Tom Williams | CQ-Roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican who is not running for re-election this year, was stuck with a beer can while participating in a World Series victory parade for the Houston Astros, police said. A purported video of the incident shows Cruz, standing in the truck bed of a military vehicle, raising his arm and trying to get out of the way as a box sails toward him from the screen. The box is seen bouncing off the senator’s body, so another man in the truck is seen pointing law enforcement in the direction the box was thrown from. Before the incident, videos showed Cruz being booed loudly by crowds lining the road for the Astros’ victory parade — an echo of weeks earlier when Cruz was booed and booed by baseball fans at Yankee Stadium. Houston police announced Monday afternoon that they arrested a 33-year-old man who “threw a beer can at U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz while the senator was on a float in the 2400 block of Smith St.” “Beer hit the senator in the chest/neck area. The senator did not require medical attention,” police said on Twitter. The alleged can thrower was taken to jail and charged with assault, according to the department’s tweets. — Kevin Breuninger
Oregon votes on stricter gun laws, only national ballot measure to address gun violence
Oregon voters will decide Tuesday whether to pass stricter gun laws — the only national ballot measure that addresses gun violence. The gun control initiative, which critics say is the nation’s “most extreme,” requires people to get permits and complete safety training to own a firearm. It also bans high-capacity magazines and calls on state police to create and maintain a searchable database of gun ownership. Advocates, including survivors of shootings in the state and across the country, say Oregon’s Measure 114 is essential to reducing gun injuries and deaths. Read more from NBC News. — NBC News
Nancy Pelosi reveals how she found out about her husband’s brutal attack
U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) holds her weekly news conference with reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, July 14, 2022. Elizabeth Frantz | Reuters House Speaker Nancy Pelosi learned her husband Paul Pelosi had been brutally attacked last week when Capitol Police officers knocked on her door at 5 a.m., she revealed in a new interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper. “I look up, I see it’s 5, it must be in the wrong apartment,” Pelosi recalled thinking. But the banging continued, “bang, bang, bang, bang, bang on the door,” he said. “So I run to the door and I’m really scared. I see the Capitol Police and they say, ‘We have to come in to talk to you,’” Pelosi recounted. “And I think about my children, my grandchildren. I never thought it would be Paul because, you know, I knew he wouldn’t be outside, let’s say. And so they came in. At the time, we didn’t even know where he was,” he said. Paul Pelosi was attacked on October 28 by a hammer-wielding intruder who broke into the couple’s San Francisco home. Police arrived at 2:31 am. and Paul Pelosi was taken to a hospital and underwent emergency surgery to repair a fractured skull. US Capitol Police first learned of the attack when they noticed squad cars and sirens live streaming Pelosi’s home on screens at her Washington headquarters. — Christina Wilkie
Some of New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s top donors are privately sounding the alarm over GOP candidate Lee Zeldin’s surge
New York Governor Kathy Hochul speaks during a New York Women’s Get Out The Vote rally ahead of the 2022 U.S. midterm elections in Manhattan, New York, November 3, 2022. Andrew Kelly | Reuters Some of New York Gov. Kathy Hochsul’s top donors are privately panicking over the recent surge of Republican rival Rep. Lee Zeldin in the polls ahead of Tuesday’s midterms, according to people familiar with the matter. The Republican, who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump, trails Hochul by only single digits in some recent polls — prompting the governor’s corporate backers to push her to change tack, according to these people. In early October, Hotchul led Zeldin by an average of 14 percentage points, according to data from FiveThirtyEight, which aggregates data from various polls. RealClearPolitics, which reviewed several polls taken in the second half of October, showed Zeldin closing in on Hochul, who was up an average of 6 percentage points. A Quinnipiac poll from mid-October showed an even narrower lead for Hochul, who was ahead of Zeldin by just 4 percentage points at the time. Business leaders encouraged Hochul in private meetings, including one with top real estate executives in late October in New York, to move away from focusing on the implications of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and other social issues. Instead, she was advised to show how she would fight inflation and the city’s recent rise in crime, people familiar with the discussions said. — Brian Schwartz
Pelosi says her decision on whether to retire from Congress will be influenced by attack on husband
U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., speaks during the weekly press briefing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on April 29, 2022. Brendan Smialowski | AFP | Getty Images House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the brutal home invasion and attack on her husband Paul Pelosi by a conspiracy theorist will influence her decision on whether to retire. The formidable California Democrat has led the Democratic Party in the House for nearly 20 years. But with Republicans expected to win a majority of seats on Tuesday, there was widespread speculation even before the attack that Pelosi, 82, would decide to retire before handing the gavel to current Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy . In her first major interview since the Oct. 28 attack, Pelosi did not confirm whether she has made a decision about her possible retirement. However, she told CNN’s Anderson Cooper that “her decision will be influenced by what has happened in the last week or two.” “Will the attack affect your decision in any way?” Cooper asked. “Yes,” Pelosi replied. “I will?” Cooper repeated. “Yes,” Pelosi repeated. —Christina Wilkie
DOJ announces it will monitor polls in 24 states during midterm elections
The Justice Department announced it will monitor polls across the country to ensure compliance with federal voting rights laws — just one day before midterm elections that could redefine the majority party in Congress. The department’s Civil Rights Division selected 64 jurisdictions in 24 states, including Alaska, Florida, Georgia and Nevada, to oversee both general elections and early voting. The department regularly monitored elections in the field, beginning with the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Staff from the US Attorneys’ Offices and the Office of Personnel Management will assist the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division in monitoring efforts and maintaining contact with state and local election officials. Poll monitoring is part of the department’s mission to protect civil suffrage under the Voting Rights Act, the Uniformed and Absentee Voting Act, the National Voter Registration Act, the Assistance Voting Act of America, civil rights laws and the Americans with Disabilities Act, according to the DOJ. — Chelsea Cox
“No specific credible threat” against Americans on Election Day, White House says
Americans should not worry about their security on Election Day, and the Biden administration has not been made aware of “specific credible threats,” White House press secretary Karin Jean-Pierre said. “Law enforcement has informed us that there are no specific credible threats at this point,” Jean-Pierre said during the White House press conference. “Americans should feel safe going to the polls. It’s important for Americans to do so.” President Joe Biden has repeatedly condemned threats of political violence ahead of the midterm elections and after the attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi. “It remains important for the president to state strongly and unequivocally that violence has no place in our democracy,” Jean-Pierre said, adding that Biden believes leaders of both parties have a duty to communicate that. — Emma Kinery
Hundreds of unmailed Georgia absentee ballots spark lawsuit, probe
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger arrives to testify before the House Select Committee to investigate the January 6 attack on the US Capitol at the Cannon House office building on June 21, 2022 in Washington, DC. Mandel Ngan | AFP | Getty Images Georgia’s top elections official has opened an investigation into Cobb County’s failure to mail absentee ballots to hundreds of voters who requested them. The investigation by Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s office came a day after civil rights groups on behalf of four voters filed a lawsuit asking a judge to issue orders to ensure that all absentee ballots are counted. The head of the Cobb County Board of Elections and Registration said human error was to blame for the situation. All of Georgia’s congressional districts, one of the state’s U.S. Senate seats and its governor’s office are up for grabs on Election Day. In the Senate race, incumbent Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock is in a statistically dead battle with GOP challenger Herschel Walker, the former college star and pro football player. —Dan Manganese
Scenes from the last days of the midterm elections
Americans headed to the polls early across the country in…
