by Jill Colvin, Mary Clare Jalonick and  and Will Weissert WASHINGTON  — Voters struggling with high prices and angry over an unpopular war with Iran will decide whether to drastically shift power in Washington in midterm elections Tuesday that will serve as a referendum on President Donald Trump ’s second term. Democrats were cautiously optimistic about their prospects as they watched Republicans spend the campaign’s final stretch pumping tens of millions of dollars into states and districts that Trump won handily just two years ago. They are betting that discontent over Trump’s failure to deliver on his promise to tackle…

by Josh Dubow SEATTLE — Caleb Williams threw a touchdown pass on the opening drive and Jeffery Simmons delivered just what Chicago needed on defense as the Bears beat the Seattle Seahawks 34-17 on Monday night. Williams was extremely efficient for the Bears (6-2) against one of the NFL’s stingiest defenses, committing no turnovers, taking just one sack and throwing for 247 yards while completing 71% of his passes. Williams’ play helped set up three short touchdown runs by D’Andre Swift and that proved to be more than enough against Sam Darnold and the Seahawks (4-4), thanks to the impact…

by Linsay Whitest and Nicholas Riccardi WASHINGTON  — The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a push for California to set aside thousands of mail ballots from people President Donald Trump’s administration claims are noncitizens, a decision that comes on the eve of the pivotal midterm elections. The high court refused to intervene in a case involving 20,000 people the Republican administration flagged as likely noncitizens on the largely Democratic state’s voter rolls. It was the latest in a flurry of election-related litigation the day before the midterm elections, which will decide control of Congress for the last two years of…

by Tim Willert OKLAHOMA CITY  — The Oklahoma City Thunder announced Monday they will honor former league MVP Russell Westbrook by retiring his No. 0 in February. Westbrook, 37, played 11 of his 18 NBA seasons with Oklahoma City and retired as team leader in games (821), points (18,859), rebounds (5,760), assists (6,897), steals (1,442), field goals (6,626) and minutes (28,329). During that span he helped lead the Thunder to the third-best record in the NBA (.607; 538-348). The Thunder reached the NBA Finals in 2012, reached the playoffs nine times and made four Western Conference Finals appearances. He was…

by Joey Cappelletti, Corey Williams and Mike Householder DETROIT — Michigan Democrat Abdul El-Sayed’s former opponent in the U.S. Senate primary, Haley Stevens, stunned party officials Sunday by endorsing Republican Mike Rogers as Democratic tensions boiled over days before the election that could determine the balance of power on Capitol Hill. Stevens endorsed Rogers after attending a Detroit church service with him. The remarkable show of support for the President Donald Trump-backed candidate in the tightly contested race comes after she was uninvited to a joint event the same day with El-Sayed, who defeated the congresswoman by a slim margin…

by Danica Kirka LONDON  — U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham says his government will consider apologizing for the first time for its role in the trans-Atlantic slave trade, but has rejected calls for the country to pay reparations. Writing in the Guardian on Saturday, Burnham said Britain needed to acknowledge its “complicated history” in order to protect the Commonwealth, an association of 56 independent nations that grew out of the British Empire. Burnham travels to Antigua and Barbuda in the Caribbean next week for a meeting of Commonwealth leaders, which he hopes will bolster the U.K.’s relations with nations in…

by Kim Chandler MONTGOMERY, Ala.  — When the U.S. Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Actthis year, U.S. Rep. Shomari Figures knew he was going to be targeted. Alabama’s Republican-controlled Legislature soon after redrew the 2nd Congressional District, one of only two in the state represented by a Democrat, to make it easier for the GOP to win. Figures, one of several Black members of Congress who saw their districts redrawn, has complicated that plan. He is fighting to hold on to his seat by not only rallying Black voters in cities such as Montgomery and Tuskegee, both steeped in…

by Nicole Winfield VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Leo XIV has become the first pontiff to vote in a U.S. general election, casting a mail-in ballot in a contest that will decide America’s political future as the Trump era slowly comes to an end. The Vatican confirmed Friday that the Chicago-born pontiff had submitted a mail-in ballot in the city ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm elections, citing his long-standing belief in civic participation. Leo, formerly Robert Prevost, “has exercised his right to vote as a United States citizen” as he has done “whenever he was eligible to do so,”…

by Mogomotsi Magome JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South African police have asked the courts to halt planned marches by anti-illegal immigration groups in the coastal city of Durban following alleged threats of violence and plans to burn down a refugee reception office in the city. The application to block the marches follows recent violence at some of the demonstrations, which reportedly left a foreign national dead last week. The KwaZulu-Natal High Court on Wednesday granted an interim order against the demonstrators, but will consider Friday whether to make the order permanent. Some African countries have repatriated their citizens following the violence.…

by Steve Peoples NEW YORK — The nation’s major political parties are at a crossroads. A decade after he began to remake the Republican Party in his image, President Donald Trump is facing the prospect of a voter rebellion Tuesday that could force conservatives to rethink their undying allegiance to the 80-year-old lame-duck leader and his “Make America Great Again” movement. Already, some Republican candidates have begun to distance themselves from him. And Democrats, who remain unpopular despite midterm momentum, are speeding toward a tug-of-war between establishment leaders and emboldened progressives demanding nothing less than transformative change. Whether either party…