It was an ugly, exhausting election season, and several candidates did their best to run their campaigns off the rails. But the award for the worst candidate of this midterm cycle goes to Iowa Senate hopeful Bruce Braley (D), who "not only lost a very winnable open seat race but lost it badly," writes The Washington Post's Chris Cillizza.
Braley lost the Iowa Senate race "through sheer force of personality," Cillizza says. In 2014 alone, Braley achieved a spectacular feat of narcissism while simultaneously insulting farmers during a Texas fundraiser, got into a spiteful dust-up with a next-door neighbor who came bearing fresh eggs, and, oh yeah, wasn't particularly good at his job either, according to a report that he missed 75 percent of House Veterans Affairs Committee meetings.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Political cartoons for December 5Cartoons Friday’s political cartoons include DOJ censorship, bombing the New York Times, and more
-
Choline: the ‘under-appreciated’ nutrientThe Explainer Studies link choline levels to accelerated ageing, anxiety, memory function and more
-
Is a Putin-Modi love-in a worry for the rest of the world?Today’s Big Question The Indian leader is walking a ‘tightrope’ between Russia and the United States
-
Trump boosts gas cars in fuel economy rollbackspeed read Watering down fuel efficiency standards is another blow to former President Biden’s effort to boost electric vehicles
-
Hegseth’s Signal chat put troops in peril, probe findsSpeed Read The defense secretary risked the lives of military personnel and violated Pentagon rules, says new report
-
Trump pardons Texas Democratic congressmanspeed read Rep. Henry Cuellar was charged with accepting foreign bribes tied to Azerbaijan and Mexico
-
GOP wins tight House race in red Tennessee districtSpeed Read Republicans maintained their advantage in the House
-
Trump targets ‘garbage’ Somalis ahead of ICE raidsSpeed Read The Department of Homeland Security will launch an immigration operation targeting Somali immigrants in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area
-
Hegseth blames ‘fog of war’ for potential war crimespeed read ‘I did not personally see survivors,’ Hegseth said at a Cabinet meeting
-
Canada joins EU’s $170B SAFE defense fundspeed read This makes it the first non-European Union country in the Security Action for Europe (SAFE) initiative
-
Appeals court disqualifies US Attorney Alina HabbaSpeed Read The former personal attorney to President Donald Trump has been unlawfully serving as US attorney for New Jersey, the ruling says
