memeorandum: Brace Yourself for an ‘Unusual Election’ (New York Times)

12:35 PM ET, October 31, 2026

Top Items:

The New York Times invents a Democratic scandal while ignoring a new Trump rape allegation — America is four days out from the end of an election in which America's deeply unpopular fascist ruling party is trying to retain control of Congress. The week began with yet another new rape allegation …

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, Althouse, The Nation, Fox News and The Wrap

Jay Willis / Slate:

The Truth About the Alaska Dan Sullivan Shenanigans — Earlier this week, the New York Times published a splashy feature detailing how allies of Mary Peltola, the Democratic nominee in this year's Senate race in Alaska, worked to “stack” the ballot with candidates who could help her defeat the Republican incumbent, Dan Sullivan.

Discussion: Conservative Brief, Mediaite, The Hill, FactCheck.org, CBS News, Breitbart, HotAir, Political.org, TMZ.com, WBAL, New York Magazine, Axios, NewsMax.com, Newsweek and Bloomberg

Greg Sargent / New Republic:
Inside Trump's Dark Plot to Keep Senate in GOP Hands Even If Dems Win

Discussion: Political.org, New York Times, Anchorage Daily News, The Federalist, Axios and Politico

Liz Crampton / Politico:

Greg Abbott's Texas Empire Is Showing Cracks … The Texas governor pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket. — “Steve Radack Community Center, 18650 Clay Road, Houston, 1.2 miles away,” he read, identifying the precinct's nearest polling location. “Listen, I can roll over there in five minutes …

Discussion: NewsMax.com, Conservative Brief and The Texas Tribune

Michelle Goldberg / New York Times:
Republicans Tried to Turn the Cheesecake Factory Against Democrats. It Flopped.

Discussion: DeLong's Grasping …

Hans Nichols / Axios:
Your election night cheat sheet

Discussion: Denver Gazette

New York Times:
Led by Trump, Republicans Close Midterms With Ugly Personal Attacks

Discussion: The Free Press

Robert Draper / New York Times:
Talarico Makes Final Pitch to Texans: ‘You Are My Slingshot’

Discussion: Fox News

Diana Paulsen / ABC News:
Texas Democrats see data centers as a winning issue

Discussion: The Hill and The Verge, more at Techmeme »

Nancy Cook / Washington Post: Trump's economic message on eve of midterms: It's better than you think

Washington Post:

D.C. and Virginia sue to block Trump's proposed triumphal arch — The lawsuit increases legal pressure against the president's planned 250-foot-tall project. — SummaryLoading... The D.C. government and the commonwealth of Virginia sued Saturday to block construction …

Discussion: The Washington Sun, Washington Examiner, Politico, KFTC-TV, Political.org, Joe.My.God., CNN, MS NOW, WTTG-TV and CBS News

Ben Berkowitz / Axios:

D.C., Virginia sue to block Trump's 250-foot arch — The governments of Washington D.C. and Virginia asked a federal court to block construction of President Trump's planned “triumphal arch,” claiming it's unlawfully tall and would snarl traffic for years.

Discussion: Politico

Ford McCracken / The Hill:

DC, Virginia sue to block Trump's triumphal arch — Washington, D.C., and Virginia sued the National Parks Service and Interior Department to block President Trump's proposed triumphal arch on Saturday, a new court filing shows. — The planned arch would resemble arches in other cities …

Discussion: HotAir and Washington Post

Samuel Benson / Politico:

The last weekend of midterm campaigning begins — With just three days to Election Day, campaigns are scrambling to get out their closing messages. — Are you a player in Democrats' civil war? We want to hear from you! — Are you Haley Stevens, who Abdul El-Sayed's allies are sidelining …

Discussion: Washington Post, Fox News, The Hill, Mediaite, Instapundit and The Daily Wire

Reid J. Epstein / New York Times:

Why Haley Stevens Can't Stop Talking About Abdul El-Sayed — In a frank interview, she described her disappointment and also said she was considering converting to Judaism. Her fiancé had thoughts, too. — Representative Haley Stevens of Michigan stood up from her dining table …

Discussion: HotAir, New York Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, The Hill, Mediaite, Legal Insurrection, The Guardian, Jewish Insider, NBC News, TMZ.com, RedState and Political.org

Politico:

El-Sayed campaign wants Stevens to stay away after day of back-and-forth sniping — Michigan's Democratic coalition is fragmenting in real time days before a critical Senate election. — After it seemed like former primary rivals Abdul El-Sayed and Rep. Haley Stevens might finally appear together …

Discussion: RedState, The Post Millennial, Mediaite, Newsweek, Newsbusters, Washington Examiner, HuffPost, Washington Post, New York Times, NewsNation, CBS News, The Hill, New Republic and twitchy.com

Salvador Hernandez / Los Angeles Times:

Video shows ICE agent pointing handgun in face of North Hollywood bystander — 6 min Click here to listen to this article — A federal immigration agent pulled out a handgun and pointed it just inches from the face of a bystander during an apparent operation in North Hollywood on Friday morning …

New York Times:

How Trump Is Dismantling America's Scientific Research Machine — The system that has driven life-altering discoveries and helped make the United States a superpower is now under intense strain. — The warning, buried in an obscure government report this summer, was unflinching.

Discussion: The Hill

New York Times:

Republican Leads Independent in Nebraska Senate Race, Poll Finds — Voters see Dan Osborn, the independent seeking to unseat Senator Pete Ricketts, as more like a Democrat than an independent, a Times/Siena poll found. — Senator Pete Ricketts of Nebraska, a Republican …

Discussion: The Hill, NewsMax.com, Political.org, Bloomberg and Associated Press

Washington Post:
4 ways the polls could be wrong — or right — about who will win the Senate

Discussion: America, America, Daily Mail, Townhall and The Intersection

Blake Paterson / Perdido Street:
Louisiana Senate contest is a tossup, poll finds

Discussion: RedState, NewsMax.com and The Hill

Kyle Chouinard / The Washington Sun:

A Super PAC Army Is Spending Millions on ‘Spoiler’ Candidates — Last week, a tsunami of outside spending surged onto Bill Redpath's ultra-longshot campaign for Ohio's U.S. Senate seat. — A single super PAC created in early October began spending $1.7 million in support of the little-known libertarian …

Luke Fountain / CNBC:
‘Pop-up’ super PACs pour $637 million into 2026 midterm races

Discussion: The San Francisco Standard

Barak Ravid / Axios:

Iran's supreme leader orders “maximum” response to any U.S. attack — Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei told the country's top three military commanders that a renewed attack by the U.S. and Israel ״must be met with an immediate and effective response, without geographical limitations״ …

Discussion: Bloomberg, NewsMax.com, Al Jazeera, Associated Press, CBS News, Middle East Monitor and The American Conservative

Phillips P. OBrien / Phillips's Newsletter:

The US Military Is On A Precipice — The US military is standing on a precipice, and it is not clear which way it will jump. It has been used, tragically, for a series of appalling and in some cases criminal campaigns over the last few years. It has been and is being purged of talent …

Discussion: Fox News and Global Arab Network

Tierney Sneed / CNN:

Judge imposes sweeping emergency order halting DOJ pressure campaign on election officials — Federal agencies Voting rights Election security — A federal judge imposed a sweeping emergency order halting various aggressive tactics employed by the Trump administration in recent days to pressure election officials across the country.

Discussion: Democracy Docket, Washington Post, The Daily Wire, NBC News, Axios, Political.org, RedState, The Hill, NewsMax.com, MS NOW, KDFX-TV and Protect Democracy

Politico:
Judge orders DOJ to stop threatening to prosecute election officials

Discussion: Washington Post, Reuters, Political.org, The Gateway Pundit, Axios, Democracy Docket, HuffPost, The Washington Sun and New York Times

Michael Luciano / Mediaite:

Tucker Carlson Gets Personal on ‘Sad, Greasy’ Ted Cruz: ‘His Personal Life Is a True Disaster’ — Tucker Carlson got personal on Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), claiming that the senator is a “sad, greasy” man who “doesn't know how absurd he is.” — On his show Friday, Carlson was asked by a viewer …

Discussion: Media Matters for America

Brynn Tannehill / Public Notice:

Move fast, break things — Public Notice is proudly celebrating five years of independent journalism. This special Saturday edition is possible thanks for paid subscribers. Become one ⬇️ — 💥 Subscribe to PN 💥 — Last week, the Washington Post reported …

Wall Street Journal:

Prediction Markets Keep Whiffing on Elections. Will They Miss on the Midterms? — Polling data remains at issue after Brazil, Serbia and Wisconsin elections markets were upset by supposed long shots — The day Israel voted in its consequential election this week, Kalshi Chief Executive Tarek Mansour …

Alex DeLuca / Washington Post:

Florida election officials alarmed at slow delivery of mail-in ballots — The cause of the delays is unclear. One official has recommended in-person voting to ensure ballots are counted. — Loading... Election officials in at least one Florida county are urging in-person voting amid reports of mail-in ballot delays.

Thomas Frank / Politico:

The final sprint to Election Day — Here's the latest midterm news, with four days to go. — Trump approves Texas disaster aid just days before election — President Donald Trump approved disaster aid on Friday for households in central Texas that were damaged by July floods …

Wall Street Journal:

How Iran Battered U.S. Bases and Caused Billions in Damage — Satellite imagery shows hundreds of damaged buildings at more than two dozen installations, in the fullest accounting of the destruction yet — | Graphics by Carl Churchill and Katherine Chui — Three American servicemembers …

Discussion: Associated Press and Middle East Monitor

New York Times:

Brace Yourself for an ‘Unusual Election’ — Democratic sweep or not, politics are about to change. — Jamelle Bouie and E.J. Dionne Jr.Produced by Vishakha Darbha — With just days to go until the midterms, the Opinion contributor Robert Siegel joins the contributing writer E.J. Dionne Jr …

New York Times:

As Midterms Near, Top Law Firms That Capitulated to Trump Are on the Sidelines — None of the firms that struck deals to avoid crippling executive orders are publicly involved in the major legal efforts to check the Trump administration's attempts to meddle in the midterm elections, a review by The New York Times shows.

Politico:

Data centers turn sleepy utility races into political battlegrounds — Once-sleepy utility board races across the South have turned into must-watch contests as Democrats try to wrest power from the Republicans who control energy prices in the region. Even Kamala Harris thinks so.

Wall Street Journal:

Why Did All the Fiscal Hawks Go Extinct? — The national debt is growing at an unprecedented pace and almost nobody is prepared to stop it — In the run-up to Tuesday's midterm elections, Democratic ads hammer at the Iran war, gas prices and alleged corruption.

Discussion: The National Pulse

Filip Timotija / The Hill:

Blackburn's move to governor leaves Hegseth with potential parachute — Sen. Marsha Blackburn's (R-Tenn.) bid to become Tennessee's next governor is leaving a potential opening for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who is viewed as one of the top oversight targets in the next Congress if House Democrats take the majority.

Discussion: Bloomberg and KRDO