Updated

Updated · The Washington Post · Nov 9

Scott Colom Blasts Cook Rating in Mississippi Senate Race as He Leads by 2,600 Votes

Updated

Updated · The Washington Post · Nov 9

Scott Colom Blasts Cook Rating in Mississippi Senate Race as He Leads by 2,600 Votes

Q: Who orchestrated the sophisticated wire fraud that drained millions from a New Jersey town, and where is the missing money?

It is not yet publicly known who orchestrated the wire fraud. Cranbury Township and investigators have said only that it was a “sophisticated financial theft” tied to a Sept. 28 wire transfer of about $26 million that was supposed to fund a property purchase for affordable housing. No suspects or method have been publicly identified. As for the money, officials say about $17.3 million has been frozen or recovered through a multiagency investigation led by Cranbury police and the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office, with state and federal support. Roughly $8.7 million remains missing. Police Chief Giuseppe DeChiara said the unrecovered funds appear to be dispersed across multiple accounts, transactions and possibly other financial channels, and are still being traced through forensic financial analysis. Investigators have indicated the frozen funds are believed to be the largest identifiable portion of the stolen proceeds. So the short answer is that the perpetrators have not been publicly named, and the missing money is believed to have been moved through a web of accounts and transactions, with a significant portion still unaccounted for.

3 articles · Updated · The Washington Post · Nov 9

Scott Colom said Cook Political Report hurt his Mississippi Senate bid by rating the race “Likely R” before Election Day even as he now leads incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith by nearly 2,600 votes.
In a social media post, the Democrat argued those forecasts depressed fundraising and reinforced neglect of Southern races, saying prognosticators had treated his campaign as effectively out of reach for much of the cycle.
Cook has long been one of Washington’s most trusted forecasters, with a 2024 internal review saying 97% of its “Likely” ratings and 94% of its “Lean” ratings were correct.
This cycle, though, Cook and other forecasters understated Democratic gains, missing more than a dozen House races it had rated “Lean R” or “Likely R” and a South Carolina Senate race won by Democrat Annie Andrews.
Amy Walter, Cook’s publisher, said the group had warned Republicans could collapse late and would conduct a full post-mortem as remaining races are decided.