The economy and the war in Iran emerged as dominant debate topics in critical races in Michigan, Kansas and Wisconsin. Data centers are popping up in rural America, but not all communities are on board. And Trump is using flattery to get Putin to the negotiating table.
Here’s what to know today.
Candidates clash in debates in Michigan, Kansas and Wisconsin
Across the country, candidates in tight races met for their final debates of the season in a bid to secure voters’ support with less than two weeks until Election Day:
The second and final Michigan Senate debate between Republican Rep. Mike Rogers and Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed was far more tame than their first meeting earlier this month. Polls show a neck-and-neck contest to replace retiring Sen. Gary Peters.
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El-Sayed sought to tie Rogers to President Donald Trump at every turn while also painting his opponent as a corporate sellout. Rogers has tried to put distance between himself and Trump by calling for an end to the Iran war and for a halt to the trade war with Canada, both of which he initially said he supported.
Rogers aimed to tie El-Sayed to Islamist fundamentalist groups, and questioned his trustworthiness. El-Sayed has repeatedly denied any connections to the Muslim Brotherhood, saying questions about his ties “call into question my loyalty to the Constitution.” He cast himself as a someone who would stand up to Trump if elected into Congress. What else El-Sayed and Rogers said about the economy, AI and more.
In Kansas, Republican Sen. Roger Marshall defended most of Trump’s agenda, including tariffs and a deal to lift sanctions on Russian diesel exports, while casting his Democratic competitor, Adam Hamilton, as a socialist.
Hamilton, a megachurch pastor who has billed himself as an “independent-minded Democrat,” vowed to not support Sen Minority Leader Chuck Schumer for party leader if he is elected and slammed Marshall for supporting the war in Iran. Hamilton would be the first Democratic senator from Kansas in nearly a century if he’s elected. More from the contentious debate in Kansas.
The debate between the candidates for Wisconsin governor — Republican Tom Tiffany and Democrat David Crowley — focused on economic issues. Tiffany, a member of Congress representing a northern Wisconsin district, vowed to undo various tax increases and return surplus money to residents.
Crowley, the Milwaukee County executive, advocated for a “fair tax system” that would fund education, infrastructure and transportation. With Democratic Gov. Tony Evers retiring, the race between Tiffany and Crowley is the first open governor’s race since 2010. More from the debate for Wisconsin governor.
Dive deeper into the 2026 election:
- See the latest polling and the battleground states in play.
- Track early voting tallies by age, gender and more.
- Find out how candidates are polling in competitive Senate races.
- Who else is on the ballot in Michigan? See the state’s biggest contests and how Republicans and Democrats fared in past elections. Then, scroll to the end of the page to explore data in other states.
More politics news:
- For subscribers: Phony leaflets and text messages impersonating a trans right group sent to households across Texas have ignited anger and confusion at the start of early voting in the state.
- For subscribers: The U.S. military has quietly scaled back its troop presence across the Middle East in response to ongoing threats from Iran and Houthi rebels.
- Rep. Ilhan Omar for the first time described the search of her Washington, D.C., home last week, saying federal agents’ arrival at 6 a.m. caught her and her family off guard.
How Big Tech’s data center boom is fracturing rural America
Big tech is building big in rural America. Widespread land availability, cheap electricity and abundant water has led AI giants — such as Amazon, Microsoft and Google — to erect data center infrastructure in those areas. But local leaders’ ability to negotiate with developers is key to determine what communities can gain, or risk, from these new centers.
An NBC News analysis shows the number of rural data centers could triple if all the under-construction projects and a portion of the planned projects come online. Amazon is behind the largest share of anticipated new data centers, according to the analysis, which also shows that the estimated energy the new centers will consume will more than triple the current capacity.
For more than a decade, people living on the northern tip of Morrow and Umatilla counties in Oregon, roughly 150 miles east of Portland, have co-existed with data centers. Residents are split on whether the developments have affected their communities for the better — so much so that at Friday night football games, “you sit in the ‘yes’ data center section or you sit in the ‘no’ data center section,” a cattle rancher and former county commissioner said.
The pros and cons of data center development, according to residents.
Related coverage:
- Interactive map: 55 million Americans live within 5 miles of a data center. Find out how close you are.
Trump hopes to flatter Putin into negotiating on Ukraine
Trump’s recent overtures to Vladimir Putin have become more visible, an apparent effort that experts say is meant to entice the Russian president to the negotiating table to end the war in Ukraine. Even some in his administration are laying on the compliments. Just yesterday, Trump’s lead negotiator, Steve Witkoff, called Putin “a humanitarian” for his release of American teacher Stephen Hubbard. Some Republican lawmakers balked at the remark.
At the same time, Trump has stepped up his criticism of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy — another tool to get Putin to strike a deal, said Robert O’Brien, a national security adviser in Trump’s first term. “There’d be no hope of getting Putin to engage in talks, with the U.S. as a mediator, if he viewed Trump as 100% aligned with Ukraine in this situation,” he said.
Another expert said he doesn’t expect the gambit to succeed, especially in the “absence of a clear agenda coming from the White House” and any clear leverage.
What other experts think of Trump’s strategy.
Staff Pick: Past tensions between Cornell investigators and DA
As we continued reporting on Cornell University’s handling of an alleged 2024 fraternity sexual assault, I kept thinking about another case involving the same district attorney: the death of 18-year-old freshman Antonio Tsialas. In 2019, Tsialas disappeared after attending an unauthorized fraternity party and was found dead in a gorge two days later.
After obtaining hundreds of pages of police records from the Tsialas investigation, I discovered an interesting pattern: Cornell police repeatedly asked prosecutors for two subpoenas to obtain evidence they believed could help explain what happened, but those requests were initially rejected.
The findings took on new significance because the district attorney in that case, who ultimately declined to file charges, is the same one who did not prosecute Jane Doe’s 2024 case. The records don’t establish wrongdoing in either investigation, but they offer a revealing look at how decisions about what evidence to pursue were made at this DA’s office.
For Tsialas’ family, who still don’t believe they’ve gotten a full accounting of their son’s death, the renewed controversy has brought back painful questions about accountability at Cornell. — Pilar Melendez, breaking news editor
Read All About It
- A teacher who was shot in the rampage at a Bend, Oregon, elementary school said she played dead after being wounded. “I could not get up, defend myself, or protect anyone else,” Becky Drury said in a statement. “So, I did the only thing I could do, which was to pretend to be dead in the hope he would not shoot me again.”
- For subscribers: Apple’s new iPhone Duo is full of fun new features — and some frustrating ones. NBC News chief tech analyst Joanna Stern reviewed the new device.
- Pope Leo will not need further treatment for lung cancer after he underwent surgery last week.
- An Arizona mother whose 18-month-old son was found alive in a hospital morgue hours after being told he was dead is speaking out about her experience.
- For subscribers: “Wicker,” a movie about the love story between a woven man and a village fisherwoman, has garnered reactions ranging from intrigue to longing.
- The U.S. is a big reason the world is losing ground in the fight against climate change, a U.N. report says.
- Crucial vulnerabilities in a programming language that underpins much of the internet are so severe that U.S. and European authorities have recommended that websites go offline until they can be fixed.
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