Pete Hoekstra, controversial US ambassador to Canada, has also accused Canadian officials of interfering in US elections

The US ambassador has suggested Canada could be blamed if Republicans perform poorly in next week’s midterm elections, the latest intervention from a controversial figure who has been accused of inflaming a bitter dispute that has angered and baffled residents of both countries.

On Wednesday, CTV news reported that Pete Hoekstra told business leaders at a closed door meeting that if a number of swing races – including Maine and Michigan – go to the Democrats, it could make things harder for Canada because Donald Trump might try to blame the loss on it.

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© Photograph: Canadian Press/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Canadian Press/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Canadian Press/Shutterstock

Republicans have condemned the presence of two Dan Sullivans on the ballot, calling it a ploy to split votes

Alaska Democrat Mary Peltola’s campaign was behind an effort to recruit a challenger with almost the same name as the Republican US senator Dan Sullivan, both of whom will appear on the ballot in next week’s midterm elections, the New York Times reported on Wednesday.

Republicans have condemned the presence in the race of two candidates named Dan Sullivan – one the two-term US senator, the second a retiree living in south-eastern Alaska with scant political experience – calling the newcomer a ploy by Democrats to cost the incumbent re-election by splitting his supporters.

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© Composite: AP, Bloomberg, Abaca, Getty Images

© Composite: AP, Bloomberg, Abaca, Getty Images

© Composite: AP, Bloomberg, Abaca, Getty Images

Circumstances are ripe for change in this onetime Republican stronghold given the current dissatisfaction with Trump agenda, experts say

Donald Trump has repeatedly asked voters to pretend that he is on the ballot in November’s crucial midterm elections. And in the comfortable confines of Arizona’s most affluent and fiercely contested congressional district, Trump is definitely on voters’ minds.

But whether that helps or hurts the warring congressional candidates in this sun-drenched swath of suburbia, where Teslas and walled-in luxury homes dominate, depends on who you ask.

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© Photograph: Mario Tama/Getty Images

© Photograph: Mario Tama/Getty Images

© Photograph: Mario Tama/Getty Images

US health secretary falsely claims at Mike Rogers rally that Arabs have never won major prizes in science or literature

Robert F Kennedy Jr, the US health secretary, faced backlash on Wednesday for a “wildly racist tirade” during a campaign stop in Michigan in which he falsely asserted that Arabs never won leading awards in science or literature.

Kennedy was speaking at the Monday night event in Grand Rapids in support of Mike Rogers, the Republican US Senate candidate trailing his Democratic midterms opponent Abdul El-Sayed, who is Muslim, in polling.

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© Photograph: Mark Schiefelbein/AP

© Photograph: Mark Schiefelbein/AP

© Photograph: Mark Schiefelbein/AP

President at Texas campaign rally hails deal struck with post-Maduro government as ‘greatest oil victory in history’

Donald Trump suggested Venezuela would become the 51st state of the United States on Tuesday as the president showed off a tanker he claimed had “one million barrels of oil on it” from the country, nine months after deposing its president.

At a campaign rally in Corpus Christ, Texas, Trump touted a US oil deal with Venezuela, which the US attacked in January, capturing its long-serving leader Nicolás Maduro.

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© Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

© Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

© Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

With one week until Election Day, the final push is on. President Trump is making a swing through Texas, a state Republicans have long counted on, but where Democrats see an opportunity to make gains. With voters pointing to the cost of everyday necessities, the economy is looming large in the final week of the campaign. Lisa Desjardins reports.

White evangelical Christians have been among President Trump's most loyal supporters for more than a decade, and our new PBS News/NPR/Marist poll shows that most still approve of him. But signs of slippage are emerging ahead of the midterms. Stephanie Sy reports on the overlap of politics and faith.

Third-party Libertarian candidates threaten to siphon votes from Republicans in competitive states and could imperil the party's chances of holding its narrow majority over Democrats.

Republican candidates in marquee Senate races have welcomed Thune's help as he's traveled around the country in the weeks before the midterm elections, scrambling to save his majority.

It's been more than a decade since Iowa has had a Democratic governor or senator. But this year, with the incumbents retiring, both races are competitive. As Peter Tubbs at Iowa PBS reports, record-high diesel prices have hit the state's agriculture industry particularly hard and could influence the midterm elections.