NationalWatch

A big-city Democratic mayor who grabbed national attention last year as he was arrested during an anti-ICE protest outside a federal immigration detention center cruised to re-election on Tuesday.

Mayor Ras Baraka of Newark, New Jersey, topped 50% of the vote in Tuesday’s election as he faced off against seven challengers, the Associated Press reports.

Since Baraka clinched a majority of the vote as he ran for a fourth term steering New Jersey’s largest city, he’ll avoid a runoff in November.

OR

A big-city Democratic mayor who grabbed national attention last year as he was arrested during an anti-ICE protest outside a federal immigration detention center will face a runoff election in November.

Mayor Ras Baraka of Newark, New Jersey, finished ahead of seven challengers in Tuesday’s election as he faced off against seven challengers, the Associated Press reports.

But Baraka failed to crack 50% of the vote as he ran for a fourth term steering New Jersey’s largest city, which means he’ll face off in a runoff election in November against the second-place finisher, ______

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While Baraka is a Democrat, mayoral elections in Newark are technically nonpartisan.

Baraka, who is considered one of the most progressive mayors in the nation, last year opposed the reopening of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility in Newark, which was part of President Donald Trump’s second-term crackdown on illegal immigration.

On May 9, 2025, Baraka was arrested by ICE agents outside the facility after he unsuccessfully attempted to join a congressional delegation’s tour of the facility.

The mayor’s arrest made national headlines.

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The charges against Baraka were dropped, and he later ran for governor, coming in second to then-Rep. Mikie Sherrill in the Democratic gubernatorial primary. Sherrill ended up winning election as New Jersey governor.

Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia is a big step closer to re-election, thanks in part to support from President Donald Trump.

Capito defeated five Republican challengers in Tuesday’s GOP Senate primary in West Virginia, the Associated Press reports, to secure her party’s nomination in the solidly red Mountain State.

The two-term lawmaker who served a decade and a half in the House before first winning election to the Senate in 2014 and making history as the state’s first female senator hails from a political family. Her late father was Arch Moore Jr., a former three-term governor and six-term congressman.

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Among those trying to defeat her in Tuesday’s primary was state Sen. Tom Willis, who argued that it was “time for a change” and took aim at “career politicians.”

But Capito, as she ran for re-nomination, spotlighted her support from Trump.

“I’m honored to have President Trump’s complete and total endorsement as we fight to protect West Virginia jobs, make life more affordable, secure our border, and defend our shared values in the Mountain State,” she wrote last month.

SIX MONTHS TILL MIDTERMS: THE TEN RACES THAT WILL DETERMINE THE SENATE’S MAJORITY

And on Tuesday, she took to social media to highlight, “Proud to lead President Trump’s ticket in West Virginia today.”

West Virginia, once a state where Democrats dominated, is nowadays dark red. Trump carried the state by over 40 points in his 2024 White House victory.

DEMOCRATS EYE NARROW PATH TO CAPTURE SENATE MAJORITY, BUT ONE WRONG MOVE COULD SINK THEM

Capito will now be considered the overwhelming favorite in the November midterm elections, as top nonpartisan political handicappers rate the race as solidly Republican.

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The GOP currently controls the Senate with a 53-47 majority.

Five Democrats were seeking their party’s Senate nomination.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth dismissed concerns about strained weapons stockpiles outright, saying recent reporting has exaggerated the issue.

“The munitions issue has been foolishly, and unhelpfully overstated,” Hegseth said during a hearing with the House Appropriations subcommittee on defense Tuesday. “We have all the munitions needed to execute what we need to execute.”

Hegseth reiterated that stance during a recent congressional hearing, pushing back directly on claims that U.S. inventories have been significantly drawn down.

“I take issue with the characterization that munitions are depleted in a public forum. That’s not true,” he told lawmakers.

“Even in the conduct of the conflict, working with the chairman and Admiral Cooper, ensuring that any munitions we’re using, we know what we’re trading off of to preserve capabilities. So we have maximum optionality across the globe,” he said, referring to chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine and Central Command chief Admiral Brad Cooper. 

US DRAINS CRITICAL MISSILE STOCKPILES IN IRAN WAR AS YEARSLONG REBUILD LOOMS

The comments come as questions about U.S. weapons inventories have intensified following the Iran conflict and new analyses pointing to heavy usage of key munitions.

Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., said after a recent classified briefing that it is “shocking how deep we have gone into these magazines,” pointing to heavy use of systems including Tomahawk cruise missiles, Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) and Patriot air defense interceptors.

Hegseth responded by accusing Kelly of improperly discussing sensitive information, suggesting the former Navy pilot may have violated his oath.

HEGSETH SAYS PENTAGON WILL REVIEW MARK KELLY’S PUBLIC STATEMENTS ABOUT CLASSIFIED BRIEFING AMID ONGOING FEUD

“‘Captain’ Mark Kelly strikes again,” Hegseth wrote on X. “Now he’s blabbing on TV (falsely & dumbly) about a CLASSIFIED Pentagon briefing he received. Did he violate his oath… again? @DeptofWar legal counsel will review.”

Kelly pushed back, saying the information was not classified and noting Hegseth had made similar remarks publicly in recent testimony. He added that the cost of the conflict had yet to be fully explained to the American people.

Caine offered a more measured assessment, telling lawmakers that U.S. forces currently have “sufficient munitions for what we’re tasked to do right now,” while acknowledging that commanders will “always want more.”

IRANIAN DRONE ATTACKS STRAIN US AIR DEFENSES AS UKRAINE PITCHES LOW-COST INTERCEPTORS

But concerns about munitions stockpiles are not limited to the U.S.

Across the Middle East, U.S. partners also have relied heavily on high-end air defense systems to counter Iranian missile and drone attacks, raising similar concerns about how long those inventories can be sustained if fighting resumes.

While countries like Israel and Saudi Arabia entered the conflict with deeper and more layered interceptor stockpiles, built over years of investment in missile defense systems, other Gulf allies, which operate smaller inventories and depend more heavily on U.S. resupply, could face greater pressure if the ceasefire breaks down and missile exchanges resume.

Despite the heavy usage, analysts say the U.S. retains enough munitions to sustain current operations.

A recent analysis from the Center for Strategic and International Studies found that while stockpiles have been drawn down, they remain sufficient for the ongoing conflict.

TRUMP ADMIN SOUGHT REDACTIONS ON KEY CHINA WAR GAME REPORT WARNING OF US MILITARY READINESS GAPS

The greater concern, the report noted, is whether the U.S. is prepared for a future conflict with a peer adversary like China, which likely would require sustained use of the same high-end missiles now being depleted, including long-range strike weapons and advanced air defense interceptors.

Rebuilding those inventories could take years. Even before recent conflicts, it typically took about two years from contract award to initial delivery for many missile systems, with full production stretching longer. 

Analysts now say those timelines have extended further, with new orders potentially taking four to five years to fully deliver as demand outpaces capacity.

That lag reflects deeper constraints in the defense industrial base. Missile production depends on specialized components such as propulsion systems and guidance technology, often sourced from a limited number of suppliers, making it difficult to rapidly scale output.

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Defense contractors are moving to close that gap. 

RTX has said it is increasing missile deliveries and investing billions to expand manufacturing capacity, while Lockheed Martin is working to significantly boost production of systems like the Patriot interceptor. The Pentagon is also pursuing multi-year procurement deals to give companies more predictable demand and incentivize expansion.

Even with those efforts, analysts warn the gap between battlefield use and industrial capacity cannot be closed quickly.

Democrats in Virginia apparently filed their redistricting appeal to the wrong Supreme Court, drawing even more mockery in a heated battle over the district lines of the state’s congressional map.

Jason Miyares, the former attorney general of Virginia, led the criticism online on Tuesday, pointing to a previous mistake where Democrats spelled the commonwealth’s name incorrectly on legal documents.

“Good news: Dems managed to spell Virginia correctly,” Miyares said in a post to X. “Bad news: They sent their emergency application to SCOTUS (Supreme Court of the United States) to the wrong court.”

“Baby steps,” the former Republican AG quipped.

VIRGINIA GOP LEADER BLASTS ‘POWER-HUNGRY’ JEFFRIES AS DEMS MOUNT ‘INSANE’ GAMBIT TO OVERPOWER HIGH COURT

Sure enough, Virginia legislators emblazoned their emergency petition with an address “to the Supreme Court of Virginia” instead of the highest U.S. court, according to an image of the document shared on social media by Miyares.

He was also one to point out on Friday Democrats’ misspelling of the state as “Virgnia” rather than “Virginia” in their filing to the Supreme Court. In that same mistake-riddled document, they wrote “Sentator” instead of Senator.

Miyares’ latest jab adds insult to injury as Democrats are still reeling from a Virginia Supreme Court decision that struck down a set of new maps designed to overwhelmingly favor their party in the November midterm elections. The post also highlights Republican glee at the foiled maps as Democrats hope to keep their gerrymandering push alive by advancing the issue to the Supreme Court (SCOTUS).

The new maps would have eliminated as many as four Republican-leaning districts.

REPUBLICANS TARGET SPANBERGER AS ‘GOVERNOR BAIT AND SWITCH’ IN BID TO DEFEAT DEMS REDISTRICTING PUSH

Virginia’s highest court ruled late last week that Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger had improperly fast-tracked a constitutional amendment that temporarily undid state-level prohibitions on gerrymandering.

In particular, the court ruled that Spanberger’s redistricting push skirted requirements that any constitutional amendment must receive the approval of two separate sessions of the Virginia legislature before it can be put to a statewide referendum.

Most importantly, at least to the state court’s decision, is that those sessions must be decisively separated by an election.

By the time the referendum reached consideration in the General Assembly last year, early voting for 2025 had already begun. This led Virginia’s court to conclude the amendment’s consideration had not meaningfully been separated by a full election and therefore could not be upheld.

VIRGINA DEMOCRATS’ $70M REDISTRICTING GAMBLE BACKFIRES AFTER COURT DEFEAT, IGNITES BLAME GAME

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Virginia is now asking the Supreme Court to weigh in on state-level laws, arguing that the court “impermissibly transgressed the ordinary bounds of judicial review.”

It’s unclear when the matter may reach consideration before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Marty Makary is resigning from his position Tuesday, a White House official told Fox News Digital. 

The official said that Makary’s resignation has to do with “process at the FDA” and not a specific issue, and said there is “no bad blood” between President Donald Trump and the outgoing commissioner. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pushed for Makary’s resignation, according to the White House official. 

Kyle Diamantis, FDA deputy commissioner for Food, will serve as acting commissioner, Fox News Digital learned. 

TRUMP PICKS DR. MARTY MAKARY AS FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION COMMISSIONER

Trump called Makary a “great guy” who is a friend of his in remarks to the media later on Tuesday afternoon.

“He’s a great doctor and he was having some difficulty, but he’s going to go on and he’s going to do well,” Trump told the media as he departed the White House for a high-stakes trip to China. 

“I want to thank Dr. Marty Makary for having done a great job at the FDA,” Trump added in a Truth Social post on Tuesday. “So much was accomplished under his leadership. He was a hard worker, who was respected by all, and will go on to have an outstanding career in Medicine. Kyle Diamantas, a very talented person, will be put in the Acting position.”

Makary’s resignation followed mounting pressure from pro-life advocates and administration critics who had grown frustrated with his handling of several high-profile FDA decisions and claims he has slow-rolled MAHA initiatives, according to media reports in recent weeks.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that the president had reportedly already signed off on a plan to fire Makary, citing three familiar sources who cited Makary’s handling of abortion and drug policy. 

“I’ve been reading about it, but I know nothing about it,” Trump said the same day after he was asked by reporters if Makary would be fired.

TRUMP CABINET SHAKEUP EXPANDS AFTER NOEM EXIT, BONDI FIRING — WHO’S UNDER PRESSURE NEXT?

The resignation comes one day before Makary was set to testify in front of the Senate Appropriations Committee Wednesday.

Though Makary’s resignation is not attributable to a specific issue, according to the White House official, his tenure atop the FDA has put him at the center of fights over abortion drug mifepristone – otherwise known as the “abortion pill” – vaccine policy and drug approvals, frustrating pro-life activists and MAHA-aligned critics who argued the agency has moved too slowly to carry out Trump’s health agenda.

When Trump was elected, pro-life groups and voters were banking on the administration rolling-back Biden-era rules that allowed mifepristone to be prescribed online and shipped through the mail. But the FDA left those rules intact and last year, under Makary’s leadership, approved a new generic version of the pill.

“President Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Kennedy must end this now, remove Commissioner Makary, stop the mail order abortion scheme, and pull these child-killing drugs from the market,” said Live Action president Lila Rose to Fox News Digital ahead of Makary’s resignation.

ABORTION PILL MIFEPRISTONE STAYS AVAILABLE BY MAIL FOR NOW AS FDA FACES 6-MONTH REVIEW DEADLINE

“What a mess Makary turned out to be,” a Trump administration official told Fox News Digital earlier in May, claiming the commissioners’ comments and actions have told “every pro-life advocate their concerns are an afterthought.”

“The arrogance is stunning,” they added of the FDA commissioner.

TOP PRO-LIFE GROUPS REVEAL AGENDA FOR SECOND TRUMP ADMINISTRATION AMID ‘ABORTION FEARMONGERING’

Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser told the Wall Street Journal earlier in May that “Trump is the problem,” when it comes to the abortion issues falling off for the GOP in recent years. 

And if candidates want her group’s $160 million in the midterms and 2028 presidential election, she said they must commit “to pro-life action at the national level.”

Republican Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley said the resignation was “welcome news” in reaction on X Tuesday afternoon. 

“Dr. Makary was uniquely destructive to the prolife movement,” Hawley wrote on X. “He attempted to place pro-abortion lawyers in key positions. He slow walked a vitally necessary review of the abortion drug mifepristone. He used his discretion to approve a new abortion drug when the data shows it sends 1 in 10 women to the emergency room. He froze out prolife leaders and repeatedly stonewalled Congress. His resignation is an opportunity for the FDA to reset.”

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Makary’s exit follows a series of high profile departures this year, including former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and former Attorney General Pam Bondi.

Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

The FBI has reportedly begun questioning current and former CIA officials as part of a Justice Department probe into former CIA Director John Brennan and his role in the intelligence community’s 2017 assessment on Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Agents have interviewed roughly a dozen officials involved in drafting the assessment, with investigators focusing on how its conclusions were reached and whether Brennan may have misled Congress during his 2023 testimony, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Brennan has been identified as a subject of the investigation, according to his attorney.

BONDI CONFIRMS DOJ HAS RECEIVED CRIMINAL REFERRAL ALLEGING BRENNAN PERJURY OVER STEELE DOSSIER

At the center of the probe is whether the intelligence assessment — which concluded Russia sought to boost Donald Trump’s candidacy — was influenced by the controversial Steele dossier, a collection of largely unsubstantiated allegations about Trump’s supposed ties to Russia that was funded by political opponents.

Brennan has previously said the CIA opposed including the dossier in the assessment, though a summary was ultimately attached to a classified version of the report.

The probe into Brennan gained momentum after House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan referred Brennan to the Justice Department last year, alleging he may have made false statements to Congress about the CIA’s role in handling the Steele dossier.

Brennan said in sworn testimony to Jordan’s committee that “the CIA was not involved at all with the dossier.”

“This claim is contradicted by multiple sources that reveal Brennan’s support for including the dossier in the ICA,” Jordan wrote in his letter to the DOJ referring Brennan for criminal prosecution.

“According to a CIA memorandum declassified by the Trump Administration, when two CIA mission center leaders confronted Brennan with ‘specific flaws’ in the dossier, Brennan disregarded their concerns, ‘appear[ing] more swayed by the [d]ossier’s general conformity with existing theories than by legitimate tradecraft concerns,'” Jordan wrote, citing messages from Brennan revealed after Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard declassified internal agency communications in July.

BONDI CONFIRMS DOJ HAS RECEIVED CRIMINAL REFERRAL ALLEGING BRENNAN PERJURY OVER STEELE DOSSIER

The original intelligence findings were later upheld by multiple government reviews. However, Trump has long derided the Russia investigation as a “witch hunt” and a “hoax” while calling for scrutiny of officials involved in launching it.

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Brennan, for his part, claimed the Trump administration is “lawyer shopping,” according to Reuters, after the DOJ removed prosecutor Maria Medetis Long from Brennan’s case in favor of Joe diGenova.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the CIA and the FBI for comment.

Reuters contributed to this report.

EXCLUSIVE: A former Navy SEAL and Marine veteran running for U.S. Senate in Minnesota sees an opening for a statewide GOP victory this election cycle, saying citizens are widely embarrassed by Democratic Gov. Tim Walz’s “stolen valor” handling of the massive fraud scandal in the state.

In an interview with Fox News Digital, Adam Schwarze, one of about half a dozen running for the GOP’s Senate nomination in Minnesota, said that with the Democratic Party embracing socialist policies in the state and across the country, “the stakes cannot be higher.” Without an incumbent to contend with, Schwarze said Republicans have a “20-year opportunity” to flip a seat that could determine which party controls the upper chamber.

He juxtaposed himself with Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, the No. 2 leader in Minnesota and the current Democratic frontrunner for her party’s Senate nomination. Schwarze posited that Flanagan has been marred by her association with Walz and the still-unfolding fraud crisis that has rocked Minnesota.

“Everybody outside of Minneapolis is angered and embarrassed that Minnesota is internationally known [for] fraud. You can’t even go outside the country and say your state anymore because people are like, ‘What is wrong with your crazy state?’” he said, adding, “That’s going to really have a large effect in the voting in November.”

OMAR CAMP BREAKS SILENCE ON FRAUD PROBE, BLAMES WALZ, TRUMP AS NEW CLAIMS CLASH WITH EARLIER STATEMENTS

Though he has yet to receive the GOP nomination, Schwarze said that with 10 years as an infantry Marine and 11 years as a Navy SEAL officer, he would be a surefire candidate in a general election faceoff with Flanagan.

“Navy SEALs are seven for seven in general elections,” he said. “We don’t miss the target.”

Meanwhile, he accused Flanagan of “openly running as a socialist.”

Flanagan, who is running a progressive, anti-Trump campaign, has been endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. She recently appeared alongside Sanders at one of his “Fighting Oligarchy” tour stops in Rochester, Minnesota.

At the rally, Flanagan cast the current political moment as a “fight for who this country belongs to, billionaires and corporations or the rest of us.” She used much of her time onstage to rip the President Donald Trump-backed “one, big, beautiful bill,” U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the conflict in Iran and the proposed White House ballroom. 

Flanagan asserted, “They don’t give a damn about you,” saying of the Trump administration, “This is just straight up corruption, period, full stop.”

Schwarze said that Flanagan’s rhetoric encapsulates the state of the Democratic Party right now.

“What’s the Democrat agenda nationally right now? It’s anti-Trump, pro-socialism,” he said. “Now, they’re going to run an open socialist candidate for the U.S. Senate. And I don’t think it’s going to work in Minnesota.”

He posited that “nobody outside Minneapolis is going to vote for socialism.”

MINNESOTA HOUSE SPEAKER WARNS AMERICANS WILL BE ‘SHOCKED’ BY SCOPE OF FRAUD CRISIS

But Schwarze said that while Minnesotans’ distaste for socialism will keep them from voting Democratic this year, he believes the fraud issue will drive voters to seek change at the ballot box.

“Fraud is everything. That’s going to be the thing that takes back our state for people like me who are just patriotic people,” he explained.

While on the campaign trail, Schwarze said he has seen as much as twice the normal number of people registering support for Republicans at local caucuses throughout Minnesota. He said he has also seen support in cities that are typically Democratic strongholds.

“Minnesotans are a really proud people. We’re farmers. We’re laborers. We have businesses,” he said. “What is throughout and known is just the anger and the embarrassment of being a Minnesotan in this time.”

Meanwhile, he ripped the Walz administration, saying, “They’re still trying to cover it up, or try to press for a different narrative on the story, take credit, which is what Walz does, right? Stolen Valor Walz, he loves to take credit, but not actually do the work.”

MINNESOTA DHS WHISTLEBLOWER DETAILS ‘SMEAR CAMPAIGN’ AFTER REPORTING FRAUD CONCERNS TO STATE

Schwarze said that Flanagan, too, shares in the blame.

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“We don’t know how many billions it truly is. But there’s still been zero people fired from the Walz administration,” he said. “And at the same time that Walz is now finally getting pushed aside by the establishment Democrats, they’re also trying to elevate Peggy Flanagan to the United States Senate.”

He accused Flanagan of being “right there for the $9 to $19 billion in fraud,” while adding, “Being a military guy my whole life, you don’t fail a mission and then get promoted.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Walz and Flanagan for comment.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., other Democratic lawmakers and former Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene targeted President Donald Trump while speaking out about inflation and the Iran war on Tuesday after the U.S. released new Consumer Price Index data.

“From the pump to the grocery store, the President’s reckless war of choice in Iran is hurting the American people. With inflation skyrocketing, working families are being forced to pay the price for Trump’s chaos — while he focuses on his billion-dollar ballroom,” Pelosi declared in a post on X.

Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., asserted in a post, “Trump promised to bring prices down. Prices under his policies are up. Inflation is 3.8 now. It was 3.0 when he started. His betrayal of his base in launching a war in Iran has been an absolute disaster.”

INFLATION CONTINUED TO RISE IN APRIL AS IRAN WAR IMPACTED ENGERY PRICES

Greene, a vociferous Trump critic who had previously been a staunch Trump ally, wrote, “Inflation is rising and gas is over $4.50 per gallon all because Trump went to war with Iran. Not at all what America voted for.”

The former House Republican departed from office in the middle of her two-year term earlier this year after a falling-out with the president.

The AAA national average price for regular gas is currently $4.504, which is below the record of $5.016 set in June of 2022 during President Joe Biden’s White House tenure.

JEFFRIES CALLS OUT TRUMP-ERA GAS PRICES AFTER TELLING REPUBLICANS NOT TO POLITICIZE PUMP PAIN UNDER BIDEN

“Inflation is accelerating because of Trump’s illegal war that is skyrocketing gas prices. We need to stop this war NOW,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., declared in a post on X.

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

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) on Tuesday said that the consumer price index (CPI) – a broad measure of how much everyday goods like gasoline, groceries and rent cost – rose 0.6% from a month ago and is 3.8% higher than last year. That’s the highest level since May 2023.

GOP SENATOR INTRODUCES BILL TO SUSPEND GAS TAX AFTER TRUMP ENDORSES PLAN

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The June 2022 CPI report, which was released in July of that year during Biden’s presidency, stated, “The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased 1.3 percent in June on a seasonally adjusted basis after rising 1.0 percent in May,” noting, “Over the last 12 months, the all items index increased 9.1 percent before seasonal adjustment.”

President Donald Trump’s next pick to lead the nation’s central bank is one step closer to securing the job, despite early fears that his nomination was doomed. 

The Senate, in a test vote, confirmed Kevin Warsh to be on the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors, the main governing body of the central bank, and a post he previously served on nearly two decades ago. The institution dictates monetary policy for the nation and has been a thorn in Trump’s side throughout his second term. 

Tuesday’s successful test vote was the first step in Republicans’ quest to confirm Warsh as the next chair of the Federal Reserve. And it comes as current Chair Jerome Powell’s term at the helm comes to a close on May 15. 

SENATE WEIGHS NEW, PAINFUL LEVERAGE TACTIC AS FEARS OF ANOTHER GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN GROW

The Senate is expected to wrap up confirmation of Warsh on Wednesday.

It’s a far quieter ending to a process that for months was marred by high-stakes drama, legal disputes and speculation about whether Trump’s handpicked successor to Powell could actually survive the process. 

That’s because until recently, Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., vowed to block any replacement pick unless the Department of Justice dropped its criminal probe against Powell. 

FRAGILE RELATIONSHIP WITH HOUSE GOP HAS SENATE REPUBLICANS WARNING ‘SOMETHING NEEDS TO CHANGE’

That probe, which ended late last month amid pressure from top Senate Republicans, was related to alleged mismanagement of renovation funds for updates of the Federal Reserve’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., and played out despite Powell’s anticipated exit this month.

Speculation swirled about whether the probe was launched as a retaliatory effort against Powell, who refused to adhere to Trump’s desires to sharply lower interest rates as the central bank navigates inflation and new economic pressures from the war in Iran. 

Though Powell’s time in the spotlight as chair of the Federal Reserve is soon coming to a close, he’s not going anywhere. He told reporters last month that when his term ended, he would stay on the Board of Governors. 

THE ONE LINE IN WARSH’S TESTIMONY SIGNALING A BREAK FROM THE FED’S STATUS QUO

“I plan to keep a low profile as a governor. There is only ever one chair of the Federal Reserve Board. When Kevin Warsh is confirmed and sworn in, he will be that chair,” Powell said.

Warsh’s vision of the Federal Reserve is one that would maintain the central bank’s independence while shifting away from delving into political and social issues.

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“The Fed must stay in its lane,” Warsh said during his testimony before the Senate banking panel last month. “Fed independence is placed at greatest risk when it strays into fiscal and social policies where it has neither authority nor expertise.”

Warsh needed every Republican vote he could get, given that Democrats have heavily scrutinized his finances and lack of financial disclosures related to wife Jane Lauder’s colossal fortune, and view him as a “sock puppet” for Trump’s economic vision rather than a force that would push back if need be.

After a Pennsylvania Supreme Court justice appeared to indicate that he had ditched the Democratic Party, declaring in a statement that he is “no longer registered within any political party,” U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., noted that he understood the man’s decision.

Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice David Wecht, who ran as a Democrat when he was elected in 2015, indicated that the Democratic Party has an issue with antisemitism.

“From 1998 to 2001, years that preceded my judicial career, I served as Vice-Chair of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party. In the quarter century that has passed since then, the Democratic Party has changed. Nazi tattoos, jihadist chants, intimidation and attacks at synagogues, and other hateful anti-Jewish invective and actions are minimized, ignored, and even coddled. Acquiescence to Jew-hatred is now disturbingly common among activists, leaders and even many elected officials in the Democratic Party,” he asserted in part of his statement, which Fox News Digital obtained.

DEMOCRATS KEEP PENNSYLVANIA SUPREME COURT CONTROL AFTER 3 JUSTICES WIN RETENTION RACES

“I can no longer abide this. So, I won’t. I am no longer registered within any political party,” Wecht declared in the statement. “It is my hope that Pennsylvanians, and Americans, of all viewpoints and backgrounds will oppose and resist the scourge of Jew-hatred before it undermines what our ancestors have built here.”

The justice, who began serving on the state’s high court in 2016, was retained in a 2025 election.

FETTERMAN SAYS DEMOCRATS HAVE BECOME ‘ANTI-MEN,’ WARNS OF YOUNG MALE VOTER EXODUS

Fox News Digital reached out to the Pennsylvania Democratic Party for comment.

“I know David and his legendary father, Cyril. As I’ve affirmed, I’m not changing my party — but I fully understand David’s personal choice,” Fetterman wrote in a post on X.

FETTERMAN RIPS DEMS FOR HATING ANYTHING TRUMP DOES, SAYS PARTY CAN’T RESIST WORST IMPULSES

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“The Democratic Party must confront its own rising antisemitism problem,” he added.

President Donald Trump says he’ll be “watching closely” as lawmakers in the Republican-dominated South Carolina legislature on Tuesday begin redrawing their state’s congressional district map to erase the only Democrat-dominated U.S. House seat.

At the same time, Republican officials in solidly red Alabama are moving forward with a redrawn congressional map that would likely eliminate one of the state’s two Democratic-held U.S. House seats in time for this autumn’s midterm elections, when the GOP will be defending its razor-thin congressional majority.

This week’s moves in Alabama and South Carolina, along with similar efforts in Louisiana and Tennessee, come two weeks after a ruling by the conservative majority on the Supreme Court to slash a key Voting Rights Act protection.

And they’re giving Trump and the GOP a major boost in their ongoing political fight with Democrats to redraw congressional district maps ahead of the midterms. At stake in this nationwide redistricting showdown is which party will control the House during the final two years of Trump’s second term in the White House.

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

In South Carolina, the state Senate is expected to vote Tuesday on whether to agree with the state House to take up rare but not unheard of mid-decade redistricting. State lawmakers would also need to push back South Carolina’s U.S. House primaries from early next month to August. Early voting in the state’s primary is scheduled to kick off in two weeks.

South Carolina Republicans are likely to advance a new map that could put longtime Rep. Jim Clyburn, the only Democrat in the state’s seven-person House delegation, out of a job.

Clyburn this past week remained optimistic he can still win re-election.

“I don’t know why people think I could not get re-elected if they redistrict South Carolina,” Clyburn said in a CNN interview. “I have a district that’s about 45 percent African-American. I have no idea what the number will be after the legislature finishes, but whatever that number is, I will be running on my record and America’s promise.”

Trump, in a social media post Monday night, urged “South Carolina Republicans: BE BOLD AND COURAGEOUS.”

“Move the U.S. House Primaries to August, leave the rest on the same schedule. Everything will be fine. GET IT DONE!” he added.

Trump’s message comes a week after five Indiana Republican state senators who in December helped sink congressional redistricting in the solidly red Midwestern state were ousted by Trump-backed challengers in GOP primaries.

WHAT’S ON THE LINE AS THESE STATES HOLD PRIMARIES TODAY

It’s back to the future in Alabama, after the Supreme Court, in a 6-3 ideological ruling, cleared the way for the state to put in place a map Republicans drew up in 2023 that had been blocked by lower courts. The map would eliminate one of the state’s two blue-leaning congressional seats.

The Supreme Court’s decision two weeks ago reshaped the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act by ruling that race should not dictate the redrawing of legislative district maps. And the opinion specifically ruled that Louisiana’s congressional district map was unconstitutional.

Last week, the Supreme Court said that its decision declaring Louisiana’s map unconstitutional should go into effect immediately, breaking with its usual procedure of waiting roughly a month before its opinions become official.

That cleared the way for the GOP-controlled state legislature to begin the process of reshaping the map, and hearings got underway on Friday.

Republican Gov. Jeff Landry, a top Trump ally, took swift action in the immediate aftermath of the high court’s ruling, when he delayed the May 16 U.S. House primary elections in Louisiana.

Louisiana Republicans are aiming to erase one or both of the two Black-majority House seats, which are represented by Democrats.

TENN GOV LEE CALLS SPECIAL SESSION TO REDRAW HOUSE MAP IN GOP’S FAVOR 9-0

Republicans in Tennessee moved even faster.

The GOP-dominated Tennessee legislature on Thursday quickly adopted a new map that would eliminate the only Democrat-controlled congressional district in the state, and would likely give Republicans control of all nine districts.

GOP Gov. Bill Lee quickly signed the new maps into law.

Democratic Rep. Steve Cohen, who represents the majority Black district that’s being carved up, vowed legal action.

“Trump knows he HAS TO rig the game to keep his majority in November. And the TN GOP was willing to go along with it. It’s shameful,” Cohen wrote on social media. “Next stop is the courts.”

Trump praised Tennessee Republicans in his social media post and urged GOP lawmakers in South Carolina to act “just like the Republicans of the Great State of Tennessee were last week.”

BLOCKBUSTER SUPREME COURT VOTING RIGHTS RULING IGNITES REDISTRICTING WAR ACROSS SOUTHERN STATES

In Florida, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis last week signed a bill by the GOP-dominated state legislature that overhauls the red-leaning state’s congressional districts, adding four more right-leaning seats by eliminating districts currently controlled by Democrats.

Republicans currently control Florida’s U.S. House delegation by a 20-8 margin.

Democrats are fighting back.

On Monday, Democrats filed an emergency appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court seeking to halt a Virginia state Supreme Court ruling invalidating a ballot measure that would have given their party an additional four left-leaning U.S. House seats.

Last week’s ruling in Virginia means the map used in the 2024 elections will stay in place for the 2026 ballot box showdowns. Democrats currently control the state’s U.S. House delegation by a 6-5 margin. The now overturned map could have resulted in a 10-1 advantage for Democrats in the blue-leaning but competitive state.

How we got here

The battle over the maps ignited last spring when Trump, aiming to prevent what happened during his first term in the White House when Democrats reclaimed the House majority in the 2018 midterms, first floated the idea of rare, but not unheard of, mid-decade congressional redistricting.

The mission was simple: redraw congressional district maps in red states to pad the GOP’s fragile House majority to keep control of the chamber in the midterms, when the party in power traditionally faces political headwinds and loses seats.

When asked by reporters last summer about his plan to add Republican-leaning House seats across the country, the president said, “Texas will be the biggest one. And that’ll be five.”

Republican Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas called a special session of the GOP-dominated state legislature to pass the new map.

But Democratic state lawmakers, who broke quorum for two weeks as they fled Texas in a bid to delay the passage of the redistricting bill, energized Democrats across the country. Among those leading the fight against Trump’s redistricting was Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom of California.

California voters in November overwhelmingly passed Proposition 50, a ballot initiative that temporarily sidetracked the left-leaning state’s nonpartisan redistricting commission and returned the power to draw the congressional maps to the Democratic-dominated legislature.

That led to five more Democratic-leaning congressional districts in California, which aimed to counter the move by Texas to redraw their maps.

But the fight quickly spread beyond Texas and California.

Republican-controlled Missouri and Ohio and swing state North Carolina, where the GOP dominates the legislature, drew new maps as part of the president’s push.

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But in blows to Republicans, a Utah district judge late last year rejected a congressional district map drawn by the state’s GOP-dominated legislature and instead approved an alternate that will create a Democratic-leaning district ahead of the midterms.

And as mentioned, Republicans in Indiana’s Senate in December defied Trump, shooting down a redistricting bill that had passed the state House.

FBI Director Kash Patel is again set to testify before the Senate, this time in defense of a budget increase for his agency amid scrutiny of his performance atop the nation’s federal law enforcement arm. 

Patel, along with the heads of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), U.S. Marshals Service and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), is set to pitch lawmakers on President Donald Trump’s budget request for their agencies on Tuesday. 

Their agencies fall under the Department of Justice (DOJ), which, under Trump’s funding request this year, could receive a total of nearly $41 billion. 

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The FBI would receive the largest chunk of that funding request at $12 billion among the agencies set to testify before the Senate. The latest request is a roughly $2 billion increase from the previous year.

Patel’s testimony before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies will be his first hearing in Congress since last September, when the FBI chief was grilled by Democrats for his leadership following the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. 

He has faced a bevy of critical headlines since then, including criticism over the third assassination attempt against Trump last month and a recent report from The Atlantic that accused the FBI director of excessive drinking, erratic behavior and frequent absences, which Patel has vehemently denied.

FBI DIRECTOR KASH PATEL VOWS TO TAKE THE ATLANTIC TO COURT OVER ‘DEFAMATORY’ REPORT

Patel has since sued the outlet in a $250 million defamation lawsuit, in which he charged that the Atlantic’s reporting was “replete with false and obviously fabricated allegations designed to destroy” his reputation and push him out of his role.

Trump’s funding request for the agency comes after slashing FBI spending last year to the tune of about half a billion dollars. 

Patel at the time pushed back against the cuts, arguing before members of the House that the agency “cannot cover down on the mission at the levels that we would have to go to.” 

REPUBLICANS RUSH TO GREEN LIGHT WHITE HOUSE BALLROOM FOLLOWING THIRD TRUMP ASSASSINATION SCARE

He changed course before the Senate just days later and contended that he was “in full support of the president’s budget, which reprioritizes and enhances our mission of law enforcement and national security.”

The $12 billion requested by the administration would go toward expanding violent crime enforcement and arrests, strengthening counterterrorism operations, enhancing unmanned aerial systems (drones) capabilities, training state and local law enforcement and boosting security for major events, like the 2028 Olympics. 

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DEA Administrator Terrance Cole will also pitch lawmakers on his agency’s budget increase, to the tune of $362 million, which would go toward hiring over 300 new agents, expanding drug trafficking intelligence systems and targeting major criminal organizations, including the Sinaloa Cartel, MS-13 and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.

FIRST ON FOX — Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, is unveiling a bill on Tuesday that would allow the death penalty as punishment for those who knowingly distribute fentanyl that results in death, according to a draft of the legislation first obtained by Fox News Digital.

Roy’s bill, the Deal Death, Face Death Act, demonstrates a continued focus among GOP lawmakers to crack down on narcotics distribution, even as fentanyl deaths have begun to trend downward in recent years.

“If a dealer distributes fentanyl or fentanyl-laced drugs and someone dies as a result, that dealer has effectively signed that person’s death warrant,” Roy said in a statement on the proposal.

DRUG DEALERS COULD BE CHARGED WITH MURDER UNDER NEW VIRGINIA FENTANYL PLAN

In 2024, nearly 48,400 Americans died due to fentanyl poisoning, according to findings from the National Center for Health Statistics — a 36% drop from levels in 2023.

Despite that progress, Roy believes capital punishment is key to bringing levels down further.

“Congress must stand with the families devastated by this crisis and send a clear message: if you deal death, you will face the full weight of justice,” the Texas Republican said in his statement to Fox News Digital.

The Controlled Substances Act of 1970 currently caps penalties for distribution at life in prison.

Roy’s bill would raise the bar by amending that law, stating that “such person shall be sentenced, if death results from the use of such substance, to death.”

TRUMP ADMIN USES LUIGI MANGIONE CASE TO ‘SEND A MESSAGE’ IN FIRST 100 DAYS: FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR

Additionally, the bill doubles existing fines for fentanyl-related offenses, authorizing penalties of up to $2 million for individuals and $10 million for non-individual entities.

The bill is narrowly tailored to apply to fentanyl and fentanyl-related substances.

NARCO TRAFFICKERS ALLEGEDLY USING ANIMAL TRANQUILIZERS TO CREATE ‘SUPERCHARGED FENTANYL’

Although the bill does not make the death penalty the default punishment, Roy argued it would give prosecutors a new tool to pursue cases more aggressively — especially in instances where other drugs such as heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine are knowingly laced with fentanyl. In those cases, Roy’s office argued that current law acts as a shield to dealers who endanger unsuspecting buyers.

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“[The act] closes a dangerous loophole and gives prosecutors the ability to pursue capital punishment against the worst offenders who are profiting off the deaths of Americans,” Roy said.

“Fentanyl is killing hundreds of Americans every single day and the people trafficking this poison should face the harshest penalties available,” he added.

The Pentagon’s massive $1.5 trillion budget request will face its first test Tuesday as House lawmakers quiz Department of War Secretary Pete Hegseth about the proposal in a high-stakes hearing. 

Democrats and some Republicans have raised concerns about the unprecedented size of the request, which would increase defense funding by nearly 50% from 2026 levels while making cuts to domestic spending. 

The Trump administration argues the jump in defense spending is necessary to counter threats from geopolitical adversaries and advance the president’s priorities, including replenishing weapons stockpiles and expanding the defense industrial base.

Hegseth is also expected to face questions on the administration’s military strategy toward Iran as peace talks remain stalled between Washington and Tehran. Trump said Monday that the ceasefire with Iran is “on life support” during a news conference in the Oval Office.

TRUMP CALLS FOR $1.5T DEFENSE BUDGET TO BUILD ‘DREAM MILITARY’

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine and Pentagon comptroller Jules Hurst will testify alongside Hegseth at the House Appropriations Committee hearing.

The anticipated testimony follows back-to-back congressional hearings the trio participated in April, during which Hegseth repeatedly clashed with Democrats over the U.S. military campaign against Iran.

“The biggest challenge, the biggest adversary we face at this point are the reckless, feckless, and defeatist words of congressional Democrats and some Republicans,” Hegseth told lawmakers.

Hurst testified to Congress in April that the Iran war has cost $25 billion so far, mostly for munitions, though multiple reports say the total could be far higher. The Department of War is expected to seek a defense supplemental request following the conclusion of the conflict, which could be much larger in scope.

“It’s shocking how deep we have gone into these magazines,” Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., said on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday. “Because this president got our country into this without a strategic goal, without a plan, without a timeline, and because of that, we’ve expended a lot of munitions, and that means the American people are less safe.”

Hegseth accused the Arizona Democrat of divulging classified information and pledged to have the Pentagon’s legal counsel review his remarks. 

“Did he violate his oath…again?” Hegseth wrote on social media, referring to his attempts to sanction Kelly, a Navy veteran, for advising troops to ignore illegal orders last year.

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The Pentagon’s budget request is expected to face an uphill battle with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and other Democrats vowing to ensure it “never passes.” Any defense spending bill would require some Democratic votes to pass the Senate due to the upper chamber’s 60-vote legislative filibuster. 

Kelly has slammed the fiscal year 2027 budget request as “outrageous” and called on the administration to submit a new budget that “makes sense for the moment we’re in.”

“When I got to the Senate five and a half years ago, the defense budget was just over $700 billion,” Kelly told CBS News’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday. “Now, they’re asking for twice as much money. It’s nearly the amount that the rest of the world pays for its defense.” 

The Pentagon’s request would allocate more than $65 billion for the Navy’s “Golden Fleet” initiative and nearly $20 billion for Trump’s Golden Dome air defense shield. The administration also proposes spending billions on the next-generation F-47 Air Force fighter jet and unmanned weapons systems.

On the non-defense side, the administration’s budget request would slash funding for the State Department and international programs by a third and the Environmental Protection Agency by 50%, among other agencies.

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At least one pressure point that Hegseth faced over Ukraine in April is off the table.

The Pentagon chief announced in late April that the administration released $400 million in Ukraine money that Congress approved in 2025. Hegseth was grilled about the delay in transferring aid to the country during his appearance before the House Armed Services Committee in April. 

Fox News Digital reached out to the Department of War for comment.

Senate Republicans are taking stock of their relationship with the House GOP as they gear up for another key test of their unity across chambers. 

Dysfunction, miscommunications and wasted time have dotted the last few months of Republicans’ control of Congress, particularly during the longest government shutdown on record. 

Republicans in the upper chamber aren’t singling out others in the House who should bear responsibility, but they do agree that something needs to change as they plow forward to fund immigration operations for the next few years. 

TRUMP SAYS HE ‘CAN’T STAND’ SOME REPUBLICANS FOR REFUSING ONE KEY MOVE FOR HIS AGENDA

“I think we all need to get in a room and figure out what’s our plan,” Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., told Fox News Digital. “And how are we going to get things done for the American people? That has to be the goal, and right now something needs to change.”

Republicans are readying to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol for the next three and a half years through budget reconciliation, which will require near-perfect unanimity in both chambers to work, given that Democrats are getting cut out of the process. 

But divisions between the chambers were laid bare during the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shutdown, when House Republicans, led by House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., refused to consider the Senate’s compromise plan to reopen the agency. 

That decision prolonged the shutdown for nearly a month, and spurred the necessity to turn to reconciliation. It also fostered frustration between the Senate and House at a time when leadership and President Donald Trump are calling for unity.

JOHNSON SCRAMBLES AS TRUMP, SENATE REPUBLICANS PRESSURE HOUSE TO FUND DHS

Both Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., have thin majorities to work with — Johnson more so than Thune. That reality isn’t something that’s lost on Senate Republicans, particularly on legislation that Democrats won’t support, and is so far preventing the knives from coming out in the upper chamber. 

“I mean, I think we understand the challenges that Mike has over there. He’s not king. He’s the speaker of the House,” Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., told Fox News Digital.
”And their margin of error is less than ours, proportionately. So I can’t imagine. I think he’s doing the very best he can.” 

Some Republicans argue that it’s more of a communication issue between the chambers than unfettered dysfunction in the House.

Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, told Fox News Digital he didn’t buy the “whole House’s dysfunction” argument, and instead said it was incumbent on senators to make more of an effort. 

“I think we have to take a little bit of ownership ourselves here in the Senate, and that’s certainly not [just] the leadership, but all of us,” Moreno said. “Because when we’re working on bills, we should have total, complete synchronicity with the House.” 

‘SHIRTS AND SKINS’: HOW ONE REPUBLICAN BRIDGED THE GAP TO PASS TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’

House Republicans, for example, contended that they were blindsided by the Senate deal to reopen the bulk of DHS earlier this year that carved out funding for ICE and Border Patrol.

 “We’ve got to be able to make sure we’re communicating better and working through the issues,” Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., told Fox News Digital. “The House isn’t our enemy. We gotta be able to resolve all the issues on a piece of legislation. We have differences of opinion. OK, let’s work them out.”

The issue of communication is one that, since Republicans took control of both chambers last year, was largely handled by DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, the former GOP senator who acted as a de facto liaison between both chambers for major legislative pushes. 

When asked if Republicans needed a Mullin 2.0, Lankford said that the main points of communication fell on Thune and Johnson.

And Thune has not been quick to criticize Johnson or House Republicans publicly and noted that the nature of both chambers and how they operate would lead to issues along the way. 

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“We obviously have a 60-vote threshold,” Thune said.
”We need Democrats. You know, he doesn’t need Democrats, but he needs every Republican, and that’s a real challenge on a good day. And, you know, sometimes there aren’t a lot of good days around here.”

Conversely, Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., argued that despite the issues, if Democrats were in control of the chambers, Americans would have been hit with the largest tax hike in decades had Republicans not mustered a unified front to pass Trump’s “big, beautiful bill.” 

“All of that would have been in the opposite if the Democrats had been in the majority and been able to do what they wanted to do to raise taxes,” Barrasso told Fox News Digital.

Tuesday is primary day in red-leaning Nebraska, where party showdowns for the House and Senate will tee up general election matchups in the battle for Congress.

Meanwhile, in GOP-dominated West Virginia, establishment Sen. Shelley Moore Capito faces five Republican primary challenges, but enjoys the backing of President Donald Trump.

And in New Jersey, Democratic Mayor Ras Baraka of Newark, who grabbed national attention last year as he was arrested during an anti-ICE protest outside a federal immigration detention center, is facing seven challengers as he seeks a fourth term steering the Garden State’s largest city.

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

Tuesday’s contests come with less than six months to go until the 2026 midterm elections, when Republicans aim to hold their razor-thin House and slim Senate majorities, and Democrats hope to ride a blue wave to escape the political wilderness.

Here’s a closer look at Tuesday’s ballot box showdowns.

Nebraska

Republican Sen. Pete Ricketts, who was appointed in 2023 to replace Ben Sasse, and who won a 2024 special election to fill out the final two years of Sasse’s term, is running for a full six-year term. Ricketts faces four primary challengers on Tuesday, but is expected to capture his party’s nomination.

Ricketts is already eyeing the general election, when he’ll face off against independent candidate Dan Osborn, the industrial mechanic and military veteran who gave Republican Sen. Deb Fischer a scare in her 2024 re-election.

SIX MONTHS TILL MIDTERMS: THE TEN RACES THAT WILL DETERMINE THE SENATE’S MAJORITY

Even though the Nebraska Democratic Party supports Osborn in the general election, community college instructor Cindy Burbank and pastor Bill Forbes are running for the Democrats’ nomination in the primary.

Both candidates were last-minute filers, and some Nebraska Democratic leaders alleged that Forbes jumped into the race so that a Democrat would be on the fall ballot and siphon votes away from Osborn to help Ricketts.

Forbes has denied the claims.

Burbank says she jumped into the race to keep Forbes off the ballot in November.

In the gubernatorial primary, GOP Gov. Jim Pillen faces five nomination challengers. Former state Sen. Lynne Walz and perennial candidate Larry Marvin face off for the Democratic nomination.

The primary in Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District, an Omaha-based competitive seat, is grabbing national attention, in the race to succeed retiring Republican Rep. Don Bacon. The seat is a top target for Democrats as they try to retake the House.

Omaha City Councilmember Brinker Harding is unopposed for the Republican nomination.

Two major Democrats, state Sen. John Cavanaugh and Denise Powell, are vying for their party’s congressional nomination.

Nebraska is the only state in the nation, along with Maine, to split their electoral votes in presidential elections. And the electoral vote up for grabs in Nebraska’s 2nd District, known as the ‘blue dot,’ was carried by then-Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election.

Powell argues that if Cavanaugh wins the primary and then the general election, and steps down from his state Senate seat, GOP Gov. Pillen would replace him with a Republican, which could potentially lead to the GOP-dominated legislature scrapping the ‘blue dot’ and making Nebraska’s electoral votes winner-take-all.

West Virginia

Republican Gov. Patrick Morrisey is not on the ballot in Tuesday’s primary, but the first-term governor’s clout in state politics is on the line, as the governor is targeting several GOP state lawmakers running for re-election.

Meanwhile, in the U.S. Senate race, five Democrats are seeking their party’s nomination.

In Charleston, West Virginia‘s capital city, Democratic Mayor Amy Goodwin faces a primary challenge as she seeks a third term. Republican Brian Hunt is unopposed for the Republican nomination.

New Jersey

While Baraka is a Democrat, mayoral elections in Newark are technically nonpartisan.

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If no candidate tops 50% of the vote, a runoff between Tuesday’s top two finishers will be held in early June.

The charges against Baraka were dropped, and he later ran for governor, coming in second to then-Rep. Mikie Sherrill in the Democratic gubernatorial primary. Sherrill ended up winning election as New Jersey governor.

The Minnesota Senate on Monday narrowly passed a bill that would restrict federal agents from concealing their identities, with exceptions, and create a path for lawsuits over alleged constitutional violations stemming from immigration enforcement in the state.

The bill narrowly passed with a 34-33 party line vote. It now heads to the House, where it faces an uphill battle with the chamber evenly split between Democrats and Republicans.

The legislation also instructs schools, day cares and health care facilities to deny access to agents seeking to conduct civil immigration enforcement on their premises without a signed judicial warrant, with some exceptions. And it prohibits certain civil immigration arrests of people attending court proceedings.

Additionally, it gives state officials the authority to investigate deaths involving federal agents’ use of force and creates penalties or civil liability in certain cases when someone fails to render aid after a shooting.

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Democratic Sen. Omar Fateh, a co-sponsor of the bill, said the federal government’s raids in Minnesota displayed “a show of force against immigrant communities,” according to The Minnesota Star Tribune.

“They said agents were here to enforce law and order,” Fateh said. “Again, they lied. They broke down doors without a warrant, denied people due process, assaulted, arrested, tear-gassed and shot peaceful people.”

This comes as several Democratic-led states have sought to adopt restrictions on immigration agents, particularly after the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens in separate incidents in January during immigration raids in Minneapolis that triggered nationwide protests.

Lawmakers in New York reached an agreement with Gov. Kathy Hochul on a final state budget to limit state and local cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and place restrictions on masked agents and warrantless searches of homes, schools and other locations. The deal would also allow residents to sue immigration agents.

A mask ban was also passed by California lawmakers, but similar restrictions have faced federal court challenges, including rulings blocking parts of California’s law.

Other Democratic-led states, including New Jersey and Massachusetts, ​have proposed ⁠similar plans to block immigration agents from wearing masks during President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.

Minnesota Democratic Sen. Ron Latz, another co-sponsor of the bill passed on Monday, said the measure aims to bring accountability and “ensuring that what happened here never happens again.”

“What we endured was one of the darkest periods in American history when the government … sent masked men — armed, untrained and unrestrained — to terrorize our communities,” Latz said, according to The Minnesota Star Tribune.

Republicans, meanwhile, accused Democrats of inflammatory rhetoric about the immigration raids and said Minnesota officials should be cooperating with ICE.

“We need more cooperation in this state between our federal, state and local officials,” GOP Sen. Michael Kreun said, according to the outlet. “More cooperation, not less cooperation. That will help reduce the need for street-level enforcement, which many people are very uncomfortable with.”

MASSACHUSETTS BILL WOULD FORCE ICE AGENTS TO UNMASK

Republican Sen. Glenn Gruenhagen argued that immigration crackdowns have made cities across the country safer, although local officials have blamed the Trump administration for violence after immigration agents shot multiple people in recent months.

Senate Republicans also said the package would cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars in potential litigation since the state will likely be sued.

“This bill will put Minnesota on a collision course with dangerous illegal immigrants who roam freely while federal authorities face legal challenges,” Senate Republican Leader Mark Johnson said in a statement.

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The legislation’s mask ban for federal agents carves out some exceptions, including for medical needs.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment.

Democratic Senate candidate and former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper is being ripped as a “complete failure” after hundreds of inmates released under his administration as part of a COVID-era agreement were rearrested on new charges within two years.

This comes as Cooper is locked in a heated Senate race with Republican Michael Whatley that could help determine which party controls the chamber. A spokesperson for Cooper’s campaign dismissed the criticisms as “blatant lies from Republicans,” pointing to how the former governor fought the releases in court. The spokesperson also said thousands of prisoners were released during the first Trump administration due to COVID-19.

A Fox News Digital review of data from the North Carolina Sentencing and Policy Advisory Commission found that more than 560 inmates released during the Cooper administration went on to be arrested on charges of new offenses within two years of their release.

The agreement resulted in the release of 3,500 inmates over a 180-day period from February to August 2021. Among those released was Tyrell Brace, who was later charged with first-degree murder in the killing of young father Elante Thompson in Charlotte. Brace previously pleaded guilty to assault by strangulation and assault inflicting serious injury and also had felony larceny and breaking-and-entering convictions. North Carolina Department of Public Safety Adult Correction records indicate Brace was released months earlier than originally scheduled. The shooting took place on Jan. 29, 2022, shortly after Brace’s original Jan. 15 release date. 

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Another released inmate, Daron Owens, went on to be sentenced in federal court to 10 years in prison for possession of a firearm by a felon stemming from a drive-by shooting months after his release that left a victim with gunshot wounds. Owens was released a month early.

Cooper’s Senate opponent, Republican Michael Whatley, ripped into him, posting on X that “Roy Cooper was a complete failure at keeping our communities safe.”

“Victims’ families deserve answers,” he continued, adding, “Why did Roy Cooper allow these dangerous criminals back on our streets?”

The mass release stemmed from a 2020 lawsuit filed by the North Carolina NAACP, ACLU and other groups, which argued that crowded prison conditions during the pandemic put inmates at unconstitutional risk. The plaintiffs initially pushed for the release of thousands more inmates. But the state ultimately settled the case in early 2021, agreeing to reduce the prison population through expanded early releases, parole reviews and other measures, resulting in about 3,500 inmates being released.

The move has been criticized by Republicans as one of the largest mass prisoner releases in the country. At the time, Cooper’s administration emphasized that the releases would focus on nonviolent offenders, though officials later acknowledged that individuals convicted of violent crimes were also included.

Court records show some inmates released during the period had extensive felony histories, including crimes involving assault, sexual offenses, kidnapping and offenses against children.

Data reviewed by Fox News Digital found that from a sample group of 1,180 prisoners, 48%, 566, were later arrested on charges of new offenses. From the sample group, 20% have been convicted.

Besides Brace and Owens, another individual released was Jimmie Speight, who was convicted of indecent liberty with a child and failure to register as a sex offender and was released just under nine months early. In 2023, he was sentenced to more than 32 years in prison for second-degree murder.

Another, Kyshuan Norrell, who was convicted of manslaughter, was also released and has since been sentenced to life in prison for first-degree murder.

TRUMP SAYS DEMOCRATS HAVE ‘BLOOD ON THEIR HANDS’ AFTER DEADLY CHARLOTTE TRAIN STABBING

Whatley campaign spokesperson DJ Griffin drilled into the former governor over these releases, telling Fox News Digital that “Roy Cooper has blood on his hands.”

Griffin posited that Cooper’s “dangerous decision to release thousands of convicted felons during COVID has resulted in the deaths of 19 North Carolinians.”

“Now, victims’ families say he is solely to blame for these deaths. All while Cooper refuses to take any responsibility for his actions,” said Griffin.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) also piled on Cooper, calling the releases “INSANE,” in an X post, adding, “Roy Cooper must answer for this.”

Bernadette Breslin, a national press secretary for the NRSC, told Fox News Digital that the agreement amounted to the Democrat having “aided and abetted the release of thousands of violent criminals onto North Carolina’s streets,” adding, “Cooper’s soft-on-crime policies are too dangerous for North Carolina families.”

In response, a spokesperson for Cooper’s campaign dismissed the criticisms, telling Fox News Digital that “these blatant lies from Republicans have been fact-checked for months and found to be false.”

The spokesperson said that “after Roy fought against these releases in court, North Carolina law enforcement officials and parole officers looked to similar criteria President Trump used a year prior when his administration released thousands of federal prisoners due to COVID-19.”

CHARLOTTE TEEN ARRESTED 111 TIMES IN 2 YEARS STILL WALKING FREE IN SOFT-ON-CRIME BLUE CITY: POLICE

“Keeping the public safe is Roy Cooper’s top priority, which is why he refused to commute sentences when outside groups asked him to during the pandemic,” the spokesperson continued.

They added, “While Roy spent his career putting rapists and violent criminals behind bars, Michael Whatley spent his appointing a convicted child sex predator who served time in prison for multiple counts of felony child sex crimes to a powerful position within the North Carolina Republican Party.”

Harvey West Jr., a registered sex offender who served prison time for child sex crimes, later held leadership and committee roles within the North Carolina GOP during Whatley’s tenure as chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party. Whatley has said that West “was elected on his own,” according to the Washington Examiner. Meanwhile, West has said that Whatley appointed him to the to the Plan of Organization Committee in 2021 and 2024, according to local outlet WRAL News. 

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This comes as North Carolina leaders have faced scrutiny for high-profile murders, such as the killing of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska. Republicans have alleged that the man charged with Zarutska’s murder, Decarlos Dejuan Brown Jr., may have been one of the inmates released under the COVID agreement. However, Cooper has denied this as a “lie.”

Local outlet Charlotte Observer reported a North Carolina Department of Adult Correction spokesperson saying that Brown was not released early. The outlet reported that state officials said Brown’s release was included in the settlement releases “because the settlement allowed the state to count certain cases retroactively to meet its terms.”

Brown had been arrested at least 14 times prior to the killing and previously served time in North Carolina prison after a 2015 armed robbery conviction. He was released from custody in September 2020.

Fox News Digital’s Stepheny Price contributed to this report.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., is hammering President Donald Trump over surging gas prices tied to the war with Iran, arguing voter frustration could help Democrats win back the House in November. 

But four years ago, he urged Republicans not to “play politics” with record prices at the pump under former President Joe Biden.

“The average gas price is now $4.55 per gallon,” Jeffries wrote on social media Friday. “Is this what the golden age in America looks like?”

As the conflict drags on, disruptions to oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz have pushed fuel prices higher. The Trump administration’s effort to end the war appears to be stalling, even as a month-old ceasefire with Iran has largely held.

GAS SURGE TIED TO IRAN CONFLICT HITS SWING STATES, TESTING TRUMP’S LOW-PRICE PITCH

Jeffries’ attack on gas prices is part of Democrats’ strategy to focus on affordability, as the party looks to unseat a swath of vulnerable Republicans in battleground House districts this year. 

Gas prices have risen on average by more than $1.50 — a roughly 50% increase — since Operation Epic Fury began on Feb. 28, according to AAA.

A recent Fox News Poll found that nearly 60% of voters said gas prices were a “major problem” for their household. Another 29% of respondents said price increases at the pump were a “minor problem.”

Voter concern about persistent inflation has contributed to Democrats holding an eight-point lead over Republicans on the issue, according to the April Fox News survey. Nearly three-quarters of voters believe the U.S. economy is getting worse, matching a record high that Fox News also observed under Biden in April 2023.

“The problem with this reckless war of choice is life has gotten more expensive,” Jeffries told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” in April.

But Jeffries struck a markedly different tone in March 2022, when gas prices surged following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Average gas prices ultimately rose to more than $5 per gallon in June of that year.

FROM BIDEN’S ‘WAR’ ON GAS PRICES TO ‘SMALL PRICE TO PAY’: GOP SHIFTS TONE AS IRAN CONFLICT HITS PUMPS

“It’s certainly my hope that my Republican colleagues won’t continue to play politics with an existential crisis for Ukraine, for Europe, for the West and for democracy because that is what is at stake right now,” Jeffries said during a March 2022 news conference, referring to a spike in gas prices. “It may be some sacrifice that is required across the world.”

“Certainly, we are seeing incredible sacrifice by the Ukrainian people,” he went on.

Asked by a reporter whether the Biden administration should ask Americans to temporarily work from home to ease the gas crisis, Jeffries replied, “Everything should be on the table” and suggested the private sector consider the idea.

“To the extent that corporate America, American businesses, as was the case during World War II, see themselves as part of the effort to ease the sacrifices that may be required here, I think that would be a positive development for the country,” he said. 

Fox News Digital reached out to a Jeffries spokesperson before publication.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright has voiced optimism that gas prices will fall following the end of hostilities with Iran while conceding that Americans are experiencing “discomfort” in the short term.

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“I’m avoiding price predictions,” Wright told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday. “Gasoline and diesel prices are up, and they’ll remain up while this conflict is in place, and then they will come back down. And ultimately they’ll come back down lower than they were before.” 

“Ending Iran’s nuclear program, that is massively positive for the flow of energy,” Wright said. “Meaning more energy will flow in the future, meaning lower energy prices for Americans and the rest of the world.”

Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., cautioned Republicans to be “very careful what you pray for” amid a Trump-backed effort by Republican South Carolina state lawmakers to redraw the state’s map — an effort that would target Clyburn, the lone Democratic member of the state’s U.S. House of Representatives.

Deemed a “kingmaker” within the Democratic Party, Clyburn’s endorsement of then–presidential candidate Joe Biden during the 2020 election was widely credited with helping Biden win the presidency. He has been in Congress for more than 30 years, but now faces uncertainty as the South Carolina legislature voted Wednesday to consider redrawing the state’s congressional lines.

However, in an interview with CNN’s “State of the Union,” Clyburn said he believed he would win his seat for an 18th term, adding that if Republicans are successful with their redistricting effort in South Carolina, there are “possibilities of at least three Democrats” being elected to Congress in the state.

“I don’t know why people think I could not get re-elected if they redistrict South Carolina,” Clyburn said. “I have a district that’s about 45% African American. I have no idea what the number will be after the legislature finishes, but whatever that number is, I will be running on my record and America’s promise.”

GOP GOVERNOR NOMINEE PUSHES REDISTRICTING TO OUST STATE’S LONE HOUSE DEM

Clyburn took to X on Thursday, accusing Republicans of trying to “break” his district after the state House voted Wednesday to consider redrawing the state’s congressional map.

“Republicans in the South Carolina state legislature began the process of extending their session to allow for the redrawing of the state’s congressional map — with one goal in mind: eliminating the state’s only Democratic House district that is occupied by a Democrat,” Clyburn posted on X.

“This fight is bigger than one district,” Clyburn continued. “It’s about whether our democracy belongs to the people, or to politicians who change the rules when they don’t like the results.”

A Clyburn spokesperson pointed to the congressman’s X posts when reached for additional comment. 

The South Carolina legislature vote came in response to the Supreme Court ruling last month in Louisiana v. Callais, which determined in a 6-3 decision that the state’s push to create a second majority-Black district was unconstitutional. The ruling set stricter criteria for establishing a district based on constituents’ racial makeup, creating an opportunity for states to reexamine minority-majority districts first established under the Voting Rights Act.

“This decision threatens to send our country deeper into the thicket of never-ending redistricting fights, with repeated aggressive map redraws, protracted legal battles, and relentless partisan tugs-of-war, all of which are destined to result in more regressive court decisions,” Clyburn said of the Supreme Court’s ruling.

“This court seems hellbent on redeeming the post-Reconstruction America that neutered the 1875 Civil Rights Act and other legislative and judicial actions that drastically limited Black participation and achievement, and eliminated African American political representation in multiple Southern states,” Clyburn continued.

Following Clyburn’s rallying call to Democrats, a South Carolina House subcommittee on Friday voted 3-2 to advance legislation that would push back the state’s June 9 primary election by two months. The goal is to give the legislature more time to pass its redrawn map, which would give Republicans a 7-0 advantage in the House. However, even if the primary election is pushed back, the effort has been deemed a difficult process and will likely confuse voters, state Election Commission Executive Director Conway Belangia told The State.

The South Carolina Election Commission noted that more than 6,000 absentee ballots have already been mailed out to military service members and overseas voters ahead of the June primary, and more than 200 ballots have already been mailed back.

BLOCKBUSTER SUPREME COURT VOTING RIGHTS RULING IGNITES REDISTRICTING WAR ACROSS SOUTHERN STATES

The state House Judiciary Committee held its own hearing centered on the state’s redistricting push. During the hearing, Belangia estimated that it would cost between $2.2 million and $2.5 million to move the state’s primary to August.

House members suggested allocating $2 million in the state’s budget next year to cover the expected litigation costs from a legal fight over the map.

Fox News Digital reached out to South Carolina’s Senate Majority Conference for further comment.

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South Carolina Republicans’ push to redraw the state’s map is the latest move by GOP-led states to revise congressional districts in an effort to maintain the party’s majority following the midterm elections.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., first suggested weeks ago that South Carolina lawmakers consider targeting Clyburn’s district, responding to Virginia Democrats’ successful push to pass a ballot measure redrawing that state’s congressional map, which resulted in a 10-1 advantage for Democrats. However, the Virginia Supreme Court overruled the state’s map on Friday, causing major uproar from Democrats.