Spoiler candidate, Cheesecake Factory and sibling rivalry: Recounting the many late 2026 midterm sideshows

Late in the 2026 midterm campaign, a run of distractions has crowded out the heavier issues of war, affordability and checks on President Donald Trump. The most consequential involves Alaska, where the New York Times reports that Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola's campaign helped recruit a second Dan Sullivan to appear on the ballot, apparently to muddle votes meant for Sen. Dan Sullivan. Peltola says she knew nothing about other candidates and calls the matter a diversion from affordability, according to CNN.

Elsewhere, Ohio Republican Vivek Ramaswamy pulled an ad featuring Democratic rival Amy Acton's mother, who has been estranged from Acton for decades. Republicans have also tried to turn Barack Obama's Cheesecake Factory joke about Trump's White House into a culture-war grievance. Trump keeps commenting on candidates' bodies, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made false claims about Arabs while Republicans targeted Michigan's Abdul El-Sayed.

Family and party friction also surfaced. South Carolina's Ralph Norman keeps needling Sen. Darline Graham, and brothers John E. Sununu and Chris Sununu traded barbs in New Hampshire. In Michigan, Haley Stevens' fiancé Jason Turkish backed Republican Mike Rogers, and El-Sayed's campaign later asked Stevens to skip its events.

Summarized by PolitiKool from CNN’s reporting. Read the full story at CNN →