👋🏾 HI, HEY, HELLO! Welcome back to Congress Nerd Daily. I hope today was everything for you. The midterms are in 28 days.
FIRST THINGS FIRST
Republican Sen. Susan Collins and Democrat Troy Jackson will meet tonight for the first of four Maine Senate debates, giving Jackson his first head-to-head opportunity to prosecute his case against the five-term incumbent with four weeks until Election Day. The 7 p.m. showdown comes as Democrats look to Maine as one of the seats they need to flip to win the Senate majority. Expect abortion, health care, tariffs, the Iran war and President Donald Trump—along with Collins’s argument that her seniority delivers for Maine—to feature prominently.
The debate action started earlier today in Michigan’s 7th District, where Democratic challenger Will Lawrence and Republican Rep. Tom Barrett (R-Mich.) sparred over Barrett’s congressional record and Lawrence’s past comments during their first face-to-face meeting. Barrett repeatedly pressed Lawrence over old social-media posts supporting defunding or abolishing police; Lawrence said his views had changed and pivoted to Barrett’s votes on tariffs and other Trump administration policies. The two also drew distinctions over AI and data centers, an unusually prominent issue in the swing district: Lawrence favors a federal moratorium on new developments, while Barrett says siting decisions should remain local.
And there’s plenty more where that came from. Michigan gubernatorial nominees Jocelyn Benson and John James debate tonight before Senate nominees Abdul El-Sayed and Mike Rogers meet Thursday. Georgia gubernatorial nominees Keisha Lance Bottoms and Rick Jackson face off tonight in what could be their only debate, while Iowa gubernatorial nominees Rob Sand and Zach Lahn also meet tonight and Senate nominees Josh Turek and Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-Iowa) debate tomorrow.
VIEW FROM THE HILL
A second federal whistleblower has come forward to Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) with allegations that Trump administration officials ordered government employees to pursue politically sensitive investigations despite warnings from inside the government that their instructions were unlawful or unconstitutional.
The latest disclosure, announced by Padilla on Tuesday, alleges President Trump wanted the FBI to investigate and arrest protesters in Southern California after watching video of residents warning their neighbors about the presence of immigration agents and advising them of their legal rights.
According to the disclosure, FBI personnel determined the protesters in Alhambra, California, had not impeded an arrest or posed a threat. But the whistleblower alleges the White House nevertheless instructed FBI Director Kash Patel to have the bureau’s Los Angeles Field Office pursue an investigation.
“The President wants this investigation,” FBI personnel were allegedly told, according to the disclosure, and “the directive had to be followed.”
The whistleblower, a former supervisory intelligence analyst in the Los Angeles field office, also alleges that then-Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove separately directed personnel to investigate anti-ICE and Customs and Border Protection protesters demonstrating at federal buildings without evidence of criminal activity or a national-security threat.
The account alleges FBI leadership proceeded despite acknowledging constitutional concerns and that it removed the whistleblower from a supervisory position after objecting. The whistleblower ultimately resigned before they could be fired, according to the disclosure.
Padilla, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary immigration subcommittee, is demanding Attorney General Todd Blanche and Patel provide answers by Oct. 12 about the investigations, including how many protesters the FBI and Justice Department have investigated since Trump returned to office and how many investigations were based solely on First Amendment activity.
