A week before the midterms, the fight for Congress turns to rallies, rewards and mail ballots

With a week to go before the 3 November midterm elections, control of the U.S. Congress is the prize: all 435 seats in the House of Representatives and roughly a third of the Senate are on the ballot.

Rallies in Republican strongholds

President Donald Trump has been campaigning across deep-red states. At a Monday rally in Mississippi he backed Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, who faces Democrat Scott Colom, a district attorney. Colom would be Mississippi’s first Black senator since Reconstruction. Hyde-Smith has declined to debate him.

A $1 million reward

Trump posted on social media that anyone “reporting Voter Fraud” in past or upcoming elections would be paid $1,000,000 upon the arrest and conviction of those responsible. The White House did not say where the money would come from or how fraud should be reported.

Courts and ballots

A federal appeals court panel refused to order California to set aside 20,000 mail ballots that the Justice Department says are likely to have been cast by non-citizens. The panel said it lacked jurisdiction and that the administration must wait for the trial judge, who is due to hold a hearing.

What a change of control could mean

Democratic Representative Jamie Raskin, who is expected to chair the House Judiciary Committee if Democrats win the House, warned oil-industry executives that companies would “be held accountable” if they import Russian diesel under a deal struck between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Elsewhere in Washington, CDC Deputy Director and Chief Medical Officer Jennifer Shuford told The Washington Post she will leave the administration after the midterms.