Mic Daily: Beto O’Rourke’s and Ted Cruz’s debate gets heated — and other news of the day

Impact

Good evening folks, and happy Wednesday. As always, I’m here to be your guide through Mic’s top five stories of the day. Here we go.

2018 may bring a blue wave, but these 3 Democratic House seats may fall to the GOP

Andrew Harnik/AP

Ahead of the November midterms, seemingly the biggest topic on everyone’s minds is the impending “blue wave” — whether Democrats will be able to win back a majority in Congress. Democratic candidates certainly have the momentum to win back a number of key seats, but that success likely won’t be universal across both the House and Senate.

Mic reporter Emily Singer has identified three races in which Democratic seats might actually fall back to the GOP.

Another reason Trump won’t stand up to Saudi Arabia? They’re central to his plan for Iran.

Evan Vucci/AP

Recently, President Donald Trump has been defending Saudi Arabia, despite reports that it tortured and killed dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Some have theorized Trump is going easy on Riyadh because of Trump’s business ties to Saudi Arabia, but Mic writer Eric Lutz has another theory: The country has an important role in his plans for Iran.

Beto O’Rourke and Ted Cruz debate gets testy as challenger goes on attack

Tom Reel/AP

In their second Senate debate ahead of the November midterms, Rep. Beto O’Rourke and Sen. Ted Cruz traded spicy jabs at one another throughout the night.

“Senator Cruz is not going to be honest with you,” O’Rourke said. “He’s going to make up positions and votes that I never held or have ever taken. He’s dishonest. That’s why the president has called him ‘Lyin’ Ted,’ and it’s why the nickname stuck — because it’s true.”

Twitter is exposing and archiving misleading tweets that are tampering with our politics

Mic/Twitter

In a blog post published Wednesday, Twitter made public the tweets, media and account information associated with attempts to influence the conversation surrounding the 2016 presidential election. The information includes more than 3,000 accounts originating in Russia, and more than 10 million tweets dating back to 2009.

Javier Bardem calls Woody Allen a “genius,” says he would work with him again “tomorrow”

Evan Agostini/AP

Since the rise of the modern #MeToo movement, a number of actors have come forward to say they would no longer work with Woody Allen, who has been accused of sexual misconduct. Javier Bardem, one of the stars of Allen’s 2008 film Vicky Cristina Barcelona, is not one of those people.

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