top of the hour on cnn newsroom. good to have you along. i m victor blackwell. and i m bianna golodryga. today s final jobs report before election day was just what the white house was hoping for. 261,000 jobs beating expectations from economists, but not too high to further drive up inflation. this goldilocks number helps the president make the case for his party in the final sprint to november 8th. former president trump is also on the campaign trail. he ll be in pennsylvania tomorrow pushing for the republican in one of the tightest races for senate that is key to determining who will control congress. pennsylvania has seen more than 1 million votes cast and is just one of several key battleground states where the early vote appears to be record-breaking. in total, more than 34 million americans have already cast their ballots. cnn s correspondents are following it all. we begin in the neck-and-neck race for senate. today is the final day of early in-person vot
i m christine romans. new day starts right now . two weeks from today. the midterm elections. brace yourself. i m john berman with brianna keilar. the race for control of the senate looks to be tight. new cnn polling shows democrat john fetterman with a slight edge over republican mehmet oz in pennsylvania. and in wisconsin ron johnson, democratic challenger men della barnes basically even. inflation the top issue. followed by abortion rights. early voting in that state begins today. in pennsylvania 44% of likely voters sight the economy. and more on debates in a moment. tonight in new york, a highly anticipated debate between incumbent democratic governor kathy hochul and republican challenge lee zeldin. zeldin made crime the focus of his campaign. and last night desantis and crist going toe-to-toe on abortion. and theian going poulter wars and may have his eye on the white house refusing to commit all four years if he wins the election. according to a top official,
governor s race. kathy hochul is in a bit of trouble here as lee zeldin nudges this race now from what was a solid dem in that column, now it is just likely dem. so these are moves that we watch closely. hochul is now trying to recalibrate, scrambling to say that everyone deserves a subway ride that is without fear after this horrific scene that we watched over the past several days. so many other beatings that have frightened new yorkers. these two races are also shifting. sean patrick malone, head of the democrat campaign committee, a very important influential democrat is now in danger of losing his seat to mike lawler of the gop who you may have seen on with sandra. then you have john katko s seat a republican leaving office. looks like it could stay in gop control in what is considered to be a part of new york stay that could easily go to the democrats. these are places that joe biden won by double digits. so republican congresswoman nicole malliotakis is running again
we are learning new details about the tragedy in connecticut. two officers were killed in the third critically wounded and what police believe was an ambush following a phone 891 call for help. critics say anti- police rhetoric is only making things more dangerous for the men and women in blue who risk their lives daily to keep us safe. correct alexis mcadams is live in new york city which much more on this tragedy. what a shocking thing to happen in connecticut. how many people in that committee are grieving the loss of the families who have to say goodbye to their loved ones but across the country though crime against police is up. and up a lot for the national fraternal order of police funding at all on failed policies and anti- police rhetoric. this comes as crime is more the top priorities for voters right now. just a sense of monday at least 12 police officers have been shot. four of them killed. you can see right there on the map the shootings happened in half a doze
general of louisiana and missouri allege the white house worked with social media companies to suppress freedom of speech. how damaging could this be for the white house? constitutional law expert jonathan turley here to weigh in just ahead. sandra: begin america reports on this monday afternoon with a major wake-up call from our nation s report card. the fed revealing decline in children s test scores in the country, biggest drop we have seen in decades. it follows the devastating closures due to covid that kept millions of children out of the classrooms. hello and welcome, everyone. sandra smith in new york. great to start the week with you, john. john: good to start with you too. 15 days to the midterms, on average, fourth grader math dropped five, eighth graders plunged eight. sandra: reading scores dropped three points since the pandemic started, the decision to close schools and along with parents rights have made education a key issue in the midterm elections.