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Today in Florida, the Palm Beach County Republican Party — which is the official GOP organization in the county that houses Mar-a-Lago — is still backing a suspended county clerk who has been arrested and charged with child molestation, even after the state GOP said he was on his own. The family of Jeffrey Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre is starring in an ad attacking Republican Congressman Jeff Crank of Colorado. Senate Democrats are warning that they plan to halt all of Donald Trump’s judicial nominees, including any Supreme Court vacancies, if they win back the Senate in November. And millions of Americans who use oil to heat their homes could pay 50 percent more this winter thanks to Trump’s war with Iran.
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Republicans in Trump’s Backyard Still Support Candidate Accused of Child Sex Crimes
In Palm Beach County, Florida — which Donald Trump calls home — Republican Governor Ron DeSantis appointed Mike Caruso, a 68-year-old Republican former state lawmaker, as clerk of courts and comptroller in August of 2025. Almost exactly one year later, on August 18, Caruso was arrested on allegations that he molested a five year-old boy, prompting DeSantis to suspend him immediately.
Caruso has maintained his innocence, entering a plea of not guilty to charges that include lewd or lascivious molestation, kidnapping, child abuse and luring a child. At an August hearing, county prosecutors also revealed a separate allegation from a woman who said Caruso molested her when she was just four years old.
He’s since been released on $160,000 bail, and he’s still on the ticket as of Monday. In a statement to the Miami Herald, Caruso said he plans to defend himself against the charges and that he aims to win election to a full term on November 3. His campaign website is currently down, but campaign finance documents show he’s still paying his oldest son to conduct campaign outreach. Caruso has also held campaign meetings at two Lake Park restaurants as recently as mid-September.
The Florida Republican Party has already made it clear the state GOP apparatus won’t lend him any support if he continued his campaign. Palm Beach County Republican chair Carl Cascio wrote that the party selected a replacement candidate for Caruso. Additionally, the county’s elections supervisor even delayed the printing of general election ballots to give Republicans time to address the issue. However, Caruso simply declined to drop out of the race.
So on Monday, the Palm Beach County GOP officially included him in its Republican voter guide. Cascio pointed to state law and party rules that mandate the committee has a duty to campaign for nominees of its party. The job Caruso is running to keep pays an annual salary of roughly $220,000. He’s facing off against Democrat Yvette Drucker in a county that’s currently leaning toward Democrats. If he wins the race, DeSantis could suspend him all over again.
Relatives of Prominent Epstein Victim Appear in Ad Targeting Republican Congressman
Over in Colorado, the Epstein files are now making their way into Democratic campaign ads in a new way.
Virginia Giuffre was known as one of the most prominent victims of convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. She died of suicide last year. Now, her brother Sky Roberts and his wife Amanda are making an appearance in an ad endorsing Democrat Jessica Killin, who is running against incumbent Republican Congressman Jeff Crank.
In the ad, Sky Roberts says his family promised to carry on his sister’s fight to expose the truth about Epstein and those who enabled his crimes after her death. Amanda Roberts then said Crank not only refused to meet with them, but also repeatedly voted to keep the Epstein files under wraps rather than release the truth to the public.
Crank initially voted to block a vote on releasing the files. However, he went on to vote in favor of the Epstein Files Transparency Act when it passed the House of Representatives with almost unanimous support. Sky and Amanda Roberts told the New York Times they did end up meeting with Crank’s district director after joining protests in his district, which is in the conservative-leaning Colorado Springs area. Sky Roberts didn’t let Crank off the hook, saying that meeting with constituents is the bare minimum of his job as an elected representative.
This marks the first ad this cycle featuring the relatives of one of Epstein’s many victims, but it’s far from the only one invoking his name. The Times found that 35 congressional races mentioned Epstein in their ads, including one in Maine accusing longtime incumbent Republican Senator Susan Collins of voting with Trump against releasing the Epstein files.
Democrats Vow to Deny Trump New SCOTUS Justices if They Retake Senate
Back in 2016, we all remember watching then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky refusing to allow Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland a confirmation hearing for most of the year. Then, Trump got elected and Republicans got to fill the seat with conservative Neil Gorsuch. Now Senate Democrats say they plan to use that same playbook if given the power to do so this November.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York told NBC News today that one of the biggest reasons Democrats want to retake the chamber is to prevent Trump from appointing MAGA justices to the federal bench. Democratic Senator Ruben Gallego of Arizona made it clear that he wants Democrats to do exactly what McConnell did to them a decade ago.
This conversation is unfolding after Justice Samuel Alito — a George W. Bush appointee — recently told CBS that he’s seriously considered retiring as soon as this year, and will strongly consider the possibility in 2027 if he hasn’t made a decision by the end of 2026. That could give Trump a fourth lifetime appointment to the nation’s highest court. Republican Senator John Neely Kennedy of Louisiana is already using Alito’s potential exit it as a way to motivate Republicans to vote in the midterms, saying a Trump pick likely won’t get confirmed by a Democratic-run Senate. And Republican Senator Darline Graham of South Carolina warned that the Senate would need to remain in Republican hands if Alito’s seat were to be filled in the next two years.
In Maine, Democratic nominee Troy Jackson is making Susan Collins’ votes to confirm Trump-appointed justices a centerpiece of his campaign. This includes that of Trump-nominated Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who later cast the deciding vote to overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022. Republicans currently hold a 53-47 majority, so Democrats need to flip four more seats. Recent polling suggests that’s a doable goal, as states including Alaska, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio and Texas are all in play.
Millions of Americans Could See Heating Costs Go Up by 50 Percent This Winter
With the midterm elections largely defined by the affordability crisis, this next story is worth your attention. The National Energy Assistance Directors Association is now projecting that more than four million American households who use oil to heat their homes in the winter may spend as much as 50 percent more to stay warm this winter. That’s a significant adjustment from September, when the group estimated a 31 percent increase.
Last winter, the average American household spent roughly $1,749 on heating oil. But in the winter of 2026 and 2027, it’s projected to climb to an average of $2,627 per household, meaning families will have to shell out almost $900 more than they did in 2025. Vermont and Maine are seeing the highest cost projections, with residents of those states likely to pay as much 77 percent more than last year. The average winter heating bill in Maine could soar from $1,664 to $2,939.
The main driver behind those higher costs is — you guessed it — Trump’s war with Iran. Brent crude was trading at approximately $72 a barrel before the war began in February, and it’s now above $100 a barrel as traffic in the Strait of Hormuz remains tightly regulated by the Iranian regime. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration expects this winter will be slightly warmer, but a damaged supply chain means that prices probably won’t ease much, if at all. Low-income families in the Northeast alone could pay an extra $1.1 billion to heat their homes once the temperature drops.
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