Trump rages at Alaska Democrat who reportedly recruited man with similar name as Republican opponent
Donald Trump responded on Wednesday afternoon to a new investigation from The New York Times, which found that Mary Peltola’s Alaska Senate campaign actively recruited a man with the exact same name as Peltola’s Republican opponent in order to peel away votes.
In a social media post, Trump insisted that Peltola’s actions were illegal (it’s not clear that they were) and that Peltola should be disqualified from the race.
“It has just been determined that the Democrats in Alaska illegally searched for, and recruited, a man named Dan Sullivan to run against our distinguished Republican Senator, Dan Sullivan, in order to defraud, confuse, and obfuscate the Election, thereby taking votes away from the REAL Senator, Dan Sullivan,” Trump wrote on his personal social media account.
Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola during the 2026 Alaska Fisheries Debate with Republican Senator Dan Sullivan in September. Photograph: Nathaniel Wilder/Bloomberg via Getty Images
The Peltola campaign had, up until now, denied any connection to the campaign launched by the second Dan Sullivan, who just so happened to share the name of Senator Dan Sullivan, the Republican incumbent whose seat Peltola is trying to win.
The Department of Justice has moved to try and block the certification of the Alaska Senate race, should the second, non-Republican Mr. Sullivan pull enough votes to shift the outcome.
Trump continued: “The Democrats’ false statements were made under oath in Federal Court. Therefore, they perjured themselves, and should be liable for very serious consequences. Mary Peltola should suffer the Legal and Political consequences for what she has done, A FRAUD ON THE AMERICAN PUBLIC, and Dan Sullivan should be allowed to run without either Mary Peltola or FAKE Dan Sullivan on the Ballot.”
Updated at 15.42 EDT
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Trump shared another post to social media railing against Mary Peltola and calling for her disqualification over recruiting a second Dan Sullivan into the Senate race:
“In Alaska, I don’t think Mary Peltola, after perpetrating such a terrible scheme, should be allowed to run, because this is ELECTION FRAUD,” Trump wrote. “The Democrats cheated! They found a man named Dan Sullivan, put him on the Ballot, then lied to the Court, and said they didn’t know anything about it. That’s perjury. She shouldn’t be allowed to run, and neither should the FAKE Dan Sullivan!”
Updated at 15.38 EDT
Trump rages at Alaska Democrat who reportedly recruited man with similar name as Republican opponent
Donald Trump responded on Wednesday afternoon to a new investigation from The New York Times, which found that Mary Peltola’s Alaska Senate campaign actively recruited a man with the exact same name as Peltola’s Republican opponent in order to peel away votes.
In a social media post, Trump insisted that Peltola’s actions were illegal (it’s not clear that they were) and that Peltola should be disqualified from the race.
“It has just been determined that the Democrats in Alaska illegally searched for, and recruited, a man named Dan Sullivan to run against our distinguished Republican Senator, Dan Sullivan, in order to defraud, confuse, and obfuscate the Election, thereby taking votes away from the REAL Senator, Dan Sullivan,” Trump wrote on his personal social media account.
Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola during the 2026 Alaska Fisheries Debate with Republican Senator Dan Sullivan in September. Photograph: Nathaniel Wilder/Bloomberg via Getty Images
The Peltola campaign had, up until now, denied any connection to the campaign launched by the second Dan Sullivan, who just so happened to share the name of Senator Dan Sullivan, the Republican incumbent whose seat Peltola is trying to win.
The Department of Justice has moved to try and block the certification of the Alaska Senate race, should the second, non-Republican Mr. Sullivan pull enough votes to shift the outcome.
Trump continued: “The Democrats’ false statements were made under oath in Federal Court. Therefore, they perjured themselves, and should be liable for very serious consequences. Mary Peltola should suffer the Legal and Political consequences for what she has done, A FRAUD ON THE AMERICAN PUBLIC, and Dan Sullivan should be allowed to run without either Mary Peltola or FAKE Dan Sullivan on the Ballot.”
Updated at 15.42 EDT
How an innocent chain restaurant became a talking point in the final days before the midterm election
It was a fairly standard quip from former president Barack Obama, delivered to an Ohio crowd as he stumped for the state’s Democratic midterm ticket.
“He’s got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory,” Obama said, mocking Trump’s redecorating of the White House. “Just gold everywhere.”
Little did the ex-president know, that remark would catapult the humble Cheesecake Factory, and its interior decorating choices, into the public consciousness, ahead of a decisive vote for control of Congress.
Republicans quickly hit back at the remark, accusing Obama of being elitist and out-of-touch (a well-worn talking point) for speaking ill of the interior decorating of a beloved restaurant enjoyed by vast swaths of everyday Americans.
My colleague Matthew Cantor has the full story here:
Updated at 15.30 EDT
Vice President JD Vance just took the stage at a campaign event in Kinston, North Carolina.
Vance’s stop in the state comes as the Republican Senate nominee, Michael Whatley, is trailing in the polls to Democratic former governor Roy Cooper.
The vice president has been barnstorming across the country in recent weeks to stump for Republican candidates, serving as one of Trump’s top surrogates on the campaign trail. In the last several days, he’s made stops in Montana, Kansas, and Michigan, among other states.
Updated at 14.59 EDT
Federal Reserve keeps interest rates steady
The Federal Reserve has opted to maintain interest rates at their current level, though inflation remains higher than the central bank’s target.
In a statement, the Fed characterized inflation as “elevated,” remaining above the bank’s target of two percent. Two members of the central bank’s board of governors voted against the decision to keep rates steady, preferring a quarter-point increase. One of them was Lisa Cook, the member who President Trump has tried and so far failed to remove over unsubstantiated claims of mortgage fraud.
President Trump has leaned on the Federal Reserve, as well as Kevin Warsh, his newly appointed chair of the body, to lower interest rates, hoping it would juice the economy. But lower rates can also worsen inflation, which the central bank has been dedicated to reining in.
My colleague Gaya Gupta has more on the Fed’s most recent decision here:
Updated at 14.34 EDT
Dolores Huerta, titanic leader in labor and civil rights movement, dies at 96
Dolores Huerta, an influential leader in both the organized labor and civil rights movements who won organized major labor protests and won better conditions for agricultural workers, has died at 96.
Her namesake foundation said in a statement that she died at her home in Bakersfield, California, surrounded by family members.
“We are sad to announce that our beloved mother, Dolores Huerta, has passed away today at the age of 96,” Huerta’s family said in a statement. “As you can imagine, this is an incredibly difficult time for us, and we ask for privacy as we grieve this incredible loss to our family. We know that many of you around the world share in our mourning, and we will be following up on plans to recognize and celebrate her incredible life and legacy.”
Several prominent Democrats, including former president Bill Clinton and his wife, former first lady and secretary of state Hillary Clinton, as well as former House speaker Nancy Pelosi, publicly mourned Huerta’s death.
Labor activist Dolores Huerta shakes hands with people after addressing a rally at the Rosemont high school in Sacramento in March 2022. Photograph: Rich Pedroncelli/AP
“With the passing of Dolores Huerta, Hillary and I have lost a dear friend, and we’ve all lost a stalwart champion of working Americans,” Bill Clinton said in a statement.
“Dolores was a dear friend, and we all responded to her rallying cry, ‘Sí se puede,’ which inspired generations of Americans to believe in the power of collective action,” Pelosi said in a statement.
The legacy of the labor movement Huerta helped lead was shaken earlier this year when Huerta, along with several other women, accused Cesar Chavez, another UFW co-founder and towering figure in the labor movement, of sexual abuse in an investigation published by the New York Times.
Updated at 14.10 EDT
A Senate race in deep red South Carolina could go either way, poll finds
The race for a Senate seat in South Carolina, a state normally as deep red as they come, could break for either the Republicans or Democrats in the midterm election, a new poll from the New York Times and Siena University has found.
Darline Graham, the sister of the deceased senator Lindsey Graham who was appointed to finish his term, leads her Democratic challenger, Annie Andrews, by a single percentage point, the poll found. If Andrews were to win, it would be the first time in nearly three decades South Carolina has voted a Democrat into the Senate.
The poll comes amid growing Republican unease about the security of House and Senate seats that are normally reliable GOP strongholds. Polls show races in places such as Kansas, Ohio and Texas with margins much closer than anticipated, or even Democrats leading.
In recent weeks, top Republicans, including Donald Trump and JD Vance, have campaigned in those deep red states in addition to more expected battlegrounds, like Michigan.
Updated at 13.28 EDT
‘A revolution in slow motion’: is Arizona’s wealthiest district finally done with Trump?
Mary Jo Pitzl
in Scottsdale, Arizona
Donald Trump has repeatedly asked voters to pretend that he is on the ballot in November’s crucial midterm elections. And in the comfortable confines of Arizona’s most affluent and fiercely contested congressional district, Trump is definitely on voters’ minds.
But whether that helps or hurts the warring congressional candidates in this sun-drenched swath of suburbia, where Teslas and walled-in luxury homes dominate, depends on who you ask.
“Any politician on the face of the Earth who’s a Republican is not getting my vote,” Tom Wolfe, a lifelong Republican, said while sitting down to a lunch of a burger and fries. Trump’s endorsement is a “death knell”, the 82-year-old said. He plans to vote for Democrats in next week’s elections.
For David McGahan, a retired accountant reveling in his retirement life in Rio Verde, a desert enclave outside Scottsdale, the economy and the country are working well under Trump.
“I like the course the country is on,” McGahan said while pumping gas at a local Costco. “Mostly,” he conceded, when a reporter noted the $101 charge for his fill-up.
Cushioned between blue cities and red counties, America’s suburbs have emerged nationally as political battlegrounds. That is especially true of Arizona’s first congressional district, which includes north Scottsdale and Paradise Valley.
Here, among the high-end golf courses and desert estates with breathtaking mountain views, the competition between Democrat Amish Shah – an emergency room doctor who narrowly lost the seat in 2024 – and Republican Jay Feely – a former NFL kicker backed by Trump – could help determine control of the House in November.
Voters wait in line to cast their ballots on 5 November 2024 in Scottsdale, Arizona. Photograph: Mario Tama/Getty Images
Since Trump’s election a decade ago, Republicans’ hold on the district has slipped, though the party still maintains a voter registration advantage. The seat is open, after Republican congressman David Schweikert opted to not seek a ninth term.
“These are your McCain-type voters,” said Matt Grodsky, a Democratic political strategist referring to the late Arizona senator and 2008 Republican presidential nominee John McCain. They’re business owners, hold college degrees and relatively tuned in to politics.
Given the current dissatisfaction with the Trump agenda and no incumbent with built-in name ID, Grodsky said circumstances are ripe for a change in this one-time Republican stronghold.
double quotation markIf there’s going to be a swing, it should be this cycle.
You can read Mary Jo Pitzl’s dispatch here:
Updated at 12.55 EDT
Will ‘prairie populism’ defeat Republicans in the midterms? – podcast
Adam Hamilton in Kansas, Dan Osborn in Nebraska, Joshua Turek in Iowa. They’re all hoping to flip ruby-red states in the midterm elections next Tuesday.
In this episode of our Politics Weekly America podcast, Jonathan Freedland speaks to Rachel Leingang about her reporting across the midwest, where she has charted the renaissance of progressive populism.
Updated at 12.39 EDT
US costs of Iran war rise to over $47bn, Pentagon estimates
The US military has spent over $47bn so far on Donald Trump’s war against Iran, more than 25% higher than the defense department’s estimate in July, according to Pentagon data first obtained by Reuters.
The figure includes $29bn in munitions fired by US forces, while the destruction of other weapons platforms, such as fighter jets, has cost $6bn. The figures does not account for damage sustained by US military bases in the region during the last eight months.
The disclosure comes as Republicans scramble to mitigate the political fallout of the deeply unpopular conflict, launched by the US and Israel in February, ahead of next week’s midterm elections that will determine control of Congress for the next two years.
The war’s impact on global energy costs and the cost-of-living crisis in the US has weighed on support for Republican candidates, even in previously reliably red states, and has tanked Trump’s approval ratings.
Trump is reportedly considering further strikes against Iran after the midterms.
Updated at 12.40 EDT
How Trump is trying to disrupt the midterms – video explainer
From redrawing electoral maps to installing a sense of uncertainty around the electoral process ahead of the midterms on 3 November, Republicans have deployed several tactics to try to skew the vote in their favor.
As Donald Trump’s popularity continues to drop, it is crucial for him and his administration to retain a majority in Congress or they could face investigations and even impeachment.
In this video explainer, Guardian political reporter Shrai Popat looks at the ways the Republicans have tried and are still trying to influence the election.
How Trump is trying to disrupt the midterms – video explainerShare
Updated at 12.18 EDT
Mark Kelly on possible 2028 run: ‘I’m considering it’
Shrai Popat
in Brunswick, Maine
While stumping on behalf of Troy Jackson, the Democratic nominee for US Senate in Maine, Senator Mark Kelly teased a possible run for president in 2028.
“I’m considering it,” the Democratic lawmaker for Arizona said at a campaign event for Maine veterans in Brunswick. “I’ll make a decision after this election sometime.”
Kelly noted the weight of the decision. “You know, I’ve always served this country … usually in the cockpit, strapped into the rocket ship,” he said. “By far, the most important job I’ve ever had is the one I have now,” he said referring to his first full-term as US senator.
“If I screw it up in the rocket ship, it just gets blown up. People get over it in a week. This is different. I mean, this is 350 million people, and people around the world. It’s important that the United States maintains its position of leadership in the world,” Kelly added.
Updated at 13.44 EDT