Democrat's Campaign Unmasks Infiltrator

A Democratic candidate in Virginia says her campaign was infiltrated by Project Veritas, the conservative group that tried to plant a fake story about Senate candidate Roy Moore last year. The campaign of Abigail Spanberger, who is running for a House seat in Virginia's 7th District, says the group sent a young woman who used a fake name and posed as a volunteer but asked questions that made staffers suspicious, the Washington Post reports. They eventually identified her as Marisa Jorge, a veteran of other Veritas "stings," confronted her, and asked her to leave the campaign. Spanberger is in a tight race with GOP Rep. Dave Brat, whose campaign says he had nothing to do with the infiltration. In other election news:

• Oprah vs. Pence. The AP reports that Mike Pence and Oprah Winfrey will be campaigning for opposing sides in the Georgia governor's race Thursday, with Winfrey attending two Atlanta-area forums with Democratic candidate Stacey Abrams and Mike Pence appearing at three rallies with Brian Kemp, Abrams' Republican rival. Plans for a final Abrams-Kemp debate collapsed Wednesday after President Trump scheduled a rally that conflicted with the event, the New York Times reports.

• Trump declares blue wave "dead." President Trump told the Christian Broadcasting Network Wednesday that the Democrats' momentum in the midterm elections is "dead," Politico reports. He stopped short of predicting that Republicans would keep control of the House, but said Republicans would do "very well" and it "looks like we’re going to win the Senate which is very important."
• Wild cards in battleground districts. A Washington Post-Schar School poll in 69 battleground districts finds that Democrats have a slight edge over Republicans—50% to 46% among likely voters—but concerns over immigration could cost them their advantage, as could lower rates of Democratic turnout. The poll found that Democrats and Republicans both strongly believe that their party will prevail.
• Dems focus on health care. The Hill reports that Democratic candidates are focusing on health care in the closing days of campaigning, using the issue to counter the Republican focus on immigration. The campaign arm of the House Democrats has launched a wave of ads targeting Republicans who voted for ObamaCare repeal.
• The pardon show. Fox News reports on an independent candidate for Vermont governor with a weird but intriguing idea. Cris Ericson says that if elected, she will "host a governor's pardon TV show every Saturday night," in which a studio audience will "save the state money" by deciding which non-violent offenders should be released.
• Good news for GOP in Montana. The road to re-election just got trickier for Democratic Sen. Jon Tester in Montana, reports the New York Times. Having a Libertarian on the ballot has helped Tester get more votes than his Republican rival in the last two elections, but Rick Breckenridge, this year's Libertarian nominee, has decided to endorse GOP candidate Matt Rosendale.

(More Election 2018 stories.)