Alaska: The ‘Decoy Dan’ race
Surging heating fuel, electricity and grocery prices are disproportionately whacking residents of this remote, traditionally red state.
asserted
prices → surge → state
Here, Democrat candidate Mary Peltola, who says Alaskans endure the highest healthcare costs in the country, is facing off against Republican senator Dan Sullivan, and an unaffiliated retired teacher who goes by the same name – Daniel J. Sullivan Jr.
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who → say → name
With control of the Senate potentially at stake, this race has been particularly bitter: the Trump administration’s Department of Justice last week filed a lawsuit requesting Alaska not to certify its Senate results if Peltola wins, arguing that having two Dan Sullivans on the ballot threatened the integrity of the vote count.
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having → file → count
Peltola retorted that the bid raised “profound constitutional concerns”.
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bid → retort → concerns
(Trump has, of course, asked voters to pretend he’s on the ballot these midterms, despite his weakened approval rating.)
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he → ask → rating
Traditionally red Iowa could be on the cusp of turning blue, with Turek neck and neck with self-described “common-sense” mum, Hinson.
uncertain
Turek → turn → mum
Inflation is hitting the state hard – even Hinson has been recorded asking supporters to donate “gas money” for her campaign bus.
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Hinson → hit → bus
After voting in favour of the Iran war, Hinson has since criticised the president’s decision to buy oil from Russia and stated that a vote for her is not necessarily a vote for the president.
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vote → vote → president
“I do want to see the war come to an end as soon as possible,” she told NBC.
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she → want → NBC
Turek, a former Paralympian who was born with spina bifida, says if elected, he will push for an end to the Iran war and the repeal of Trump’s widespread tariffs, but has no interest in voting to impeach the president.
Texas:
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he → bear → Texas
Democrat James Talarico, who is trying to become the first Democrat elected to the US Senate from the conservative state of Texas since 1988, has used concerns about political corruption in his campaign.
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who → try → campaign
“This is a people-powered movement to take on this broken, corrupt political system,” Talarico has told supporters.
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Talarico → power → supporters
Musk has ploughed hundreds of millions into Republican campaigns this election cycle.
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Musk → plough → campaigns
This included payments of $US75 million ($106 million) on September 9 and $US83 million on September 23 to the Senate Leadership Fund PAC, which were transferred the next day to the campaign of Republican candidate Ken Paxton, the state’s attorney-general.
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which → include → Paxton
“Elon Musk is trying to buy this Senate seat,” said Talarico, whom Trump likes to refer to as “Talafreako”.
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Trump → try → Talafreako
“There is something deeply wrong with a political system that allows one trillionaire to buy his own personal US senator.”
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trillionaire → be → senator
Ohio: A taste for crypto
The Trump family has made a motza from cryptocurrency, and the crypto industry has poured $US176 million into promoting allies in these midterms, Reuters reports.
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Reuters → make → midterms
The industry’s main target is Ohio Democratic candidate Sherrod Brown, a former senator who chaired the Senate banking committee from 2021 to 2024, when he was a vocal critic of crypto.
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he → chair → crypto
Ad-tracking business AdImpact says the crypto sector has spent $US68 million on defeating Brown, who is up against Republican incumbent Jon Husted.
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who → track → Husted
A spokesperson for Brown told Reuters the “special interests are panicking”.
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interests → tell → Reuters
In the gubernatorial race, a deeply controversial TV advertisement aired by Republican candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has put his race against Democrat Amy Acton firmly in the spotlight.
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advertisement → air → spotlight
The ad featured Donna Arthur, Acton’s estranged mother, calling her daughter a lifelong liar despite having had no contact with her for nearly 50 years.
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Arthur → feature → years
Arthur lost custody of her children in 1978 after her husband, their stepfather, was indicted for raping Acton when she was 12.
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she → lose → Acton
The ad had been widely seen as having crossed an ethical line.
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ad → see → line
Even several prominent Republicans have called for it to be taken down.
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it → call → ?
But Trump had encouraged Ramaswamy to keep airing the ad, saying it was “hitting pay dirt”.
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it → encourage → dirt
Ramaswamy said during a campaign appearance in Ohio on Thursday that the ad’s planned run was over.
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run → say → Thursday
In the swing state of Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed – a doctor, unionist and Muslim – and Republican Mike Rogers are locked in a tight race for the Senate seat being vacated by Democrat Gary Peters.
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Sayed → lock → Peters
El-Sayed has galvanised young voters but has faced anti-Muslim rhetoric from Trump, who delights in calling him “Mohamed”.
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who → galvanise → him
And after a bitter primary, some Democrats have refused to support him over his criticism of Israel, past remarks and association with controversial podcaster Hasan Piker.
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Democrats → refuse → Piker
The progressive Democrat believes he is being targeted because he is Muslim, and calls it out.
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he → believe → it
Trump has seized on this, labelling it arrogance.
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Trump → seize → it
“He’s a nasty guy … he’s worse than I am,” Trump recently said.
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Trump → ’ → ?
Trump’s trade stoush with Canada and high petrol prices due to the Iran war are deeply unpopular in Michigan, but it may be the Republicans’ best chance to flip a seat in a state that has not elected a GOP senator in decades.
uncertain
that → flip → decades
This so-called “techlash” could have “momentous ramifications for everyone”, the Brookings Institution says.
uncertain
Institution → call → everyone
“If several of the high-profile backers of data centres lose and their opponents win, it could encourage politicians to embrace more data centre moratoriums, pauses and audits”, which would then create financial difficulties “not only for specific firms, but the overall economy”.
uncertain
which → lose → firms
In the swing state of Pennsylvania, Democratic governor Josh Shapiro has changed tack from broadly supporting data centres to imposing new rules on them.
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Shapiro → change → them
His Republican rival, Stacy Garrity, has accused Shapiro of “opening Pennsylvania’s door to data centres and giving away state tax dollars and resources to a company [Amazon] on the other side of the country”.
asserted
rival → accuse → country
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what → get → world
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