In Michigan, Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens set off a political maelstrom after she endorsed Republican candidate Mike Rogers on Sunday instead of her primary challenger and fellow Democrat Abdul El-Sayed. Meanwhile, Alaska Republican candidate Sen. Dan Sullivan said he will accept the election results even if he loses.
Here’s what you might have missed during the last weekend before the election.
Democrats furious over surprise endorsement in Michigan Senate race
After days of increasing tension between Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Michigan) and her primary challenger and the Democratic candidate for Senate, Abdul El-Sayed, Stevens dropped a bombshell Sunday. She endorsed Republican candidate Mike Rogers in a move that shocked the Democratic establishment and her own staff.
Washington Post reporters Dan Merica, Erin Cox, Karen Tumulty and Violet Jira have been following the massive political fallout to Stevens’s endorsement. Her chief of staff resigned. The Michigan Democratic Party kicked her out. Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Michigan) called the move an effort to “get attention.” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) called it a “despicable betrayal from Rep. Stevens.”
Meanwhile, Republicans rejoiced and Rogers and President Donald Trump praised Stevens’s endorsement.
Michigan’s Senate race is especially important in the battle for the control of the Senate. There are several paths that would lead to a Democratic Senate majority, but most rely on the party winning in Michigan.
The endorsement follows Stevens’s fiancé, Jason Turkish, saying last week that he would back Rogers instead of El-Sayed, and you can read more about Stevens’s sudden change of heart here.
In front of a Black church Sunday, at the event Stevens was once scheduled to attend with him, El-Sayed brushed off the endorsement.
“At the end of the day, I actually don’t think about Haley Stevens.”
A politically timed “concept” of a trade deal with Canada
Trade talks between the United States and Canada, one of its largest trading partners, have stalled out much of the year — contributing to higher prices in the U.S.
But White House reporter Katherine Doyle reports that Trump announced progress on a deal Sunday. Trump, who held rallies Sunday in Iowa and Kansas, said that he had spoken with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and that they had the “concept” of a new trade deal.
“We have the concept of a deal that’s going to be great for our farmers, great for our country, and it’ll be fine for Canada,” he said.
The deal would include completion of the Keystone pipeline, Trump said, a project that would carry oil from tar-sand deposit in Alberta to U.S. refineries. That has faced strong opposition from environmental groups.
The trade war with Canada that Trump launched over the summer, which included tariffs as high as 50 percent on some imported goods, has proven extremely unpopular, especially in northern states .
Republican candidates in Maine, New York and Michigan have all criticized the high tariffs and distanced themselves from Trump on the issue. The two countries won’t conclude an actual trade deal before Tuesday’s midterm, but Trump made clear that he hopes the announcement of progress will help GOP candidates. “I hope I remember to mention that” in his rally speech, Trump said, turning to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, who was traveling with him and said: “Would you please remind me to mention that?”
In Kansas, Republican candidate defends suing patients
Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kansas), an OB-GYN who has been under fire for going after patients for nonpayment, appeared in a video circulating online this weekend, where he calls upon Kansas voters to “know the truth” about his treatment of patients.
Post reporter Teo Armus reports that Marshall’s Democratic challenger, Adam Hamilton, has repeatedly attacked the senator over a report that found Marshall and his practice sued more than 700 patients for unpaid medical bills.
In his response video, Marshall said his practice had to “keep the lights on.”
“So we occasionally handed accounts over to collection agencies,” he said.
But its possible Marshall’s defense video was not entirely sanctioned by his campaign. Politico reports that the campaign did not create or fund the video, and that it came from Marshall himself.
Marshall is facing an unexpectedly competitive challenge from Hamilton in the red state.
Alaska’s election results to be left alone, for now
A federal judge on Sunday shot down an extraordinary request from the Justice Department to block the resolution of the election if Republican candidate Sen. Dan S. Sullivan narrowly loses the Senate race in Alaska.
U.S. District Judge Sharon L. Gleason rejected the government’s bid to order Alaska officials to set aside some ballots and hold up the certification of the results if the Republican candidate loses, according to Post reporters Jeremy Roebuck and Patrick Marley.
Alaska’s hotly contested race got even more controversial last week, when a report alleged that members of Democratic candidate Mary Peltola’s team helped Democrats recruit a “spoiler” candidate into the race. The ballot lists two candidates with similar names — Republican incumbent Sullivan and retired schoolteacher Dan J. Sullivan Jr., who is running without a party affiliation.
Peltola has denied involvement.
And Sullivan said this weekend that he will accept the results of the election, even if he doesn’t win.
Other nuggets you may have missed
- America’s swingiest voter has made her decision.
- How Democrats are trying to win back young voters..
- Hear from six voters in battleground states about affordability concerns.
- Republicans are trying hard to win Black voters in Michigan.
- Analysis: The Senate is still an uphill battle for Democrats.
- Republicans are outspending Democrats on ads.
The post Fallout from a surprise campaign endorsement and other election news you missed appeared first on Washington Post.
