**Donald Trump is seizing on a Democratic scandal in Alaska. **Will it be enough to help Republicans hold the Senate?
For months, Republicans claimed without evidence that a retired teacher named Dan J. Sullivan was really a so-called “spoiler” candidate, running merely to bleed votes from their candidate, the almost-identically-named Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan, in Alaska’s contentious race. Democrat Mary Peltola would benefit from any voter confusion between the two Dans, according to the theory, thanks to Alaska’s four-name ballot and ranked-choice voting system. Indeed, Peltola has been leading in the polls — with Teacher Dan apparently
siphoning supportfrom the incumbent.
Welp, even a busted clock is right twice an election cycle. Operatives from Peltola’s campaign, as well as the Senate Democrats’ campaign arm, deployed a secret plan to find as many Dan Sullivans as possible, and convince one to run against the incumbent, according to a
bombshell storyin theNew York Times.
Trump and Republicans are scrambling to capitalize on the news, in hopes that it might become the kind of October Surprise that helps them fend off a Democratic onslaught. Losing the Senate would go a long way towards making Trump a “
super-lame duck” with minimal power.
“It’s hard to believe that she can even be allowed to run,” Trump
𝕏told reporterstoday, referring to Peltola. “It’s so unfair,” added the president (who has been franticallylaying the groundworkto rig the midterms). Trump also called for Peltola to be criminally prosecuted.
The Peltola campaign and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee denied the
*Times’*reporting. But now, Trump’s Department of Justice is on the case. A criminal probe into the spoiler candidate controversy escalated with new subpoenas, the Associated Press reported today, citing unnamed sources.
Other Republicans are also zeroing in on the matter. Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R-AK)
ordered an investigationinto the “organized effort to manipulate” the election. House Republicans alsolaunched a probeinto the matter today. Alaska’s Supreme Court previously ruled that Teacher Dan could appear on the ballot.
Republicans might still be in trouble, whether Peltola wins or not.
Democratic Senate candidates have opened a wide lead over their opponents in Texas and Michigan,
according to new polling. Dems in the Maine and Kansas races are also ahead of their rivals, with slimmer leads, per the polls. South Carolina alsolooks like a tossup, if we can believe the polls.
All together, there’s a strong possibility that Dems retake the upper chamber. Polling guru Nate Silver puts those odds
at 75 percent.
The president has been on a tour of red states, hoping to convince loyal MAGA voters to head to the polls. But he suddenly
canceled his second trip to Kansasthis weekend in support of incumbent Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS), opting instead to host a series of virtual rallies. The scheduled trips to Kansas seem to tell us he’s worried about the state, where a new poll shows the Republican candidatedown by four points.
To Marshall’s opponent, the last-minute cancellation may signal Trump decided this trip wasn’t a good use of his time, after all.
“He was coming twice in two weeks. That’s never happened in the history of Kansas, as far as I know,” Rev. Adam Hamilton, who’s running as a Democrat against Marshall, told the
What A Daypodcast today. “He was trying to save Roger Marshall, and I just have to wonder if he’s realized this is a bad use of his time, because he’s probably not going to win.”
With the polling in his favor, Hamilton is feeling confident. “For the first time in 94 years, the Democrats are going to win the state of Kansas,” he said. “At least, it looks like we have a high likelihood.”
** Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired the **Pentagon’s chief planner, Army Lt. Gen. Brett Sylvia, without an immediate replacement. Sylvia
** Donald Trump took no action after learning that** a Chinese businesswoman, who became close with Nvidia chief Jensen Huang, had passed intelligence to Beijing last year, the
** The U.S. economy expanded by 3.4 percent** in the third quarter, another sign that the economy remains strong despite the affordability crisis. Unemployment claims
** Trump’s planned triumphal arch in the nation’s capital** would be a “generational national defense opportunity,” Hegseth and DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin argued in court declarations. It really seems they’re taking the “we need the
** Part of the Trump DOJ’s investigation into **Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) focuses on unverified suspicions that she might have entered an illegal marriage with a man suspected of being brother to help him obtain a green card, the
** Nearly 300 websites of candidates running for Congress** likely contain AI-generated text, according to a
** A group known as the Department of Peace allegedly **hacked DHS, obtaining the records of more than 41,000 people who work for the agency. “They have our information, so it’s only fair that we have theirs,” the hackers wrote in a note in the hacked files, according to a transparency nonprofit.
** A federal judge blocked the Trump administration’s attempt** to stop California from counting 20,000 ballots in the midterms, saying that the effort could disenfranchise thousands of people and infringe upon states’ rights to conduct their own elections.
** Residents of a Ukrainian town are relishing** the unusual peace that has followed Melania Trump’s announcement of a limited, local ceasefire last week. One family spent hours strolling the streets, which had been often under threat by Russian artillery and drones, with their eight-month-old son, who was bundled in a Mickey Mouse hat and fleece panda pants. “We wish it were like this all the time,” his mother said.
** Astronauts Anil Menon and Joshua Kutryk conducted **a spacewalk today, marking the 285th in NASA’s history. CBC posted an epic video with the title: “
** A Texas school district renamed its elementary school **after its beloved longtime custodian. “I still can’t believe it,” custodian Marilyn Hampton, who worked at the school for 39 years, told a local outlet. “I haven’t stopped crying.”
** The Smithsonian National Zoo announced that **a pair of red panda twins born earlier this year will be known as Shanti (named after Nepal’s first female
