he s the education secretary, kit malthouse. four years before then he did more junior roles, having been deputy to borisjohnson, not as prime minister, but when he was mayor of london. kit malthouse is seen as a fixer. he becomes the fifth education secretary in a little over a year, a sign ofjust how unstable politics has been. kit malthouse, welcome to political thinking. thank you. i m flattered to be here. well, it s been a roller coaster ride this week, hasn t it? it has been a challenging week, as they say. i think that s the euphemism that politicians use. but hopefully things will settle, although i have to say it comes. i mean, i got elected in 2015 and it s been a pretty much a roller coaster ride since 2016. so leadership elections, general elections, referendums, pandemics, wars, it s been a, you know, a bit of a roller coaster. so i sort of feel a bit seasoned towards it. and to be honest with you, nick, ifind myself a bit surprised that people are surprised be
under way, jury selection in the manhattan s district attorney s case set to begin this hour. while former president donald trump has not been personally indicted the trial could impact the future of his business empire. we re live outside the courthouse. across the u.s. rsv infections spreading in children and that is also sparking concern about what the rapid spread of this virus could mean for the weeks and the months ahead. cases now reaching a two-year peak sending more kids to the hospital, in fact, three quarters of pediatric hospital beds now in use across the country. and in the uk a possible new prime minister today. this hour the candidates to replace liz truss will be announced. do either former finance minister rishi sunak or house of commons leader penny mordaunt have the 100 needed nomination their conservative party nominators. we are live in downing street. here in new york the manhattan district attorney s tax fraud trial against the trump organization
minister and a wake-up call for america s schools, how far behind kids have actually fallen during this pandemic. this is what we re watching at this hour. thank you for being here. i m kate bolduan. it is 15 days to election day and the numbers show there has been a surge in early voting so far. already 7.3 million americans in 39 states have cast their ballot. another state, florida, is kicking off early voting as we speak. today. that state is also set for a very big debate tonight between ron desantis and his democratic challenger charlie crist. this is the first and only debate of the campaign. so let s get started in florida. cnn steve canner is in florida. what are people expecting with this big debate tonight. the takes tonight could not be higher. 1.2 million people have already voted by mail in florida. that is almost half as many as we saw four years ago for the entire election or as you said early voting starts today and this is the only debate so the states
well, it is the top of the hour at cnn newsroom. 15 days now until election day and candidates are out battling for every ballot. in the florida governor s race, democrat charlie crist hopes tonight s debate will help shift the momentum as he tries to unseat ron desantis. in pennsylvania, there s a debate tomorrow in the much tighter senate race there. polls show the democrat john fetterman has a small lead over his republican rival, mehmet oz. nearly 7.3 million americans have already cast a ballot in 39 states with the early vote turnout in the battleground, georgia breaking records. cnn has just released new poll averages showing just how tight the race for senate is in critical swing states of pennsylvania and wisconsin. president biden just made another pitch to voters coming up on november 8th. that s the midterm election day. he just spoke at democratic party headquarters in d.c. to make his closing argument. cnn s senior white house correspondent phil mattin
also talking about energy policy with a promise to eliminate carbon from energy production and illiteracy production in the uk, focusing solely on renewable energy and nuclear by 2030, which would involve increasing vastly the capacity of offshore wind, onshore wind, solar power, hydrogen and tidal power as well. that was described this morning as an ambition by sir keir starmer. they have not set out in huge detail exactly how they would do it, but it goes further and faster than the government s own it commitment to eliminate carbon from energy production in the uk by five years after that date, 2035, is what liz truss has set out. but the focus this morning here in at liverpool on the deputy leader of the labour party angela rayner, who will speak to delicates in the hall shortly, that marks at the conference getting properly under way. last night to sir keir starmer was addressing a rally, choosing his words very carefully about the government s economic policy, and then