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Texas on Friday filed an emergency petition with the U.S. Supreme Court after a ruling by a panel of federal judges blocked the state from using its redrawn congressional map, calling it “racially gerrymandered.”

Shortly after filing the petition, Justice Samuel Alito issued an administrative stay, temporarily putting the lower panel’s decision blocking Texas’ new maps on hold.

The state asked the high court for an administrative stay on the lower court ruling, noting Texas has an “election already in progress,” referring to congressional primary elections in March.

The Supreme Court most recently blocked lower court rulings related to redistricting cases in Louisiana and Alabama.

Texas redrew its congressional map last summer in a President Donald Trump-backed effort that could help Republicans gain five seats in next year’s midterms.

REPUBLICANS PUSH BACK OVER ‘FALSE ACCUSATIONS OF RACISM’ IN BLOCKBUSTER REDISTRICTING FIGHT

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey V. Brown, a Trump appointee, joined by U.S. District Judge David Guaderrama, an Obama appointee, in the majority ruling said, “The public perception of this case is that it’s about politics.

“To be sure, politics played a role in drawing the 2025 map,” the judges said. “But it was much more than just politics. Substantial evidence shows that Texas racially gerrymandered the 2025 map.”

Judge Jerry Smith, a Reagan appointee and the third of the three-judge panel, dissented without explanation.

REPUBLICANS PROTEST DOUBLE STANDARD AFTER JUDGES CALL TEXAS REDISTRICTING PLAN ‘RACIALLY GERRYMANDERED’

The ruling was a significant blow to the Trump administration. It comes as Trump and his Republican allies have raced to pad the party’s razor-thin House majority in the run-up to the 2026 midterm elections, including by imploring some states to launch rare, mid-decade redistricting efforts. 

Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio have redrawn their congressional maps as well, and other states like Florida and Kansas are weighing similar efforts.

Democratic states are also considering redrawing their maps to counteract Republican efforts.

Most prominently, California voters approved by a wide margin earlier this month a plan to redistrict the state in an effort that could wipe out Texas’ new map.

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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton vowed on Tuesday to appeal to the Supreme Court.

“For years, Democrats have engaged in partisan redistricting intended to eliminate Republican representation,” Paxton said. “But when Republicans respond in kind, Democrats rely on false accusations of racism to secure a partisan advantage.”

It’s not going to get any better.

The government closed down for a record 43 days this fall. And if you thought you’d seen the worst of Congress, it truly won’t get any better when the majority of the federal government could shut down in the wee hours of January 31st.

That’s right. Lawmakers have yet to address the very issues which sparked this year’s astonishing shutdown. Some of those are legislative. Some are policy related. And the biggest problems are political.

Frankly, the political ones may be the most challenging.

Let’s start with the most obvious ways to extinguish a wintertime crisis in Washington.

SHUTDOWN IS OVER, BUT WASHINGTON’S BUDGET BRAWL IS JUST GETTING STARTED

Included in the interim bill to reopen the government were three bills to fund major sections of the federal government through September 30, 2027 – the end of the current fiscal year. Congress adopted three of the 12 appropriations bills which run the government every year. Those are Legislative Branch for Congress, Military Construction/VA for military building programs, and the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Agriculture. Even though that’s three of the 12 annual spending bills, it’s not anywhere close to a “quarter” of all spending which Congress appropriates annually. More than half of all Congressionally-controlled spending goes to the Pentagon alone. So the House and Senate must pass all nine of the remaining nine annual bills in order to avoid a repeat of this fall at 12:00:01 on Saturday, January 31.

That is a tall order. But leading appropriators from both sides of the aisle and both sides of the Capitol say there’s been marked progress on these bills. Still, syncing everything up in a little more than two months – with Congress now out of session again this week and slated to be out for Christmas and New Year’s – strikes some as doom date with destiny. Keep in mind that Congress did not stay in session in late July and August to tackle some of those same bills. One wonders why anything will be different now.

And we haven’t even gotten to nettlesome questions which lurk in the individual bills themselves.

SHUTDOWN IGNITES STRATEGIST DEBATE: WILL TRUMP AND GOP PAY THE POLITICAL PRICE IN 2026?

The “Labor-H” bill, which funds the Department of Labor along with Health and Human Services is always a political thicket. Imagine how tough that bill will be this time, with both sides sparring over policies dictated by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., about vaccines and other controversial health statements. That’s to say nothing of the core issue which prompted Democrats to oppose funding the government in September: an extension of Obamacare health subsidies.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., is now promising a vote related to an extension of those tax credits to defray spiking health care cost premiums. But no one knows what that package will look like. Some Republicans, like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green, R-Ga., are now embracing the subsidies. She’s now retiring in January. Other Republicans are looking at ways to reform the program. Democrats might balk at that. And still other conservatives are using this as an opportunity to possibly torpedo Obamacare – the bane of their existence since 2009.

That could be the grandest political irony of all. Imagine a world where Republicans tried from 2009 through 2017 to repeal and replace Obamacare – yet stumbled at every turn. Then in 2025, Democrats refused to vote to fund the government in an effort to prop up Obamacare – and that’s finally what unwound the program.

Wow.

Moreover, President Trump is threatening to veto any bill which extends the Obamacare subsidies.

So we could already find ourselves barreling toward another government shutdown unless Democrats relent from their tactics this fall.

Much of what we’ve discussed addresses the legislative and policy disputes which lawmakers must resolve before late January. But the political challenges dwarf those issues.

Imagine a coda of what unfolded this fall. Most Democrats refuse to fund the government. But a coalition of some Democrats and most Republicans keep the government afloat to prevent another shutdown.

Recriminations inside the Democratic Party will be staggering. Anticipate epic infighting about Democrats executing yet another strategy. There will be calls for the ousters of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., — even though both sided with most Democrats to refrain from funding the government unless there was a deal on health care money.

GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN BECOMING LONGEST IN US HISTORY AS DEMOCRATS DIG IN ON OBAMACARE

Democrats could find themselves entering a civil war in the early days of 2026 – just as they see opportunities to vanquish Republicans at the polls in the 2026 midterms. On paper, Democrats stand a very good chance to win control of the House. The Senate is a reach based on a map which heavily favors the GOP. But Democrats think they could be within striking distance if they hold the seats of retiring Sens. Gary Peters, D-Mich., Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H. Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., would have to win reelection in a competitive state. Democrats would then need to flip the seat of retiring Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., plus flip Ohio and maybe pull an armadillo out of a hat in Texas. It’s not impossible. But very challenging.

Internecine squabbling could trip up Democrats on that very narrow Senate pathway. The same with the House. Democrats must appear united heading into the 2026 midterms. But bickering about government shutdown #1 or government shutdown #2 does the party no favors.

Republicans aren’t inoculated from tricky politics in 2026 which are tethered to the shutdown(s).

Democrats made this fall’s shutdown about health care. And if Republicans don’t bend to the Democrats’ demand to extend the health care subsidies, the GOP may find itself upside down with voters on the topic. If so, Democrats may not have won the government shutdown battle. But perhaps they prevail in the war: the 2026 midterms.

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That’s why few exhaled after Congress voted to re-open the government last week. Everyone who is dialed into Capitol Hill knows things probably won’t get any better over the next nine weeks.

And as bad as this fall was, things may only get worse.

President Donald Trump Friday evening said he was ending deportation protections for Somalis in Minnesota “effective immediately.” 

“Minnesota, under Governor [Tim Walz] Waltz, is a hub of fraudulent money laundering activity,” Trump posted on Truth Social.

He continued, “I am, as President of the United States, hereby terminating, effective immediately, the Temporary Protected Status (TPS Program) for Somalis in Minnesota.”

Trump claimed that “Somali gangs are terrorizing the people of that great State, and BILLIONS of Dollars are missing. Send them back to where they came from. It’s OVER! President DJT.”

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Minnesota has a sizable Somali population and the TPS program allows Somali nationals temporary legal status to live and work in the U.S. because of the dangerous conditions in the African country.

Fox News Digital has reached out to Walz’s office and the White House for comment. 

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., announced late Friday she will resign her seat in Congress, one week after President Donald Trump publicly pulled his endorsement of the outspoken Georgia lawmaker.

In a lengthy statement posted to X, Greene cited her growing disillusionment with Washington politics, blasting what she called a corrupt “Political Industrial Complex” that she said uses Americans as “pawns in an endless game of division.”

“Americans are used by the Political Industrial Complex of both political parties, election cycle after election cycle, in order to elect whichever side can convince Americans to hate the other side more,” Greene wrote. “And the results are always the same — nothing ever gets better for the common American man or woman.”

TRUMP DROPS MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE ENDORSEMENT, CALLS HER A ‘RANTING LUNATIC,’ HINTS AT BACKING PRIMARY RIVAL

Greene said she had “never fit in” in Washington and was leaving Congress to “fight for the people of this country in a different way.”

Her announcement comes amid political fallout following Trump’s decision last week to withdraw his endorsement, calling Greene “Wacky” and “a ranting lunatic.”

In her statement, Greene announced her last day of office would be Jan. 5, 2026.

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The Office of Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

This is a developing story, check back later for updates.

During an Oval Office media spray on Friday, Fox News’ Jacqui Heinrich pressed New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani on whether he still believes President Donald Trump is a “fascist.”

Mamdani began to answer — but before he could finish, Trump cut in from behind the Resolute Desk.

“That’s okay,” Trump said, before patting Mamdani’s arm. “You can just say yes. It’s easier than explaining it. I don’t mind.”

The full 10-minute exchange capped a wide-ranging availability focused on affordability, housing and public safety, and brimmed with tension between Mamdani’s past rhetoric and the political reality of governing alongside the Trump White House.

TRUMP, MAMDANI SET TO FACE-OFF IN FIRST OVAL OFFICE MEETING — WHAT’S ON THE TABLE

Heinrich had earlier asked Mamdani whether he stood by his previous comments describing Trump’s agenda as “fascist” and “despotic.”

Mamdani did not give a direct answer, saying only that he intended to work with the president “where we agree” to help the city’s 8.5 million residents.

Trump jumped in before he finished, adding with a laugh, “I’ve been called much worse than a despot — maybe he’ll change his mind.”

TRUMP PREDICTS ‘CIVIL’ MEETING WITH MAMDANI DESPITE PAST COMMENTS ABOUT EACH OTHER

The moment came after both men publicly emphasized areas of potential cooperation. Trump pointed to falling energy prices and said he wanted utilities, including Con Edison, to lower rates. Mamdani outlined a plan centered on housing, rent, groceries and utilities, saying New Yorkers are facing a “cost-of-living crisis that threatens to push families out of the city.”

Heinrich also pressed Trump on Ukraine, asking how his proposed peace plan would work if President Zelenskyy rejected it.

Trump replied that Ukraine would “have to like it, or keep fighting,” and repeated his claim that U.S. support would depend on securing an agreement. He also asserted that casualty numbers in the conflict were “far higher” than publicly reported.

DAVID MARCUS: MR. MAMDANI GOES TO WASHINGTON BETWEEN ROCK AND HARD PLACE

The spray also touched on public safety, with Mamdani saying he intends to maintain roughly 35,000 NYPD officers while shifting more non-urgent calls away from police and toward mental-health responders.

Trump said both men shared a goal of removing “very bad people” and making the city safer, adding that “we want New York to thrive again.”

The exchange with Heinrich is likely to fuel further scrutiny over how Mamdani balances far-left progressive messaging with the realistic demands of governing. The mayor-elect has proudly identified as a democratic socialist, but said he intends to “meet the moment” in partnership with the Trump administration when possible.

Trump, who joked that the spray attracted “more reporters than usual,” said he was open to meeting again. Mamdani added the same, saying his goal was to find points of agreement that could “deliver for New Yorkers right away.”

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The President posted to Truth Social on Friday night, documenting the visit with several photos of the two men, captioned “It was a Great Honor meeting Zohran Mamdani, the new Mayor of New York City!”

The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

FIRST ON FOX: The Democratic Party’s candidate seeking to win a House seat in Tennessee’s upcoming special election has a lengthy record of anti-police rhetoric, which she espoused repeatedly on a now-deleted social media account and in interviews prior to becoming a state legislator in 2023. 

Aftyn Behn, who is running against Republican Matt Van Epps in Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District special election, also worked as a regional organizing director for the nonprofit activist group Indivisible prior to becoming a state legislator. The radical left-wing entity was also a frequent advocate for stripping funding from police departments, calling it “critical,” during the height of the defund movement.

“Where’s the proposal that dissolves @MNPDNashville,” Behn questioned on an old social media account, which has since been deleted, in response to a separate social media post from a Nashville City Council member indicating local officials had submitted a “substitute budget proposal” aiming to strip Nashville police of $2.6 million in funding. “If it’s been difficult for all of you to imagine a world without police … we can do it and there is a world,” Behn subsequently said during an interview with a local Nashville advocacy group.

Behn’s comments largely came during the height of the “defund the police” movement in 2020 and 2021 following the death of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis. Amid violent protests that often devolved into dangerous rioting and looting following Floyd’s death, Behn also downplayed the violence that was occurring and ridiculed white people for criticizing the looting, stating it was simply how minority communities were expressing their grief over Floyd’s death.

KAMALA HARRIS RETURNS TO CAMPAIGN TRAIL IN TRUMP COUNTRY TO BACK ‘AOC OF TENNESSEE’

 “Looks like Aftyn is getting a visit from the Ghost of Wokeness Past,” quipped Republican strategist Matt Gorman. “Democrats over and over have been haunted by their past positions they thought they could hide from. Ask Kamala Harris about her advocacy of taxpayer-funded sex change surgeries for illegal immigrant convicts on how that goes.”   

Behn did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. However, Democrat strategist Eric Koch argued that attacks on Behn have been surging because “Republicans are getting worried in a district that Trump won by over 20 points,” adding that Democrats making this race competitive shows they are in good shape to take back the House in the midterms next year. Behn’s special election is slated to take place on Dec. 2. 

While popular in the immediate aftermath following Floyd’s death, the push to “defund the police” has become a political liability for many Democrats running in recent elections. New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani faced criticism in the lead up to his victory for his past anti-police rhetoric, which Mamdani ultimately went on Fox News to apologize for. Earlier this month, a progressive candidate for U.S. Senate in Michigan, was reported to have quietly deleted old social media posts he made in support of defunding the police.

DEM HOUSE HOPEFUL VOWS TO HELP WORKING CLASS DESPITE RECORD OF HIKING TAXES

“I’m currently involved in a transformative justice seminar, and so it’s how to imagine a world without police and what that looks like and what community mechanisms look like. How people cannot police themselves,” Behn said during an interview with Nashville Musicians For Change in July 2020. “If it’s been difficult for all of you to imagine a world without police, please tune in to, maybe not this episode, but the next one. Because I’ll talk about things I’m learning and growing as an organizer. Because I think, especially for those of us that are young, and talking to our parents about what police abolition looks like, that we can do it and there is a world.”

Behn’s comments came amidst her work with the left-wing nonprofit Indivisible, which itself also has a record of pushing to defund the police, calling the effort “critical” in order to “keep everyone safe,” in a Facebook post in 2020. The same year, the group called on people to phone their local, state and federal lawmakers to demand for policies and budgets that steer money away from police departments and toward “Black communities.”

“Good morning, especially to the 54% of Americans that believe burning down a police station is justified,” Behn said in another post she made, which came in response to polling about who saw the destruction of a Minneapolis police precinct as justified, versus not. The precinct was ultimately razed to the ground and police were forced to abandon the precinct as it burned down.  

Amid the chaos spurred by the death of Floyd that resulted in billions of dollars in damage and multiple lives lost, Behn was also co-hosting a podcast at the time. During one of the episodes, titled “Black Lives Matter,” Behn argued that it “is not for us to decide as privileged white people how marginalized communities express their suffering and their pain and their grieving,” referring to the looting and the rioting that was taking place. Behn called it “a trope” for white people to say the looting was bad. 

“I would really challenge all of you when you see these stories of looting and you revert to this law and order type of response, I really challenge you to step back from that and think about what’s driving that,” Behn added about the rioting. “You should not condemn it because you don’t know the first thing about being where they come from and what their generational trauma that has been inflicted upon them by the police, by institutional racism.” 

SCOOP: TRUMP-ALIGNED MAGA INC. JUMPS INTO HIGH STAKES BALLOT BOX CONGRESSIONAL SHOWDOWN 

During the same podcast episode, Behn suggested the police don’t actually serve to guard and protect Americans. 

“You think calling the cops is going to save you?” Behn asked her listeners. “Black men are being killed when white women call cops.”

Behn also came under fire this week for other comments on her podcast, during which she said she hated her city of Nashville and all the southern-style elements that come with it, like country music. 

Meanwhile, in addition to Behn’s remarks in interviews and on podcasts, the Democrat House hopeful also repeatedly espoused defund the police rhetoric on a now-deleted X account, which was formerly Twitter at the time.

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For example, Behn responded to a post, claiming “the Los Angeles teachers union” was demanding a commitment to “defund the police” before they would commit to returning to in-person learning for students, with a response that called on teachers in her state to do the same. The post Behn was responding to also called for more similar demands across the country.

“Let’s go Tennessee teachers! We have your back!!!!,” Behn wrote in response to the post.

“Your individual positive experiences with cops do not outweigh the fact that the entire criminal justice system was built on institutionalized racism,” another post Behn shared on her now-deleted Twitter account stated.  

Welcome to the Fox News Politics newsletter, with the latest updates on the Trump administration, Capitol Hill and more Fox News politics content. Here’s what’s happening…

-New GOP bill targets funding to states with lenient bail policies

-Troops risk court-martial if they follow Democrats’ ‘illegal orders’ advice, former military lawyers warn

-Republicans get serious on housing crisis with high-profile conservative influencer to lead new initiative

Trump, Mamdani set to face-off in first Oval Office meeting — what’s on the table

New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is gearing up to meet President Donald Trump at the White House Friday — fulfilling a promise he made to voters during his election night victory speech that he would work with anyone if it would benefit his constituents. 

While the president has been highly critical of Mamdani, he said Sunday he wants to see “everything work out well for New York” as both leaders zero in on a key issue for Americans: affordability.  

Mamdani, who ran on policies including rent freezes and city-run grocery stores to cut food prices, has vowed to use his face-to-face meeting with Trump to make a “case for New Yorkers” who are struggling to pay $2.90 in bus fees…READ MORE.

White House

SECRETS EXPOSED: John Bolton’s trial still far off as judge grills DOJ over lengthy discovery process

DUCK AND DIP: Mamdani dodges question on socialism vote ahead of high-stakes meeting with Trump

WORD WARS: Trump flips Dems’ ‘affordability’ script, turning buzzword into MAGA material as Mamdani visit looms

GREEN NEW SCAM: White House dubs Dem a scam victim after he fumes Rubio wouldn’t fund climate trip

World Stage

PUTIN’S NIGHTMARE: Graham says Trump wants to ‘move the bill’ on Russia sanctions, but procedural hurdles await

ON YOUR DIME: Minnesota taxpayer dollars funneled to Al-Shabaab terror group, report alleges

Capitol Hill

ON THE HOUSE: Johnson says he’s ‘open’ to changing House censure rules after week of political drama

NO ACCESS GRANTED: House Republicans demand Trump admin deny Mamdani federal security clearance

RED LINE DRAWN: Dems vote with Republicans to condemn socialism in wake of Mamdani’s mayoral victory

Across America 

ASSIST NOT RESIST: As ICE readies ‘Swamp Sweep,’ Mississippi pledges to aid — not block — federal crackdown

VATICAN ON ICE: JB Pritzker huddles with Chicago-born Pope at Vatican to rip ICE ops

REALITY CHECK: Mamdani struggles to explain how he’ll fund free buses

Get the latest updates on the Trump administration and Congress, exclusive interviews and more on FoxNews.com.

President Donald Trump met with New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani in the Oval Office Friday, marking the first time the socialist candidate whom the administration has labeled a “communist” with the MAGA chief.

The pair found unity amid their meeting, with Trump telling the media the pair share the mission of a better New York City. 

“We have one thing in common,” Trump said Friday. “We want this city of ours that we love to do very well. And I wanted to congratulate the mayor. He really ran an incredible race against, you know, a lot of smart people starting with the early primaries against some very tough people, very smart people. And he beat them and he beat them easily. And I congratulated him and we talked about some things in very strong common, like housing and getting housing built and, food and prices.” 

The president and mayor-elect met together at the White House Thursday afternoon, before opening the Oval Office doors to the media to pepper the pair with questions. Trump predicted that New York City, his hometown, will see a “great mayor” while remarking that the White House would be there to assist. 

TRUMP, MAMDANI SET TO FACE-OFF IN FIRST OVAL OFFICE MEETING — WHAT’S ON THE TABLE

“I think you’re going to have, hopefully, a really great mayor and the better he does, the happier I am,” Trump said. “I will say there’s no difference in party, there’s no difference in anything. And we’re going to be helping him, to make everybody’s dream come true, having a strong and very safe New York.” 

Ahead of the meeting, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called Mamdani a “communist” while remarking that Trump’s doors are open to any U.S. leader no matter their political party. 

TRUMP PREDICTS ‘CIVIL’ MEETING WITH MAMDANI DESPITE PAST COMMENTS ABOUT EACH OTHER

Trump remained seated during his press event, while Mamdani stood by his side and fielded a handful of questions. The pair shared a hopeful outlook for the future, with Trump arguing that despite their political differences, they will work together and also share a handful of priorities, namely affordability and lowering the cost of living for Americans. 

“He’s got views that (are) a little out there, but who knows? And then we’ll get to see what works or he’s going to change also, we all change,” Trump said. “I changed a lot. Change a lot from when I first came to office, it’s now quite a while ago, quite a while. My first term was great. We had the greatest economy in the history of our country. We’re doing even better now. We’re doing much better now than we did even in the first term. And I can tell you, some of my views have changed.” 

The president predicted that Mamdani “is going to surprise some conservative people, actually, and some very liberal people.”

The mayor-elect added that he was appreciative of the meeting and said it largely focused on how to better New York City and pull citizens out of spiraling costs. 

“I think both President Trump and I — we are very clear about our positions and our views,” Mamdani said. “And what I really appreciate about the president is that the meeting that we had focused not on places of disagreement, which there are many, and also focused on the shared purpose that we have in serving new Yorkers.” 

LEAVITT DOESN’T MINCE WORDS AHEAD OF MAMDANI-TRUMP MEETING: ‘COMMUNIST COMING TO THE WHITE HOUSE’

“And frankly, that is something that could transform the lives of the 8.5 million people who are currently struggling under a cost of living crisis, with one-in-four living in poverty,” he said. “And the meeting came back again and again to what it could look like to lift those New Yorkers out of struggle and start to deliver them a city that they could do more than just struggle to afford it, but actually start to live in it.” 

Fox News senior White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich pressed Mamdani on his past remarks describing Trump as a “fascist,” with the president jumping in to tell him it’s easier to “just say yes.”

“Are you affirming that you think President Trump is a fascist?” Heinrich asked. 

“ I’ve spoken about …” Mamdani began to answer before Trump said, “That’s okay. You can just say yes.”

“Okay, all right,” Mamdani continued, as Trump added, “It’s easier. It’s it’s easier than explaining it. I don’t mind.”

Trump went on to praise Mamdani as a “rational person” who has the trajectory of making New York City safe and bringing down costs. 

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“I met with a man who wants to really wants to see New York be great again,” Trump said. “And I can say again, because New York was great, you know, when I came down to Washington initially, the city was so hot and was doing great. We were having some telltale signs of problems. We had a mayor that was not doing a great job, but still it was moving along. And, it went bad. It really went, you know, pretty bad. And he can I think it’s been at lower points, but it went pretty bad.” 

Mamdani, who has been accused of holding antisemitic views, wrapped up the press event by pledging he would work to secure a safe New York City for its large Jewish population. 

“I care very deeply about Jewish safety and I look forward to rooting out antisemitism across the five boroughs and protecting Jewish New Yorkers,” he said. 

Mamdani won his election Nov. 4 while squaring off against Republican challenger Curtis Sliwa and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who ran as an independent after losing Demcorat primary election to Mamdani over the summer. 

Mamdani will be sworn in as the Big Apple’s mayor Jan. 1. 

FIRST ON FOX: A group of House GOP lawmakers is urging the Trump administration not to give New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani a federal security clearance.

Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., is leading seven fellow House Freedom Caucus members in writing a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, accusing Mamdani of supporting “violent movements” and having “radical” ties that they claim make him unfit for classified federal settings.

“DHS must deny Zohran Mamdani a security clearance. The federal government has a constitutional duty to defend the nation against threats both foreign and domestic,” the letter said.

“Mamdani’s record of radical ties, anti-American rhetoric, and support for violent movements makes him unfit. Granting him access to classified information would be reckless and would endanger NYPD officers and federal agents.”

UNEARTHED ANTISEMITIC, ANTI-ISRAEL POSTS FROM MAMDANI AIDE SPARK GOP OUTRAGE

The letter noted that Mamdani co-founded a chapter of Students for Justice In Palestine at Bowdoin College when he was a student there, and it accused the group of praising Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack in Israel.

“He has blamed the FBI for radicalizing al Qaeda terrorist Anwar al-Awlaki, undermining counterterrorism efforts. He has appeared alongside clerics who prayed for the annihilation of Israel’s supporters and praised Hamas fighters,” the letter said.

The GOP lawmakers said granting Mamdani a security clearance could “empower agitators, escalate threats, and put more of these brave agents’ lives in danger.”

HOUSE REPUBLICAN DEMANDS ZOHRAN MAMDANI BE STRIPPED OF CITIZENSHIP, DEPORTED OVER ‘ANTI-ISRAEL’ STANCE

“His hostility toward immigration enforcement would make federal coordination unsafe and undermine national security,” they said.

The mayor of New York City, while not a federal official, does traditionally get a security clearance in order to get briefed on possible terror threats and other national security matters affecting the largest city in the U.S.

The letter comes on the same day that Mamdani is in Washington, D.C. to meet with President Donald Trump, a fellow New Yorker, as an introduction after he won his election earlier this month.

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The New York City mayor-elect has sought to moderate his views, at least publicly, since the waning weeks of his campaign.

He has pledged to be a mayor for all residents despite critics raising concerns about his hostile rhetoric toward Israel and lackluster pushback on questions of whether he supports Hamas.

Fox News Digital reached out to both Mamdani’s transition team and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for comment.

New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani seemed to dodge a question about the House voting in favor of a resolution condemning socialism ahead of his high-stakes meeting with President Donald Trump.

As he was arriving in Washington, D.C., Mamdani was asked what he thought about the vote, and he replied, “Brother, I can tell you all I’ve been thinking about is preparing for this meeting and speaking up for New Yorkers.”

On Friday, the House passed a resolution condemning socialism just hours before the self-identified democratic socialist Mamdani was to arrive at the White House. The resolution passed 285-98, with 86 Democrats joining Republicans, including House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., who endorsed Mamdani. Two Democrats, Rep. Deborah Ross, D-N.C., and Rep. Janelle Bynum, D-Ore., voted present.

86 DEMS VOTE WITH REPUBLICANS TO CONDEMN SOCIALISM IN WAKE OF MAMDANI’S MAYORAL VICTORY

“Resolved by the House of Representatives that Congress denounces socialism in all its forms and opposes the implementation of socialist policies in the United States,” the text reads.

Trump previously referred to Mamdani as a “communist lunatic,” while the mayor-elect vowed to “Trump-proof” New York City. However, the two have cooled their rhetoric about one another in recent days ahead of their meeting. 

NYC MAYOR-ELECT MAMDANI SAYS HE’LL WORK WITH TRUMP ‘TO MAKE LIFE MORE AFFORDABLE’ DESPITE POLICY CLASHES

On Friday, Trump told Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade he anticipated the meeting would be “quite civil” and that they would “get along fine” despite their differences. The president said he and Mamdani want the same thing, “want to make New York strong.”

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The mayor-elect told reporters on Thursday that while he has “many disagreements” with the president, he will “work with him on any agenda that benefits New Yorkers.”

“If an agenda hurts New Yorkers, I will also be the first to say something,” Mamdani added.

Fox News Digital’s Leo Briceno contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump said the Democratic senators’ viral video urging service members to “refuse illegal orders” should be “punishable by death,” intensifying outrage across the political spectrum — and confusion about what that advice could actually mean under federal law.

While the lawmakers behind the video — led by Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., and joined by Sens. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., and several Democratic House veterans and intelligence officers — framed the appeal as a defense of the Constitution, military legal codes make clear that refusing orders, even ones a service member personally believes are unlawful, can carry devastating penalties. 

“You can’t expect a sailor to overrule Washington lawyers,” Rachel VanLandingham, a retired Air Force JAG and professor at Southwestern Law School, told Fox News Digital. “That’s why it’s unfair to put the burden on the military instead of on policymakers.”

Under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), a set of laws that governs all members of the U.S. armed forces, obedience to orders is not optional — except in the narrowest of cases where the illegality is “manifest,” or unmistakably obvious. In practice, that distinction means most troops risk punishment if they refuse a command before a court or superior authority has ruled it unlawful.

DANGEROUS WAR GAMES: TELLING SERVICEMEMBERS TO RESIST TRUMP INVITES PURE CHAOS

The UCMJ’s Article 90 states that any service member who “willfully disobeys a lawful command” of a superior officer can face up to five years’ confinement, loss of all pay and allowances, and dishonorable discharge. If the offense occurs in wartime, the punishment can be death or any lesser penalty a court-martial decides.

Article 92 — “Failure to obey order or regulation” — adds that disobeying any lawful order or regulation may also result in a court-martial, with punishments including forfeiture of pay, reduction in rank, and up to two years’ confinement. Those provisions, military lawyers say, are the backbone of discipline and chain of command — the very system the senators’ video appears to challenge.

The law leaves little room for mere good intentions.

“There is no duty to obey an illegal order, but a subordinate who disobeys based on that belief takes immense risk of conviction by court-martial unless he or she can prove the order was truly illegal,” said Texas Tech law professor Geoffrey Corn, director of the university’s Center for Military Law and Policy.

The opposite mistake can be just as destructive. Under Article 77, service members who carry out an illegal order can be punished as “principals,” meaning they share the same criminal liability as the commander who gave the order. 

That principle — established after World War II — rejects the idea that “just following orders” is a defense.

GRAHAM DEMANDS DEMOCRATS EXPLAIN ‘REFUSE ILLEGAL ORDERS’ MESSAGE TO TROOPS

If an order violates the Constitution, the law of armed conflict or the rights of U.S. citizens, obedience offers no protection. A service member who follows such a directive could face prosecution for war crimes or dereliction of duty under Article 134, the UCMJ’s broad “general article” covering conduct that discredits the armed forces.

Military law sets an extremely narrow standard for refusing an order: it must be manifestly unlawful — so clearly illegal that “a person of ordinary sense and understanding” would recognize it as a crime on its face. Examples include commands to kill civilians, torture detainees or overthrow the government.

By contrast, orders to deploy troops, enforce federal authority, or carry out presidential directives are presumed lawful unless specifically prohibited by statute or court ruling.

“There’s a presumption that military orders are lawful,” said Victor Hansen, a former Army judge advocate general (JAG) officer and professor at New England Law Boston. “A defense only exists if the order is manifestly unlawful — something clearly criminal, like an order to kill a prisoner of war. That’s where the duty to disobey applies.”

Hansen said service members aren’t in a position to interpret the legality of a president’s decisions on deployments or strikes. “If a soldier came to me after seeing that video, I’d tell them: do nothing different than you’re already doing,” he said. “It’s not your job to second-guess the politics behind a decision to use force.”

The one-minute “Don’t Give Up the Ship” video tells military and intelligence personnel, “You can refuse illegal orders. You must refuse illegal orders.” It never defines which orders qualify — even as the same lawmakers push legislation limiting Trump’s ability to deploy National Guard units or conduct anti-narcoterrorism strikes abroad.

Conservatives quickly accused the group of encouraging insubordination. 

War Secretary Pete Hegseth responded on X: “Stage 4 TDS,” referring to what supporters of the president call “Trump derangement syndrome.” 

Inside the Pentagon, officials have long cautioned that calls for troops to interpret legality themselves can undermine civilian control of the military — a bedrock of American constitutional order. Current regulations instruct service members to seek immediate legal guidance through their chain of command or the Judge Advocate General’s office before refusing a directive, except in cases of clear criminality.

Retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Steven Lepper, a former deputy JAG, said the Democrats’ message “simply restates existing law” but risks confusion about where accountability truly lies.

“There’s a strong presumption that military orders are lawful,” Lepper said. “That’s as it must be, because if the presumption ran the other way, our military would be hopelessly weakened.”

In 1968, U.S. troops massacred hundreds of unarmed civilians in the Vietnamese village of My Lai, a crime their commanders initially tried to conceal. When the killings came to light, 1st Lt. William Calley was convicted of murder despite claiming he was following orders — a case that taught generations of soldiers that some commands are so clearly criminal they must be refused.

Decades later, the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal in Iraq revealed another breakdown of command responsibility. Reservists at a U.S. detention facility humiliated and assaulted detainees under what they believed were authorized interrogation practices. 

Eleven soldiers were court-martialed, while senior officials escaped prosecution — a stark reminder, military lawyers say, of how ambiguous orders and weak oversight can still lead troops into criminal acts.

VanLandingham called the video “careless and dangerous,” saying it misrepresents how limited the legal duty to refuse orders actually is.

“Service members are under no legal obligation to follow unlawful orders,” she said. “But the universe of orders that are so manifestly or patently unlawful that a soldier of ordinary understanding would recognize them as such is very small — that’s by design. The military depends on obedience.”

She said that principle, born out of the Nuremberg trials after the Holocaust, remains the foundation of modern military law — a reminder that obedience can never excuse crimes “so patently unlawful that any person of ordinary understanding would recognize them as such.”

VanLandingham said the standard becomes even murkier in modern conflicts, citing U.S. strikes on suspected narcotrafficker boats in the Caribbean and off Venezuela. Those missions, she said, may be unlawful as a matter of international law but would not appear manifestly unlawful to troops ordered to carry them out. “

“They disobey at their peril,” VanLandingham added. “If they refuse an order believing it’s unlawful, they risk their career, their family’s income, even court-martial. But if they obey, they could later be accused of a crime. It’s a catch-22, and it’s unfair to expect individual service members to carry that burden.”

“Don’t go after the troops,” VanLandingham said. “Go after the policymakers who issue unlawful orders. Congress should be reining in the executive, not telling privates and lieutenants to decide what’s legal.”

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For individual troops, the stakes are high. Refusing a lawful order — or obeying an unlawful one — can end a career, result in years of confinement, and erase veterans’ benefits.

While the senators say they’re defending constitutional duty, the UCMJ leaves little room for personal interpretation — and no safe harbor for those who guess wrong.

The House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted in favor of a resolution condemning socialism Friday morning, with several Democrats crossing the aisle to rebuke “socialist policies” in the U.S. following Zohran Mamdani’s recent election as the mayor-elect of New York City.

Eighty-six Democrats joined Republicans in supporting the measure in a 285-98 vote. Two members, Rep. Deborah Ross, D-Pa., and Rep. Janelle Bynum, D-Ore., voted present. 

Notably, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y. — who endorsed Mamdani just days before the mayoral election — also voted in favor of the measure. 

The resolution, introduced by Rep. Maria Salazar, R-Fla., highlights a list of the economic system’s failures and serves as a rebuke of political forces inching toward more socialist platforms. Among other items, it asserts that socialism has led to famine and mass murder under the Cuban Castro regime, the Chinese rule of Mao Zedong, the ongoing Venezuelan regime of Nicolás Maduro and others.  

“Resolved by the House of Representatives that Congress denounces socialism in all its forms and opposes the implementation of socialist policies in the United States,” the text reads.

SOCIALIST WAVE GOES COAST-TO-COAST AS HISTORIC WINS SHAKE UP THE 2025 MAYORAL ELECTIONS

While the resolution itself isn’t binding, the congressional rebuke comes as socialism — and its political momentum — have taken up a larger share of the national spotlight in recent months. 

Progressive candidates like Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and others have continued to push for an increased government role in public services like healthcare and education. That’s dovetailed with new champions of progressive policies like Mamdani, a self-described socialist.

The resolution also comes as Mamdani is set to meet with President Donald Trump on Friday.

Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., said he believes socialism is incompatible with the American ideal of freedom. He applauded the resolution on Friday morning. 

“It always leads to a destruction of liberties for people,” Donalds said of socialism. 

DEMOCRATS DID START THE FIRE OF SOCIALISM. NOW, THEY ARE AFRAID IT WILL BURN THEM

He noted that socialism requires a top-down structure of authority to manage the distribution of resources. That, he believes, is a trait shared by other forms of oppressive government.

“We have a responsibility to defend the American core of capitalism, free markets and liberty [against] socialism, democratic socialism, communism, authoritarianism, fascism,” Donalds said.

While increasingly progressive wings of the Democratic Party have enjoyed momentum in recent months at a time when the party has struggled to unite behind a cohesive brand, not all Democrat lawmakers view socialism’s emergence as something the party should embrace.

Rep. Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y., one of the members who voted for the disapproval resolution on Friday, has opposed overtly socialist platforms, urging his Democrat colleagues to return to a more centrist path.

REPUBLICANS PUSH TO MAKE MAMDANI THE NEW FACE OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY

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“I talk about being a new kind of old-fashioned Democrat and giving policy prescriptions about what we need to do to address people’s concerns about the economy and affordability and the cost of living and wages,” Suozzi wrote on X earlier this month. “The answer is not the populism of Donald Trump or Zohran Mamdani — it’s about giving specific policy prescriptions.”

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker was granted an audience with fellow Illini Pope Leo XIV, where the two exchanged gifts and discussed their collective criticisms of President Donald Trump’s “Operation Midway Blitz” ICE enforcement mission.

“Pope Leo XIV’s message of hope, compassion, unity and peace resonates with Illinoisans of all faiths and traditions,” Pritzker said in a statement after the meeting, which was set up with the help of Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich.

Pritzker and Leo reportedly discussed their reservations about the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement operations in Illinois and Chicago, specifically, with the governor saying that the Pope agreed with his feeling of pride that “the people of Chicago stood up against the oppression that’s been brought on immigrants.”

Pritzker told Chicago’s NBC affiliate that the Pope has strong feelings about ICE’s activities, and that the pontiff wanted to hear Pritzker’s views and asked questions about the state of Midway Blitz.

TRUMP OFFICIALS SLAM BLUE STATE GOVERNOR FOR IGNORING CHAOTIC ANTI-ICE ‘RIOTERS’ DISRUPTING OPERATION

Leo was reportedly heartened when told the operation appeared to be winding down in Chicago, according to Pritzker’s comments.

Earlier this month, a group of U.S. bishops released a statement supported by Leo that criticized some of ICE’s operations – including mass deportations – and spoke of public fears about the missions.

Released from Baltimore, the statement – endorsed by a vote of 216-5 with three clergy abstaining – read in part that bishops are “bound to our people by ties of communion and compassion in Our Lord Jesus Christ [and] are disturbed when we see among our people a climate of fear and anxiety around questions of profiling and immigration enforcement.”

BORDER PATROL CHIEF FIRES BACK AFTER PRITZKER CALLS FEDERAL OPERATIONS ‘UNCONSTITUTIONAL INVASION’

Leo had also called into question whether people who oppose abortion but agree with the “inhuman treatment of immigrants in the United States” can be considered “pro-life.”

“If people are in the United States illegally, there are ways to treat that. There are courts; there’s a system of justice,” he told the Italian press at the time, adding that leaders should look for ways to treat people with dignity while enforcing the law.

But, he added that every nation has its own right to determine immigration procedures and laws.

POPE LEO XIV STRONGLY SUPPORTS US BISHOPS’ CONDEMNATION OF TRUMP IMMIGRATION RAIDS: ‘EXTREMELY DISRESPECTFUL’

“No one has said that the United States should have open borders,” Leo, born Robert Prevost, said.

Pritzker said of his audience that “you could feel [the pope’s] humanity.”

“It was a special moment, even for this Jewish boy,” he said.

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The governor also invited Leo to visit Chicago and presented him with a case of “Da Pope” beer from local Illinois brewery Burning Bush.

“We’ll put that in the fridge,” the Pope quipped as he smiled at the gift.

The last papal visit to Chicago was in 1979 when John Paul II held an audience at Grant Park, according to Capitol News Illinois.

“Affordability” was the hot-button word on the 2025 campaign trail, as Democrats separated themselves from the Biden-era economy and lobbed attacks on President Donald Trump for current cost-of-living woes. 

And on Friday, the main champion of the “affordability” platform in the 2025 election cycle, socialist New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, will travel to the White House for his first meeting with Trump. 

The socialist candidate, who was relatively unknown until his primary defeat against former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, hammered home during his campaign that his policies would ease New Yorkers’ notoriously high housing prices, cut food costs and bring down the cost of living overall — including by hiking taxes on the wealthy and corporations to bridge the financial gap. 

LIZ PEEK: WHY EVERY ‘AFFORDABLE’ PROMISE FROM DEMOCRATS ENDS UP COSTING YOU MORE

“I know that for tens of thousands of New Yorkers, this meeting is between two very different candidates who they voted for, for the same reason,” Mamdani said Thursday about his meeting with Trump. “They wanted a leader who would take on the cost-of-living crisis. That makes it impossible for working people to afford living in this city.” 

A winning economic strategy is nothing new to the president, however, considering his first administration and 2024 election platform focused on pulling the U.S. out of an economic hole. And Trump is making moves to lay claim over the word “affordability” while taking shots at the Biden administration’s record on prices. 

“The word is affordable and affordable. It should be our word, not theirs,” Trump said Monday evening during McDonald’s Impact Summit 2025 in Washington. “Because the Democrats got up in affordability, the front of it. And they don’t say that they had the worst inflation in history, the highest energy prices in history. Everything was the worst. What? The great ad is lying. They say affordability. This stuff was all much more expensive.” 

The White House told Fox News Digital Tuesday that Democrats don’t have “a leg to stand on” with the economy following the Biden administration, which saw inflation spike to the highest levels in nearly 40 years, while arguing Trump has focused on real-life deals that translate to American jobs and lower costs since his first day back in office. 

To the White House, Fox Digital learned, Democrats touting the word “affordability” is simultaneously an act of “desperation” following their 2024 losses, as well as “meaningless” as there’s a “difference between talking about a problem and then actually doing something about it.” 

Fox News Digital took a look back at how “affordability” grew in prominence as a top campaign platform in 2025 among Democrats, and Trump’s history of employing variations of the word “affordable” in his political efforts. 

‘Make America Affordable Again’ 

“Make America Affordable Again” was touted at points by the 2024 Trump campaign, while the president signed an executive order under his first administration related to “affordable housing,” and the White House celebrating in 2020 that Trump was improving “the affordability and accessibility of life-saving prescription drugs.”

“We will target everything from car affordability to housing affordability to insurance costs to supply chain issues,” Trump said from the campaign trail in North Carolina in 2024, The New York Times reported. 

The president, however, has largely steered clear of the word “affordability” in his public remarks and social media posts, instead focusing his language around tariffs and paying off the national debt, increasing the U.S. job market, onshoring companies that moved overseas, and hitting back at the inflation woes that spiraled under the Biden administration and continue to loom over the Trump economy. 

The White House pointed to a bevy of deals Trump has made since his return to the Oval Office that underscore his focus on affordability for the American people: cutting regulations to unleash American energy to lower fuel and other costs, multiple deals to lower drug prices, and attracting business to set up shop on U.S. soil to promote American jobs. 

The White House said that it is in the midst of “cleaning up” the woes left behind by the Biden administration, with an official telling Fox News Digital: “They got us in this mess in the first place.” 

Voters casting ballots for Democrats in the name of affordability “is like hiring the arsonists to put out the fire,” former Republican Kentucky Congressman and 2026 Senate candidate Andy Barr remarked to Fox News Digital. 

“Complete Democrat control of Washington brought us the highest inflation in decades,” he said. “President Trump and Republicans already delivered the lowest gas prices in years, the largest tax cut in history, and will keep fighting to Make America Great Again.” 

Just on Tuesday, the White House hosted Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, where he announced that Saudi Arabia was increasing its planned investment into the U.S. economy to nearly $1 trillion, up from $600 billion in May. The deal translates to Americans directly benefiting, with the White House pointing to GE Vernova, an energy equipment manufacturing company, as it celebrates the investment and its impact on American jobs. 

SETTING THE STAGE: WHAT THE 2025 ELECTIONS SIGNAL FOR NEXT YEAR’S MIDTERM SHOWDOWNS

David Broomwell, who oversees three GE Vernova factories, said during the Oval Office meeting Tuesday, “If you look at the landscape for GE Vernova investment, over $750 million in the U.S. focused on true manufacture, bring jobs here stateside. We’re looking at tripling the output of our Greenville, South Carolina facility where we make the gas turbines that are supporting U.S. needs as well as the Saudi Arabia needs. So real jobs, $300 million in gas investment, resulting in over 500 pieces of new equipment being installed in the Greenville, South Carolina facility. That translates into roughly 1,800 jobs across the board for GE Vernova.”

IT’S NOT JUST THE ECONOMY — THIS IS HOW DEMOCRATS BEAT THE GOP ACROSS THE COUNTRY

Winning strategy

Just more than a year ago, economic anxiety under the Biden administration came to a vigorous boil and the election was thrown into a tailspin as the president dropped out of running for re-election and endorsed then-Vice President Kamala Harris. 

Harris’ campaign was viewed as carrying out a series of missteps that led to her loss, with the economy seen as one of the top areas of concern by both pundits and voters. 

Voters during the 2024 federal election pointed to the economy as far and away their top issue. Americans flooded the polls a year ago with their wallets at the top of their minds, backing Trump on the ballot as the majority of voters reported they were concerned they could not afford food, healthcare, housing and gas for their car, previous Fox News Voter Analysis data showed. 

Liberal political pundits lamented that the Democratic Party was weak on the economy, with even MSNBC’s Joe Scarbourgh unleashing shortly after the election that voters “were looking at what groceries cost, what gas costs, what rent costs” while Democrats focused their campaign on deriding Trump for what they viewed as rhetoric that threatened democracy. 

Then, a year later, Democrats pivoted to what would prove to be a winning strategy: affordability. 

Each of the Democrats in the three high-profile elections — Virginia’s gubernatorial election, New Jersey’s gubernatorial election and New York City’s mayoral election — prominently listed affordability as their top campaign issue. In fact, each campaign website boasts “affordable” or “affordability” on its homepage.

“New York is too expensive. Zohran will lower costs and make life easier,” Mamdani’s campaign website boasts, with an entire “affordability” platform dedicated to explaining his plan on city-run grocery stores to lower costs, eliminating bus fares and “fighting corporate exploitation.” 

Fox News Digital reached out to Mamdani’s team for comment ahead of his meeting with Trump but did not immediately receive a reply. 

ELECTION REFLECTION: ‘DEMOCRATS FLIPPED THE SCRIPT’ ON AFFORDABILITY IN BALLOT BOX SHOWDOWNS

A former Trump White House official and candidate for the U.S. Senate in Alabama, Morgan Murphy, told Fox News Digital that “listening to Democrats on the economy makes as much sense as asking your drunk uncle for stock tips at Thanksgiving.”

“These are the same people who jacked inflation to 9%, tried to tank the U.S. economy by shutting down the government for 43 days, and just elected a full-blown communist to lead New York,” Murphy said. “They talk affordability but end up fleecing the American people. Americans are struggling economically from a hangover because of Bidenomics. It is important to grow the economy, re-shore manufacturing, grow our energy sector, and increase opportunity, which will decrease prices and make life more affordable.” 

Earlier in November, Trump remarked that the Democrats had leaned into the “new word” while admonishing Republicans for not promoting similar platforms enough. 

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“They have this new word called affordability and (Republicans) don’t talk about it enough,” Trump said during an interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier following the elections. “The Democrats make it up because we took over a mess. Think of energy. Energy was so expensive, and now I have it down to half what it was.” 

Mamdani and Trump are expected to have a fiery relationship upon the upcoming mayor’s inauguration in January, with the White House’s top spox Karoline Leavitt describing Mamdani as a “communist” who ascended to the top of the increasingly left-wing Democratic Party, while adding Trump’s door is open to any U.S. leader. 

EXCLUSIVE: The chair of the House Republican campaign arm says the Democrats’ sweeping victories in this month’s 2025 elections are a “wake-up call” for GOP voters.

And Rep. Richard Hudson of North Carolina, who’s chairing the National Republican Congressional Committee for a second straight election cycle, said in an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital that he wants President Donald Trump “out there on the trail” in next year’s midterm elections, when the party defends its razor-thin House majority.

Democrats won the only two races for governor this year, in New Jersey and Virginia, by double digits, and also scored big wins in ballot box showdowns in battlegrounds Georgia and Pennsylvania and left-tilting New York City and California.

Plenty of Republicans have discounted the Democrats’ high-profile victories, since they mostly occurred in blue-leaning states, since they mostly occurred in blue-leaning states.

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THE 2025 ELECTIONS

Hudson noted the top elections took place in “Democrat states,” but added, “I think our big takeaway as Republicans is the Democrats were energized. They turned out at record levels. Republicans turned out in normal levels.”

“I think there’s a wake-up call there to conservatives and Republicans who are happy with the direction of the country. They’re glad President Trump’s back in the White House. But if they want to keep this momentum going, they’ve got to show up and vote,” he emphasized.

Many of Trump’s MAGA supporters are considered low-propensity voters, who head to the polls only when Trump is on the ballot. But Trump won’t be on the ballot in the 2026 midterms.

SETTING THE STAGE: WHAT THE 2025 ELECTIONS SIGNAL FOR NEXT YEAR’S MIDTERM SHOWDOWNS

Hudson, who noted that “House Republicans are very closely aligned with President Trump, and we’re supporting his agenda,” said that “we want him out there on the trail, campaigning with our candidates. I think he brings a lot of energy.”

Pointing to “a lot of folks who don’t vote when he’s not on the ballot,” Hudson said, “I don’t need all of them to show up, but I need some of them. And so having President Trump out there will be a big benefit for us.”

Those requests for the MAGA motivator are already coming in to the president’s political team.

Matt Van Epps, the Republican nominee in next month’s special congressional election for a vacant GOP-held House seat in Tennessee, has asked for Trump to campaign in person with him ahead of the Dec. 2 election.

Democrats were laser-focused on affordability on the 2025 campaign trail.

Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin said his party’s candidates met “voters at the kitchen table. . . . From New Jersey and Virginia and New York, to Georgia and beyond, Democrats ran campaigns relentlessly focused on costs and affordability.”

And Martin emphasized the 2025 elections were a preview of things to come in next year’s midterms.

“In ‘26, we’ll do it again. We’ll run a National Coordinated Campaign to win races up and down the ballot to provide a check on the out-of-control Trump administration and its Republican rubber stamps,” he argued.

DEMOCRATS SEE MANDATE AFTER 2025 WINS — REPUBLICANS SAY IT’S A MIRAGE

Hudson, pointing to former President Joe Biden, said “there are challenges out there with the economy, because Biden broke it, and House Republicans, working with President Trump, are going to fix it, and we’re working very hard to do that. “

“Certainly, we could always improve the way we communicate with our voters about it,” he added. “But we are laser focused on the issues that matter to them. You know, it’s the cost of things, it’s the security in their neighborhood, it’s a secure border. We are very focused on that, and we’ve delivered a lot of things that are going to make their lives better.”

And looking ahead to next year, he added, “come tax season, a lot of families are going to be really happy to see they’ve got a lot more take-home pay, and that’s because of Donald Trump and House Republicans.”

Hudson, in step with fellow Republicans, aimed to link Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, a socialist who pushed a far-left platform on the campaign trail this year, to House Democrats who may face challenging re-elections next year.

“The entire Democrat Party has shifted to the left. This is Mamdani’s party now,” Hudson charged. “And every single House Democrat needs to answer for his policies, and they need to let their constituents know, do they stand with Mamdani or not?”

The power in power, which nowadays is clearly the Republicans, traditionally faces political headwinds in the midterm elections.

And Hudson was interviewed as two new national polls indicated Democrats with the upper hand in the 2026 battle for the House majority.

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But Hudson said: “The only number I’m concerned about is three. We have three Republicans in seats Kamala Harris carried.”

And he highlighted that Democrats have “thirteen sitting in seats Donald Trump won. They’ve got 21 more sitting in seats that Donald Trump barely lost. So there, there are only a few seats up for grabs this time, most of them are Democrat seats.”

The Coast Guard is implementing a new policy change to no longer refer to displays of swastikas and nooses as a “hate incident” — and distributed new guidance to remove the term “hate incident” from its vocabulary altogether. 

While the service previously identified displays of swastikas, nooses, Confederate flags and other supremacist or antisemitic symbols as a “potential hate incident,” the new guidance now labels them as “potentially divisive symbols and flags.” The change was first reported by The Washington Post. 

Despite the alteration, the Coast Guard claims that it remains committed to barring the symbols from the service and penalizing those who display them. Additionally, it said that it still considers the symbols “extremist imagery.”

“The claims that the U.S. Coast Guard will no longer classify swastikas, nooses or other extremist imagery as prohibited symbols are categorically false,” Adm. Kevin Lunday, acting commandant of the Coast Guard, said in a Thursday statement to Fox News Digital. “These symbols have been and remain prohibited in the Coast Guard per policy.”

‘OPTICAL ILLUSION’ SWASTIKA FLAGS DISTRIBUTED TO MULTIPLE CONGRESSIONAL OFFICES PROMPT INVESTIGATION: SOURCES 

“Any display, use or promotion of such symbols, as always, will be thoroughly investigated and severely punished,” Lunday said. “The Coast Guard remains unwavering in its commitment to fostering a safe, respectful and professional workplace. Symbols such as swastikas, nooses and other extremist or racist imagery violate our core values and are treated with the seriousness they warrant under current policy.”

The new guidances state that the public display of the Confederate battle flag is banned and will be pulled from all Coast Guard workplaces, common access areas, public areas or operating facilities. Previous guidance also prohibited such public display of the Confederate battle flag. 

Commanding officers and other leaders are instructed to inquire about public displays of other symbols identified as “potentially divisive,” and are granted the authority to direct or order the removal of those that negatively impact moral and mission readiness.

HEGSETH, NOEM ON BOARD WITH ‘VITAL STEP’ TO CREATE COAST GUARD SECRETARY AMID TRUMP’S DRUG SMUGGLING CRACKDOWN 

The guidance also says it is completely eradicating the term “hate incident” and that incidents that were previously handled as a “potential hate incident” will not be processed as a harassment report. 

“Conduct previously handled as a potential hate incident, including those involving symbols widely identified with oppression or hatred, is processed as a report of harassment in cases with an identified aggrieved individual…The terminology ‘hate incident’ is no longer present in policy,” the new guidance said. 

The Coast Guard did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital on why it removed the term “hate incident” from its new guidance.

DHS RIPS HOUSTON HALLOWEEN DISPLAY DEPICTING HANGING OF ICE AGENTS, DEMANDS ‘SANCTUARY POLITICIANS’ STAND DOWN 

The new guidance also puts some limits on when harassment reports can be made. The updated policy dictates that reports of harassment, excluding those of sexual harassment, be made within 45 calendar days of an incident. The new guidance does say that there is some “discretion for reports to be accepted beyond this time frame.” 

That’s a departure from the service’s previous policy, which did not have a deadline in place for reporting these incidents. 

After the Post’s initial report on the update, the top Democrat on the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, Rep. Rick Larsen of Washington, said there is no room for debate over whether nooses or swastikas are hate symbols. 

“Lynching is a federal hate crime. The world defeated the Nazis in 1945. The debate on these symbols is over. They symbolize hate,” Larsen, whose committee has oversight authority over the Coast Guard, said in a statement Thursday. “Coast Guard: be better.”

The Coast Guard is the only branch of the military to fall under the Department of Homeland Security, but has launched initiatives including Force Design 2028 to revamp its organizational structure, acquisitions, contracting and technology, among other changes, to align more closely with other services that fall under the purview of the Department of War.

The Coast Guard said that its updates on its harassment policy were made in alignment with orders from President Donald Trump and the Pentagon. 

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The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital on whether it was eyeing similar changes in policy for its military branches. However, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth instructed the Pentagon to conduct a review of its hazing and harassment policies in September. 

The Pentagon also has its own set of extremism guidelines, which effectively bans displaying Confederate flags or those with a swastika on them. Only preapproved flags, including state flags or military service flags, are permitted.

Democratic Rep. Nydia Velázquez of New York — the first Puerto Rican woman ever elected to Congress — announced she will not seek re-election next year after more than three decades in office.

“For more than three decades, I have had the privilege of a lifetime serving the people of New York City in the United States Congress. After much reflection, I have decided that this will be my last term in Congress. This was not an easy decision, but I believe that the time is right for me to move on and for a new generation of leaders to step forward,” she said in a statement.

The long-serving lawmaker first took office in 1993 and has been a prominent member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus throughout her tenure.

Velázquez used her announcement to criticize President Donald Trump’s administration, accusing it of “working to undermine civil rights and our democracy.”

DEM REP. VELÁZQUEZ CALLS CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS ‘GENOCIDAL MANIAC’ ON HIS HOLIDAY

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

“It has been a great honor to work with my colleague, friend, and fellow New Yorker, @NydiaVelazquez,” Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., said in a post on X. “The first Puerto Rican woman elected to Congress, Nydia ‘La Luchadora’ has been a progressive trailblazer and fighter for her district, the poor, and Puerto Rico.”

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Velázquez and Nadler are both listed as members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

“I know, most importantly, she will be a missed friend to progressive causes in the halls of Congress. Like her, I understand that there comes a time to pass the torch to the next generation to be the fighters in DC that we need,” Nadler noted in the post.

DEMOCRATIC REP. JERRY NADLER WILL NOT SEEK REELECTION

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Nadler announced earlier this year that he will not pursue re-election in 2026.

FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., has said the Democratic Party needs to “focus on” corruption in American politics and that the “vast sums of corporate and billionaire money in our political system” is the reason why Americans are so ill-served by Congress.

But the vulnerable senator up for reelection in 2026 has received nearly half-a-million dollars from billionaires, including more than $154,000 just this year, a Fox News Digital review of Federal Election Commission filings found.

“Much of the American public has lost faith in our political system, and with just cause. Since Citizens United, this political system has been corruption on steroids, and that is a big part of why policy doesn’t serve ordinary people,” Ossoff said on the popular left-leaning “Pod Save America” podcast.

“We can’t just become mere guardians of the status quo. We have to be about change and reform and money in politics is, like, the root of all of this,” he continued. “We have to focus on that, you know, the vast sums of corporate and billionaire money in our political system, with or without Trump, are why ordinary people are so ill served by elected officials and by Congress.”

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Several contributors from the billionaire class to Ossoff’s campaign include members of the Soros family, tech billionaire Eric Schmidt, LinkedIn co-founder and a tech billionaire in his own right, Reid Hoffman, co-owner of the Atlanta Hawks, publisher of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and owner of Cox Enterprises, James Cox-Chambers, billionaire hedge fund manager Henry Laufer, and dozens of others. 

In total, Ossoff’s campaigns have received contributions from over 70 billionaires since 2017 when Ossoff first ran for Congress. Ossoff has touted his refusal to accept corporate PAC money, but according to election finance watchdog Open Secrets, some of Ossoff’s top individual contributors come from major corporations like Google, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Meta. 

Open Secrets also shows that in 2023–2024 Ossoff received thousands of dollars from PACs representing lawyers and lobbyists, miscellaneous businesses, agribusiness and labor.    

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In addition to his comments during the “Pod Save America” podcast, Ossoff has repeatedly ripped the influence of the “wealthy political donors” and said they have no place in politics.

 “As power becomes concentrated in fewer and fewer hands, and wealth becomes concentrated in fewer and fewer hands…wealthy and powerful groups can spend limitless amounts in secret…to manipulate elections,” Ossoff said in 2019.

Ossoff, who was endorsed by End Citizens United in July, said Citizens United “unleashed the torrent of secret, corporate, and billionaire money that has deeply corrupted Congress and our political system.” However, he is still taking campaign cash from billionaires and just last month he featured Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzer, whose estimated net worth is over $3.5 billion, on a fundraising email soliciting donations for his reelection campaign.

Ossoff declined to provide a response when reached for comment on this story.

Described by CNN as the nation’s “most endangered Senate Democrat,” Ossoff has touted “an unstoppable grassroots coalition” amid his reelection efforts heading into 2026. 

The Georgia senator, in a press release following his campaign’s most recent quarterly filing with the FEC, touted that his “re-election juggernaut” was “overwhelmingly” powered by small donors with an average of $36 from approximately 233,000 donors. 

But, more than 80% of the money he raised during the last filing period came from out-of-state, not Georgia, FEC records showed. Meanwhile, over half of his maxed-out donors hailed from California, New York or the D.C.-Maryland-Virginia region. If a donor has not given an aggregate of at least $200, that donor’s contribution remains undisclosed in FEC filings. 

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Ossoff is running for re-election in a state Trump won in 2024, albeit by a thin two-point margin. He first arrived in Congress in 2021 after defeating incumbent Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., in a razor-thin election that required a runoff. 

During that first election cycle, Ossoff reportedly raised 60% of his contributions from outside the state of Georgia.

FIRST ON FOX — The Republican National Committee (RNC) hauled in nearly $15 million in fundraising last month and continues to build a massive war chest for next year’s midterm elections, when the party will defend its House and Senate majorities.

According to figures shared first with Fox News Digital on Thursday, the RNC brought in $14.7 million in October, bringing its fundraising total so far this cycle to $146 million.

And the RNC reported $91 million cash on hand as of the end of October.

That’s a massive advantage over the $18.2 million the rival Democratic National Committee (DNC) held in its coffers at the end of last month, according to public filings. And the DNC’s $7.5 million in fundraising last month was roughly half of the RNC’s haul.

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“Thanks to the leadership of President Trump and Vice President Vance as our finance chair, the RNC is building a powerful war chest for the 2026 midterms,” RNC chair Joe Gruters said in a statement.

And Gruters emphasized that “Vice President Vance has been a driving force for our fundraising efforts, and we’re entering 2026 with serious momentum and the funding we need to defend our Republican majorities in Congress.”

WHAT THE NEWLY ELECTED RNC CHAIR TOLD FOX NEWS 

With Republicans in control of the White House and both houses of Congress, the party has enjoyed a financial advantage over the Democrats this year as the minority party has faced sluggish fundraising among top-dollar donors and grassroots constituents still frustrated with last year’s election setbacks.

The party is still crawling out of debt. It still owes roughly $15 million after former Vice President Kamala Harris‘ expensive 2024 White House campaign.

And $15 million of the DNC’s cash on hand came from a loan the party committee took out, which was first reported by The New York Times.

The DNC confirmed to Fox News Digital that it opened a $20 million line of credit, tapping $15 million in recent months for investments in the 2025 elections earlier this month, long-term party infrastructure and other priorities.

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The loan helped boost DNC get-out-the-vote efforts in the two races for governor this year in New Jersey and Virginia.

The loan appeared to pay off because Democrats won both of those elections by double digits and also scored big wins in ballot box showdowns in battlegrounds Georgia and Pennsylvania and left-leaning New York City and California.

“We can’t win elections or fight back against Trump if the DNC downsizes operations like it often does after a presidential cycle. I made a bet that investing early would build power, rack up wins and rally supporters back to the table. That bet is paying off,” DNC Chair Ken Martin said in a statement.

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The DNC also highlights that it’s raised more money under Martin, who was elected in February, than any chair in party history nine months into a tenure. And the party also highlighted that its grassroots fundraising pace is far ahead of the 2017 and 2019 cycles, the previous election periods when Democrats didn’t control the White House.