Original author: Long Yue
Original source: Wall Street Journal
The U.S. midterm elections will be held on November 3, with fierce competition between the Republican and Democratic parties for seats in both houses of Congress, as well as state and local positions. However, in the final stage before the elections, multiple states in the U.S. have been hit by a series of "farces."
On the Democratic side, one incident is an open “party betrayal,” while another is a meticulously planned ballot disruption scheme. In Michigan, Democratic Representative Haley Stevens publicly switched sides on the last Sunday before the election, endorsing Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers. In Alaska, an in-depth investigation by local media revealed that Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola's campaign team spent months secretly recruiting a "decoy candidate" with the same name as the incumbent Republican senator, attempting to confuse voters by diverting ballots with similar names.
On the Republican side, dramatic situations have arisen, such as “mother-daughter conflict” and “advertisement attacks” against each other. According to Xinhua News Agency, in the Ohio governor election, Republican candidate Vivek Ramaswamy sparked significant controversy by using an aggressive campaign advertisement featuring the biological mother of his Democratic opponent, Amy Acton.
The internal control and electoral strategies of the Republicans and Democrats in the sprint phase are facing severe tests. Regardless of the election results on Tuesday, these rifts will not disappear.
Michigan: Open Defection, Outcry within the Party
According to media reports on November 1, Haley Stevens announced her support for Republican candidate Rogers in a video posted on X platform on Sunday, saying, "I do not belong to Abdul's campaign." She also stated that she does not agree with the positions of left-wing online host Hasan Piker and others in El-Sayed's campaign team, "I love this state… I am here to declare our identity as Michiganders."
Stevens previously lost to Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed by less than one percentage point in the August primary, and afterwards reluctantly endorsed him. However, their relationship remained cold.
The contradictions recently escalated. Stevens demanded that El-Sayed publicly apologize for his criticism of Israel and requested that he distance himself from an external advertisement she deemed anti-Semitic. El-Sayed expressed disagreement with the advertisement's content and accused Stevens of shifting the core electoral issues.
On Sunday, Stevens appeared at a church in Detroit alongside Rogers. She told reporters, "I stood by the party but was booed off the stage."
El-Sayed later responded to reporters outside another church with just one sentence: "These are not important."
Stevens' “defection” sparked strong condemnation within the Democratic Party. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer issued a statement calling it "a despicable betrayal from Representative Haley Stevens." Outgoing Michigan Senator Gary Peters expressed "extreme disappointment" in Stevens' decision.
Stevens' own congressional office also fell into chaos. Her chief of staff, Justin German, issued a statement saying he and several staff members were "shocked and heartbroken" by the endorsement decision and announced his resignation. "This election is too important to create division or stand idly by," German wrote, urging voters to support El-Sayed. Media reporters sent a request for comment to Stevens' press director, Logan Basch, and received an automatic reply indicating, "Hello, as of November 1, I am no longer employed in Representative Haley Stevens' office."
Alaska: Name-based Disruption, Two “Dan Sullivans”
The story in Alaska is even more complex. According to in-depth media investigations, as early as the summer of 2025, Mary Peltola's campaign staff received an unusual directive: to identify all individuals named Dan Sullivan in Alaska.
The reason is evident. Dan S. Sullivan is the name of the current Republican senator from the state. Convincing another namesake to run could create confusion under the state's unique four-person ballot system, diverting ballots away from the incumbent senator.
The plan worked. This spring, a retired teacher from a remote fishing village in Alaska, accessible only by air and sea, announced his candidacy for senator. His name is Dan J. Sullivan.
The report is based on interviews with 12 knowledgeable individuals, dozens of text message records, and documents prepared for potential lawsuits. The core source for the report was Peltola's former campaign manager Elisa Rios—who was fired in an August team reorganization and thereafter participated in a series of interviews with the paper.
"Alaska voters need to know the truth," Rios said, "There’s a lot of speculation, and voters should have complete information when making decisions."
She stated that Peltola herself was not directly involved in the project but was "certainly aware" of it.
Reportedly, this name-based action was referred to internally as the "Ballot Composition Project," with a key figure being Jerid Kurtz, a veteran Democratic strategist from Ohio. He was introduced to Peltola’s team by staff from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) as a "secret ballot operation expert." Kurtz used aliases and cover stories during the operation, working under the name "Zane" throughout Alaska, lobbying potential candidates in bars.
Rios described Kurtz reporting back when he found Dan J. Sullivan. Kurtz said this Sullivan "expressed he hated Trump, and if it helps Mary, he likes Mary. He's not interested in being a politician, but if it helps…."
Peltola's Campaign Team Denies Recruiting “Decoy Candidates”
Peltola's campaign team and the DSCC both denied involvement in recruiting decoy candidates. "Alaskans support Mary Peltola's campaign team, which is unrelated to any Sullivan campaign team, and did not recruit any candidates to run," the team stated. The DSCC issued a similar statement, claiming to be "completely unaware" of recruiting Sullivan or "any other Republican candidates."
The Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit in federal court at Trump's request, seeking to prevent the certification of election results if Dan J. Sullivan's candidacy leads to the defeat of the incumbent senator.
However, legal experts are skeptical. Benjamin Ginsberg, former chief legal counsel for the Republican National Committee, told Bloomberg, "This is entirely a political performance disguised as legal action." UCLA election law scholar Rick Hasen also believes that the DOJ's theory of suing related individuals for "depriving voters of constitutional rights" "will likely encounter First Amendment obstacles."
On a political level, Bloomberg opinion columnist Ronald Brownstein pointed out that the scandal’s greatest damaging effect is that it directly contradicts Peltola's core electoral narrative—she has consistently portrayed herself as an "outsider" concerned with ordinary Alaskans, depicting the incumbent Senator Sullivan (an Ohio immigrant) as "the embodiment of the Washington corrupt system." "It now looks like it's her side trying to manipulate the rules," Brownstein wrote.
However, leading independent pollster in Alaska Ivan Moore told Bloomberg that the controversy "is most likely to have virtually no impact."
Ohio: Mother-Daughter Conflict
In addition to Michigan and Alaska, many campaign races in the final stage still revolve around personal experiences, advertisement creativity, and resume controversies.
According to Xinhua News Agency, in the Ohio governor election, Republican candidate Vivek Ramaswamy sparked significant controversy by utilizing an aggressive campaign advertisement featuring the biological mother of his Democratic opponent, Amy Acton.
Ramaswamy’s campaign team invited Acton’s mother, Donna Arthur, to appear in the advertisement and spent heavily to promote it. Donna Arthur stated in the advertisement that her daughter is a "liar" and "has serious issues," denying experiences of childhood abuse and homelessness, and urging voters not to allow her daughter to be elected governor.
The advertisement drew criticism after being published on social media, and Ohio Republican Governor Mike DeWine also criticized it; Trump and Vice President Vance publicly supported airing the advertisement.
Texas: Advertisement Attacks
In the Texas Senate election, the advertising war between Republican candidate and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Democratic candidate James Talarico has intensified. Xinhua reports that both campaign teams have invested more than $500 million combined, potentially making it one of the most expensive Senate elections in U.S. history.
One advertisement from Paxton's team features a hand taking down a missing child's flyer from a telephone pole, intended to highlight his achievements in combating human trafficking. However, the advertisement was mocked by Democrats and netizens for the imagery of "tearing down a missing person flyer."
The Talarico team launched a fictional sports betting application advertisement, inviting viewers to predict Paxton's "next scandal." The advertisement states: "This application is fake, but Ken Paxton's scandals are real."
For market and policy observers, the focus extends beyond the outcome of a single seat. If Alaska's ballot counting, ranked choice voting, and litigation procedures are drawn out simultaneously, the final confirmation time of Senate control may be delayed, and the political uncertainty following the election will continue.
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