Midterm campaign updates: GOP's Cheney endorses Ohio Democrat Tim Ryan for Senate

Should he need them, auditory accommodations would be available in the U.S. Senate for Pennsylvania's Democratic hopeful John Fetterman, Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., told ABC News this weekend.

At a scheduled debate next month with Republican opponent Mehmet Oz, Fetterman will be able to use a closed-captioning system because of self-described “auditory processing” issues he’s dealt with since a stroke in May.

Before stumping for Fetterman on Saturday in Scranton, Casey said he believes the lieutenant governor is ready for the Senate and would not need the auditory accommodation by the time he’s sworn in.

“When it comes to the work of the Senate, most of the work, if you’re doing the job well, is listening to people, hearing what they have to say as your constituents, going to hearings, going to meetings, voting,” Casey told ABC News. “He’s going to be able to do all that and communicate effectively and I think he’s going to be a great senator.”

Asked if it would be possible to use closed captioning in those meetings, Casey said, “Oh sure, and we should have that. What if someone came to the Senate with a more permanent disability of some kind?”

Casey said the accommodation would be available “if it were necessary, but I don’t think by the time he gets there that will be necessary, but we’ll see.”

Meanwhile, Casey’s fellow Pennsylvania senator, Republican Pat Toomey said earlier this month at a press conference with Oz, “It’s just not possible to be an effective senator if you cannot communicate.”

-- ABC News' Will McDuffie

Democratic Senate nominee Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes has announced he's accepted an invitation from NBC-affiliate TMJ4 to debate his Republican opponent Sen. Ron Johnson on Oct. 13 in Milwaukee. Barnes also challenges Johnson to attend a forum in Oshkosh, with further details to be announced.

Barnes' campaign manager Kory Kozloski released the following statement: "Ron Johnson has spent over a decade in Washington selling out working families and calling to put Social Security and Medicare on the chopping block. Mandela looks forward to holding him accountable for his record of putting himself and his wealthy donors first on the debate stage in Milwaukee, and then in his own backyard in Oshkosh."

Johnson had accused Barnes of "hiding" from him and said he was open to having three debates before the Nov. 8 election, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

ABC News has tracked which candidates are debating in key midterm races.

-ABC News' Paulina Tam.

Arkansas GOP gubernatorial nominee and former Trump White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders declared in a statement on Friday that she'd been diagnosed with thyroid cancer earlier this month but is now "cancer-free" following a surgery in Arkansas on Friday.

"This experience has been a reminder that whatever battle you may be facing, don't lose heart. As governor, I will never quit fighting for the people of our great state," the daughter to former Arkansas GOP Gov. Mike Huckabee said in a statement.

The surgery removed her thyroid and surrounding lymph nodes, she said. Her surgeon, John R. Sims, noted in a statement released by her campaign that he didn't anticipate this health scare slowing Sanders down ahead of the November general election.

"I expect her to be back on her feet even within the next 24 hours. This is a Stage I papillary thyroid carcinoma which is the most common type of thyroid cancer and has an excellent prognosis," he said.

Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis confirmed Friday that the undocumented migrants flown to Martha's Vineyard came from Texas -- not Florida.

He defended his actions, noting that he transported the migrants -- who he said had plans to come to Florida -- with a portion of $12 million allocated in the state's budget to relocate undocumented migrants out of the state.

"They went from Texas to Florida to Martha's Vineyard," DeSantis told reporters in Daytona Beach. "I have 12 million for us to use, and so we are going to use it and you're gonna see more and more. I'm going to make sure that we exhaust all those funds."

DeSantis also took a swipe at President Joe Biden -- suggesting he has lured people out of their countries with the "false promise" that the borders were open, then leaving them "high and dry."

The White House on Friday lashed back, arguing that the Florida governor and Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott -- who routinely transports undocumented immigrants to blue states -- engage in the practice as "cruel" political theater.

"These were children. They were moms. They were fleeing communism. And what did Governor DeSantis and Governor Abbott do to them? They use them as political pawns, treated them like chattel in a cruel, premeditated political stunt," White House press secretary Karine Jean Pierre said.

DeSantis ended his presser by responding to Gov. Newsom's request for the DOJ to investigate Florida and Texas' moves.

"The governor of California sent a letter to the Department of Justice saying, 'you need to prosecute the Texas and Florida governors' and all I can say is: I think his hair gel is interfering with his brain," DeSantis said.

–ABC News' Miles Cohen