Today’s notice: The White House takes a W in its war on the press. A whip around the midterm map. A scoop about Mayor Pete’s schedule. Epstein features prominently in Democratic ads. Not trusting mail-in ballots. And: The State Department has more to say.
THE LATEST
White House media-war victory lap: In Susie Wiles-gate, the score is officially Donald Trump 1, Press 0. That’s how the White House sees it. Politico all but retracted a story about the White House chief of staff and the five-day press secretary, Katie Zacharia, yesterday, after the piece drew anger — and threats — from the White House. Other Politico reporting around Wiles that Trump was also mad about stands unchanged, and in reality, this whole thing is about whether Wiles directly made a TV interview happen or just said it was a great idea for the interview to happen.
“Politico showed their entire ass to the world and played themselves,” a White House official told The Washington Sun’s Jasmine Wright.
Trending
It should not be overlooked that in this whole affair — as in many others — this White House has taken a, shall we say, constitutionally sketchy position on press freedom. The Sun’s Ayah Ali-Ahmad details all the recent threats, bans and legal actions flung from this administration at many outlets. In the case of Politico, the White House counsel’s office sent a letter to the publication this week demanding the retraction and removal of three articles about Wiles. The outlet’s lawyer responded that Politico “determined it was appropriate to correct one of the three articles identified in your letter.”
Politico declined to respond to the White House victory lap but pointed to that letter its lawyer sent the counsel’s office saying the outlet “categorically rejects the false accusations” against it.
More: DOJ Investigating Corey Lewandowski Over Alleged Contract Misconduct At DHS: Reports • Supreme Court Rules New Hampshire Can Limit Student ID Use for Voting • Veterans Ask Judge to Block Construction of Trump’s Triumphal Arch
THE MAP
Georgia: Conservative disarray. Prominent right-wing pundit Erick Erickson wrote yesterday that he won’t vote for the Republican nominee for Senate, Mike Collins, and plans to leave the ballot line blank. “I am simply done eating the shit sandwich,” Erickson wrote.
Michigan: Democrats say they’re losing. A small-dollar fundraising email from Democrat Abdul El-Sayed yesterday blared “Rogers pulled ahead” in the subject line, referring to Mike Rogers, the Republican nominee for Senate. “A new poll dropped showing Rogers up by 2 points,” the email reads, before asking for $10.
Ohio: The age factor. The Sun’s Paul Kane reports from Perrysburg, where Democratic Senate nominee Sherrod Brown, who’s 73, will be on the ballot with 9th District Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur, who is 80. Derek Merrin, Kaptur’s Republican opponent, likes to point out that he wasn’t born when she first took office in 1983, and many of the ads against both Brown and Kaptur focus on their years in office. “They try to say, you know, she served there too long,” Kaptur told Paul. “Oh no, it took me four decades to get where I am now.”
Alaska: Loosely defined independent? We report from Anchorage, where fisherman and former public school official Bill Hill is running without a party for the state’s lone House seat. His opponent is not buying it: “When you see a candidate that is endorsed by the Democrats, funded by the Democrats, funded by Democrat super PACs, endorsed by Democrats in Congress, it’s obvious which side of the aisle he’s aligned himself with,” Republican Rep. Nick Begich told The Sun’s Alex Roarty.
Texas: Dummymander alert! Trump yesterday switched a planned visit to Waco this weekend to Corpus Christi, which “will bring him closer to some of the state’s most competitive congressional contests,” conservative outlet Texas Scorecard reports. Corpus Christi was drawn into the 34th District by Texas Republicans last year to make a district that already voted for Trump even more pro-Trump.
Meanwhile, things are getting pretty chippy down the stretch in this state. Sarah Stogner, a Republican district attorney in West Texas, told The Sun’s Daniella Diaz she’s launching an investigation into mysterious trans-themed mailers she’s said are a bid to agitate voters ahead of the midterms.
California: HRC spends against Pelosi’s replacement pick. The retiring former speaker has endorsed San Francisco supervisor Connie Chan in the Democrat-vs.-Democrat general election for the 11th Congressional District. Human Rights Campaign’s PAC went up yesterday with $1 million for Chan’s opponent, state Sen. Scott Wiener, a longtime LGBTQ+ rights advocate.
FROM THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL
First on The Sun: Pete Buttigieg’s final sprint. The last 10 days of the midterms will see Buttigieg make three stops in his adopted home state of Michigan, while also rallying in states with competitive Senate races like Georgia, Mississippi and Minnesota, The Sun’s Alex Roarty reports.
The Epstein election: When Democrats want to make inroads in red places in 2026, more often than not they do it with a slew of TV ads featuring Jeffrey Epstein, The Sun’s Avani Kalra reports. More than 150 ads centered on Epstein have aired across the country during the 2026 election cycle, and they began playing primarily in “toss-up” districts and states — but increasingly are being deployed in those Trump won in 2024.
People don’t want to vote by mail. Or rather, not as much. Natalie Fertig reports for The Sun on the initial trends from this year’s early-voting numbers. In Ohio, absentee ballot requests this year have decreased by about 28%, while early in-person voting has increased by about 196% compared to 2022. Similar things are happening in other states. Experts, election officials and Democratic voters tell Natalie that Trump’s attempts to control mail-in balloting has had an effect on people’s trust in the system.
NEW ON THE WASHINGTON SUN
Our State scoop is still going: The Sun’s Eric Katz reported this week on Foreign Service officers up for promotion at the State Department being asked who they voted for in recent presidential elections. Seven hours after our story was published, the State Department issued an addendum to its previous comment to “reject this absurd premise that individuals are being asked about their political affiliations, and even more so for promotions.”
“This Administration will prioritize merit rather than giving out leadership positions based on the number of years individuals have been at the Department,” a department spokesperson said in the new statement. Eric reported that after publication, he heard from more people familiar with the line of questions in question.
More: ICE Extends Contract for Company After Delayed Detainee Medical Payments • Trump-Linked Crypto Company Accused of ‘Public Corruption’ in New Lawsuit
NOT US
- One person in Antarctica voted in North Carolina’s election. We found him. By Jeremy Markovich for North Carolina Rabbit Hole
- The Art of the Deal: Jared Kushner’s Hacked Phone Revealed His Secret Negotiations, by Matthew Cole for Vanity Fair
- Putin Nears a Prize: Restoring Ties With the U.S. While Giving Up Nothing, by Valerie Hopkins for The New York Times
- Ballot Rejections Soared in Rural Counties After USPS Reduced Mail Service, by Ken B. Morales, Jen Fifield and Misty Harris for ProPublica
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The newsletter was produced by Thomas Burr and Andrew Burton.
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