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

Former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who ran for president in 2020 as a Democrat and endorsed Joe Biden after her exit from the race, on Tuesday campaigned in Arizona for the state's Republican gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake, a fervent election-denier and Donald Trump loyalist.

The move follows Gabbard's dramatic public departure from the Democratic Party, denouncing it a week ago as an "elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness." In Chandler, Arizona, Gabbard warned against those that "deny the existence of truth" before remarking with glowing support her endorsement of Lake, one of the most outspoken election-deniers.

"I feel like a rockstar up here, Tulsi," Lake said in front of at least 250 people. "You are a rockstar, Kari," Gabbard responded.

At the campaign event, less than three weeks ahead of the midterm elections, Gabbard acknowledged that some have told her it was "odd" that she would be campaigning for Lake in Arizona as a former Democrat -- but she dismissed those concerns.

"It's only odd if you're focused on the wrong things," Gabbard said of her endorsement. "If you're paying attention, you recognize that what we share in common, Kari and I and every one of you, is that pride, and it is the courage ... It is clear-eyed to recognize the threats to our safety, to our borders, to our communities, to our families and our kids that are coming from today's so-called woke radical Democrat Party."

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-- ABC News' Libby Cathey

On the GOP side, Sens. Tim Scott and Tom Cotton hit Ohio on Wednesday, ahead of Sen. Ted Cruz's trip on Friday, for Senate candidate J.D. Vance -- all following a succession of colleagues helping Republican Senate hopeful Herschel Walker in Georgia.

Also Wednesday, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin campaigns for Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, a day behind former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard -- the onetime Democratic presidential candidate who is now backing far-right candidates -- in campaigning for the Republican ticket there.

For Democrats, President Joe Biden follows first lady Jill Biden onto the trail on Thursday in Pennsylvania, while Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg leads the Biden Cabinet in making official visits with a side of politics. Sens. Cory Booker and Jon Ossoff spent campaign time in North Carolina over the weekend, and former President Barack Obama makes a three-state battleground swing next week.

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-- ABC News' Rick Klein

Senator Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., is expected to campaign on Oct. 26 for Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes and state Attorney General Josh Kaul in what is the latest appearance by a prominent Democrat to rally voters weeks before the high-stakes midterms.

The events with Warren, first reported by ABC News, will also feature Wisconsin's Democratic senator, Tammy Baldwin.

Baldwin, Evers, Kaul and Warren will host an early voting event focused on young people near the campus of the University of Wisconsin at Madison, according to the Wisconsin Democratic Party.

Baldwin and Kaul are expected to walk with a group of students to an early voting location to cast their ballots.

Polling shows that Evers is in a toss-up race against Republican challenger Tim Michels, with the latest FiveThirtyEight average showing Evers with less than 1% lead.

In a statement to ABC News, the Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler said: "This election is deadlocked, and no one can sit this out. If Wisconsin students turn out to show the GOP they won’t let them trample on their rights, Democrats will win up and down the ballot. Senator Warren is an electrifying voice who will bring her incomparable energy and vision to mobilize Wisconsin students at exactly the moment it’s needed most."

In her own statement, Warren said, "Voters in Wisconsin know what is at stake in this election. Wisconsinites have the opportunity to vote for [Senate nominee] Mandela Barnes, Tony Evers, and Democrats all the way down the ballot who will fight to restore a woman’s right to choose, to bring down costs, to build an economy that works for all of us, and to attack the climate crisis head on. I’m proud to join them in this critical fight."

Barnes, too, is in a tight race to defeat incumbent Sen. Ron Johnson, a Republican.

Warren joins a growing list of big-name Democrats -- including former President Barack Obama -- to hit the trail in various battleground states before Election Day.

They hope to counter the history of rough midterm elections for the party in power, plus major headwinds like high inflation, in part by focusing on Republican-backed restrictions on abortion and the extremism of some of the GOP nominees.

When asked by reporters after a gubernatorial debate on Friday whether former President Donald Trump planned to stump for the Republican ticket in Wisconsin, Brian Fraley, a communications specialist for the Michels campaign, said they would notify the press if such an event was scheduled.

Fraley said then that Obama coming to Milwaukee was a "sign" that the Evers campaign was "in trouble" because "they're calling in all the big dogs."

-- ABC News' Cheyenne Haslett and Paulina Tam

Fourteen members of Nevada GOP Senate nominee Adam Laxalt's family said in a letter Wednesday that they were endorsing his opponent, Democratic incumbent Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto.

"Catherine has consistently demonstrated a fierce loyalty to her home state of Nevada," the three-page letter states. "She has always put Nevada first – even when it meant working against her own party's policies."

The letter, obtained by The Nevada Independent, does not mention Laxalt by name or his Senate campaign. Some of his family members previously opposed him in a 2018 column during his gubernatorial campaign

The new endorsement for Cortez Masto comes just days after Laxalt attended an event with former President Donald Trump in Minden, Nevada, where both Laxalt and Trump jabbed at the senator.

"Between surging inflation, rising violent crime, the effects of an open border and record-high gas prices, Nevadans are fed up with Cortez Masto being a 95% rubber-stamp vote for Joe Biden," Laxalt said then.

However, some of his relatives seem to have a different opinion, writing in the letter: "We staunchly believe that Catherine is well equipped with her own 'Nevada grit' – a quality that she will take forward in representation of our home state for six more years across the halls of Congress."

In a statement, Cortez Masto campaign spokesperson Sigalle Reshef said: "The Laxalt family joins a growing list of Cortez Masto endorsers that includes Democrats, Republican leaders from across the state, and Nevada law enforcement, and she appreciates their support in this race."

Laxalt fired back on Twitter, saying most of the relatives "are Democrats ... They think that Nevada & our country are heading in the right direction. I believe Nevadans don't agree."

-- ABC News' Abby Cruz