[#item_full_content] [[{“value”:”It’s Friday, October 30. This is The Front Page, your daily window into the world of The Free Press—and our take on the world at large. Today: Audrey Fahlberg reports from Ohio’s bruising governor’s race. What are President Donald Trump’s options in Iran after the midterms? And much more.
But first: Is Massachusetts going to just say no to legalized weed?
You’ve heard all about the stakes of next week’s midterms: Will the Republican Party lose control of Congress? Will the far left pull off a hostile takeover of the Democratic Party? If you’re like me, you’re probably sick of the stump speeches, slimy attack ads, and “SOS” texts from campaigns that somehow got your phone number.
But Tuesday isn’t just about the candidates. Below the R’s and D’s are ballot measures, one of which I’ve been watching closely. It has to do with the consequences of legal marijuana, a topic that is personal to me and that I’ve thought a lot about. In Massachusetts, Question 8 would repeal the legalization of recreational marijuana, which was passed by voters a decade ago. This is the first anti-pot measure of its kind, and a similar one will likely be on the ballot in Maine next year.
Weed is legal in 24 states, but a cultural shift against it is underway, driven by concerns about the rising potency of marijuana, more instances of psychosis, and cannabis-related DUIs. Question 8 will test how big this vibe shift actually is. Some of the Massachusetts voters I talked to who voted to legalize marijuana a decade ago now regret it. Others see a ban as too extreme, especially now that pot is so easy to buy in many places.
Whatever the outcome next week, the fight over legal weed isn’t going anywhere.
—Josh Code
Josh Code • Culture and Ideas
[
Undo Legal Weed? Massachusetts Is Thinking About It.
](https://www.thefp.com/p/weed-massachusetts-ballot-legal-josh-code)
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Audrey Fahlberg • U.S. Politics
[
It’s Getting Ugly in Ohio
](https://www.thefp.com/p/ohio-vivek-ramaswamy-amy-acton-sherrod-brown-jon-husted-audrey-fahlberg)
In Ohio, polls show Democrat Amy Acton narrowly leading Republican Vivek Ramaswamy in the race for governor. This is a state that Donald Trump won by 11 points in 2024 and where no Democrat has been elected governor in 20 years. Audrey Fahlberg reports from one of the country’s nastiest races, where Republicans call Acton unstable, Democrats call Ramaswamy a self-dealing billionaire, and an ad featuring Acton’s estranged mother has dominated the final stretch. Read Audrey’s dispatch on why Ohio may be an early sign of the blue wave Republicans fear, given tight Senate races nationwide.
Read story
Charlotte Grinberg, MD • Health and Self-Improvement
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The Sane Person’s Guide to Microplastics
](https://www.thefp.com/p/microplastics-maha-charlotte-grinberg-rfk)
Are you worried about microplastics but not sure what to do about it? Charlotte Grinberg, a physician and mother of six, has a sane, science-based guide to protecting your family without losing your mind. A major new study suggests that the problem may be more serious than we thought. Dr. Grinberg explains what the science does and doesn’t show, and the simple alternatives she recommends to her patients. “Emerging risks like microplastics,” she writes, “should make us curious, not panicked.”
Read story
Aaron MacLean • International
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How Trump Can Fight Iran After the Midterms
](https://www.thefp.com/p/trum-iran-war-strategy-midterm-elections)
Once the midterms are over, Donald Trump will have to decide what to do about Iran, and recent reports suggest that he is leaning toward renewed military action. Aaron MacLean lays out five options, ranging from cutting a deal to an all-out campaign to wreck Iran’s economy and topple the regime. Each carries risks, whether that is spooking the financial markets or inviting Iranian retaliation. Read his breakdown of the choices ahead and which the president should choose.
Read story
Live Today: Ask Tyler Cowen Anything
Is AI coming for your job? Should the government rein it in? Today at 2 p.m. ET, Tyler Cowen will be live on the Free Press Forum, to take your questions on all of it. Post yours now and follow along live here, and catch up on his latest columns before he logs on.
Engage
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The Free Press Forum
Question time!
Tyler Cowen here for an AMA. Let’s talk AI.Description:I’m Tyler Cowen, Free Press columnist, writer behind Marginal Revolution, and a professor of economics. Artificial intelligence is the hottest topic on the planet right now, and if you read my weekly column, you know I have opinions about where it’s headed. You can catch up on all my latest writing here. But now, I want to hear from you. What’s keeping you up at night when it comes to AI? What role do you think the government should take in regulation? Are you curious about how I’m using AI in my own life, or how you can make the most of it in yours? Do you strongly disagree with any of my takes? Let’s discussOn Friday, October 30th, at 2 p.m., I’ll be live here on the FP Forum, answering all of your questions. Please start asking your questions below. See you then!
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EDITORS’ PICKS
Next Tuesday, Americans head to the polls to vote in midterms that could reshape the political landscape for the rest of Trump’s term. Ahead of Election Day, we brought you two pieces on the choices facing voters on both sides of the aisle.
If Democrats retake the Senate, it won’t be thanks to the progressive firebrands making headlines. Ross Douthat argued it will be because the Democratic Party ran candidates who can pass as moderates in red and purple states. The bigger question, he writes, is whether a party that spent years punishing its independent-minded members will let them survive once they’re in office.
Read
[
Ross Douthat: The Meaning of the Midterms
](https://www.thefp.com/p/ross-douthat-midterms-texas-michigan-talarico-paxton-el-sayed-rogers)
On the right, radio host Erick Erickson wrestled with a different question: whether to vote for his own party’s nominee at all. The rock-ribbed conservative urges fellow Republicans to stop backing bad candidates just because they have an R next to their names, and explains why he plans to leave Georgia’s Senate line on his ballot blank rather than vote for Mike Collins. Wherever you’re casting your vote, Erick’s warning against closing your eyes and pulling the lever is one worth hearing.
Read
[
Don’t Eat the Shit Sandwich
](https://www.thefp.com/p/dont-eat-the-shit-sandwich)
Israelis went to the polls on Tuesday, and neither Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc nor challenger Gadi Eisenkot won a majority. This week, we brought you two pieces on what comes next.
Netanyahu’s right-wing party plunged from 68 seats to 53, its worst showing in two decades. Yet Haviv Rettig Gur argued that the prime minister may have done just well enough to deny Eisenkot an easy path to power, buying Netanyahu time for his top priority: bringing down the Iranian regime.
Read
[
Where Does Benjamin Netanyahu Go from Here?
](https://www.thefp.com/p/where-does-benjamin-netanyahu-election-israel)
Many of Netanyahu’s critics abroad insist that their problem isn’t with Israel, only with him. Douglas Murray said that’s wishful thinking. Whoever leads the next government, he writes, Israel’s approach to its security won’t change much, and neither will the world’s hostility to the Jewish state.
Read
[
Douglas Murray: Bibi Derangement Syndrome Is Spreading
](https://www.thefp.com/p/douglas-murray-benjamin-netanyahu-israel-elections-gadi-eisenkot)
In 2020, Tiffany Riley lost her job as a Vermont school principal over a Facebook post questioning the tactics of Black Lives Matter. A court later sided with her, but six years and more than 70 job applications later, she still hasn’t landed a single interview. This week, Frannie Block reported on why Riley can’t escape her cancellation, even as the rest of the country moves on. “It wasn’t just a loss of my job,” Riley said. “It was a loss of everything.”
Read
[
The Teacher Trapped by Her Cancellation
](https://www.thefp.com/p/the-teacher-trapped-by-her-cancellation)
Finally, since October 7, 2023, Jews across the West have been told to go “back to Poland,” the place where so many of their ancestors were murdered. Omar Mohammed, an Iraqi historian who anonymously documented ISIS’s reign over Mosul, decided to see what that phrase really means. He traveled to the concentration camps to write about being “a historian from Mosul who documented one genocide, standing for the first time at the site of another,” and came home with a demand for the Arab world.
Read
[
I Documented ISIS’s Crimes. Then I Visited Auschwitz.
](https://www.thefp.com/p/isis-mosul-omar-mohammed-nazi-holocaust-poland)”}]] 
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