Candidates Court Cross-Party Backers as Midterm Polls Tighten

Republican officials have endorsed Democrats on ballots in Alaska, Kansas, Texas and Michigan in the weeks before the midterm election. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican, endorsed Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins for governor on Tuesday. In Kansas, former Republican governors Bill Graves and Mike Hayden said in September and October they support Democrat Adam Hamilton for U.S. Senate.

Texas Democrats report similar backing. The campaign for Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico says more than two dozen former Republican officials have endorsed him rather than Attorney General Ken Paxton, the GOP nominee. Kel Seliger, a former Republican state senator, joined that list this week. "I've served with both people," Seliger said. "James Talarico is not some wild-eyed socialist and and he may believe in a lot of things that Democratic Party believes in that I don't. But I think he's going to be honest. And I think he's going to be frank and direct. I think that the things that he does are going to be what is best for Texas. Not what's best for Elon Musk."

Republican officials describe the same pattern on their side of the race. "I do think you're seeing that this cycle, especially in races like in Michigan with Mike Rogers against Abdul El-Sayed, and in Texas with Ken Paxton against James Talarico," said Natalie Baldassarre, national press secretary for the Republican National Committee. Baldassarre also cited the coalition "Democrats for Mike Rogers."

Joshua Blank, research director of the Texas Politics Project, said the number of voters who actually switch their vote is small. "We're not talking about a large group of Republicans crossing party lines to vote for Democrats, or a large group of Democrats possibly crossing party lines to vote for Republicans," Blank said. He added that such decisions remain "idiosyncratic behaviors" among a narrow slice of voters, and that a close race could change the calculation.

Recent polling has found some midterm races growing tighter, with some statistically tied. Election day is Nov. 3.