Bribery

Democrat John Kulewicz narrowly won Ohio's attorney general race and will inherit the state's prosecution of former FirstEnergy CEO Chuck Jones and ex-senior vice president Mike Dowling, accused of bribing former utility regulator Sam Randazzo over the corrupt House Bill 6 nuclear bailout. Kulewicz has pledged to push the case forward quickly, including new charges from a June grand jury indictment tied to the bribery of ex-House Speaker Larry Householder, who is serving a 20-year federal sentence. Jury selection in the retrial, following an April mistrial, is set for January 6. Republican opponent Keith Faber had proposed a dedicated anti-corruption task force but was noncommittal on continuing this specific case.

Alaska's U.S. Senate race, which could help decide Senate control, remains too close to call, with Democratic challenger Mary Peltola holding a razor-thin lead over incumbent Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan as absentee and rural votes are counted under the state's ranked-choice system. The contest is clouded by controversy over a second, little-known candidate also named Dan Sullivan, whom Republicans accuse Democratic operatives of recruiting to confuse voters; some voters have reported uncertainty over which candidate they selected. The Alaska Supreme Court upheld his right to run, and a federal judge dismissed a Justice Department lawsuit to block certification of a Peltola win, though the DOJ is appealing, prosecutors continue investigating, Peltola denies any scheme, and President Trump has said he will not challenge the results.

Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn his corruption conviction. He was found guilty last year on 10 counts, including bribery, racketeering and wire fraud, tied to a scheme in which ComEd executives provided jobs for Madigan associates in exchange for help with legislation.

Federal prosecutors are urging the court to deny the appeal, citing overwhelming evidence and Madigan's own testimony acknowledging such trades were illegal. Madigan is serving a seven-and-a-half-year sentence and was disbarred after his conviction. He previously sought a pardon from President Trump. The Supreme Court has not yet decided whether to hear the case.

Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield and Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul are leading a multistate lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Eugene, accusing the Treasury Department and its Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) of gutting the Corporate Transparency Act. The 2021 bipartisan law required businesses to disclose ownership information to help authorities track money laundering, shell companies, and fraud. A FinCEN rule issued in August 2026 exempted roughly 99.9% of businesses from reporting and the agency moved to delete existing ownership data. The suit, joined by nearly 20 states and Washington, D.C., claims the changes violate federal rulemaking law and seeks to restore the database.

Maine's Senate race between five-term Republican incumbent Susan Collins and Democratic state Senate President Troy Jackson has become a referendum on Collins herself, with polls showing a tight contest. Jackson, a logger-turned-legislator who entered the race after primary winner Graham Platner withdrew amid sexual assault allegations he denies, has hammered Collins over economic anxieties, heating costs, and a ProPublica report on a past FBI bribery inquiry she denies wrongdoing in. Collins has leaned on her record steering federal funding to Maine and warns her seniority loss would hurt the state. A debate exchange over road-salt tariff exemptions went viral, encapsulating the race's focus on her decades-long incumbency rather than Jackson's own candidacy.

Virginia state Sen. L. Louise Lucas, 82, president pro tempore of the Senate and chair of the Finance and Appropriations Committee, was indicted and surrendered to federal custody alongside six co-defendants, including two daughters (Lisa Lucas Burke and Theresa Lucas-Lamb) and a grandson (Ryan Eichelberger), on racketeering conspiracy, drug trafficking, bribery, money laundering and honest-services fraud charges filed by a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia. Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel allege Lucas led a "criminal marijuana enterprise" built by family and associates, paying $750,000 for control of a shell company used to obtain a state cannabis license and later receiving a bribery payment, while using her committee chairmanship to shield and benefit the operation. The case follows an FBI raid on Lucas's office in May. Lucas, a longtime cannabis-legalization advocate, denies wrongdoing, calling the case political retaliation and intimidation. Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger criticized the indictment's timing as inconsistent with Justice Department norms near elections, though the investigation originated under the Biden administration.

Michael Perik, husband of Rhode Island Democratic Party Chair Liz Beretta-Perik, has been indicted on 12 felony counts tied to a racketeering scheme that allegedly siphoned $20 million in federal financial aid and state subsidies from the now-closed Eastern Gateway Community College in Ohio. Prosecutors say Perik and two co-defendants used for-profit companies to control enrollment and financial aid, disbursing funds to ineligible students and bribing officials between 2017 and 2022, a period when enrollment ballooned from roughly 8,500 to over 60,000 students, mostly online and out-of-state. Perik's attorney calls the case political retribution. Beretta-Perik has not been charged; Democratic gubernatorial candidate Helena Foulkes has called for her to step aside.