State officials brace for federal scrutiny as voting nears
Alaska’s governor and President Trump called on Oct. 28 for a criminal investigation into Alaska’s Democratic Senate candidate, Mary Peltola, who faces allegations that her campaign secretly worked to recruit a spoiler to help her party win the pivotal Alaska Senate seat and potentially retake control of the Senate. The Justice Department expanded its criminal investigation Thursday, sending dozens of new grand jury subpoenas, The Wall Street Journal’s Politics newsletter reported.
The newsletter called the Alaska race the most chaotic in the country and described the spoiler-recruitment allegation as “this midterm election’s biggest October surprise.” It called the seat pivotal, writing that winning it could help Democrats retake control of the Senate.
State election officials and the Trump administration, meanwhile, are eyeing one another with extreme suspicion ahead of Tuesday’s midterms, after months of hostile interactions over the procedures for how Americans vote, the newsletter reported. States are preparing for potential interference from the federal government, and officials of both parties have been bracing for their electoral processes to come under a microscope. Contingency planning has reached new heights, according to the newsletter.
The late-campaign developments cap a primary season The Wall Street Journal dates to March 3, one week after the White House launched the war against Iran. The newsletter describes the period as a “Great American Political Realignment.” That day, 36-year-old state Rep. James Talarico defeated Rep. Jasmine Crockett to win the Democratic primary for Senate in Texas, and state Rep. Steve Toth trounced GOP Rep. Dan Crenshaw by 15 percentage points.
The next day, Sen. Steve Daines (R., Mont.) withdrew from running for re-election minutes before the deadline, sliding his chosen candidate into the race under the wire. On April 12, Rep. Eric Swalwell (D., Calif.) dropped out of the governor’s race and resigned from Congress the next day.
May brought a run of incumbent losses. Rep. Max Miller (R., Ohio) won his primary on May 3 after his father-in-law, Sen. Bernie Moreno (R., Ohio), suggested he should drop out. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R., La.) lost his primary on May 16, and Rep. Thomas Massie (R., Ky.) lost his on May 19. Sen. John Cornyn (R., Texas) lost a runoff on May 26 to Trump-backed Ken Paxton by nearly 30 percentage points, and Dan J. Sullivan Jr. filed paperwork on May 29 to run for Senate in Alaska, making him the second Dan Sullivan on that ballot.
Further races followed in the summer. Graham Platner won the Democratic primary for a Senate seat in Maine on June 9, and three candidates backed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani won primaries over establishment picks on June 23, to the chagrin of Democratic leaders. Platner dropped out July 8 amid mounting questions about his treatment of women. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) died suddenly July 11, and his sister Darline was soon appointed to his seat. On Aug. 4, Abdul El-Sayed narrowly defeated Rep. Haley Stevens in the Democratic primary for the Senate seat in Michigan.
Elsewhere in the newsletter, Venezuelan opposition figure Maria Corina Machado held her first news conference since her surprise return from exile, pushing for fresh elections. Secretary of State Marco Rubio hosts top global diplomats in Atlanta for the G-20 foreign ministers’ meeting. President Trump’s Friday schedule includes a radio interview at 7:30 a.m. ET with Missouri’s KCMO Talk Radio, a policy meeting at 12:30 p.m., a trip afterward to Daytona Beach, Fla., a tele-rally at 5 p.m. and a midterm rally at the Ocean Center at 7 p.m.
The Cornell University probe puts New York Attorney General Letitia James back in the spotlight, the newsletter reported. James, who built a national reputation by repeatedly suing Trump, is now in the hot seat for her lead role in investigating a 2024 sexual assault at Cornell University. Two fraternity members want her removed from the probe, arguing she has prejudged the case by offering public support for the alleged victim.
The newsletter also noted that on Oct. 29, 1994, a 26-year-old Army veteran fired 29 rounds from a semiautomatic rifle at the White House in an attempt to assassinate then-President Bill Clinton. Clinton was in the White House at the time but was unhurt.
The newsletter opened its rundown by noting there were signs all along that the campaign would be an unusual one. Tuesday’s midterms follow what The Wall Street Journal counts as 59 earlier midterm elections, with the Alaska investigation expanded this week and state officials still bracing for federal scrutiny of election procedures.