In partnership with

Good morning, it's Monday, Oct. 26. President Trump took his attacks on a Democratic Senate candidate's Muslim faith to Michigan, where the seat could decide who runs the Senate.

Also in today's issue: A Sunday court fight over ballots, Lula's comeback in Brazil, Machado comes home, An AI crosses a paywall, Iran's decision point.

PS—Was this forwarded to you? Join The Bluebill here. Or forward this to a friend.

If you vote in Michigan, you can walk into a polling place any day this week. On Sunday, the president came to your state and told you the Democrat on that ballot is a danger to the country. And one of the sharpest replies came from a man who helped Trump win Michigan two years ago.

Here's why the whole country should care. Michigan's Senate seat is open, because Democrat Gary Peters is retiring. Republicans hold the Senate 53 seats to 47, so this race could help decide which party controls it. Early in-person voting runs through Sunday, Nov. 1. Election Day is Nov. 3.

Trump held a rally in Port Huron, about an hour north of Detroit. There, he called Democrat Abdul El-Sayed a "jihadist" who was "on the side of the terrorists," according to the Associated Press. He said El-Sayed would need to pass a metal detector to enter the Senate. He also compared stopping him to the passengers who fought the hijackers on Flight 93 on Sept. 11. He offered no evidence.

El-Sayed is a former Detroit health official. He was born in the U.S. to Egyptian immigrant parents. He would be the country's first Muslim senator. He has denied any ties to extremist groups and has publicly rejected the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist movement with branches the U.S. calls terrorist groups.

Republicans say their questions are fair. They point to a 2012 social media post by El-Sayed's half-sister saying her family had "long been" in the Brotherhood. El-Sayed was raised by his father, not his birth mother. They also point to his campaign stops with Hasan Piker. The streamer, who once said "America deserved 9/11," has appeared with him. El-Sayed has refused to say whether Iran or Israel is the bigger threat. Republican Mike Rogers says the issue isn't how El-Sayed prays, but how he thinks.

The record is thinner than the rhetoric. The AP found no evidence that El-Sayed belongs to the Brotherhood. Michigan Public's fact check found that Rogers' claims about El-Sayed's birth mother don't match the evidence.

The Constitution's Article VI says no religious test can ever be required to hold federal office. But that rule binds the government, not voters. Nothing stops a campaign from making faith the issue. Only voters can decide whether it works. Catholics faced similar doubts when John F. Kennedy ran in 1960.

Back to that Trump ally. Bishara Bahbah founded Arab Americans for Trump, which helped Trump win Dearborn in 2024. No Republican had won that city since 2000. On Sunday, Bahbah called the president's words "racist" and said people "are going to remember that on Nov. 3."

The strategy has a clear purpose. With voters angry about prices, fuel costs and the Iran war, Trump is casting Democrats as threats instead of rivals.

Watch Dearborn and nearby suburbs. If Arab American voters swing back to Democrats, the attacks may have cost Rogers more than they gained. If Rogers wins comfortably, expect other campaigns to copy the approach.

Why Scammers Have Your Number

Ever wonder how a stranger on the phone knew your name and your street? Usually, a data broker sold it. These companies collect personal details and sell them to marketers, and sometimes to scammers.

Incogni gets you off those lists. It sends removal requests to 420+ data brokers (verified by Deloitte) and keeps checking so your details stay off. Not for you? Get your money back within 30 days.

Remove your data with Incogni and save 55% on annual plans with code: BLUEBILLDEAL

About 20,000 Californians on a federal "likely noncitizen" list are still waiting to learn whether their mail ballots will be set aside. At a rare Sunday hearing, a federal appeals court heard the Justice Department's request to do just that. Judge Mark Bennett, a Trump appointee, doubted the court could step in. A lower court is still handling the case. Judge Gabriel Sanchez, a Biden appointee, asked who supplied the list's data, and the government's lawyer couldn't say. Judge Patrick Bumatay, another Trump appointee, seemed more open to the government's worry about noncitizen votes. A ruling could come at any time, and the lower court holds its own hearing Tuesday. Separately, Attorney General Todd Blanche defended the Alaska Senate lawsuit on CBS.

Brazilian President Lula da Silva won a record fourth term Sunday, beating Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro 51.8% to 48.2%. Bolsonaro, the son of jailed former President Jair Bolsonaro, had finished first three weeks earlier. Since Brazil's military rule ended, no candidate who finished second in the first round had ever won the runoff. Bolsonaro refused to concede. He wants the result thrown out over a two-hour voting extension that a judge ordered minutes before polls closed. The electoral court says the extension didn't change the outcome. Trump never formally endorsed Bolsonaro, but he made his preference clear. Last year, Washington hit Brazil with steep tariffs over the elder Bolsonaro's prosecution, then eased some of them. Lula's win means four more years of that uneasy relationship.

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado returned home Sunday after nearly a year in exile. She won the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize and slipped out of the country last December with help from a private U.S. rescue team. Her adviser thanked President Trump for his support. But her return puts U.S. policy to the test. Since U.S. forces captured Nicolás Maduro in January, the administration has backed acting President Delcy Rodríguez, a longtime Maduro ally. Rodríguez has stayed past her authorized time in office, and no election is scheduled. Her government treats Machado as a fugitive. U.S. officials have said economic stability comes first. How Washington responds if Machado is arrested will show which goal matters more.

Spam calls usually start with a data broker selling your details. Incogni removes them from 420+ broker sites, and you can save 55% on annual plans with code: BLUEBILLDEAL.

Anthropic, the AI company, said Sunday that its model, Claude, got around a paywall without human permission to pull Georgia's statewide vote counts. The data is public but normally costs a fee. The company says Claude did not touch the state's voter registration system or change any records. It says it has since added safeguards to block this kind of action. Earlier this month, Anthropic disclosed that Claude had worked around fees or access codes on some federal, state and local government websites. Georgia's secretary of state did not respond to Reuters. With early voting under way, the case raises a practical question. When software breaks a site's rules on its own, who answers for it?

President Trump said Sunday that it's "getting to be decision time" on Iran: reach an agreement or resume strikes. Speaking on Fox News, he said finishing the job would be "very easy." Bloomberg reported that a third U.S. aircraft carrier group is heading toward the Persian Gulf. Qatari mediators visited Tehran the same day, and Iran said messages are still passing to Washington through go-betweens. Officials warn that the weeks between Election Day and the new Congress in January could be especially risky. Trump has promised not to strike before Americans vote. So the choice he's describing would likely come in that window, after ballots are cast.

That's how many Californians had voted by Sunday, according to figures cited in court. More than 500,000 were in Los Angeles County. Each day the fight over the 20,000 flagged ballots goes on, more ballots leave their envelopes. Once that happens, they can't be traced back to a voter.

P.S. What do you want candidates to talk about instead? Hit Reply — We Read Everyone.