The Mycenaean

We all knew it would come, but we couldn’t have known what it would’ve been. After months of relative stability in the race for Congress, multiple candidates on both sides have been hit with October Surprises. 

What is an October Surprise?

Normally in an election, by October, we have an idea of who is the clear favorite to win. A week or two into October, some sort of scandal happens to one or both of the candidates that makes them less favored. 

This is normally thought of as something that happens in only presidential elections, but it is possible for it to happen to a candidate in the midterms or lower on the ballot. 

One of the most notable October Surprises happened in 2016. FBI Director James Comey’s letter about Hillary Clinton’s emails. This happened on October 28, just 11 days before the election. Comey retracted the letter two days before the election, but it was too late. Clinton’s lead in Michigan vanished and Comey’s letter probably pulled Donald Trump over the line in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. 

In 2020, the main October Surprise was President Trump catching COVID due to a White House superspreader event. Due to him having COVID, he was unable to campaign for a few weeks, and that late in the game meant Biden had the country to himself. 

2022’s October Surprises

The Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in Georgia, Herschel Walker, claims to be against abortion in all forms. He believes in zero exceptions for rape, incest, or life of the mother.  

 However, he allegedly paid for an abortion in 2009. According to the woman, confirmed to be Walker’s ex-girlfriend, she got the abortion and he sent her a $700 check. Walker claimed originally that he did not know her, despite the fact that she is the mother of one of his previously secret children. 

He urged her to get the first abortion, but after it happened again and he asked her to get another abortion, she refused. The relationship ended. The woman has accused Walker of being an absentee father. 

One of Walker’s known sons, Christian Walker, has flamed his dad on Twitter. This is significant as Christian is a very far-right personality as well. “Every member of Hershel Walker’s family asked him not to run for office, because we all knew some of his past. Every single one. He decided to give us the middle finger and air out all of his dirty laundry in public, while simultaneously lying about it.” Walker claimed. 

Herschel Walker claimed it was just for a get-well card, then claimed he never sent a check and then later said it was his check but he “didn’t know” it was for an abortion. 

Walker has made many gaffes this cycle. It’s still Georgia, it’s still a tossup, but from what’s going on, I’d rather be in Democrat Raphael Warnock’s campaign than Walker’s.

Meanwhile, TV personality Dr. Oz is facing serious headwinds in Pennsylvania. He is running against the Democratic Lieutenant Governor, John Fetterman. This is a Republican-Held seat but Oz has low favorability and is from New Jersey.  

Oz had been slowly gaining in polls as conservative voters started to go back into his camp, but a story broke that he had experimented with puppies as a practicing surgeon. 

The ad game was quick on picking it up. “Puppy-Killer” has been trending in the ads and the ads state that Oz should be under investigation. I agree on that. If you have nothing to hide, welcome an investigation.

The ads allege that dogs were leaking blood, struggling to breathe, and suffering from paralysis. Supposedly, these experiments killed over 300 dogs. If these attacks are true, Oz is a cruel human being and at a minimum, he should drop out of the race, but ideally prosecuted for animal cruelty.