The Final 5: October 23, 2026

You three for stopping by here. Be sure to check out all hitches. Be sure to check out RPO Media. And a special thanks to all of you watching at home. Coming up next, it's the Final Five with Shireen Burquest. Thank you, and have a great night. And thank you, Chad. Right now in the Final Five, what's going on with Dan Sullivan and Dan Sullivan up in Alaska? Plus, the art of the ceasefire deal. The First Lady gets involved in the war between Russia and Ukraine. and a Republican challenger hopes to flip a Northern Virginia congressional seat. Dave Beckwith joins us tonight. That's the final five. Let's do this. And welcome into the final five on this Friday night. I'm Shireen Rajay. First tonight, all eyes on the midterms and one race could play out in the courts. That's because some voters are seeing doubles. President Trump has ordered the Department of Justice to sue over an Alaska Senate race just days before the midterms. The lawsuit looks to block the certification of the race If Republican Dan Sullivan loses, the GOP claims that the senator is losing votes since there's an independent candidate running who has the same name. They allege it's giving Democrat Mary Peltola an unfair advantage. Democrats say it's aimed at causing chaos. I'm the one that said do it. They have two guys run named Dan Sullivan running. This is a whole systematic campaign to undermine the election so they can, on election night, contest it. And, you know, Lisa said this earlier, there's no precedent for the Department of Justice on challenging ballots. The lawsuit is essentially a placeholder and only becomes an issue after Election Day if the incumbent loses. Even if that happens, legal experts say it has a small chance of success. The Trump administration holding another large rally down in Fort Myers, Florida. The governor's race remains tight with current Florida Governor Ron DeSantis reaching his term limits. And like other Trump rallies, there was another interruption from a protester that would be removed during Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s speech. The obesity rate this year dropped by 7 percent, the first drop in 40 years. Let's all say a prayer for that person. Meanwhile, the Trump administration lending his support to Republican candidate Byron Donalds, who is running for governor against Democrat David Jolly. Trump's Florida speech covering a number of topics, including upgrades at the White House. We had broken stones all over. You'd look at the White House, you'd see a stone broken, a window broken, things beautiful, beautiful ornamentation all over. And half was falling down, you know, fell down 25 years ago. So you'd have like a hole and the other half was perfect. So I got my guys and we took bowls of the good one and we put it on the bad one and we cleaned up everything and we skimmed the entire building. It's so beautiful. Now, President Trump has another busy weekend with stops in Georgia and Michigan, even with political polls released this week showing the approval of President Trump at another record low. Supporters can expect to see more dance moves. I mean, that is his signature. Meanwhile, former President Barack Obama is visiting Detroit, Michigan, tomorrow to headline a get-out-the-vote campaign rally. The race between Abdel El-Sayed and Mike Rogers is another close Senate race to watch. But he's not allowed to make war without Congress. And right now, you've got a bunch of Congress people and senators who seem to have lost their spine to stand up to him. When we take the majority in the United States Senate, he cannot continue to make war without the funding for that war. This is an illegal, unjustifiable war. I know they try to play games with whether or not this is a military operation, but it's a war. And we're paying for that war every single day. We have other problems here in Michigan. we have just been on a managed decline for at least the last eight years. We lost 27,000 manufacturing jobs. By the way, the rest of the country gained about 100,000. We have the highest utility rates in the Midwest, highest auto insurance rates in the country. We have the first year homeowner or the first age of a new homeowner in Michigan is 40 years old. And this is the most important one. And we're going to fix this. About two thirds of fourth graders can't read in the fourth grade, two-thirds. And if you can't read in the fourth grade, by the fourth grade, 70% chance of going to prison or being on welfare. I have an interdiction plan for making sure that every fourth grader using a phonics-based reading reclamation program to get those kids reading. And if we don't fix that, Brett, we're all in trouble. To this now, Maryland Governor Wes Moore casting his ballot today in Annapolis. Early voting kicked off yesterday. Moore is running for re-election against Republican Dan Cox. All the state's congressional House seats are also on the ballot, along with multiple ballot questions. One could lead to congressional redistricting favoring Democrats. Tech billionaire Elon Musk has poured another $76 million into Republican campaign chests ahead of the midterms. That pushes his total contributions past $440 million this cycle. The hundreds of millions of dollars directed toward key House and Senate races, According to the Washington Post, the ultra-rich have poured in more than $2.7 billion to influence the midterms. And President Trump is rolling back some tariffs on Canadian products just 11 days before the midterm elections. And Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine is taking credit for that move. Collins says that she secured exemptions on nine categories of goods, including agricultural equipment, packaging, materials and seaweed. The move could help businesses facing higher costs as Republicans face competitive races in states, again, like Michigan. Earlier this week, Collins distanced herself from Trump's foreign policy on tariffs. I want to point out that Canada is not China. Canada is our friend, our neighbor, our biggest trading partner, our ally. That's very different from tariffs on China. So I think there's a distinction there. You are hearing more and more members of the Republican side of the aisle speak out against the Canadian tariffs because of the impact on fertilizer, for example, that our farmers are so dependent on. So what I'm hearing, and in Michigan, you're hearing Mike Rogers speak out against it. So I'm hearing a growing realization of how harmful these tariffs are. And as you know, I've voted repeatedly against them. It is the second time the Trump administration has altered his 50 percent tariffs on Canada. Now, last month, it removed tariffs from products, including road salt and cement, a decision that Senator Collins took credit for on the campaign trail. The White House says First Lady Melania Trump has brokered a ceasefire in a Russian-occupied Ukrainian city. The limited ceasefire is only for the city of Oleshky. The pause in fighting is to provide humanitarian aid and to evacuate citizens from a place that Mrs. Trump says is on the brink of disaster. What she wants to do is save children, and that's her focus. And both sides are cooperating with her, so doing a very good job. The limited deal is set to go into effect this Tuesday. The effort to get a broader ceasefire in place is moving forward. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle criticizing the Trump administration for not doing enough to stand up against Russia. The founding fathers lived and died to hold concentration, to hold power, autocracy to account. I mean, this is this is what this is oligarchy. This is what happens in Putin's Russia. This is it's it's humiliation. We've lost our moral authority. We've lost it in this country. It's an extraordinary thing to do in such a short period of time. And, you know, these are the same folks that were licking the boots of Putin. One of the two you just mentioned was out there calling him humanitarian. Thank you so much for taking someone off the streets, incarcerating them illegally, holding them hostage and then using them as a bargaining chip so that we can continue to make more monies, continue to light things up in Ukraine. It's a hell of a moment. No moral authority. Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is saying today that trilateral talks between Russia, Ukraine and the U.S. will take place next month in Abu Dhabi. The Final Five, back after this. Stay with me. Countdown to Election Day and the race for U.S. House District 10. heating up over in the Commonwealth. Republican challenger Dave Beckwith looking to unseat incumbent Democratic Representative Suhail Rahman is facing off. Joining us, we have Dave Beckwith with us tonight. Thank you so much for joining me late tonight. Thanks for having me tonight. I really appreciate it. So, Dave, you're a Republican. You have served 30 years in the Air Force. You have an extensive national security background. But for those voters who may not know you, tell us a little about yourself and why you're running for Congress. Yes, I spent 30 years in the Air Force. The last eight of those were at the National Reconnaissance Office, helping the nation build the most critical, expensive, exquisite satellites the nation has that watches over the nation, both from protecting our nation, but also our troops in harm's way. And so it was a great job. I really love that job. I went after that into civil service for six years. I was hired into the Biden administration and then continued through the Trump administration, working at the Pentagon. Again, dealing with the nation's toughest problems, making sure we have the resources we need, the right equipment we need to deter our adversaries and protect the nation. And as I looked at where the nation was and what I saw they needed help ahead with, I really felt like I had something to offer to Congress, my years in service, but also my community experience here in Loudoun County, where I've lived since 2009 after the Air Force brought me here. Yeah, I mean, listen, you have a very extensive resume, but you are challenging Democratic incumbent Suhasini Ramani in a district that has leaned Democratic in recent elections. So why should voters seek a change here? I've been going through the district since March. And what I feel a real yearning for is they're looking for a representative who will represent the district first. They're not looking for somebody who will represent their party, just vote the party line. My opponent is actually, you know, 96 percent, 97 percent of the time votes Democratic. They're looking for someone who will look at each individual issue and then decide what the district really needs, what's important to them. And the things I'm hearing from them is data centers. That's really they're really concerned about data centers. They're really concerned about the national deficit, which we keep spending two trillion dollars that we don't have. They're also very concerned about their pocketbooks and want solutions for that. And although I've been pointing out where my opponent lands on those things, I've really been talking about solutions for those topics and issues that they have. I mean, listen, let's talk about affordability. Major issue, not only for northern Virginia, but for the entire country. What would you do specifically to bring down costs? Well, what I've been talking about since almost the first day I got this talking with this to my constituents is I've been talking about this idea of having a 5% tax rate all the way up to $200,000. $200,000 is not what it used to be, thanks to the Biden inflation and the costs we're seeing rise here. But it's leaving more money in people's pockets. And a 5% rate would allow, especially our young kids, as they get out of college or they start working, as they get pay raises, it lets them keep more of their money and helps them start paying down their loans, start saving for a house, and really gives them hope that there's an American dream out there that they can have for themselves. And that 5% flat tax rate that you're proposing, that would be very significant for significant federal revenue. How would you pay for that? Well, a lot of that, similar to the way they did the no tax on tips, which I think is widely popular, they did no tax on Social Security, no tax on overtime. As you negotiate that through Congress, you'll figure out exactly how you lay it in. Maybe that you offer various different options for that. But I think the key thing is it's the American people's money. They've earned it. letting them keep more of it and solve their own problems is going to add to what people spend and help with the economy and help growth on that so there would be an initial loss of revenue but i think over time you would pick that up as people earn more money and they actually um all right they'll end up paying more taxes as they get richer and richer yeah well no doubt right now that the american people are suffering when it comes to their wallets let's talk about the data data centers, Loudoun County, data center capital of the world, but residents are increasingly concerned about the impacts to the community. Has Northern Virginia reached its limit? Yeah, that's a great question. I've been out to neighborhoods in Ashburn where they have put data centers right by communities. And when I say right by, I mean in their backyards. You can see, you can hear at night, the lights flood into the neighborhoods. I think what people are really, really frustrated with is the quality of life that's been destroyed by these data centers. And, you know, my opponent, whether he was in as a delegate or a state senator or now congressman, has kind of watched this problem. Data centers have gone from a blessing to a curse under his watch, and he's really done nothing about it. What I want to make sure is that our data centers are not placed near communities. We should have a half mile to maybe as high as five miles, perhaps, setback between where data centers are and homes. And that will really alleviate the quality of life issue. The other problem people are seeing is energy. These data centers require a lot of energy. And unfortunately, as we went through approving all of these, we didn't figure out the energy solution as well. So that's the next thing that needs to be solved. And a big part of that is getting Virginia out of this Green New Deal vision and get back to building natural gas power plants so we can actually avoid brownouts that are headed our way if we don't get some better leadership in this state. I have less than a minute left here, but President Trump is a very polarizing figure, particularly in Northern Virginia. How closely do you align yourself with him and where do you disagree? So I am running to represent my district, not my party. Where I agree with him, I'm happy to work his policies. I'm focused on policies, not on personalities. Where I disagree with him is the debt. We've spent $4 trillion that we don't have over the last two years, both on my opponent's watch and the president's watch. I'm committed to go to Washington and start to bend that curve. I also am not a fan of all of the tariffs that have been out there, I think targeted tariffs, especially at China, can be very effective. But I'd like to see them used much less often. And those are just two areas where I disagree with the president and my district disagrees with the president. And I plan to vote the way my district wants me to. OK, the race for U.S. House District 10. Dave Beckwith, thank you so much for your time and for joining us tonight. Thank you so much for having me, Sharon. And we'll be right back and you are watching the final five on this friday night let's get to our third block President Trump hitting the brakes on renaming a large body of water this time the president keeping his pen away from an executive order on the Atlantic Ocean so we have a lake and we have a gulf now we need a river and we need an ocean i only like two oceans the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean i'm not going to put either Trump or America on any other ocean but these two so we seriously looked at the Atlantic Ocean and i called Google Maps who were really great with the lake and really great and i spoke to a brilliant guy Sundar he heads all of Google he's a brilliant guy, Sergey and Sundar, totally brilliant guys. And, you know, they're still rattled from the Gulf. I said, Sundar, I'm thinking of the Atlantic Ocean. Can you handle it? No, no, no. This time I'm not doing it. He said, he said, he said, oceans are different, sir. You know, they cover, they cover a lot of, they cover really a lot of countries. Please don't ask us to do that so i'll probably pass should i pass it i think let's keep it the Atlantic i should right now google made changes when the president rebranded Lake Ontario and the Gulf of Mexico only users in America though can see those changes when using Google Maps people outside the U.S. see the original names more people claim that they have spotted a large sea creature over in Scotland a group called the Loch Ness Monster Sightings Register has accepted 15 reports this year. Some people dispute the findings, saying people are likely spotting large eels in the water. Regardless of what side you believe, there's no denying the monster generates monster revenue. Some say more than $50 million in tourism revenue each year to the region. And another giant across the pond, gardeners at a National Trust estate in the United Kingdom unveiling a large cabbage, the nicknamed 22-pound vegetable, the Cornish Giant. They're going to donate the food to a local animal charity. It's still a baby veggie compared to the heaviest on record in the U.K. A farmer grew a cabbage. Look at this thing. It's weighing at 124 pounds back in 2014. A 24-hour Finland livestream camera is featuring a litter of puppies. The livestream is designed to help viewers in the country survive the cold, dark winter with these precious growing pups. Imagine looking at these through, you know, dark times. It also follows the puppies through major milestones. This is the sixth season that the broadcasting company has offered this live stream. Up next in the final five, who's sleeping soundly, who's tossing and turning? Don't go to sleep just yet. And sleeping soundly tonight, former NFL kicker turned Republican congressional candidate Jay Feeley. He is getting some serious financial backing in his Arizona race. Republican groups have poured more than $22 million into helping him defeat his Democratic challenger, Amish Shah. But here's a twist. The two actually go way back. Shah was a team doctor for the New York Jets when Feeley was actually playing there. And despite all that money, polling shows this race is a toss-up. But at least money-wise, Jay is sleeping good tonight. Tossing and turning Montana Democrat Ilani Bankhead. She is running for U.S. Senate, but one of their own party's biggest names is backing her opponent. Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is breaking ranks with Democrats, endorsing independent Seth Botner instead. It's a high-profile snub just 11 days before Election Day, and one of that could complicate her path to victory. That is it for us here on The Final Five. It is late. Lights out. Heels off. Good night, everyone.