Good morning. I’m Corinne Straight, and this is AlterNet America. Please take a moment to click the ❤️ and restack this post. The oligarchs’ platforms are trying to keep stories like the ones below from hitting your feeds, and this helps us break through.
Trump’s data center push is turning his own voters into Democrats three weeks before the midterms. A Republican super PAC accidentally spent $25,000 running pro-Collins ads in Portland, Oregon, instead of Portland, Maine. Elon Musk and Stephen Miller humiliated themselves spreading a debunked conspiracy theory that Texas Senate candidate James Talarico was secretly treated at a mental health facility in Ohio. And Pennsylvania’s measles outbreak has killed six people while the government only officially recognizes two.
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Republican voters have forgiven Trump for a lot of things, but nobody forgives a loud neighbor.
The Economist and YouGov matched about 150,000 survey respondents to the nearest data center, and found that those who live close to one are shifting toward Democrats at almost four times the national rate. About 17 percent of Trump’s 2024 voters who live near a data center now say they would vote for a Democrat, compared with 6 percent of his voters elsewhere.
Among those voters, Democratic support has grown from 54% in May to 61%. The national swing was only two points over the same period.
Democratic candidates in competitive districts have built their campaigns on the backlash. Teresa Benitez-Thompson in Nevada’s second congressional district has made the issue a centerpiece of her television ads, and Lauren Boebert’s Democratic challenger in Colorado has proposed forcing data center operators to pay for the new energy infrastructure they need.
Meanwhile, Trump has warned that communities that oppose data centers risk becoming “backwards and poor.” He made the comment in July at an event attended by tech executives who collectively have more than $700 billion in data center investments committed for 2026, as he promoted a new executive order to fast-track permitting for AI infrastructure.
Nobody tell them there are also two Springfields.
A Republican political group mistakenly spent nearly $25,000 on ads to help Sen. Susan Collins in Portland, Oregon rather than Portland, Maine. The ads, run by the Defending Main Street SuperPAC, targeted Collins’ Democratic opponent Troy Jackson from almost 3,000 miles away from voters who could do anything about it.
The ad, which called Jackson “taxin’ Troy Jackson,” ran in the Oregon media market extending into Washington state. The firm that placed the buy, Cross Screen Media, attributed the mistake to working on thousands of campaigns at once.
Sarah Chamberlain, president and CEO of the Republican Main Street Partnership, told NBC News she was “furious” about the error. Cross Screen Media admitted to the mistake, refunded the money, and is now running the ad in the correct Portland.
The error comes as outside groups have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on Maine’s Senate race, one of the most expensive in the country this cycle. Republican groups have spent or scheduled a whopping $67.8 million on pro-Collins ads, and they hold a more than 2-to-1 advantage over Democrats in planned ad spending.
Apparently the only thing more contagious than the flu is a conspiracy theory about it.
Democratic Texas Senate nominee James Talarico spent nine days off the campaign trail with the flu, and by Sunday conservative social media had spun his absence into a conspiracy theory. A post on X claiming he had been secretly treated at a mental health facility in Ohio garnered millions of views.
Elon Musk, Trump adviser Stephen Miller, Laura Loomer, and a number of Texas Republican legislators amplified the claim. All shared a recording posted by a self-described right-wing provocateur who admitted that two right-leaning outlets had already declined to run it.
Talarico’s opponent, Republican Gov. Ken Paxton, also fanned the flames all week. He pushed reports of Talarico’s canceled events, led supporters in a “Where Is James Talarico?” chant at a rally with Trump, and announced a tip line for information about Talarico’s whereabouts.
Talarico’s campaign provided The New York Times with time-stamped security camera footage from his home that showed him there between October 1 and October 8. The Ohio facility was also forced to issue a public statement, confirming that Talarico had never been treated there. Talarico responded by noting that he’s never even been to the state.
Talarico then challenged Paxton to a debate, noting that the Republican hasn’t responded to his proposal in 85 days. “He has asked for proof of life for me,” Talarico told MS NOW. “I’m asking for proof of spine from him.”
We put a man on the moon in 1969 but we cannot put a needle in an arm in 2026.
A sixth person infected with measles has died in Pennsylvania as the state battles the worst outbreak in more than 35 years. The latest death was a 39-year-old woman in Franklin County who had been previously treated for measles and had underlying health issues.
The CDC’s own website lists only two deaths in Pennsylvania from measles, despite the state reporting six. The federal count hasn’t been updated since late September, with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. calling the numbers “fabricated.”
Democratic Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro blasted both Trump and Kennedy for their response, writing online, “Incompetence is letting measles, a disease that was declared eliminated in 2000, reemerge. Incompetence is denying the tragedy of four measles-associated deaths in Pennsylvania. Incompetence is standing right behind you, Mr. President.”
The state’s Department of Health has reported 1,136 confirmed cases since the start of the year, with 157 just in the past week. That brings the national total to 4,080 confirmed cases in 46 states and Washington, D.C, with 42 new outbreaks in 2026. The country is now at risk of losing its long-held status as measles-free.
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