Slog AM: Michigan Democrat Excommunicated, a Puppets’ Viral Candy Machine, Man Walks Around World and Returns 28 Years Later

The midterms are here and I’m stress eating and figuring out who to blame if Democrats don’t tsunami The Hill. If we haven’t voted yet, and haven’t gotten our cousins in Michigan and Texas to do so, it’s on us. My ballot got delivered to an old address, so I’ll be heading to my local voting center for a replacement tomorrow. 

In Washington, Gov. Bob Ferguson is voting in an official ballot box. He suggests putting your ballot in a drop box to avoid any Trumpification of mail delivery.

Looking for The Stranger Election Control Board 2026 General Election Cheat Sheet? It’s here. 

In Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed’s defeated Democratic rival endorsed his Republican opponent. Former Democratic Congresswoman Haley Stevens betrayed her party over the weekend by endorsing Republican Mike Rogers against the most thoughtful, inspiring Democratic candidate for Senate since Barack Obama. Democrats from Chuck Schumer to Michigan’s state party chair essentially excommunicated her over the “despicable betrayal,” The Associated Press reports. Which reminds me, how did Jill Biden avoid this treatment, after her own betrayal to the Democratic Party? Trump called Stevens brave, and invited her to join the Republican party. If ever there were a clear test to see if AIPAC can buy a senate seat, this is it.

In Alaska, a court rejects Trump’s “Dan Sullivan lawsuit.” A federal judge has tossed a Department of Justice (DOJ) lawsuit that sought to prevent Alaska from certifying its Senate election results… if the Republican candidate lost, NPR reports. Trump personally ordered the lawsuit, another unprecedented form of election interference and weaponization of the DOJ. The lawsuit accurately went after an apparent stunt from Democratic operatives to recruit a man named Dan J. Sullivan to run against the sitting Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan, who has a different middle initial. Alaskan officials (including top Republicans) are investigating the move, but have also rejected Trump’s attempt to hijack the results. 

Don’t blame the amoral Democratic operatives who recruited the other Dan Sullivan. Ya, they’re a bunch of assholes. But it turns out their biggest mistake was getting caught. Republicans also tried to manipulate the state’s open primary by funding a Green Party candidate, but it didn’t work out, NPR reports. And who could forget when there were three Bob Fergusons on the Washington ballot in 2024? 

When will we know midterm election results? Slowly, PolitiFact reports. Ignore the noise, stay off Truth Social, and wait for a call from AP. When they’re in, Alaska’s Dan Sullivan—the Republican incumbent—says he’ll respect them, even if the President doesn’t, CNBC says.  

The insurance is too damn high: Individual insurance premiums will increase by more than 22 percent on average in 2027, the Seattle Times reports. It’s the third year in a row that rates have gone up by double-digits in Washington.

The refrigerators are too damn hot: Industrial cooling fridges in supermarkets across Europe got hacked again. This happened in France last month, with software sending grocery store refrigerators into hot mode, and looks like the hack got scaled up this time. Hackers targeted fridges and freezers at stores in Sweden, the Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg, and Estonia. 

Eating our way out of a problem: La Palma Family Mexican Restaurant in Ballard, which was on the verge of closure, is bouncing back after a social media plea asking for help went viral, KOMO reports. If social media says so, I may take a break from my nightly frozen TJ’s meals to eat at La Palma. As a native New Mexican, I have been hate-eating my way around Seattle’s Latin food scene. Hopefully it is better than Trader Jose’s green chile bowl, which I can’t say for Taco Time.

A few weeks ago I stood at this podium and declared that Grimothy, the Bainbridge horror installation, had won Halloween. I was wrong. Behold, Eggy, the puppet in Columbia City that distributed candy through a giant machine. He described himself as a former Sesame Street writer who never got on camera. He gave children candy.

Dad went out to get a pack of cigarettes… for 28 years: In 1998 a recently divorced UK dad left his eight year old son to literally walk around the world, because therapy had not yet been invented for men. Karl Bushby, 57, hugged his mum on Monday after completing the round-the-world journey, The Guardian reported. He was also reunited with his son, now 36, and got to meet his 12-year-old granddaughter. In tow was German film-maker Werner Herzog, who is making a movie about the walk.

A year before he set out, “Around The World” was released. Daft Punk may ultimately be responsible for planting a seed in Bushby’s brain by releasing their Magellenesque single.

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