Welcome to Midterms Meltdown, a special pop-up newsletter from The Swamp—bringing you up to the minute with the secrets the politicians don’t want you to know about the race to November 3.
It is the most consequential election campaign since 2024, and the nooze will be oozing around the nation to shape D.C. for the next two years and beyond. Our David Gardner, Farrah Tomazin, Sarah Ewall-Wice, and Annabella Rosciglione are getting down and dirty with the inside stories from the battlefields every Monday and Friday.
Melting down in The Swamp today are: Keisha Lance Bottoms, Joe Biden, Michael Whatley, Ken Paxton, Rick Jackson, James Talarico, John E. Sununu, Roger Marshall, Chris Pappas, Mike Rogers, Abdul El-Sayed, Darline Graham, Adam Hamilton, Dr. Annie Andrews, Sean and Evita Duffy, and Franklin D. Roosevelt.
MAGA Governor Hopeful Doesn’t Want ‘That Type’ Next Door
MAGA billionaire Rick Jackson wants to be Georgia’s next governor–and is pitching himself as a philanthropist who will “treat affordability like a crisis” and help people struggling with rent and housing costs.
But when it came to apartments near his own home, Jackson seemed to have a different philosophy.
Documents obtained by The Swamp’s Farrah Tomazin reveal how the Trump ally sued his local county for approving apartments near his $11.5 million mega-mansion in Cumming, about 40 miles from Atlanta.
“Forsyth County ought to be proud of one fact, in that they have the nicest home in Georgia and the 18th largest home in the United States,” Jackson boasted in a 2013 deposition for his lawsuit.
The 47,000-square-foot estate, known as “Le Reve,” (“The Dream”) is indeed a nice home, with 82 rooms, a bowling alley, a private nine-hole golf course, a movie theater and a dog agility course.
But the health executive argued that having apartments next to his estate would be a “complete total disgrace and disrespect” and fretted about the “type of people” who would live there.
Renters “are not as responsible as people that own” their own homes, he said, and presented a “bigger security issue.” What’s more, Jackson noted, children from the apartments might find a way to sneak onto his property.
“Nobody in their right mind would build 200 units adjacent to this kind of property,” he lamented at the time.
The Swamp has reached out to Jackson’s campaign about the revelations, which land as he faces a tight race for the governor’s mansion (which only has 30 rooms) against former Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, in a state that hasn’t elected a Democratic governor since 1998.
After all, critics argue they undercut part of his pitch for governor: to help low-income people “who don’t have a voice.”
“I will treat affordability like a crisis. Because for too many families, it already is,” he said.
But scrutiny is hardly limited to his views on renters. The Daily Beast has previously reported on roughly $5 million in settlements involving companies in Jackson’s healthcare empire over allegations concerning worker pay and the treatment of foreign-born nurses. In June, a bombshell recording also captured him apparently agreeing that women should have to “prove” they were raped in order to qualify for an abortion, comments his campaign said were misconstrued.
Now Georgia voters have another piece of his record to consider. The MAGA billionaire says he wants to tackle Georgia’s housing crisis and facilitate development. But back then, his apparent housing preference was a little more exclusive.
An Eyebrow-Raising Family Affair for Alfonso
Michael Alfonso, the 26-year-old MAGA candidate running for the same Wisconsin House seat his father-in-law, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, once held, is very, very keen for people to know he really, really lives in Wisconsin, perhaps because he was registered to vote in Florida until January of this year. Alfonso has also made his Catholic faith a large part of his public persona and his campaign. He credits his Wisconsin Catholic high school with introducing him to his wife, Evita Duffy Alfonso, and claims he works part-time as an accountant at his local Catholic church in the small town Wisconsin of Hayward—although he is not listed on the church’s staff page.
The young couple and their baby are all over his campaign materials, offering a wholesome image of Wisconsin Catholic family values. But now the two strands of his appeal to voters have rather awkwardly overlapped. Alfonso posted jubilantly about their new baby, Rosita, being baptized, posting yet more wholesome pictures of the young family with other Duffys and a priest after the ceremony, with everyone in carefully color-coordinated outfits.
But what Alfonso didn’t mention to those Wisconsin voters is that the christening was actually 1,000 miles away, in New Jersey. The Swamp can disclose that the sacrament was administered at St. Brigid Roman Catholic Church in northern New Jersey, the Duffy clan’s parish in the affluent New Jersey town they call home—not the Wisconsin parish where Alfonso claims to have worked. (Naturally, the Duffys live just one town away from Bedminster, New Jersey, where Trump spends many summer weekends.) When reached for comment, his campaign did not deny that the baptism took place in the Garden State. The New Jersey church also touts Sean Duffy as one of its parishioners. Indeed, Father John Hillier exhorted his congregants to tune in to the Duffys’ Great American Road Trip, which bombed online. Fr. Hillier specifically told people to watch the installment of the six-part series, that featured the Duffys ragging on Harvard for its apparent anti-Catholic bias. (Spoiler alert: the Duffy family is later pleased to find out that Catholic discrimination largely does not exist on the Ivy League institution’s campus, but Paloma Duffy doesn’t go there anyway.)
Debating Whether to Debate
Senate hopefuls are debating whether to debate their political opponents—and the verdict for some struggling candidates is not a chance!
Taking the stage has been more of a liability than a solid way to gain recognition, recent history has shown, The Swamp’s Sarah Ewall-Wice observes.
Just ask Sen. Roger Marshall, who recently was booed and faced shouts of, “You don’t live here,” on the debate stage from a boisterous crowd at the Kansas State Fair. (He owns a home in Florida.)
And then there’s Joe Biden, whose political career was cut short after he faced Trump for one disastrous debate in 2024.
It has caused a series of candidates, including some in the biggest Senate races, to skip out on giving voters a televised chance to watch a face-off.
Texas Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton has not committed to a single debate against Democrat James Talarico, who accepted multiple invites. Perhaps it’s not surprising as Paxton has literally fled the room when reporters asked him questions he deemed off-topic.
In Ohio, former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown said he would like to debate his opponent Sen. Jon Husted, who was appointed to fill the seat, but the Republican candidate facing his first election for a full term has yet to commit.
And in another major battleground, flailing Republican Senate hopeful Michael Whatley has also avoided a debate as he trails Gov. Roy Cooper in the race. Instead, he relied on Trump’s visit this week to help give him a boost. He might be one of the few people in a tough race not running for the hills when the underwater president comes calling. Notably, Cooper hasn’t pushed for debates himself despite having won statewide twice and being a familiar face. Perhaps he’s comfortable with things as they are, since he leads in the polls.
But skipping a debate when a challenger demands one has its downsides. GOP Michigan Senate candidate Mike Rogers declined to appear for a scheduled Fox 2 debate this week, leaving his opponent Democrat Abdul El-Sayed on live television beside an empty podium. Rogers argued he never agreed to the debate and accused the moderator of bias, but El-Sayed called him a “coward” on television. The pair have also agreed to two scheduled debates next month… TBD on who shows up.
Meanwhile, Senator Darline Graham won her runoff last month despite her wild admission that she knows nothing about national security in the debate, but instead of shying away from a repeat performance, she agreed this week to debate Democratic rival Dr. Annie Andrews on October 11. Perhaps she’s brushed up on the South China Sea and Taiwan since her faceoff against Ralph Norman a few weeks ago.
I-O-Ah-What Now?
The last Democrat elected governor in Iowa was in 2006. The last Democrat to win a race for the Senate in Iowa was in 2008. But something is happening in the Hawkeye state, The Swamp’s Ewall-Wice notes. If it weren’t, Vice President JD Vance wouldn’t have rushed there on Friday to campaign for Zach Lahn. But there he goes, to a state Trump won three times as Lahn has trailed Democrat Rob Sand in every poll that has come out for months. Sand has done something other Democrats have failed to do in Iowa for decades: win. He’s been the state auditor since 2019 and has run a local Iowa-centric gubernatorial campaign that’s stayed away from the national debate about the Democratic Party. Then there’s Iowa Republican Senate candidate Ashely Hinson, who is now trying to convince voters on the ground that she can work with Democrats as the race tightens.
In a video this week, she touted being able to work across the aisle. “That’s why I worked with Democrats to expand mental health care for veterans and with President Trump to take on health insurance companies to lower your costs,” she claimed. Then there’s the House races. Reps. Zach Nunn and Mariannette Miller-Meeks’ seats are considered “toss-ups.” They made an unusual move this week: voting with Democrats on the war powers resolution against Trump’s Iran war before the House cut out early and went home until after the election.
The Sununu Also Rises
It’s actually not all bad news for the GOP…. The Cook Political Report moved the New Hampshire Senate race this week from “Lean Democrat” to “Toss Up.” The Granite State currently has two Democratic senators, but longtime Sen. Jeanne Shaheen is retiring. Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas faces a New Hampshire political dynasty, with former Sen. John E. Sununu as the Republican nominee. Both Sununu’s dad (John H. Sununu) and brother (Chris Sununu) were governors of the state. Sununu’s primary to become the official nominee was one of the latest to take place, just last week, so they’re in a final sprint to the finish line. Current Republican Governor Kelly Ayotte is also up for reelection in November.
The Big Poll Loser: Roger Marshall
Not so ruby red… A new Emerson poll shows Democratic Senate candidate Adam Hamilton leading GOP Senator Roger Marshall by two points in Kansas 45 percent to 43 percent. The last time a Democrat won a Senate race in the Sunflower State was nearly a century ago, 1932 to be exact, the same year Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected president.
The candidate then was Democratic Senator George McGill, an attorney from Wichita, who first won a special election before being reelected for only one full term. Hamilton’s polling lead comes after Vance rushed to the state to campaign for Marshall just last week. Other Democrats have won statewide more recently, including its current governor, Laura Kelly. Despite the narrowing polls, the Cook Political Report still rates the race as “Likely Republican.”
What Trump Is Saying
“I could have banned fishing. I’ll tell you what, the power of this office is crazy.”
What the Republicans Are Saying:
“This weekend I’m going to Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa to help raise money and campaign for our very good candidates. If you told me six months ago I would be having to spend my time in those three states, I wouldn’t have believed you. Those ought to be fat guy layups for us. Now we’re going to win there, but the races are close.” - Republican Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy.
What the Democrats Are Saying:
“Tech leaders are building bunkers while warning of the extinction risks posed by the new intelligence they are creating, while Congress debates youth sports and the president builds a ballroom.” - Democratic Party “rising star” Jon Ossoff.
And finally… place your bets
Who is Going to Win North Carolina Senate Race?
What they’re saying on Kalshi:
Roy Cooper - 92 percent
Michael Whatley - 8 percent
What they’re saying on Polymarket:
Roy Cooper - 93 percent
Michael Whatley - 9 percent
