NationalWatch

FIRST ON FOX: President Donald Trump will host 9/11 first responders and officials at the White House on Sept. 8, where a 21-foot steel beam recovered from the World Trade Center’s South Tower will be displayed, Fox News Digital learned.

“President Trump will pay tribute to the American heroes we lost in the tragic Sept. 11 attacks, their beautiful family members and to the acts of heroism that defined that fateful day when the unbreakable spirit of the American people prevailed,” White House spokesperson Olivia Wales told Fox News Digital.

The Tunnel to Towers Foundation will bring its “Steel Across America” tour to the White House on Sept. 8, where the 21-foot, 16,900-pound steel beam recovered from the World Trade Center’s South Tower will be displayed on the White House Ellipse.

MASSIVE WORLD TRADE CENTER STEEL BEAM ARRIVES AT WEST POINT, UNITING 9/11 HEROES WITH GENERATION SENT TO WAR

“The president will stand with first responders to renew our sacred vow that we will never forget – and that the United States of America will always defend our proud, free nation with unyielding resolve,” said Wales.

Trump and Tunnel to Towers Foundation Chairman and CEO Frank Siller are expected to speak.

The president will also attend a ceremony at the Pentagon while Vice President JD Vance will travel to New York City’s World Trade Center site, and other administration officials will represent the White House in Shanksville, Pennsylvania — marking all three locations targeted or affected by the attacks.

RETIRED PORT AUTHORITY OFFICERS TELL MAMDANI, HOCHUL TO STAY AWAY FROM GROUND ZERO ON 9/11

Last year, Trump and first lady Melania Trump attended a 9/11 commemoration at the Pentagon and issued a Patriot Day proclamation calling for flags to be flown at half-staff.

He later attended a Yankees-Tigers game featuring tributes to the victims in the Bronx, New York City.

The steel beam has served as a traveling memorial to the victims and first responders of 9/11, offering pop-up events across 21 states leading up to the anniversary of the tragic day.

AMERICA’S HEARTLAND COMES FACE-TO-FACE WITH 9/11 HISTORY AS 25TH ANNIVERSARY NEARS

“Never forgetting the sacrifice and bravery of our nation’s heroes, as well as our lost loved ones, is a generational promise that every American can help keep,” Tunnel to Towers Foundation Chairman and CEO Frank Siller previously told Fox News Digital.

Siller founded the organization in honor of his brother, FDNY firefighter Stephen Siller, who died responding to the attacks.

Tunnel to Towers has provided mortgage-free homes to families of fallen service members and first responders while also working to combat veteran homelessness.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

The foundation is honoring the 343 FDNY firefighters who died on 9/11 by delivering 343 mortgage-free homes this year.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has proposed permanent flight rules around President Donald J. Trump International Airport in Palm Beach, Florida, to secure the airspace near Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate amid heightened concerns over unauthorized aircraft and rogue drones — moves that some say are insufficient to deter dedicated adversaries.

The regulatory action was initiated at the request of the U.S. Secret Service, in the “interest of national security,” the agency confirmed to Fox News Digital.

“At the request of the U.S. Secret Service in the interest of national security, the FAA is proposing Special Air Traffic Rules for the airspace near Donald J. Trump International Airport (DJT),” an FAA spokesperson said.

NORAD FIGHTER JETS INTERCEPT 2 AIRCRAFT NEAR TRUMP’S GOLF CLUB, 3RD PLANE DELAYS HIS NJ DEPARTURE

Under the proposed mandate, a Special Flight Rules Area (SFRA) would be established.

Aircraft flying below 2,000 feet within one nautical mile of the designated zone would be required to obtain explicit clearance, maintain two-way contact with air traffic control, and continuously transmit an assigned transponder code.

Arriving and departing aircraft would also need to meet strict security criteria before entering the airspace.

TRUMP HAS BECOME AMERICA’S MOST TARGETED LEADER, FACING THREATS EVERY FEW MONTHS

The heightened precautions follow multiple threats against Trump, including a June plot where five suspects attempted to coordinate an ambush using explosive-laden drones aimed at targeting him and other high-profile officials during the UFC Freedom 250 event at the White House.

However, drone experts argue that regulatory boundaries are “not good enough.”

AMERICA’S POWER GRID, FOOD SUPPLY AND MORE ARE UNDER THREAT FROM DRONES

“When you look at what happened in Butler [Pennsylvania] it was discovered later on that the shooter had done very basic surveillance with a drone — a Chinese drone that you could buy off Amazon — before he conducted the attack against the president,” Brett Velicovich, a former U.S. Army special operations intelligence analyst and drone expert, told Fox News Digital.

Velicovich emphasized that government agencies must move faster to adopt active interdiction capabilities rather than relying solely on airspace designations.

“We’re going to have to have more counter-drone systems in place because it is not good enough simply for the FAA to send a message saying this area is a no-drone zone,” he added. “When you’re a bad actor, that doesn’t matter.”

The FAA proposal remains open for public comment through Oct. 2.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

The White House deferred questions regarding the security framework to the U.S. Secret Service, which did not immediately provide additional comment.

The Oregon Department of Corrections (DOC) hired a gender-affirming care coordinator last month, and the job will pay between $78,000 and $115,000 annually.

The job includes oversight of a program for “managing and monitoring needs and safety risks of transgender, intersex and non-binary adults in custody,” according to the listing. The position also chairs a multidisciplinary team focused on their individualized needs.

The role, which comes as the DOC is projected to have a $55 million deficit in 2026, continues gender-related initiatives spearheaded by Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek, a longtime champion of the trans community, as she pursues re-election to a second term. 

It also highlights the logistical difficulties associated with trans prisoners.

BIOLOGICAL MALE KILLER HOUSED IN OREGON WOMEN’S PRISON WINS HIGH-DOLLAR LEGAL SETTLEMENT IN SEX ABUSE SUIT

After a 2023 review of Oregon’s only women-only prison, the Coffee Creek Correctional Facility, Kotek said her administration would look for ways to address what the report called delayed care for its cisgender and trans inmates.

“Transgender residents [are] being denied or delayed access to needed care, including hormone replacement therapy. This creates significant medical and mental health issues for some residents, including gender dysphoria,” the report stated.

The report included one example of a transgender resident at the Coffee Creek who said her request for continuing her hormone blocker treatment had gone unheeded.

“I had been accessing prescriptions at the county. I did not get it when I got here. … I sent several [requests], but they kept bumping me to different places. Now I’ve gotten my period twice. It’s been terrorizing and humiliating,” the resident, a biological woman, said.

Kotek promised to address issues raised by the report.

“In the wake of national, systemic shortcomings in meeting the needs of women who are incarcerated, I am resolved to confront these issues head-on,” Kotek said in a press release.

FORMER TOP OREGON GOP OFFICIAL SECURES NOMINATION FOR GOVERNOR AS REPUBLICANS TARGET BLUE-STATE PICKUP

“The GIPA report was sobering to read. It is incumbent on Oregon’s corrections system to ensure that the use of carceral settings yield the best possible public safety outcomes and sets people up for successful re-entry.”

As a part of the response, her office created the Advisory Panel on Gender Responsive Practices in Corrections.

In turn, the panel recommended training staff who make decisions about housing and medical and behavioral care for the needs of transgender, nonbinary and gender-diverse inmates.

The panel did not specifically recommend the gender-affirming care coordinator position.

The role is similar to a position that would have been established through SB 1120, a failed bill. Among other provisions, that law would have created a role tasked to “provide coordination of efforts and training across staff and adults in custody on best practices for supporting transgender, nonbinary or gender-diverse adults in custody.”

The hire clashes with Kotek’s instruction to agencies to reduce spending. In 2025, when Republicans in Washington, D.C., passed tax cuts through President Donald Trump’s “big beautiful bill,” Oregon’s tax picture also changed. 

The state’s tax code mirrors many of the definitions of taxable income used by the federal government. When those definitions shrank, so did Oregon’s revenue, leaving the state with a negative general fund balance of $373.7 million, according to state reports.

“This is not what we had planned for, but it is what we must do. I am asking you to leave no stone unturned to save tax-payer dollars. This challenge is not unique to Oregon, but how we respond will be. Our resilience, teamwork and determination have carried us through hard times before. They will again,” Kotek wrote in a letter to state department heads.

Like other departments, the DOC was also affected, reporting a projected $55 million deficit. To remedy this, the department was instructed to slow operational spending, prepare for operational cost reductions and suspend non-essential out-of-state travel.

Even so, Kotek has highlighted trans care as a priority, strongly advocating for a government-led approach to expanding access to trans procedures, calling them part of “health care.”

“I want to be very clear. Gender-affirming care is health care. Period, end of story,” Kotek said at a bill signing in 2023 after the legislature passed a reproductive and gender-affirming care package.

She has also pushed back against attempts from the Trump administration to limit federal funding for hospitals that provide transgender procedures to minors.

TRUMP DIRECTS CMS ADMINISTRATOR MEHMET OZ TO END MEDICAID GENDER TRANSITION FUNDING FOR MINORS

“The Trump administration cannot change the rules and restrict funding to hospitals and doctors who provide gender-affirming care to young people. Gender-affirming care is recognized by major medical organizations and plays an important role in helping young people stay safe, healthy and supported for who they are,” Kotek said in a video release.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Kotek’s office did not respond to inquiries from Fox News Digital about the new position and additional details about its duties.

There’s a reason football great Deion Sanders was known as “Primetime.” Sanders epitomized his sobriquet – with electric performances on Monday Night Football and in the playoffs.

But not every political candidate is ready for primetime.

The roadside is littered with political failures from both sides. Candidates are better suited for late-night public access in the suburbs.

Consider for a moment someone else who also wasn’t bad in primetime: former football star Herschel Walker. He won the Heisman Trophy in 1982. But when Walker ran for the Senate in Georgia in 2024, his political acumen could barely qualify him for a political practice squad.

UNEARTHED INTERVIEW REVEALS EL-SAYED’S SHARIA ‘OBLIGATION’: ‘NOT BECAUSE OF FEAR’

This year, Democrats trotted out political novice Graham Platner to try to defeat 30-year veteran Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME). But his Nazi-era tattoo and allegations of rape and sexual abuse revealed that Platner was more downtrodden than Down East.

So how will some of this year’s political hopefuls fare?

Platner would have been the Democrats’ most-controversial candidate of the 2026 Senate election cycle. But Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed has eclipsed Platner.

El-Sayed is progressive. He holds extreme views and previously associated closely with left-wing influencer Hasan Piker.

During an appearance on Fox, El-Sayed compared Sharia law to cannon law in the Catholic Church, pitched ditching the Second Amendment and somehow wound up discussing private parts.

El-Sayed’s performance scored headlines. But he also created headaches for Democrats. The party needs to hold the Michigan seat in order to flip the Senate. And El-Sayed is exactly what Republicans were looking for.

Since El-Sayed captured the Democratic nomination to face former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI), Republicans hope to use him to nationalize the midterms. They want to portray El-Sayed as “what’s wrong” with the Democratic Party and why he’s not aligned with mainstream voters.

The GOP believes that message will trickle down to other Democratic candidates around the country.

In other words, could El-Sayed’s echo undercut Democratic candidates beyond the Wolverine State?

When campaigning, El-Sayed promoted polished policy positions.

“You deserve good health care,” said El-Sayed. “You deserve protections at your job.”

But when asked on Fox about boys playing sports with girls and sex changes for kids, his rhetoric devolved to this:

“Circumcision is surgery on a kid’s ding-a-ling. So, you really want to bring that up? I just think you guys are really selective about how you guys want to talk about things,” said El-Sayed to Fox’s Jesse Watters.

Political consultants on both sides of the aisle will likely agree. If a candidate finds themselves on national television and is using euphemisms for private parts and not discussing the war in Iran or the cost of groceries, something is wrong.

El-Sayed also backs Medicare for all and slavery reparations.

“I just think it’s past time to have that conversation. That shouldn’t be a crazy thing,” said El-Sayed.

Republicans are clamoring to hear more from El-Sayed.

“It’s common sense versus communist crazy. And don’t believe my word. Listen to what El-Sayed says,” said House Republican Conference Chairwoman Lisa McClain (R-MI) on Fox Business.

DEMOCRATS WHO ‘NEVER VOTED REPUBLICAN’ BACK ROGERS OVER EL-SAYED IN RAZOR-CLOSE RACE

El-Sayed’s association with Piker worries Democrats as Piker espouses antisemitic views.

“Those comments were dangerous, malicious and antisemitic and shouldn’t be tolerated by anyone in the public square,” said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY).

But now El-Sayed is distancing himself from Piker.

“I got so much exposure and empowerment from the Jewish community,” said El-Sayed at a rally. “Jewish people are a light unto the world.”

But not everyone is buying it.

“His response was pathetic and it did not answer the call,” said Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), one of the most pro-Israel Democrats in the House — said on Fox. “This is not a guy who any of us should embrace.”

In fact, the campaign of Rogers went as far as to say that El-Sayed was making the case for their candidate.

President Trump recently escalated the trade war with Canada. He renamed, meanwhile, Lake Ontario, renaming Lake Ontario “Lake America.”

El-Sayed vanquished moderate Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) in the primary. With all of this tumult, one wonders if Democrats would feel better wrestling with the President over trade with Stevens as their nominee versus El-Sayed.

That said, politics is a funny thing.

This doesn’t mean that El-Sayed is unelectable. Progressives throb with energy inside the Democratic Party right now. Someone like El-Sayed could actually bolster turnout among the left. This could work to the Democrats’ advantage if Republicans stay home because they’re disappointed in President Trump.

Or, as House Democratic Caucus Vice Chairman Ted Lieu (D-CA) told voters this week, “just go fu—– vote.”

On the Republican side of the aisle, few had heard of Sen. Darline Graham (R-SC) until her brother Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) died unexpectedly. South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster (R) quickly appointed Darline to her brother’s seat and cajoled her to run for the full term.

Darline Graham was a political neophyte. And despite President Trump tapping her for the permanent gig, it was far from clear that she was ready for primetime. During a debate in the GOP primary runoff with Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC), Graham stumbled when asked about U.S. interests regarding Taiwan.

“I’m not that informed on national security,” said Graham. “But I do support the military.”

Of course, foreign policy was her brother’s forte. He died just after jetting back to Washington after meetings in Turkey and Ukraine.

But Darline Graham used the gaffe to pivot. She claimed that voters are more concerned with kitchen table issues.

“You know how many (people) brought up Taiwan or national security?” said Graham when stumping. “Not one. They’re talking about the rising cost of health care and affordability.”

A reporter pressed Graham for details about harnessing inflation.

“Is there something from you, affirmatively (could do like) a piece of legislation, to help drive down the cost of goods?” asked the scribe.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

“We’ll see when I get there,” replied Graham.

Well, Graham is already “here.” She’s been in the Senate since mid-July. Some voters could interpret that response as another blunder. Perhaps one better suited for Saturday afternoon syndication compared to primetime.

Norman homed-in on economics.

“Prices are still too high. Groceries. Gas,” said Norman. “(Voters are) feeling it in their pocketbooks.”

Darline Graham vanquished Norman in the primary. And barring a major upset by Democratic South Carolina Senate nominee Annie Andrews, Graham is poised to win a full six-year term in the Senate in November.

That’s primetime. Ready or not.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Monday that Americans need to “stop trying to be tough” during the countries’ contentious trade negotiations.

Speaking to reporters in Ottawa about U.S.-Canadian trade negotiations over automobile tariffs, Carney said, “When the Americans stop doing memes, stop throwing shade, stop trying to be tough and start being serious about having those discussions, we can have those discussions.”

“Look, it’s not constructive, but that’s their democracy,” Carney added.

TRUMP TAUNTS CANADA ON RENAMING LAKE ONTARIO THE ‘LAKE AMERICA’ AMID RISING BORDER TRADE RIFT

After Canada suspended trade talks on Aug. 21, Trump signed an executive order changing the name of Lake Ontario, which is bordered by New York and Canada’s Ontario province, to Lake America.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and War Secretary Pete Hegseth also mocked Canada in social media posts, with Bessent writing that Canada could not go “tit-for-tat” with America’s economy and Hegseth posting a photo of two female Canadian military members with the caption “this is real.”

When asked to comment on U.S. Cabinet secretaries mocking the Canadian military, Carney responded, “It’s beneath their office.”

Carney cited both the U.S. posture and its terms in negotiations and barriers to reaching a deal.

TRUMP TRADE CHIEF WARNS CANADA WALKED AWAY FROM ‘THE BEST DEAL’ TO TRIGGER 50% U.S. TARIFFS

“The issues with respect to language and culture — enough to not have to deal. The issues Mr. Gray just asked about, with respect to restrictions on future trade deals, restrictions on our sovereignty — enough not to have a deal. Issues with respect to locking in an uncompetitive, trade arrangement in our key industries, automobiles being one of them — enough to not have a trade deal,” he continued.

“And then the general attitude, and I’ll leave you with this, which I think this is a very important point, is that the attitude of the United States in these discussions and subsequently has been one that, the core Canadian industries either would be subsidiaries effectively of the United States industries or would put in place terms where those industries would be, gradually wound down in Canada and we’re not going to of course, we’re not going to accept those terms.”

Trump, following Carney’s suspension of negotiations, accused Canada of wanting “the benefits of being a State, without being one!!!”

In a post on Truth Social, Trump also said Canada has been taking advantage of the U.S. by charging U.S. farmers tariffs.

TRUMP MUST CLOSE THE BACK DOOR CHINA USES TO EXPLOIT NORTH AMERICAN TRADE

Carney, for his part, said America’s insistence that it have a say over who else Canada trades with was a bridge too far.

He also said the U.S. view of the trade relationship was “misguided,” adding that on automobiles, the U.S. needs both Canada and Mexico.

FEARS OF A CANADIAN TRADE WAR ARE OVERBLOWN. SO FAR, IT’S MORE OF A SKIRMISH

“The United States auto industry is made stronger by the Canadian and the Mexican auto industries. And at a time of big, big change in auto, it’s important that we work together. That’s why I say yes, there is a mutually beneficial deal,” he told reporters.

Carney did leave the door open for further negotiations.

‘CAPTAIN CANADA’ FIREBRAND UNLOADS ON TRUMP WITH PROFANE ONE-LINER AS TRADE WAR ESCALATES

“There were elements of that mutually beneficial deal that we were moving towards, which is why we were still at the table. But we never, viewed that we had that deal. And it diverged towards the end. At some point, maybe it’ll converge again,” Carney said.

He told lawmakers in his country that relations with the U.S. will not “go back to normal any time soon” and said the situation is “a new normal that we have to get adjusted to.”

TRUMP ALLIES PUSH TO ARM PRESIDENT WITH NEW TARIFF WEAPON TO PUNISH COUNTRIES ‘RIPPING OFF’ AMERICA

Carney, matching a slate of tariffs the U.S. imposed on Canadian goods such as steel and lumber, imposed his own set of tariffs which he said will go “dollar for dollar” with America’s tariffs. The Canadian levies are set to take effect on Sept. 8.

“Canada was offered the most generous trade deal of any of America’s trading partners despite being overwhelmingly reliant on access to the American economy, which is over 12-times larger than Canada’s economy. Canada rejected that deal to demand continued one-sided access to the American market with no reciprocity. President Trump was given a resounding Election Day mandate to put American workers, farmers, and businesses first, and the Administration will continue to deliver while lowering costs for everyday families,” White House Spokesman Kush Desai told Fox News Digital in a statement. 

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Fox News Digital contacted the office of the U.S. Trade Representative, the U.S. Treasury, the Pentagon and the Canadian Prime Minister’s Office for further comment.

Fox News Digital’s Michael Sinkewicz, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

The James Talarico campaign says the Democratic Senate nominee in Texas is a “proud capitalist,” even though he once described capitalism as an “oppressive system” that needed to be dismantled — and predicted that Texas’ fossil fuel industry was “not gonna last.”

The remarks, made during a resurfaced 2020 Zoom call with Sierra Club activists, are drawing fresh scrutiny as Talarico faces Republican nominee and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in a Senate race that could help determine control of the chamber.

The comments were first reported by CNN early Tuesday and were seized on by Lone Star Liberty PAC, an outside political group aligned with Paxton, and Senate Leadership Fund, a leading super PAC backing Senate Republicans.

THESE 12 MIDTERM RACES WILL DECIDE WHICH PARTY CONTROLS THE SENATE

On the call, Talarico is heard saying that the U.S. was facing a “multi-faceted threat” of a climate, economic and social crisis.

After an activist asked how to address the harm suffered by communities of color by climate change, Talarico responded, “I’m so thankful that you asked this question and also thankful that young activists have really drawn the link between climate change and White supremacy and capitalism in our country.”

“I think only understanding the ways that all three of those oppressive systems work together are we going to be able to begin the process of dismantling them.”

DEMOCRACY ’26: STAY UP TO DATE WITH THE FOX NEWS ELECTION HUB

Talarico, during the same forum, forecast that Texas’ fossil fuel industry wouldn’t last.

“We all know that Texas has been a leader in oil and gas, but in many ways that’s like being the leader in cassette tapes in the 1980s. That industry is not gonna last,” Talarico said.

Asked for comment, Talarico campaign spokesperson J.T. Ennis told Fox News Digital, “James is a proud capitalist and agrees with the majority of Texans that racism, natural disasters, and a billionaire-controlled economy are all problems we need to address.”

“James has already said he missed the mark on some of his past statements, while Ken Paxton has refused to address his comments that the school shooting in Uvalde was ‘God’s plan’ and that Texas’ abortion ban is good for interstate commerce,” Ennis added.

The Talarico campaign also spotlighted that the state lawmaker had “taken many votes” in support of the oil industry. And the campaign website states that he aims to make sure that Texas “not only maintains, but extends” its energy dominance.

WHAT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POWER RANKINGS IN THE MIDTERM RACES SHOW

The Paxton campaign and Republicans have repeatedly targeted Talarico for past comments he’s made on social issues, including his prior suggestion that “God is nonbinary,” that he “hates Christianity,” and that “there are many more than two biological sexes; in fact, there are six.“

Talarico, a 37-year-old former middle school teacher and Presbyterian seminarian, defeated progressive firebrand and vocal critic of President Donald Trump Rep. Jasmine Crockett in the March Democratic Senate primary.

SIGN UP TO GET THE POLITICS NEWSLETTER

Paxton, a longtime Trump ally, captured the GOP nomination in late May, after defeating longtime Republican Sen. John Cornyn in a primary runoff election. The combustible clash between the two Texas titans shaped up as a fight between the Republican establishment and Trump’s MAGA and America First supporters. Trump stayed neutral in the intra-party battle until giving Paxton an 11th-hour endorsement.

The general election face-off in deep-red Texas between Talarico and Paxton is one of roughly a dozen races that will likely decide if Republicans hold the Senate majority or if Democrats win back control of the chamber.

Democrats haven’t won a Senate election in Texas in nearly four decades, but they view Paxton as vulnerable because of the slew of scandals and legal problems that have battered him over the past decade. And Paxton is dealing with a messy divorce, with his wife citing “biblical grounds” based on “recent discoveries” in filing last year to end their marriage.

Talarico enjoys a large fundraising advantage over Paxton.

Meanwhile, the most recent Fox News poll in the Texas Senate showdown, conducted in late July, indicated Talarico holding a slight 51%-48% edge over Paxton among registered voters.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

The survey suggested that Paxton had yet to fully unite Republicans. While virtually all Democrats supported Talarico (98%), slightly fewer Republicans were unified behind Paxton (89%).

Meanwhile, the most recent Fox News Power Rankings, released last month, shifted the Senate race in Texas from Lean Republican to toss-up.

An Obama-appointed federal judge is being branded an “activist” after she again blocked new U.S. Postal Service (USPS) mail-ballot requirements ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani issued a 14-day temporary restraining order last week blocking key portions of a new USPS policy governing the mailing of outbound ballots. The rule, developed in response to an executive order from President Donald Trump, would require election officials to submit ballot-envelope designs for approval and upload voter information and unique tracking barc

odes to a new USPS portal.

Jason Snead, executive director of the Honest Election Project, accused Talwani of trying to “run out the clock,” arguing that the continued litigation could prevent the rule from taking effect before states begin mailing ballots for the midterms.

“Because of the antics of the left in this case, it’s very possible that we will not be able to get this rule put in place for the 2026 midterms,” Snead told Fox News Digital. “Ballots do go out in just a couple of days, and I think, to a certain extent, their campaign to run out the clock may have succeeded.”

MAIL-VOTING CRACKDOWN MOVES AHEAD AS TRUMP COURT WIN OPENS DOOR TO FEDERAL ACTION

North Carolina county election boards are scheduled to begin mailing absentee ballots Friday. Snead and Gregory Teufel, founder of OGC Law, LLC, both noted that election officials in the state had already taken steps toward complying with the USPS requirements.

Talwani found that the states lacked the time and money to redesign ballot envelopes, obtain USPS approval, modify election-management systems, train officials to use the new portal and upload voter information before the midterms. She concluded that compliance was “practically impossible” for the approaching election and warned that eligible voters could be disenfranchised.

Snead pushed back on that conclusion, arguing that the rule puts longstanding USPS recommendations into mandatory requirements.

“It’s a fairly straightforward rule,” Snead said. “It’s largely premised on best practices that are already in place and gathering data that states already possess. The burdens are extraordinarily minimal as far as compliance is concerned, and the Postal Service is really just trying to better regulate the mail—not attempt to seize control of elections or to take away fundamental constitutional questions, like who is eligible to vote, away from the states.”

Talwani’s June 25 permanent injunction barred USPS from completing portions of the rulemaking process for the 2026 election.

FEDERAL APPEALS COURT REJECTS TRUMP BID TO ENFORCE MAIL BALLOT ORDER AHEAD OF MIDTERM ELECTIONS

The dispute reached the Supreme Court, which stayed Talwani’s earlier judgment on Aug. 24 after concluding that the Trump administration was likely to prevail on its argument that the original challenge was premature because USPS had not yet issued a final rule.

The justices did not decide whether the executive order or the subsequent USPS rule was lawful. After USPS finalized the policy, the Democratic-led states amended their lawsuit to directly challenge the rule. Talwani then issued the latest temporary restraining order.

“Ironically, the judge created that problem because her original injunction prevented the U.S. Postal Service from developing the rules earlier, months earlier, which would have allowed the states more time to prepare to follow the rule if the Supreme Court were to allow the rule to proceed,” Teufel said.

“When the judge points to expenses and practical difficulties, those are expenses and difficulties created in part by the court itself—not by the rule and not by the attempted implementation of the rule,” he added.

Talwani disputed that characterization in her latest order, writing that “no such delay occurred” because USPS had proceeded with publishing a proposed rule, receiving comments and issuing its final policy despite the earlier injunction.

POSTAL SERVICE THRUST INTO MAIL-IN BALLOT FIGHT AS TRUMP ORDER GETS TIED UP IN COURT

Despite his criticism, Teufel stopped short of accusing Talwani of acting for partisan reasons.

“It’s hard for me to accuse the court of partisanship based on the information I have at the present time,” Teufel said. “Certainly, the court exceeded its authority in issuing the initial injunction against the executive order, which is not a good look.”

Talwani is set to hear arguments Thursday on the challengers’ request for a preliminary injunction, which could block the USPS rule for a longer period as the litigation continues. The existing 14-day temporary restraining order remains in place in the meantime while the Trump administration’s appeal of Talwani’s earlier judgment is pending before the First Circuit.

SIGN UP TO GET THE POLITICS NEWSLETTER

Snead argued that the legal dispute turns on whether USPS is regulating elections or merely setting conditions for the mail it carries.

“What the government counters is that this is just a Postal Service rule like any other and that the Postal Service has broad authority to regulate the mail that is using the Postal Service,” Snead said. “This is essentially the same sort of rule as requiring that mail pieces be in envelopes, for instance, or have postage paid.”

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Even if the policy does not take effect for the midterms, Snead said states should have ample time to comply before the next presidential election.

“This is a very mundane rule, very simple to comply with, especially on the kind of timeline that we’re talking about in preparation for 2028,” Snead said. “It’s not about being able to comply with this rule. It is just about resisting efforts to bring greater transparency and security to mail voting.”

House Democrats are nuking Republicans’ effort to assuage one of President Donald Trump’s biggest concerns about the future of the federal government.

A vote on a constitutional amendment to cap the number of Supreme Court justices failed on Wednesday afternoon after the vast majority of Democrats voted against it.

Trump has warned for months that he believes Democrats would seek to expand the Supreme Court if they took back control of Congress — something affirmed by top progressives, including former Vice President Kamala Harris and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.

House GOP leaders sought to head that off with a proposed amendment led by Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., that would mandate that just nine justices can sit on the high court.

KAMALA HARRIS BACKS MAJOR CHANGES TO THE SUPREME COURT, ELECTORAL COLLEGE AHEAD OF POSSIBLE 2028 CAMPAIGN

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., opted to fast-track the legislation past multiple procedural hurdles in exchange for raising the threshold for passage from a simple majority to two-thirds, a maneuver known as “suspending the rules.” But it failed to clinch that number, even though the majority of House lawmakers supported the amendment.

The U.S. Constitution allows Congress to set the number of seats on the Supreme Court bench, which is currently occupied by eight justices and one chief justice.

However, the Constitution itself does not dictate how many justices can exist. Republicans argued that changing that could make it much harder for a Democrat government to pack the court in the future in order to stack the judicial odds in its favor.

CARVILLE TELLS DEMS TO QUIETLY PREPARE POWER GRAB WITH DC, PUERTO RICO STATEHOOD AND SUPREME COURT PACKING

“Here’s the question every American should ask: if a sitting majority can change the size of the Supreme Court the moment it dislikes rulings, what happens to the next time the other side is in power?” Biggs posed on Wednesday. “Once you go down that road, the court stops being an independent check on government power. It becomes another political institution controlled by whoever happens to hold the majority.”

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., among the progressives calling to increase the number of justices to 13, argued that Congress has changed the number of Supreme Court justices multiple times throughout history and dismissed the current tally as arbitrary.

“MAGA’s proposal is to strip Congress of all authority in the matter, to freeze it, and cemented permanently in the constitutional architecture for all time with the suddenly magic number nine,” Raskin said.

“It’s another partisan power grab by MAGA, our colleagues, who fear for the results of the November election as their policies have brought us nothing but war, inflation, corruption, lawlessness and a $40 trillion debt — one quarter of it’s supplied by this presidential administration. So the MAGA party wants to cement into place a profoundly partisan and lopsided…court that was gerrymandered and engineered by Mitch McConnell.”

HARRIS LABELED ‘INSTITUTIONAL ARSONIST’ FOR PLAN TO FUNDAMENTALLY TRANSFORM SCOTUS AND ELECTORAL COLLEGE

He was referring to former Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and his critical role in helping secure the current conservative majority on the high court.

Progressives have argued that expanding the court to 13 would mean there is one justice for every federal circuit court.

Rep. Mark Harris, R-N.C., attacked the left’s push as an effort to seize political power.

“For decades, we have heard calls from those unhappy with the ideological balance of the Supreme Court to pack the court. The alarming rise of such calls should worry all of us, because their objective is not to uphold ethical principles or even to protect individual rights, but rather to consolidate power and intimidate the court,” Harris said.

Later, Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, D-Pa., said that locking the number at nine would only extend the current conservative majority’s power.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

“I think it would be a grave mistake to dictate how many justices should sit on the Supreme Court in perpetuity, and thereby lock in for a generation or more a right-wing majority, which is engaged in an unprecedented assault on Supreme Court norms and our constitutional order for the past several years,” Scanlon said.

DETROIT — A propaganda newspaper that once accepted a massive grant from George Soros’ Open Society Foundation falsely described beleaguered leftist Michigan U.S. Senate candidate, Abdul El-Sayed as a veteran, according to a copy of that paper obtained by Fox News Digital.

“El-Sayed — veteran, doctor, and former health official — is Democratic Senate pick,” reads a headline in the August 2026 edition of The Michigan Independent.

The papers were distributed in Michigan, and photos of the headline made the rounds on social media last week. The breadth of the paper’s circulation is unclear, but Fox News Digital obtained a physical copy in Michigan.

LIZ PEEK: MICHIGAN CAN STOP THE SOCIALIST FEVER RAGE — OR WATCH IT SWALLOW THE SENATE

The purportedly independent paper circulating in Michigan has a Washington, D.C. non-profit’s name and address — The American Independent Foundation at 800 Maine Ave SW — emblazoned in the bottom left corner of the front cover.

As it turns out, the papers aren’t independent at all.

TOP MEDIA OUTLETS FAIL TO DISCLOSE WHO IS BANKROLLING THEIR AI REPORTERS

In 2024, The American Independent Foundation, a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization, received a $500,000 grant from George Soros’ Foundation to Promote Open Society, according to that organization’s IRS 990 disclosure form.

Soros, a billionaire businessman, investor and philanthropist, is a renowned leftist mega donor known for his support of progressive and Democratic causes. The Washington Free Beacon first reported the Soros connection.

The content of the Michigan Independent story mentions nothing of El-Sayed being a veteran, nor does it clarify that while El-Sayed holds an M.D., he has never been a physician.

El-Sayed’s campaign forcefully condemned the publication’s classification of the candidate.

“Abdul has never claimed to be a veteran, he never would out of his respect for those who served, and any outlet or group writing about our campaign should do their homework and not allow this to happen again,” spokesman Cole Wozniak told Fox News Digital.

The American Independent did not return Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

JONATHAN TURLEY: FAKE POLLSTER’S STUNT WAS A RECKLESS GAME WITH REAL RACES

Twelve other state-based newspapers are part of the network Soros helped fund, including papers in key swing states like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Virginia and others that have become increasingly important in the 2026 midterms due to competitive U.S. Senate races, including Maine and Alaska.

Some of the outlets share the same featured stories. At the time of this writing, both The Ohio Independent and The Pennsylvania Independent feature a story titled “Report: Trump and Big Oil see financial windfall as Americans pay more at pump”.

SOROS NETWORK REBUILDS PROGRESSIVE PROSECUTOR PUSH AFTER STRING OF ELECTION LOSSES

An associated 501(c)(4) political activism organization, American Independent Media, is also affiliated with the network of news outlets. Each state-based website says it is a project of American Independent Media whose mission is “to use journalism to educate the public, giving them the information they need about local and federal issues.”

David Brock, founder of the far-left media watchdog Media Matters and a high-profile Democratic operative, is also connected to the shadowy network of papers.

He is the founder of the 501(c)(3) American Bridge, also a titan in left-wing politics. American Bridge’s 501(c)(4) arm, the AB Foundation, donated $23.5 million to American Independent Media in 2024.

DEM SENATE HOPEFUL’S ‘PHYSICIAN’ CAMPAIGN PITCH UNDER FIRE AFTER LICENSE RECORDS REVEAL KEY GAPS

The story about El-Sayed was penned by Alyssa Burr, whose LinkedIn page says she’s the Michigan Politics Reporter at The American Independent.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

She previously worked at MLive Media Group, which publishes prominent state newspaper Michigan Live, and before that, the New York Times.

A New York prosecutor accused state Attorney General Letitia James’ office of directing employees to “find and pursue crimes” involving President Donald Trump and entities tied to him, according to a report.

The allegation stems from an email sent by Assistant Attorney General Daniel Wiesenfeld, who works in the Investor Protection Bureau of the New York Office of the Attorney General, which is led by Shamiso Maswoswe, the Times Union reported. The email was allegedly later wiped from the office’s servers, according to the outlet, while James’ office dismissed the matter as a personnel issue and rejected claims that the office was targeting people based on political beliefs.

Wiesenfeld alleged that Maswoswe directed him to target “Trump himself, Truth Social, Hewlett Packard (DOJ approved merger) … without having a credible reason for targeting [these] organizations and individuals,” according to the Times Union.

Maswoswe previously worked as a trial attorney in the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section from January 2016 until her termination in December 2017, under Trump’s first term. In February 2021, she filed a discrimination lawsuit against the Justice Department, alleging she was unfairly terminated and subjected to discrimination based on her race, pregnancy and caregiving responsibilities.

TRUMP’S LAWYERS PUT DEM AG ON NOTICE FOR TARGETING HIS FAMILY IN NY FRAUD FIGHT: ‘CANNOT STAND’

Wiesenfeld reportedly sent an agency-wide email to colleagues Friday with instructions “to find and pursue crimes committed by specific individuals and organizations affiliated with Donald Trump,” the Times Union reported.

The email reportedly was then allegedly wiped from servers, with a subsequent email sent from Attorney General Letitia James’ general counsel, Kumiki Gibson, informing employees that it was an “internal” matter and no employees were “in danger,” the Times Union reported.

“This is a personnel matter. The Office of the Attorney General is committed to upholding New York’s laws and protecting the rights and freedoms of all New Yorkers, regardless of political beliefs. We strongly reject any assertion to the contrary,” a spokesperson for the Office of the New York Attorney General told Fox News Digital.

The Office of the New York Attorney General did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital request on Tuesday. The New York Post reported Wiesenfeld was placed on paid administrative leave.

“This is more proof of the weaponization of the justice system by Letitia James to target President Trump and her political opponents. The far-left Democrats lawfare against President Trump, his family, and allies must stop,” White House spokesperson Lauren Bis told Fox News Digital.

Before Maswoswe joined New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office in February 2022, she filed a discrimination suit against the DOJ.

LETITIA JAMES HAMMERED AFTER NY MEDICAID FRAUD UNIT FUNDING FROZEN OVER INEFFECTIVE ENFORCEMENT

She filed a complaint in February 2021 alleging she was unfairly fired during the Trump administration in 2017 and discriminated against for being black and having a child.

Maswoswe accused the DOJ of race discrimination due to her Zimbabwean descent and was scrutinized over her pregnancy, breastfeeding and caregiving responsibilities – seeking reinstatement, back pay and damages, according to court docs.

In 2023, the two parties reached a settlement with Maswoswe, awarding her $795,000 to resolve all claims related to her employment and lawsuit. 

DOJ expressly denied that Maswoswe’s claim were true and the agreement says the payment was a compromise of disputed claims—not an admission that discrimination or retaliation occurred.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

James has been a longtime critic and legal adversary of Trump, launching a civil fraud lawsuit against him and the Trump Organization in 2022 after campaigning on investigating his business practices.

The case initially resulted in more than $450 million in penalties, though an appeals court later upheld Trump’s liability while voiding the financial penalty.

Republican Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall argues that his Democratic counterparts do not care about election integrity in the same way Republicans do, as they attempt to block measures designed to root out illegal voters they have long claimed do not exist.

Marshall addressed a legal challenge brought by 25 Democratic state attorneys general challenging President Donald Trump’s executive order that included provisions for federal agencies to help states ensure only citizens receive mail-in ballots, and for the U.S. Postal Service to institute practices to make the ballots trackable.

“The left, because they’re concerned about losing at the midterms, want to be able to obstruct this administration’s efforts to ensure the integrity of our elections,” Marshall told Fox News Digital this week, ahead of Thursday’s oral arguments before U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston.

“You have to wonder – when those that are objecting to this – how confident they can be in the security of their elections, as opposed to becoming just a partisan opportunity to ensure the Democrats win and keep conservative voices from being heard, not only in local and state levels of government, but particularly in Washington.”

DHS PLANS COSTLY CRACKDOWN ON STATES THAT DON’T COOPERATE ON ELECTION SECURITY

Marshall led a letter in July from 13 Republican attorneys general, backing the U.S. Postal Service’s following up on President Donald Trump’s March 31 executive order that set up an audit of states’ voter rolls.

“There shouldn’t be a reason why we object to that, but yet Democrats simply don’t want to have fair elections in a way that people can have confidence,” Marshall claimed.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Democratic Attorneys General Association for comment on Marshall’s remarks, but they did not immediately respond.

Democrats, in various arguments to block the audit of voter rolls before the mailing out of absentee ballots, claim that it would lead to “disenfranchisement,” “chaos,” “unconstitutional overreach,” and a partisan “power grab.”

Democrats’ concern is that if they refuse to share their voter rolls with the Department of Homeland Security and Social Security Administration to crosscheck the eligibility of legal voters, the USPS can stop the mailing of state’s absentee ballots.

“USPS’s interest in correcting an unsubstantiated problem through likely unconstitutional means is dwarfed by the overwhelming risk of pervasive disenfranchisement of citizens who need access to mail ballots in order to vote,” Talwani, appointed by former President Barack Obama, wrote in her restraining order against the Trump administration.

FEDERAL JUDGE BLOCKS TRUMP ADMINISTRATION FROM RESTRICTING MAIL-IN BALLOTS AHEAD OF MIDTERMS

“The postal service is not a partisan organization. As the postmaster said, I think most recently, we’re just there to deliver the mail. They’re experts in how it is that this can be configured.”

Marshall stated that the problem of voter fraud is documented, not “unsubstantiated,” as Talwani put it, with evidence in his own state.

USPS WOULDN’T DELIVER BALLOTS IN STATES THAT REFUSE TO FORK OVER MAIL-IN VOTER INFO UNDER PROPOSED RULE

“This is not a solution looking for a problem,” he said. “This is in response to what we know is going on across the country. And this provides a common-sense, straightforward way for states to be able to ensure elections, but most importantly, for the people of this country to have belief that their elections in fact are accurate.”

MAIL-VOTING CRACKDOWN MOVES AHEAD AS TRUMP COURT WIN OPENS DOOR TO FEDERAL ACTION

“It’s not a shock that Democrats are standing up the ability for us to pass the SAVE [America] Act because they don’t want to allow for there to be assurances what is already in the law: That somebody here illegally cannot be able to vote,” he added. “But here we have the president being able to make sure that we are allowing for government resources to be used in an appropriate way to simply allow those who are qualified to vote, vote, and those who aren’t, don’t.”

Marshall has little confidence the Obama-appointed judge in Boston is going to side with the Trump administration and the law.

“I would be remiss if I didn’t say that I would fully expect her to continue with the Democratic Party line,” he said. “The Trump administration has already filed a request with the First Circuit to try to get a stay of that order, but yet we’re going to continue to battle this case along with the administration and look forward to standing beside them when they obtain this victory.”

TRUMP SCORES SUPREME COURT WIN ON MAIL-IN VOTING RESTRICTIONS BEFORE MIDTERMS

Marshall maintains Republicans are not stopping anyone from getting an absentee ballot – they’re just trying to make sure the process is conducted legally and securely.

“Here we have a barcode that allows us to be able to connect it directly with the voter – we have the assurance that that ballot is being cast by the person in fact that receive that ballot,” he said. “Democrats and Republicans alike ought to praise this as a common-sense effort to be able to restore election integrity in this area, but it’s not a shock that Democrats have opposed it.”

MORE THAN A QUARTER-MILLION NONCITIZENS MAY BE REGISTERED TO VOTE IN 4 KEY STATES, DHS ALLEGES

Marhall pointed to the 2005 bipartisan commission chaired by Jimmy Carter and James Baker that identified mailed absentee ballots as being susceptible to fraud.

“This is about securing elections, not interfering with states’ abilities to conduct elections, and we think that we’ll be able to eliminate many of the issues that we’ve seen, including in Alabama, that have occurred in the past.”

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

The restraining order Talwani issued will remain in place for up to one more week while she considers whether to issue a longer-term preliminary injunction blocking the rule. The hearing is Thursday in Boston, but the fight will go on from states on both sides as the midterm mail-in ballot season officially gets underway.

Americans remain starkly divided on whether President Donald Trump should be allowed to build a ballroom on the site of the White House’s East Wing, according to people who spoke with Fox News Digital last week.

Trump has called the ballroom an improvement and a necessity for the White House, arguing it would help avoid another near-death experience for himself, the press and dignitaries after a gunman charged into the Washington Hilton during the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner in May.

“No, definitely not,” Frank of Kansas City, Missouri, said of the ballroom project’s necessity.

WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENTS’ DINNER SHOOTING SHARPENS FOCUS ON TRUMP’S BALLROOM CONSTRUCTION PROPOSAL

“Tearing down the East Wing without all proper authorizations was improper. The way the money is being raised is improper, so I’m ‘no’ to all of it.”

Frank appeared to allude to the litigation the administration is fighting to keep its project afloat.

APPEALS COURT LETS TRUMP RESUME WHITE HOUSE BALLROOM CONSTRUCTION, SEEKS LOWER COURT CLARITY

Danisha from Washington, however, said she approved of the new project in her hometown.

She professed to be an ardent supporter of Trump’s and said he deserves to have a ballroom.

“I think the White House definitely should use the ballroom to be beautiful and nice. Because, I think that the president should be able to have fun and invite people to the ballroom,” she said.

Sherry and Bill from Knoxville sided with the president on the project:

Bill called the U.S. the “greatest country in the world” and therefore a ballroom for the president is a great idea.

TRUMP’S WHITE HOUSE BALLROOM CONSTRUCTION GETS ANOTHER LIFELINE FROM SCOTUS AMID HEATED LEGAL FIGHT

SIGN UP TO GET THE POLITICS NEWSLETTER

“It’s brilliant,” Sherry added. “We need it.”

“Who cares who’s in the administration, Democrat or Republican? They’re gonna use the ballroom,” Bill said. Sherry noted the ballroom is privately funded, suggesting that aspect should assuage tax-sensitive critics.

Meanwhile, Chuck from Washington called the ballroom a “horrible idea” in the present and in the future.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

“There’s so much more we have to tackle. And building a ballroom should not be a priority one or a priority two,” he said.

As of Monday, the Supreme Court allowed construction to proceed as litigation makes its way through the appeals process, with plaintiffs seeking relief from the high court if it chooses to hear the full case, according to reports.

A Harvard University webpage that provides resources for parents of students at the school features “anti-racism resources,” including a list of books written by controversial authors who have espoused anti-White rhetoric and have suggested discrimination is OK as long as it’s against White people.

One of the books is Ibram X. Kendi’s “How To Be An Anti-Racist”, another is the infamous “White Fragility” by Robin DiAngelo.

Kendi, born Ibram Henry Rogers, is known for racially inflammatory comments targeting White people.

DAVID MARCUS: TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY DUFFY IS RIGHT; HARVARD JUST AIN’T WHAT IT USED TO BE

“Europeans are simply a different breed of human,” he wrote in a column in his college newspaper in 2003. “They are socialized to be aggressive people. They are taught to live by the credo, ‘survival of the fittest.’ They are raised to be racist.”

In his 2019 book, Kendi explained that discrimination is fine, as long as it promotes equity. On the contrary, he said, discrimination is wrong if it promotes inequity.

DISCRIMINATORY ‘SHADOW’ REVIEW PROCESS LOCKS WHITE, ASIAN STUDENTS OUT OF CALIFORNIA MED SCHOOL, DOJ ALLEGES

“The only remedy to racist discrimination is antiracist discrimination,” the book says. “The only remedy to past discrimination is present discrimination. The only remedy to present discrimination is future discrimination.”

Kendi also slammed “whiteness” at a film screening in November 2023.

“I don’t think White people worldwide have really reckoned with how much their own personal identity is shaped by constructions of whiteness, and how much that construction of whiteness prevents White people from connecting to humanity,” he said at the event.

Similarly, the resource page on Harvard’s site includes “White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism.”

GEORGIA DISTRICT QUIETLY TRAINED TEACHERS TO BLAME ‘WHITENESS,’ ‘DECOLONIZE’ UNDER FEDERAL CRACKDOWN: REPORT

“White people are socialized to feel that they are inherently superior because they are white,” DiAngelo wrote in the 2018 book.

“Racism is a White problem. It was created by White people,” the book says. “It is wielded by White people, it benefits White people.”

She also wrote that White people are always racist.

“The question is not ‘Did racism take place?’ but rather, ‘How did racism manifest in this situation?'” she wrote in the book.

Other books recommended to parents include “Me and White Supremacy,” by Layla Saad, “Raising White Kids,” by Jennifer Harvey and “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness,” by Michelle Alexander.

A spokesperson for Harvard told Fox News Digital, “The site was created by staff more than five years ago and was not developed as an official Faculty of Arts and Sciences resource.”

The online page is title “Anti-Racism Resources” and the list of books is included under the “Information for Parents” tab of the Harvard website.

EXCLUSIVE: SPLC’S ‘FAR-LEFT’ ‘ANTI-RACISM’ CURRICULUM FOUND IN CLASSROOMS AS EARLY AS KINDERGARTEN: WATCHDOG

The webpage also lists resources for teaching children as young as infants “anti-racism,” including Kendi’s “Anti-Racist Baby,” which “introduces the youngest readers and the grown-ups in their lives to the concept and power of antiracism,” according to Goodreads.

“Providing the language necessary to begin critical conversations at the earliest age, ‘Antiracist Baby’ is the perfect gift for readers of all ages dedicated to forming a just society” the description continues.

Harvard has faced issues of anti-White racism among its staff.

Gregory Davis, the former Dunster House Allston Burr resident dean at Harvard, was fired earlier this year after a series of anti-White, anti–police social media posts were unearthed. Other posts from Davis supported rioting and looting as legitimate forms of protest.

The posts in question were made between 2019 and 2024, mostly on X but also on Instagram. Davis became the dean of the dormitory in 2024.

“It’s almost like whiteness is a self-destructive ideology that annihilates everyone around it. By design,” he said on X in 2019.

During 2020, when tensions between police and left-wing rioters reached a fever pitch after George Floyd was killed, Davis slammed police.

“You should ask your cop friends to resign since they’re racist and evil,” he said on X at the time.

As rioters and looters wreaked havoc in major metropolitan areas nationwide, Davis defended the chaos.

“Something to keep in mind: rioting and looting are parts of democracy just like voting and marching,” he said on X. “The people WILL be heard.”

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

In the same year, around the time President Donald Trump tested positive for COVID-19, Davis said on X that he didn’t blame people who wished Trump ill. He followed that post with a second, captioned “But also, f— that guy,” attaching a meme that said “If he dies, he dies.”

More than 400 Democratic Jewish Michiganders are backing Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers and warning that they feel “threatened and alienated” by leftist candidate Abdul El-Sayed and his political allies.

Prominent Democratic donor Rob Orley, a senior advisor for O2 Investments, is among the signatories. He previously donated tens of thousands of dollars to Democratic campaigns, according to FEC campaign filings — but now he and other prominent Jewish leaders are ditching El-Sayed for Republican candidate Mike Rogers.

“Many of us have been fiercely supportive of Democratic candidates and principles,” a letter signed by Orley and hundreds of others stated.

“If El-Sayed were to win the general election in this important swing state, we fear the far-left and anti-Jewish elements in the Democratic Party would become dominant, including in the imminent 2028 presidential race,” the letter continues. “We cannot allow him to become the Democratic standard-bearer or Michigan’s senator.”

Fox News Digital reached out to O2 Investments for comment.

MICHIGAN SENATE HOPEFUL CALLS AIPAC DONATIONS ‘LEGALIZED BRIBERY,’ REMAINS SILENT ON OTHER DONATIONS

The letter includes signatures from some of the most prominent members of Michigan’s Jewish community, including Robert Gordon, the former president of Temple Israel, the state’s largest Jewish congregation, which was the site of an antisemitic attack in March.

Shayna Levine, the daughter of the leading rabbi at Temple Israel; David Propis, cantor of Congregation Shaarey Zedek; Laurence Deitch, who served as a University of Michigan regent; and Hannan Lis, a Weight Watchers executive, have also signed the letter declaring that they feel “threatened and alienated by the politics and allies embraced by Abdul El-Sayed.”

But former Rep. Andy Levin, who is Jewish, is claiming that opposition to El-Sayed among Jewish Democrats is a minority view and that his old foe, the American Israel Political Action Committee, is really driving the letter. Levin lost his 2022 primary bid to Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., after AIPAC spent more than $4 million in the primary race against him.

“It’s not a surprise to me,” Levin said in an interview with Fox News Digital. “The people I know associated with it are all long-time AIPAC insiders and supporters.” Levin added that AIPAC “represents a distinctly minority position about Israel and Palestine within the Jewish community.”

Levin, who was first elected to Congress in 2018 to replace his late father Sander Levin, gave his endorsement to El-Sayed in November 2025.

“I am overwhelmed like literally every day except Shabbat — our sabbath on Saturday — with the incoming I get from Jewish people, young people, middle-aged people, older people, who are so mad about an effort like this and who want to do everything they can to make sure Abdul El-Sayed wins the election on November 3rd, that this U.S. Senate seat stays democratic, and that we do everything we can to save and expand our democracy,” Levin continued.

However, attorney Daniel Cherrin, who signed the letter, told Fox News Digital that he has not attended an AIPAC event since college more than 30 years ago. Cherrin said he has tremendous respect for Levin, whom he has known for years, and previously worked with Abdul El-Sayed in Detroit and Wayne County. Although he considers El-Sayed a “good” person, Cherrin said he cannot overlook the movement backing his candidacy.

“I am very concerned about the movement that is behind Abdul, and for the safety of my community, I don’t feel safe in that environment with the people that are standing in support of him,” Cherrin told Fox News Digital.

DEMOCRATS’ CIVIL WAR HEADS TO MICHIGAN WHERE PROGRESSIVES FACE BIGGEST TEST YET IN HIGH-STAKES SENATE SHOWDOWN

“They don’t understand the impact that their words and their actions is having on me and my children and my neighbors,” Cherrin said. “And so, for that, I am very worried about should he be elected what that means for all those that are trying to advance his candidacy.”

Hasan Piker, a Twitch streamer who has called Orthodox Jews inbreds and said America deserved 9/11, has been a top surrogate for El-Sayed’s campaign. Over the past week, El-Sayed has attempted to distance himself from the social media influencer, suggesting that people focusing on his affiliation with Piker are “missing the boat.”

Levin, who has condemned Piker’s antisemitic falsehoods about the Oct. 7 attack, agreed with El-Sayed that too much focus is on Piker. He then argued that the Democratic National Committee received very little pushback for inviting Piker to stream during the 2024 Democratic National Convention, giving then-Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris an opportunity to reach Piker’s audience. Piker did not endorse Harris because of the Biden administration’s policy in the Gaza war.

“So I’m not accepting Hasan Piker, but look in the mirror, sister,” Levin said. “When it’s a guy named Abdul with a guy named Hasan, you’re blowing up about it and covering it massively. When it was not an Arab American or a Muslim who campaigned with him or did whatever Kamala Harris did, literally no one asked her a single question about it.”

Last month, El-Sayed said he had “no plans” to continue campaigning with Piker.

Roslyn Schindler attends Congregation T’chiyah, which is a progressive Reform synagogue that touts its support for Black Lives Matter, and transgender rights, with Levin. A daughter of Holocaust survivors, Schindler has lived in the metro Detroit area for 50 years and taught Holocaust studies at Wayne State University. She shared with Fox News Digital that she has supported El-Sayed well before his primary victory, and that the Democratic Party is in need of a “major shake-up,” citing El-Sayed’s support for progressive policies like Medicare for All and getting money out of politics.

“I am certainly not an anti-Zionist, as many Jews who don’t support Abdul think we are, but I am a committed Jew,” Schindler told Fox News Digital. “I’m a committed Democrat. I believe that the Democratic Party should be a large tent, so to speak, that includes all members of that party, no matter what their perspective.”

Fox News Digital asked Schindler for her thoughts on El-Sayed’s affiliation with Piker and whether there is a place in the Democratic Party for people who follow his ideology.

EL-SAYED TRIES TO MAKE PEACE WITH JEWISH DEMOCRATS BUT DRAWS LINE AT DUMPING HASAN PIKER

“As a Jew, I certainly don’t want anyone to be anti-Semitic. I don’t want anyone to be anti-Muslim. I don’t want anyone to be anti-LGBTQ, and the list goes on,” Schindler said. “Is that realistic? Probably not. Do I want those people to be part of the Democratic Party? It’s not really for me to want. It is what it is. They’ll either be part of it or they won’t.”

“But I do believe there is enough traction within the Jewish community at large to counter anti-Semitism, and that’s across the board,” Schindler continued.

But Cherrin said the fact that his family has to pass security officers guarding synagogues and temples is evidence to him that the Jewish community at large can’t tackle antisemitism by itself.

“It’s not about AIPAC for me,” Cherrin said. “It is about it is about how are we protecting the sanctity of the Jewish community in Michigan and frankly and across the country with all these other races that are out there.”

“People within the Jewish community, who typically identify as Democrats, don’t feel comfortable voting for the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate and are looking for a place to channel their frustration. That should not be discounted,” Cherrin continued.

Cherrin pushed for both Rogers and El-Sayed to continue to reach out to Jewish community members outside of politics to get a “real pulse” on what Jewish voters are thinking.

“Abdul is grateful for the good conversations he’s had with Jewish leaders across Michigan, and he’ll continue to be actively engaged with communities to build the coalition that will defeat Rogers, restore Democratic control of the U.S. Senate, and put a much-needed check on Trump’s reckless agenda,” a spokesperson for El-Sayed’s campaign said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

SIGN UP TO GET THE POLITICS NEWSLETTER

Rogers, who previously served in Congress for 15 years, said he appreciates the growing support from the Jewish community — especially those crossing party lines to back his bid for U.S. Senate.

“As antisemitism rises and Jewish families worry for their safety, it’s critical that we have leaders who will confront hatred — not inflame it,” Rogers said in a statement. “That’s where my opponent and I couldn’t be more different.”

“Abdul El-Sayed fans the flames of antisemitism. We’re fighting to extinguish it,” Rogers continued.

Although for progressive Jewish Democrats like Levin and Schindler, President Donald Trump and his MAGA allies like Rogers are the biggest threat to democracy.

“We have a chance to protect our Democracy by keeping this U.S. Senate seat democratic and expanding our democracy, by, for the first time, having, uh, electing a Muslim to the U.S. Senate,” Levin said. “Most Jews that I know so believe in this democratic experiment, this Democratic project called America.”

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

“And it’s about damn time that Muslims had a senator and there’s a brilliant person running here in Michigan who we can elect to be the first one. Will he do exactly what a Jewish person would do or something? No, but he will be someone we could talk to and who will be a great representative for all of Michigan and for the Arab American and Muslim communities in particular,” Levin said.

Senior administration officials touted President Donald Trump’s use of military force against cartels in the Western Hemisphere during a press call on Tuesday.

“So, the president directed, the Department of War executed, the first ever plan and strategy to use direct military force to defend the homeland from this threat,” one of the officials said.

“The effects have been spectacular, and we’ve seen the largest and steepest reduction in U.S. casualties inflicted by the cartels in American history,” the individual added.

US KILLS 4 ALLEGED DRUG SMUGGLERS ON BOAT IN CARIBBEAN, BRINGING TOTAL TO 227 IN 68 STRIKES

The official also indicated that the U.S. action “has created the political space — because we are now taking the fight to the cartels — for new governments to be elected that are going to partner directly with us to fight this battle.”

“And so now you see governments all across the Western Hemisphere rising up, saying that they recognize this as a military threat, and they’re gonna meet it as a military threat,” the official noted, pointing to Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Honduras, Costa Rica, and El Salvador as examples.

NEWLY UNCLASSIFIED PENTAGON IMAGES SHOW SUSPECTED DRUG BOATS AS OFFICIAL ISSUES DEADLY WARNING

One of the other officials noted that “U.S. Southern Command’s counter-narcotics operations have driven record reductions in illicit maritime activity,” which “includes a 65% reduction in the Western Caribbean,” a decline of 60% for the eastern Caribbean, as well as “a nearly 50%” decrease in key regions of the Eastern Pacific.

With Trump as commander-in-chief, the U.S. military has executed dozens of deadly attacks against vessels of alleged “narco-terrorists.”

The president’s policy of using the lethal strikes against alleged drug traffickers has been controversial.

US KILLS TWO ‘NARCO-TERRORISTS’ IN STRIKE 2 MONTHS SINCE LAST ANNOUNCED ANTI-‘NARCO-TRAFFICKING’ ATTACK

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

An official on the call said that America’s actions in the Western Hemisphere have yielded “a huge deterrent impact on bad actors all around the world” by showing the nation’s “willingness to use lethal force to protect our core interests.”

Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico is set to travel to Los Angeles in September for a high-dollar fundraiser with Hollywood celebrities, according to a report.

Politico reported that “Lost” co-creator Damon Lindelof and his wife, Heidi, will host a fundraiser for Talarico in Brentwood on Sept. 10. Tickets for the event start at $500 and go as high as $13,500, according to the outlet. This will be Talarico’s second Hollywood fundraiser in a few months. The first was held in June and was described by Page Six Hollywood as a “glitzy Dem fundraiser” at the home of Hollywood producer Peter Chernin. Fox News Digital reached out to the Lindelofs and Chernin for comment.

Meanwhile, Talarico’s opponent, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, will gather in Dallas for the Republican National Committee’s midterm convention, along with President Donald Trump and other Republicans. The same night Republicans rally in Dallas, former President Barack Obama will headline a Democratic House fundraiser in New York, according to The New York Times. The events put prominent Democrats on the coasts while Republicans gather in Texas.

Fox News Digital previously reported that donors from outside Texas accounted for roughly 50% of the funds raised by Talarico, according to first-quarter campaign finance records.

TALARICO SAYS THE DIVIDE IS ‘TOP VS. BOTTOM’ — THEN HEADS TO ONE OF AMERICA’S RICHEST DONOR ENCLAVES

Talarico is taking heat from Republicans for his out-of-state fundraising. RNC spokesperson Zach Kraft told Fox News Digital that “it is no surprise that James Talarico feels more comfortable in crazy liberal California than when his handlers force him to wear a fake cowboy hat and rent a pickup truck to pretend to be a ‘real’ Texan.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Talarico’s campaign for comment but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

Talarico currently serves as a progressive Democratic lawmaker in the Texas House of Representatives. Since winning the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate, Republicans have continually knocked him for his record of controversial statements, including calling God “nonbinary,” saying that there are six sexes and saying that reducing meat consumption was “existential” to fight climate change.

JAMES TALARICO DOESN’T DRIVE HIS OWN TRUCK IN VIRAL TEXAS CAMPAIGN AD FEATURING DODGE RAM

Despite the attacks, Talarico and Paxton are running a tight race, and many Democrats believe this could be the year Texas finally flips blue. A Fox News poll from July gave Talarico a 3-point edge over Paxton, 51% to 48%, which was within the survey’s margin of sampling error.

Paxton, meanwhile, has told Fox News Digital that Talarico’s lead is not surprising given his head start in the general election following his particularly messy primary runoff against incumbent Sen. John Cornyn.

Speaking with Fox News on Sunday, Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said that “money is an issue” in the race.

FIRST ON FOX: MAJOR CORNYN BACKER GOES ALL-IN FOR PAXTON AS GOP RALLIES AFTER RED STATE SHOCK POLL

“Mr. Talarico has been raising bucketloads of money from California, Hollywood,” he said.

He called on Trump to help Paxton with cash, saying, “We in the Senate don’t have the money budgeted for Texas; we need help from the president.”

SIGN UP TO GET THE POLITICS NEWSLETTER

For his part, Trump has promised: “I’m going to help Ken Paxton, and I’m going to spend a lot of time in Texas.”

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Touting his history of winning the state three times on the presidential level, he said, “I’ll be going to Texas, and we’re working really hard. We want to win that race.” Trump called Paxton a “very good candidate,” while taking a jab at Talarico, saying, “‘Talafreako,’ they call him, because he is a little freaky.”

EXCLUSIVE — The head of an influential Senate committee is urging Congress to reconsider the charter of the nation’s largest teachers union, citing its far-left associations and allegedly irresponsible financial activity.

In recent years, the National Education Association, which represents roughly 3 million educators, has come under fire for mobilizing students and teachers to support liberal activist campaigns, been criticized by its Jewish members for failing to address antisemitism, spent millions in membership dues supporting left-wing causes and partnered with organizations that portray political violence and far-left extremism favorably.

Now, Sen. Bill Cassidy, the Republican chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, is calling on his colleagues to take a closer look at the NEA’s congressional charter.

BLISTERING REPORT EXPOSES HOW NATIONAL K-12 GROUP’S DEI AGENDA IS TRICKLING DOWN TO LOCAL SCHOOLS

“Children are struggling to read and to do basic math. Instead of helping students succeed, teachers’ unions are injecting a dangerous, anti-American agenda into our classrooms,” Cassidy told Fox News Digital. “Parents deserve to send their children to school without worrying that they will be indoctrinated with DEI and taught that Americans have ‘misplaced faith’ in our institutions.”

Cassidy, in a report outlining the NEA’s activity obtained exclusively by Fox News Digital, puts a spotlight on the Zinn Education Project and Rethinking Schools — a pair of interlinked educational nonprofits that the top teachers union has collaborated with extensively.

EXCLUSIVE: SPLC’S ‘FAR-LEFT’ ‘ANTI-RACISM’ CURRICULUM FOUND IN CLASSROOMS AS EARLY AS KINDERGARTEN: WATCHDOG

The Zinn Education Project and Rethinking Schools, for instance, have published curricular materials that justify the actions of the Black Panther Party — a left-wing militant Black nationalist organization that operated during the Cold War — and praise its members, including those who were involved in acts of political violence, according to the report. 

“The Marxist and communist ideologies espoused by the Black Panther Party are inconsistent and incompatible with the foundation of the United States Constitution,” Cassidy’s report, published by the HELP committee, reads. “The Black Panthers advocated for the use of armed force against police and were involved in the murders of civil servants and members of their own party.”

SCOPE OF SPLC’S DEEPLY EMBEDDED INFLUENCE TRAINING TEACHERS NATIONWIDE UNCOVERED IN SWEEPING REPORT

Rethinking Schools also published a lesson plan where students are meant to role-play as “queer liberation” activists fighting against the “Religious Right,” according to the report. Another lesson plan, titled “Expanding Intersectional Queer History in the Elementary Grades,” instructs teachers on how to incorporate LGBTQ material into lessons for young students.

The union has worked closely with the duo of nonprofits over the years, giving them prominent space and speaking opportunities at conferences, collaborating with them on curriculum development and nationwide teaching events, and praising and promoting their lessons. The union has also incorporated the groups’ work into educator handbooks and helped distribute their lesson plans to teachers.

HOUSE GOP LAUNCHES PROBE INTO 5 MAJOR LABOR UNIONS OVER DEM SPENDING DESPITE MAGA MEMBERSHIP BASE

Congress chartered the NEA in 1906 under the expectation that it would “elevate the character and advance the interests of the profession of teaching; and to promote the cause of education in the United States,” a mission Cassidy and some other Republicans argue it has since strayed from. Revoking the NEA’s charter would primarily be a reputational blow to the union, as it would still be able to operate even without it.

As another example of the NEA allegedly failing to live up to its charter, the HELP committee points to its involvement in the left-wing protest movements.

MAY DAY PROTESTS ‘JUST THE BEGINNING’ OF STUDENT ACTIVISM PUSH, EXPERT WARNS

The labor union promoted and participated in the 2026 May Day protests, which were critical of President Donald Trump and his Republican allies. In one planning webinar the NEA hosted in the lead-up to the demonstrations, educators were advised to “bring activism into the classroom,” targeting children as young as three years old. Students in Chicago were reportedly encouraged by teachers to skip class for the protests, even as Chicago Public Schools see subpar reading and math competency scores.

On the financial side of things, Cassidy points to data showing that, since 2015, the NEA has contributed hundreds of millions of dollars to advocacy organizations and political action committees, the vast majority of which are left-of-center. In some cases, political organizations funded by the NEA later provided members of the union’s leadership team with cushy jobs, according to the report.

FAR-LEFT ACTIVIST CONFERENCE AT TEACHERS UNION HQ RAISES CLASSROOM CONCERNS

“The central issue is not whether every such expenditure is impermissible. Rather, it is whether members receive sufficient transparency about how their dues are used, whether union leadership has adopted adequate safeguards against conflicts of interest and whether these expenditures advance the purposes for which members joined the union in the first place,” the Senate committee report reads.

Organizations funded by the NEA include the Sixteen Thirty Fund and the Tides Foundation, two of the largest Democratic-aligned dark money operations in the country, as well as millions to its own PAC, which almost exclusively supports Democratic candidates.

JEWISH EDUCATORS FACE RAMPANT ANTISEMITISM IN TEACHERS UNIONS, NEW REPORT FINDS

The HELP committee report also alleges that the NEA has failed to represent the interests of Jewish educators, citing an August 2025 letter where the union’s Jewish Affairs Caucus claimed its members reported “shunning, harassment and antisemitic comments” at the union’s annual assembly.

While not congressionally chartered like the NEA, the American Federation of Teachers drew flak from Cassidy’s report for many of the same reasons.

The report cites the AFT’s participation in “No Kings” protests against President Donald Trump, its boycott of Target over immigration enforcement and its advocacy on LGBTQ+ issues, as well as its routing of tens of millions of dollars to liberal causes, as evidence of alleged mission drift at the union.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

The NEA, AFT, Rethinking Schools and the Zinn Education Project did not respond to requests for comment when reached by Fox News Digital on Tuesday.

The scrutiny comes as the NEA transitions to new leadership. Princess R. Moss, a former NEA vice president and secretary-treasurer, began a three-year term as president on Tuesday, succeeding Becky Pringle, who led the union for six years.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis endorsed a “slate” of Republicans statewide Tuesday, including GOP gubernatorial nominee U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds. 

“I’m endorsing the slate here tonight … because I know it’s important for the state of Florida,” DeSantis said at the Florida GOP Leadership Forum in Tampa.

The event showcased Donalds, Attorney General James Uthmeier, Florida Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia and Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson.

Last year DeSantis appointed Ingoglia as CFO and Uthmeier as attorney general. Later in 2025, the governor endorsed Ingoglia for election to the CFO post. He then backed Simpson for re-election this year. 

TRUMP’S HANDPICKED DESANTIS SUCCESSOR WINS CROWDED GOP PRIMARY FOR FLORIDA GOVERNOR

“Tonight I was honored to earn Governor @RonDeSantis’s endorsement,” Donalds wrote in a post on X.

“Governor DeSantis has done incredible work to make Florida the envy of America. As your next Governor, I will build on his success and defend the Florida Dream,” he said.

FORMER FLORIDA GOVERNOR HOPEFUL HAULED OUT OF COUNTY MEETING AFTER PROTESTING ISRAEL INVESTMENTS

Donalds, who won the Florida GOP gubernatorial primary in August with the backing of President Donald Trump, will face Democratic gubernatorial candidate former U.S. Rep. David Jolly in the general election.

While he is currently running for governor as a Democrat, Jolly previously served in the U.S. House of Representatives as a Republican.

BYRON DONALDS SHUTS DOWN BILL MAHER’S CLAIM ON GOP PRIMARY RACISM, SAYS ‘FLORIDA IS A MERITOCRACY’

Under the Florida Constitution, DeSantis, who is serving his second consecutive term, is not eligible to seek another consecutive term as governor this year.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

“No person who has, or but for resignation would have, served as governor or acting governor for more than six years in two consecutive terms shall be elected governor for the succeeding term,” the Florida constitution states.

Massachusetts Democrats rewarded incumbency in marquee primaries Tuesday, but the clearest message came in the state’s generational showdown, with 80-year-old Sen. Ed Markey routing moderate Democratic Rep. Seth Moulton, 47, after Moulton argued it was time for the party to “pass the torch.”

Tuesday night’s results underscored Democratic dominance in the deep-blue state rather than a single ideological sweep. Voters backed established incumbents across the party’s factions and selected a Biden-Harris-backed former White House aide in the closely watched open-seat contest to take over Moulton’s House seat after he abandoned it to run for Senate. Meanwhile, Republicans failed to nominate House candidates in four districts — the first, second, fifth and seventh — while only fielding write-ins for the blue stronghold’s secretary of state race.

Markey’s victory over the more moderate Moulton, however, stood out as the night’s clearest win for the party’s progressive wing.

TOP ELECTION SCHEMES ROILING KEY MIDTERM RACES AS BOTH PARTIES ACCUSE RIVALS OF TRICKERY

“Its very clear that the dem voters care more about policies and having a progressive represent them in the senate, than age!,” controversial Twitch streamer and far-left activist Hasan Piker said after the Associated Press projected Markey would win. “Another w for our movement!”

Moulton highlighted the difficult battle he faced trying to unseat a longtime incumbent like Markey following his concession, but said the effort was not for nothing, noting “we started conversations that needed to happen” and adding that he is “confident … others will be inspired to buck the system when they’re told to wait their turn.”

Markey faced attacks during the campaign over his far-left positions, including his support for transgender athletes’ participation in women’s sports, but the progressive bona fides of the Massachusetts lawmaker, who has represented the state in Congress for nearly five decades, were not a significant enough sticking point for voters to abandon him.

SCANDAL-PLAGUED ‘SQUAD’ REP CRUISES TO DEMOCRATIC NOMINATION WITH NO GOP ROADBLOCKS IN VIEW

“Ed Markey has spent decades fighting for LGBTQ+ equality, for working people, and for a more livable world,” said Human Rights Campaign (HRC) President Kelley Robinson following Markey’s win. “He knows why equality matters.  He’s stood with us no matter what. We were proud to endorse him this year, and when a pro-equality majority takes back the Senate this fall, we will continue to count on him as a champion for our community.”

The incumbent success Markey saw carried into the House during Tuesday night’s Massachusetts primaries, where Reps. Richard Neal and Stephen Lynch fended off younger challengers, while Reps. Katherine Clark and Jake Auchincloss also advanced. The string of wins offered little evidence of broad anti-incumbent turbulence in the state’s Democratic delegation.

Massachusetts Democrats also picked former Biden White House aide Dan Koh to succeed Moulton in the open 6th Congressional District. Koh’s victory gives the delegation a new face, but it did not come at an incumbent’s expense as Moulton vacated the seat for his unsuccessful Senate bid, creating the district’s first open-seat contest without an incumbent on the ballot in decades.

TOP DEMOCRAT SURVIVES DOUBLE-BARRELED CHALLENGE AS PARTY’S ISRAEL DIVIDE HITS HOME

Massachusetts Republicans, meanwhile, failed to field nominees in several House districts, including the Boston-area 7th District, leaving Democrats such as Rep. Ayanna Pressley without GOP opposition in November. Pressley ran unopposed in Tuesday’s primary.

Republicans will still have a statewide standard-bearer in November after businessman Michael Minogue defeated Brian Shortsleeve for the GOP gubernatorial nomination and advanced to face Democratic Gov. Maura Healey, who won her primary unopposed Tuesday night.

The GOP also nominated House candidates in five of the state’s nine districts: the third, fourth, sixth, eighth and ninth.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

The most notable is the open 6th District, where Republican Micah Quinney Jones will face Koh, who was backed by former President Joe Biden, former Vice President Kamala Harris and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, alongside several other alumni of the Biden administration. The support gave Koh a powerful establishment coalition in the crowded contest to succeed Moulton.

SIGN UP TO GET THE POLITICS NEWSLETTER

Following Koh’s win, Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin congratulated the former Biden administration aide.

“From Boston City Hall and the U.S. Department of Labor to the White House, Dan Koh has dedicated his life to public service and ensuring government actually delivers for working families. He is a Massachusetts native who knows how to bring people together to solve problems and fight for our communities,” Martin said in a statement. “In Congress, Dan will prioritize bringing down costs, protecting healthcare, making housing more affordable, strengthening workers’ rights, rooting out corruption, and holding Donald Trump accountable. The DNC is ready to work alongside him to make life more affordable for people throughout Massachusetts’ 6th Congressional District.”

The Department of Justice (DOJ) is investigating other school districts and contemplating additional lawsuits over alleged violations of federal parental rights laws, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon told Fox News Digital Tuesday, calling the DOJ’s newly filed “first-of-its-kind” case against Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools the “first of many.”

The DOJ sued Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools (KCKPS) Tuesday, alleging the district violated the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA) with a district policy that facilitates “secret gender transitions” for students at school without their parents’ knowledge or consent.

“No, we’re not waiting. What we do is we ask for documents, we investigate and then we try to resolve cases with school districts. And if we cannot, then we file lawsuits. And, so, there are many other lawsuits contemplated here and other investigations that are ongoing,” Dhillon said when asked whether DOJ would wait for the Kansas case to conclude before pursuing other districts.

Dhillon declined to identify the other districts under investigation, saying she did not want to prejudge the outcomes.

EXCLUSIVE: HOUSE COMMITTEE PROBES CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOLS OVER HIDING ‘GENDER AFFIRMATION’ FROM PARENTS

“This is a really important lawsuit for us. And the point I wanted to emphasize is that it’s the first of many,” she said.

The DOJ lawsuit against KCKPS centers on internal guidance for transgender and gender non-conforming students. The DOJ alleges the district has used versions of the guidance since 2017.

Under the guidance described in the complaint, students can ask that their parents be excluded from school planning meetings and that their transgender or gender non-conforming status not be disclosed to their parents. The resulting written plans can address names, pronouns, school records, restroom and locker room use, sports and other accommodations.

Asked about KCKPS’ assertion that it complies with federal law, Dhillon rejected the district’s position.

FIRST ON FOX: SCHOOL LIED, HID DAUGHTER’S GENDER TRANSITION UNDER DISTRICT POLICY, PARENTS ALLEGE

“Well, I think you can get that from the complaint, but they had secret gender transition plans that locked parents out of knowing what was being asked of their children. So, I obviously completely reject that,” Dhillon said.

KCKPS disputed DOJ’s allegations Tuesday in a news release.

“Contrary to the allegations in the complaint, the district maintains that it is in full compliance with FERPA and PPRA and is disappointed by the DOJ’s decision to file the lawsuit,” the release read.

The district said it would respond through the federal court process and would not comment further while the litigation is pending.

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION THREATENS KANAS SCHOOL DISTRICT FUNDING OVER TRANSGEDNER STUDENT POLICY

The DOJ argues the written plans constitute education records under FERPA and that excluding parents can prevent them from exercising their rights to inspect and challenge those records.

The government separately alleges the district violates PPRA by allowing students to participate in meetings and evaluations that can reveal sensitive information without prior written parental consent.

The Department of Education opened a FERPA investigation into KCKPS in August 2025.

The federal government advised the district Aug. 12 that its guidance violated FERPA and PPRA, and the complaint states the government ultimately determined KCKPS would not voluntarily comply.

The DOJ is asking a federal court to declare the district’s practices unlawful and prohibit enforcement of the guidance or similar policies that violate FERPA or PPRA.

Dhillon said the DOJ intends to pursue potential violations elsewhere.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

“But I want there to be a very clear message to every school district in the United States. They are on notice that if they violate FERPA and PPRA, the United States Department of Justice stands ready to protect the rights of parents and the rights to pupils to privacy, dignity and parental rights in determining how children are educated in the United States,” Dhillon said.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Kansas referred questions about the lawsuit to the DOJ’s Office of Public Affairs.