state attempt to put forth fake Trump electors as central to the effort to overturn Trump’s defeat, which eventually led to the riot at the Capitol.
In court papers filed Wednesday, the Wards portrayed the Jan. 6 investigation as politically motivated, and said their case carried “profound precedential implications” for the right to free political association.
“In a first-of-its-kind situation, a select committee of the United States Congress, dominated by one political party, has subpoenaed the personal telephone and text message records of a state chair of the rival political party relating to one of the most contentious political events in American history — the 2020 election and the Capitol riot of January 6, 2021,” they wrote.
The Wards’ application to the Supreme Court follows a 2-1 ruling against them by a panel of judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. The divided panel, in a ruling issued on Saturday, denied the Wards’ request for an order barring their phone carrier, T-Mobile, from complying with Jan. 6 panel subpoena for three-months of phone records spanning the run-up to the Nov. 2020 election through January 2021.
“Ward participated in a scheme to send spurious electoral votes to Congress, a scheme that the Committee describes as ‘a key part’ of the ‘effort to overturn the election’ that culminated on January 6,” the majority wrote. “Although Ward asserts that ‘congressional investigators already know what she did,’ the Committee explains that that is untrue: When the Committee sought to question her about those activities, she invoked the Fifth Amendment and refused to answer.”
Earlier in the case, a federal judge in Arizona in September rejected the Wards’ request to quash the subpoena, prompting their appeal.
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Another woman anonymously accused Georgia Senate Republican nominee Herschel Walker of pressuring her to have an abortion in 1993 during a years-long affair.
The woman, who spoke to reporters as “Jane Doe” and is represented by attorney Gloria Allred, alleged Wednesday that she began a romantic and intimate relationship with Walker in November 1987, when he was married to another woman.
She claimed that years later, she became pregnant with Walker’s child.
She alleged Walker gave her cash to go to an abortion clinic in Dallas. After she decided not to go through with the procedure, she alleged Walker drove her to the clinic and waited in the parking lot as she went inside to receive the abortion.
Earlier this month, another woman came forward alleging Walker pressured her to have an abortion, which Walker has denied.
“I’ve already told you this is a lie and I’m not going to entertain this or continue to carry the lie along,” Walker added. “And I also want to let you know I didn’t kill JFK.”
The Hill has reached out to Walker’s campaign for comment.
Pennsylvania Senate candidate John Fetterman’s (D) difficulties from his recent stroke and the media attention they’ve garnered have sparked a debate about what counts as a disability and perceptions on who is able to serve.
Fetterman’s health was center stage at a Tuesday night debate when he faced off against Republican candidate Mehmet Oz — the only such contest between the two competitors in perhaps the nation’s pivotal race for control of the Senate this year.
The Democrat used a closed captioning system throughout the debate to help him understand questions, and he sometimes struggled to form clear sentences. The performance has raised questions anew about whether voters will back Fetterman in next month’s election.
Advocates for people with disabilities have watched the debate over Fetterman with interest, and say that regardless of his health, it raises questions about how people view those with disabilities.
“I think that most of us … conjure up an image of what it is to be disabled and oftentimes that is some sort of physical mobility disability,” said Emily Blum, executive director of Disability Lead. “That’s an image that a lot of us are very comfortable with because it’s visible.”
“But the vast majority of disabilities are, in fact, invisible,” she continued. “And so we need to change the quote unquote, face of disability to be more representative of that, of mental health disabilities, cognitive, chronic illness. Things that aren’t visible to the eye are what is the face of disability currently.”
In his first sit-down interview this month after suffering a stroke earlier this year, Fetterman used captioning software so that he could understand questions from NBC’s Dasha Burns. Some disability advocates criticized Burns for highlighting Fetterman’s difficulty understanding aural cues, saying it stigmatized difficulties that technology exists to accommodate.
Critics have defended the scrutiny as part of broader questions about Fetterman’s fitness for office during what can be a difficult-to-predict recovery process.
Disability rights advocates, however, say that the media coverage of Fetterman has raised questions over the perception of who is — and isn’t — allowed to lead with a disability in the halls of Congress.
Fetterman needs the closed captioning system because his stroke left him with an auditory processing disorder that makes it harder for his brain to filter and interpret sounds, according to his doctor, but has “no work restrictions.”
Some activists say Fetterman is being treated unfairly by his political opponents and the press who are making an issue of a disability.
Yet a candidate’s health has generally been seen as a valid political concern. In addition, Fetterman has raised attention by not releasing his full medical records or disclosing his stroke until several days after his hospitalization.
Strokes can be considered a long-term cause of disabilities in adults, particularly as they can affect attention, memory, language and orientation, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information. Approximately 30 percent of stroke patients develop dementia within one year of their stroke.
Fetterman says his doctors expect him to make a full recovery and he does not have cognitive concerns.
“Overall, the Lt. Governor is recovering well from his stroke and his health has continued to improve,” Dr. Clifford Chen wrote in a letter released by Fetterman’s campaign.
He added that Fetterman “continues to exhibit symptoms of an auditory processing disorder which can come across as a hearing difficulty,” but that his communication has improved significantly.
Pooja Khatri, director of the Vascular Neurology Division within the Department of Neurology and Rehabilitation Medicine at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, said that while she is unable to comment on Fetterman’s specific case, auditory processing issues are “quite common” during the stroke recovery process.
“At any given time, I have patients with some sort of aphasia, or even a few in the hospital, some subset of them are going to have auditory processing issues, whether it’s understanding speech or the written word or both,” she said.
“The question of how long such issues typically last in the recovery process is a more complicated matter, Khatri said. Generally, however, if after a stroke a patient retains “some language, it’s a good prognostic sign that they’ll get more over time,” she said. “It tells you that the connections are there, it’s just a matter of healing and working around some of the injury.”
Speculation around disabilities and how they could affect politicians’ ability to lead goes back decades – the administration of Franklin Roosevelt meticulously concealed the 32nd president’s use of a wheelchair due to polio, and John F. Kennedy was diagnosed with at least two endocrine disorders that were not revealed until after his death.
The stigma surrounding Fetterman’s new disability is two-fold, said Sarah Blahovec, a political consultant and community organizer on disability issues.
Fetterman’s need for accommodations can lead some to wrongly conflate processing issues with cognitive disabilities, Blahovec said.
But disability advocates argue those with cognitive disabilities shouldn’t be shut out of politics, either.
“To say that anyone with a cognitive disability is inherently disqualified from serving in an elected office is just a really big claim that alienates millions of people,” said Blahovec.
Maria Town, president and CEO of American Association of People with Disabilities, said that one’s ability to speak is often thought to indicate their intelligence.
“One of the reasons that people are so quick to question Fetterman’s ability to lead is because it’s his speech that’s impacted, and speech is one of the primary ways that we determine people’s intelligence,” said Town. “We’ve seen issues for people who are non-native English speakers: if they speak with an accent they have to deal with people assuming that they are less intelligent.”
But people also have a habit of trying to determine which disabilities are more deserving of access than others, Town added. This is called the “hierarchy of disability.”
This is at play when leaders like Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Illinois) are not questioned on their ability to lead the same way someone like Biden is.
“Sen. Duckworth, she’s a wheelchair user, which I think many people understand as a disability that deserves accommodations: the universal symbol of access is a wheelchair user,” Town said. “Sen. Duckworth’s disabilities were also acquired through her service in the military and so instantly we understand her as having already established her competence.”
Duckworth was also through her rehabilitation period when she ran for office, unlike Fetterman who is still recovering from his stroke.
Meanwhile, Blahovec added, the coverage around Fetterman’s accommodations also misrepresent the hurdle his use of assistive technology creates for his potential duties as a senator.
“It’s just like in any other job – if they can perform the job, with or without accommodation, they can perform the job,” she said.
“Assuming that, you know, someone should not be able to have a job because they need an accommodation, that’s not how it works,” she added. “That’s not how it works under the [Americans With Disabilities Act] as well, because the ADA certainly applies to elected positions.”
Blahovec argues that politicians in both parties have faced similar attacks, from President Biden’s stutter and sometime misstatements to pointing to viral images mocking then-President Trump’s capacity to hold a glass of water or ascend a ramp.
Some disability scholars worry that in the modern era, as stigma around disabilities has seemingly improved, the reaction to Fetterman’s use of captioning tech could have a chilling effect on candidates’ willingness to disclose – or the desire of candidates who can’t or don’t conceal their disabilities to run for office.
Others say Fetterman has been transparent about his condition and that his candidness could help open doors to others.
“John Fetterman has not only been transparent about his stroke and about his recovery, but he’s also been transparent about what his needs are,” said Town. “I think that that’s incredibly powerful; it’s going to be powerful for other stroke survivors, for people with learning disabilities, as well as people with hearing loss that may benefit from captions in the workplace in their communities, or if they choose to run for office.”
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Democrats are second-guessing the decision to put Pennsylvania Senate nominee John Fetterman on the debate stage after a stumbling performance that put the spotlight on his condition after a stroke while playing to Republican Mehmet Oz’s strengths.
The state lieutenant governor’s auditory processing problems resulting from the stroke proved to be a major part of the debate just two weeks before Election Day. Fetterman had a number of awkward pauses and stumbles that are sure to be seized upon by the GOP.
“Fetterman’s team never should have agreed to this debate,” one Pennsylvania Democratic operative told The Hill on the condition of anonymity. “He still clearly has serious health issues.”
A second Pennsylvania-based Democratic strategist concurred.
“It’s a good question,” the strategist said. “You can’t pretend you didn’t see what you saw. You can’t wish it or explain it away. You have to dig in and deal with it. It’s going to mean they’ll turn the heat up with Oz.”
Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) acknowledged on CNN’s “New Day” the debate “was hard to watch.” But he likened Fetterman’s performance to those by former President Trump in 2016 against Hillary Clinton and said voters would look at Fetterman’s record in Pennsylvania.
“His answers were halting and he didn’t understand the issues, and he was combative and aggressive. But millions of Americans voted for him because they liked his attitude and authenticity,” Coons said of Trump.
“My gut hunch is a lot of Pennsylvanians when they see John Fetterman in his hoodie and his sweatpants, and look at look the record of what he’s done in Braddock as lieutenant governor will choose him over, quite frankly, someone who is, frankly, very polished on television, but has positions on things like abortion that are outside the mainstream of what Pennsylvanians will vote for.”
The Fetterman-Oz race holds a uniquely important spot in this year’s midterms because it is one of just a handful that could determine which party controls the Senate
Fetterman led in the polls throughout the summer and into the fall and for months after the primaries Democrats viewed Oz as a weak candidate running in a state won by President Biden. As a result, a loss would be particularly devastating to the party.
The Democratic nominee after the debate pointed to a note from his doctor saying he was fit to serve and his campaign criticized what it called “error-filled” closed captioning. The closed captioning was requested by Fetterman and agreed to by Oz to compensate for the auditory processing issues.
After the debate, Oz’s campaign stuck to talking points about the economy, fracking and crime. But others who support the longtime television doctor waded into talk about Fetterman’s situation.
“Anyone watching today could tell there was only one person on that stage who can represent Pennsylvania in the U.S. Senate: @droz,” said Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), an Oz backer. “It’s sad to see John Fetterman struggling so much. He should take more time to allow himself to fully recover.”
Fetterman’s issues on the stage were clear from the outset of the hourlong event. In his introductory answer, the lieutenant governor, who used a closed captioning system to make up for his auditory processing deficits, told viewers, “Hi. Good night everyone.”
After the opening 20 minutes of the debate, one national Democratic operative responded to The Hill with an emoji of a monkey covering its eyes.
“I don’t think that the debate will be decisive, but I’d question anyone who advocated for Fetterman to do one at all,” the Democratic operative said after the debate. “The more this race has shifted its focus away from Oz and become a referendum on Fetterman, the worse it’s got. I don’t see how tonight helped.”
The Fetterman campaign’s response to the debate was quick.
Shortly after midnight, a campaign spokesman announced it raised more than $1 million in the three hours post-debate.
Fetterman argued that the note from a doctor saying that he “has no work restrictions,” coupled with his presence on the stage, should be enough to dissuade the need for him to release detailed medical records. The campaign has declined to do that since he suffered the stroke in May.
The campaign also revealed in the ensuing hours that it would unveil a new ad highlighting what would otherwise be the major talking point from the event: Oz’s remark that abortion decisions should be made between “a woman, her doctor and local political leaders.” According to the campaign, the ad will “target suburban women voters across Pennsylvania in the coming weeks.”
“Anytime you do debate prep, the number one thing you tell candidates is don’t say anything that becomes an ad,” said one Pennsylvania Democratic operative. “While we all watch debates, not that many other people watch them, but you just don’t want to f— up and create moments and Oz really failed at that.”
Former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) told The Hill that while Fetterman “had some stumbles, the biggest stumble in the whole debate” was Oz’s abortion comment, which President Biden also criticized Oz for. The former Philadelphia mayor also argued that Fetterman had no choice but to take part.
“If he hadn’t done this, then people would say he’s hiding and [not] being transparent. … It’s damned if you do, damned if you don’t,” Rendell said, adding that he wasn’t sure how the debate will play with voters in the coming weeks.
“People were worried before the debate. They’re worried after the debate. They’d be worried if he hit a home run,” Rendell continued. “This is the time of year nobody is satisfied with anything. They are worried about everything.”
Democrats have attempted to keep the spotlight on Oz’s abortion comment, but the lion’s share of attention remains on Fetterman’s health and what transpired on Tuesday in Harrisburg.
The Fetterman campaign did not respond when asked by The Hill about any details regarding the candidate’s debate prep.
In a statement post-debate, Joe Calvello, a Fetterman spokesman, criticized the event — hosted by Nexstar, which owns The Hill — because the Democratic nominee “was working off of delayed captions filled with errors.” A Nexstar spokesman noted that Fetterman’s campaign agreed to the set-up for the closed captioning process.
“Both candidates were offered the opportunity for two full rehearsals with the same equipment used in tonight’s debate; Mr. Fetterman chose to do only one. … It is unfortunate that Mr. Fetterman is now criticizing the closed captioning process employed by Nexstar during tonight’s debate,” Nexstar communications chief Gary Weitman said in a statement. “In fact, Nexstar’s production team went to extraordinary lengths to ensure the effectiveness of the closed captioning process, and to accommodate several last-minute requests of the Fetterman campaign. The closed captioning process functioned as expected during rehearsal and again during tonight’s debate. We regret that Mr. Fetterman and his campaign feel otherwise.”
One national Democratic strategist pushed back on the notion of most media attention being on Fetterman’s stroke, arguing that his performance isn’t a priority for voters.
“Everyone knew John Fetterman was recovering from a stroke before the debate and I think after the debate everybody knows John Fetterman is still recovering from a stroke,” the strategist said. “So I’m not sure what is new or unearthed about that.”
According to the most recent RealClearPolitics average, Fetterman leads by a 1.3-percentage point margin.
The urgency to nab a win in the Keystone State was underscored earlier on Tuesday when the Senate Leadership Fund (SLF), a group run by allies of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), redirected $6.2 million in ad spending from New Hampshire to Pennsylvania. The ad booking lasts until Election Day.
“We believe if we win Pennsylvania, we win the majority,” Steven Law, SLF’s president, said in a statement to The Hill.
For Oz, the question in the coming days centers on how much he and his campaign directly use the debate against Fetterman. During the debate, Oz refrained from referencing Fetterman’s health and allowed the Democratic nominee’s answers to tell the story.
“The question is how many people actually watched [the debate] live versus seeing news clips. And how delicately will Oz be able to turn them into TV ads without looking like he’s exaggerating (even though he’s not) to the people who didn’t see it live,” one Pennsylvania-based GOP operative said.
Nevertheless, his campaign has to walk a tightrope in the coming days and weeks while it also continues to push its message that has been ever-present for months.
“You go right back to your message: Crime. Economy. Competence,” one GOP operative involved in Senate races said. “Everyone’s talking about his inability to put a sentence together, but what’s more troubling about his candidacy are his radical policies on violent criminals and his blind support for Biden’s disastrous inflationary spending.”
