NationalWatch

His name isn’t on the ballot, but President Donald Trump’s unprecedented second-term agenda and the federal government shutdown are top of mind on the campaign trail with one month to go until Election Day 2025. 

In the spotlight this November are New Jersey and Virginia, the only two states to hold gubernatorial contests the year after a presidential election. 

The races, which traditionally grab outsized national attention, are viewed as crucial early tests of Trump’s popularity and agenda, and key barometers ahead of next year’s midterm showdowns for the U.S. House and Senate.

Also in the political spotlight next month is the ballot box proposition over congressional redistricting in California, the three state Supreme Court contests in battleground Pennsylvania and New York City’s high-profile mayoral election.

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Here’s a closer look at 2025’s top elections.

New Jersey

Trump is weighing heavily on this year’s ballot box battle for governor of New Jersey.

And Republican gubernatorial nominee Jack Ciattarelli, who enjoys the president’s support, says Democratic nominee Rep. Mikie Sherrill is trying to use Trump as a cudgel.

“Listen, if you get a flat tire on the way home from work today, she’s going to blame it on the president. There isn’t anything she doesn’t blame on the president,” Ciattarelli argued in a Fox News Digital interview.

BLUE STATE REPUBLICAN RIPS DEMOCRATIC RIVAL FOR BLAMING ‘EVERYTHING ON TRUMP’

Sherrill, in a recent fundraising email to supporters, charged, “As Trump has inflicted all this damage on our country, Republican politicians like Jack Ciattarelli have cheered him on every step of the way.”

And at their first debate last month, she pointed to Ciattarelli and claimed that “he’ll do whatever Trump tells him to do.”

The two candidates have also traded fire over who’s to blame for the federal government shutdown, which is impacting the Garden State.

Ciattarelli, pointing to his rival’s vote in Congress, said, “I do know that there’s a bipartisan group of congresspeople that are trying to keep the government open. My opponent has decided not to be part of that bipartisan group, and she voted no. And so here we are.”

Sherrill, who has repeatedly linked Ciattarrelli to Trump, placed the shutdown blame squarely on Trump’s shoulders, writing in a social media post, “This is precisely the extreme MAGA agenda that @Jack4NJ wants to bring to NJ.”

The two candidates face off next week in the second and final debate in the race to succeed term-limited Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy.

Ciattarelli, who is making his third straight run for governor and who came close to upsetting Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy four years ago, discounted talk that Trump is the dominant issue in the race.

And Ciattarelli, a former state lawmaker and a certified public accountant who started a medical publishing company before getting into politics, charged that the Democrats are to blame, as he works overtime trying to link Sherrill to Murphy and the Democrats who’ve long controlled the state legislature in Trenton.

The combustible ballot box battle was rocked two weeks ago after a report revealed that the United States Naval Academy blocked her from taking part in her 1994 graduation amid a cheating scandal.

Ciattarelli and his campaign are calling on Sherrill, who went on to pilot helicopters during her military career after graduating from the Naval Academy, to release her military records to explain why she was blocked from attending her graduation ceremony.

But a second report revealed that the National Personnel Records Center, which is a branch of the National Archives and Records Administration, errantly released Sherrill’s improperly redacted military personnel files, which included private information including her Social Security number, to a Ciattarelli ally. 

The news spurred calls by top Democrats across the country for an investigation.

Virginia

Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears is facing off against former Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger in the race to succeed GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin.

Youngkin is prevented from running for re-election, as Virginia’s constitution does not allow sitting governors to seek consecutive terms.

Earle-Sears was born in the Caribbean island nation of Jamaica and immigrated to the U.S. at the age of 6. She served in the Marines and is a former state lawmaker who made history four years ago when she won election as Virginia’s first female lieutenant governor. 

Spanberger is a former intelligence officer in the CIA who won election to Congress in 2018 before securing re-election in 2020 and 2022.

The winner in November will make history as Virginia’s first female governor in the commonwealth’s four-century-long history. Additionally, if Earle-Sears comes out on top, she will become the nation’s first Black woman to win election as governor.

Trump and his policies are a major issue in the state’s gubernatorial showdown.

The president’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has been on a mission this year to chop government spending and cut the federal workforce.

The moves by DOGE, which was initially steered by Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, have been felt acutely in suburban Washington’s heavily populated northern Virginia, with its large federal workforce.

And this week’s federal government shutdown, which will likely hit Virginia hard, is also now a top topic in the race.

New York City

The mayoral election in the nation’s most populous city always grabs outsized attention, especially this year as New York City may elect its first Muslim and first millennial mayor.

Democratic socialist 33-year-old state lawmaker Zohran Mamdani’s victory in June’s Democratic Party mayoral primary sent political shock waves across the country. And he’s come under attack from Republicans and from his rivals on the ballot over his far-left proposals.

Mamdani is the clear frontrunner in the heavily blue city as he faces off against former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who came in a distant second in the primary and is now running as an independent candidate. Cuomo is aiming for a political comeback after resigning as governor four years ago amid multiple scandals.

Also running is two-time Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa, a co-founder of the Guardian Angels, the non-profit, a volunteer-based community safety group.

Embattled Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat who was running for re-election as an independent, dropped out of the race a week ago, but his name remains on the ballot.

Trump, a native New Yorker, has continuously been in the spotlight in the race for months.

California Prop 50

Voters in heavily blue California will vote in November on whether to temporarily set aside their popular nonpartisan redistricting commission and allow the Democrat-dominated legislature to determine congressional redistricting for the next three election cycles.

The vote will be the culmination of an effort by Gov. Gavin Newsom and California Democrats to create up to five left-leaning congressional seats in the Golden State to counter the new maps that conservative Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law in August, which will create up to five more right-leaning U.S. House districts in the red state of Texas.

The redistricting in Texas, which came after Trump’s urging, is part of a broader effort by the GOP across the country to pad their razor-thin House majority to keep control of the chamber in the 2026 midterms, when the party in power traditionally faces political headwinds and loses seats.

Pennsylvania Supreme Court

Democrats currently hold a 5-2 majority on Pennsylvania’s highest court. 

But three Democrat-leaning justices on the state Supreme Court, following the completion of their 10-year terms, are running to keep their seats in “Yes” or “No” retention elections.

The election could upend the court’s composition for the next decade, heavily influence whether Democrats or Republicans have an advantage in the state’s congressional delegation and legislature, and impact crucial cases including voting rights and reproductive rights.

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While state Supreme Court elections typically don’t grab much national attention, contests where the balance of a court in a key battleground state is up for grabs have attracted tons of outside money.

The state Supreme Court showdown this spring in Wisconsin, where the 4-3 liberal majority was maintained, drew nearly $100 million in outside money as both parties poured resources into the election.

With the government shutdown now in day four and no compromise in sight, a federal budget expert says two dates could send things “spiraling out of control”: the first day essential federal workers go without pay and the first day service members miss a paycheck.

The next federal worker pay date is Oct. 10 and the next pay date for the military is Oct. 15, according to the Defense Finance and Accounting Service and U.S. General Services Administration. 

Richard Stern, director of the Grover M. Hermann Center for the Federal Budget at the Heritage Foundation, explained that while both sides are blaming the other for the shutdown, neither wants to be responsible for essential government workers or the troops to miss out on pay, making those dates central to ending the shutdown.

Stern explained that while Democratic leaders are attempting to blame the GOP for the shutdown, it was their decision to reject a compromise temporary spending bill that shut down the government.

SPEAKER JOHNSON FLIPS SCRIPT ON DEM LEADERS WITH STAUNCH WARNING AGAINST GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN

Democrats have insisted that any agreement to keep the government funded must extend tax credits for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) beyond the end of this year, a provision Republicans rejected.

Some Democrats have even admitted it was their decision to close the government. In a viral video, Rep. Shri Thanedar, D-Mich., said, “We got to make sure Americans have the healthcare that they need, and if that means we’ve got to shut the government down, so be it.”

Former Politico reporter Rachel Bade also went on the record recently, saying, “The pressure is just going to skyrocket on Democrats.”

“I mean, it’s not just some people who live paycheck-to-paycheck. Most people cannot go without getting a subsequent paycheck. Like, that’s just the reality of things — troops not getting paid,” said Bade. “So, I think over the next, you know, week or so, if it lasts that long, we’re just going to have this … gut-wrenching reminder of what shutdowns mean.”

Stern likened the Democrats’ actions to deciding to “stomp [their] feet and make a dramatic situation out of it.”

REPUBLICANS ERUPT OVER SHUTDOWN CHAOS, ACCUSE DEMS OF HOLDING GOVERNMENT ‘HOSTAGE’

“Republicans passed a clean seven-week funding bill. They offered them the ability to fund the government for seven weeks and continue negotiations,” he said. “It was superfluous. It really was gratuitous of them to say, no, we demand the shutdown.”

“Democrats are asking for a restoration of so-called foreign aid. But a lot of that is money for transgender surgeries and abortions overseas,” Stern continued. “They want more money to go to NPR and PBS, that spread left-wing propaganda. They want other grant money that goes to left-wing causes. But the big ticket item is they want one and a half trillion dollars of extension of a welfare program that largely hands money to very well-off Americans, and included in that, they want to remove anti-fraud provisions that were passed in the one big, beautiful bill. Not only would that increase fraud, but it will actually effectively expand these welfare benefits to legal aliens. So, it’s hard to understand where they’re coming from, but that’s what they’re asking.”

“So, at the end of the day, I think they’re going to get the blame that I think they deserve.”

President Donald Trump and Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought have indicated the administration could use mandatory pots of money provided in the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act to ensure that service members, Border Patrol agents and other Homeland Security personnel paychecks are not interrupted, which could serve as a lifeline for Democrats, Stern noted.

GOVERNMENT SHUTS DOWN AFTER CONGRESS DEADLOCKS ON SPENDING DEAL

Even if this is the case, the White House noted shortly before the shutdown began that the government closure would jeopardize military pay, critical care for veterans, firefighter pay, disaster relief funding and many other programs important to Americans.

Either way, Stern said that the longer the shutdown continues, the greater the danger that funding can fail, and essential services start buckling under the pressure.

One example of essential federal workers who could be impacted by an extended government shutdown is air traffic controllers and other FAA personnel, who do not receive paychecks during government shutdowns despite being required to work to keep the nation’s flight schedules safe and on time. Though they are eventually paid when the government reopens, extended periods of time without a paycheck lead to stress on both the workers and the overall flight system.

SOCIAL SECURITY, AIRPORTS, FOOD STAMPS: HOW ARE YOU AFFECTED DURING A GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN?

In 2019, on the 35th day of a government shutdown, ten air traffic controllers called in sick in Virginia and Florida, triggering ground stops at LaGuardia Airport in New York and cascading delays at Newark, Philadelphia and Atlanta.

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“This gets to the question of when do things start spiraling out of control?” said Stern, adding, “Some of these program expirations, as the shutdown drags on, might put more of a fire under Congress on both sides to reach a deal, whatever it means.”

Fox News Digital’s Gabriel Hays contributed to this report.

Senate Democrats blocked Republicans’ attempt to reopen the government again, all but guaranteeing that the government shutdown rolls through the weekend.

After a day off to observe Yom Kippur, lawmakers made little progress in finding an off-ramp to end the shutdown, which entered its third day on Friday. And as the government remains closed, both sides appear to be digging further into their positions.

Senate Republicans’ attempt to reopen the government failed on a largely party-line 54-44 vote for a fourth time, with the same trio of Senate Democratic caucus members — Sens. John Fetterman, D-Pa.; Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev.; and Angus King, I-Maine — joining most Republicans in backing the bill.

GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN ENTERS 3RD DAY AS SENATE STALEMATE OVER OBAMACARE SUBSIDIES DRAGS ON

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., plans to bring the bill to the floor again and again in a bid to chip away at Democrats’ largely unified front. He lamented the work that could be happening, like advancing spending bills and negotiating other bipartisan priorities, on the Senate floor rather than repeating the same exercise of trying to reopen the government. 

“They have taken hostage the federal government and, by extension, the American people, who are the only losers in this,” Thune said. “Everybody’s talking about who wins and who loses and who gets the blame. That’s not what this is about. This is about doing what’s in the best interest of the American people. And what’s in the best interest of the American people is keeping the government open and operating so it can continue to work on their behalf.” 

Senate Democrats, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., demand that they get a seat at the table to negotiate a bipartisan continuing resolution (CR).

Their main rallying cry has been pushing for an extension to expiring Obamacare tax credits, which Senate Republicans have said they would consider only after the government is reopened. While the credits don’t expire until the end of the year, Democrats argue that if Congress doesn’t act now, people who use Obamacare will see their healthcare premiums skyrocket.

“We know Americans want this, and we know many of my Republican colleagues want this as well,” Schumer said. “But failure to act would be devastating. And Republicans know it. Even Donald Trump knows it. He talked about it a little bit with us in the White House.”

DEMOCRATS REFUSE TO BUDGE OVER OBAMACARE FIGHT AS SHUTDOWN DRAGS ON

When asked if the pressure would mount to a point where Democrats cave, Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., told Fox News Digital, “We’re on the right side of history right now.”

Republicans largely agree it is an issue that should be dealt with, but they also want reforms in the program rather than the blanket, permanent extension that Democrats suggested in their counter-proposal.

Some Democrats also view the shutdown as a way to stand up to President Donald Trump.

“The truth is, we shut down the government because Republicans wouldn’t negotiate, because Donald Trump wants to shut down,” Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said. “He’s just bragging in the Oval Office about how good a shutdown will be for him. And we’re going to talk about the consequences of Republicans continuing to push these giant healthcare increases on people and the consequences of a lawless president.”

The administration is not resting on its laurels either and has targeted funding in blue cities and states, along with threats of mass firings beyond the typical furloughs of nonessential federal employees to get congressional Democrats to blink.

FIRST BIPARTISAN SHUTDOWN NEGOTIATIONS SURFACE ON CAPITOL HILL AFTER FUNDING BILL BLOCKED AGAIN

Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought announced Friday that $2.8 billion in Chicago infrastructure project funding would be put on hold to prevent “race-based contracting,” a move that came on the heels of $18 billion in infrastructure money in New York City and $8 billion in “Green New Scam” funding from going to 16 blue states being withheld earlier this week.

Thune argued that the administration is what Democrats “have wrought” by continuing to withhold their votes. 

“They are allowing the administration to do the very thing that, back in March, they said they didn’t want to give them the authority to do,” he said. “And that’s to make decisions just like that. But that’s what’s going to happen.” 

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Meanwhile, bipartisan talks are brewing in the background, though no real deal nor compromise has materialized.

There have been suggestions of extending the credits for another year after the government is reopened or doing a shorter CR to match up with the beginning of open enrollment on Nov. 1. But Republicans engaged in talks are more keen to keep the government open until at least Nov. 21 to allow appropriators to finish their work on spending bills.

“Nobody’s married to any of this, but we’ve got to get the 45 days in effect first,” Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., said. 

Seattle Democratic Mayor Bruce Harrell said during a mayoral debate Thursday night he has “no desire” to put repeat criminal defenders in jail, and he doesn’t know how to answer the question on whether the city is “too lax” on repeat offenders.

“So, let me make something very clear. I was the one that sponsored the ‘Ban the Box’ legislation when everyone opposed it because the criminal system has had a disparate impact on Black and Brown communities, let me lead with that,” Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell said in a mayoral debate Thursday night when asked a follow-up question about repeat offenders in the city.

Harrell’s “Ban the Box” proposal in 2013 prevented employers from asking about an applicant’s criminal history on applications up front. 

Harrell then said, “When this person is committing six or seven crimes, I don’t know his or her story. Maybe they were abused as a child. Maybe they’re hungry. But my remedy is to find their life story to see how we can help. First, I have no desire to put them in jail, but I need to protect you, and that’s the calibration that we have.

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“I put police officers on the stand. I’ve cross-examined them. So, whether they commit seven or eight crimes, to me, is not the issue. The issue is, why are they committing these crimes? And so we have a health-based strategy.”

Repeat offenders have been a part of the national conversation with respect to crimes in recent weeks after several high-profile murders carried out by suspects with lengthy criminal records, including in North Carolina where Ukrainian Iryna Zarutska was stabbed to death on a train by a suspect with a long history of arrests going back more than a decade, including charges of felony larceny, robbery with a dangerous weapon and communicating threats.

Earlier this year in South Carolina, 22-year-old Logan Federico was robbed and executed during a home invasion by a suspect who had 39 charges on his record.

BLUE STATE MAYOR PROPOSES CITY ORDINANCE TO STRENGTHEN TRANSGENDER CARE PROTECTIONS IN THE FACE OF TRUMP EOS

Harrell was asked by a debate moderator if the city is “too lax” on repeat offenders who are “driving” most of the crime in the city. The mayor responded by calling it an “interesting question.”

“I don’t know how to answer that question. ‘Too lax,’ I don’t know how you gauge that.”

Harrell explained that he knows it’s “necessary” to “catch criminals in the act doing bad things” and talked about the need for more police officers” along with “constitutional arrests.”

“I’m not going to give an opinion on the attitude of my officers. I look at them, and I tell them this is my vision. George Floyd was murdered, purely and simply, and I need you to recruit culturally competent officers, and we created the CARE Department, which is an unarmed response, the largest city in the country to do this. So, whether they’re lax or not for me, all due respect, is not the question. It’s are they effective? And they are very effective. I just need to get my numbers up because the defund movement demoralized the police department.”

A spokesperson for the mayor defended the debate remarks, saying Harrell “believes people need to be held accountable for their actions – full stop.”

“Since day one, he’s been very vocal about arresting criminals and the data supporting arrests under his administration is clear. In June, Seattle Police arrested 14 of the most prolific drug dealers – seizing $3 million worth of drugs, enough to kill every person in Seattle twice,” the spokesperson continued.

The spokesperson went on to slam his far-left opponent for “advocating for cutting the police budget by 50% and reducing officer staffing to levels not seen in decades, he has worked to restore police staffing. “

“The mayor also believes in a holistic approach that connects people with the services and treatment needed to effectively reduce recidivism,” the spokesperson concluded. “These two strategies are not at odds – and it’s why in Seattle homicides are down 40%, as well as significant decreases in gun violence, violent crime, and property crime.”

Seattle Red talk show host Jason Rantz, who first posted about Harrell’s debate response, told Fox News Digital that the mayor’s “governing philosophy” was on display. 

“Harrell says he has ‘no desire’ to jail an eight-time criminal. Well, the feeling’s mutual, because criminals in Seattle clearly have no desire to stop offending,” Rantz said. 

“This is what happens when your mayor governs like a progressive therapist instead of a leader. And this wasn’t a gaffe. It’s his governing philosophy to protect repeat offenders and abandon public safety. If you’re a law-abiding Seattleite, Harrell made it clear that we’re on our own.”

Harrell, who received criticism on social media for his comments, is running for re-election in a November election where he faces off against longtime progressive activist Katie Wilson, who has faced criticism from the mayor for past calls to lower police staffing.

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Widely known for her role in helping establish and continuing to lead the left-wing Transit Riders Union, Wilson champions progressive positions such as minimum wage increases, better access to public transit and affordable housing. She has also pledged to “Trump-proof” Seattle and has been likened to New York City’s Zohran Mamdani by political pundits.

When asked about her plan for addressing repeat offenders, Wilson touted the city’s “diversion” program “where if someone is arrested they have the opportunity instead of going through that booking and jail process to be diverted” into case management processes for drug treatment and shelter.

Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report

The Democratic and Republican nominees in a crucial election for governor in New Jersey are trading fire over taxes in one of the most heavily taxed states in the nation.

Rep. Mikie Sherrill, the 2025 Democratic gubernatorial nominee, on Friday launched a new ad labeling her GOP rival Jack Ciattarelli “high tax Jack.”

And Ciattarelli, following the first debate between the two candidates, emphasized on social media that Sherrill “refused to rule out raising your taxes.”

Taxes, along with affordability, are top issues on the New Jersey campaign trail in one of the most expensive states in the country.

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The Sherrill campaign ad spotlights the “taxes are on the table” comment made by Ciattarelli running mate Jim Gannon earlier this week at the lieutenant governor’s debate.

“Whoa Jack, what the [bleep] did your guy just say,” says the narrator in the digital spot.

The debate answer by Gannon, a county sheriff, came as he was asked whether the Ciattarelli administration would consider increasing taxes on millionaires.

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“We have to look at it. You have to look at the whole thing,” Gannon added. “What I’m saying is, millionaires, we can’t just beat up the millionaires. The millionaires, many times, are employers; they’re employing us.”

Following the debate, the Ciattarelli campaign said that Gannon meant to say that cutting taxes is on the table, not raising them. 

Ciattarelli, who came close to defeating Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy four years ago, appeared to do some cleanup in a Fox News Digital interview the day after the debate.

“There will be no tax increases under Governor Ciattarelli. And I would put forth a very specific plan on how to decrease the income tax and the property tax here in New Jersey. No tax increases,” he said.

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The crossfire over taxes came a week after Sherrill, at her first debate with Ciattarelli, appeared to give her rival some political ammunition with her answer to a question on whether she’d consider raising the sales tax if elected governor.

“I’m not going to commit to anything right now, because I’m not just going to tell you what you want to hear,” Sherrill responded.

Ciattarelli took to social media following the debate to write, “Both candidates were asked tonight if they would commit to not raising your taxes as Governor. Only one would. It was me. Mikie refused. Hear that loud & clear New Jersey: Mikie Sherrill refused to rule out raising your taxes. Here’s the truth: We just can’t afford Mikie.”

But the next day, Sherrill, in a campaign release, committed to not increasing the sales tax. 

“I will not raise the sales tax as your governor,” she said.

TRUMP LOOMS LARGE OVER THIS CRUCIAL RACE FOR GOVERNOR

Taxes were the top concern on the minds of New Jersey voters in a Fox News poll released this week.

In spontaneous, unprompted replies, 34% said taxes are the biggest problem facing the state, with 20% saying the cost of living. Other issues like housing and energy costs, were mentioned by 5% or fewer. 

The poll, which was conducted Sept. 25–28, indicated that Sherrill was preferred by 16 points among those whose priority is the cost of living, while tax voters favored Ciattarelli by 5 points.

Sherrill, a Navy veteran who flew helicopters during her years in the military and who later served as a federal prosecutor before first winning election to Congress in 2018, held a 7-point lead over Ciattarelli among registered voters questioned in the Fox News survey.

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But Ciattarelli, a former state lawmaker and a certified public accountant who started a medical publishing company before getting into politics, touted in his Fox News Digital interview that “the energy is off the charts, and the fact that I’m being endorsed by Democratic mayors around the state says a whole lot about people wanting change here in the state of New Jersey.”

The two candidates will face off next week in their second and final debate before voters head to the polls in the election to succeed term-limited Murphy.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is sending a pointed signal to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., as the 2025 government shutdown is poised to enter a second week.

The leader of the House of Representatives canceled chamber activities for next week, effectively directing lawmakers to remain in their home districts until at least Oct. 14.

Johnson appears to be raising the stakes on Senate Democrats, who keep refusing the GOP’s plan to fund government agencies on a short-term basis in favor of making demands on healthcare that Republicans are calling unreasonable.

Originally, the House had been slated to return to a regular legislative schedule on Oct. 7. The full House was last in session on Sept. 19.

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Johnson warned earlier on Friday that the House may not return until Schumer and Democrats agreed with Republicans’ bill.

“We passed it, and it’s been rejected by the Senate,” the House speaker told reporters during a news conference. “So the House will come back into session and do its work as soon as Chuck Schumer allows us to reopen the government. That’s plain and simple.”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., told Fox News Digital during his own Friday news conference that he would summon his Democratic caucus back into D.C. next week whether Republicans were there or not.

Meanwhile, two sources told Fox News Digital earlier on Friday that it was one of several strategies that House GOP leaders were considering, but were waiting to see how the Senate’s Friday afternoon vote played out.

It was the fourth time Senate Democrats rejected the GOP’s funding plan, a mostly flat extension of fiscal year (FY) 2025 government funding levels. The measure, called a continuing resolution (CR), would also include $88 million in security funding for lawmakers, the White House and the judicial branch — which has bipartisan support.

But Democrats in the House and Senate were infuriated by being sidelined in federal funding talks. 

They have been pushing for an extension of Obamacare subsidies enhanced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Those enhancements would expire by the end of 2025 without congressional action.

Democrats have also introduced a counter-proposal for a CR that would keep the government funded through Oct. 31 while reversing the GOP’s cuts to Medicaid made in their “One Big, Beautiful Bill.”

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The counter-proposal would have also restored federal funding to NPR and PBS that was cut by the Trump administration earlier this year.

Republicans have panned that plan as a non-starter full of partisan demands, while pointing out that Democrats have voted for a “clean” measure similar to the GOP proposal 13 times during former President Joe Biden’s time in office.

Canceling next week’s House votes also puts off the probability that lawmakers would have to vote on making the Department of Justice release even more files related to Jeffrey Epstein.

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Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif., needed just one more person to sign onto a petition aimed at forcing a vote on the Epstein files — a signature they would have gotten if Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva, D-Ariz., was sworn in next week following her special election victory.

House GOP leaders have panned that petition as unserious and superfluous, having already directed the House Oversight Committee to investigate the DOJ’s handling of Epstein’s case.

Johnson told Fox News Digital earlier this week that he was concerned the bipartisan measure was written in a way that it would not protect sensitive information regarding Epstein’s victims.

When asked about Johnson’s move during his own Friday news conference, Schumer told reporters, “Johnson and the House Republicans care more about protecting the Epstein files than protecting the American people.”

Virginia Democratic attorney general candidate Jay Jones once remarked on shooting the Virginia House speaker in texts with another lawmaker, the latest example of charged political rhetoric some have called the politics of “rage.”

Texts obtained by Fox News Digital Friday showed an August 2022 conversation between Jones — then a recently departed delegate from Norfolk — and another lawmaker after the death of Del. Joe Johnson, D-Bristol, at age 90.

“Hence the glowing tributes from the Rs. Damn, that (message) was for Mark,” Jones texted Del. Carrie Coyner, R-Chester.

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At the time, several House Republicans — including leadership — offered eulogizing words for Johnson, who had been known as an aisle-crossing, friendly moderate. One of those who had kind words for Johnson was then-House Speaker Todd Gilbert, R-Shenandoah.

Jones told Coyner that Johnson “leaked everything to your [Republican] caucus. It’s why Gilbert gave him such a glowing tribute.”

“If those guys die before me, I will go to their funerals to piss on their graves,” he continued. “Send them out awash in something.”

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At that point, Coyner appeared to attempt to rein in the conversation, texting, “Jay Jones.”

But Jones continued, adding, “Three people, two bullets. Gilbert, Hitler and Pol Pot. Gilbert gets two bullets to the head.”

The future attorney general candidate was not yet finished condemning the House leader.

“Spoiler: put Gilbert in the crew with the two worst people you know and he receives both bullets every time,” he wrote. 

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Coyner tried again to end the conversation: “Jay. Please stop.”

“Lol. OK, OK,” he replied.

A source familiar with the situation told Fox News Digital that, around that point, Jones and Coyner had a telephone conversation, which was followed by Jones trying to lighten the mood.

“I genuinely was [asking questions]. I wasn’t attacking you. I was trying to understand your logic.”

Coyner disagreed, to which Jones replied, “Yes, I’ve told you this before. Only when people feel pain personally do they move on policy.”

VIRGINIA AG BLAMES OPPONENT FOR SUPPORTING SEX-CHANGE ID LAW HE BLAMES FOR LATEST PEDOPHILE CASES

In another message to Coyner, Jones considered whether Gilbert and his wife Jennifer were “breeding little fascists.”

A spokesperson for Coyner’s campaign confirmed the veracity of the texts first reported by National Review, saying they were “disturbing and disqualifying for anyone who wants to seek public office.”

“Jay Jones wished violence on the children of a colleague and joked about shooting Todd Gilbert. It’s disgusting and unbecoming of any public official,” the spokesperson said. 

Gilbert recently resigned from Richmond to accept President Donald Trump’s nomination as U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Virginia. He has since left that post, according to reports.

Jones’ comments created a firestorm Friday evening, with another state lawmaker recently subjected to a death threat condemning Jones.

Del. Geary Higgins, R-Lovettsville, said Democrats continue to amp up violent rhetoric that has gotten people hurt.

PRITZKER SWIFTLY FACT-CHECKED AFTER CLAIMING HE NEVER DERIDED GOP WITH DICTATORSHIP COMPARISON: ‘PATHOLOGICAL’

“They shot the president. They killed Charlie Kirk. They threatened to kill Kim Taylor. They said they’d kill me at my next rally, then my kids. Now we learn Jay Jones repeatedly said he wanted to kill Speaker Todd Gilbert. Is this what “letting your rage fuel you” looks like?” he said, referring to a widely-condemned remark by Democratic gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger unrelated to Jones, specifically.

Spanberger condemned her fellow Democrat, saying in a statement that she spoke “frankly” with Jones after the texts surfaced about her “disgust” for what he had said.

“I will always condemn violent language in our politics,” Spanberger said.

A source familiar with the situation told Fox News Digital Jones initially had accidentally texted Coyner, who later made Gilbert aware of the Democrat’s invective.

When reached by Fox News Digital, Jones also did not deny the messages were his and blamed his opponent for allegedly planting stories and then criticized Republicans.

“Like all people, I’ve sent text messages that I regret, and I believe that violent rhetoric has no place in our politics,” Jones said.

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“Let’s be clear about what is happening in the attorney general race right now: Jason Miyares is dropping smears through Trump-controlled media organizations to assault my character and rescue his desperate campaign.

“This is a strategy that ensures Jason Miyares will continue to be accountable to Donald Trump, not the people of Virginia. This race is about whether Trump can control Virginia or Virginians control Virginia.”

A source familiar with Gilbert told Fox News Digital he has no comment on the matter.

North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein on Friday signed “Iryna’s Law,” which increases checks on criminals getting out on bail and prohibits cashless bail for some violent crimes and most repeat offenders following the stabbing death of a Ukrainian refugee on a Charlotte light-rail train in August. 

Stein, a Democrat, has said he doesn’t like every part of the bill that was passed by the Republican-controlled state Legislature, which also looks to restart executions in North Carolina, but he signed it because it “alerts the judiciary to take a special look at people who may pose unusual risks of violence before determining their bail. That’s a good thing.”

Iryna Zarutska, 23, was killed on Aug. 22, and Decarlos Dejuan Brown Jr., who had been arrested more than a dozen times, including an armed robbery charge for which he served five years in prison before the fatal train stabbing, has been charged with first-degree murder.

He was most recently released in January on a misdemeanor charge.

RANDOM BLUE CITY STABBING DEATH FUELS NEW BAIL BILL AS ‘ACTIVISTS’ RIPPED FOR LACK OF CRIME CRACKDOWN: EXPERT

“Finally, we are getting dangerous criminals off our streets so we can make sure no one else suffers the heartbreak that Iryna Zarutska’s family endured,” Charlotte-area Republican state Rep. Tricia Cotham, who was involved with the legislation, said in a news release. 

Republicans, including President Donald Trump, have blamed Zarutska’s death on Democrats, accusing them of being soft on crime. 

“The blood of this innocent woman can literally be seen dripping from the killer’s knife, and now her blood is on the hands of the Democrats who refuse to put bad people in jail, including Former Disgraced Governor and ‘Wannabe Senator’ Roy Cooper,” Trump wrote on Truth Social after the attack. 

The violent stabbing sparked outrage, especially after security video showing the attack was released. 

“We can and must do more to keep people safe,” Stein said in a video posted to social media on Friday. “When I review public safety legislation that comes to my desk, I use one simple test: Does it make people safer?” 

He said that “Iryna’s Law” alerts the judiciary to take a special look at who could warrant an “unusual” risk for violence before determining their bail. 

NORTH CAROLINA DEM SAYS ‘NO CORRELATION’ BETWEEN CHARLOTTE TRAIN ATTACK AND ACCUSED KILLER’S REPEATED RELEASES

“That’s a good thing and why I have signed it into law.” 

But, he said he had criticisms of the law, including that it focuses more on a defendant’s ability to post bail rather than the threat they pose, and “more alarming,” he added that a last-minute amendment to the bill that “aims to bring about execution by firing squad in North Carolina. It’s barbaric.”

The last execution in North Carolina was in 2006. 

He stressed that he wouldn’t allow firing squads while he’s governor. The bill doesn’t specifically mention firing squads. 

He said he was also troubled by the bill’s “lack of ambition or vision. It simply does not do enough to keep you safe.” 

The governor said he wanted the legislature to pass his comprehensive bill that would add more police officers on the streets, violence prevention measures like keeping kids out of gangs, and would attempt to make sure that people who are violent or mentally ill don’t have access to guns via background checks. 

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“Iryna’s Law” prohibits cashless bail for some violent crimes and for most repeat offenders; it limits the discretion magistrates and judges have in making pretrial release decisions; allows for the state chief justice to suspend magistrates and requires more defendants to undergo mental health evaluations. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Democrats want to remove a provision of Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBA) before reopening the government, but Republicans argue the line item they want removed is allowing California to use a “loophole” to draw down funds from the federal government to help pay for the state’s ballooning cost of healthcare for illegal immigrants.

The White House released a memo on Wednesday during the first day of the government shutdown fight indicating Democrats want to repeal Trump reforms in his “big, beautiful bill” that aimed to close this alleged backdoor tactic. However, California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office and left-leaning health policy experts insist claims that California is using this tactic are not true.

“When Democrats say, as they keep saying, that there is no federal money or any taxpayer money going for illegal immigrant healthcare because it’s illegal and barred by federal law, it’s simply not true,” said Steve Hilton, a former Fox News host now running to replace Newsom as governor of California. 

Hilton claimed that California has been using a complex Medicaid provision known as a “provider tax” to obtain matching federal dollars, which then gets pooled into the money used by the state to pay for its healthcare offered to undocumented immigrants.

WHITE HOUSE MEMO SAYS DEMOCRATS’ PLAN COULD SPEND $200B ON HEALTHCARE FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS

“If [federal dollars] are funding non-emergency healthcare for ineligible immigrants, the sole cause is provider taxes,” Michael Cannon, a health policy expert at the CATO Institute told Fox News Digital. 

Cannon, however, suggested Republicans shot themselves in the foot by choosing only to limit the scope of eligibility around provider tax funds in the OBBBA, saying no more could go to states providing illegal immigrants healthcare, and they should have just quashed them altogether. 

“What they did was that Republicans preserved the ability of states to use provider taxes to fund healthcare for undocumented immigrants using Medicaid,” he argued.

However, Newsom’s office insisted to the Los Angeles Times that the claim California is utilizing a provider tax “loophole” to fund illegal immigrant healthcare is simply not true. It is effectively impossible to make a determination one way or the other because states do not keep records on how provider tax funds from the federal government are spent. 

“This is false — CA does not do this,” Gardon said in a one-line email to the LA Times. Newsom’s office did not reply to Fox News Digital’s request for comment in time for publication.

FED AUDIT, EMERGENCY MEDICAID UNDERCUT DEMS ON ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT HEALTH COVERAGE 

Other healthcare policy experts agree as well that this is not happening.

“The so-called California loophole references a provision in the law that ends a waiver of the uniformity requirements for provider taxes. This provision has nothing to do with using federal funds to pay for care for undocumented immigrants,” Jennifer Tolbert, a healthcare expert at the nonprofit healthcare research organization KFF. 

“But the White House makes the claim that California uses the money they get from the provider tax to pay for care for undocumented immigrants.” 

Chris Pope, a health policy expert from the Manhattan Institute, argues California is also using emergency care claims to draw down even more funds to help pay for its ballooning cost of being the first state in the nation to offer comprehensive healthcare coverage for anyone regardless of their immigration status. 

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Federal law does not permit federal funds to be used for non-emergency medical care for illegal immigrants, but it does not prohibit them from being used for emergency care for these folks.  

“The enormous and open-ended discretion Medicaid gives states to claim federal funding makes it hard for the feds to ensure that the program’s expenditures are reserved for its intended purposes,” Pope wrote in an Op-Ed for the New York Post Friday. “Until that changes, the Democratic claim that federal money isn’t being used on illegal immigrants is simply not true.”

President Donald Trump said Friday that anyone who burns the American flag “will be immediately arrested” and face a one-year prison term, citing his Aug. 25 executive order on flag desecration.

“To ICE, Border Patrol, Law Enforcement, and all U.S. Military: As per my August 25, 2025 Executive Order, please be advised that, from this point forward, anybody burning the American Flag will be subject to one year in prison,” Trump posted on Truth Social Friday evening.

“You will be immediately arrested. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

VETERAN BURNS AMERICAN FLAG IN FRONT OF WHITE HOUSE ON DAY OF CONTROVERSIAL TRUMP EXECUTIVE ORDER

The executive order itself stopped short of creating new penalties, directing the Justice Department to prioritize cases under existing laws “to the maximum extent permitted by the Constitution.”

Supreme Court rulings in Texas v. Johnson (1989) and United States v. Eichman (1990) held that flag burning is protected speech. Trump’s statement goes further, setting up potential legal battles if arrests are pursued.

JONATHAN TURLEY: TRUMP’S BOLD FLAG-BURNING CRACKDOWN SETS UP BIG FIGHT DOWN THE ROAD

Trump has long pushed to punish flag desecration, and the latest post sharpens his law-and-order message as the government shutdown continues.

“President Trump will not allow the American Flag, a special symbol of our country’s greatness, to be used as a tool to incite violence and riots that jeopardize the safety of everyday Americans,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told Fox News Digital. “President Trump will always protect the First Amendment, while simultaneously implementing commonsense, tough-on-crime policies to prevent violence and chaos.”

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The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Kat Abughazaleh, the progressive candidate for Illinois’ 9th Congressional District, accused Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem of perpetrating “crimes against humanity” during a protest outside a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility Friday, prompting DHS to strike back at the Gen Z activist.

A viral video of an ICE agent shoving Abughazaleh to the ground outside the Broadview ICE facility on Sept. 19 has become a flash point in the divisive debate over President Donald Trump’s deportation rollout as Republicans celebrate the crackdown on illegal immigration while Democrats reject ICE’s “unlawful and racist orders.”

“Dishonest, desperate and demonizing law enforcement to try to get 5 minutes on MSNBC and some fundraising cash,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News Digital in a statement after Abughazaleh criticized Noem during a press conference Friday. 

“Kristi Noem is here right now to ensure that her crimes against humanity continue unimpeded,” Abughazaleh told her fellow protesters outside Broadview. “We are here to make sure that does not happen. So, let us in, give us justice and tear this gate down.”

ICE CHIEF FIRES BACK AT CHICAGO-AREA MAYOR, CITES ‘VIOLENT RIOTERS’ AFTER WEEKS OF BROADVIEW UNREST

Abughazaleh introduced herself on Friday as “one of hundreds of people who have been brutalized by ICE while protesting the inhumane conditions” at Broadview, which she described as a “war zone” where the government is “waging war on peaceful protesters.”

SPECIAL AGENT SLAMS ‘DANGEROUS’ TREND OF DEMOCRATS USING ICE AS CAMPAIGN PROPS

McLaughlin accused Abughazaleh of putting “law enforcement at risk” in her pursuit to “obstruct justice” before she was shoved to the ground two weeks ago. 

“You cannot say you are against political violence while celebrating American civilians getting beat up by masked federal agents,” former DNC Vice Chair David Hogg said in response to the video of an agent shoving Abughazaleh to the ground. 

The congressional candidate, who went viral earlier this year for questioning why it’s controversial that illegal immigrants should have access to taxpayer-funded healthcare, demanded “transparency” Friday from DHS pertaining to “what is happening behind those boarded-up windows.”

“Over the last month, we have watched as ICE operates with impunity in Chicago,” Abughazaleh said. “They destroy homes, kill our neighbors and disappear hundreds in the name of unlawful and racist orders, and all roads of their crimes lead here to Broadview.”

Abughazaleh said the ICE facility, which Noem visited Friday amid another anti-ICE protest outside its gates, is a processing facility and should not hold people for more than 12 hours at a time. 

“We have heard reports of people being held for days or weeks at a time without beds or hot meals or access to hygienic facilities,” she said. “We’ve heard of grandmothers and pregnant women sleeping on concrete floors of dozens of men in a single cell. I watched as detainees were marched into a van in the very same clothes they were detained in, and we have no idea how long they were there.”

Abughazaleh on Friday demanded elected officials be granted access to inspect the facility. 

Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, long considered to harbor 2028 presidential ambitions, in a statement on Friday accused Noem of “snatching up families, scaring law-abiding residents, violating due process rights, and even detaining U.S. citizens.”

Pritzker said Noem “should no longer be able to step foot inside the State of Illinois without any form of public accountability.”

McLaughlin quickly fired back on Friday, telling Pritzker to “grow up and start protecting the people of your own state.”

“Federal law enforcement has to be here because JB Pritzker refuses to do his job and has allowed violent illegal alien criminals to terrorize Illinois communities for years,” the DHS assistant secretary said. 

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Illinois State Police armed with riot gear were present for crowd control Friday as dozens of protesters gathered outside the Broadview ICE facility. 

Fox News cameras were rolling as more than a dozen protesters were arrested by federal agents. 

Fox News’ Patrick McGovern contributed to this report. 

FIRST ON FOX: A new seven-figure ad in Virginia’s governor’s race is drawing comparisons to the infamous Willie Horton spot of 1988 amid record early voting in the Old Dominion State.

The ad, produced by the American Principles Project, attacks Democrat Abigail Spanberger over transgender policies and warns of the dangers of biological men in women’s spaces. It comes as early voting tops 146,000 ballots in the first week, more than twice the pace of 2021 according to data from the Virginia Public Access Project.

The spot points to Richard Cox, a Tier III sex offender in Arlington County who has been charged multiple times with exposing himself in girls’ locker rooms. The ad says Spanberger’s record and her opposition to Governor Glenn Youngkin’s guidelines for transgender students would let it happen again. It accuses her of putting radical ideology ahead of safety for young girls.

“The case of sexual deviant Richard Cox preying upon young girls in Virginia is enraging to any decent person – but not to Abigail Spanberger,” Terry Schilling, founder of the American Principles Project said to Fox News Digital. “She refuses to condemn Richard Cox at all.”

SPANBERGER DEFENDS ABORTION AD CRITICIZING SEARS AFTER BERNIE WARNS AGAINST HIGHLIGHTING ISSUE

“She’s avoided answering any and all questions about it and the answer is obvious – because this situation is only possible because of Spanberger’s radical transgender policy agenda. Cox has been a repeat offender for over 30 years! He was allowed to enter women’s private spaces where little girls are vulnerable and no one stopped him,” Schilling added. 

“If Abigail Spanberger is elected Governor of Virginia, she will repeal all protections for women in Virginia and put even more young girls in danger. The reason we are spending $1 million on this ad is because every Virginia voter should know that Abigail Spanberger will endanger their daughters,” Schilling said.

APP has run similar ads in other battleground states, positioning itself as a defender of families and warning against policies it claims “confuse[s] young children about changing their gender.” By airing the ad now, APP hopes to frame Spanberger as out of step with Virginia voters before Election Day.

ELON MUSK WADES INTO VIRGINIA TRANSGENDER BATHROOM CLASH, SAYS DEM GOV CANDIDATE WRONGLY ‘BLAMING’ TRUMP

The strategy echoes the famous Willie Horton ad of 1988 which linked Democrat Michael Dukakis to the convicted murderer who committed rape and assault while on weekend furlough from a Massachusetts prison. George H.W. Bush went on to defeat Dukakis by seven points nationally, and the ad became a defining example of how the GOP can use crime to win races.

Spanberger has voted for the Equality Act in Congress and opposed Youngkin’s guidelines, but local school boards control locker room access. Her campaign has tried to keep the focus on the economy and her own record in Washington. 

“Convicted sex offender Richard Cox is a predator who should be in jail — and that’s exactly where he is,” a spokeperson for Spanberger’s campaign told Fox News Digital. “Abigail is a parent of three daughters in Virginia public schools and a former federal law enforcement officer who went after child predators — nothing is more important to her than the safety of Virginia’s kids. As Governor, Abigail will work with state and local law enforcement officers to keep Virginia kids safe and make sure sex offenders are prevented from preying on children and prosecuted for their crimes.”

Cox remains in custody at the Arlington County jail on multiple pending charges, according to the Arlington County Sheriff’s Office inmate database.

“Abigail Spanberger’s policies enabled Richard Cox to prey on women and girls. No amount of political damage control can erase that record,” Schilling said in response to the Spanberger campaign to Fox News Digital. “Spanberger is too dangerous to lead Virginia. As Governor, Spanberger will repeal Gov. Youngkin’s recent executive order barring males from female private spaces.”

Republicans argue that safety and cultural issues are resonating more deeply with parents across the state, particularly after Youngkin’s win in 2021, which many linked to parental rights in education.

Polling shows Spanberger with a lead, but the numbers suggest a competitive race. A Washington Post Schar School poll taken in late September showed her at 55 percent to Republican nominee Winsome Sears at 43. With Republicans casting about half of the first week’s early ballots, the race is one of the most-watched in the nation. 

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More ads are expected as the campaign heats up and voters in Virginia send in record numbers of early ballots. The final weeks of the race will show whether the tough on crime playbook still rings true nearly four decades after Willie Horton. Early voting ends on November 1. 

The Earle-Sears campaign did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said immigration authorities will enforce the law at Super Bowl 60 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, before criticizing the NFL, which she said was “so weak.”

Noem was speaking with Benny Johnson on “The Benny Show” when she was asked about Bad Bunny, the Puerto Rican reggaeton artist slated to perform at the halftime show, and the presence of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Bad Bunny, a three-time Grammy winner whose real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, said last month that he would not perform in the United States during his upcoming tour due to concerns about potential ICE raids at the shows.

BAD BUNNY’S ICE COMMENTS RESURFACE AS NFL FANS DEBATE SELECTION OF SUPER BOWL LX HALFTIME SHOW PERFORMER

“I have the responsibility to make sure everybody who goes to the Super Bowl has the opportunity to enjoy it and to leave safely. That’s what America’s about,” she told Johnson. “We’ll be all over that place.”

Noem said those going to the big game should be law-abiding Americans “who love this country.”

Johnson asked Noem about the decision to have Bad Bunny perform, given his views on ICE.

“They suck and we’ll win,” Noem said of the NFL. “God will bless us and we’ll stand and be proud of ourselves at the end of the day, and they won’t be able to sleep at night because they don’t know what they believe.”

“They’re so weak. We’ll fix it,” she added.

NOEM WARNS OF ‘UNPRECEDENTED’ THREAT LEVEL FOR ICE AGENTS, BLAMES ‘LIES’ FROM DEMOCRATS

Earlier in the week, Trump advisor Corey Lewandowski warned ICE agents would be present at the game.

“There is nowhere you can provide safe haven to people who are in this country illegally,” Lewandowski said on The Benny Show. “Not the Super Bowl and nowhere else. We will find you and apprehend you and put you in a detention facility and deport you. Know that this is a very real situation under this administration, which is contrary to how it used to be.”

Bad Bunny has frequently criticized ICE raids and ICE agents.

“But there was the issue of — like, f—ing ICE could be outside [my concert]. And it’s something that we were talking about and very concerned about,” he told i-D last month.

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Fox News Digital has reached out to the NFL for comment.

A federal judge sentenced Nicholas Roske, who now goes by Sophie, to eight years in prison on Friday for attempting to murder Justice Brett Kavanaugh in the weeks leading up to the Supreme Court’s landmark Dobbs decision.

The sentence is far lower than what the Department of Justice had sought. Prosecutors said Roske should face at least 30 years, while Roske’s defense team had asked for eight.

“The sentence must send the very strong, very clear message that the ends never justify violent means,” DOJ prosecutor Coreen Mao said during the sentencing hearing.

Kavanaugh also received a death threat in April from someone who invoked Roske’s name and referenced shooting the justice in the head, Mao said, stressing a need to deter such behavior. That revelation comes as judges say they have faced a rise in threats from people across the political spectrum in recent years.

FEDERAL JUDGE TO SENTENCE JUSTICE KAVANAUGH’S ATTEMPTED ASSASSIN

During the hearing, Judge Deborah Boardman referred to Roske as a transgender woman, and Roske’s attorneys told the court recently that while their client’s legal name was Nicholas, Roske goes by the name Sophie and uses female pronouns.

Boardman, a Biden appointee, said she factored into the sentence her concern about Trump’s executive order requiring transgender inmates to be detained in prisons that correspond to their sex at birth.

Roske pleaded guilty in April to one charge of attempting to murder a Supreme Court justice, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.

On June 8, 2022, Roske flew from California to Virginia and took a taxi to Kavanaugh’s address, armed with a pistol, knife, lock picking set, duct tape, hammer, crowbar and tactical gear.

INDIANA WOMAN FACES FEDERAL CHARGES FOR SOCIAL MEDIA THREATS TO DISEMBOWEL TRUMP

In the weeks leading up to the incident, the defendant searched extensively online for information about several justices, mass shooters, ways to harm people and graphic images of people with knife wounds. One search read, “Does twisting or dragging a knife cause more damage.”

Roske’s internet searches also signaled a desire to affect the outcome of the then-looming Dobbs decision, in which the Supreme Court was expected to overturn the federal right to abortion.

The assassination attempt came at a time when activists were protesting in front of conservative justices’ homes, leading the DOJ to deploy U.S. marshals to their houses to provide around-the-clock security.

Roske acknowledged noticing marshals at Kavanaugh’s house, which had prompted Roske, at least in part, to change course and walk down the street before self-reporting to 911.

FEDERAL JUDGE RELEASES WOMAN ACCUSED OF THREATENING TO KILL TRUMP

Roske’s “goal explicitly was both to alter the outcome of a pending Supreme Court case, a consequential case,” and “to change the composition of the court for decades to come,” Mao argued to the judge.

Appearing in a yellow jumpsuit in the courtroom, Roske apologized for causing terror to Kavanaugh and his family and for “contributing to the fear judges experience as a result of doing their jobs.”

“I have been portrayed as a monster, and this tragic mistake I made will follow me for the rest of my life,” Roske said.

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Boardman said that while Roske’s actions were “reprehensible,” the judge also considered a string of mitigating factors, including that Roske “spontaneously confessed to and cooperated with police.”

“I believe Ms. Roske understands that what she did was terribly wrong. I find her remorse sincere,” Boardman said.

This is a breaking story. Check back for updates.

Hamas on Friday announced it agreed to release all Israeli hostages, dead or alive, as part of President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, Reuters reported.

Leaders also indicated they were prepared to enter mediated negotiations to finalize the deal, according to the report.

The announcement came hours after Trump issued a public warning to the terrorist group, noting its leaders would be “hunted down, and killed” if the remaining Israeli hostages were not released by Sunday night.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates. 

President Donald Trump signed an order Monday offering a U.S. guarantee for Qatar’s security, a significant commitment for the rising non-NATO Arab ally.

“The United States shall regard any armed attack on the territory, sovereignty, or critical infrastructure of the State of Qatar as a threat to the peace and security of the United States,” the order, made public Wednesday, read in no uncertain terms.

“In the event of such an attack, the United States shall take all lawful and appropriate measures — including diplomatic, economic, and, if necessary, military — to defend the interests of the United States and of the State of Qatar and to restore peace and stability.”

The guarantee represented a level of support typically offered to Washington’s closest allies. It came after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apologized to Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani for a Sept. 9 Israeli strike on his territory. 

The strike was targeted at Hamas but killed one Qatari security official in the process.

RUBIO SAYS US, QATAR ON VERGE OF FINALIZING DEFENSE COOPERATION AGREEMENT

Qatar also was attacked by Iran in June in a strike targeted at its U.S. base.

The order falls short of a NATO-style defense pact — it hasn’t been ratified by the Senate, so it isn’t binding.

It came as Netanyahu and Trump, during a visit to the White House Monday, announced a 20-point plan to end the war in Gaza, brokered with Qatari mediation. Hamas has not yet accepted the plan.

ISRAEL’S STRIKE IN QATAR TRIGGERS RARE US REBUKE, TESTS TRUMP’S GULF DIPLOMACY

U.S. relations with Doha have come a long way since 2017, when Trump accused Qatar of harboring terrorism: “The nation of Qatar, unfortunately, has historically been a funder of terrorism at a very high level,” Trump said at the time.

From there, Qatar became a major non-NATO ally to the U.S. in 2022 under President Biden and is home to Al Udeid Air Base, one of the U.S.’ largest Middle East bases and a key hub for U.S. Central Command operations.

The nation is now gifting the U.S. with a new plane to serve as Air Force One.

Qatar welcomed the president’s executive order in a statement saying it reflects “the strong and longstanding ties between Doha and Washington.”

“Qatar remains committed to working with the United States and international partners as a trusted mediator to address shared challenges, advance conflict resolution through diplomatic means, and support sustainable peace in the region,” the statement said.

A security guarantee has long been a goal for Qatar and other Gulf allies like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

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The nation has hosted a Hamas political office since 2012, but local officials say they were asked to do so by the U.S. to establish a line of communication for negotiations.

Before Qatar was involved in mediating the Gaza ceasefire, it was a bridge for U.S. and Taliban talks before the withdrawal in 2021 and has worked on prisoner exchanges between Russia and Ukraine. This year it’s been involved with the U.S. in working out a peace agreement between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, signed at the White House in June.

FIRST ON FOX: A Senate Republican has a list of more than a “trillion dollars worth of ideas ripe for a trim” as the federal government shutdown continues. 

Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought has so far announced his plans to withhold nearly $30 billion in federal funding to blue states and cities, while Senate Democrats continue to block Republicans’ efforts to reopen the government.

And Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, has some ideas for even deeper cuts. In a letter to Vought, first obtained by Fox News Digital, Ernst laid out a plan that could result in over $2 trillion in cuts to federal spending.

HERE’S WHAT TRUMP WANTS TO DO TO RESHAPE THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT DURING THE SHUTDOWN

Her letter comes as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and most Senate Democrats have remained steadfast in their opposition to the GOP’s short-term funding extension.

“Schumer’s Shutdown has provided a golden opportunity to slash waste, fraud and abuse in Washington,” Ernst said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “There is no one more fitting to lead the charge than Russ Vought.”

“I have compiled a comprehensive list of more than $2 trillion of nonessential government expenditures that should be put on the chopping block to put taxpayers first, make Washington squeal and deliver a more efficient government,” she continued.

GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN SPARKS GOP PLAN TO PENALIZE LAWMAKERS WITH NEW SALARY TAX

Ernst, who chairs the Senate DOGE Caucus, which borrowed its moniker from tech billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), wants to target tens of billions in expired and unexpired COVID-19 pandemic funding, consolidate unused federal office space and prevent taxpayers from “subsidizing” the roughly $400 million per day in backpay owed to furloughed nonessential federal workers.

She also wants to go after nearly $1.6 trillion in unspent funding “stashed away in secret slush funds,” clawback billions in the Biden-era electric vehicle charging station program, railroad projects in blue states, end research into “silly science projects” like shrimp on treadmills, and streamline “duplication and unnecessary overlap within” the Department of War, among many others.

GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN ENTERS 3RD DAY AS SENATE STALEMATE OVER OBAMACARE SUBSIDIES DRAGS ON

“This is by no means an exhaustive list, and I will be providing many more recommendations soon,” Ernst wrote in the letter. “My team and I stand ready to help you make some prime cuts during this Schumer Shutdown.”

Meanwhile, there appeared to be no off-ramp in sight to end the now three-day government shutdown.

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Senate Democrats are also unfazed by Vought and President Donald Trump’s desire to target their states and cities with cuts, with many arguing that the administration was already carrying out those tactics.

Still, Senate Republicans hope that enough Democrats peel off and vote to reopen the government. So far, three members of the Democratic caucus have done so — Sens. John Fetterman, D-Pa., Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., and Angus King, I-Maine. 

President Donald Trump’s first campaign manager and longtime ally, Corey Lewandowski, is weighing a primary challenge next year against Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire.

“Everyone says being a Governor is the best job in Politics. I agree,” Lewandowski wrote in a social media post Thursday evening.

Lewandowski’s news comes as Trump’s political team appears to turn up the heat on Ayotte over her resistance to the president’s push for mid-decade redistricting in order to protect the GOP’s fragile House majority in the 2026 midterm elections.

There’s long been interest by some state Republican lawmakers in redistricting to make New Hampshire’s First Congressional District more GOP-friendly. Democrats have controlled both of the state’s U.S. House seats for nearly a decade.

REDISTRICTING BATTLE: MISSOURI GOVERNOR SIGNS NEW CONGRESSIONAL MAP INTO LAW 

And it’s possible the Republican-controlled New Hampshire legislature passes and sends to Ayotte’s desk a redistricting bill early next year.

Ayotte’s predecessor, former Gov. Chris Sununu, three years ago, vetoed a new congressional map passed by Statehouse Republicans.

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The current governor has pushed back against the pressure campaign over redistricting.

“I don’t think the timing is right for redistricting. And as I look at where we are and the things we should be focusing on, this is not something that I support doing at this point,” Ayotte told WMUR-TV last month.

Ayotte’s team did not respond to a Fox News request for comment.

A longtime New Hampshire-based Republican political strategist told Fox News “this comes down to whether or not the president is seriously interested in changing the outcome of this race. We’ll know a potential run would be serious if we hear from the White House that the president is driving this train.”

“Otherwise I think this is more a case of firing a shot across the governor’s bow to get her attention in the hopes of getting her to actively consider signing legislation that would change the congressional districts across New Hampshire,” added the strategist, who asked to remain anonymous to speak more freely.

Two Republican-dominated states, Texas and Missouri, have already passed new congressional maps which combined could swing six House seats from blue to red. And nearly a half-dozen other right-leaning states are considering similar moves, after lobbying from the president and his team.

It’s part of a broad effort by the GOP to pad its razor-thin House majority to keep control of the chamber in next year’s midterms, when the party in power traditionally faces political headwinds and loses seats.

Trump and his political team are aiming to prevent what happened during his first term in the White House, when Democrats reclaimed the House majority in the 2018 midterm elections.

The social media post by Lewandowski followed a report from Politico that he was considering a gubernatorial run next year. Republican sources confirmed the report to Fox News.

The Windham, N.H. resident served as Trump’s campaign manager during the 2016 presidential primaries before being replaced during the general election campaign. But Lewandowski has remained close to Trump over the years, held senior adviser roles in the 2020 and 2024 campaigns, and keeps in regular contact with the president.

Lewandowski, who for years served as a top outside adviser to then-South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, now serves as a senior adviser at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), where Noem is Trump’s DHS secretary.

This isn’t the first time Lewandowski has considered a statewide run in New Hampshire. In the 2020 election cycle, he flirted with a run for the Senate against Democratic incumbent Sen. Jeanne Shaheen. 

And in early 2021, he teased a possible 2022 run for governor months ahead of popular GOP Gov. Chris Sununu’s launch of his successful re-election bid. New Hampshire, along with Vermont, are the only two states in the nation to hold gubernatorial elections every two years.

“I’ve known Corey a long time. If he’s passionate about something, then he’ll fight to the end to get it and I think he’s passionate about the people of New Hampshire and being governor is probably the best way he can serve them,” New Hampshire native Joshua Whitehouse, who worked with Lewandowski on the 2016 campaign and who’s a veteran of the first Trump administration, told Fox News Digital on Thursday.

While Lewandowski would likely grab support from MAGA world if he runs for governor, his past political baggage could come back to hurt him.

After facing allegations he made unwanted sexual advances towards a Republican donor’s wife at a 2021 charity event, he was pushed out of his job steering a top pro-Trump super PAC. Lewandowski later cut a deal with prosecutors in the case after he was charged with misdemeanor battery.

Trump’s spokesperson said at the time that Lewandowski “will no longer be associated with Trump world.” 

And Noem’s spokesperson at the time said Lewandowski “will not be advising the governor in regard to the campaign or official office.”

But he quickly worked his way back into both Trump and Noem’s political orbits.

Lewandowski was also charged in 2016 after yanking the arm of a reporter at a Trump campaign event, but the charges were later dropped.

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The New Hampshire Democratic Party took aim at both Lewandowski and Ayotte in a statement.

“Corey Lewandowski and Kelly Ayotte are two sides of the same extreme coin: Republican hardliners who have zero problem bending at the knee for Donald Trump and letting him steamroll New Hampshire families,” longtime state party chair Ray Buckley claimed.

President Donald Trump issued a blistering public warning to Hamas on Friday, saying the “ruthless” terrorist group will be “hunted down, and killed” unless they release the remaining Israeli hostages and reach an agreement by Sunday evening.

“They will be given one last chance,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social. “THIS DEAL ALSO SPARES THE LIVES OF ALL REMAINING HAMAS FIGHTERS!”

“We will have PEACE in the Middle East one way or the other. The violence and bloodshed will stop,” Trump added. “RELEASE THE HOSTAGES, ALL OF THEM, INCLUDING THE BODIES OF THOSE THAT ARE DEAD, NOW! An Agreement must be reached with Hamas by Sunday Evening at SIX (6) P.M., Washington, D.C. time.”

Trump said the United States, along with Israel and several wealthy Middle Eastern nations, have already agreed to a peace proposal. Failure to comply, he warned, would result in unprecedented military action against Hamas.

TRUMP’S PEACE DEAL COULD END THE WAR IN GAZA OR NETANYAHU’S CAREER

“Great, powerful, and very rich Nations of the Middle East, and the surrounding areas beyond, together with the United States of America, have agreed, with Israel signing on, to PEACE, after 3000 years, in the Middle East,” Trump wrote. “Every Country has signed on! If this LAST CHANCE agreement is not reached, all HELL, like no one has ever seen before, will break out against Hamas.”

TRUMP DELIVERS ULTIMATUM TO HAMAS: ACCEPT DEAL AND RELEASE HOSTAGES OR PAY THE CONSEQUENCES

“As retribution for the October 7th attack on civilization, more than 25,000 Hamas ‘soldiers’ have already been killed,” Trump continued. “Most of the rest are surrounded and MILITARILY TRAPPED, just waiting for me to give the word, ‘GO,’ for their lives to be quickly extinguished.” 

Palestinians considered innocent were also advised to immediately move out of areas at risk of “potentially great future death.” Trump said those who relocate would be cared for by relief efforts.

TREY YINGST: HAMAS MUST ACCEPT TRUMP PEACE PLAN TO END WAR ONCE AND FOR ALL

Last week, Trump unveiled a 20-point peace plan aimed at resolving the ongoing conflict. If accepted, Israel could secure the return of all 46 remaining hostages.

The plan calls for an end to Israel’s military operations, the disarmament of Hamas and the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip under a Palestinian governing body overseen by an international coalition led by the United States.

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s acceptance of Trump’s plan could ultimately determine whether his government collapses or finds renewed support. 

Netanyahu’s party has become increasingly divided, with hard-right members threatening to topple his government over any concessions in the ongoing conflict with Hamas.

Netanyahu previously said during a joint press conference with Trump last week that Israel “will finish the job by itself” if Hamas continues to threaten the region.

Fox News Digital’s Caitlin McFall contributed to this report.

Former Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., announced on Friday that she is mounting a comeback congressional bid more than a year after losing her Democratic primary to a more moderate challenger.

“St. Louis deserves a leader who is built different,” Bush announced in a video shared on social media. “That’s why I’m running to represent Missouri’s 1st District in Congress. We need a fighter who will lower costs, protect our communities, and make life fairer. I’ll be that fighter.”

The “Squad” member was ousted in the Democratic primary in Aug. 2024 by St. Louis County prosecutor Rep. Wesley Bell, D-Mo., who is a more moderate candidate and had the backing of pro-Israel groups that spent millions to unseat Bush. 

“I ran for Congress to change things for regular people,” Bush said in the campaign launch video. “I’m running again because St. Louis deserves leadership that doesn’t wait for permission, doesn’t answer to wealthy donors and doesn’t hide when things get tough.”

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Bush was first elected to Congress in Nov. 2020, quickly joining the ranks of the progressive “Squad,” including Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, who were elected in 2018. 

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The Missouri progressive was re-elected in 2022, but she became the second member of the “Squad” to lose her Democratic primary last year after Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., also lost to a more moderate pro-Israel Democrat. 

Like Bowman, Bush had emerged in Congress as a vocal critic of the United States’ ties to Israel, calling Israel’s response to Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attack a “war crime” for “Israel’s collective punishment against Palestinians.”

“All across America, we see it,” Bush said. “Our rights rolled back, our history being rewritten, our lives on the line. The stakes for our community here have never been higher. I’m running because our district deserves someone ten toes down. For our families, for our wallets, for our safety, for our democracy, and for our bright future. St. Louis is built different, so am I, and so are we.”

Soon after President Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential election, Bush teased a congressional run to POLITICO. 

“The Squad will keep fighting,” she told the outlet. “The numbers will be lower for the 119th Congress, but they will keep fighting for people who have the greatest need. They’re not going to change their priorities and what they believe. The number of people in Congress on the team will just be smaller. But they’ve never been silent. Anyone who underestimates our power is severely mistaken, because we aren’t going anywhere, and I will always be Squad. I’m not going far.”

While the country shifted to the right in 2024, with Republicans securing control of the White House and Congress, the upcoming midterm elections will prove a litmus test for Trump’s sweeping second-term agenda. 

And Bush’s announcement comes as Republicans secured victories in their redistricting battles, picking up five additional Republican-leaning districts in Texas and one additional conservative-leaning congressional seat in Missouri. 

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Gov. Mike Kehoe, R-Mo., signed Missouri’s new map into law on Sunday as California Democrats seek to level the playing field with their own redistricting efforts. 

Bell’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Elkind and Alex Nitzberg contributed to this report.