President Donald Trump and the Republican Party appear headed for a difficult Election Day, according to the latest polling averages.

With only four days remaining before voters head to the polls, the fate of Trump’s final two years in office could hinge on how much ground Democrats gain against the GOP’s congressional majority. The numbers are raising serious concerns among Republicans on Capitol Hill.

The Daily Mail’s midterm power polling average, which combines and analyzes multiple polling averages, gives Democrats a notable advantage with less than a week left in the campaign.

Democrats currently command more than 51 percent support in the midterm benchmark, compared with 43 percent for Republicans.

That advantage of roughly eight points suggests late shifts among voters in traditionally Republican regions are making the midterm contests considerably more competitive than they appeared just weeks ago.

From Alaska and Texas to Maine, Republicans are facing troubling numbers across the electoral map.

Democratic candidates Mary Peltola, James Talarico and Troy Jackson are each leading their Republican rivals in recent surveys. However, many of those contests remain within the margin of error, leaving the outcomes far from certain.

Prediction market data from Kalshi puts Democrats at a 92 percent chance of taking control of the House and a 70 percent chance of winning the Senate.

With vulnerable Republicans seeking help from Trump, the president has been traveling across the country and staging rallies aimed at strengthening GOP candidates in a wide range of races.

Trump is scheduled to appear Friday at a rally in deep-red Daytona Beach, Florida, a region he carried by more than 20 points in 2024.

He will campaign alongside Congressman Byron Donalds, the Republican gubernatorial candidate facing Democrat David Jolly. Jolly is currently trailing Donalds by only a few points.

MORE ON THIS: My dying son held his pregnant girlfriend’s hand after being knifed..cops missed key clue & killer needs to face justice – NewsFinale

Rather than concentrating on the most competitive districts, Trump has largely limited his campaign appearances to heavily Republican areas.

Even during visits to swing states including Ohio, Michigan, Arizona, Georgia and North Carolina—as well as the more recently added battlegrounds of Kansas and Iowa—the president has favored Republican strongholds over politically mixed districts.

The approach suggests Trump is focusing on shoring up Republican territory under threat instead of taking his MAGA message directly to independent voters in swing areas.

With the election entering its final stretch, Trump’s schedule has also been marked by a series of cancellations and changes.

The president canceled planned stops in Iowa and Kansas earlier in the week, but both appearances had been reinstated by Friday morning.

The Kansas Senate race has tightened, but a new Emerson poll released Friday still showed Republican incumbent Senator Roger Marshall three points behind Democratic challenger Adam Hamilton.

A more devastating survey was published by the Washington Post the same day, showing Hamilton with a massive 10-point lead. 

A Democrat has not won a US Senate seat in Kansas since the 1930s, but this cycle the tide seems as though it is changing.

That blue wave could also make landfall in Texas, where the state’s Attorney General Ken Paxton – a candidate hand-selected by Trump – is behind Democrat James Talarico in prediction market data and recent polling. 

The Lone Star State has long been a GOP stronghold, but cracks in the MAGA base have appeared in even the seemingly most Republican areas. 

HYROX athlete Joanna Wietrzyk has apologised for continuing to compete after suffering an embarrassing bowel accident during a race—and acknowledged that her decision exposed fellow competitors to unnecessary risk.

Wietrzyk, a 24-year-old Australian endurance athlete, was competing at the HYROX event in Beijing last month when food poisoning caused her to lose control of her bowels. She continued using equipment shared by other participants despite the incident.

Video from the race showed the HYROX world-record holder running, completing burpees and carrying heavy bags while faecal matter ran down her leg.

Although organisers apologised soon afterwards, Wietrzyk initially did not express regret. She reversed that position on Thursday, issuing an apology after weeks of intense public criticism.

The athlete said the reaction had been “traumatic” and included personal abuse online. However, she conceded that she should have stopped competing once the incident occurred.

She told the BBC: “It happened very suddenly. It wasn’t until I was about halfway through the race that everything transpired.

“At that moment, as someone who is extremely competitive and an elite athlete, my only focus was on the race. Clearly, I did put other people at risk.”

She continued: “I did make the wrong decision, but I don’t think I deserved the level of backlash and online scrutiny that followed. At the end of the day, I’m only human.”

Immediately after the event, Wietrzyk did not apologise. Instead, she posted from her hospital bed on Instagram: “Go hard or go home they say… a win is a win. In all seriousness, thank you all for the support. I’ll be back soon.”

HYROX organisers apologised and promised immediate changes to their rules, while Wietrzyk waited considerably longer before addressing the controversy.

Asked why she had taken more than a month to apologise—and whether the statement was intended to repair her public image—she replied: “I needed that time to reflect and process what happened.”

In an Instagram video posted on Thursday, Wietrzyk said: “I’ve had six to eight weeks to reflect on everything that happened in Beijing.

“I want to say that I’m truly, truly sorry to everyone affected, whether they were spectators or participants on the race floor, because I chose to continue competing.”

The Melbourne athlete won the women’s HYROX Pro event in Beijing with a time of 1:01:23. But footage showing her continue through the course prompted questions about why officials had allowed her to remain in the competition.

Images appeared to show faecal matter running down her legs as she took part in stations using communal equipment.

The episode also put HYROX organisers under pressure, as competitors questioned the hygiene risks, potential contamination and the speed of the response.

HYROX said the affected lanes were isolated, contaminated equipment was removed, and cleaning work—including replacing carpets—was completed overnight before competition resumed.

Wietrzyk faced personal abuse, prompting HYROX to warn that people directing abuse or threats of violence towards her would be banned from future events. 

Her coach, Chris Bayens, defended her against attacks while acknowledging that decisions made during the event could be reviewed.

‘Decisions were made under competition conditions by an athlete, judges and officials, all responding to a situation none of them could reasonably have prepared for,’ he wrote on Instagram.

‘It is very easy to construct the perfect response once the moment has passed. Hindsight gives people time, information and distance that simply did not exist for those actually living it.’

Bayens urged people to distinguish scrutiny of the incident from attacks on the athlete.

‘Sport occasionally produces moments that are imperfect and deeply human,’ he said. ‘Discussion is legitimate. The hatred and personal attacks that have followed are not.’

HYROX combines eight one-kilometre runs with eight workout stations, including sled pushes, rowing, sandbag lunges and medicine ball throws.

Wietrzyk’s next scheduled appearance is in the opening race of the 2026-27 HYROX Elite Series in Hamburg on Friday, October 30.

A 14-year-old boy stabbed by a man who later carried out a mass stabbing on a train told a court that his attacker stared at him with his “eyes wide open” while shouting, “Are you involved, are you involved?”

The teenager was out trick-or-treating with a friend when Anthony Williams “just pulled out a knife and stabbed me”.

The frightened pair fled and hid in bushes, where they stayed until police arrived after they called 999.

The attack took place on a footbridge over the River Nene in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire. It was the first of 14 assaults allegedly carried out by Williams during a Halloween weekend rampage that culminated in ten attacks aboard a train.

Cambridge Crown Court has heard that Williams admits 12 charges of wounding with intent and two charges of attempted wounding with intent, but denies 14 counts of attempted murder.

In a police interview, the boy said he had been with his friend on the evening of October 31 last year when “some random guy I’d literally never seen in my life just pulls out a knife and stabs me”.

The teenager said Williams pulled the ten-inch black knife from his waistband. He added: “He was screaming something. My friend said it was something like ‘Are you involved, are you involved?’ or something.

“His eyes were wide open, like he was on something. I don’t think he was well.

“We just ran away. Because I had so much adrenaline, I only thought someone had poked me in the chest.

“We ran into some bushes. My friend was saying, ‘Call the police, call the police’. I was saying, ‘I think I’ve been stabbed.’”

The boy told the interviewing officer that the blow to his chest had been delivered with considerable force. “It pushed me back a bit. He was using his full force,” he said.

Jurors have also heard about the terror—and acts of extraordinary bravery—the following day, when Williams allegedly moved through a series of carriages on an LNER service from Doncaster to London, attacking passengers with a knife and leaving some with serious injuries.

Several passengers and a member of staff tried to confront Williams during what prosecutors described as a “storm of violence”.

Train worker Samir Zitouni attempted to halt him by creating a “defensive blockade” with objects including a frying pan and a toaster.

He then gathered a group of “big, strong men” before confronting Williams with the pan. Zitouni was subjected to an attack described in court as “prolonged, persistent and brutal”.

Footage shown in court after the train came to a stop showed Zitouni staggering along the platform in a blood-soaked shirt. He then collapsed against a carriage before falling onto the tracks.

His multiple injuries included partially collapsed lungs and damage to his spleen.

Football fan Stephen Crean bravely ‘whispered to those in the café bar to shut the door and went towards the defendant’ despite being unarmed, the court was told.

Williams – who asked him ‘do you want to die?’ – stabbed him several times in the head, upper and lower back, fingers and hip during the ‘one-sided’ attack.

DON’T MISS: Patrick Stewart’s Family Rifts Left Him With Lasting Regrets

Some on board the train spoke of the defendant rambling on about the ‘devil’ and ‘power’ and warning: ‘Everyone’s gonna die today.’

Car delivery driver Raza Aslam described how he heard the defendant had ‘the greatest delight on his face, I saw his eyes expand with pleasure’.

The Halloween mayhem began with the stabbing of the 14-year-old boy, who can’t be named for legal reasons, on the evening of October 31 last year.

Two men – Dawid Taborski and William Ogelby – were attacked nearby minutes later, although they avoided injury.

A 17-year-old was next stabbed in the face while travelling on the Docklands Light Railway in east London at Pontoon Dock in the early hours of November 1.

Williams then boarded the LNER train in his home town of Peterborough at 7.26pm that evening, clutching a ‘large kitchen knife and a bottle of fortified tonic wine’ before starting the mass stabbing.

Describing passengers’ responses when the attack began, Mr Paxton said: ‘In sheer terror, the train passengers ran for their lives, hiding away in locked toilets, store cabinets, or under seats until many fleeing the defendant literally ran out of train.

‘Trapped and facing the defendant, who had been wielding, slashing out and stabbing with his knife, some sought to defend themselves and others on the train, showing extraordinary bravery in the face of the defendant’s onslaught, picking up frying pans or toasters to keep the defendant back, even trying to de-escalate the situation by asking him why was he doing it and telling him that they loved him.

‘But to no avail, the defendant continued his knife attack – slashing out and stabbing those around him.’

Horrifying footage played in court showed dozens of passengers wrapped in coats and hats fleeing down carriages as Williams approached them.

The bloody onslaught ended when the ‘quick thinking’ train driver hurriedly arranged an unscheduled stop at Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire.

The defendant, who is appearing in court via videolink from Rampton Hospital in Nottinghamshire, was seen in bodycam footage being arrested by armed police who disabled him with a taser.

He was checked at hospital before being taken to a police station in Cambridge, although he was deemed not fit to be interviewed by officers.

While in custody, he punched a PC on the nose – leading to a charge of causing actual bodily harm, which the court heard he has admitted.

Prosecutor Chris Paxton KC told the jury that the defendant has ‘some mental health issues which may or may not become relevant during this trial’.

But one train passenger, Michael Paffett, who suffered a deep wound to his face, described how Williams ordered him to stay in a carriage after attacking him, saying: ‘I don’t want you behind me.’

The prosecution say this showed that he was ‘functioning, responding and reactive to those around him’.

Mr Paxton added: ‘There is no issue in this case as to who is responsible for these attacks. The defendant accepts he carried out these attacks.

‘The issue in this case, so far as the attempted murder counts are concerned, relates primarily to the defendant’s intention – whether he had an intention to kill as we, the prosecution, say he had.’

The trial continues.

The police watchdog has confirmed it will investigate the Metropolitan Police’s handling of a letter concerning Meghan Markle’s father, Thomas Markle Sr.

The Met gave the letter to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in 2019. It contained “a number of claims about alleged offending outside the United Kingdom” involving Markle Sr, now 82.

However, the force did not share a copy of the letter or details of the alleged offences with other law enforcement agencies, nor did it open its own investigation into Markle Sr.

The decision follows claims made last week by Meghan’s half-brother, Thomas Markle Jr, 60, who said he had uncovered a collection of child sexual abuse images among his father’s belongings at his home in the Philippines.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) confirmed today that it will investigate after the Metropolitan Police referred itself over the way it dealt with the letter.

The investigation will examine the “failure to pass on allegations of serious offending” to overseas authorities. A separate matter involving an alleged data breach, linked to the letter being passed to the Sussexes, has instead been returned to the Met for investigation.

An IOPC spokesperson told the Daily Mail: “Following a voluntary conduct referral from the Met Police, we have decided an independent investigation is required into its failure to pass on allegations of serious offending, contained in a letter it received in 2019, to relevant overseas authorities at the time.

“We have decided that a further conduct matter – relating to an alleged data breach where information was passed on to a third party – should be returned to the force to be appropriately dealt with including via its data breach policies if required.”

The Met said yesterday that it now plans to make “a number of referrals to relevant overseas law enforcement agencies” concerning the claims contained in the letter.

The letter is understood to have been written by Markle Sr’s late first wife, Roslyn Loveless. It reportedly contained “troubling and disturbing” allegations about the Duchess of Sussex’s father.

Last week, reports said Meghan had been told that the allegations made in the letter were being investigated.

Markle Sr has been accused of possessing a “sickening” collection of child abuse images, including videos allegedly showing girls no older than 10 or 11 involved in sexual acts.

Thomas Jr said he discovered the material in July this year while searching through his father’s boxes for a phone for his fiancée, Rose. His father had returned to the United States for medical treatment at the time.

He also allegedly found a 15-minute video showing naked girls on his father’s old phone, along with “hundreds” of indecent images that reportedly included pictures of children as young as toddlers.

Authorities in the Philippines have opened an investigation. A court today issued them with a warrant allowing officers to examine digital material handed over by Thomas Jr, while the FBI is also reportedly preparing to join the probe.

Announcing the referral to the IOPC today, Commander Adam Slonecki, who heads the Metropolitan Police’s Protection Command, said: “In January 2019, the Met received a letter addressed to our Protection Command, specifically the Fixated Threats Assessment Centre.

“The author of the letter suggested they were writing to raise concerns about the Duchess of Sussex’s security. Although the letter did not contain information specifically related to security matters, it did include a number of claims about alleged offending outside the United Kingdom.

“The letter was assessed and subsequently passed to the office of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex for their awareness. The details of the allegations contained in the letter were not shared with other law enforcement agencies.”

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE: Man Accused of Abusing Councillor’s Wife ‘Did Not Know’ She Was Drugged

‘In recent days, the Met’s Directorate of Professional Standards has carried out an initial review into our actions following receipt of the letter in 2019.

‘Following that review, a voluntary referral has been made to the IOPC in respect of the decision not to inform other law enforcement agencies, and the decision to pass the letter to the office of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

‘In addition, it is our intention to make a number of referrals to relevant overseas law enforcement agencies in relation to the allegations contained within the letter. That process is underway and will be completed in the coming days.’

Thomas Jr said last week he found ‘hundreds’ of child sex abuse images in four boxes stored at his father’s home in Cebu in the Philippines, which contained multiple digital devices.

One 35mm photograph reportedly shows a bearded man resembling Mr Markle having sex with a young Asian girl. ‘I have never been in a photograph like that,’ Markle Sr said on Saturday.

Markle Sr denies the allegations, calling them ‘sick lies’ and says he will do ‘whatever it takes’ to clear his name. 

He is currently receiving medical treatment in a rehabilitation centre in Florida after having his left leg amputated.

The Duchess of Sussex released a statement last week saying she was first made aware of ‘troubling and disturbing’ allegations about her father after a letter was passed to her by royal protection officers. She added she was given assurances the claims were being investigated.

‘I am deeply distressed at the news that has come to light in the last 24 hours, and my thoughts are with any children who may have been harmed,’ she said.

‘I hope it can now be understood that, despite certain media publications’ distortion over the years, any distance from my father and my choice to not allow him to have contact with our children, was for one reason: to protect them.

‘I trusted that the authorities were doing the same for other families.

‘Although the breadth of what has now been uncovered is more sickening than one could ever imagine, my sincerest hope is that justice will be fully served and that the priority remains the safety and protection of innocent children.’

Today it was reported a court in the Philippines has issued a warrant allowing police in the country to examine the material passed to them by Thomas Jr.

Philippine interior minister Jonvic Remulla previously said the forensics data is expected to be completed in a week but ‘right now all signs point to a possible sex offender of the grossest kind’. 

Although Meghan became publicly estranged from her father in 2018, prior to her wedding to Prince Harry, she last year sent a letter to him informing him she would never contact him again, and he would not meet his grandchildren. She reportedly said this is due to her, and authorities, knowing he had abused young girls. 

An IOPC spokesman said: ‘We have received a voluntary conduct referral from the Met Police, which relates to the handling of a letter it received in 2019 involving allegations of offending. 

‘We are now assessing the referral before deciding what further action may be required.’