Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) criticized Michigan Democrat U.S. Senate candidate Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed, stating that his radical views on Israel were "more than concerning."
The post Nancy Pelosi Trashes Abdul El-Sayed, Says His Radical Views Are ‘Concerning… We’ll See If He Gets Elected’ appeared first on Breitbart.
The legacy media has been tying itself in knots over the explosive Alaska ballot scandal that has rocked a key Senate race ahead of Tuesday's election.
The New York Times published a bombshell report alleging that Democratic operatives recruited a man named Dan Sullivan to run as a spoiler candidate against incumbent Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan of Alaska, in hopes of aiding his Democratic opponent, former Rep. Mary Peltola.
CNN anchor Dana Bash went viral shortly after the Times broke its story when she reacted, "So, this is not illegal. It is not new."
"I use the term dirty tricks intentionally because it’s not illegal," Bash said.
"This is something that is untoward. It is something that Democrats have tried to do in races where they think it could be to their advantage to run candidates that could siphon votes away from Republicans, and Republicans do the same," Bash continued. "I mean, just in Alaska alone, Mary Peltola, who’s now on the ballot for the Senate, she lost her House race two years ago. On that ballot, there was a candidate who was literally in prison who was reportedly recruited and kept on the ballot at the behest of Republicans."
The CNN host reiterated, "These are dirty tricks. They are legal, dirty tricks."
Some outlets relied on the "Republicans pounce" trope, adjusting the framing of stories that reflect poorly on Democrats to focus on the reaction of Republicans.
"Trump, Murkowski hammer Peltola over Alaska ballot-stacking report," Politico's headline read Wednesday.
The Associated Press similarly ran Wednesday, "Trump calls for prosecution of Democratic Alaska Senate candidate over spoiler candidate controversy."
"Republicans launch investigations into Peltola campaign," The Washington Post's Thursday headline stated.
"Republicans are using it as fodder," MS NOW anchor Peter Alexander told viewers Thursday. "The Justice Department, which already preemptively sued to try to block the certification of that Senate race if the Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan loses, they're pouncing."
Honest Elections Project executive director Jason Snead isn’t surprised some in the media are bending over backwards to keep a Democrat from looking scandalous.
"This is a classic thing that we've been seeing with a lot of mainstream outlets, this idea that they're going to be more concerned about the Republican reaction to something seedy that the left is doing rather than the seedy thing itself, right? It's a very classic situation," Snead told Fox News Digital.
"I'm not surprised at all that we're seeing so many outlets today trying to either downplay the scandal up in Alaska, or to refocus on what Trump is doing or saying about it," he continued. "We know the media has double standards when it comes to the left and the right."
DEM STRATEGIST SHRUGS OFF ALASKA BALLOT SCANDAL ON MS NOW, INSISTS 'THIS STUFF HAPPENS ALL THE TIME'
Meanwhile, Bloomberg columnist Nia Malika-Henderson appeared to praise the effort, saying that grassroots Democrats would view the scheme as a "good thing" that Democrats "finally" are "bringing a knife to a knife fight."
"I was sort of impressed that they were able to pull all of this off," Malika-Henderson said Thursday on CNN, before lamenting how the story got leaked to the Times and how it will give President Donald Trump "wind in his sails" in his accusations that Democrats cheat in elections.
Some journalists, including ABC News correspondent Mary Bruce and CBS News correspondent Ed O'Keefe, stressed to viewers that the Democratic scheme was "not illegal" despite newly launched probes looking into the matter since the Times story broke.
NBC News published multiple videos on its website posing questions like, "Is it illegal for Peltola campaign to recruit candidates?" and "Is it illegal to convince someone to run for office?"
ALASKA'S GOVERNOR ORDERS INVESTIGATION AFTER NYT REPORT ON ALLEGED DEM-LINKED SENATE ELECTION SCHEME
Republicans have long been suspicious about the candidacy of Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., a retired teacher who is among four Senate candidates listed on Alaska's rank-choice ballot. The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the state of Alaska seeking to block certification of the election results if the incumbent senator loses and votes cast for the other Sullivan could have changed the outcome.
Mainstream articles taking their denials dating back to at least June have largely taken them as fact. The Associated Press even wrote, "Sullivan said his campaign isn’t a sham or something Democrats put him up to doing," months before the Times reported his candidacy was no coincidence.
"In the summer of 2025, a staffer for Mary Peltola, the Alaska Democrat who was eyeing a run for Senate, received unusual instructions from top campaign aides: Find as many people named Dan Sullivan in Alaska as you can," the Times began its report Wednesday.
"The staffer complied, combing through voter records to produce a list of Dan Sullivans from across the state. ... [I]f the Peltola campaign or its allies could track down and persuade another Dan Sullivan to run for Senate, the confusion could cost the senator crucial votes on the state’s unusual, four-person ballot. The plan worked," the report said.
Snead believes that the "evidence was obvious," and blasted reporters who didn’t suspect something fishy was at play.
"Those willing to look have known for months that Decoy Dan’s candidacy is a brazen attempt to game ranked-choice voting, orchestrated by Democrats to help Mary Peltola win. That the mainstream media took the Peltola campaign’s and Democrats’ denials at face value for months and waited until nearly 60,000 Alaskans had already voted to reveal the truth, is unfortunately par for the course," Snead told Fox News Digital.
"Aren't you reporters? Shouldn't you have actually done some investigation, done some digging, or did you simply take the denial at face value and move on? Because that's not really what most people expect from serious investigative reporting outlets," he added.
SEN DAN SULLIVAN BRANDS PELTOLA'S ALLEGED BALLOT SCHEME A 'SCANDAL AT THE HIGHEST ORDER'
According to Peltola's former campaign manager, Elisa Rios, Peltola was not directly involved in the scheme but was "definitely aware."
Peltola's campaign has continued to deny involvement in his candidacy.
"But The Times has found, based on interviews and text messages, along with documents prepared for a potential lawsuit against the campaign, that not only did Ms. Peltola’s team work with people trying to recruit Mr. Sullivan to run for Senate, but the effort was much broader," the Times reported. "The group worked to coax other would-be spoilers into the race, to dilute the incumbent’s support and help catapult the Democrat to victory."
Peltola called the Times report a "distraction" and "stuff to sell newspapers." However, Republican Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy has ordered an investigation into whether any crimes or civil violations were committed and the Department of Justice has issued new grand jury subpoenas.
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Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, accused a Democratic colleague of obstructing efforts to protect Maine's lobster industry from Biden-era federal regulations, even as the legislation could gain momentum in the Senate next month.
Collins' criticism comes as Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., prepares to visit Maine to hear from lobstermen after previously opposing efforts to extend regulatory relief. Meanwhile, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, pledged this week to advance the legislation when Congress returns in November.
"I'm glad that Sen. Cantwell is coming to Maine to finally listen to our lobstermen," Collins told Fox News Digital. "In 2022, Sen. Cantwell worked against the Maine delegation's effort to halt the Biden regulations that threatened lobstermen's livelihoods, and this year she has been blocking the bill to extend the regulatory pause that we secured in 2022."
The legislation, introduced by Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine, and Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., passed the House in September. The bill would extend an existing pause on new federal regulations intended to protect the endangered North Atlantic right whale through 2035, giving Maine's lobster industry additional time before potentially costly restrictions take effect.
Cruz's announcement follows a September letter from Collins and Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, urging the Senate Commerce Committee to advance the Northeast Lobsterman Protection Act.
"This pause is necessary to protect Maine's lobster fishery, which is essential to the state's economy and coastal communities. According to the Maine Lobstermen's Association, the lobster industry supports an estimated $2 billion in annual economic activity and more than 17,500 jobs," the senators wrote.
In a statement, Cruz credited Collins with helping advance the legislation, saying her leadership has been "instrumental" in efforts to protect "Maine's lobstermen from burdensome regulations."
"I hope we can move this bill without changes or further delay to put on President Trump's desk as soon as possible," Cruz added.
Cantwell is expected to attend a listening session with Maine lobstermen alongside Democratic Senate candidate Troy Jackson at an event hosted by the Maine Lobster Union.
The visit comes amid accusations from Collins and Cruz that Cantwell previously worked against efforts to provide longer-term relief for the state's lobster industry.
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Cantwell and Jackson did not respond to Fox News Digital’s multiple requests for comment.
The Senate’s No. 2 Republican believes that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., had a hand in the alleged scheme unfolding in the Alaska Senate race.
Operatives for Rep. Mary Peltola’s Senate campaign, along with top aides in Senate Democrats’ campaign apparatus, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), are alleged to have been involved in creating one of the stranger races this election cycle: finding and recruiting another candidate named Dan Sullivan to run against the incumbent Sen. Dan S. Sullivan, R-Alaska, according to reporting from The New York Times.
National Democrats have maintained they had no hand in the move, but Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., told Fox News Digital in an interview that he believes the campaign received help from the very top.
SEN DAN SULLIVAN BRANDS PELTOLA’S ALLEGED BALLOT SCHEME A ‘SCANDAL AT THE HIGHEST ORDER’
"I mean, this is criminal behavior to steal the Alaska Senate race, it's now been fully exposed," Barrasso said. "And there is proof that the Peltola campaign knew about it, and that Schumer schemed and colluded with them for over a year to try to search for and then coax a decoy of Dan Sullivan onto the ballot with a purpose only to deceive the voters."
Schumer’s office and Peltola's campaign did not respond to requests for comment from Fox News Digital.
The peculiar situation in Alaska has been ongoing for months and has sparked legal battles at the state and national levels, as well as condemnation from Republicans across the country, including Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska.
'DECOY DAN' SULLIVAN CASE LEADS TOP SENATOR TO BREAK FOUR-YEAR X SILENCE: 'PATTERN OF LIES'
Murkowski argued on X that "ballot-stacking should have no place in our electoral process."
"Alaskans deserve the honest truth from Mary and her campaign — what has been revealed is a pattern of lies and coverups and a culture of deception that belongs nowhere in our elections or among our elected officials," she said.
Much of the consternation over the matter is because of Alaska’s ranked-choice voting system, meaning that both candidates named Dan Sullivan, Peltola and Gerald Heikes will all appear on the same ballot.
Peltola weighed in on Thursday at an event in Juneau, Alaska, telling supporters she wanted to "clear the air."
PELTOLA CAMPAIGN'S ALLEGED DAN SULLIVAN SPOILER PLOT TAKES NEW TURN AS DOJ FACES MAJOR LEGAL HURDLE
"I knew nothing about any other candidates on the ballot except for me and the incumbent," Peltola said. "That is all I have ever known about. I am not interested in tricking voters. I know I can beat Dan Sullivan."
The point of the scheme was allegedly to sow confusion among voters as to which Sullivan was which in an attempt to give Peltola an edge. Barrasso said that while he was confident the incumbent Sullivan would win, the plan showed that the "Democratic campaign has secretly been making fun of Alaskan voters for being so easily tricked."
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"I mean, these people just are, you know, dirty, rotten scoundrels — cheaters," Barrasso said.
"I mean, how more cynical can you get than what the Democrats have done here," he continued.
Senate candidate Mary Peltola speaks out as US justice department escalates criminal investigation
Mary Peltola has denied that she knew anything about an effort to put another candidate on the Alaska ballot with the same name as the Republican incumbent, as the US justice department escalated a criminal investigation this week with new grand jury subpoenas.
“I just want to clear the air,” the Democratic Senate candidate said on Thursday at the top of a speech in a downtown bar in Juneau, Alaska’s capital. “I knew nothing about any other candidate on the ballot except for me and the incumbent. That is all I have ever known about. I am not interested in tricking voters.”
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© Photograph: Nathaniel Wilder/Bloomberg via Getty Images
© Photograph: Nathaniel Wilder/Bloomberg via Getty Images
© Photograph: Nathaniel Wilder/Bloomberg via Getty Images
With Republicans likely headed for a good ol' fashioned ass kicking in next week's midterm election, it doesn't seem too premature to ask the next big question: What are the Democrats going to do once they have a congressional majority?
The New York Times reports that Democrats will move quickly on four items that are "consensus items among their members that are basic enough to bypass time-consuming committee consideration and go straight to the floor."
Two of those items are really good ideas: ending President Donald Trump's tariffs and ending the war in Iran (or ordering Trump to "seek authorization from Congress to continue it"). Both would restore proper congressional authority in areas where Trump has expanded executive power, with terrible results.
The other priorities, however, include reversing Medicaid spending cuts included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and extending some Affordable Care Act health care subsidies that expired last year. Both would require higher spending at a time when the federal government is already running $2 trillion annual deficits and the national debt is at a record high.
But that's probably a pretty good summary of what Democratic control of Congress for the next few years will look like: a mix of critically important reforms to combat Trump's big-government agenda and, well, the Democrats' own big-government agenda.
Over at National Review, John Puri has an extensive list of "truly frightening" policies Democrats could pursue after the midterms, including stuff like bypassing the filibuster to borrow more heavily, arbitrarily restricting commerce, handing out taxpayer money to political allies, and promising "free" money for everyone. Gosh, I sure hope none of that happens (again).
More seriously, there are also likely to be some major investigations into corruption and other executive branch misdeeds. Trump's family and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth are likely to be among the main targets. Hegseth could "face impeachment—which would make him just the third Cabinet secretary in history to face such a sanction," The Atlantic reports.
No wonder Hegseth is reportedly looking for an exit strategy.
Of course, there are plenty of caveats to this. Most importantly, Trump will still be the president—and will be able to veto anything the Democrats pass through Congress. There's also the Senate's filibuster rules. Even the biggest of blue waves is highly unlikely to deliver a 60-seat majority.
Though they may dream big, Democrats will face some serious constraints on their policymaking agenda. They will face fewer obstacles in blocking, unwinding, and investigating Trump's unlawful and corrupt actions—and that's where I, for one, hope they will spend their efforts.
Scenes from Washington, D.C.: "On Sept. 16, Leo J. Terrell threatened to choke a Justice Department intern with a computer charger."
So begins The Harvard Crimson's scathing and deeply reported takedown of Terrell, the former talk radio host and Fox News contributor who is now the senior Justice Department official running the Trump administration's crackdown on elite universities (which is ostensibly an effort to police antisemitism but seems more like an excuse to use federal taxpayer dollars to fight a culture war).
The computer cord incident "was one of a series of episodes described by Billa and three other interns, all Jewish," the Crimson reports. "Terrell isolated them from the rest of the Justice Department, berated them over minor mistakes, and repeatedly threatened their jobs or careers."
When he's not harassing his staffers, Terrell seems to be overcome with delusions of grandeur. A planned 15-city media tour in advance of the midterms "was supposed to be the centerpiece of Terrell's work" and would have put him on stage with singers, comedians, and professional athletes. One event has been held so far: "an Oct. 14 gathering at a synagogue in Southfield, Mich. with Terrell as the keynote speaker."
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to:
Johns Hopkins Alzheimer's Disease Research Center Fund https://t.co/luC5CdcWDy
Alzheimer's Foundation of America Caregiver Resources https://t.co/zvNptfyuNdPhoto Credit: Tommy Garcia pic.twitter.com/XNncEVq56X
— Patrick Stewart (@SirPatStew) October 29, 2026
The post What Will Democrats Do? appeared first on Reason Magazine.
Endorsement not always full-throated but party backing marks major turn after bitter split over nomination
Facing a barrage of extreme attacks from Donald Trump and his allies, the Democratic establishment is finally rallying around progressive Abdul El-Sayed, the party’s candidate in the closely watched US Senate election in Michigan. But the endorsement is not always full-throated, and often even omits his name.
At a rally in Port Huron on Sunday, the US president launched the latest in a wave of Islamophobic rants against El-Sayed, erroneously branding him a “jihadist” and “Muslim Brotherhood member” while invoking 9/11.
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© Photograph: Jeff Kowalsky/AFP/Getty Images
© Photograph: Jeff Kowalsky/AFP/Getty Images
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