Midterms unleash what may be the nastiest barrage of attack ads yet
It’s last-minute garbage time as the midterms are just over a week away, with candidates uncorking their dirtiest ads, their filthiest charges and their ugliest rhetoric.
This barrage is fueled as never before by social media, and a surging public interest since any one of a dozen states could tip the battle for Senate control.
I feel like taking a shower.
The chairman of Montana’s Democratic Party, Shannon O’Brien, just resigned, underscoring the extreme sensitivity to national politics. The party, she said in an MS NOW essay, "is more divided than ever not because of our values but because of the race for the U.S. Senate… The winner of this race will almost certainly vote on a nominee to the Supreme Court."
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O’Brien said there are "real questions" about the Democratic candidate’s views on such issues as abortion and poverty.
Virginia’s Democratic state senator L. Louise Lucas was just indicted on federal charges including racketeering conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy, related to her co-ownership of a cannabis business.
The probe predates the Trump administration, but Lucas vowed to fight back: "I grew up under Jim Crow. I’ve seen what happens when people in power try to silence those who stand up to them."
It’s like an echo chamber. President Trump has already nationalized the election by saying people should vote as if he’s on the ballot–and barnstorming with increasingly tough talk about the Democrats.
A local council member in suburban Des Moines, Shellie Flockhart, appeared in an ad ripping a Democratic candidate as "just plain dangerous" for kids–but the Washington Post reported that she once pleaded guilty to child endangerment after driving drunk with two of her children.
A splashy piece in Vanity Fair, containing allegations against Jared Kushner, just happened to come out now, prompting Kushner’s lawyer to put the magazine on notice of a potential lawsuit.
The attorney for the president’s son-in-law argued that Vanity Fair had failed after repeated requests to produce "a single bank statement, wire transfer record, account number, or other verifiable evidence supporting these extraordinary accusations."
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The article, which Kushner calls "completely insane," is based on a forthcoming book claiming that Russian security services hacked his phone, disclosing $700 million in secret foreign transactions, and that his signature is on an account set up by Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
The timing sounds more than coincidental.
After decades of political coverage, I immediately knew that the toxic ad by Vivek Ramaswamy–featuring Democrat Amy Acton’s long-estranged mother calling her a liar–would be more than just an issue in the Ohio governor’s race. I sensed that it would quickly become a national referendum on sleaziness.
The mother, Donna Arthur, sided with her second husband, even though Cledith Arthur was indicted for raping Amy Acton when she was 12 years old. The couple disappeared, and the stepfather was never tried before his death. Acton has had no contact with her mother since 1978.
To their credit, many Republicans, led by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, have denounced the ad. Trump has defended it as fair game, saying he doesn’t know anything about a stepfather and that Democrats would certainly use such an ad against him.
In far lesser-known races, the mudslinging grows by the day.
In Texas, Republican Rep. Monica De La Cruz is sending a torrent of emails about her opponent, saying "Bobby Pulido is unfit to serve in Congress." When his fellow bandmate "was arrested on a child rape charge, Bobby went to his uncle, the crooked district attorney, and the charge disappeared along with three other felonies. Gone."
Pulido told Politico that he never knew about his onetime accordionist’s child molestation charges more than a decade ago.
"I’ve apologized for everything that I’ve ever joked about that offended anybody… There’s a lot of tweets in there that I’m embarrassed of. There’s jokes that I’ve told that I apologize for," he said.
But the Washington Free Beacon says Pulido "has given shifting stories and conflicting information surrounding his child molester bandmate."
In the more prominent Senate race in Texas between Ken Paxton and James Talarico, the attorney general has been running an AI-generated spot saying his Democratic opponent "voted for an income tax" and "Texans can’t afford Talarico’s radical agenda."
Fact-checkers call the income tax charge false, and Talarico’s response ad says, "I don’t have to use AI, because the truth about Ken Paxton is bad enough."
But how many voters, in Texas and across the country, will take the time to sort out such charges and counter-charges? How many will just tune out the high-decibel attacks? How many will hit the mute button?
Personally, I feel numb after scrutinizing the seemingly endless barrage on the airwaves. I fact-checked ads for five presidential cycles, but this is dirtier and more unhinged than ever.
And the crucial question for 2026: How many voters will just stay home?