*By Justin Chermol*
For Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, Second-Amendment politics are deeply personal.
Mucarsel-Powell, an Ecuadorian-born U.S. citizen, is facing the two-term Republican incumbent, Congressman Carlos Curbelo, in Florida's 26th District. She lost her father to gun violence when she was just 24.
"I'm going to take action on day one and will not stop until we find solutions to protect our kids in this community," she told Cheddar's J.D. Durkin.
Just eight months ago, Florida ー and the country ー was rattled by a devastating high-school shooting that claimed 17 lives and spurred a wave of protests and a national conversation on gun reform.
As Election Day looms, many political spectators have fixed their gaze on Mucarsel-Powell's district, among the most contentious midterm races in the country. Florida's 26th district was among the few Republican-controlled districts won by Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential race.
The most recent [poll](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/upshot/elections-poll-fl26-3.html) from The New York Times has Mucarsel-Powell up 1 percent over the Congressman, with a margin of sampling error of 4.9 percent.
Mucarsel-Powell is calling for a four-pronged approach to reducing gun violence: banning military-style weapons, preventing gun show loopholes, requiring universal background checks, and prohibiting those with a history of domestic violence, mental illness, or terrorism, from purchasing a gun.
In a separate interview on Cheddar, Rep. Curbelo said of his efforts on gun reform: "I have a record of working across the aisle to get things done." That includes breaking with some Republicans to support a bill that would allow the federal government to research gun violence.
As for the race ー just six days away ー attack ads have stirred the local drama.
A super PAC backing Rep. Curbelo released a provocative ad featuring a man holding a gun on screen, the kind of message Mucarsel-Powell said is an intimidation tactic.
"The attacks against me have been really shameful," she said. "I think that it's time for Congressman Curbelo to really think about what he's doing to instigate and incite this type of behavior in this community."
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/the-race-for-floridas-26th-congressional-district).
The Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate Wednesday for a second time this year as it seeks to shore up economic growth and hiring even as inflation stays elevated. The move comes amid a fraught time for the central bank, with hiring sluggish and yet inflation stuck above the Fed’s 2% target. Compounding its challenges, the central bank is navigating without much of the economic data it typically relies on from the government. The Fed has signaled it may reduce its key rate again in December but the data drought raises the uncertainty around its next moves. Fed Chair Jerome Powell told reporters that there were “strongly differing views” at the central bank's policy meeting about to proceed going forward.
U.S. and Chinese officials say a trade deal between the world’s two largest economies is drawing closer. The sides have reached an initial consensus for President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping to aim to finalize during their high-stakes meeting Thursday in South Korea. Any agreement would be a relief to international markets. Trump's treasury secretary says discussions with China yielded preliminary agreements to stop the precursor chemicals for fentanyl from coming into the United States. Scott Bessent also says Beijing would make “substantial” purchases of soybean and other agricultural products while putting off export controls on rare earth elements needed for advanced technologies.
A new poll finds most U.S. adults are worried about health care becoming more expensive.
The White House budget office says mass firings of federal workers have started in an attempt to exert more pressure on Democratic lawmakers as the government shutdown continues.
President Donald Trump says “there seems to be no reason” to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping as part of an upcoming trip to South Korea after China restricted exports of rare earths needed for American industry. The Republican president suggested Friday he was looking at a “massive increase” of import taxes on Chinese products in response to Xi’s moves. Trump says one of the policies the U.S. is calculating is "a massive increase of Tariffs on Chinese products coming into the United States." A monthslong calm on Wall Street was shattered, with U.S. stocks falling on the news. The Chinese Embassy in Washington hasn't responded to an Associated Press request for comment.
Most members of the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate setting committee supported further reductions to its key interest rate this year, minutes from last month’s meeting showed.
