Dem
53
Ties
2
GOP
45
No, we don't mean that Halloween or Día de Muertos is upon us. We mean that if any reporter out there, or any campaign, has dirt on one of the 2026 candidates, now is the time to make that known. First, because early voting is upon us, or soon will be, in many states. Second, because dirt that is released too late in the cycle (by a campaign, at least) can look like desperation, and can backfire.
We've been keeping an eye out for such stories, and when it comes to prominent Democratic office-seekers, we've only seen one. It involves Mary Peltola, who—of course—aspires to be the next U.S. Senator from Alaska. Last week, there was a somewhat widely reported story, courtesy of the they-always-have-their-priorities-in-order New York Times, that during her time in Congress, Peltola was abusive to some of her staffers.
We are not at all certain how this will play in Alaska, and those are the only voters that matter here. Peltola was in a tough place during her time in Congress—in addition to the pressure of holding office (and having to commute from as far away as any member of the House other than the Hawaiians), she was also recently widowed. Also, the sources for the story were former staffers she dismissed, who could plausibly have an ax to grind. No less than Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) came to Peltola's defense and said, in so many words, that Peltola is a fine colleague, and should not be judged by her worst (and somewhat understandable) moments.
Meanwhile, perhaps we are guilty of confirmation bias, but we remember a lot of these kinds of stories (often from the NYT) about women: Peltola, Katie Porter, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), Kamala Harris, etc. The only such story we can remember about a man is the one about Maine Senate candidate Troy Jackson (D) throwing a water bottle one time. If we are right about this seeming disparity, we're not 100% sure what it means, but we do have a theory or two. (Hint: Women are judged more harshly than men for the same behavior.)
In any event, we're a little surprised about how little dirt we've seen about Democratic candidates in the past couple of weeks. Did we miss any stories? If so, let us know at comments@electoral-vote.com. We'll have a Republican entry tomorrow. There's been quite a bit of dirt on them in the past couple of weeks. (Z)