With just six weeks until the midterm elections, Puck reporters Tara Palmeri and Teddy Schleifer exchanged notes on the Thiel–McConnell standoff in Arizona, the Pelosi succession chatter in D.C., Kamala Harris’s weak hand in California, and what’s next in the Trump–DeSantis grudge match. The following has been edited for length and clarity.
Tara Palmeri: Teddy, I’m glad we’re talking today, because in many ways we’ve both been circling different angles on the defining campaign story of this election cycle: How Republicans gained, then let slip, a potentially decisive electoral advantage in the midterm races.
Teddy Schleifer: It’s an incredible story, and it is as much about the macro as it is about the micro. Last week you wrote about how the G.O.P. has been dramatically outspending Democrats since Labor Day—and yet Republican candidates are also the ones with the cash deficits. How is that possible?
