{"id":"1792782008690-news-segment","slug":"trump-rallies-in-florida-as-races-tighten","title":"Trump rallies in Florida as races tighten","summary":"President Donald Trump rallied in Fort Myers, Florida, Friday at Florida Gulf Coast University to support Republican gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds and GOP candidates ahead of the November 3, 2026 midterms. The rally is part of a multi-state campaign blitz, with Trump also scheduled for Georgia and Michigan.\n\nThe GOP is trying to hold its House and Senate majorities and win the Florida governor's race, which has moved from \"Likely R\" to \"Lean R,\" according to Cook Political Report. Donalds faces Democrat David Jolly, who campaigned with former President Bill Clinton earlier in the week.\n\nPresident Trump is holding a rally in Fort Myers, Florida, on Friday for GOP gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds, with the midterm elections set for November 3. This is a news story about a heated Beverly Hills school board race; it contains opinionated description but no checkable factual claim.\n\nFormer FBI officials have been charged with allegedly lying to Congress over the Hunter Biden investigation.","publishedAt":"2026-10-23T19:00:08.690Z","channel":{"id":"news","name":"Oncast News","language":"en"},"show":"Washington","verification":{"status":"verified","leadVerdict":"TRUE","notes":"TRUE: President Trump is holding a rally in Fort Myers, Florida, on Friday for GOP gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds, with the midterm elections set for November 3. This is a news story about a heated Beverly Hills school board race; it contains opinionated description but no checkable factual claim.\nSource: [cbsnews.com](https://www.cbsnews.com/miami/news/trump-fort-myers-florida-republicans-midterm-elections-2026/) NAMES: Byron Donalds = Republican congressman run (https://x.com/FoxNews/status/2113706475071938727)\n\nTRUE: Former FBI officials have been charged with allegedly lying to Congress over the Hunter Biden investigation.\nSource: [nbcnews.com](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/live-blog/trump-rally-byron-donalds-florida-live-updates-rcna605134) (https://x.com/axios/status/2113706022330102103)","claims":[{"verdict":"TRUE","summary":"President Trump is holding a rally in Fort Myers, Florida, on Friday for GOP gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds, with the midterm elections set for November 3. This is a news story about a heated Beverly Hills school board race; it contains opinionated description but no checkable factual claim.","sourceName":"[cbsnews.com](https://www.cbsnews.com/miami/news/trump-fort-myers-florida-republicans-midterm-elections-2026/) NAMES: Byron Donalds = Republican congressman run","sourceUrl":"https://x.com/FoxNews/status/2113706475071938727","claim":"NOW: President Trump fires up the crowd in Fort Myers as he campaigns for Byron Donalds and the Florida GOP with 11 days to go until the November 3 midterm elections. https://t.co/iw9xv2dyNx","author":"Fox News (@FoxNews)"},{"verdict":"TRUE","summary":"Former FBI officials have been charged with allegedly lying to Congress over the Hunter Biden investigation.","sourceName":"[nbcnews.com](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/live-blog/trump-rally-byron-donalds-florida-live-updates-rcna605134)","sourceUrl":"https://x.com/axios/status/2113706022330102103","claim":"DOJ accuses ex-FBI officials of lying about Hunter Biden probe https://t.co/Ux5hl6bM0H","author":"@axios"}]},"sources":[{"url":"https://x.com/FoxNews/status/2113706475071938727","name":"[cbsnews.com](https://www.cbsnews.com/miami/news/trump-fort-myers-florida-republicans-midterm-elections-2026/) NAMES: Byron Donalds = Republican congressman run","kind":"x","verdict":"TRUE","author":"Fox News (@FoxNews)"},{"url":"https://x.com/axios/status/2113706022330102103","name":"[nbcnews.com](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/live-blog/trump-rally-byron-donalds-florida-live-updates-rcna605134)","kind":"x","verdict":"TRUE","author":"@axios"}],"url":"https://oncast.fm/story/1792782008690-news-segment-trump-rallies-in-florida-as-races-tighten","listenUrl":"https://oncast.fm/c/news","attribution":{"publisher":"Oncast","site":"https://oncast.fm","url":"https://oncast.fm/story/1792782008690-news-segment-trump-rallies-in-florida-as-races-tighten","cite":"Cite https://oncast.fm/story/1792782008690-news-segment-trump-rallies-in-florida-as-races-tighten and the original source links. Fact-check by Oncast (oncast.fm)."},"hostsSaid":[{"host":"Brian","text":"Eleven days out, and the big question in Florida isn't whether Trump shows up. It's whether a rally moves enough votes to matter."},{"host":"Bella","text":"You're talking Fort Myers. He's there now, for Byron Donalds and the state GOP."},{"host":"Brian","text":"Right. And look, the governor's race has moved from likely Republican to lean Republican. That's the Cook Political Report saying this thing is looser than it was."},{"host":"Bella","text":"Which is exactly why Donalds needs Trump on stage. Democrats just got Bill Clinton in with David Jolly. Democrats are putting money into this too."},{"host":"Brian","text":"And there he is, full campaign blitz: Florida today, Georgia, Michigan. He's not doing this for fun. He's doing this because the House and Senate are both in play."},{"host":"Bella","text":"Here's a number that tells you how tight it is. Over a hundred and sixty million dollars already spent on the midterms. That's before the final week."},{"host":"Brian","text":"That's the thing. Everyone talks about rallies, but the real war is ad spending and ground game. The rallies set the tone."},{"host":"Bella","text":"DeSantis welcomed him there. Said, quote, we're going to do very well in Florida. Which is either confidence or hope."},{"host":"Brian","text":"I'd split the difference. Confidence with a side of please don't screw this up."},{"host":"Bella","text":"That's a recipe for a Florida October."},{"host":"Brian","text":"And yet, different universe: the Department of Justice just accused two former FBI officials of lying to Congress about the Hunter Biden probe."},{"host":"Bella","text":"That's not a rumor anymore. The charges are public now. This goes back to how the bureau handled the laptop story before the 2020 election."},{"host":"Brian","text":"So now you have a midterm campaign where one side is fighting in Florida, and the other side gets handed a story about the FBI's old leadership."},{"host":"Bella","text":"Which Republicans will absolutely use. They're already saying, see, we told you the fix was in."},{"host":"Brian","text":"But let's be precise. The charges are about lying to Congress about the investigation... not about stealing an election."},{"host":"Bella","text":"Important line. Lying to Congress is serious, but it's not what the loudest voices will say it is."},{"host":"Brian","text":"And meanwhile, on the other side of the Republican tent, a RFK Jr. ally just walked out the door."},{"host":"Bella","text":"Politico says it widens a rift. I want to see the receipts on that one."},{"host":"Brian","text":"Fair. One ally leaving doesn't break a movement. But it shows the awkward fit between the old GOP and the RFK wing."},{"host":"Bella","text":"The irony is they need each other. RFK brought young voters and the health-freedom crowd. The GOP brought the machine."},{"host":"Brian","text":"And Thomas Massie, who is nobody's idea of a party loyalist, posted something that's going around everywhere."},{"host":"Bella","text":"What's he saying now?"},{"host":"Brian","text":"He says it's ironic that Republicans control the House, the Senate, the Supreme Court, and the White House, yet they're screaming election fraud. His words: we won every damn election."},{"host":"Bella","text":"That's a Republican saying that out loud. Massie has always been the guy who pokes the bear."},{"host":"Brian","text":"But he's pointing at something real. The fraud narrative made sense when they were out of power. Now it just sounds like fear of losing."},{"host":"Bella","text":"Except the people still screaming fraud will tell you local machines are dirty, the media counts wrong, and judges are compromised."},{"host":"Brian","text":"And Massie's answer would be, then why did we win? You can't have it both ways."},{"host":"Bella","text":"Well, you can. People have it both ways all the time. That's sort of the problem."},{"host":"Brian","text":"Here's the thing that should worry the GOP. If your base thinks every loss is fraud, then every win looks stolen too. It poisons the whole well."},{"host":"Bella","text":"And that's exactly what Massie is getting at. He's not saying the system is perfect. He's saying the messaging is self-defeating."},{"host":"Brian","text":"But will his party listen? Doubt it. He'll get called a RINO by people who've never voted for him."},{"host":"Bella","text":"That's the fun part. Massie has a loyal base in Kentucky. The base loves him. They just don't want to hear this part."},{"host":"Brian","text":"Changing gears completely. Shein, the fast fashion giant, has reportedly agreed to pay a hundred million dollars to settle a federal trade commission probe."},{"host":"Bella","text":"A hundred million is real money, but for Shein it's a parking ticket."},{"host":"Brian","text":"The FTC had been looking into their supply chain and labor practices. Shein says they've cleaned up their act."},{"host":"Bella","text":"Critics say a hundred million is the cost of doing business, and for a company that size, that's a rounding error."},{"host":"Brian","text":"Maybe less. They're the biggest thing in cheap clothes. And they're trying to go public, so settling looks better than fighting."},{"host":"Bella","text":"Exactly. You can't IPO with a federal probe hanging over you. This is them paying to clear the runway."},{"host":"Brian","text":"And now the story that's genuinely hard to look at straight. Vivek Ramaswamy is defending an ad that features Amy Acton's estranged mother."},{"host":"Bella","text":"And the claim from MeidasTouch is that Ramaswamy said Acton being a victim of childhood sexual abuse makes her... flawed. His word was flawed."},{"host":"Brian","text":"That's an accusation being repeated by a partisan outlet. We haven't independently confirmed that quote."},{"host":"Bella","text":"But the ad itself is real. It's out there. Using a candidate's estranged parent against them is a line most campaigns won't cross."},{"host":"Brian","text":"And his defense, if the quote is right, was, politics is a tough sport."},{"host":"Bella","text":"That's not a sport. That's someone's childhood trauma being turned into a campaign ad."},{"host":"Brian","text":"Look, campaigns go negative all the time. But there's a difference between hitting someone's record and dragging in a parent to talk about abuse."},{"host":"Bella","text":"And Ramaswamy, who loves to talk about values and family, is out here defending it. That's going to follow him."},{"host":"Brian","text":"It should. If you can't win without that, you shouldn't win."},{"host":"Bella","text":"The voters in Ohio will decide. But I'll say it: some things are bigger than a race. This is one."},{"host":"Brian","text":"And on that note... we're done with this hour of Washington."},{"host":"Bella","text":"More in a minute. But first, a quick word from our sponsor."}]}