“Some counties in North Carolina and Pennsylvania extended voting hours and delayed ballot counting, after reports of a small number of technical problems at polling places Tuesday,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
Haley Stevens Requests U.S. Marshals’ Protection
“Rep. Haley Stevens has requested U.S. marshals’ protection after the Democrat told authorities she had received death threats for endorsing Republican Mike Rogers in the swing state’s hotly contested Senate race,” Axios reports.
RNC Chair Expects ‘Some Big Surprises’ On Election Day
“With less than 24 hours until Election Day and control of Congress at stake, Republican National Convention Chairman Joe Gruters believes some ‘big surprises’ are coming,” NewsNation reports.
Alaska’s Ranked Choice Voting Is On the Ballot This Year
“Alaska voters will decide next week for the second time in as many cycles whether they want to scramble the state’s ranked choice voting system, as Republicans fret it could cost them a tight Senate race,” Politico reports.
“Alongside the high-profile statewide races, Alaskans are voting on Ballot Measure 2, which would roll back a host of election reforms voters approved in 2020, including the state’s unique all-party primary and top-4 ranked choice general election.”
“A successful repeal of Alaska’s election reforms could reshape how competitive future races in the politically idiosyncratic state will be — and be a boon for the national anti-ranked choice movement.”
Musk-Linked Dark Money Network Funded Cornel West
“The nonprofit that helped get Cornel West on presidential ballots in 2024 received all of its funding that year through a conservative political network that has been bankrolled by Elon Musk,” Sludge reports.
Iowa Ad Calling Democrat ‘Dangerous’ Boomerangs
“A Republican woman in a campaign commercial gave a grave warning about Sarah Trone Garriott, the Democratic candidate in one of Iowa’s most competitive House districts,” the Washington Post reports.
Said city councilwoman Shellie Flockhart: “When it comes to our kids, Sarah is just plain dangerous.”
“Flockhart pleaded guilty to charges related to child endangerment and driving under the influence after authorities said she drove drunk with two of her children in the car in 2017.”
Musk Settles Lawsuits Over His Election Giveaways
“Elon Musk and his political action committee have agreed to settle two lawsuits that accused them of misleading voters with promises of $1 million checks before the 2024 presidential election and in a 2025 Wisconsin Supreme Court election,” the Washington Sun reports.
“Legal counsel for the parties notified a federal judge in Texas that they’d struck an agreement to end the dual class-action suits Thursday. Terms of the settlements are not public and still require court approval.”
Chris Cuomo Admits He ‘Fucked Up’ with 2024 Advice
“Chris Cuomo admitted he ‘fucked up’ when he told viewers to be ‘open’ to voting for President Donald Trump in the 2024 election,” Mediaite reports.
John Kennedy Is So Hot Right Now
“Addressing a group of a dozen or so reporters at his campaign event here last week, Mike Rogers, the Republican candidate for Senate in Michigan, joked he might not be the main attraction,” the Washington Sun reports.
“John Kennedy, the Louisiana senator popular on the right for one-liners delivered in a Southern drawl, had just entered the room at a countryside winery and farm north of Detroit. And Rogers quickly gave him the floor.”
“The two-term senator has become one of the most public faces in the upper chamber due in large part to his folksy aphorisms that have been blasted far and wide. He’s become a staple of cable news and social media, where clips of his questioning of individuals before committees frequently go viral.”
Anxious Maine Democrats Turn to Bernie Sanders for a Jolt
“When Graham Platner dropped out of the Senate race in Maine in July after a rape allegation he denied, it deflated many Democrats who had rallied to his campaign,” the New York Times reports.
“Three months later, some Democrats in the state are worried about the enthusiasm for Mr. Platner’s last-minute replacement, Troy Jackson, in his pivotal race against Senator Susan Collins, a fifth-term Republican. In the final weeks of a close race, Mr. Jackson and his allies are still trying to excite voters who were disillusioned after the summer switch.”
“This weekend, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a leader of the progressive movement who is popular across New England, decamped to the state for a three-rally trip to try to energize Mr. Jackson’s campaign.”
Mediaite: Susan Collins interrupted by heckler at Maine fair: ‘You can’t eat road salt, can you?!’
The GOP’s Redistricting Bet Is Getting Expensive
“Republicans’ unprecedented mid-decade redistricting push created 14 new strongly red districts,” Punchbowl News reports.
”But with less than a month until Election Day, the GOP is a sure bet to win only five of these races.”
”And here’s a crazy statistic: since Sept. 1, Republican candidates and super PACs have spent nearly $100 million on ads trying to flip the other nine districts.”
When gerrymandering becomes dummymandering.
The Curse of the Incumbent
David Graham: “When Donald Trump completed his own presidential comeback in the 2024 U.S. election, one common explanation was that a fundamental change had occurred in American politics, realigning demographics, parties, and policy for the long run.”
“A competing narrative, especially popular among comparative scholars, focused on a wave of anti-incumbent results in elections around the world. In this view, the results were more a rejection of Joe Biden’s administration and his vice president, Kamala Harris, than they were an embrace of Trump—and part of a broad trend of dissatisfaction among voters in many countries.”
“The specific motivations of the global anti-incumbent wave have never been entirely obvious. They include a post-COVID hangover but also deeper running dissatisfaction with democratic systems of government. Whatever the reasons, the trend is an important shift.”
Derrick Van Orden Hit with Cease-and-Desist Letter
“Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI) received a cease-and-desist letter Wednesday from attorneys representing Rebecca Cooke, his Democratic challenger for Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District, over the use of AI deepfake videos against his opponent,” the Washington Sun reports.
Obama Boosts Senate Democrats with October Fundraiser
“Former President Barack Obama is looking to give Democrats a financial boost, headlining a fundraiser next month with the party’s Senate campaign arm,” NBC News reports.
“The event, scheduled for Oct. 7 in the Washington area, will be Obama’s first fundraiser with the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee this election cycle.”
How Corruption Is Popping Up in Ads Everywhere
“Amid a knockdown, drag-out fight for control of Congress, one issue is dominating advertising and transcending partisan divides, instead pitting challengers against incumbents: Everyone is running against members of Congress trading stocks,” NBC News reports.
“At least one TV or digital ad mentioning the issue has run in the last month in nearly every competitive race for Congress.”
For members: Affordability Meets Corruption
Judge Dismisses Trump’s Lawsuit Against Iowa Newspaper
“A judge on Wednesday dismissed Donald Trump’s lawsuit accusing The Des Moines Register and its former pollster of misrepresenting the state of the 2024 presidential race, rejecting the president’s claim that the newspaper’s poll coverage violated Iowa’s consumer fraud law,” the Associated Press reports.
Trump Has Other Ways to Meddle in the Midterms
The Economist: “The president appears out of options to change voting rules before November. That does not stop other machinations. Three worries predominate: that the president might send federal officers to the polls to intimidate voters, order police to seize ballot boxes, or pressure MAGA-friendly election administrators to refuse to certify results.”
“State officials, Democratic congressmen and litigation non-profits have been war-gaming those scenarios for months.”
Most Primaries Didn’t Matter This Year
Washington Sun: “150 winners of primary elections, to fill 435 House seats, faced no opposition in the spring and summer contests, and now head into the general election without any doubt of their victory in November. A huge majority of those are incumbents seeking reelection.”
“Moreover, an additional 233 winners of House primaries sit in uncompetitive districts and are all but assured of winning, making the November general election an afterthought. That’s 88% of the entire House essentially already chosen through a primary process that often lacks competition itself.”
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Taegan Goddard
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.
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