Photo of Mary Peltola in Alaska becomes pivotal in the Senate race six days before the election

President Donald Trump said this Wednesday that Democratic candidate Mary Peltola should resign from the Senate race in Alaska and be criminally prosecuted, after a New York Times report that advisors linked to his campaign recruited another candidate named Dan Sullivan, named after the Republican senator who is seeking re-election. The election takes place in six days.

According to the report cited by Bloomberg Television, officials spent months recruiting candidates to take votes from the senator, including directing one of them to find as many people named Dan Sullivan as possible in the state. Peltola's campaign denies, as does the Democratic campaign committee, that it recruited candidates. Trump claimed Democrats "are cheating." Bloomberg himself noted that the practice is not illegal, contrary to the president's suggestion.

Race within the margin of error

For John Thomas, a Republican strategist and researcher interviewed by the channel, the episode should have a material effect because the dispute is within the margin of error: the Democrat leads by one or two points in most polls. In his assessment, the controversy undermines confidence in the candidate and shifts the debate between undecided voters from "whether they like Trump or not" to "think it's fair or not be fooled."

Reporter Anna Edgerton assessed that the case is unlikely to shake Peltola's core supporters, but it may remind voters that she is linked to the Democratic Party, although she has presented herself as an independent voice. According to her, the most concrete impact may come from legal disputes after the investigation. Analysts on the program's panel recalled that Alaska uses order-of-preference voting and may take time to release the result. One of them said that certification is only required on November 25th.

Fed maintains interest rates, and market still expects rise in December

On the same day, the Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged, as expected, in the last decision before the elections. Central bank president Kevin Warsh stated that politics did not influence the decision and that it is the Fed's responsibility to reduce inflation, which he said has been running above target for almost six years. Director Lisa Cook registered her first dissent, in favor of raising interest rates.

According to Bloomberg journalist Mike McKee, the market is still projecting a rise in December, and Warsh dodged the question about why wait if the economy is strong and inflation is heading in the wrong direction. Economist Betsey Stevenson, from the University of Michigan, said the decision is intriguing because a new high is still likely, but recalled that the job market is moving slowly, with little hiring and little firing. She also stated that the electoral result could change fiscal policy: a government that spends and takes on a lot of debt acts against the Fed, while greater fiscal restraint helps to reduce inflation.

Big techs diverge; energy weighs on voters

On balance, Microsoft and Alphabet followed different paths, according to reporter Ed Ludlow. Microsoft's cloud division grew above expectations and the company generates positive free cash. Alphabet missed projections for its search business, operates with negative free cash flow and reported commitments of US$1.076 trillion between future purchases and leases of computing capacity, although its cloud has surpassed estimates.

In politics, Representative Blake Moore (Republican from Utah) said candidates need to be frank with voters about the price of energy, which he attributed to the war with Iran, and defended a licensing reform bill in the Senate after the election. He also cited the need for a fiscal commission and said part of the deficit reduction in 2025 came from tariff revenues, which will be in part lost after the Supreme Court ruling. Energy Secretary Chris Wright reported that diesel was at $6.35, about 20 cents below its peak.

Automatically translated from Portuguese.