If it's Friday with 18 days until the November midterms, Republicans are gaining confidence in retaking control of both houses of Congress.

As President Biden makes a bold prediction that his party will regain the momentum in the final stretch.

Plus, spotlight on Battleground, Arizona, where Democrat Katie Hobbs is trying to keep a rising star in the Republican Party out of that state's governor's mansion.

But she's refusing to face her opponent on the debate stage.

Will the gambit pay off?

My one-on-one with Katie Hobbs in just a moment.

And NBC News's interview with the decider-in-chief by the First Lady holds unparallel influence when it comes to the president's political future and what she said about his potential bid for re-election. Happy Friday. Welcome to Meet the Press Now. I'm Chuck Todd. We are just 18 days until E-Day, the

2022 midterms. And if you look at the polls, the campaign spending, and most importantly, candidate

behavior on the trail, momentum clearly

appears to be with the GOP, who's, of course, looking to flip control of both the House and the Senate.

But just this morning, President Biden said the juice would come back to the Democratic side

in the cycle's closing days, citing what he says is improving economic data.

You know, I know, and I don't blame you, you want to ask me about the midterms.

And here's what I think.

It's been back and forth with them ahead, us ahead, them ahead, back and forth.

And the polls have been all over the place. I think that we're going

to see one more shift back to our side, the closing days. And let me tell you why I think that.

We're starting to see some of the good news on the economy. Gas prices are down sharply in 46 of the

50 states because of what I've been doing. We're moving in the right direction.

There's more to come.

The most significant thing, though, that the president acknowledged was his parties behind.

So if people were wondering, boy, is the Times poll right?

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