Trump Votes in Florida as Early Voting Climbs and Parties Read Returns Differently

President Donald Trump voted in the midterm elections at a polling station in Palm Beach County, Florida, after earlier criticizing early voting as ridiculous. Nationwide early voting has reached 23 million ballots, with Democrats and unaffiliated voters outpacing Republicans, including in battleground states. In Michigan, Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers said Saturday that modeling of early ballot returns in the state favors Republicans, and he called the early Republican returns a really good sign. He spoke as Michigan's statewide early in-person voting period began.

The left-leaning New York Times leads with Trump himself. Its headline sets his past description of early voting as ridiculous against his casting a midterm ballot, and its excerpt gives the Palm Beach County location. The excerpt includes no turnout totals, party breakdowns or campaign voices, so the framing rests on the president's change of position. The right-leaning Newsmax leads with Rogers, a Republican candidate, and presents his view that early GOP returns in Michigan are encouraging. It features his claim about modeling and the start of Michigan's early in-person voting, and it leaves out national totals and the Democratic and unaffiliated lead. Both outlets cover early voting in the midterms, but one centers a political figure's earlier stance and the other centers a candidate's optimism about his party. NewsNation, the alternative outlet, differs from both by leading with national figures: 23 million ballots and a Democratic and unaffiliated edge, a picture that sits in tension with Rogers' reading. These are brief excerpts, so fuller articles may contain more detail.