It’s Monday, November 2. This is The Front Page, your daily window into the world of The Free Press—and our take on the world at large. Today: Why economics loses no matter who wins in the midterms. Josh Code meets the woman who spent 14 years on psychiatric drugs and is now joining HHS to fix the system. Mark Manson on why happiness is overrated. And much more.
But first: the Michigan midterm bombshell.
Just when we thought Election Day would arrive without the usual late “October surprise,” Michigan’s Senate race took an unforgettable November turn. Yesterday, Rep. Haley Stevens, who narrowly lost the Democratic primary to Abdul El-Sayed in August, endorsed El-Sayed’s Republican opponent, Mike Rogers. The last-minute change of heart caught everyone off guard, but it reflects a truth that’s easy to forget in today’s politics: Some fissures run deeper than the line between parties.
Stevens made her move after El-Sayed refused to condemn an ad from a supporter’s PAC that blamed Israel for the rising cost of Americans’ groceries. With control of the Senate potentially hinging on Michigan, Democratic leaders were quick to denounce her. But is she a traitor, or a Democrat putting her country over her party?
James Kirchick argues it’s the latter. Two years ago, he notes Democrats welcomed Liz Cheney’s endorsement of Elissa Slotkin for Michigan’s other Senate seat as an act of political courage. Now that a Democrat has made the same choice, her party is branding her as a turncoat.
And what does Stevens’ endorsement mean for El-Sayed’s chances on Tuesday? The polls show El-Sayed ahead, but could this change things? Mark Halperin says her defection has exposed divisions Democrats had worked to keep hidden in the final weeks of the campaign. Before Sunday, insiders in both parties told him El-Sayed could win Michigan without a blue wave. Now, Halperin writes, he probably needs one.
Michigan is just one of many key races this cycle. For predictions of their outcomes, we turn to two of our favorite Washington insiders, Jesse Arm, a conservative, and Yemisi Egbewole, a liberal. They go state by state through the biggest contests, and find themselves agreeing more often than you might expect.
And tomorrow, don’t miss our live election night special with 2WAY, from 8 p.m. till midnight ET. Will Rahn, Mark Halperin, and a lineup of Free Press writers will follow the results as they come in. Mark your calendars!
—The Editors
MORE FROM THE FREE PRESS
THE NEWS
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A federal judge on Sunday threw out the Justice Department’s bid to delay certifying Alaska’s Senate results should Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan lose in tomorrow’s midterm elections. The DOJ had argued that another man with the same name was put on the ballot to confuse voters and help Democrat Mary Peltola, whose campaign denies any role.
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Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut suffered a stroke on Saturday after feeling his arm go numb at his son’s hockey game. The 53-year old Democrat, a possible 2028 presidential contender, is being treated at Johns Hopkins and is expected to make a full recovery.
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A private jet flying from Texas to The Bahamas nosedived and crashed in Palm Beach County, Florida, on Sunday, killing all nine people aboard. Drivers on a nearby road captured video of the plane plummeting from the sky, and the cause is still under investigation.
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New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani said Saturday that President Trump agreed in a phone call to quickly grant a visa to the mother of Javits Frimpong, a 15-year-old Ghanaian immigrant who was shot on his way to school in the Bronx last week. The police have not made any arrests in his killing.
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Russian authorities detained a teenager Sunday after the U.S. warned of a possible terror attack in Moscow. Russia’s FSB security service said the minor had posted TikTok photos of himself in tactical gear with what looked like an automatic weapon, and followed a neo-Nazi channel online.
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Polish president Karol Nawrocki personally rushed to the country’s top constitutional court Friday night after its chief, an appointee of the previous conservative government, was suspended by a fellow judge. The president, a conservative ally, called it an illegal takeover, while Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who has vowed to undo the previous government’s control over the courts, defended the move as a necessary step.
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Sweden’s Andreas Almgren won the men’s race at the New York City Marathon yesterday in 2:06:01, his first-ever marathon, while Kenya’s Sheila Chepkirui captured her second women’s title in 2:24:36. Almgren, the reigning world half-marathon champion, is the first European-born man to win in New York since 1996. (Read Casey Neistat on why he runs the marathon every year.)
