Michigan Democrat Abdul El-Sayed’s former U.S. Senate primary rival, Haley Stevens, surprised party leaders Sunday by endorsing Republican Mike Rogers in the general election. The announcement followed a flare-up between the two Democrats and came after Stevens was disinvited from a joint event with El-Sayed that day. The Michigan contest could play a role in determining control of Congress.
President Donald Trump is spending the closing days of a turbulent midterm campaign at rallies in Iowa and Kansas, states he has won comfortably in the past. His schedule reflects the defensive posture Republicans have adopted as voters treat the election as a verdict on his second term.
A federal judge Sunday rejected a Justice Department lawsuit that sought to prevent certification of Alaska’s U.S. Senate race if Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan loses. The case followed a New York Times report that Democratic candidate Mary Peltola’s campaign appeared to have helped recruit Dan J. Sullivan, a retired teacher who shares the senator’s name, to enter the race.
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Justice Department to appeal dismissal of Alaska Senate election lawsuit
The Justice Department has notified the court that it will appeal a federal judge’s decision dismissing its challenge to certification of Alaska’s Senate election if Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan is defeated.
“Alaskan voters deserve a fair election, not to be misled in an attempt to rig outcomes,” a department spokesperson said in a statement.
U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason said the Trump administration’s requested remedy was “infeasible” because voters had already cast many ballots.
Sullivan, a Trump ally, is facing Democratic former Rep. Mary Peltola in one of the nation’s most closely watched Senate races. Tuesday’s ranked-choice election also features a retired teacher who shares Sullivan’s name.
Republicans fear the similar names could confuse voters and lead some to select the wrong candidate.
The ballot lists “Dan S. Sullivan” as a registered Republican and the incumbent. “Daniel J. Sullivan Jr.” appears without a party affiliation.
Wisconsin Republican governor candidate makes final appeal to voters
Tom Tiffany, who has served in Congress for six years, said after a Sunday rally in heavily Democratic Madison that he could “feel” momentum moving in his direction.
“This is a turnout election,” he told supporters. “This is how we’re going to win this.”
Tiffany is running against Democrat David Crowley with Election Day approaching.
“I can feel it out there,” Tiffany said. “People are going to turn out on Tuesday. Be part of the movement.”
Tiffany and Crowley are traveling the state with high-profile supporters during the final two days of the campaign.
U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson and former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson joined Tiffany in Madison.
Crowley is campaigning Sunday with Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and will appear Monday with former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
Kansas attorney general tells Democratic PAC to stop offering $5 voter gift cards
Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach said in a cease-and-desist letter to the Bluestem Fund that offering anything of value in exchange for voting violates federal and state law.
Kobach ordered the group to preserve records and communications tied to its canvassing work. He said Saturday that a Wichita voter had alerted his office to what he called a “brazen” gift-card offer.
L.J. Leatherman, the PAC’s chair and a Topeka attorney, did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment.
Kobach is a Trump ally and served as vice chair of the president’s short-lived 2017 commission on election fraud.
In September, Kobach sent a similar letter to a League of Women Voters chapter in northeast Kansas after it offered $5 gift cards to students who registered to vote. The chapter said it was cooperating with the inquiry and intended to comply with the law.
Haley Stevens backs Republican Mike Rogers after losing Michigan Senate primary to Abdul El-Sayed
Democrat Haley Stevens said she plans to vote for Republican Mike Rogers rather than her former primary opponent, Abdul El-Sayed, in Michigan’s Senate race.
Appearing with Rogers, Stevens said she would support other Democrats but would not vote for El-Sayed, who defeated her in the August primary.
“It is more a statement about standing together against hate and the future of this state and this country, than it is anything else,” she said.
Rogers said he was honored to receive Stevens’ support.
Chuck Schumer calls Haley Stevens’ endorsement of Rogers a ‘betrayal’
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer criticized Haley Stevens’ decision to endorse Republican Mike Rogers in Michigan’s Senate contest.
“This is a despicable betrayal from Rep. Stevens,” Schumer wrote in a social media post.
Schumer, who supported Stevens during the primary, reaffirmed the party’s backing of Abdul El-Sayed, who defeated her in August.
Stevens announced her support for Rogers earlier Sunday in the general election against El-Sayed. El-Sayed brushed aside the development, saying his focus was on voters’ concerns rather than internal Democratic disputes.
Abdul El-Sayed dismisses Stevens’ endorsement of Republican Mike Rogers
Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed played down news that his former primary rival, Haley Stevens, planned to vote for Republican Mike Rogers.
“At the end of the day I actually don’t think about Haley Stevens,” he said alongside Democratic Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina and Sen. Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland.
He continued: “Rather than focus on a distraction about who said what to whom, where they went, I’ve been consistent. I want to get money out of politics. I want to put money back in pockets. I want Medicare for all.”
El-Sayed spoke shortly after Stevens, a fellow Democrat, announced that she would vote for Rogers.
Stevens’ break with the party came two days before an election that will determine which party controls Congress.
Federal judge rejects lawsuit seeking to block certification of Alaska Senate race
A federal judge Sunday dismissed a Justice Department lawsuit seeking to stop certification of Alaska’s U.S. Senate race if Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan loses.
Filed less than two weeks before the election, while early voting was underway, the lawsuit sought an investigation into whether votes for retired teacher Dan J. Sullivan were intended for the senator. Alaska argued that the case had no merit and that determining voters’ intent would compromise ballot secrecy.
Judge Sharon Gleason wrote that the requested relief was “infeasible” because many ballots had already been cast and mixed together, making it impossible to link them to individual voters.
“More fundamentally, the United States provides no workable plan as to how it proposes to segregate ballots cast for Daniel J. Sullivan on Election Day and then conduct a court-ordered unspecified ‘investigation’ of those ballots in a manner that would preserve voter secrecy,” she wrote.
Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy hospitalized after suffering a stroke
Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut was hospitalized after suffering a stroke, his office said Sunday.
Murphy, 53, was attending his son’s hockey game Saturday when he felt numbness in his arm. Doctors at a hospital later determined that he had suffered a stroke.
He was subsequently transferred to Johns Hopkins.
“The doctors are encouraged by his progress, he is awake and alert, and we are optimistic he will make a full recovery,” his office said in a statement.
Murphy is serving his third Senate term. Before that, he represented Connecticut in the House for three terms.
Georgia governor candidates attend separate churches on campaign’s final Sunday
Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms attended her home congregation in Atlanta before heading to voter-turnout rallies in middle Georgia. She is seeking to make history as the first Black woman elected governor in the United States.
Bottoms told parishioners at Ben Hill United Methodist Church that her mother, who belongs to the congregation, had been “aggressive” in insisting she return before Tuesday’s election.
Bottoms said the church is where she was married and had her children baptized. From the pulpit, she called it “always home.”
Republican Rick Jackson, meanwhile, visited a north Georgia evangelical megachurch led by Pastor Jentezen Franklin, one of Trump’s spiritual advisers. Jackson did not speak at Free Chapel in Gainesville but stood and waved as Franklin welcomed him enthusiastically.
Georgia’s record early voting total encourages Democrats and unsettles Republicans
About 2.8 million Georgians cast early ballots, setting a record for a midterm election.
Democrats are encouraged that nearly one-third of those ballots came from Black voters, several percentage points above previous elections. Latino participation is also higher, though the group represents a small share of Georgia’s electorate. The early-voting population is several points less white than it was in 2024, when Trump carried the state, and in 2022, when Republican Gov. Brian Kemp won reelection.
Metro Atlanta and other Democratic-leaning areas have recorded stronger early turnout than in the 2022 midterms, while turnout in many Republican-leaning rural counties has declined.
Analyses also indicate that the increase is not simply the result of regular Election Day voters moving their ballots to the early-voting period.
The figures prompted Kemp to release social media videos urging Republicans to vote Tuesday. He reminded supporters that he won his first gubernatorial race in 2018 by fewer than 55,000 votes, or 1.4 percentage points.
Iowa Trump supporters gather ahead of the president’s rally
Jon Lutz, a Dubuque civil engineer, regularly watches videos of President Donald Trump. Sunday’s rally, however, would be his first opportunity to see Trump in person.
The 60-year-old plans to vote Tuesday and said he supports Republican candidates across the ballot.
Lutz said Trump had already accomplished a great deal during the first two years of his second term. He wants Republicans to retain control of both chambers of Congress so the president can continue pursuing his agenda.
“He’s done what he’s said he’s going to do,” Lutz said. “I want him to keep going.”
Wendy Kuenzler, a 44-year-old veterinarian from Burlington, Iowa, voted Saturday. On Sunday, she waited in the concessions line at a crowded Dubuque arena ahead of the rally, also preparing to see Trump in person for the first time.
Kuenzler said Iowa stood at a crossroads in the competitive midterm election. In the Senate race, she said she was firmly behind Republican Ashley Hinson.
Kuenzler said Trump was not responsible for continued high gas and grocery prices, adding, “He’s on the path to correcting it.”
Barack Obama endorses Charles Booker in Kentucky Senate race
Former President Barack Obama has endorsed Charles Booker for the Kentucky Senate seat being vacated by Republican Mitch McConnell.
Obama, who served two terms as president, said Sunday that Booker would fight for working families.
“I’m proud to support Charles Booker for the U.S. Senate,” Obama said in a statement. “Charles cares deeply about the people of Kentucky.”
Booker, a former state legislator, is challenging Republican Rep. Andy Barr.
McConnell, the former Senate Republican leader, is retiring after seven terms in the chamber.
