Democrat Senate candidate Mallory McMorrow accrued nearly a year’s worth of unpaid utility charges on her million-dollar home while campaigning on affordability.

Until Friday, McMorrow and her husband, former Gawker executive Ray Wert, had not paid water or sewer charges on their home in Royal Oak, Mich., since June 2025, according to records reviewed by Fox News Digital. The property had accrued $3,000.37 in unpaid bills and late fees. 

The debt was paid shortly after Fox News Digital reached out for comment. 

«The bills in question have been paid,» the spokesperson said. «We respect the commitment to covering anything other than the fact that every single American’s bills – from gas to groceries to electricity – are going way up because of Donald Trump and his enablers like Mike Rogers.»

DEM SENATE HOPEFUL RIPPED FOR TRASHING MIDDLE AMERICA IN UNEARTHED SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS: ‘TICKS ME OFF’

McMorrow, a state legislator vying for the Democratic nomination in one of the country’s top Senate races, has repeatedly fallen behind on payments in recent years. 

Records show the couple has been fined 10 times totaling more than $400 in late fees for nonpayment since late 2021, when they purchased a $1.28 million home in the Detroit suburb. A report in the Detroit Metro Times that year described the property — with a pool and outside courtyard — as a home «to marvel at.»

McMorrow and Wert also let overdue water bills pile up on the home in the latter half of 2024, when they went five months without making a payment. When the couple finally paid $917 in January 2025, records showed an unpaid balance of $45 in late fees.

Royal Oak Township sends water bills quarterly and assesses a 5% late fee on unpaid balances. If McMorrow had failed to pay the balance by June 1, another 5% penalty would have been added, according to a billing notice.

Under Royal Oak policy, unpaid water and sewer bills can eventually be added to the couple’s property tax bill and prolonged nonpayment can result in water shutoff.

The delinquent payments come as recent disclosures show McMorrow and her husband may be millionaires. 

She estimated her net worth between $588,041 and $1.87 million last year, Michigan Advance reported. Up to $1.15 million was reported under her name or as a joint asset with her husband, according to a financial disclosure filed last year.

McMorrow earned $101,554 from her state senator salary, according to the filing. She also reported just over $106,000 in royalties. 

Michigan State Senator Mallory McMorrow speaks on the first day of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the United Center in Chicago on August 19, 2024. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)

BLUE STATE DEM CANDIDATE WHO MADE ‘AFFORDABILITY’ A KEY ISSUE IN CAMPAIGN RIPPED FOR CHARGING $13 FOR WATER

While McMorrow was falling behind on payments, she championed «affordability» legislation that would end water shutoffs for not paying city bills. 

McMorrow cosponsored a measure last year that would cap water bills for qualifying low-income residents and offer debt forgiveness for overdue balances. The program would be funded through a regular surcharge on most Michigan water customers.

She has also backed the Human Right to Water Act, which would recognize access to affordable drinking water as a right and direct the state government to develop «affordability criteria.»

In a March 2021 Facebook post, she advocated for legislation that would «end water shutoffs.»

«Let’s be clear, access to water is a human right, even when there’s not a pandemic,» she wrote.

McMorrow’s delinquent water bills come as she is running in a combative three-way Democratic primary to succeed Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., who is retiring. 

The swing seat is a must-win race for Democrats hoping to retake Senate control, but Republicans also view the contest as a top flip opportunity. Former Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., cleared the field last year with President Donald Trump’s backing while the Democratic candidates continue to duke it out ahead of the August primary.

McMorrow is campaigning on a progressive platform that includes calling on the wealthy to pay their «fair share» in taxes. Democrat Sen. Bernie Sanders-backed Abdul El-Sayed is running to her left, and Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., a candidate with support from the party’s establishment swing, has espoused more centrist views.

Controversial streamer Hasan Piker and Abdul El-Sayed, a Democratic primary candidate for U.S. Senate in Michigan, take a selfie with young fans after a campaign event at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor on April 7, 2026. (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP Photo)

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Progressive Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Chris Murphy, D-Conn., have endorsed McMorrow’s campaign.

She recently faced scrutiny for deleting thousands of old social media posts prior to her Senate campaign launch that denigrated «Middle America» and associated Trump and his base with Nazi Germany. CNN first reported on the trove of since-deleted posts. 

The Senate hopeful largely defended her posts in an interview with the network, arguing she «tweeted normal things like a normal person.»

FIRST ON FOX — A Democrat running for Congress in Iowa admitted to feeling «uncomfortable» by the whiteness of her hometown in Minnesota after returning from a stay in New Mexico years ago.

Sarah Trone Garriott, 47, who is running unopposed in the Democratic primary for one of the most competitive congressional districts in the country, is coming under fire for her comments as she seeks to unseat incumbent Rep. Zach Nunn, R-Iowa.

«Yeah, I remember the first time I came back to northern Minnesota to visit, and I was kind of shocked at how many white people there were,» Trone Garriott recalled of the area of the U.S. where she grew up in a resurfaced podcast episode released nearly a decade ago.

«The feeling was very different. I was like ‘whoa,’ and again I was uncomfortable in a different way,» she added.

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About 78% of Iowa’s third congressional district that Trone Garriott wants to represent in Congress is white, according to a breakdown by DataUSA.

Republicans argue the candidate’s past and recent comments are out of step with the district’s demographics.

«Every time Sarah Trone Garriott’s handlers let her loose, the wicked witch of woke finds a new way to insult Iowans,» Zach Kraft, a spokesperson for the Republican National Committee, said.

«We haven’t even reached the general election yet, and she has already managed to call nearly every person in the state racist, sexist, and bigoted,» he added.

Trone Garriott’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment on previous remarks. Nunn’s campaign also did not respond when reached about his competitor’s comments. 

According to the Cook Political Report, Iowa’s 3rd congressional district is among the 16 «toss-up» races in the 2026 midterms, with a slight R+2 lean.

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State Senator Sarah Trone Garriott, a Democrat from Iowa and U.S. congressional candidate, right, greets attendees at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines, Iowa, on Aug. 13, 2025. (Scott Morgan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Nine years after Trone Garriott recorded the podcast interview, her comments highlight a wariness of homogeneity and underscore the candidate’s belief that representation should be tied to demographics.

In a separate interview with the University of Iowa in 2022, Trone Garriott hinted at support for demographic mandates and quotas for positions within the government, like those she learned about after meeting with legislators from Kosovo.

«They actually have quotas, and I know that’s a dirty word for some people, but they have requirements of how many people from different ethnic backgrounds, religious minorities — and gender balance is part of their structure,» Trone Garriott said of the Balkan nation.

«And so, there’s kind of a preference for those folks that are underrepresented to be in government. Which I think is really important to bring those voices out,» she added.

IOWA POLL SHOWS DEMOCRATS IN POSITION TO FLIP 2 GOP HOUSE SEATS

State Sen. and candidate for Iowa’s 3rd congressional district Sarah Trone Garriott speaks during the Polk County Democrats’ spring dinner on April 7, 2026, in Des Moines. (Cody Scanlan/USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)

Trone Garriott was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. After earning her undergraduate degree in Duluth, Minnesota, she went on to obtain a Master of Theological Studies from the Harvard Divinity School, and a Master of Divinity from the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago.

She worked as a volunteer with the anti-poverty program under AmeriCorps VISTA in New Mexico — where she was apparently awoken to the ‘whiteness’ of her Minnesotan hometown.

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Trone Garriott began her career as an ordained minister for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), spending time in ministry in Pennsylvania, Chicago, Virginia and finally Iowa.

From there, Trone Garriott embarked on a political career in the Iowa State Senate, where she has served since 2021. She announced a bid last year to unseat Rep. Nunn in the state’s third congressional district.

El virólogo Carlos Alexander Ortega, catedrático de la Universidad de El Salvador, advirtió que el sarampión puede propagarse incluso antes de que aparezcan los síntomas, lo que representa un desafío adicional para el control epidemiológico.

Esta afirmación surge mientras El Salvador confirma 14 casos importados de la enfermedad, todos bajo vigilancia médica y sin transmisión local, según reportes del Ministerio de Salud.

De acuerdo con Ortega, el virus del sarampión tiene la capacidad de transmitirse antes y después de que haya aparecido y desaparecido la sintomatología.

“Con el sarampión, las personas lo comienzan a transmitir hasta cuatro días antes de que inicien los síntomas y hasta cuatro días después de que terminen los síntomas”, explicó el especialista.

Esta característica convierte al sarampión en una enfermedad especialmente difícil de contener solo con el aislamiento de los casos sintomáticos.

El Ministerio de Salud de El Salvador ha anunciado que, hasta el momento, los casos confirmados han sido importados, principalmente desde Guatemala y uno desde México. Las autoridades mantienen bajo vigilancia a 200 personas que tuvieron contacto con los infectados.

Ortega subrayó la importancia de la vacunación para modificar el curso natural del sarampión. “La historia natural de la enfermedad se modifica con la vacunación.

Si yo estoy vacunado, tengo mi esquema completo y me pongo en contacto con esa persona con sarampión, es probable que ni siquiera me infecte o es probable que si me infecto me va a dar una enfermedad subclínica”, señaló el virólogo.

El esquema de inmunización en el territorio nacional se mantiene con una cobertura superior al 95%, lo que ha permitido que no se reporten casos autóctonos a nivel nacional. La vacuna SPR —que protege contra sarampión, paperas y rubéola— se aplica de forma sistemática a la población infantil, lo que, según Ortega, coloca al país en una posición favorable frente a brotes, aunque la vigilancia debe continuar.

“Mientras la cobertura vacunal se mantenga alta en todo el país y no solo en la capital, El Salvador seguirá protegido frente a brotes autóctonos”, remarcó el especialista.

El funcionario detalló que el virus del sarampión solo tiene como reservorio al ser humano, por lo que la transmisión depende exclusivamente del contacto entre personas. Ortega advirtió que, en ausencia de una vacunación completa, el riesgo de complicaciones graves aumenta considerablemente, sobre todo en niños, personas inmunosuprimidas, pacientes con desnutrición o enfermedades crónicas. Las complicaciones pueden incluir neumonía, encefalitis, otitis severa e incluso la muerte.

La vigilancia epidemiológica se refuerza ante la situación regional, ya que países vecinos como Guatemala han reportado brotes importantes. Según la Organización Panamericana de la Salud (OPS), en 2025 se notificó un caso importado en el departamento de Santa Ana, sin decesos ni casos secundarios. En lo que va de 2026, la OPS ha confirmado que no ha registrado transmisión local en el territorio salvadoreño.

El Ministerio de Salud reiteró que la mejor herramienta contra el sarampión es el cumplimiento del esquema de vacunación. Las autoridades intensifican campañas para mantener la cobertura nacional, especialmente en zonas alejadas de la capital, con el objetivo de evitar la aparición de focos autóctonos. Ortega insistió en que “la mejor medida que los países pueden hacer ante estos casos es proceder a vacunar”.

Hantavirus: bajo riesgo de pandemia y diferencias por cepa

Durante la entrevista, Carlos Alexander Ortega también abordó el tema del hantavirus, cuya amenaza de pandemia es, por ahora, “sumamente baja” debido a su patrón de transmisión y las características de las cepas presentes en América. Según el virólogo, la mayoría de los brotes de hantavirus han sido esporádicos y localizados, sin evidencias de transmisión sostenida entre humanos fuera de casos específicos como la cepa Andes.

Ortega explicó que existen diferentes cepas de hantavirus asociadas a regiones y roedores particulares. En América del Sur, la cepa “Andes” afecta principalmente Argentina y Chile, y se distingue por su alta virulencia, con tasas de mortalidad que pueden llegar hasta el 38%. Esta cepa puede transmitirse de persona a persona cuando el contacto es estrecho, una particularidad poco común en otros tipos de hantavirus.

En contraste, la cepa “Choclo” de Panamá ha causado brotes sin registrar fallecimientos, lo que ilustra la variabilidad en la peligrosidad de las cepas. Ortega agregó que, en Europa, África y Asia, los hantavirus tienden a provocar cuadros hemorrágicos con afectación renal, mientras que en el continente americano suelen derivar en síndromes pulmonares o cardiopulmonares.

El principal mecanismo de infección se produce a través de la inhalación de partículas provenientes de la orina, saliva o heces de roedores infectados, que pueden permanecer viables en ambientes cerrados y húmedos durante varios días. Ortega detalló que el reservorio de la cepa Andes es el ratón colilarga, que porta el virus sin manifestar enfermedad.

Para reducir el riesgo de contagio, el especialista recomendó ventilar y desinfectar con una solución de nueve partes de agua por una de lejía cualquier espacio cerrado antes de realizar labores de limpieza, así como utilizar mascarillas y guantes. En países con brotes recurrentes, la mayoría de los casos ha estado asociada a la limpieza de bodegas o viviendas que han permanecido cerradas por largo tiempo.

Actualmente, no existe una cura aprobada para el hantavirus, y el tratamiento se limita a soporte vital en unidades de cuidados intensivos. Ortega enfatizó que la detección temprana y el ingreso oportuno a servicios de salud mejoran las posibilidades de sobrevivir a la enfermedad.

Las autoridades de salud salvadoreñas insisten en mantener la calma y reforzar tanto las medidas de higiene como la vigilancia, ante la circulación de enfermedades virales importadas. El cumplimiento del esquema de vacunación y la prevención en el entorno doméstico se mantienen como las estrategias centrales para reducir el riesgo de brotes.