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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.

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“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.

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“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.

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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.

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“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.

Former medical device executive Mike Minogue won the Massachusetts gubernatorial primary Tuesday, defeating Brian Shortsleeve, a former executive at the MBTA, the state-run transit agency.

The winner will now face favored Democratic Gov. Maura Healey, who is running for a second term. Massachusetts has had continuous Democratic representation in Congress since 1996, but Republicans have had considerably more success in races for the governor’s mansion since the Reagan era.

Minogue emphasized his business credentials in campaign materials, citing his work at GE Healthcare before leading Danvers-based Abiomed.

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Minogue said that, while he was at Abiomed, the company developed the world’s smallest heart pump and doubled the size of its headquarters, increasing its in-state capabilities and creating jobs.

Minogue also drew attention on social media when Boston-based Canadian American investor Kevin O’Leary, better known as Shark Tank’s “Mr. Wonderful,” appeared in one of his videos and said he does not usually “show for politicians.”

“Massachusetts is ‘dead-money’ now. We need a guy like this to run the show,” O’Leary said in July.

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According to The Boston Herald, Healey launched a last-minute ad attacking Minogue as “MAGA Mike,” which the newspaper said shows the executive “has Healey’s attention” and may help Shortsleeve.

Minogue won the state’s GOP convention endorsement with 70% of the vote, while Shortsleeve earned his ballot position with a fraction of a percentage point more than the required 15%, according to reports.

Minogue self-funded roughly $7 million of the more than $7.5 million he raised in the first quarter, hosted a fundraiser with Vice President JD Vance and has donated to Trump and the RNC. Shortsleeve raised about $646,500 in the first quarter of 2026.

Healey was formally renominated Tuesday after running unopposed. Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll, a fellow Democrat, also advances unopposed to the November election.

Republicans, however, have no candidates in about half of the state’s congressional districts or in the races for secretary of state and state auditor. A signature problem has forced lieutenant gubernatorial candidate Anne Manning Martin to run a write-in campaign.

The district in the Berkshires, the district covering much of the Massachusetts Turnpike corridor, and two exurban Boston-area districts to the north and west have no Republican candidates competing Tuesday, guaranteeing Democratic nominees will advance in those races ahead of November.

Massachusetts state government has not always been as reliably Democratic in modern times despite the conditions in this year’s contests.

Former Gov. Charlie Baker, a moderate Republican, preceded Healey from 2015 to 2023.

Former Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, served as Massachusetts governor from 2003 to 2007 and opted against re-election before launching an unsuccessful presidential bid against President Barack Obama.

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Romney was preceded by several Republican governors. From 1997 through the end of Romney’s tenure, Republicans continuously held the governor’s office.

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Former libertarian presidential candidate Gov. William Weld, former Gov. Paul Cellucci and former Gov. Jane Swift were consecutive Republican governors. Swift was elevated to the office when Cellucci became then-President George W. Bush’s ambassador to Canada.

Weld was preceded by 1988 Democratic presidential nominee Gov. Michael Dukakis, and Democrats more often held the governor’s office in the preceding era.

President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he is nominating acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao to permanently lead the service, calling the former Navy special operations officer a “true WARRIOR” and urging the Senate to quickly confirm him.

Cao has served as acting secretary for the past four months, overseeing the Navy and Marine Corps as the Trump administration pushes to expand U.S. shipbuilding and strengthen the military’s maritime capabilities.

“I am pleased to nominate a true WARRIOR, Hung Cao, to become the next Secretary of the Navy,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“We need Patriots like Hung leading our Navy and Marine Corps, and I can think of no one better than him to make sure our Great Navy and Marine Corps remain the FIERCEST and BEST Force the World has ever seen,” the president continued.

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Trump called on the Senate to move quickly on the nomination, pointing to Cao’s tenure already leading the department.

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“The Senate needs to confirm this Warfighter, ASAP, so he can continue the fantastic work he has been doing over the past 4 months,” Trump wrote.

Cao thanked Trump shortly after the announcement and said his priorities would continue to include shipbuilding and homeland defense.

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“Thank you, Mr. President. It’s an honor of a lifetime to lead the great warriors of the Navy and Marine Corps team,” Cao wrote on X. “I’m grateful for your leadership and support as we continue to get after shipbuilding and ensure the defense of the homeland.”

Cao is a retired Navy captain who served for 25 years in uniform after graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy. His military career included service in special operations and deployments to combat zones, including Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Virginia Republican later entered politics, mounting an unsuccessful bid for Congress in 2022 before challenging Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine for his Senate seat in 2024.

Trump endorsed Cao during the 2024 campaign, touting his military background. Cao ultimately lost to Kaine before joining the Trump administration and taking over the Navy in an acting capacity earlier this year.

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If confirmed by the Senate, Cao would formally assume responsibility for the Department of the Navy, which includes both the Navy and Marine Corps.

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The White House and the U.S. Navy did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.

Rep. Stephen Lynch, who has cultivated a relatively conservative reputation while representing Massachusetts for the past quarter-century, has defeated a well-funded progressive challenger.

Patrick Roath, an attorney and one-time aide for former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, challenged Lynch from the left, outraising him by about $300,000. Lynch and Roath clashed over a number of issues on the campaign trail, namely immigration, healthcare, money in politics and housing.

Lynch was one of 46 House Democrats to vote in favor of the Laken Riley Act, legislation requiring federal authorities to detain certain migrants accused or convicted of theft and other specified crimes. Roath, who supported dismantling and replacing ICE, cited Lynch’s support for the bill as part of his reason for entering the race.

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Roath criticized Lynch’s support of the bill as “shortsighted and expedient” and argued that it “demonstrates a fundamental failure to take seriously the threat that the Trump Administration poses to all Americans.”

Lynch acknowledged that the Laken Riley Act was “imperfect,” but defended his vote principally as a response to what he called an immigration system that was “completely out of control.”

On healthcare, Roath supported moving toward universal, government-funded coverage and has backed Medicare for All, while Lynch has supported a public option and sharply criticized the role of for-profit companies in the hospital system.

Lynch, notably, was one of just a handful of Democrats to vote against the Affordable Care Act. The congressman justified his vote by arguing that it provided too many concessions to insurance companies.

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While Roath ran as an outsider populist, Lynch attempted to challenge that posturing by pointing to the progressive’s career as a corporate lawyer. Before becoming a member of Congress in 2001, Lynch was previously an iron worker, union president and lawyer.

Both Lynch and Roath managed to pull together an impressive coalition of supporters.

The Boston Globe, David Hogg’s Leaders We Deserve, Indivisible, Massachusetts Teachers Association, Boston Teachers Union and American Federation of Teachers Massachusetts all endorsed Roath, while Lynch secured the backing of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, Iron Workers Local 7, Professional Firefighters of Massachusetts and the American Federation of Government Employees.

In addition to falling within the context of the power struggle between the Democratic Party’s progressive and moderate wings, the primary in Massachusetts’s 8th Congressional District was also a generational battle. Lynch is 71 and Roath is just 39.

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Despite his voting record, Lynch has said that his reputation as a conservative or a moderate is overstated.

“Calling me the least liberal member from Massachusetts is like calling me the slowest Kenyan in the Boston Marathon,” he said in 2010. “It’s all relative.”

While Lynch is conservative compared to his colleagues in the Massachusetts delegation, he has shifted to the left in recent years. Once a proud pro-life Democrat, the long-time congressman now defends Planned Parenthood and throws his support behind pro-abortion legislation.

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Massachusetts’ 8th Congressional District is heavily Democratic. Robert Burke, a retired telecommunications worker and small businessman, is the GOP’s nominee in the constituency.

Hasan Piker, a controversial Twitch streamer and far-left activist who has supported several challengers against moderate Democrats, celebrated the victory of Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., in a primary contest that pitted the 80-year-old progressive stalwart against a far younger and more centrist candidate.

“It’s very clear that the Dem voters care more about policies and having a progressive represent them in the Senate than age! Another w for our movement!” Piker wrote on X after Markey defeated Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., who is 33 years his junior.

Markey defeated Moulton, who centered his campaign on generational change, by casting himself as the race’s true progressive. He repeatedly questioned Moulton’s progressive credentials while continuing to push for transgender rights, particularly in sports — a position many Democrats have shied away from.

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The position, which Republicans have used as a political rallying cry on the campaign trail and which Democrats have largely avoided as they push to flip both chambers of Congress, is one that Moulton argued played a major role in Democrats’ losses across the board in 2024.

“Trans athletes should be able to play,” Markey told The New York Times. “That reflects Massachusetts and who we are. And Seth Moulton does not.”

Markey has also supported aggressive legislation on climate change, a platform that helped win over even groups that center around younger audiences.

“VICTORY! Congratulations to Ed Markey on his victory in Massachusetts tonight. Sen. Markey has been a leading climate champion in the fight for a Green New Deal to create jobs and lower costs for working people,” the Sunrise Movement said in a statement to X.

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The group describes itself as a “movement of young people fighting fascism to win a Green New Deal.”

David Axelrod, a top political consultant and former advisor to President Barack Obama, noted that Markey hadn’t always been a darling of the progressive left ahead of Tuesday’s election. He credited Markey’s pivot for his political longevity.

“[Ed Markey] was first elected to Congress 50 yrs ago as a social conservative, opposed to abortion rights and school busing,” Axelrod said in his own post to X.

“Now 80, he’s likely to sail in tonight’s primary in MA, despite his age, because, in his Golden Years, he’s grabbed on to the Green New Deal, Medicare for All, trans rights and other marquee priorities of the Left, undergirding himself against younger, more moderate challengers in very blue MA.”

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., also praised Markey’s win. Like Markey, Sanders, 84, continues to shape the progressive movement despite the decades between him and many of its younger candidates.

“Congratulations to Ed Markey on his landslide victory in the Democratic Massachusetts Senate primary. Ed knows that, at a time of massive income and wealth inequality, Congress must take on the billionaires and fight for working families,” Sanders wrote.

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Having cleared the primary election, Markey now heads to the general on Nov. 3, where he is heavily favored to win in the deep-blue Bay State.

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Markey last won reelection in a 66.2% to 33.0% victory over Republican challenger Kevin O’Connor, a local attorney.

A former Biden administration aide just won a crowded primary race in Massachusetts, setting up a glide path to the House of Representatives come November.

Dan Koh came out first among six candidates to replace Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., who ended his House tenure with a failed run for Senate against incumbent Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., that came to a conclusion Tuesday night.

Koh had the backing of both former President Joe Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris, which was no surprise after his stint working in the White House. He first joined the administration as chief of staff to then-Labor Secretary Marty Walsh and later became deputy assistant to the president and deputy director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs.

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But his successful Tuesday primary is not the first time Koh ran for Congress. He narrowly lost the Democratic nomination in Massachusetts’ nearby 3rd Congressional District to Rep. Lori Trahan, D-Mass., in 2018.

Koh is running on progressive campaign promises like abolishing “Trump’s ICE” referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and universal healthcare.

He’s now poised to succeed Moulton in the 6th Congressional District, which includes the northeastern portion of Massachusetts and is rated a safe blue seat.

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Moulton, who served in the Marine Corps, has represented the district since 2015.

His campaign for Senate has been marked by a bitter primary battle against Markey, an 80-year-old progressive who has been in office since 2013.

Moulton, 47, ran his campaign based on generational change and arguing that Markey had long missed his chance to substantively make life better for Massachusetts residents, but that wasn’t enough to stave him off Tuesday. 

AOC ENDORSES SEN ED MARKEY AS INCUMBENT FACES DEM US SENATE PRIMARY CHALLENGE FROM REP SETH MOULTON

Markey is backed by the far left’s marquee names, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. Meanwhile, Koh himself is a figure of the establishment left, with both his father and uncle also serving in the federal government.

His father, Howard Koh, was an assistant secretary in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under former President Barack Obama. His uncle served under the Obama and Clinton administrations.

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Koh now moves on to face Republican military veteran Micah Jones, who is running in his primary unopposed.

House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark toppled two progressive challengers Tuesday in Massachusetts’ safely Democratic 5th Congressional District, surviving a primary fight that put Gaza and pro-Israel political spending at the center of the race.

Clark, who won handily Tuesday night against fellow Democratic Party contenders Jonathan Paz and Tarik Samman, was first elected in 2013 during a special election and has held her position as House Democratic whip since 2022.

The second-highest ranking Democrat after House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Clark has helped lead opposition to Republican spending, immigration and healthcare measures, including recent messaging against ICE funding and GOP cuts to Head Start and Medicaid.

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She ran against former city councilor, educator and union organizer Paz and 27-year-old Harvard Law School researcher and union organizer Samman.

Clark fended off two left-wing challengers who sought to make Gaza and pro-Israel political money central issues in the safely blue Boston-area primary.

Her fundraising operation dwarfed both challengers, raising $4.5 million, while Paz raised $88,500 and Samman brought in $43,800, according to FEC filings.

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While AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, endorsed Clark and has contributed to her campaign in the past, she has taken a critical stance toward the Israeli government’s handling of the war in Gaza.

AIPAC is an influential pro-Israel lobbying group that has been criticized for advocating for U.S. military aid to Israel amid the war in Gaza.

Last year, Clark used the word “genocide” at a district event before clarifying that she was not accusing Israel of genocide. Then, in July, she voted to cut $3.3 billion in U.S. military aid, saying Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government had failed to meet U.S. interests and values.

Clark has continued to support Israel as a sovereign Jewish state and backed U.S. assistance for some Israeli defensive systems but is critical of Netanyahu.

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Samman and Paz have argued that while Clark has increasingly criticized Israel’s conduct in Gaza, she has yet to renounce the AIPAC money she has accepted.

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Clark ran unopposed in 2024. Her most recent general election opponent was Republican Caroline Colarusso, whom Clark defeated 74% to 26% in 2022.

Rep. Jake Auchincloss advanced Tuesday against Jason Poulos in Massachusetts’ 4th Congressional District.

Auchincloss has held his seat since 2021, facing his first Democratic primary challenge since winning the seat.

Progressive challenger Poulos is an AI policy researcher who has been critical of Auchincloss regarding past support for military aid to Israel and ties to AIPAC while calling for an end to U.S. military assistance to Israel.

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Poulos, who previously volunteered for Bernie Sanders’ campaign, ran on Medicare-for-all, universal basic income, taxes on corporate automation, stronger unions, student-debt cancellation. He also wanted to reduce military spending and end U.S. military aid to Israel.

While Auchincloss is endorsed by AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, he been critical of aspects of Israel’s conduct in Gaza by saying some Israeli actions in 2025 “crossed lines” on humanitarian conditions.

AIPAC is an pro-Israel influential lobbying group that has been criticized for advocating for U.S. military aid to Israel amid the war in Gaza.

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In July, Auchincloss voted with more than 100 House Democrats to eliminate $3.3 billion in U.S. military financing for Israel, while maintaining his support for the U.S.-Israel alliance.

Auchincloss campaigned on lowering housing and healthcare costs, promoting economic growth and positioning Democrats to better confront the economic disruption caused by AI.

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Auchincloss, who succeeded Joe Kennedy III, comes from a prominent Boston medical family.

He had previously been a registered Republican and worked on then-Gov. Charlie Baker’s campaign, a line his primary opponents used against him. He later returned to the Democratic Party.

Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., is officially the Democratic nominee for Massachusetts‘ 7th Congressional District after facing no challengers in Tuesday’s primary.

But despite controversies involving Pressley’s personal finances, her husband and racially charged remarks she’s made, the “Squad member” will face no Republican candidate in the November general election.

Pressley’s district encompasses roughly three-quarters of Boston, and the Cook Political Report ranks it as Solid Democrat. She was first elected to office in 2018, alongside Squad members Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich.

Although Pressley faced no competition in the primary or general election, she joined other Democratic candidates on the campaign trail, including state Rep. Tram Nguyen, a Democratic candidate for District 6. Like Pressley, Nguyen is calling to abolish ICE, implement Medicare for all and end all military aid to Israel.

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Pressley also joined Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., on the campaign trail.

With no challengers from either political party, Pressley continued criticizing President Donald Trump and the conservative-majority Supreme Court this election cycle.

Following the Supreme Court’s 6-3 ruling in Louisiana v. Callais, which held that creating a second majority-Black district constituted unconstitutional racial gerrymandering, Pressley accused the Trump administration of being “anti-Black” and “that would rather Black Americans pick cotton than pick the president, than pick their congressperson, than pick a senator.”

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A week before the primary, Pressley spoke at a campaign rally for Markey in which she said White supremacy is thriving under Trump’s presidency.

“It is bigger than Trump,” Pressley said. “Because whenever we do the work of ousting the occupant of the Oval Office, the Confederacy is still alive and well,” Pressley said. “That’s all MAGA is. White supremacy is still alive and well. Anti-Blackness will still be alive and well.”

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When introducing a bill in April aimed at providing relief to people facing eviction, Pressley called evictions “an act of violence.”

However, critics pointed to Pressley’s 2024 financial disclosure, which showed that she and her husband reported $8 million in assets from four Massachusetts rental properties.

In July, Pressley’s husband, Conan Harris, also faced scrutiny after a company he partners with secured a $2 billion contract from the state to build a new courthouse in Massachusetts. John Barros, a key partner in CoJo Real Estate, divested from the company because of ethics concerns over how the contract was awarded.

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Losing bidders for the project are now suing and pointing to Barros’ departure from the company as evidence of wrongdoing.

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However, Pressley is not accused of wrongdoing in the suit.

James Fischback, a former Florida gubernatorial candidate and controversial political figure, was forcibly removed from a Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners meeting Tuesday afternoon after protesting the county’s expanded investment in Israel-backed bonds.

“Do you serve the people of Hialeah or of Haifa? Do you serve the people of Aventura or of Tel Aviv? Do you serve the people of South Miami or of Jerusalem? This money should be invested here in this community. It should be invested in Miami-Dade County,” he added before officers escorted him from the room.

The confrontation comes after the county voted earlier this summer to raise its investment cap with Israel from 3% to 5% of its portfolio — a move that allows it invest upwards of about $400 million to $450 million. The change has drawn opposition from figures like Fischback critical of using public funds to invest in Israel as the war in Gaza continues to fuel political divisions in the U.S. It has also provided Fischback a platform to continue his opposition to U.S.-Israel ties.

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“What this is about, very simply, is whom do you serve?” Fischback said.

Fischback, a Republican, has garnered national attention for his views on race and has developed a reputation for confrontational public appearances.

Fischback was among the 11 GOP candidates seeking to replace outgoing Gov. Ron DeSantis. He garnered 10.4% of the vote in the Aug. 18 primary but drew national attention for a series of inflammatory on-camera moments.

In one such case, he repeatedly called Rep. Byron Donalds, the frontrunner, eventual nominee and one of the only Black Republicans in Congress, a “slave” repeatedly at a news conference.

“Byron Donalds is a slave. I’m sorry, he’s a slave. He is a slave to his donors. He is a slave to the corporate interests, to the tech bros that want to turn our state into, in his own words, a financial capital,” Fischback said.

He would later shout a similar phrase at Donalds directly, catching Donalds on the way back to his car with a megaphone and a throng of supporters.

“You’re a DEI hire. You’re a slave. Go back to New York,” Fischback yelled.

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Fischback’s comments on Tuesday weren’t the only ones that expressed outrage over the portfolio change.

Other members of the public who expressed concern about the change voiced disappointment that the county would put public investment dollars behind Israel, given the politically charged atmosphere around the topic of its relations with the U.S.

Another woman who identified herself as Ivar Fandel walked to the podium wearing a “let Gaza live” shirt.

“Item 5B does exist in the context of a budget crisis as well as a genocide against Palestinians in Gaza at the hands of Israel,” Fandel said, referring to the agenda item discussing the county’s change.

During his campaign, Fischback positioned himself as one of the only Republican candidates to decline contributions from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). He also pledged to divest from Israel-backed bonds.

“Florida has a specific policy. You’re not allowed to use taxpayer funds to buy foreign government bonds, with one exception: Israel. And so my premise is, first principles, we should not be lending taxpayer pensioner money to any foreign government,” Fischback said in an interview with the American Conservative.

He also blasted several candidates, including Donalds, for what he characterized as “singular allegiance” to Israel.

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“I think people like Randy Fine and other AIPAC politicians have a singular allegiance. And that allegiance is to the best interests of Israel. The idea of saying ‘I am running to represent a foreign country’s interest in the United States Congress’ is preposterous. They’re buying allegiance,” Fischback said in a post to X.

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Fischback did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Fox News Digital.

The House of Representatives passed a resolution condemning socialism on Tuesday evening, with all but eight House Democrats voting against it.

The resolution passed 220 to 192 with all “no” votes coming from the left, including Democrats’ senior leaders: House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., House Minority Whip Katherine Clark, D-Mass., and House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar, D-Calif.

The legislation also affirmed support for election integrity and called for passage of the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which nearly all Democrats oppose.

In a stunning twist of fate, however, the vote would not have occurred if two House Democrats hadn’t stepped in hours earlier to help the GOP through a procedural hurdle — blindsiding Jeffries in the process.

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House conservatives had threatened to tank a procedural vote, called a “rule vote,” meant to unlock debate on several bills GOP leaders wanted lawmakers to vote on this week. That included the resolution condemning socialism and several other unrelated bills.

Five Republicans voted against the rule, which was poised to fail until Reps. Jared Golden, D-Maine, and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash., provided two critical votes to get the GOP over the finish line in a narrow 209 to 208 vote.

All Republicans wound up voting in favor of the resolution condemning socialism and affirming election integrity on Tuesday evening, however.

TENSIONS ERUPT IN HOUSE HEARING AS GOP ADVANCES ANTI-SOCIALISM RESOLUTION WHILE DEMS RAGE: ‘SILLY SEASON’

Golden and Gluesenkamp Perez were among the Democrats who joined the GOP in that vote, as well as Reps. Don Davis, D-N.C., Vicente Gonzalez, D-Texas, Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, Kathy Castor, D-Fla., Gabe Vasquez, D-N.M., and Darren Soto, D-Fla. Reps. Maggie Goodlander, D-N.H., and Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa., voted “present.”

Socialism has dominated the 2026 midterm election season on both sides of the aisle. Democrats are grappling with a far-left insurgency within their ranks as candidates linked to the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) continue to topple incumbents and establishment-backed candidates across the country.

It’s provided fodder for the House GOP while it fights an uphill battle to keep control of Congress in November as Republicans warn the socialist left will take over the Democratic Party if it wins. 

“Socialism has failed everywhere it’s been tried without exception. It’s a dangerous ideology that creates misery for the very people it claims to help,” Republican Study Committee Chairman August Pfluger, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital. “Today’s vote puts the Left on the record and removes any doubt about where my colleagues on the other side of the aisle stand.”

Rep. Jeff Crank, R-Colo., who led the resolution, told Fox News Digital, “The resolution is pretty easy, right? It condemns socialism in all its forms, including the DSA, recommits ourselves to the Constitution of the United States…a third point is that we don’t want non-citizens voting in elections.”

“They can certainly be critical, but it’s just a quick choice for the American people to see where people stand on this stuff,” Crank said.

But Democrats contended that Republicans’ largely symbolic resolution was a meaningless political exercise that does nothing to help Americans with their everyday problems. Many on the left have also dismissed the GOP’s election integrity efforts as voter suppression.

“So you’re concerned about rising gas, or are you concerned about grocery prices? You know, don’t worry. Republicans in Congress are passing another non-binding resolution condemning socialism,” Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., said during a hearing on Monday.

The Tuesday evening vote would not have been possible without Golden and Gluesenkamp Perez rescuing Republicans’ agenda. Golden is not running for re-election, while Gluesenkamp Perez is one of the most vulnerable Democrats in the country.

It’s almost unheard of for the minority party to help their political rivals pass a rule, and Jeffries told reporters he was not notified beforehand.

The five House Republicans who voted against it were Reps. Pete Sessions, R-Texas; Chip Roy, R-Texas; Ralph Norman, R-S.C., Clay Higgins, R-La.; and Andy Harris, R-Md.

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The rebels’ issue was not with the measure itself, nor the bills it would have allowed the House to pass. Their votes were a protest against how their leaders handled a plan to avert a government shutdown just before the midterm elections, a short-term funding bill called a continuing resolution (CR). That measure passed just before the rule vote began.

But the five GOP lawmakers took issue with how the Senate modified an original House-passed CR, including adding an unrelated measure to delay a congressionally approved hemp product ban by 30 days and a provision curbing the Trump administration’s control over federal grants.

It’s worth noting that Golden is also co-lead of a bill aimed at pausing new federal restrictions on certain American lobster and crab fishing industries, which would have also been stalled if the rule failed.

Allies of a former House Democrat under federal indictment are now facing potential criminal charges themselves.

The House of Representatives unanimously agreed to hold two people in contempt of Congress on Tuesday — North Miami Beach, Florida, Mayor Michael Joseph and Hector Roos, a former aide to ex-Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, D-Fla. — for failing to work with the House Ethics Committee’s investigation into the disgraced Sunshine State Democrat.

It’s now up to the Department of Justice (DOJ) whether it pursues criminal charges against both. A contempt of Congress conviction carries a fine of up to $100,000 and up to a year in jail.

DISGRACED DEM CUT OFF FROM DOING BUSINESS WITH GOVERNMENT AFTER ALLEGED ‘OUTRIGHT FRAUD’ UNCOVERED

“The committee cannot fulfill its obligations to safeguard the integrity of the House for witnesses, ignore its subpoenas, and the House cannot accept such willful disregard of its authorities. Mr. Roos and Mr. Joseph willfully fail to comply with multiple subpoenas issued by the committee,” Committee Chairman Michael Guest, R-Miss., said.

“They impeded the investigative subcommittee’s investigations into the allegations concerning former Representative Cherfilus-McCormick. Those allegations were serious and included violations of federal law to which Mr. Roos and Mr. Joseph were party there. Their conduct warrants referrals to the United States Department of Justice for contempt of Congress.”

MIKE JOHNSON SAYS HE SUPPORTS EXPELLING SHEILA CHERFILUS-MCCORMICK OVER DOZENS OF ETHICS VIOLATIONS

The measure passed by voice vote on Tuesday afternoon, meaning lawmakers were not individually put on the record over where they stand. Any lawmaker can stand and object to a voice vote and call for a roll call instead, which none did.

The Democrats present instead signaled they were fully in support of the bid against their fellow left-wingers.

FLORIDA DEM FILED FOR RE-ELECTION DAYS BEFORE RESIGNATION AS HOUSE ETHICS COMMITTEE RAMPED UP PRESSURE

“At a time when public confidence in Congress is at historic lows and the House’s ability to self-police member conduct is under intense scrutiny, enforcing lawful congressional process is vital to delivering swift transparency and accountability for any misconduct,” Rep. Mark DeSaulnier, D-Calif., said. “A witness who refuses to cooperate with the Ethics Committee hinders the thoroughness and swiftness of an investigation.”

Guest charged that Roos “filed inaccurate reports” with the Federal Election Commission while working for Cherfilus-McCormick. He said Roos did not provide adequate justification for not complying with the committee.

“Mr. Joseph was the president of a company that improperly provided corporate funds for the congresswoman’s campaign, influenced her staff to submit community funding project requests for entities that he supported,” Guest said of the other target.

He said Joseph cited attorney-client privilege in his decision not to comply with the committee, but that lawmakers argued it was not a valid justification to dodge the probe.

INDICTED DEMOCRAT SHEILA CHERFILUS-MCCORMICK REFUSES TO RESIGN AS EXPULSION VOTE LOOMS

Cherfilus-McCormick resigned from Congress earlier this year amid intense pressure from both the left and right. Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., had been threatening to push a resolution to expel her at the time.

The DOJ said she and her co-defendants “conspired to steal” $5 million in emergency federal funds and used the money to bankroll her 2021 congressional campaign.

EXCLUSIVE: WOMAN WHO STOLE $1.7M MEANT FOR HURRICANE VICTIMS GETS PRISON TIME AS DHS CRACKS DOWN ON FEMA FRAUD

“According to the indictment, Cherfilus-McCormick, 46, and her brother Edwin Cherfilus, 51, both of Miramar, worked through their family healthcare company on a FEMA-funded COVID-19 vaccination staffing contract in 2021. In July 2021, the company received an overpayment of $5 million in FEMA funds,” the DOJ said in November 2025. “Prosecutors allege that a substantial portion of the misappropriated funds was used as candidate contributions to Cherfilus-McCormick’s 2021 congressional campaign and for the personal benefit of the defendants.”

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She has pleaded not guilty.

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger claimed the Trump administration was attempting to take away the ability of Americans serving overseas to vote by mail — despite the Postal Service’s final rule explicitly exempting military and overseas ballots from its new requirements.

The Postal Service’s (USPS) final rule at the center of the dispute expressly exempts ballots covered by the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) from the new federal ballot-mail requirements — though an Obama-appointed federal judge temporarily stayed key provisions of the rule Thursday.

“If you are serving our country abroad, I believe that you should have the ability to cast a vote in our elections. The Trump Administration is attempting to take that ability away,” Spanberger wrote on X on Aug. 29.

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

The final rule says UOCAVA voters are excluded and explains that the separate treatment reflects the circumstances facing military personnel, their families and other overseas voters.

Spanberger made a similar argument during a CNN interview after anchor Wolf Blitzer raised the possibility that Virginia military personnel overseas could be affected. CNN subsequently returned on air to clarify that UOCAVA ballots are exempt from the new USPS requirements.

“The continued attacks that we’re seeing from the Trump administration [are] really just an effort to get people fearful, to get to stay home, and in many cases, to eliminate what is a valid, safe, secure way for people to be able to make their voices heard and to vote,” she said.

Blitzer added that Virginia is home to “a lot of military personnel who totally rely on mail-in ballots if they want to be able to express their opinion.”

Spanberger agreed, pointing to members of the military and diplomatic services, saying the administration’s actions were impacting them along with other Virginians who find vote-by-mail “a better option.”

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

Spanberger did not respond to a request for comment, but when reached, a representative for CNN said Blitzer issued an on-air correction Monday.

“On Friday, I interviewed the Democratic governor of Virginia, Abigail Spanberger. We discussed legal challenges to the Trump administration’s directives for the Postal Service on mail-in voting,” Blitzer said in the correction.

“A comment that may’ve suggested that U.S. military and overseas voters’ ballots would be impacted by these directives — I want to be clear right now, those ballots are exempt from the Postal Service’s new rules implementing the president’s March executive order. Those groups are covered under [UOCAVA], just to be specific on that point.”

An X community note added as an appendix to Spanberger’s tweet of her exchange with Blitzer also surfaced the correction.

“Military and overseas voters’ UOCAVA ballots are explicitly exempt from the USPS rules implementing the March 2026 executive order; service members abroad can still register/request absentee ballots via the Federal Post Card Application,” it read.

Several users also pushed back and cited federal statute as well as the USPS’ own rule.

Others said the governor was allegedly “lying” and suggested she should know of UOCAVA as a former CIA officer.

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, picked up on her original tweet, responding that he had personally discussed overseas military voting with Trump “many times” and said Trump had consistently made clear he did not want to interfere with Americans serving abroad voting by mail.

“This is completely false,” Lee tweeted.

2028 DEM HOPEFUL SLAPS TRUMP ADMINISTRATION WITH LAWSUIT OVER MAIL-IN VOTING AFTER MAJOR SCOTUS VICTORY

The Supreme Court in August handed Trump a largely favorable procedural ruling, staying an earlier injunction after finding that the states’ challenge was premature at that stage.

The ruling did not decide the legality of the administration’s mail-voting policies on the merits. America First Legal President Gene Hamilton previously told Fox News Digital that the court prevented the administration from being effectively “enjoined from thinking” before agencies had settled on concrete policies.

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The broader fight over Trump’s mail-voting push remains unresolved.

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The Supreme Court stayed a judge’s earlier injunction after concluding the administration was likely to prevail on its argument that the challenge was premature, but her latest temporary restraining order sets up yet another speed bump.

An illegal immigrant from Guatemala was charged with manslaughter after allegedly crashing into a mother and her two children, killing her 9-month-old son, in a New Jersey grocery store parking lot Friday, according to authorities.

A 9-month-old boy was pronounced dead at Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune after Maria Cobon-Guzman allegedly struck his mother and the baby carriage carrying him and his 5-year-old sister in the parking lot of a kosher grocery store in Jackson on Friday.

“An innocent baby would still be alive today had it not been for Joe Biden’s disastrous open border and reckless immigration policy that released countless illegal aliens into our country,” a DHS spokesperson told Fox News Digital.

EXCLUSIVE: DHS ANNOUNCES NEW JERSEY ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT ARRESTS AS NEWARK PROTESTS RAGE OUTSIDE FACILITY

“We are urging the Ocean County Jail to honor ICE’s detainers on these two criminal illegal aliens to take them out of American communities once and for all,” the spokesperson said of the Republican-friendly county in the otherwise blue state.

All three victims were transported to Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune. The mother and her five-year-old child remained hospitalized in stable condition, while the 9-month-old boy died.

Another woman, Ariadna Lazaro-Flores, was also charged in the incident after she reportedly allowed Cobon-Guzman to drive her car knowing she was unlicensed. An inmate report listed Lazaro-Flores as charged with “endangering the welfare of an incompetent person.”

Both women illegally entered the U.S. during the Biden administration, with Lazaro-Flores doing so five times in October 2023 and being removed each time, DHS told Fox News Digital.

“She last illegally entered the United States through the Biden Administration’s open border at an unknown place and time,” the agency said.

ICE MAKES NATIONWIDE ARRESTS OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS, MURDERERS, PEDOPHILES IN HOLIDAY BLITZ

Cobon-Guzman entered once but was released unvetted into the nation’s interior, DHS added. On July 31, an immigration judge issued an order of removal against her.

“New Jersey must honor ICE’s detainers on these two criminal illegal aliens to take them out of American communities once and for all,”,” the agency tweeted.

Democratic New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill, who signed legislation codifying New Jersey’s Immigrant Trust Directive, had not commented as of Tuesday morning.

When reached for comment, a Sherrill spokesman directed Fox News Digital to Attorney General Jennifer Davenport. Davenport did not immediately respond.

Observers took notice of the relative silence as Sherrill’s social media posts about other things including a critique of President Donald Trump’s battle with Iran sparked outrage:

“How about sticking to doing something about the highest property taxes in the US [or] stopping illegals from killing and maiming us?” read one response.

“Any comment yet? Hello?” another said.

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The Trust Directive, as drafted by Davenport predecessor Gurbir Grewal, limits voluntary assistance New Jersey law enforcement may provide DHS.

New Jersey Republicans fired back at Trenton leadership, suggesting they created the conditions to allow the tragedy to occur.

“An innocent baby is dead. A mother and another child were seriously injured. Now, ICE is seeking custody of the two women charged in connection with the crash,” the state party said in a statement.

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“This should not be complicated: New Jersey must comply with ICE detainers. Governor Sherrill has a responsibility to put the safety of New Jersey families ahead of sanctuary policies. When federal immigration authorities seek custody of individuals charged with serious crimes, the state should cooperate — not stand in the way.”

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., scored a commanding victory on Tuesday after overcoming a House GOP rebellion to advance a resolution to condemn socialism.

House conservatives had threatened to tank a procedural vote, called a “rule vote,” meant to unlock debate on several bills GOP leaders wanted lawmakers to vote on this week.

But the rebels’ issue was not with the measure itself, nor the bills it would have allowed the House to pass. Their votes were a protest against how their leaders handled a plan to avert a government shutdown just before the midterm elections, a short-term funding bill called a continuing resolution (CR).

JOHNSON SCORES WIN AS CONSERVATIVE REBELS END HOUSE FLOOR BLOCKADE OVER VOTER ID BILL

“NO ON CR. NO ON RULE THAT DOES NOT ALLOW US TO AMEND AND FIX THE CR: The House of Representatives will be voting for a government funding continuing resolution TODAY that FAILS to deliver on common-sense policies for the American people,” Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, wrote on X.

House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris, R-Md., also told reporters he would vote against the rule in protest of the CR.

A handful of GOP lawmakers took issue with how the Senate modified an original House-passed CR, including adding an unrelated measure to delay a congressionally approved hemp product ban by 30 days and a provision curbing the Trump administration’s control over federal grants.

TENSIONS ERUPT IN HOUSE HEARING AS GOP ADVANCES ANTI-SOCIALISM RESOLUTION WHILE DEMS RAGE: ‘SILLY SEASON’

“The Senate did violence to our bill,” Rep. Keith Self, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital. “Hemp and the grants are the two big ones…and frankly, I just don’t think CRs ought to be on suspension…when you put it on suspension, you’re not asking for my vote, okay, you’re going to get Democrats.”

Roy also criticized the bill for not cutting off funding to sanctuary jurisdictions or abortion providers like Planned Parenthood.

DEMOCRATS BLINK AS SCHUMER HELPS GOP CLEAR KEY SHUTDOWN HURDLE

Voting on a bill under “suspension” means it gets fast-tracked past multiple procedural hurdles in exchange for raising the threshold for passage from a simple majority to two-thirds. That means the rule vote’s survival does not affect whether the CR passes or fails.

A CR is a short-term extension of current federal funding levels. It’s normally used to give lawmakers extra time to cobble together a new budget for the next fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1.

The CR up for a vote on Tuesday would kick the government shutdown fight to a Dec. 11 deadline.

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A rule vote traditionally falls along party lines and until recently, it was unheard of for lawmakers to defy their leaders by joining the other side to defeat it. But it’s become increasingly common in recent years for lawmakers, specifically on the right, to weaponize it as a form of protest.

EXCLUSIVE: The White House and Department of Homeland Security are pushing back on “false narratives” being advanced by the mainstream media and bringing the receipts after the Washington Post and New York Times reported that noncriminal ICE arrests are skyrocketing under President Donald Trump.

The Washington Post reported last week that ICE is arresting “soaring numbers” of “noncriminal” illegal immigrants. The outlet said the agency had “detained more people without a criminal record this year than in all of 2025.” The New York Times took a similar line, reporting that “ICE arrests soar as people with no criminal record are increasingly targeted.”

However, Lauren Bis, a special assistant to the president and White House spokeswoman, told Fox News Digital that though “nearly 70% of illegal aliens arrested by ICE have been convicted or charged with a crime in the United States,” the “actual arrests of public safety threats and criminals is much higher.” This, she said, is due to many of the “noncriminal” illegal immigrants arrested by ICE having prior criminal history in their home country, including murder, child sex abuse and gang activity.

“These are just a few of the media’s ‘non-criminals,’” said Bis, adding, “Why does the mainstream media continue to peddle false narratives protecting criminal illegal aliens?”

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S IMMIGRATION PUSH FUELS ICE’S BIGGEST ARREST MONTH IN AGENCY HISTORY

Fox News Digital reached out to the Washington Post and New York Times for comment.

According to the Department of Homeland Security, “Nearly 70% of illegal aliens ICE arrested across the country have criminal convictions or pending criminal charges just in the U.S.”

The agency said, however, that this statistic “doesn’t account for those wanted for violent crimes in their home country or another country, INTERPOL notices, human rights abusers, gang members, terrorists” and other offenses in foreign countries.

While DHS has emphasized that entering the country unlawfully constitutes a crime, the agency has previously shed light on some of the serious criminal charges of individuals considered noncriminal arrests.

This May, Homeland Security Investigations arrested Salvadoran national Josue Saul Garcia-Lopez, who, despite not having a U.S. criminal record, had an international warrant showing him as an active member of the foreign terrorist organization MS-13 and had been involved in extortion and robbery schemes in El Salvador for several years.

NEW YORK TIMES TORCHED FOR ‘FALSE’ REPORTING ON ICE INVESTIGATIONS, OUTLET FIRES BACK

Just days before, ICE had also arrested a Honduran national named Fredy Alexander Lopez Lara, who had an international warrant for homicide in his home country.

Another MS-13 member, Salvadoran national Danny Granados-Garcia, was arrested by ICE in April. He was wanted in his home country for murdering a pastor.

In March, San Diego Sector Border Patrol agents arrested Mexican national Salvador Suazo-Garcia in Lemon Grove, California, processed him administratively, and turned him over to Mexican authorities. Suazo-Garcia entered the U.S. legally in May 2021 under the Biden administration. He was wanted in Mexico for lewd and lascivious acts upon a child.

Shortly before Suazo-Garcia’s arrest, Border Patrol agents also arrested a female illegal immigrant from Mexico named Silvia Del Rosario Torres-Castro, who was wanted in her home country for homicide.

Late last year, ICE arrested Antonio Israel Lazo-Quintanilla, a Salvadoran national who is a member of another foreign terrorist organization called the 18th Street Gang. DHS said that “while technically his only crime in the United States is driving without a license,” Lazo-Quintanilla was on El Salvador’s most wanted gang members’ list and was wanted for aggravated homicide, extortion, possession of drugs and other felonies. Lazo-Quintanilla’s mugshot showed his face covered in tattoos, including the numbers “666” across his forehead.

Months before that, DHS said that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested Mexican brothers Pedro Luis Ortiz-Mendez and Jose Vicente Ortiz-Mendez in Texas. Both brothers are wanted for multiple murders tied to an attack on a festival in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, where at least one victim was shot and another victim was attacked with a machete.

BORDER CZAR TOM HOMAN FIRES BACK AFTER DEMOCRAT CHRIS MURPHY CLAIMS ICE IS ‘TERRORIZING LITTLE KIDS’

Bis said that “these are just a few examples of murderers, gang members, and pedophiles the media refers to as ‘non-criminals’ because they only have criminal records in their home country.”

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“No one would want these heinous criminals to be their neighbors,” she said. “From foreign fugitives, gang members, and terrorists, ICE is getting the worst of the worst off our streets and out of our country.”

LANSING, Mich. — A woke stunt went horribly wrong at Sunday’s Democratic Party Nominating Convention in Michigan as a top official opened the event with a brutal attempt at a “land acknowledgment.”

“I am here to offer our land acknowledgment,” said Portia Roberson, the vice chair of the state’s party, at the outset of the afternoon gathering of Democrats. “Our land acknowledgments in Michigan recognize the state as the ancestral, traditional and contemporary land of the Anishinaabe, Three Fires Confederacy — “

But she was cut off after an incorrect pronunciation of Anishinaabe when several audience members began shouting the correct pronunciation at Roberson, to which she replied, “Say it again for me.”

OBAMA CENTER EMBEDS ‘INDIGENOUS’ LAND MESSAGE ON CONTROVERSIAL SITE

“Stand up,” Roberson then told a woman wearing a white t-shirt in the crowd. “You do it better than me. Make it — I’m big on names being pronounced right, so make sure I get it right.”

The audience member then repeated the pronunciation of the word Anishinaabe until Roberson successfully mimicked it into the microphone.

“Thank you. Wait, don’t sit down yet,” she told the convention-goer. “I might get another one wrong. You may have to correct me, and I want to get this right.”

OBAMA PRESIDENTIAL CENTER FOLLOWS WIDELY MOCKED ‘STOLEN LAND’ ACKNOWLEDGMENT WITH NATIVE AMERICAN DANCE SHOW

She then picked up where she left off.

“Including the Odawa, Ottawa, Ojibwe, Chippewa and … Potawatomi,” she said, sparking another round of audience shouting with a mispronunciation of the last tribe.

“See, usually I rehearse before I come out. This time I rushed it and I didn’t rehearse. I apologize,” Roberson admitted before exiting the stage.

The Democratic Party of Michigan did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment about the land acknowledgment or Roberson’s pronunciation mishaps.

Land acknowledgments have become a woke ritual for those aiming to placate the far-left by recognizing where an event is held or institution is located is on land that was originally inhabited by Indigenous people — with the implication that the land was ‘stolen’ from them.

JEWISH AG’S CONVENTION BOYCOTT EXPOSES DEEPENING ISRAEL FAULT LINE AMONG MICHIGAN DEMOCRATS

The convention room inside the Lansing Center, where the event was held over the weekend, was about half-full as Michigan’s Democratic nominees for statewide office paraded onto the stage one-by-one.

Each gave a brief speech surrounded by supporters holding campaign memorabilia.

The convention’s largest draw was embattled Michigan U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive who mostly lashed out at President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance over economic issues, and stumped for socialized healthcare.

EL-SAYED’S HASAN PIKER PROBLEM FOLLOWS HIM TO DEM CONVENTION AS JEWISH VOTERS BREAK RANKS

Trump was also invoked by several of the candidates.

Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, who is running for governor, Michigan Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks, Benson’s nominee for lieutenant governor and Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist, a software engineer who is running for Secretary of State, were a few of the major attractions of the convention.

“When I’m secretary of state, your data will belong to you,” he said, “not the federal government.”

Brinks focused her ire on Rep. John James, R-Mich.

“Time and time again, James has made it clear that he is not fighting for the people of Michigan,” she said. “He’s fighting for Donald Trump.”

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Gilchrist said he’d protect Michiganders’ data from the federal government, which is seeking voter rolls in several states.

Addressing deep intra-party divides over Israel ahead of the general election, Michigan’s Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel urged a private gathering of Jewish Democrats to place the needs of “the rest of humanity” above their own “safety and security.”

Nessel, Michigan’s top law enforcement officer who is also Jewish, made the remarks during an Aug. 30 event in Birmingham hosted by the Michigan Democratic Party’s Jewish Caucus, where members of the press were barred. According to a video recording reviewed by The Detroit News, Nessel invoked the story of Queen Esther to argue that Jewish Democrats have a “moral imperative to place the needs of the world above even our own self-interest,” urging attendees to “sacrifice the comfort, safety and security and even the very future of our own people in exchange for the opportunity to save the rest of humanity.”

The comments highlight a boiling point for Democrats in crucial battleground Michigan, where many Jewish voters report feeling forced to choose between their faith and their party amid rising anti-Israel rhetoric from progressive, far-left candidates. 

The private gathering was attended by Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed — a vocal critic of Israel and U.S. military aid to the Jewish state — who used the event to publicly apologize to the Jewish Caucus for past controversial comments. Notably, Nessel has publicly stated she will not vote for Republican Mike Rogers in the tight Senate race, but has thus far withheld her endorsement from El-Sayed over concerns regarding his stance on Israel.

JEWISH AG’S CONVENTION BOYCOTT EXPOSES DEEPENING ISRAEL FAULT LINE AMONG MICHIGAN DEMOCRATS

During the speech, Nessel explicitly weighed the survival of Israel against global crises, including questioning the value of protecting the Jewish state if climate change goes unaddressed.

“What good is defending the historic homeland of our ancestors and demanding that candidates acknowledge its right to exist if the planet upon which it rests is no longer inhabitable?” Nessel asked, according to the recording reviewed by The Detroit News. She went on to characterize supporting former President Donald Trump as an “abdication of our responsibilities as Jews,” arguing that Jewish tradition demands “compassionate action toward others” over what she called “blind obedience to the world’s biggest and most dangerous fool.”

CARVILLE WARNS DEMOCRATS ANTI-ISRAEL ‘LOUDMOUTHS’ COULD COST ELECTIONS

While Nessel acknowledged the frustration in the room—noting that arguments equating Zionism to racism are often made “by people whose entire understanding of Jewish-Israeli history fits neatly into a 47-second TikTok produced by Qatar or Iran” — she also argued that the GOP and its loyalty to Trump poses a great threat and blasted Republicans for focusing on cultural issues like “transgender girls playing JV volleyball” instead of issues like wealth inequality and artificial intelligence.

Fox News Digital reached out to Nessel’s office to ask for more details about the intended effect of her remarks, but did not receive a response in time for publication.

ANTISEMITIC VIOLENCE REACHES DEADLIEST LEVEL SINCE 1994, NEW GLOBAL REPORT FINDS

“Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel reportedly told Michigan Jewish Democrats to channel Queen Esther and prioritize the survival of ‘the world’ over their own self-interest,” said Hen Mazzig, author and senior fellow at the Tel Aviv Institute, which describes itself as “an emerging media innovation lab” aimed at countering antisemitism and “changing” how people think about Jews and Israel.

“I am a gay man and lifelong liberal,” Mazzig continued. “I understand why many American Jews care so deeply about the Democratic Party. But Esther risked her own safety for the Jewish people’s survival, she didn’t risk them to save others. Using her story this way is not accurate or helpful.”

Meanwhile, George Mason University constitutional law professor, David Bernstein, offered a more pointed criticism of the reported remarks.

MS RACHEL CONFRONTED ON ACCUSING ISRAEL OF ‘GENOCIDE’ IN PARK INTERACTION WITH PODCASTER

“You may have thought I was exaggerating when I tweeted last week about how a segment of the American Jewish community is suicidal. The real news here is not that Nessel said this, but that she thinks it’s a viable pitch to at least a large segment of an audience of Jewish Democrats,” Bernstein said, adding that Nessel’s comments reminded him of “Jewish Stalinists who stayed with Stalin through the pact with Hitler, and then through the antisemitic purges of the late 1940s, because they believed that absorbing this stuff was the price Jews needed to pay for a better world.”

Nessel, who skipped the recent Michigan Democratic Party convention due to safety concerns, has become a prominent voice amid Michigan’s crucial Senate race. 

Fox News Digital reported last week that during an appearance on The Atlantic’s “David Frum Show,” Nessel accused the Democratic Party of not valuing its Jewish constituents and making them feel less welcome than members of other minority groups. She also argued that Jewish Democrats have felt ostracized by their own party since the attacks in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and accused leadership of cherry-picking issues that are relevant to supporters.

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Nessel added that if faced with the choice, she would choose her Jewish heritage over her party affiliation. She also criticized some of El-Sayed’s past rhetoric about Israel and his refusal to retract certain comments prior to his apology to Jewish Dems in Michigan at the Aug. 30 private confab.  

Fox News Digital’s Julia Bonavita contributed to this report

One of President Donald Trump’s most persistent political foes has found common ground with him in their shared push to save Hollywood.

Trump wants to incentivize film and television production in Hollywood after years of job loss and other states and countries offering incentives to attract television and film projects to leave what has long been the heart of entertainment in the U.S. for more than a century.

And Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., who once led the first impeachment against Trump and has maintained a strong opposition to him since he retook office, is on board with the idea.

SCHIFF ATTACK ON TRUMP’S DC INDYCAR RACE BACKFIRES AFTER DRIVER POINTS OUT CONTRADICTION

“I am in strong agreement with the President,” Schiff said on X. “Congress should immediately take up and pass a federal film tax incentive to bring back these good-paying jobs that we’ve lost to other countries.”

“Let’s work together — Republicans and Democrats — to get this done, and bring the movie magic back to America,” he continued.

Hollywood’s stature as an entertainment colossus has taken a hit over the last few years following the COVID-19 pandemic and the burst of the streaming bubble.

The industry has lost 49,000 jobs since 2022, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

PARAMOUNT ESCALATES THREAT TO LEAVE CALIFORNIA AS DEM AG’S ANTITRUST LAWSUIT STALLS WARNER BROS MERGER

Trump said on Truth Social after meeting with the actor Jon Voight, who serves as the U.S. special ambassador to Hollywood, that he was interested in launching federal tax incentives to stop the bleeding from Tinseltown.

Trump is urging Republican and Democratic leaders in Congress to tackle the issue immediately to “craft Legislation to save the Movie, Television, and Entertainment Business in America.”

“Congress should approve, immediately, a Federal Production Incentive to create Entertainment Jobs in America. It can be done quickly, accurately, efficiently and, importantly, will benefit ALL of America,” Trump said.

That comes with its own headaches, given Congress’ truncated schedule during September, the entire month of October being dedicated to campaigning for midterm elections and November officially launching the lame duck session of Congress in Washington, D.C.

BILL MAHER, WOODY HARRELSON SOUND OFF ON CALIFORNIA BUSINESS CLIMATE, SAY STATE DESERVES TO BE ‘S— ON’

Trump noted that film and television production has moved elsewhere in the country and abroad, leaving Hollywood a “complete and total disaster.”

California is lagging behind other states and countries in its tax breaks for the industry. Recognizing the substantial post-pandemic drop in jobs, the state Legislature moved to more than double California’s Film & Television Tax Credit Program to $750 million, with sweeteners baked in to get productions to relocate back to California.

That program was undermined by California Gov. Gavin Newsom, however, when he installed a $5 million state corporate tax credit cap over the next three years.

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Even with the strides taken to attract productions back to Hollywood, California is still behind Georgia and New York, which allocate more than $1 billion and roughly $800 million, respectively, in tax breaks for productions. Canada and the United Kingdom also offer generous tax breaks, attracting production away from the U.S. entirely.

“There is no incentive to be there, and it is hurting California very badly,” Trump said. “Jon, and many others in the Industry, are suggesting we do Federal Tax Incentives in order to Make our Movie and Television Production Business GREAT AGAIN, perhaps GREATER THAN EVER BEFORE!”

FIRST ON FOX: In a bid to tackle the nation’s housing affordability crisis, the Trump administration has scrapped a controversial Obama-era mandate blamed for driving up property costs and stifling the affordable housing supply.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), alongside the Department of Justice, jointly rescinded an Obama-era policy that allowed third parties to file accessibility-related complaints over original building design flaws indefinitely, putting subsequent building owners on the hook for millions of dollars years after a project is completed, even if they were not the original builders. 

According to internal agency data, the previous policy forced property owners to spend more than $112 million in accessibility retrofits over the last five years just to qualify for Federal Housing Administration (FHA) refinancing—costs that HUD says directly choked off affordable housing supply.

The rule eliminates the ability to hold current property owners indefinitely liable for architectural deviations committed by original builders decades in the past. Under the updated enforcement framework, the clock for filing Fair Housing Act design and construction challenges begins on the exact date a building receives its official certificate of occupancy. 

ONE UNEXPECTED PRICE SURGE MOST AMERICANS DON’T SEE IS RAISING THE STAKES FOR TRUMP BEFORE NOVEMBER

Individuals or advocacy groups now have a strict one-year deadline to file administrative complaints directly with HUD. For private civil lawsuits filed in federal court, the statute of limitations caps claims at two years from the completion of construction. 

Once those respective windows close, property owners are shielded from retroactive, building-wide liability for original architectural flaws, though individual tenants retain the right to seek reasonable modifications for their specific housing needs at any time under existing Fair Housing Act protections.

“[The Obama-era regulation] dramatically expanded the scope of the Fair Housing Act by declaring that deviations from HUD’s accessibility guidelines, at the point of initial construction, gave rise to strict liability against the builder in perpetuity,” the new guidance says. “That interpretation was egregiously wrong. It exceeded the Department’s statutory authority, failed to increase the supply of accessible housing for individuals with disabilities, and imposed an unwarranted and unduly prejudicial burden on American homebuilders.”

According to internal transaction data and industry reports provided to HUD, the financial toll of the previous policy extended far beyond standard compliance fees typically associated with federally-backed refinancing. For example, a single third-party housing inspection firm identified nearly $49 million in required accessibility fixes across almost 500 refinance deals since 2019—averaging over $100,000 in deficiencies per property.

Industry insiders and lenders also report that the Obama-era rules severely choked off financing, with one major affordable multifamily lender attributing more than $1 billion in lost HUD-insured loan volume over the last four years to the guidance, according to internal HUD data. Lenders told the agency that the ongoing uncertainty triggered recurring deal dropouts and discouraged prospective borrowers from pursuing FHA financing altogether.

NEWSOM TARGETS MAJOR AFFORDABILITY SQUEEZE IN ‘STRIKING’ CONVERGENCE WITH TRUMP

“For too long, unnecessary government policies have contributed to the skyrocketing cost of building, buying, and renting a home. Today’s action rescinds unnecessary and expensive liability created by legal theories that have no basis in law,” said HUD Secretary Scott Turner. “The Trump Administration is following the law as written by Congress and interpreted by the courts. We will continue to repeal and replace guidance that does not honor these lawful commitments while ensuring Americans can access affordable housing.”

At the heart of the administration’s rollback is a fundamental legal principle that federal agencies cannot rewrite laws passed by lawmakers, nor can they ignore rulings by federal judges. When Congress updated the Fair Housing Act in 1988, lawmakers built in a strict one-year deadline to file administrative complaints. HUD officials argue the 2013 Obama-era policy effectively ignored that congressional mandate by allowing property owners to be targeted decades after a project was completed.

The shift also aligns federal enforcement with appellate court rulings, including a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Judges in that case ruled that the illegal act of failing to properly design a building ends when construction wraps up and an official certificate of occupancy is issued.

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“Congress wrote a clear statute of limitations into the Fair Housing Act. That limitation is part of the law, not a suggestion for sly bureaucrats to disregard,” said Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity Craig Trainor. “We will not allow Obama-era guidance to rewrite the Fair Housing Act, expose American builders to indefinite legal liability, and make housing less affordable for hardworking American families.”