Left-leaning press is sitting out two Senate races that matter
Susan Collins is accusing Chuck Schumer by name of funding ads with 'outright lies' in Maine, and Rep. Haley Stevens is defending a Republican endorsement that has her own party threatening expulsion — two live Senate storylines with named principals, specific dollar figures, and direct quotes. Left-leaning outlets have published nothing on either. The only coverage comes from the NY Post, Fox News, Forbes, and the Washington Examiner. When one side of the press goes quiet on stories that implicate their own party's leadership, the silence is the story.
Susan Collins accuses Schumer of running attack ads with 'outright lies' in Maine Senate race
2 sources · hover a dot to see coverage
What happened
Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) appeared Sunday to accuse Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and the Democratic Party of running attack ads she called filled with 'outright lies' against her and other Republican candidates in competitive Senate races. Separately, Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) defended her endorsement of Republican Senate nominee Mike Rogers over Democrat Abdul el-Sayed, who has raised $1.2 million and whose supporters are pushing for Stevens's expulsion from the Democratic Party. Trump praised Stevens's endorsement and reportedly invited her to join the GOP. Stevens told the Washington Examiner the situation reflects 'a broader point about what's going on in our party.' Both stories involve named Democratic figures in competitive 2026 Senate contests. Three outlets have covered them. None are left-leaning.
Right and center-right outlets carried both stories; nobody else did
The NY Post and Fox News covered Collins's attack-ad accusation against Schumer. Forbes and the Washington Examiner covered the Stevens-el-Sayed split, with Forbes anchoring on the $1.2 million fundraising figure and the expulsion threat, while the Examiner published what appears to be the only direct quote from Stevens herself: 'This is a broader point about what's going on in our party.' That quote, from a sitting Democratic congresswoman describing internal party fracture, did not appear in any left-leaning outlet. Neither did Collins's accusation against Schumer by name.
What one side told you that the other didn't
Collins named Schumer. Left-leaning press published nothing.
A sitting Republican senator accused the Senate Democratic leader by name of running ads with 'outright lies' in a competitive Maine race. That is a specific, attributable, on-the-record charge against a named party leader. The New York Post and Fox News covered it. No left-leaning outlet in this set did. Readers of those outlets have no version of this accusation to evaluate, agree with, or push back on.
A Democrat threatened with expulsion raised $1.2 million. Left ignored it.
Abdul el-Sayed's $1.2 million haul and the push to expel Haley Stevens from the Democratic Party are concrete, scoreable facts about a live Senate primary. Forbes reported the number. The Washington Examiner got Stevens on record. Left-leaning outlets published nothing. A Democratic congresswoman describing her own party's direction as a 'broader point' worth examining is the kind of quote that travels — when someone covers it.
Trump invited a Democrat to switch parties. No left-leaning coverage.
Trump praised Stevens's Republican endorsement and reportedly invited her to join the GOP. That is a specific presidential action directed at a sitting Democratic member of Congress during an active Senate race. It appeared in Forbes. It did not appear in any left-leaning outlet included here. Whether the invitation is serious or performative, the absence of coverage means readers of left-leaning outlets are not being asked to form a view on it at all.
What to watch
If Stevens formally switches parties or the Maine race tightens further in public polling before the end of November, left-leaning outlets will face pressure to cover both stories they are currently skipping. Watch whether the framing at that point leads with the Republican angle (Collins's strength, Stevens's apostasy) or catches up to the Schumer accusation and the expulsion threat that right and center-right outlets have already established as the frame.
This kind of gap — where one side reports a fact and the other doesn’t mention it — shows up in about 40% of major stories.