good morning to you, maryalice. >> good morning., yeah, exactly, and we tens of millions of americans have already voted this election, those long lines of early voting this weekend, and so much attention right here in pennsylvania. both parties really just bringing out all the stops to try to get their voters to the polls. an incredible split screen overnight in pennsylvania. with two days to go, two presidents together in philadelphia, across the state a third. >> are you fired up yet? [ cheers and applause ] >> reporter: president biden and former president obama hand in hand with both democratic senate candidate john fetterman and gubernatorial candidate josh shapiro telling the crowd, the right to vote is on the line. >> truth and facts and logic and reason and basic decency are on the ballot. ballot.cy itself is on the - >> reporter: the crowd raucous, largely younger voters. democrats hoping the star power will deliver the shot in the arm needed to keep pennsylvania blue. biden calling out former president trump's rally acros

abc's maryalice parks is here with us with more.t's good to see you in person this morning. >> good to see you too. eva, good morning. it is really the final sprint. already across the country more than 37 million americans have voted, and so much attention here in pennsylvania. this one state could completely decide control of the senate, and that's why the biggest names in politics are all here today. with just three days to go, the battle for the senate a dead heat. across the country polls show several senate races could be incredibly close. from wisconsin where democrats are trying to oust a sitting republican senator. >> we're talking about hard earned, hard fought rights and freedoms that are on the chopping block right now. >> reporter: to multiple states like washington, nevada and arizona where republicans are now gaining ground and looking to beat incumbent democrats. >> we need a red wave badly. >> reporter: and here in pennsylvania, both parties all in. president biden, former president obama and former president trump

abc's maryalice parks joins us from capitol hill as final vote numbers are still being tallied.d morning, maryalice. >> reporter: janai, good morning, democrats seal the deal in the senate with this win in nevada last night. a major moment in these midterm elections that have been so surprising where, across the board, we've seen democrats exceeding expectations. this morning, democrats coming up aces in nevada, now projected to win the senate seat there and with it control of the senate. >> tonight, with the victories in arizona and nevada, democrats will remain the majority party in the senate and i will remain majority leader. this is a great night for democrats, it's a great night for our candidates who won. it's a great night for america. >> reporter: president biden overseas celebrating the win. >> i'm incredibly pleased by the turnout and i think it's a reflection of the quality of our candidates. >> reporter: democratic senator catherine cortez masto the first latina elected to the u.s. senate, edging out her opponent republican adam laxalt. the largest county in the sta

abc's white house correspondent maryalice parks joins us now from capitol hill with the latest. maryalice, good morning. >> reporter: whit, good morning. yeah, big win overnight for democrats. maricopa county, the phoenix area, reported results from about 75,000 additional ballots overnight, and in those totals democratic senator mark kelly was able to secure his lead and his win over republican candidate blake masters who was backed by former president trump. kelly is a former nasa astronaut. he's married to former congressman gabby giffords and pitched himself as a bipartisan problem solver. we know president biden called senator kelly to congratulate him. he will now head back to washington, and with that win, democrats are closer to potentially securing their majority in the senate. now, in the arizona governor's race, which has also gotten so much attention nationwide, democrat katie hobbs maintained her lead over republican kari lake with new results posted overnight, but no final projection yet in that race. but, of course, we are all still waiting to see what will happen

maryalice parks joins us now. how is the biden administration responding? >> yeah, linsey, it all comes after that dinner between former president trump, kanye, and nick fuentes, who has been labeled a white supremacist by the justice department, and he's well known in far right circles for his brazen, sexist, racist, and extremely anti-semitic views. the white house telling us bigotry, hate, and anti-semitism have no place in america, including at mar-a-lago. holocaust denial is repugnant and dangerous and it must be forcefully condemned. the former president claimed the dinner which happened last tuesday was supposed to be between just him and kanye and said, quote, he arrived with a guest who i had never met and knew nothing about. in response to the dinner, the republican jewish coalition called on all political leaders to reject kanye and fuentes' hate and refuse to meet with them. trump's own former ambassador to israel put out a scathing statement, too. he said even a social visit with fuentes was unacceptable. he urged trump to disavow them. tonight

abc's maryalice parks joins us from capitol hill. we know that federal and state law enforcement officers are really paying attention to this. and it sounds like several incidents are already being investigated. >> yeah, linsey. federal law enforcement agencies are tracking a range of issues. a federal analysis obtained by abc news shows domestic violent extremists pose a heightened threat and agencies are worrying targets could be polling places, poll workers and federal officials. any public officials. and just yesterday, like you said, there was a scare at the headquarters of arizona gubernatorial candidate kari lake. the fbi, hazmat, and bomb squad all called in after an alleged suspicious white substance was found in the mail. but linsey, there are also cyberthreats. we know that law enforcement and homeland security officials are worried about disinformation online. and on social media. easily planted by our foreign adversaries that could cause panic and could cause people to think that there might be a problem and that could b

abc's maryalice parks has more from washington. good morning, maryalice. >> reporter: eva, good morning. once again we are seeing texas governor greg abbott really ratchet up the display of texas state resources there along the border. we've seen similar moves from him before. abbott likes to grab attention, blast the white house for not doing enough, and make the argument that texas is taking matters into its own hands. we are told the texas national guard will deploy about ten of these vehicles. last night in a statement, the texas military department told us this was part of a larger strategy to use every available tool to fight back against a record level of illegal immigration. it's unclear what exactly these vehicles will be used for. the question is always how well is texas coordinating with federal enforcement. of course, the federal government has ultimate jurisdiction there along the border. last night, the white house responded, they told me, quote, every time governor abbott has meddled in federal enforcement, he's crea

maryalice parks has been following this. >> reporter: some big crucial counties right in atlanta areaters will have the choice to head to the polls starting today. this is the last big cliffhanger in this election season. democratic senator warnock is trying to keep his seat, he's facing that challenge from republican herschel walker, but there has been this real battle over voting, over the options that voters would have in this runoff race, democrats fought to keep the polls open today to have this special saturday voting. they wanted to give voters as many options as possible, as many days as possible to vote. republicans went to court multiple times to try to forbid saturday voting but ultimately they lost. so in 27 counties today, voters will have the option to go and vote and starting on monday, voters all across the state will have the option to go in and vote early in person if they choose up ahead of that december 6th runoff date. now, remember, democrats have already secured enough votes to keep control of the senate, this race will not change that, but if democratic senator

maryalice, good morning to you. >> reporter: whit, good morning, this is a small step that could haveig impact down the road, and what we know is that the treasury department granted chevron a limited six-month lease to start up operations again, it's part of larger talks. a way to acknowledge that the maduro regime is moving in the right direction, taking small steps toward democracy. all other sanctions will stay in place right now. but of course this comes at a time where global energy markets have been feeling such a crunch with the war in ukraine. venezuela has some of the largest oil reserves in the world. the timing here is noticeable, this white house knows that americans have been feeling the crunch, but for context here the head of chevron said he thought it could take months, even years, to fully ramp up production. to make an impact on energy markets. there's a lot of old equipment down there at least both sides are talking. this morning republicans blasting the administration for this move, whit, saying they think the biden administration should be doing a lot more to boo

maryalice, good morning to you. >> reporter: whit, good morning.the holiday spoke briefly to reporters about these two devastating mass shootings in colorado and virginia. he said he wants to see red flag laws used more and better enforced. if a judge agrees a family member or law enforcement can move to remove any weapons from a person who might be seen as a danger. and the president again called for a ban on assault weapons. he said, quote, the idea we still allow semiautomatic weapons to be purchased is sick, just sick. it has no social redeeming values. zero, none. president biden is passionate about this. he said he's going to continue to try to get votes for this in congress but, of course, passing any ban like this would be an incredible uphill battle. the reality is he couldn't get this done when democrats had control of both chambers and, of course, next year republicans will control the house and the white house also yesterday told us that the president took time to call the owners of club q, the site of that shooting in colorado springs

maryalice parks has the details. >> i am announcing my candidacy.orter: days after trump declared his third run for the white house, attorney general merrick garland announcing his decision to appoint a special counsel to oversee two different criminal investigations with trump at the center. >> appointing special counsel at this time is the right thing to do. reporter: merrick garland saying it was to keep these investigations independent and remove any appearance of politics. >> faced on recent develops -- developments, including the former president's announcement that he is a candidate for president and visited president -- and visiting president claiming to be a candidate as well, i concluded it is in public interest to appoint a special counsel. reporter: jack smith used to lead the department's integrity section and served as chief prosecutor investigating war crimes in the hague. he says he will move forward expeditiously toward whatever outcome defects dictate. he will oversee the investigation into trump's role into any illegal efforts to