NationalWatch

A former waitress, small-business owner and nonprofit founder won the Democratic primary in Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District on Tuesday, setting her up for a rematch with Republican Rep. Derrick Van Orden.

Rebecca Cooke, raised on an Eau Claire-area dairy farm, defeated former Eau Claire City Council President Emily Berge on Tuesday evening. The win puts Cooke back on the ballot in one of Democrats’ top House pickup opportunities this fall.

It will be Cooke’s third attempt to win the western Wisconsin seat. She lost the 2022 Democratic primary to then-state Sen. Brad Pfaff before securing the party’s nomination in 2024. Van Orden defeated her that November by roughly 11,000 votes, winning 51.4% of the vote to Cooke’s 48.6%.

WISCONSIN DEM TOUTS ENDORSEMENT FROM UNION PUSHING BACK AGAINST CDL CRACKDOWNS ON ILLEGAL ALIEN TRUCKERS

Cooke has sought to make her working-class background central to her campaign. She grew up on a dairy farm near Eau Claire, has worked as a waitress since she was a teenager and founded the Red Letter Grant, a nonprofit supporting women entrepreneurs. She also previously operated a small retail business and served on the board of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. after being appointed by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers.

Her campaign has focused on affordability, health care and the economic challenges facing rural communities, while portraying Cooke as a pragmatic Democrat able to appeal across party lines in a district that includes Eau Claire, La Crosse and much of western Wisconsin.

Cooke entered the primary as the better-funded candidate and with national support from Democrats.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) added Cooke to its “Red to Blue” program, which directs party resources toward candidates viewed as viable in competitive districts.

Berge, a mental health counselor and former Eau Claire City Council president, ran as a local alternative to Cooke, arguing voters should have a choice rather than see the nomination effectively decided by national party backing and fundraising. Her strongest base of support was expected to be in and around Eau Claire.

IOWA DEM ADMITS BEING ‘UNCOMFORTABLE’ WITH WHITENESS AS SHE SEEKS TO FLIP COMPETITIVE HOUSE SEAT

The general election is likely to renew scrutiny of Cooke’s personal finances and past political work. Van Orden’s campaign has pressed her to release a financial disclosure that was extended until Aug. 13, two days after the primary. The campaign has argued that earlier disclosures showing income from political consulting and rental properties undercut Cooke’s working-class image.

Republicans have also sought to cast Cooke as a Democratic political insider, pointing to her work on Democratic campaigns and fundraising. Cooke has presented that experience as part of a broader record that includes operating a business, leading a nonprofit and working in the hospitality industry.

Van Orden, a retired Navy SEAL who was first elected in 2022, is seeking a third term.

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The 3rd district in Wisconsin, a swing state, has leaned Republican in recent presidential elections, but Cooke’s narrow 2024 loss and substantial fundraising have made the race a closely watched contest as Democrats seek to win back the House in November.

The bipartisan Cook Political Report moved the race from “lean Republican” in the last election cycle to “toss up.”

White House officials have asked the Department of Justice (DOJ) to explore whether it would be possible to pursue a new prosecution against the man accused of vandalizing the newly renovated Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, weeks after federal prosecutors moved to dismiss felony charges against him, Fox News has learned.

The previous case, which U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office moved to dismiss on July 31, accused Olympic canoeist David Hearn of damaging the costly $14 million project after cracks, algae growth and peeling sealant were discovered.

Pirro’s office cited findings from the Department of the Interior that concluded the damage was linked to flaws in the installation process rather than vandalism.

White House officials have since reached out to the DOJ to determine whether Hearn could instead face a misdemeanor charge, as first reported by The Wall Street Journal. No final decision has been made, Fox News has learned.

TRUMP URGES JEANINE PIRRO TO REVISIT DROPPED LINCOLN MEMORIAL REFLECTING POOL VANDALISM CASE

In response to the move, Hearn’s attorneys said pursuing a new case would only undermine the DOJ’s credibility after prosecutors already acknowledged they lacked sufficient evidence to support the original charges.

“If true, it would mark a shocking first: a case that the DOJ lost by its own admission because it lacked the evidence to convict, returning from the dead. This would add another bizarre turn to a sad chapter in the DOJ’s history and further harass an innocent man,” the attorneys said in a joint statement.

The statement was issued by Norm Eisen of Democracy Defenders Fund, Mary Dohrmann of Washington Litigation Group, and Steve Levin of Steptoe LLP.

TRUMP SAYS HE ‘DISAGREES 100%’ WITH U.S. ATTORNEY JEANINE PIRRO OVER REFLECTING POOL CASE

While Pirro’s office has moved to drop the original federal case, prosecutors sought a dismissal without prejudice, meaning the charges could potentially be brought again.

The possibility of a renewed prosecution comes as the Trump administration has repeatedly maintained that the damage was caused by vandalism.

President Donald Trump said slashes were found in the pool’s material that appeared to have been made with a knife. He also claimed people had been seen kneeling at those exact locations with their hands in the water.

U.S. Park Police identified Hearn as a suspect after he was reportedly seen grabbing and tugging on a loose section of the pool’s coating on June 19. Police said he continued to do so even after National Park Service employees urged him to stop.

TRUMP DOUBLES DOWN ON REFLECTING POOL VANDALISM ALLEGATIONS, CITES NEW WITNESS ACCOUNT

The damage was estimated at about $1,000 and resulted in Hearn’s indictment on July 2 on one count of felony destruction of property.

Trump has urged Pirro to reconsider her “hastily made” decision to drop that felony charge and criticized Hearn’s alleged political connections, claiming he was a “big player” in the Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue.

“U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro should re-visit her hastily made decision, especially since it turned out that the ‘gentleman’ involved is a big player in ActBlue, a disgraceful fundraising SCAM, and is represented by a TRUMP DERANGED SLEAZEBAG, Political Hack Lawyer, Norm Eisen, and CREW, a group that uses ‘charity’ for political purposes which is, to the best of my knowledge, ILLEGAL!” Trump said.

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Trump later said Pirro “choked” under pressure from a judge regarding the case and “folded like an ​umbrella.”

Connecticut Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont is no fan of President Donald Trump, but his progressive primary challenger, state Rep. Josh Elliott, says he’s too cozy with the president.

Lamont defeated Elliott in a high-stakes New England primary Tuesday in a state that not long ago shifted from competitive territory to reliably Democratic.

Elliott, D-Hamden, painted Lamont as too “nice” to Trump, saying that being “nice is a problem right now.”

“Nice doesn’t solve affordability. Nice doesn’t solve fascism or fight back against fascism,” Elliott told the Connecticut Mirror.

ANTI-TRUMP SENATOR DEFEATED BY FAR-LEFT RIVAL AFTER HEATED GUBERNATORIAL PRIMARY

“[Ned] can be nice all day long, but that’s a liability right now.”

Lamont, meanwhile, told the outlet that “talk is cheap” and said Elliott has little to offer compared with the incumbent’s record during his nearly eight years in office.

Lamont’s camp said it wants to see single-payer healthcare and additional resources for early childhood education in the state. Connecticut is increasingly becoming a bedroom community for the New York City, Providence and Boston metropolitan areas.

GOP GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE FIGHTING TO FLIP BLUE STATE UNVEILS HEALTHCARE PLAN TO LOWER COSTS, EXPAND ACCESS

Lamont faces state Sen. Ryan Fazio, R-Greenwich, in the November general election.

While now reliably blue, Connecticut not long ago had several Republicans in Congress and GOP governors with staying power, including John Rowland, who was later imprisoned.

Republicans held Connecticut’s governorship for much of the period between the Reagan era and 2010, when the late Gov. M. Jodi Rell decided against seeking another term and Democrat Dannel Malloy succeeded her.

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Former Sen. Prescott Bush, father of former President George H.W. Bush, represented Connecticut in the U.S. Senate for more than a decade in the mid-20th century.

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Lowell Weicker, a liberal Republican U.S. senator who preceded Joseph Lieberman, also served as governor in the 1990s under the “A Connecticut Party” line, which he founded.

A federal judge in Massachusetts on Tuesday blocked the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) from implementing part of President Donald Trump’s executive order tightening mail-in voting rules ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani granted a preliminary injunction preventing the USPS from implementing or enforcing Section 3 of Executive Order 14399 for the Nov. 3 midterm elections, or any earlier federal election.

The ruling prevents USPS from refusing to transmit mail-in or absentee ballots under the challenged section and blocks rulemaking to implement certain regulations outlined in the executive order for the November elections.

The injunction does not prevent the federal government from providing nonbinding USPS guidance on ballot-mail envelopes.

JUDGE HANDS TRUMP MAIL-BALLOT WIN FOR NOW AS DEMOCRATS’ NEXT MOVE LOOMS

Talwani held a hearing Friday on the plaintiffs’ renewed request for a preliminary injunction. The Trump administration is expected to appeal Tuesday’s ruling to the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston.

Trump signed the executive order in March as part of his election integrity agenda.

It directs the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to compile lists of confirmed U.S. citizens eligible to vote and provide them to states, instructs the USPS to establish new standards for mail-in ballots, and directs the Department of Justice (DOJ) to prioritize investigations into state and local election officials who issue federal ballots to people deemed ineligible to vote.

“Cheating on mail-in voting is legendary. It’s horrible. Democrats want to use it for cheating,” Trump said.

Tuesday’s ruling comes weeks after the 1st Circuit rejected the administration’s attempt to enforce other provisions of Trump’s executive order while a separate legal challenge proceeds.

OBAMA-APPOINTED JUDGE BLOCKS TRUMP’S ELECTION ORDER AS SAVE AMERICA ACT FIGHT INTENSIFIES

In a 2-1 decision July 25, the appeals court denied the DOJ’s request to pause a June ruling blocking several provisions of Trump’s order in 23 Democratic-led states and the District of Columbia.

That lawsuit was led by California, Massachusetts, Nevada and Washington. The states argued that the Constitution gives states primary responsibility for administering federal elections and that Trump exceeded his authority by directing federal agencies to impose new voting requirements.

Talwani had previously blocked several provisions of the executive order in June, finding they likely exceeded the president’s authority. The appeals court left that injunction in place July 25, while the administration’s appeal proceeds.

The DOJ previously told the appeals court it could seek emergency relief from the U.S. Supreme Court if it did not prevail.

The League of Women Voters of Massachusetts praised Tuesday’s ruling, saying it protects voting rights for people who rely on voting by mail.

“The League of Women Voters of Massachusetts commends the court for upholding one of our most sacred constitutional rights: the right to vote,” a representative for the organization wrote in a statement shared with Fox News Digital. “We are pleased to see this ruling and are committed to remaining in the fight to protect voting rights – not just for the Bay Staters who rely on mail voting, but for every American who utilizes this safe, secure, and trusted tool.”

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The White House, DOJ and USPS did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.

Talwani ordered the plaintiff organizations in Tuesday’s ruling to post a nominal $100 bond by Aug. 18.

Reports of President Donald Trump’s secret move to a military jet during last month’s NATO summit in Turkey has put a rare security trade-off in focus: As officials apparently sought to shield Trump from a credible Iranian threat, White House staff, Secret Service agents, U.S. Military members and journalists remained aboard the decoy aircraft.

The White House did not return Fox News’ request for comment on whether officials assessed a separate risk to those left aboard the plane, which could have included Secretary of State Marco Rubio. It’s not clear what, if any, protective measures were in place.

Air Force One is the call sign of the plane the U.S. president is traveling aboard, not the name of a specific aircraft.

The Washington Post first reported that Trump secretly switched to a military jet after appearing to board the older Air Force One in Turkey. Journalists and White House staff traveling with the president for the trip abroad remained on the aircraft that flew to the United Kingdom. Trump later rejoined the group before continuing home, according to the report.

TRUMP USED CATERING TRUCK, AIR FORCE ONE DECOY TO EVADE IRAN THREAT: REPORT

In a separate follow-up to that article, the Wall Street Journal reported that Israeli intelligence briefed the Trump administration on a threat to use shoulder-fired missiles against Air Force One. It also noted that Rubio was among top aides who remained aboard the older aircraft.

Former Secret Service agent Bill Gage told Fox News that the people aboard the aircraft “probably did face an elevated risk.” But he described the reported operation as a calculated response to the threat environment surrounding Trump.

“Any travel with him should be considered a risk,” Gage said. “I think some members of the government at the highest levels made a calculated risk to not tell anyone on the fake AF1.”

The key distinction in the reporting is that the threat was allegedly aimed at the aircraft believed to be carrying Trump, rather than at the older jet itself. The secret slip-away by the president left all passengers on the plane as potential collateral of any attacks, with no public accounting of whether there were additional protections in place for them in the heightened threat environment.

Reporters traveling on the older Air Force One from Turkey to the United Kingdom recount being asked to close their window shades as the plane took off. Asked later that day whether he knew why reporters were asked to close the shades, Trump replied: “You’re probably on a dangerous flight because of the sleaze bags that we have to deal with.”

“I’m number one on their list, before you,” he told a reporter. “But if I go, you go right? So perhaps some day you want to change professions.”

TRUMP SAYS HE’S IRAN’S ‘NO. 1’ TARGET AS RENEWED CONFLICT RAISES ASSASSINATION FEARS

Gage told Fox News Digital that the reported operation was likely kept to a very small circle because of the security sensitivity. “Very few people would have been told about this plan ahead of time.”

He said the decision to actually move Trump to a different jet suggested officials were acting on serious intelligence.

“Overall, the threat must have been substantial and corroborated to conduct the switch/ruse. The highest levels of the government and intelligence agencies (CIA/NSA etc.) would have been involved in analyzing the threat and developing countermeasures.”

Robert “Bobby” McDonald, a former senior Secret Service official, said deceptive presidential movements — sometimes referred to as “shell games” — are unusual but a part of the Secret Service playbook when credible intelligence demands extraordinary measures.

McDonald said the Air Force, rather than the Secret Service, is responsible for protecting presidential aircraft and said he believed both planes were likely being monitored.

“I find it hard to believe that those two planes were not being tracked, were not being escorted by other aircraft from either allies or our Air Force,” he said. “There’s no way in the world that the Secret Service, the White House staff, and the White House military office, were going to let those two planes dangle out there and and and be fending for themselves.”

The Pentagon and the Air Force referred questions to the White House.

Trump’s move isn’t the first time Air Force One aircraft have been put to use to balk potential threats. During President Bill Clinton’s 2000 visit to Pakistan, a marked decoy aircraft arrived first and Secret Service agents disembarked before Clinton landed separately in an unmarked plane.

But the reported Turkey operation differs from many past surprise trips, in which a limited press pool traveled with the president and was sworn to secrecy.

Jake Tapper, who traveled with Obama on a secret trip to Afghanistan, said prior White Houses have used deception to protect presidents but that the reported Turkey operation was different.

“Obviously the life of the president is paramount, and previous White Houses have used deception to protect the president’s life. But no officials I’ve spoken to have ever before heard of using an AF1 full of WH staff and journalists as a decoy during an imminent threat,” the CNN anchor said.

Former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer defended the reported deception as a necessary protective measure if the threat was credible.

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“If the WP story about Trump switching planes to return home from Turkey is true, then kudos to the Secret Service, the Air Force and the WH,” Fleischer wrote on X. “If there’s a credible threat against any POTUS, their job is to protect him. I’m sorry if the press felt deceived. In an extraordinary situation like that, what was the WH supposed to do? Announce the switch?”

The Trump administration will no longer fund gender transition surgeries using Medicaid, President Don ald Trump said Tuesday. 

In a Truth Social post, Trump said he ordered Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, to stop using the joint federal and state public health insurance program to fund such procedures. 

“We are not going to pay for our innocent children to undergo these barbaric surgeries and practices, which result in unthinkable and irreversible harm to their young bodies,” Trump wrote.  

This story is breaking. Please check back for updates. 

President Donald Trump has long argued that who is counting the votes can matter nearly as much as who is on the ballot — a view that has helped turn the mechanics of elections into their own political battleground.

That fight is becoming more organized, more expensive and more sophisticated ahead of the 2026 midterms.

Tuesday marks National Poll Worker Recruitment Day, a once-obscure observance created in 2020 that has become a significant organizing marker for both parties. Republicans and Democrats are recruiting poll workers, observers, lawyers and voter-protection staff as they prepare for one of the most consequential midterm elections in history.

“We have more poll workers in the 2026 cycle than we did in the 2024 cycle,” Republican National Committee Chair Joe Gruters told Fox News Digital in a recent interview. “We’re better prepared. We have staffers in 25 states. We are on the ground, ready to do battle.”

TRUMP WILL ‘DELIVER’: RNC CHAIR SIGNALS MIDTERMS CONFIDENCE DESPITE ‘DOOM AND GLOOM’

The RNC, in data shared exclusively with Fox News Digital, is 42% ahead of its 2024 pace, with 16,971 volunteer signups nationwide compared with 11,917 at the same point in the past presidential cycle.

“The RNC has shattered our 2024 poll worker recruitment benchmarks, built the largest election integrity operation in Republican Party history, and mobilized thousands of volunteers to help secure the ballot box,” Gruters added in a statement. “With less than 90 days until the midterms, we’re seeing record-breaking grassroots engagement, expanding our operation into new states, and building the infrastructure needed to defy history in 2026.”

That effort came from the top from Trump, post-2020, and has led to the RNC’s election integrity unit buildout with its multimillion-dollar campaign.

REPUBLICAN SAYS TRUMP’S TOP ELECTION PRIORITY ‘DEAD’ IN SENATE AS GOP FRACTURES AHEAD OF MIDTERMS

And “parity” election laws regulating poll workers from both the national party apparatuses have the Democratic National Committee, facing widely reported fundraising hiccups, playing catch-up with the RNC and its $128.5 million midterm war chest.

“We’re going to have to be a lot sharper the next time when it comes to counting the vote,” Trump told Pennsylvania Republicans in 2022, starting one of his oft-repeated, campaign-rally mantras. “There’s a famous statement: ‘Sometimes the vote counter is more important than the candidate.’ And we can’t let that ever, ever happen again. They have to get a lot tougher and smarter.”

Trump also says every next election tends to be more important than the past one, but grassroots voter enthusiasm and donor fundraising tend to be bigger in presidential elections than in the midterms. But, while Trump might not be on the ballot, his “Save America” grassroots enthusiasm will be, even as the Senate sits on passing his landmark Save America Act to set nationwide voter ID standards.

RNC LEGAL VICTORY CLEARS NORTH CAROLINA VOTER ROLL PURGE OF NONCITIZENS THROUGH JURY RESPONSES

“We’ve been continuing to build on the election integrity efforts of the last cycle where Lara Trump and Michael Whatley [former RNC co-chairs] did such a great job,” Gruters said in Friday’s interview. Lara Trump now hosts “My View with Lara Trump” on Fox News Channel.

That statement pointed back to the nexus of the RNC’s multimillion-dollar election integrity unit at ProtecttheVote.com that has Democrats, its famed election lawyer Marc Elias and Democracy Docket founder and the DNC forced to play catch-up, to match the RNC’s poll worker masses. Parity laws in some states nationwide legally require it.

“The Democratic National Committee continues to invest in our voter protection infrastructure to defend Americans’ sacred right to vote,” a DNC spokesman told Fox News Digital, when reached for comment on recent data before National Poll Worker Recruitment Day. “The Democratic Party currently has voter protection staff in more than 30 states, and we will recruit, train, and deploy tens of thousands of observers across the country this November.

“We have seen a surge of citizens who have joined our training programs and stepped up to defend our democracy. We will continue our work to ensure all eligible voters have their voices heard.” 

SENATE FACES ‘COME-TO-JESUS’ MOMENT ON TRUMP’S ELECTION PRIORITY UNDER GOP’S NEW PLAN

The DNC did not share its 2026 numbers with Fox News Digital, but did share 2021 to 2024 data showing Democrats mobilized more than 120,000 voter protection volunteers, including over 65,000 trained poll observers, and recorded more than 465,000 confirmed hours of poll observation across over 63,000 polling locations.

The Save America Act is stalled in the Senate, but Trump and Republicans efforts are playing out on the ground and running up expenses for lawyers, legal election experts and staff.

“We got to do everything we can to make sure we have these safe and secure elections,” Gruters said Friday, pointing to the “most litigation we’ve ever done as a party.” “We have, I think, almost 200 lawsuits now this cycle. I think 177 active lawsuits right now.”

“We’re not being reactive. We’re being as proactive as we can.”

DOJ TAUNTS MEDIA AFTER TRUMP SCORES WIN IN BATTLEGROUND-STATE BALLOT FIGHT

“We’re bringing the absolute hammer wherever we can in defending freedom and these safe and secure election policies everywhere we have to, anywhere we can go, we will go from coast to coast,” he said.

The numbers underscore how election administration itself has become a major front in modern campaigns.

Election Day itself has also become election season, Trump has long lamented. With early voting stretching for days or weeks in many states, the staffing burden no longer falls on a single Tuesday or even a weekend. Parties and local officials need poll workers, observers and legal support across an extended voting window — a costly undertaking for national organizations and a significant time commitment for the Americans on the ground who sign up to serve.

The RNC says it has expanded recruitment into Maryland, Colorado, New Mexico, Kentucky, Alaska and Ohio, producing 2,076 additional submissions in those states. The committee says the effort is part of a multimillion-dollar election integrity program with directors deployed in 22 states and a year-round voter-protection operation nationwide.

At the center of the Republican push are the state “parity” laws that require or encourage bipartisan representation among poll workers.

Election rules vary significantly by state and locality, but a number of states have provisions intended to give both major parties representation in election administration. The RNC says its job is to build a large enough pool of Republican applicants that local election officials have GOP workers available to fill those slots.

“Recruitment is what turns parity laws from words on paper into reality,” the committee said in written responses to questions about the program.

More Republican signups do not necessarily mean more Republicans will ultimately be stationed inside polling places. Poll workers are generally selected or appointed by state and local election authorities, and the number of positions available varies by jurisdiction.

But party officials argue that a deep recruiting bench gives Republicans more opportunities to fill vacancies, meet bipartisan staffing requirements and keep trained volunteers available for future elections.

FOX NEWS POLL: GOP DIVISIONS SHAPE TEXAS SENATE RACE

The RNC identified Michigan, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, New Jersey, Maryland, West Virginia, Delaware, Connecticut, New York and Indiana among states with some form of bipartisan or balanced poll worker representation.

Michigan, with the high-profile Senate race of Democrat Abdul El-Sayed against Republican Mike Rogers, is one state where the RNC told Fox News Digital it has a sizable poll worker recruitment edge. Texas’ Senate race between Democrat James Talarico and Republican State Attorney General Ken Paxton is another big battleground, while the North Carolina Senate race between former RNC Chair Whatley, Gruters’ former boss, and former Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, will be the biggest dollar race in the nation these midterms, if not Senate history, according to Gruters.

The RNC and Elias are battling in messaging and courtrooms, and RNC officials have told Fox News Digital privately its case-winning is deeply frustrating its opponents.

“It’s an on the ground effort, and it’s an effort overall with litigation, and we are winning a lot of these cases,” Gruters said. “I expect us to continue to move forward to try to make sure these elections are fair.”

Vote counting, one of the trained poll workers’ most important roles in the process, can vary in returns from state to state. Gruters points to the size and success of Florida results on election night.

“I always say, go look at Florida, my home state, a state of 23 million people, a state where, literally within 90 minutes, we can give you results: Everybody has full faith and confidence,” Gruters said. “That’s with Democrat and Republican supervisor of elections across the state.

“We could do this nationwide, it’s not rocket science, but when you have a party that does everything they possibly can to cheat, lie, and steal to win elections – when it’s all about control and power, rather than trying to make sure we protect democracy – we got to do everything we can to put the ship in the right direction.”

“We’re going to continue to do anything we can to make sure these elections are safe and secure.”

The two parties describe their missions differently.

Republicans frame the buildup as an election-integrity effort designed to increase transparency, enforce election rules and give GOP voters confidence that members of their party are represented inside the process.

Democrats describe their operation as voter protection, focused on ballot access, monitoring polling places and ensuring eligible voters can cast ballots.

That has turned the period before Election Day into a contest not only over candidates, advertising and turnout, but also over the people staffing polling sites, watching election officials and challenging the rules in court.

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National Poll Worker Recruitment Day was established by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) in 2020 to highlight the vital role of election workers and encourage more Americans to serve their local communities.

A socialist candidate for governor in Wisconsin with an extensive history of inflammatory online posts once described America as “an abundance of suffering,” Fox News Digital has found.

“I want this country to stop being an abundance of suffering but a wealth of opportunity,” reads a Jan. 20, 2022 X post from Wisconsin state Rep. Francesca Hong, who is running in the Democratic Party’s primary election to become the state’s top official.

“We can do this by providing equal rights to Black and Brown folks,” the post continues. “Elect more Black and Brown folks who won’t be racist obstructionists. We can all be better and do so much more.”

SOCIALIST FRONTRUNNER IN THE HOT SEAT AFTER ‘CANCEL THANKSGIVING’ POST EMERGES ONLINE

This isn’t the first time the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) candidate has faced scrutiny for past comments on social media that are especially critical of America and its institutions and ideals.

“Cancel Thanksgiving. Should have done this in 1621,” Hong wrote in a now-deleted post on X.

“If it takes a worldwide pandemic for us to realize we should stop celebrating colonialism and the original superspreader event that killed indigenous folx [sic] and women, so be it,” she added, referring to the spread of smallpox that killed many indigenous Americans.

Despite a string of posts, the former chef and mother-of-one, is now running for the Democratic nomination for governor in Wisconsin. She’s the latest in a strong of socialists seeking statewide or federal office in this year’s primary against establishment Democrats.

LEFT’S LATEST SOCIALIST DARLING DRAGGED OVER ‘WHITENESS’ COMMENTS PULLING IN HER OWN FAMILY: ‘WEIRDO RACISM’

Hong, who is Korean America, also said in a 2019 post that she was anxious in the company of White people.

“I ate two bites of my kid’s cheeseburger at a Culver’s in black river falls and told him they ran out of ice cream,” that post said. “Mostly just wanted to leave bc I was on the verge of a anxiety attack…to (sic) many old white people who didn’t think we spoke english.”

When prosecutors declined to press charges in 2021 for the high-profile shooting of Jacob Blake in August 2020, in Kenosha, Wisc., Hong joined the chorus of left-wing voicing calling to abolish police.

“How is 7 bullets in the back not excessive force,” she said at the time. “Police exist to uphold White supremacy. Defund then abolish. Reform can’t be an option. My heart breaks for the trauma the Blake family and their community continues to endure.”

TOP WISCONSIN DEMOCRATIC SOCIALIST CANDIDATE CONFRONTED ON PAST ‘DEFUND POLICE’ RHETORIC

Hong’s team declined in July to walk back her position on police.

“Rep. Hong has spoken in the past about police and prison abolition as an aspirational goal, akin to eradicating disease or eliminating poverty,” a spokesperson told Fox News Digital at the time. “Her values haven’t changed, but the way she talks about this issue has.”

Hong has acknowledged that the governor does not have the power to defund the police.

The candidate brushed off the scrutiny of her posts when asked about them by Fox News Digital ahead of her primary election on Tuesday, saying she wanted to be a sports journalist in college.

“I learned then you have some hot takes, and sometimes bad takes on Twitter, and I let my feelings out into the world,” Hong said.

FRANCESCA HONG ASKED ABOUT LACK OF AOC ENDORSEMENT AND THE HOUSE DEM’S REMARK ABOUT THE ‘WOKE 1’ ERA

She said she was focused on issues voters are concerned about.

Hong’s campaign did not return a request for comment on the latest post uncovered by Fox News Digital.

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Fox News’ CJ Womack and Paul Steinhouser contributed to this report.

New Jersey Democratic Gov. Mikie Sherrill says she would support a voter ID law in the Garden State — even as she slams President Donald Trump’s federal SAVE Act push as “voter suppression.”

“Governor Sherrill supports the current rules requiring ID for voter registration and she is open to considering proposals to strengthen those to make sure we have the strongest, fairest elections in the nation,” a spokesperson in the governor’s office told Fox News Digital on Tuesday.

Sherrill’s comments hand New Jersey Republicans a new opening to press Democrats on voter ID, even as she rejects Trump’s broader federal election push under the SAVE America Act.

Sherrill’s office responded to Fox News Digital on Tuesday after the Garden State Democrat told local media in July she would support a voter ID law if one were passed in New Jersey, saying she “doesn’t have a problem with voter ID.”

SCHUMER SAID ‘DEMOCRATS SUPPORT VOTER ID’ — THEN EVERY SENATE DEMOCRAT VOTED AGAINST GOP BILL

“I’m very opposed to the SAVE Act,” Sherrill added at the time. “I do believe that is just a tool of voter suppression and an attempt to get all of the personal identifying information of New Jerseyans into the federal government systems, which I’m opposed to.”

Sherrill served in the House for seven years and voted against the SAVE Act in 2025, with her office describing the measure as an “extreme voter suppression bill.”

Sherrill is facing criticism after announcing last month that a Motor Vehicle Commission system error improperly registered roughly 6,600 people who had indicated they were not U.S. citizens. The state said fewer than 400 people newly registered because of the error voted, and later announced that more than 4,500 registrations were being removed while the remaining cases undergo additional review because some of those individuals may be citizens.

New Jersey Assembly Minority Leader John DiMaio told Fox News Digital Sherrill’s recent comments mark a “significant shift” after years of Republicans in the Garden State advocating for voter ID.

NEW JERSEY REMOVES 6,600 PEOPLE FROM VOTER ROLLS WHO WERE ELIGIBLE TO CAST A BALLOT FOR 2024 ELECTION

“But agreeing with us publicly is the easy part,” DiMaio said, adding that Democratic legislative leaders control what gets a hearing and a vote, and that Republicans have so far heard nothing from them on voter ID.

“We’ve been pushing voter ID and other election integrity reforms for years. The bills are already introduced. We’ve repeatedly called for hearings and votes. The roadblock has been Democratic legislative leadership,” the Republican state leader said.

DiMaio said the Motor Vehicle System failure exposed serious weaknesses in New Jersey’s election safeguards and they still have not heard an answer of what went wrong.

Voter-ID requirements have repeatedly become major partisan fights at the state level, with Democrats and voting-rights groups arguing that some requirements can make it harder for eligible voters to cast ballots.

One of the most prominent battles erupted in Georgia in 2021. The state already required photo ID for in-person voting, but a sweeping Republican-backed election law added identification requirements for absentee voting along with other changes. The backlash went national, with MLB moving its 2021 All-Star Game out of Atlanta and some Hollywood figures threatening boycotts.

HARRIS BECOMES ACCIDENTAL SAVE ACT ‘SALESWOMAN’ AS TRUMP ATTACK SPECTACULARLY BACKFIRES

“Governor Sherrill served our country in the military and as a public servant because she believes in every citizen’s right to participate in our democracy by voting. That’s why she has stood firm against MAGA Republicans’ voter suppression attempts and Trump’s demands for New Jersey voters’ personal identifiable information,” said a spokesperson in the office of the governor.

“She has already made voting more accessible by signing the John R. Lewis Voter Empowerment Act and expanded early voting in municipal elections,” the spokesperson added, referencing the law that bans voter intimidation and discrimination, expanding language assistance, and requiring extra review of election changes in places with a history of discrimination.

Trump has continued to prioritize and highlight the issue of noncitizens on voter rolls as he renewed his push for the SAVE America Act, which would require documentary proof of U.S. citizenship to register for federal elections and photo identification to cast a federal ballot.

“I think they should pass Voter I.D. I think they should pass proof of citizenship—basically SAVE America Act… I think that should be something that we should absolutely get,” Trump said in the Oval Office Monday.

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Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment.

In a late-night social media post, President Donald Trump celebrated Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s decision to remain on the bench for another term.

Trump’s celebration of the 76-year-old conservative stalwart’s decision to put off retirement comes as the midterms raise the stakes over how long Republicans will retain the Senate majority needed to confirm any eventual successor.

“Great news for our Country! Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has announced that he is staying for another Term,” Trump wrote Monday night on Truth Social. “He is one of the Greatest of All Time. We are all lucky!”

Alito confirmed last week that he plans to remain on the nation’s highest court for its coming term, batting down months of speculation that he could retire while Trump is in the White House and Republicans still control the Senate.

ALITO NOT EXPECTED TO RETIRE THIS TERM, COOLING SUPREME COURT VACANCY SPECULATION: SOURCES

“Obviously, I’m here for another term,” Alito said in an interview published by The Wall Street Journal.

The Supreme Court’s next term begins in October and typically concludes with its final opinions in late June or early July. The justices are currently on their summer recess.

Alito and fellow conservative Justice Clarence Thomas, 78, have faced some calls from conservatives to step down, which would give Trump one potential last chance to appoint a fourth Supreme Court justice to the lifetime post.

Trump appointed three others during his first term in office – Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett – giving the court a 6-3 conservative majority that has issued a series of major rulings since 2020.

“It’s not pleasant, in the sense that it’s a reminder of mortality,” Alito told the Journal about the calls to retire. “It’s like, what are those vultures doing up there? They are flying around. But it goes with life tenure.”

TRUMP REVEALS HE HAS MULTI-PICK SCOTUS PLAN READY AS RETIREMENT SPECULATION HEATS UP

The window to replace one of the court’s oldest conservative justices with a younger jurist who could potentially remain on the bench for decades might narrow considerably after November.

Republicans currently hold a 53-47 Senate advantage, counting the two independents who caucus with Democrats on the Democratic side. Because Supreme Court nominees require Senate confirmation, a Democratic takeover in the 2026 midterms could effectively prevent Trump from replacing Alito — or any other justice — with a nominee opposed by a unified Democratic majority.

Democrats would need a net gain of four seats to reach 51 and take outright control, with Republican Vice President JD Vance otherwise positioned to break a 50-50 tie.

That reality places unusual weight on Alito’s decision to remain.

Alito was born April 1, 1950, making him 76, and has served on the Supreme Court since January 2006 after being nominated by President George W. Bush. He is one of the court’s most consistently conservative members.

The court has disclosed relatively little about Alito’s health over the years, signaling he remains in good health. Alito did have a minor incident while attending a Federalist Society event in Philadelphia on March 20, being treated for dehydration after his security detail urged him to see a doctor rather than make the roughly three-hour drive home.

He was released that night, was subsequently examined by his physician and returned to work the following Monday.

NPR RETRACTS FALSE REPORT CLAIMING JUSTICE SAMUEL ALITO IS RETIRING FROM THE SUPREME COURT

Questions about Alito’s longevity on the bench and decision to stay introduces another potential inflection point: the 2028 presidential election.

If the White House changes parties in 2028, Alito remaining beyond Trump’s term carries the risk for conservatives that a future Democratic president could nominate his successor the following January.

That outcome is far from predetermined, and subject to whatever party controls the Senate, but the modern political era has repeatedly seen the White House swing between parties.

In six of the seven elections since 1988 that produced a new president, control of the presidency also changed parties — the lone exception being Republican George H.W. Bush’s victory after Ronald Reagan in 1988. That run includes the succession from Bush to Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Trump, Joe Biden and back to Trump.

For Trump, the stakes surrounding an aging Supreme Court justice are hardly theoretical.

He confronted perhaps the most consequential Supreme Court vacancy of his first presidency on Sept. 18, 2020, when reporters informed him on an airport tarmac after a campaign rally in Bemidji, Minnesota, that liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had died.

TRUMP PRAISES LINDSEY GRAHAM AS SENATOR WHOSE KAVANAUGH FIGHT CHANGED SUPREME COURT HISTORY

“She just died? Wow. I didn’t know that,” Trump said before praising Ginsburg as an “amazing woman” who had led an “amazing life.”

The timing immediately transformed the final weeks of the 2020 presidential campaign.

Trump moved quickly to select then-Judge Amy Coney Barrett to replace Ginsburg – just eight days after her death – and the Republican-controlled Senate confirmed Barrett on Oct. 26, 2020, by a 52-48 vote, just 27 days after her nomination, eight days before Election Day.

Landing three new justices during a single four-year presidential term was a historically rare achievement. Not since Richard Nixon’s first term had a president placed at least three new members on the Supreme Court in one term. Nixon ultimately placed four — Warren Burger, Harry Blackmun, Lewis Powell and William Rehnquist — on the court before beginning his second term.

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Trump’s three appointments have continued to shape some of the most consequential rulings of his second administration, making the future of Alito’s seat particularly significant for both parties.

For now, Alito has made his choice to stay active, with Trump is cheering him on.

Reuters contributed to this report.

United States Marine veteran Robert Gilman was released from Russian custody Tuesday on humanitarian grounds after 1,666 days in prison, Fox News has learned.

Gilman, a U.S. citizen, was arrested on Jan. 17, 2022, in Voronezh, Russia, and sentenced to a total of 10 years in prison. While in custody, he was subject to harsh and abusive treatment, putting him into “a catatonic state,” according to Gilman family representative Kieran Ramsey.

In a Friday interview with Fox News, Ramsey detailed the events that led to Gilman’s arrest.

“If we back up in November of 2021, he is on his way to Moldova. So he’s not even supposed to travel to Russia. But in his travels, he gets violently ill and ends up having to stop in Moscow,” Ramsey told Fox News.

AMERICAN EX-MARINE FEARED NEAR DEATH AFTER WEEKS IN CATATONIC STATE IN RUSSIAN PRISON

“He ends up going to a relative’s house to recuperate because of this illness. In January of 2022, after what he thought was a full recovery, he goes to the U.S. embassy to renew his passport. But en route he becomes violently ill again. And at that point the Russian police approach him thinking he’s drunk, claiming that he assaults them, and then they proceed to assault him and arrest him and charge him. And that nightmare has exponentially expanded since that point,” Ramsey said.

The U.S. State Department referred to Gilman as a wrongful detainee and said his release was part of an exchange with Russia, telling Fox News that “no other concessions were provided.”

President Donald Trump detailed his role in securing Gilman’s release in a post on Truth Social.

“I am proud to announce that American Citizen Robert Gilman, a former United States Marine, is coming HOME!” the president wrote.

“In a well known Media story, Robert was imprisoned in Russia in 2022, during the Biden Administration. After my discussions with President Vladimir Putin, Russia has agreed to release him, very much on a Humanitarian Basis. We appreciate this decision, and the fact that Russia asked for no one in return — No exchange took place. Robert will land at Andrews Air Force Base, in Washington, D.C., tonight, where my Representatives, some of whom are on the plane with him, will welcome Robert back to THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA! I just spoke to him, and he had one request — A GREAT cheeseburger when he lands. I will take care of that!” Trump wrote. 

“During my Administration, we have prioritized bringing home Americans Detained Abroad, and have done so at a level never seen before, returning hundreds of people to their families. We have also freed many non Americans who were under capture in different countries throughout the World. Robert Gilman has been reunited with his wonderful mother, Nancy, who is also on the plane with him, and will soon get to see all of his loved ones. Thank you to my incredible Team, including Special Envoy for Peace Missions, Steve Witkoff, Special Envoy for Hostage Response, Adam Boehler, Senior Director for Counterterrorism, Sebastian Gorka, Jared Kushner, and the many others who made this possible. GOD BLESS AMERICA!” Trump concluded.

Gilman was seemingly well enough to speak with Trump on his flight home and appeared conscious in a picture Trump shared of him, but his health had been declining over the course of the previous month, Ramsey previously conveyed to Fox News.

“Our main concern is that we think he’s dying in a Russian hospital. And the Russians won’t let his mother even visit him, let alone embassy staff,” he told Fox News.

“Right now, he is in a catatonic state. He’s being fed through a tube that goes down his nose into his stomach. And quite honestly, we were afraid he may already be dead or he may not come out of this,” Ramsey added.

Gilman was transferred out of prison and into a civilian hospital in Voronezh on June 30.

“Robert’s full medical assessment will be done when he gets back to the US and his family will join him at a US military hospital in Texas, as he starts the long road to recovery,” Ramsey said in a statement Tuesday.

PENCE COMMENDS TRUMP FOR WINNING FREEDOM OF BEIJING’S ZION CHURCH PASTOR EZRA JIN FROM CHINESE DETENTION

Robert’s sister Lexie Hudson thanked President Donald Trump and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., for their efforts in securing Gilman’s release.

“I am so grateful to President Trump for saving my brother’s life. There is no other reason that Robert is alive today other than that President Trump heard about the case and took action,” Hudson said in a statement provided to Fox News through the nonprofit Global Relief.

“I want to thank Senator Ed Markey for leading our advocacy efforts in Congress. He and his staff were personally involved in Robert’s case and we will forever be grateful,” Hudson said.

Both Hudson and Ramsey highlighted the severe nature of Gilman’s detention. “The Russians treated my brother so badly. They hurt him for no reason, other than that he was both an American and a Marine. What did they get out of this? Why did they do this to such a wonderful person?” Hudson asked.

LAWYER FOR AMERICAN DETAINED IN IRAN SAYS HOSTAGE DEAL IS ‘EASIEST PROBLEM ON THE TABLE’ FOR BOTH SIDES

“I’ll tell you this,” Ramsey told Fox News, “I have a lot of experience in the hostage space. Having been the head of the Hostage Recovery Fusion cell at the FBI, and Robert Gilman is by far one of the worst cases I’ve seen when it comes to how the Russians are treating Americans in prison. The fact that he is in a near catatonic state. And again, we believe he’s at risk of death is just frightening for this family. It should be frightening to every American that sees this report,” Ramsey said.

Gilman is the third U.S. Marine to be taken prisoner in Russia in the last decade, following Russia’s detention of Paul Whelan in 2018 and Trevor Reed in 2019. Both were later released in prisoner swaps.

Global Relief, in a statement provided to Fox News, pointed out that five other wrongfully detained Americans remain in Russian prisons, “each with deteriorating medical issues.”

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“It is critical that the Administration uses the momentum of Robert’s release to bring home Aleksandr Antonov, David Barnes, Olga Jezler, Andre Khachatoorian, and Chuck Zimmerman before it is too late,” Global Relief’s Chief Strategy Officer Eric Lebson said in a statement.

FIRST ON FOX: American taxpayers will no longer be on the hook for child sex-change hormones or surgeries, as a key Trump administration agency announced Tuesday that Medicaid will stop funding such procedures and therapies.

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz tells Fox News Digital that the decision to implement a rule pulling the funding is “consistent with [the Trump administration’s] commitment to protect children from experimental and life-altering sex-rejecting procedures that carry serious long-term health risks and lack sufficiently reliable evidence of clinical benefit.”

CMS, an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), says taxpayer-funded Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) will also cease coverage of sex-change hormones and surgeries.

SEN HAWLEY WARNS IT WOULD BE ‘UNCONSCIONABLE’ IF BILLIONS OF TAXPAYER FUNDS FLOW TO TRANS KIDS’ SEX CHANGES

The rule will not affect mental health treatments for gender dysmorphia and other conditions, which will continue to be covered under Medicaid and CHIP.

The move comes after years of what conservatives called ‘woke’ policies that opened avenues for federal funding of therapies and procedures to allow children to physically — and oftentimes permanently — transition from their biological sex before they could legally drive, get a tattoo or enlist in the U.S. Military.

“Children deserve our protection, not experimental interventions that pose serious risks and convey no proven benefits,” Oz said. “By cutting off federal funds for these sex-rejecting procedures, we’re following the science, saving taxpayer dollars, and, most importantly, protecting children from potentially irreversible harm so they can truly flourish.”

Specifically, the “sex-rejecting” treatments that will no longer be covered include cross-sex hormones, puberty blockers and sex-change surgical operations.

CMS and HHS say such procedures “can result in irreversible damage, including infertility, impaired sexual function, diminished bone density, altered brain development, and other lasting physiological effects.”

HHS, under Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., reviewed national and international research on sex-change procedures in minors, which ultimately informed CMS’ decision to reverse federal taxpayer-funded procedures.

COLORADO SUPREME COURT ORDERS CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL TO RESUME GENDER TRANSITION TREATMENTS FOR MINORS

“Today, we are ending federal taxpayer funding for sex-rejecting procedures on children,” Secretary Kennedy said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “These interventions carry serious risks and can cause irreversible harm. The federal government will no longer use Medicaid and CHIP dollars to fund procedures that fail to meet the evidentiary standard our children deserve.”

That research “identified significant evidence gaps” and “documented serious safety concerns,” eventually leading to the conclusion that taxpayer funding for such procedures could not be justified comparative to the risks.

Specifically, CMS pointed to the United Kingdom’s Cass Review as one of the cornerstone pieces of research informing the decision.

That review, conducted by Dr. Hilary Cass, concluded in 2024 that research on medical interventions like cross-sex hormones and puberty blockers was limited and not definitive. The report also said that medical interventions had developed significantly faster than evidence proving those interventions were safe.

LARGEST CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL IN US TO OPEN ‘DETRANSITION CLINIC’ AFTER $10M SETTLEMENT WITH TRUMP DOJ, STATE

“The Trump Administration is drawing a clear line: America’s children will not be subjected to life-altering interventions on the taxpayer’s dime without reliable evidence of safety and clinical benefit,” HHS Press Secretary Emily Hilliard told Fox News Digital.

“Under the leadership of Secretary Kennedy, federal health care dollars will support evidence-based care that protects children and puts their long-term health first,” she added. “American taxpayers should never be forced to finance interventions when the evidence of benefit is insufficient and the potential consequences for children can be serious and irreversible.”

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What follows is a tapering-off period where the Medicaid and CHIP funding will slowly phase out and allow children who are currently getting hormone treatments to receive funding for six months from the date the new rule takes effect.

FIRST ON FOX: Progressive Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., issued extremely rare credit to President Donald Trump for pressuring defense companies to put more money back into building weapons and expanding production rather than returning it to investors and lining stakeholders’ pockets.

Warren and Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, are urging War Secretary Pete Hegseth to make Trump’s restrictions on stock buybacks for defense contractors permanent, according to a letter obtained by Fox News Digital.

The bipartisan duo argue the policy is already changing how major defense companies spend their money and bolstering national security and military readiness.

TRUMP IS PROVING THAT THE WAY TO BETTER OUR MILITARY IS TO SECURE OUR SUPPLY CHAINS

“The Pentagon is handing companies billions – and now potentially trillions – of taxpayer dollars,” the senators wrote in their letter. “Congress and the Administration must work together to ensure they fulfill their contractual obligations and enhance national security.”

They are asking Hegseth to support their Prioritizing the Warfighter in Defense Contracting Act, which would codify central provisions included in Trump’s January executive order, like executive incentives being tied to on-time delivery and production improvements rather than short-term financial metrics.

A keystone of the executive action also allows the Pentagon, where law permits, to cap the base salaries of executives at underperforming contractors.

Staff for Warren and Lee reviewed recent earnings calls and financial reports from the top 20 publicly traded U.S. defense contractors.

The offices found that the companies cut buybacks and dividends by $2 billion in the first quarter of 2026, compared with the same period a year earlier, while capital spending rose by $1.2 billion. Capital spending is money companies put into long-term needs such as factories, equipment and new production lines.

Trump’s order directs the Pentagon to identify contractors falling behind on performance, investment or production and, in future contracts, restrict stock buybacks and corporate distributions during periods of underperformance.

PENTAGON RACES TO BUY 10X MORE MISSILES AS IRAN WAR DWINDLES ARSENAL, THREATENS READINESS FOR CHINA AGGRESSION

The senators’ analysis does not prove that every dollar withheld from shareholders went into those investments, but Warren and Lee argue the trend shows Trump’s policy is pushing defense firms to focus more on building weapons and expanding capacity.

The push comes after years of cost overruns and delays across major Pentagon weapons programs, even as defense contractors reported strong profits and returned billions of dollars to shareholders.

Among four top defense contractors — Lockheed Martin, RTX, Northrop Grumman and General Dynamics — the firms combined buybacks and dividends fell from about $4.2 billion in the first quarter of 2025 to about $2.7 billion in the first quarter of 2026, according to the letter. The reductions were not uniform: RTX’s reported payouts rose slightly year over year, while Lockheed, Northrop and General Dynamics reported declines. This means stakeholders at the top of these firms saw $1.5 billion less, and instead those funds were freed up for ramping up weapon production.

Warren and Lee also pointed to GE Aerospace, which increased its stock buybacks, as evidence that an executive order alone is not enough to stop companies from directing more money to shareholders.

PENTAGON RACES TO BUY 10X MORE MISSILES AS IRAN WAR DWINDLES ARSENAL

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The senators said key elements of their legislation were included in the Senate’s version of the fiscal year 2027 National Defense Authorization Act.

Fox News Digital reached out to the War Department, Lockheed Martin, RTX, General Dynamics and GE Aerospace for comment, but did not hear back at time of publication.

David Axelrod, one of the architects behind President Barack Obama’s presidential campaigns, believes other progressives might stand a better chance of getting elected if, in his view, one of their more unserious candidates loses an upcoming primary.

“It would be good for Abdul El-Sayed if Francesca Hong loses her bid to become the Democratic nominee in Wisconsin next week,” Axelrod wrote in a post to X.

“He is a serious person. She is a font of zany liberal, faculty lounge exotica. But the [Republicans] … would surely try to link Abdul and Hong as philosophical kin.”

JOHNSON TURNS DEMOCRATS’ SOCIALIST CIVIL WAR INTO NEW WEAPON FOR MIDTERMS

Axelrod’s comments seem to indicate that despite their recent success in the 2026 midterms, not all progressives are viewed equally across the party — that some of them are seen as political liabilities even among themselves.

“This tweet is a perfect example of why the consultant class keeps losing elections. They’re totally clueless, and they’re hellbent on keeping working-class people out of politics,” Hong wrote about Axelrod’s X post. “I’ve spent more time in kitchens than faculty lounges. Perhaps you’d like to come to Wisconsin and work a Friday night dinner rush with me?”

Hong, a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly who is running to become the next governor of Wisconsin, has advocated for a wide slew of policies that put her solidly in the progressive camp.

She has called for universal childcare, supports a $20 minimum wage, advocated for the abolishment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), believes even noncitizens should have access to state-issued ID, has called for publicly run grocery stores and opposes continued U.S. support for Israel.

Hong is also a self-proclaimed socialist with the backing of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).

WISCONSIN DEM SOCIALIST GUBERNATORIAL HOPEFUL DODGES WHETHER SHE STILL WANTS TO ‘ABOLISH POLICE’

Apart from policy proposals, Hong has also attracted attention for cultural and social issues that have pushed the rhetorical envelope.

She has recently come under scrutiny for past calls for Americans to cancel Thanksgiving because of the spread of smallpox during the colonial era, defund the police because of their reinforcement of White supremacy and even calls to abolish the Senate after the chamber voted to acquit Trump during a failed impeachment effort in 2021.

Although she has tried to push back on some of those resurfaced comments, Hong has also made little effort to paint herself as a moderate.

“I’m a proud democratic socialist. I’m not advancing a brand. I’m focusing on the policies, the socialist policies that improve lives,” Hong told NOTUS last week.

Hong’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment on Axelrod’s post or on whether she believes Republicans will try to discredit other progressives through her positions.

At the outset of the race, Hong was considered a dark horse candidate.

But the race was shaken up last month when Mandela Barnes, the state’s former lieutenant governor, dropped out of the race. Barnes was considered a frontrunner in the race because of his proximity to outgoing Gov. Tony Evers and his name recognition.

SOCIALIST FRONTRUNNER IN THE HOT SEAT AFTER ‘CANCEL THANKSGIVING’ POST EMERGES ONLINE

With his departure, Hong, who had already gained sizable momentum, and Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley were left as the two main contenders.

Evers has endorsed Crowley, citing his tenure as a public servant.

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Hong now faces a primary election next Tuesday, Aug. 11, after which, if she wins, she will go on to the state’s general election on Nov. 3.

Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed is one of several socialist candidates making Medicare-for-all a centerpiece of their midterm campaigns, defending the policy even as El-Sayed acknowledged Sunday that it would require Americans to pay more in taxes in exchange for coverage untethered from employment.

The stakes extend beyond who pays the insurance bill. A nationwide single-payer system would substantially change how healthcare is financed, what providers are paid and the role of private insurance, while potentially affecting employment and access to care under a framework radically different from the existing “Medicare” model its name invokes, according to experts.

Cato Institute health policy studies director Michael Cannon and Heritage Foundation health policy expert Ed Haislmaier, who has worked with lawmakers on Obamacare alternatives, argue those trade-offs are often obscured by the “Medicare-for-all” label.

“As the late P. J. O’Rourke liked to say, ‘if your healthcare is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it’s free,'” Cannon said.

ABDUL EL-SAYED’S MEDICARE-FOR-ALL CRUSADE COLLIDES WITH AN AWKWARD CONTRADICTION INVOLVING HIS WIFE

In his NBC interview, El-Sayed defended Medicare-for-all by saying that the average person’s second-largest W-2 deduction “is [paid] to your health insurance company.”

“So imagine, instead of paying that to your health insurance company, whose CEO makes $20 million a year, instead, you paid a little bit more in taxes for healthcare that you wouldn’t lose if you lost your job or turned 26 or got married or got divorced.”

One of the central questions is how much providers would be paid. Medicare currently pays hospitals and physicians substantially less than private insurers for many services, while a single-payer system would dramatically expand the number of patients whose care is financed at government-set rates.

Cannon warned that policymakers could face a choice between raising substantially more federal revenue and holding down payments at the risk of some providers reducing their participation.

Canada and England have long been cited by critics as cautionary tales against implementing socialized medicine because of concerns about long wait times, including waits of weeks for MRIs in Canada, limited access to prompt care and well-to-do Westerners seeking care in the U.S. to avoid waiting at home.

Still, Cannon argued the U.S. system is critically flawed and that market competition, including taking employers and the government out of the equation and putting spending choices in patients’ hands, could provide the closest framework to universal healthcare.

3 STEPS THAT COULD STOP FRAUD AND MAKE HEALTHCARE MORE AFFORDABLE FOR ALL AMERICANS

Haislmaier dubbed single-payer Medicare-for-all a “solution in search of a problem.”

“[Medicare-for-all proponents] haven’t got a solution for the real question, which is not the coverage, but the cost. Are we going to force competition so that people who provide better care at a lower price get more of the business? That’s our vision,” he said of conservatives.

TRUMP ADMIN CRACKS DOWN ON ESTIMATED $10 BILLION IN OBAMACARE FRAUD, BOOTS MILLIONS FROM ROLLS

Instead of giving the government more authority, President Donald Trump “stumbled onto something that might work,” in Haislmaier’s words, by proposing a shift away from letting health insurers manage the pool of money for each American and instead depositing funds into a restricted personal account that could be used only to buy or retain insurance.

Meanwhile, several pieces of the current American system can be found within the various “socialized” models that El-Sayed, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and others want to replicate in the U.S. Socialized healthcare also does not describe a single international model.

The Department of Veterans Affairs draws parallels to the British NHS, while employer-sponsored insurance is a key feature of the German system, Cannon noted. And Obamacare’s framework for ensuring eligibility for care is similar to systems in Canada and Scandinavia, he said.

MICHIGAN SENATE CANDIDATE ABDUL EL-SAYED DODGES QUESTION ON WHETHER HE STILL SUPPORTS DEFUNDING THE POLICE

But the U.S. may already have the developed world beat on socialized medicine, the experts said. Cannon argued that the Medicare system for seniors referenced in the left’s platform is unique to the U.S.

“When Medicare-for-all supporters say that they want a European-style Medicare system, they’re already telling you they don’t know what they’re talking about because no European nation has something like [our] Medicare Program,” he said.

Cannon also resisted labeling Medicare-for-all supporters socialists, arguing the existing U.S. system already contains extensive government intervention through Medicare, Medicaid, employer-sponsored insurance tax policy and Obamacare.

In that way, he said, the far-left Medicare-for-all crowd and Republicans appear to be vying for the title of who cares least about healthcare.

“If you think this is a question between should we have a government controlling our healthcare sector or not, you’ve already missed the boat. The government already controls the U.S. Health sector.”

BERNIE SANDERS, DSA REVEAL DEMANDS FOR DEM PARTY AFTER SOCIALISTS SWEEP NEW YORK ELECTIONS

The Medicare model outlined in the socialists’ platform is also not “free” healthcare because beneficiaries face premiums, deductibles and cost-sharing.

Some current Medicare-for-all proposals discourage or appear to prohibit private insurance coverage, which could affect physicians’ ability or willingness to provide access to all patients, particularly if demand increases as out-of-pocket costs decline, according in part to an analysis by the Congressional Budget Office.

Maintaining such broad access to care while creating a one-size-fits-all model or keeping provider payments near current Medicare rates could cause hospitals to reduce participation, Cannon warned.

Financing is the other side of the equation. Moving most healthcare spending onto the federal government’s books would require an enormous increase in federal revenue, even though some of that would replace premiums and other healthcare expenses currently paid by employers and households.

LIZ PEEK: DEMOCRATS’ AFFORDABILITY SCAM COLLAPSES IN STATES THEY ACTUALLY RUN

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Cannon said that would double or triple federal taxes.

If Medicare-for-all proponents want coverage to be as close to universal as possible, the model should remove, not add, government barriers, Cannon said. He noted that Americans one year away from Medicare eligibility and those in their first year of eligibility each spend twice as much on healthcare as people in other developed countries.

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“Medicare is not the solution here,” he said.

Fox News Digital reached out to El-Sayed for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

During the long night to send the Senate home, deals were brokered, major legislation was punted and promises were extended.

The SAVE America Act never made it off the shelf, despite promises up and down from its biggest proponents to thwart any attempt to leave Washington, D.C., without trying to pass it. And the vehicle to blast through Democratic objections and pass parts of the bill never left the garage, either.

But it all nearly fell apart before lawmakers ever got a chance to hit the Senate floor for an early morning round of votes. Here’s what happened in the dead of night, and how Republicans are readying for a busy stretch when the Senate returns in September.

NO OBJECTION

The sun was about to rise in Washington, D.C., as the Senate tidied up last-minute work, but no lawmaker ever made an objection to adjourning for the rest of August.

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, empowered by President Donald Trump, vowed that he would object and force a floor vote to keep lawmakers in Washington to find a way to pass the SAVE America Act.

THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO WHAT THE SENATE DID AND DIDN’T DO OVERNIGHT

He even stood in the way, along with several other Republicans for differing reasons, of the deal concocted by Republican leaders to get major items, like averting a shutdown, agreed to and sent to Democrats for their approval in a bid to get a guaranteed floor vote.

But the promised objection never came. A roll call vote didn’t happen. And Lee and others settled for a voice vote, responding “no” to the Senate adjourning for recess. They weren’t successful.

SAVE AMERICA AND RECONCILIATION 3.0

Another issue that played out during the night was over the budget blueprint designed to sketch out how to pass pieces and parts of the SAVE America Act without fear of Democrats blocking the process.

It was destined for failure, and Trump pushed Republicans to pull the plug.

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., who is now at the helm of the Senate Budget Committee, plans to go back to the drawing board with his budget resolution and beef it up to include more funding for the Pentagon.

“We’re, obviously, with the president at his direction. This is what he wants to do,” Johnson said.

TRUMP PUMPS BRAKES ON SENATE BUDGET PLAN, DELAYING GOP SAVE AMERICA PUSH

But the slowdown serves as another blow to the SAVE America Act and vastly lowers the possibility that Republicans can get another budget resolution and forthcoming reconciliation package, passed before the lame-duck period after the midterm elections.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., acknowledged that “we’re going to need to do another reconciliation bill,” but wouldn’t say just how soon the Senate could make it happen.

“We’ll see,” Thune said. “I mean, I think that Ron’s gonna work on it over the break, and his team, and we’ll see what they come up with.”

THE NIL DEBACLE

A major reason that the night dragged on as long as it did was because of a massive college sports bill to redraw the boundaries of the big money tied to name, image and likeness (NIL).

The package, pushed by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, faced pushback from several Republicans over bringing it to the Senate floor. It prompted Trump to call on the Senate GOP to move the bill in a Truth Social post, but it wasn’t enough to kill the resistance.

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A source familiar with negotiations told Fox News Digital that things had become bleak as the night went on.

“We are pretty much at a standstill and could be here through Monday or Tuesday,” they said.

Ultimately, the bill was stripped from the larger floor deal and delayed until September after Cruz and Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., huddled with Thune in his office.

“We will get the bill to President Trump’s desk and deliver results for hundreds of thousands of student-athletes and bring stability to college athletics,” Cruz said in a statement.

BLANCHE AND THE BATTLE AGAINST SLEEP

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s confirmation almost didn’t happen, not because of Republican defectors, but because of tired lawmakers.

When it finally came time to do back-to-back votes to officially lock him in as former Attorney General Pam Bondi’s replacement, it was just past 3 a.m. And senators were ready to go — Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., had his suitcase ready just outside of the Senate floor.

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But two key votes, Sens. James Lankford, R-Okla., and Thom Tillis, R-N.C., had missed the preceding votes. The late night had gotten to them, and Republicans needed them to confirm Blanche.

They were eventually roused and voted to confirm him, handing Trump one of the narrowest confirmation wins in history at 50-49.

MADISON, Wis. – For a second straight week, the Midwest is the key battlefield in the high-stakes fight between the left-wing and the center-left establishment for the future of the Democratic Party.

After far-left candidate Abdul El-Sayed narrowly edged out more moderate Rep. Haley Stevens a week ago in battleground Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary, which was the biggest stage to date in the party’s ideological civil war, the spotlight now shifts to statewide nomination showdowns Tuesday in Wisconsin and Minnesota.

At stake: a top-tier Senate showdown in Minnesota that’s among a dozen races nationwide that will determine if the Democrats can win back control of the chamber from the GOP, and a gubernatorial face-off in crucial swing-state Wisconsin where Republicans are aiming to flip the governor’s mansion.

Also on the ballot, as Minnesota and Wisconsin join Connecticut, Vermont, South Carolina, and Alabama in holding primaries: incumbent governors in Connecticut and Vermont are running to extend their tenures, and the power of President Donald Trump‘s endorsement in a GOP nomination contest is on the line in South Carolina, in the race to succeed the late Sen. Lindsey Graham.

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“Michigan proved that working people are ready for something different, and Wisconsin is next,” Democratic candidate for governor Francesca Hong wrote following El-Sayed’s victory.

Hong, a state representative and Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) member, is the polling frontrunner in a Democratic gubernatorial nomination showdown that’s been rocked this summer after two major contenders dropped out, and another candidate re-entered the race.

The primary winner will likely face off in the general election with Republican Rep. Tom Tiffany, the overwhelming polling and fundraising frontrunner for the GOP gubernatorial nomination, in the race to succeed Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, who decided against running for a third term. Tiffany, who is backed by Trump, is a hard-right member of the House Freedom Caucus.

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Hong, a 37-year-old former chef and single mother, is backed by top nationally known progressives, including Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Ro Khanna of California, a potential 2028 Democratic presidential contender. But Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a longtime champion of the left, last week said he didn’t plan on endorsing Hong, arguing that he was not familiar enough with her campaign or the race.

Hong is running on a platform that includes guaranteed paid leave, boosting the state’s minimum wage from $7.25 to $20 per hour, and a one-year moratorium in Wisconsin on building AI data centers. Hong has faced scrutiny over years-old social media posts calling for defunding and abolishing the police. But she says she no longer supports cutting police budgets or abolishing police departments.

“I’m not defunding the police, not abolishing police. I am serious about public safety,” Hong emphasized on Saturday as she took questions from voters.

Hong also made national headlines over the past two weeks for a resurfaced social media post from 2020 where she argued that the country should “cancel Thanksgiving” in order to “stop celebrating colonialism.”

Hong walked back her Thanksgiving comments, amid backlash, and now says that Thanksgiving is her “favorite holiday.”

On her resurfaced tweets, Hong told reporters on Saturday that she has “evolved” and “learned.”

Tiffany, in an interview on the eve of the primary as he teamed up for a couple of campaign events with former Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, told Fox News Digital that Wisconsin will be a “firewall… We’ll be the place that stops socialism.”

MEET THE FAR LEFT INSURGENTS WAGING WAR ON THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY IN THE 2026 MIDTERMS

Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez and former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, two of the major contenders for the Democratic nomination, exited the race this summer. And Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, who earlier suspended his campaign and backed Rodriguez, re-entered the contest.

Crowley is backed by Evers, who joined him on the campaign trail in the closing stretch leading up to the primary.

There’s a growing number of more moderate Democrats concerned that if Hong captures the gubernatorial nomination, as many expect, it will give Tiffany a big boost in his bid to flip the governor’s office.

A Wisconsin-based Democratic strategist who asked to remain anonymous to speak more freely argued that with Hong at the top of the ticket, “it will hurt Democrats down ballot, in key congressional and legislative races” in the Midwestern battleground

Meanwhile, pro-GOP super PACs, including one aligned with the Republican Governors Association, have shelled out millions of dollars to boost Hong in the primary, because they view her as the weakest Democratic candidate.

Asked about electability concerns, Hong told Fox News on Sunday that “this election belongs to the voters. We let the voters decide. The candidate that’s the most electable is the one that earns the most votes. So we’re focused on meeting voters up until Election Day, until the polls close.”

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The Democratic Party’s civil war is also on display in Minnesota, as progressive Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan and more moderate Rep. Angie Craig are the top two contenders battling for the party’s nomination. The current senator, Democrat Tina Smith, is retiring at the end of this year.

It’s been 24 years since a Republican won a U.S. Senate election in Minnesota. But a primary victory by Flanagan, who is backed by Sanders and another progressive heavyweight, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, may boost the GOP hopes of flipping the seat in a blue-leaning but competitive state.

Former longtime TV sports reporter turned political activist and conservative commentator Michele Tafoya, who is backed by the National Republican Senatorial Committee, is the polling and fundraising frontrunner in the GOP Senate nomination race. The field also includes former Navy SEAL Adam Schwarze, 2024 Senate nominee Royce White, a former NBA basketball player, and retired U.S. Navy officer Tom Weiler.

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Embattled Democratic Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, the 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee, announced at the beginning of the year that he wouldn’t seek a third term as governor amid heavy political pressure and national scrutiny over the state’s handling of a major child care fraud investigation.

Longtime Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar is the overwhelming frontrunner for the party’s gubernatorial nomination.

Mike Lindell, the My Pillow founder and former CEO who is a close Trump ally who joined the president in denying former President Joe Biden‘s victory in the 2020 White House race, is a leading contender for the GOP gubernatorial nomination, along with Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth. The field also includes healthcare technology executive Kendall Qualls.

In South Carolina, Tuesday’s special Republican Senate primary is being held one month to the day after Graham’s sudden death. At the time of his death, Graham was seeking re-election and had won renomination.

In the showdown for the open nomination, Trump is backing the late senator’s younger sister, Sen. Darlene Graham, whom GOP Gov. Henry McMaster appointed last month to serve the remainder of the current Senate term. Among the other major contenders in the primary sprint are Reps. Ralph Norman and Russell Fry and Mark Sanford, a former governor and former congressman.

The primary is the latest test of Trump’s Republican endorsement clout and his sway over the GOP. But the Trump endorsement hasn’t proven to be a sure bet this cycle in solidly-red South Carolina.

Trump backed Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette in the GOP gubernatorial nomination – in the race to succeed the term-limited McMaster – ahead of the state’s early June primary.

Evette was the top vote-getter in the primary but lost the ensuing runoff election against South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson in a landslide. And Trump, ever hungry for a victory, endorsed Wilson in addition to Evette days before the runoff.

In deep-blue Connecticut, Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont is running for renomination for a third term. Lamont is facing a primary challenge from the left, from state Rep. Josh Elliott.

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And in Democrat-dominated Vermont, Republican Gov. Phil Scott is unopposed in the GOP primary, as he seeks a sixth two-year term as governor. Vermont and neighboring New Hampshire are the only two states in the nation to elect governors every two years.

Former lobbying group CEO Aly Richards and economist Amanda Janoo are facing off for the Democratic nomination, with the winner challenging Scott in the general election.

In Alabama, voters in the reliably red state’s 1st, 2nd, 6th and 7th Congressional Districts go to the polls in special primary elections. Republican Gov. Kay Ivey called for the special contests after a U.S. Supreme Court order allowed Alabama to use a 2023 GOP-drawn congressional district map district map instead of a court ordered that included a second Black-majority seat.

FIRST ON FOX: The Make D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force will mark its first anniversary Tuesday after making more than 16,000 arrests since its launch, Fox News Digital has learned exclusively, as the Trump administration points to the results of its sweeping crackdown on violent crime in the nation’s capital.

“Under President Trump’s leadership, the Department of Justice and our law enforcement partners have delivered extraordinary results in our nation’s capital. More than 16,000 arrests, thousands of illegal drugs and firearms taken off the streets, and dangerous violent offenders brought to justice mean safer neighborhoods and lives protected,” said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. “We will not relent until every community in Washington, D.C., is safe.”

The task force launched Aug. 11, 2025, bringing federal, state and local law enforcement together after Trump declared a crime emergency in Washington, D.C. Trump also deployed National Guard troops, drawing criticism from Democratic officials.

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The operation has led to the arrests of 35 homicide suspects and more than 100 known gang members, along with more than 3,200 narcotics arrests, nearly 2,000 illegal guns seized, and 25 missing children located and returned home, according to a White House official.

“President Trump has transformed our nation’s capital from a crime-ridden city into a safe and beautiful haven for residents and visitors alike. The president’s Safe and Beautiful Task Force have made more than 16,000 arrests, including murderers, sex offenders, drug traffickers and other violent criminals,” said White House spokesperson Lauren Bis.

“The Task Force has driven down crime, beautified the city, and improved quality of life for countless individuals,” she added.

The operation followed the June 2025 killing of 21-year-old congressional intern Eric Tarpinian and a series of high-profile violent crimes, including the beating of a former DOGE staffer and the shooting death of a 14-year-old boy in a case involving MS-13 gang members.

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“The men and women of the U.S. Marshals Service, along with our partners from so many federal and local agencies, have tirelessly worked to make D.C. safer for those who live here and for those who visit our nation’s capital,” said U.S. Marshals Service Director Gadyaces Serralta.

“This operation shows the relentless dedication we have to investigate and apprehend the most violent, dangerous fugitives,” Serralta added. “When law enforcement works together, the impact is exponential. The D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force is proof of that the whole-of-government approach works.”

Last year, Trump increased the federal law enforcement presence in Washington, D.C., deploying hundreds of federal agents and National Guard troops to the streets to combat crime.

The decision drew pushback, with “No Kings” protests across the country and Democratic leaders saying the troops were not welcome.

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Mayor Muriel Bowser previously slammed Trump for the move, saying, “I don’t think it’s legal, let me start there, for the National Guard to police Americans on American soil.”

“We use the Guard to respond to emergencies. We use the Guard for large scale events. We do not use the Guard to police our local laws,” she said in October.

In November, two National Guard members were ambushed in downtown D.C. when 29-year-old Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal opened fire.

Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, 20, of the West Virginia National Guard, was shot in the head and died the following day, Thanksgiving. Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, then 24, was also shot in the head and critically injured but survived.

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“The true impact of the Make D.C. Safe and Beautiful mission is written not only in statistics, but the impact on our community. It is found in the courage of those who serve so that others could move through our nation’s capital with greater safety and peace,” said Brigadier General Leland D. Blanchard II, Commanding General (Interim) of the District of Columbia National Guard.

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“Alongside the U.S. Marshals Service and our law enforcement partners, our Guardsmen have answered that call with discipline, compassion and resolve. Sgt. Sarah Beckstrom gave the last full measure of devotion, and Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe endured a profound sacrifice in service to others. Their courage will forever be part of this mission’s legacy,” Blanchard added. “We honor them by carrying the work forward — united in purpose, steadfast in service, and committed to protect the people of Washington, D.C.”

FIRST ON FOX: An Iowa Democrat seeking to flip one of the nation’s most competitive House seats in a rematch described patriotism as “sensitive and controversial” while also questioning the meaning of the Pledge of Allegiance in a recently resurfaced newsletter she published in the weeks after the January 6 Capitol riot.

Former Iowa State Rep. Christina Bohannan of Iowa City, who is running against incumbent Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa, also criticized the politics around an Iowa bill she ultimately supported that mandated the Pledge of Allegiance for schoolchildren, urging Iowans to think critically about what the pledge means.

“I acknowledge that patriotism is a sensitive and controversial subject,” Bohannan wrote in a 2021 newsletter put out by her State House office, while saying she remains patriotic herself.

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“Many progressives have turned away from it. And I see the point, especially when the concept of patriotism has been so co-opted and distorted by the other side,” she wrote of Republicans.

The newsletter has resurfaced as recent polling shows a partisan divide over displays of patriotism. AP polling released in June found that about six in 10 Democrats and independents said they never fly the American flag, while roughly seven in 10 Republicans said they display it at least on holidays.

Bohannan wrote that the right viewpoint is to “not cede patriotism to anyone” but instead restore its definition as a belief in “democratic ideals of America and a willingness to fight to make those ideals a reality.”

Bohannan went on to critique a February 2021 Republican-led bill, which ultimately passed, requiring the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in public and certain private schools.

Bohannan’s campaign manager, Dan Driscoll, told Fox News Digital that “Christina absolutely stands by her vote to require the Pledge of Allegiance in Iowa schools and her passionate defense of patriotism and the greatness of our country and democracy.”

“That’s why in Congress she’ll put that into action by fighting to clean up Washington, enacting term limits and getting corporate money out of our elections, so our government focuses on working for Iowans — unlike Rep. Miller-Meeks who is funded by millions in special interest contributions while voting to raise drug, healthcare and energy costs.”

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The bill passed 91-3-6 with Bohannan in favor, but she wrote about her reservations in the same newsletter.

“It was clear that many of our Democratic members in swing districts would risk their seats for voting ‘no’ on this bill,” Bohannan wrote. “And even if those members voted for it, they would still be held accountable if other members of our caucus voted ‘no’. That is how deep the concept of patriotism runs.”

“But we can reframe the issue in a way that is true to our values.”

IOWA DEM ADMITS BEING ‘UNCOMFORTABLE’ WITH WHITENESS AS SHE SEEKS TO FLIP COMPETITIVE HOUSE SEAT

Bohannan said in floor remarks at the time that she supported the bill not because she wanted children to “mechanically” recite the oath but because she wanted to give them the opportunity to “think critically” about the words they are saying and whether the U.S. is “living up to them.”

“For example, the pledge is not just to the flag, but to the republic for which it stands. So our kids might ask whether our republic can last when our leaders fail to denounce those who subvert our democracy.”

Miller-Meeks, a retired Army lieutenant colonel and medic, told Fox News Digital that patriotism “has never been controversial to me, not in the 24 years I served this country and not now.”

“Bohannan and her DSA allies are free to call loving America ‘controversial,’ but they have no business representing Iowa,” Miller-Meeks said.

Zach Kraft, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee, said Bohannan’s comments were predictable in light of prior controversial support she offered for the left-wing pro-DEI “1619 Project.”

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“Leave it to the Queen of DEI to hate America,” Kraft told Fox News Digital.

“Only a true… woke warrior like Christina Bohannan could find patriotism offensive but see nothing wrong with calling Iowans backwards for believing in basic biology.”

Bohannan warned against a bill prohibiting diversity and “implicit bias” training at schools and universities statewide, calling the Hawkeye State potentially “backward” if it passed.

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“I think that it is going to be very divisive if passed. I think that it’s going to send a very bad message about Iowa and that it is going to seem like are kind of this backwards state that doesn’t understand there are things like systemic racism.”

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Miller-Meeks previously defeated Bohannan by about six percentage points in 2022, but the Democrat narrowly lost in 2024 in a race that triggered a recount and resulted in the Republican being re-elected by about 800 votes.

The district, which includes Davenport and Iowa City, home to the University of Iowa, is competing with Rep. Zach Nunn’s district to the west for the distinction of being the most competitive in the state.

Fox News Digital’s Elaine Mallon contributed to this report. 

Republican former Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt is giving rare praise to Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff after the California senator helped push through bipartisan disaster relief legislation benefiting wildfire victims like Pratt.

“Major props to [Sen. Adam Schiff] and [Sen. Rick Scott] for working across the aisle to get this done,” Pratt wrote late last week. “Disaster recovery is hard enough as it is. A little bit of financial relief goes a long way. It’s easy to complain, but good leadership is very rare.”

Pratt, who lost his home during the Palisades wildfire in 2025, was referencing the Doug LaMalfa Federal Disaster Tax Relief Certainty Act, which the Senate passed on Aug. 7, sending it to President Donald Trump’s desk for approval.

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Under current rules, in order for an individual to claim a disaster relief tax break, the damage to their property resulting from a federally declared disaster must meet or exceed 10% of their adjusted gross income. Someone who makes $100,000 per year, for instance, must incur $10,000 in damages before they can deduct the damages from their tax bill.

If the new disaster relief legislation is signed into law, that threshold would be removed for individuals who experienced disasters between December 28, 2019, and July 4, 2025, a period that covers the California wildfires, which destroyed the home of Pratt and many of Schiff’s other constituents.

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“California politicians completely failed their residents after the fires. I flew to LA and met with [Pratt] at his burned-down lot. It was devastating,” Scott said of the legislation, which he and Schiff sponsored. “After meeting with him, we fought to get this done. I appreciate all of Spencer’s work in helping us deliver much-needed relief for wildfire victims.”

Additionally, the bill designates all wildfire relief payments as untaxable income. The 2025 California wildfires destroyed nearly 13,000 housing units and caused between $28.0 billion and $53.8 billion in damages, according to the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation.

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The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that the Doug LaMalfa Federal Disaster Tax Relief Certainty Act will result in the federal government losing $408 million in revenue between 2026 and 2036.

Pratt wasn’t the only Californian conservative to praise Schiff for his work to pass the disaster relief legislation.

“Thank you [Scott] and [Schiff] for seeing this through,” James Johansson, a Republican farmer running for the California State Assembly, wrote on X. “With all that we’ve been through here in the North State we had no better champion and friend than [Rep. Doug LaMalfa]. Our friend is missed but leaves a big legacy for his constituents that won’t be forgotten.”

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LaMalfa, who the bill is named after, spent 13 years representing a northern California district in the House of Representatives, where he was an advocate for agricultural interests before dying in January following a heart-related medical emergency. He was known as an “affable, approachable and pragmatic lawmaker,” according to The Washington Post.

Schiff’s office did not respond to a request for comment when reached by Fox News Digital on Monday.