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The Story Is with Elex Michaelson

Trump DOJ Sues To Block Results If Alaska GOP Senator Loses; Prediction Market Tradinng Booms Ahead Of U.S. Midterms; U.S. Regulators Warn Of Election Betting Violations; Los Angeles Mayoral Race Pits Incumbent Against Ally; Trump Pledges To Straighten Out Starshield Issue In Ukraine; Ramaswamy Rejects Calls To Remove Controversial Ad; Obama Hits Campaign Trail In Final Days Before Midterms; Bass And Raman Face Off In Los Angeles Mayor's Race; Aired 1-2a ET

Aired October 24, 2026 - 01:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: NASA is racing to get two lunar landers ready for a crucial test mission next year. Blue Origin and SpaceX developing the spacecraft, which will be tested in low Earth orbit. Both companies have billions of dollars in NASA contracts to develop landers capable of carrying astronauts to the surface of the moon. The test mission called Artemis III scheduled for a 2027 ahead of a planned astronaut landing on the moon in 2028, in time for the end of the Trump presidency.

The Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders have unionized after years of fighting for better pay. The NFL team has agreed to voluntarily recognize the union, clearing the way for collective bargaining with the most valuable sports franchise in the world. The cheerleaders pay has long been a source of controversy highlighted in the Netflix series America's Sweethearts. Before receiving a major pay raise last year, some cheerleaders reportedly earned just $500 a game.

Thanks for watching the first hour of "The Story Is." Next hour starts right now.

It's 10 o'clock out East, 1:00 A.M. out West or 10 o'clock out West, 1:00 A.M. out East. Clearly, I need to go to bed. I'm Elex Michaelson live in Los Angeles. We got another hour coming up.

"The Story Is" election showdown, why the justice department is challenging Alaska's senate race before all the votes are even cast.

"The Story Is" betting big. How online gambling platforms are raking in billions ahead of the midterm elections.

And "The Story Is" a weekend of protest. We'll speak with a former Ambassador to the EU about why hundreds of thousands of people are taking to the street in the hours ahead.

But we begin in Alaska. President Trump says he told the Department of Justice to file a lawsuit to block certification of Alaska's senate election if the Republican incumbent loses. Senator Daniel S. Sullivan, a tight race with Democrat Mary Peltola. The present -- preemptive suit argues that another candidate named Daniel J. Sullivan could divert votes from the incumbent.

Alaska uses ranked choice voting, so four candidates will appear on the general election ballot. The senate race in Alaska is crucial and could help decide the balance of power in the senate. Some legal experts say the lawsuit is baseless.

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EMILY L. WATERS, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA: There claims that somehow the motivation behind Daniel J. Sullivan's entry into the election makes a difference in the campaign. Doesn't really, give rise to a claim in my humble opinion. Again, Judge Zeman addressed this previously in state court and said there's no problem if somebody enters a race to harass or distract. As long as they follow procedures, their motivations for being on the ballot are irrelevant.

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MICHAELSON: Thanks to prediction markets, betting on U.S. elections is booming, drawing huge trading volumes ahead of next month's midterms, but the surge is also raising concerns about insider trading. So far, Kalshi has already suspended six political candidates for betting on their own races. It's like Pete Rose all over again. CNN Senior Reporter Marshall Cohen has more.

MARSHALL COHEN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: $1.4 billion that's the total trading volume on prediction markets about the 2026 midterm elections. It's a huge number, and it's because these prediction companies are more popular than ever. Places like Polymarket and Kalshi, where you can bet on almost anything, real world events like sports, politics, the weather, entertainment, and beyond.

And looking into these numbers here, Kalshi has racked up $1.1 billion in trading volume on markets about the midterms, another $340 million in trading volume on Polymarket, and there's a few other smaller companies that have several million as well. There are markets now where you can bet on the outcome of almost every single race, every house race, senate, governors, mayors, you name it. And as these markets expand and as more people put money on the line, so do the risks.

Experts have been pointing out all year that there are some real risks of insider trading for candidates, campaigns, pollsters, donors, and beyond.

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And we've already seen a few examples this year. Kalshi, the biggest U.S. prediction market has already fined and suspended six political candidates running for office this year that it said were breaking the rules and betting on their own races. I actually had the opportunity this week to interview a top Trump administration official, the Head of Enforcement at the CFTC, which regulates prediction markets.

And I asked him, what are you doing to crack down on insider trading for the midterms? He said his message was very clear. If you are doing this, if you work for a campaign, and if you're insider trading, we will come after you. Take a listen.

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DAVID MILLER, DIRECTOR OF ENFORCEMENT, CFTC: If you're an employee, be it a campaign staffer or working for a company or whatever it is, odds are that you sign some kind of employment agreement at some point that provides a duty of confidentiality. If you go and you take that information and go and trade on an event contract that's premised upon your job, your candidate's role, odds are you're misappropriating that information and you're committing insider trading. And we're going to look at that and we'll come after you.

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COHEN: That official said his team is ready for November 3rd. They'll be up all night watching these markets and looking for possible insider trading. Now everyone I speak to expects two things. Number one, they do expect more cases to come because the incentives are there for corrupt actors to try to cash in. And number two, they expect a lot more trading and betting to be occurring through election night as the polls close across the country.

One more thing, CNN has a partnership with Kalshi. We use their data to cover major events including elections, but CNN does not allow editorial employees to trade on prediction platforms. Marshall Cohen, CNN, New York.

MICHAELSON: Bryan Curtis and Melanie Mason join me again to continue our discussion of all things midterms. Melanie is California Bureau Chief for POLITICO, Co-Author of California Playbook. Bryan is Editor- At-Large for The Ringer and Co-Host of the Press Box Podcast, which you can get on Spotify. Welcome back both of you.

So, Bryan, you cover a lot of things. You cover the press and the media. You cover politics. You cover sports. This feels like betting on sports, doesn't it? I mean, it feels like we've turned politics into like a sporting event.

BRYAN CURTIS, EDITOR-AT-LARGE, THE RINGER: It absolutely does. And you can bet on turnout in these prediction markets. I mean, talk about a sicko bet. I mean, I come from a sports website, and that's a sicko bet for us.

MICHAELSON: Yeah.

CURTIS: I mean, I was thinking about this. Even respectable journalists like us, what do we like this time of year? We like data. We like numbers. What's been happening over the last couple of weeks? The numbers and the polls have been pretty flat.

MICHAELSON: Yeah. CURTIS: It's the same picture it was. So what do we do? We look over at the prediction markets because it gives us a new number. I think that is part of the appeal here.

MICHAELSON: But should we trust the prediction markets?

MELANIE MASON, CALIFORNIA BUREAU CHIEF, POLITICO: Well, I think precisely for the reasons that Marshall just reported, maybe not because it's so open to manipulation. I mean, he mentioned the candidates that may have been betting on their own races. I mean, we also saw, for example, news about a fake polling outfit, Wedgewood polling that came out, this week. 50 plus one was this -- the outlet that reported it. And they said that there's a possibility that this was mainly to gain Kalshi, that this was not because of any sort of, reasons to expose the problems in the polling industry or anything like that, right?

MICHAELSON: Yes, this is a big media analysis thing.

MASON: No. It was ways, because -- we did see that the polls that they put out absolutely had bearing on the races that they were polling on. And so I think that it just -- there's so many, like ways that shenanigans can take place in these markets. I think it's a real concern.

MICHAELSON: How is this legal?

CURTIS: It's a good question. Yeah. The answer is pretty much the Trump administration, right? This is a different policy than the Biden administration. And so here we are in this very, very weird world where you can bet on anything, and not just politics, not just sports, not just crypto, but regime change, wars, all kinds of very, very serious --

MICHAELSON: Well, and the Supreme Court cleared the way for this a few years back. And you see it when you watch sports now, by the way. I mean, the whole thing is like an ad for betting sites. And that kind of feels a little gross to me personally. But -- and it's a reminder about also the money in politics broadly. There's a New York Times headline that that struck me that just came out today. I want to put this up on the screen. Talk about spending. Well, this is about influencers. Influencers have a lot to say about politics. Many are quietly paid for it. Their videos have proliferated on social media, but the payments are frequently hidden from viewers. So we're in this different media environment.

On the one hand, there was reporting today that there's going to be a billion dollars spent on ads in the next two weeks. A billion dollars spent on ads in the next two weeks.

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And then you've got Bryan, these influencers, who may be paid, you may not know it, who are talking about how great this candidate is to their social media stuff, and that's like an ad too. CURTIS: What happened to an influencer telling us where the tastiest pastrami sandwich is? Is it can we get back to the old days of influencers? No. No federal regulations about disclosure. There are laws here in California for disclosure. But I would say this. Imagine if there was the -- I'm so and so, and I approve this message, but for influencers. Where you have to say, how much money did you take to make this video? And do you even live in the state where you're promoting a candidate? Because you're promoting a candidate in California and live in South Dakota, it didn't really work.

MICHAELSON: But as the media changes, the social media changes, as people get their information in different ways, these campaigns are thinking in in different strategies.

MASON: Well, they have to because I think that we've also seen that the traditional ways to reach voters, you can throw as much money as you want, but they are becoming less and less effective. Look, we had this air in California in the primary. You had Tom Steyer spent $250 million --

MICHAELSON: $250 million on himself.

MASON: On himself to end up in third place.

MICHAELSON: Yeah.

MASON: So clearly, I think that the traditional ways where you're just like plowing a ton of money into television, that's not reaching where the voters are now. Instead, it is on social media. It is things like these, influencers or targeted social media ads. And so I do wonder when you hear these sums, like a billion dollars in two weeks. We're so numb to them. But I also wonder, is that money really going to be very effective in changing voters' minds?

MICHAELSON: Well, let's be clear. There is value in spending money on ads on "The Story Is." So, feel free to -- I'm just kidding, of course. Let's talk about the -- a race that you're following closely as the California Bureau Chief. The race to lead the second biggest city in the country, the LA mayor's race. You've got Karen Bass, who is the incumbent, not very popular.

Most voters think the city's going in the wrong direction. Her challenger is Nithya Raman, who is a City Council Member, a Member of the Democrat Socialists of America. In the primary, they ran against a guy named Spencer Pratt, who got a little bit of attention, reality show star, who was bringing a more conservative Republican perspective saying we need to change the city. There's a big question about where those voters go. Today, I sat down with Karen Bass and talked to her about the dynamics of this race. Take a listen.

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ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: There are a lot of folks that don't like your performance. But are uncomfortable with Nithya Raman and don't know if they can trust her.

KAREN BASS, LOS ANGELES MAYOR: Right.

MICHAELSON: They voted for --

BASS: So vote for me.

MICHAELSON: For Caruso.

BASS: You know what you're getting. And I understand.

MICHAELSON: And he would say they don't like what they've got.

BASS: Well, but you know what? It's a binary choice here.

MICHAELSON: Yeah.

BASS: You can go with the unknown, the inexperienced, the new to LA, the person who is OK with encampments being in front of schools and who doesn't like the police. Or you can go with the leader who is tried, true, tested, honest, has made mistakes, absolutely made mistakes, and is ready to continue lead.

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MICHAELSON: It's your first time seeing that. You cover this race as much as anybody. How do you, react to that?

MASON: Well, look. I do think that she identified kind of the binary question, which is, do you want the sort of leadership that you've seen for the last four years, or do LA voters want to try something new? And clearly, I think that the Mayor is saying that's too risky. That's too scary. That's too unknown. That's certainly been the thrust of her pitch for these final closing weeks. But I think that when you're incumbent with a 65 percent disapproval rating, it's very hard to sort of sell to voters, stick with what you know, because they know that they're not particularly happy with it.

And so I do think that that binary choice that she laid out is the driving question for these final weeks, particularly to these -- to Pratt voters, as you said, who are the real swing voters. And I'd also like to say the other key swing voter in this race, which is the Latino electorate, which is so crucial here. And they're kind of wrestling with the same questions that the Pratt voters are.

MICHAELSON: It's interesting that even though Karen Bass is a progressive Democrat in Los Angeles, in some ways, that is a similar message to the Republican President of the United States, which is you may not love everything that we're doing, but the other side is crazy, and you can't trust them, which is a tough message right now.

CURTIS: It really is. And, buried under all the Batman videos that Spencer Pratt was making and Star Wars videos, there was a message of change, right? It was -- you're not satisfied with the way Los Angeles is right now. So that is a very, very strange message. Whether it's rousing political oratory or not, I'm not sure it attracts those kind of voters to begin with. MICHAELSON: Well, we have more with Karen Bass and Nithya Raman later on in this show, and we'll have a big special with both of them next week here on "The Story Is." In the meantime, we get to say thank you to Melanie Mason and Bryan Curtis. You can check out Brian's podcast, The Press Box, and of course, Melanie at The California Political Playbook. Thank you both so much for coming in.

Now to another big political story, gas prices. They are skyrocketing in areas that will prove key to the midterm elections.

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Refinery trouble driving up costs in Michigan, Ohio, and the Great Lakes. Analysts say an ExxonMobil refinery in Illinois has experienced an outage, though it's not clear what happened. Matt Egan has more.

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: This price spike is stunning, and so is the timing here, right? Just days before the midterm election here in the U.S., one of the biggest frustrations for voters, high gasoline prices getting dramatically worse, and it's happening in some of the states that may very well decide the balance of power in congress. Now let's zoom in specifically on Michigan, one of the biggest battlegrounds in this election.

On Wednesday, gas prices were not cheap in Michigan. They were averaging $4.44 a gallon, but look at this, $4.77 a gallon today. That is a $0.33 increase in the span of 48 hours. That is very rare. And it's not just Michigan. When you look throughout the Great Lakes region, significant price increases in Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, and in Illinois, looking specifically at Ohio, $0.39 increase in 48 hours in another key battleground state of Ohio.

So why is this happening? Well, analysts are pointing the finger at a key refinery in Joliet, Illinois. This is an ExxonMobil refinery. Exxon confirming to me that, yes, they are having operational issues. However, the company has not detailed specifically what has gone wrong nor have they said when it'll get back online.

But still, the fact that prices are up across this region and that they are going higher really across the country, this is just going to underscore those same cost of living and energy sticker shock issues that have angered voters ahead of this election. And keep in mind that Michigan, again, one of the biggest battlegrounds in this election, Michigan has faced the biggest price increase over the last 12 months of any state in the country, bigger than even what has happened in California.

And this is, of course, it's impacting consumer sentiment, driving it lower and lower because it is squeezing consumers financially. Brown University estimates that consumers in Michigan alone are spending an extra $2.6 billion since the war started, and that's just on gasoline.

MICHAELSON: Thanks to Matt Egan for that. The U.S. is rushing to move diplomats and their families from multiple Middle East nations as fears of regional escalation grow according to sources. An unclassified memo to Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday says that U.S. intelligence has found that Iran has substantially increased efforts to target U.S. personnel and that plotting efforts have reached advanced stages in both the Middle East and certain other countries. All this comes as President Trump says he doesn't know, "Anything about a claim by the U.S. ambassador to Turkey that the U.S. could strike Iran this weekend. However, the U.S. President has suggested he could relaunch strikes after the midterms.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We obliterated Iran's nuclear enrichment capacity with Operation Midnight Hammer. You remember that late at night, one in the morning. And then did the rest with Operation Epic Fury, which it was. We may do another little epic fury or they'll agree.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: Still ahead on "The Story Is" some hope on the horizon for people trapped in an occupied town in Ukraine. After years of being stranded, they may finally have a way out.

Plus, France on edge. Country bracing for mass protests in the coming hours. Details on the government's response and preparations. We head live to Europe next.

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MICHAELSON: Help could soon be on the way for people stranded in a Russian occupied town in Southern Ukraine. Kyiv and Moscow say they have agreed to a local ceasefire in Oleshky. U.S. First Lady Melania Trump helped to secure that deal along with Pope Leo. He raised the crisis with Russian President Vladimir Putin after the pontiff's cancer surgery last week. About 2,000 people, most of them elderly residents, remain in that town facing severe shortages of food, water, and medicine.

Truce expected to begin next week with aid deliveries to follow. Residents will be given the option to evacuate either to Russia or to Ukraine. Meanwhile, Ukraine says the Starshield satellite service is still not fully operational despite President Trump's claiming that Elon Musk had restored access. Kyiv says the service has been slowed down since last week, disrupting Ukraine's military operations. It remains unclear who ordered those restrictions.

Here's how the President responded when CNN asked whether he had urged Musk to lift them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You must know now who ordered the Starlink access in Ukraine to be restricted. Who was it? Was it dependent on...

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Well, I wouldn't tell you if I did know. I have no idea. But I wouldn't tell you if I did know. Why would I tell you?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Zelenskyy said they still are receiving --

TRUMP: Well, if there is a problem. I'll get it straight --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have you told Elon Musk to stop messing around with Ukraine's Starlink connection?

TRUMP: I have not spoken to him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: To France now where authorities are launching a massive security operation ahead of mass protests planned for the day ahead. Tens of thousands of police and troops are being deployed to prevent a repeat of last week's violence. France's Interior Minister warned Friday that the government has zero tolerance for anyone looking to cause destruction or violence.

The country's main student union is calling for a major demonstration in Paris on Saturday afternoon when France's largest trade union says it will join.

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Hundreds of thousands of people expected to participate in the demonstrations over education, rising cost of living, and dismal job prospects. Several major tourist attractions in Paris, including the Louvre, are set to close on the day ahead.

Joining me now is the former U.S. Ambassador to the European Union, Anthony Gardner, joining me from Italy where it is now Saturday morning. Good morning, and welcome to "The Story Is" for the first time.

ANTHONY GARDNER, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE EUROPEAN UNION: Good morning.

MICHAELSON: What do you expect for the day ahead and maybe how it could compare and contrast from last weekend?

GARDNER: Well, I'll make a more general point. I don't know what's going to happen today. Look it's overdue that they're calling out the police to make sure those terrible scenes are not repeated. But there's some overheated rhetoric, I think coming out from a number of set of places, including Washington. I've lived in Europe for 35 years as an investor, as a lawyer, and also as a diplomat. I was based in Brussels since the EU.

Europe is going through obviously a very difficult crisis right now. There's no doubt about it, perhaps worse than before, but it's seen many crises before. I've lived through many of them, the financial crisis and Brexit and Brexit and migration crisis and so forth. And it's usually come out better than most people expected at the time, and we just -- we forget about that. when I was serving as ambassador, I would often say to people reading my cables that Europe has to be seen as a film, not as a static snapshot. Because if you see it as a static snapshot, you draw the wrong conclusions. If you see it as a film, you kind of judge where you are in the plot, and you get a sense of where the progress is. A lot of the recommendations have been made about, making Europe more competitive and giving its youth a promise in the future, sense of promise, are being implemented too slowly.

Muddling through. People say Europe muddles through, and it's not enough for sure. But, muddling through, I would just say my last point here is it sometimes gets a bad rap. When you look around the world and what's happening in terms of the erosion of checks and balances, forth. Europe is still a place of rule of law. Checks and balances are predictable place to do business.

MICHAELSON: Yeah. Well, let's use your film analogy. As I sit here in Hollywood with a major studio, Warner Bros., literally outside my window here. In a film, there's usually three acts, and there's some resolution towards the end. Where are we at on the film, in terms of what's happening with these protests? And is there a happy ending?

GARDNER: Buster of hope is a happy ending. There are scenarios that are possible. One is that those who are responsible for this are called to account, not only domestically, but also from outside Europe. Now I'm not pointing the finger in any one direction. I think it's too early to do that, but we know for sure that Russia is seeking to capitalize on this unrest and by magnifying far right, messaging. And I'll make one point here from my personal experience. the EU and European member states do have departments to deal with Russian disinformation and disinformation, but they're woefully under resourced in terms of people and in terms of budgets.

I think we're talking about a few million euros and a few dozen people at the EU, member states, of course, more. I mean, this is widely under resourced when you're talking about hundreds and hundreds of millions, probably, euros and thousands of people in Russia. So we've got to get serious about that threat.

The other point I would say is that I hope that those responsible domestically are held to account. the French elections coming up are going to be a key moment for Europe and the EU in particular. Now I can go several ways to answer your question. It's true that the men, the far right, is benefiting, but it's also possible that -- the far left may not get into the second round because many people are believing that he is in part responsible pushing out the narratives to get people out in the street.

If that happens and you have a center right candidate making it to the second round, it could have to be -- could happen to be a positive story for France.

MICHAELSON: Anthony Gardner, former U.S. Ambassador to the European Union, joining us live from Italy. Thank you so much for being with us. We appreciate it. And CNN will have full coverage of what happens in terms of those protests in the hours ahead.

Meanwhile, Democrats across the U.S. are targeting Republican candidates who voted to block the release of the Epstein files.

Coming up, how that controversy is playing out in Ohio's midterm races.

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MICHAELSON: Now to some video just into our newsroom here at CNN. German police say that a suspect has been detained after this fire at Eagle's Nest, which was a favorite retreat of Nazi leader, Adolf Hitler. Fire broke out Friday. Around 200 firefighters and emergency crews battled the flames at the historic mountain guest house in the southern region of Bavaria. An investigation underway to determine if the suspect was connected to the fire. Authorities have not yet determined the motive behind that blaze.

Politics now, Ohio's Republican Governor is joining bipartisan condemnation of a controversial ad by GOP gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. It features the estranged mother of his opponent, Amy Acton, calling her daughter a liar. Ramaswamy says he disagrees with the critics about the ad.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VIVEK RAMASWAMY, REPUBLICAN OHIO GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: They are lying about an ad that is about lying. Our ad had nothing, nothing to do with childhood abuse, sexual abuse. We condemn that as forcefully as anyone. Our ad was about a consistent track record of Amy Acton telling lies including during this campaign.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: Acton says she hadn't seen her mother since she was 12- years-old when her mother lost custody of her children. Controversy over that ad has been growing for days. President Trump has sided with Ramaswamy and says that he supports the message.

Well, it is just over a week until the midterm election wraps up, and Democrats are unleashing an Epstein ad blitz targeting Republicans who initially voted to block the release of the Epstein files. The issue remains a consistent theme in races across the country. CNN's MJ Lee has more on that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL ENTERPRISE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein looms over the midterm elections in Ohio. You see it here in the Epstein reading room where visitors have covered entire walls with post it notes encouraging people to get out and vote. The emotions are most visible on the faces of Epstein survivors who are taking in the installation's latest stop in Columbus.

VOICE OF WENDY PESANTE, EPSTEIN SURVIVOR: Reality of that, it's huge. Like, I know it is, but to see it, that's where it starts. There are so many girls that still should have been found. People should know.

LEE (voice-over): Rows and rows of bookshelves filled with volumes of the justice department's Epstein files. Wendy Pesante was barely 15 when she was abused by Jeffrey Epstein in West Palm Beach, Florida. Now an Ohio resident, Wendy says she never imagined that her abuser would become a hot button political issue so many years later.

VOICE OF PESANTE: This one decision, the bad decision that I made when I was a kid has been thrown in my face over and over and over again.

LEE (voice-over): Epstein has been dead since 2019, but over the past year, the child sex offender has roiled American politics. One big reason, President Donald Trump's past friendship with Epstein. Trump has denied any wrongdoing related to Epstein. And here in Ohio, one local billionaire has also become a political lightning rod. Les Wexner, the former Victoria's Secret CEO, was named an Epstein coconspirator in government documents. Wexner employed Epstein as his money manager and has long denied any wrongdoing related to the pedophile. Downtown, the Wexner name is everywhere you look.

KALEB DUARTE, OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY STUDENT: This building right here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah. It's the Wexner Center for the Arts. Not to be confused with the Wexner Medical Center, which is over there.

LEE (voice-over): Kaleb Duarte and Murray Katkin organized protests on campus, calling on the school to get rid of the controversial name.

DUARTE: The Epstein issue allowed folks in our generation to understand the broader impact of those in power and how they protect their own power.

LEE (voice-over): John Huston took more money from Epstein's coconspirator than anyone in Congress.

Epstein has come up in the state senate race, one of the marquee contests that will help decide who controls Washington after the midterms.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: While senator Brown took a $100 from Epstein associates.

LEE (voice-over): At campaign events outside of Columbus, we pushed both candidates on the Epstein issue.

LEE: Do you think that the release of the rest of the Epstein files by the DOJ, that that should be a top priority for Members of Congress?

JON HUSTED, U.S. SENATE REPUBLICAN: Yeah. I've always been supportive of releasing the Epstein files. What's out there is because of the vote that I made to make it happen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You guys energize me so much.

LEE (voice-over): But neither Jon Husted nor Sherrod Brown is making Epstein their top issue weeks out from election day.

LEE: If you make it back to the senate, how high would the Epstein issue rank in terms of your top priority?

SHERROD BROWN, OHIO SENATE REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE: I don't know. I mean, my first priority is how to bring prices down. When you wanted to make this interview about Epstein, my focus is way more than that.

LEE (voice-over): On the first day of early voting, every person I speak to leaving the polling station says they care about Epstein survivors. But most of these voters I speak to here say Epstein is not a major factor in their vote.

LEE: Was that issue an important one for you when you were deciding who to vote for, the Epstein issue?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. It was one of them. But, with our gas, food, and everything going up in the war.

LEE (voice-over): Back in the reading room, Epstein survivors say they hope the midterm elections will show that voters are on their side.

SHARLENE ROCHARD, EPSTEIN SURVIVOR: It should be at the forefront of any voters' mind, really. I think we're changing hearts and minds along the way.

LEE: Wendy, the Epstein survivor based in Ohio that we interviewed did tell me that she had never before really paid attention to politics, but she is planning on voting for the first time this year, and she will be voting for the Democrats, she said, because she does believe that they have been better than the Republicans on the Epstein issue.

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Back to you.

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MICHAELSON: MJ Lee for us in Washington. Thank you. Up next, our continuous coverage of the midterms rolls on. We'll take a look at the way that Barack Obama, the former President of the United States, is pitching in to help Democrats gain some seats in Congress this November. Plus, more of my conversation with LA Mayor Karen Bass and her challenger, Nithya Raman.

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MICHAELSON: Former President Barack Obama hit the campaign trail in the final days of the midterm elections in an attempt to drum up excitement for Democratic candidates. CNN's Arlette Saenz has the latest on that. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the campaign's final stretch, Democrats are turning to the most popular figure from their party's recent past to secure a senate majority for the future. Ready to go. Former President Barack Obama is reprising his role as a closer on the campaign trail for an election he's described as, "On the razor's edge."

[01:45:00]

Up first on Saturday.

BARAK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Hello, Ohio. Cleveland, Ohio, where Obama will campaign with senate candidate Sherrod Brown and Amy Acton, the Democratic candidate for Governor who was thrust in the spotlight after her GOP opponent, Vivek Ramaswamy, released a controversial ad featuring her estranged mother.

OBAMA: Amy understands that leaders should solve problems, not create them.

SAENZ (voice-over): That same day, Obama heads north to Michigan.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President Barack Obama.

SAENZ (voice-over): Where he last campaigned for Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024.

OBAMA: But I was feeling some kind of way following Eminem. I'm nervous, but on the surface, I look calm and ready to drop bombs, but I keep bomb forgetting.

SAENZ (voice-over): This time, he'll appear with senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, hoping to boost support among black voters in Detroit who could be crucial to deciding the election.

OBAMA: That's why I'm asking you to support Abdul El-Sayed.

SAENZ (voice-over): Obama rounds out his campaign swing in Georgia on Wednesday with senator John Ossoff and Keisha Lance Bottoms, the Democratic candidate for Governor.

OBAMA: I hope you'll support my friend Keisha Lance Bottoms.

SAENZ (voice-over): The former President is promoting Democrats across the midterms map.

OBAMA: Troy Jackson, Deb Haaland, senate Roy Cooper to the Senate.

SAENZ (voice-over): Including with a stop in Texas where Democrats have high hopes about turning a senate seat and governor's office blue. Eighteen years after a win in Iowa started his journey to the White House.

OBAMA: I got it. You ready for me, Josh? JOSH TUREK, DEMOCRATIC SENATE CANDIDATE: I'm ready.

SAENZ (voice-over): Obama offering a boost to Democratic senate candidate Josh Turek.

OBAMA: Let's go. We playing horse or what?

TUREK: We're playing Iowa.

OBAMA: I know a little something about winning Iowa.

SAENZ (voice-over): And before the 2026 midterms even end, Obama is already turning his attention to 2028, urging candidates to prioritize plans to address artificial intelligence in their campaigns.

OBAMA: If somebody does not have a serious plan for how to deal with this, then they're not meeting the moment, and you should probably look for somebody else.

SAENZ: This weekend will feature dueling presidential campaign appearances. Trump will rally in Georgia on Saturday before traveling to Michigan on Sunday, one day after former President Obama is in the state. Now Obama is a big motivator for the Democratic base. The question is whether these appearances will help get his candidates across the finish line.

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MICHAELSON: Very much an open question. Arlette Saenz, thanks for that. It's also going to be a busy weekend in the race for LA Mayor. The incumbent, Democrat Karen Bass, facing a tough challenge from progressive City Council Member Nithya Raman. Raman describes herself as a democratic socialist. Bass does not.

This week, I spoke with both of them and dug deeper into the beliefs behind that label.

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ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Do you agree with abolishing the police?

NITHYA RAMAN, LOS ANGELES MAYOR CANDIDATE: No.

MICHAELSON: Do you agree with abolishing prisons?

RAMAN: No.

MICHAELSON: Do you agree with getting rid of the senate?

RAMAN: No.

MICHAELSON: Do you agree with capitalism? Are you a capitalist?

RAMAN: I am a capitalist, and I'm also a democratic socialist. I want the city to work. And when the government is doing its job, it needs to work really effectively. And we need to make sure capitalism works without harm to workers, without worker exploitation, without exploitation of poor people, that's what I'm going to focus on.

MICHAELSON: So you are a capitalist?

RAMAN: I'm a capitalist and a democratic socialist.

MICHAELSON: There's lot of people who hear that. That sounds confusing.

RAMAN: I don't -- I think democratic socialism is a big tent. The DSA is a big tent organization, and I'm in part of that tent. And I think a lot of Angelenos are in that tent with me.

KAREN BASS, LOS ANGELES MAYOR: Are you a capitalist or you are a democratic socialist? You're not both. That's not what you pledged. You can't take every position on every issue. That is called not honest.

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MICHAELSON: Bass describes herself as a capitalist. More with both Bass and Raman next week on "The Story Is."

But coming up when we come back, game one of the World Series just wrapped up short time ago. Look at the crowd in Milwaukee. The Brewers and Tampa Bay Rays both vying for their first ever World Series title.

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MICHAELSON: Let's take a look at the stories we're tracking to start off your weekend. France is deploying 70,000 police and additional troops as authorities brace for major protests expected on Saturday. The government trying to prevent a repeat of last weekend's violence. Hundreds of thousands of people expected to participate in protests on Saturday over the rising cost of living dismal job prospects and education issues.

Voters in Brazil head to the polls this Sunday for the presidential runoff election. Polls show a tight race between current President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Senator Flavio Bolsonaro. He's the son of the former President Bolsonaro. He's now under house arrest for plotting to overturn the 2022 election.

Early voting is underway in several U.S. states, including battleground Michigan. Turnout so far is exponentially higher than the last midterm elections. Associated Press reports nationally more than 13 million mail in and early in-person votes have been cast compared with 9 million at the same point back in 2022. In Texas, early voting's up 74 percent from four years ago. It's more than doubled in Kansas. Democrats hoping to flip Republican seats in many red states.

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Sports now, Major League Baseball's World Series. The Milwaukee Brewers defeated the Tampa Bay Rays 3-2 in Milwaukee just a short time ago to win game one, the best of seven series. Both teams vying for their first ever franchise title. The Brew crew came out swinging, putting two runs in the board in the first inning. The Rays tried to mount to come back and nearly got there in the ninth with a double play overturned. But the Brewers bullpen shut it down. Game two, Saturday night in Milwaukee. It's going to be a fun world series.

Thanks so much for watching us here on "The Story Is" all week long. It has been a packed week. Next week will be even busier, the last full week of shows before the midterm elections wraps up.

Thanks so much for being with us. We hope you have a great weekend. I'll see you back here on Monday. News continues on CNN right after break.

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