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Both parties see Gen Z voters as a crucial bloc that could help tip the balance in November as Republicans and Democrats battle for control of Congress, with the GOP seeking to keep President Donald Trump’s agenda moving and Democrats pushing to retake Capitol Hill and steer the legislative agenda.

And as the Democratic Party grapples with the growing appeal of democratic socialism among young voters, Republicans are seizing on the trend to rally their own young base.

But conservative college students gathered at Young America’s Foundation’s Freedom at 250 conference in Washington, D.C., told Fox News Digital that economic pressures — from inflation to the housing crunch — are not only helping drive some of their peers toward democratic socialism but that they themselves share those same concerns.

DEMOCRATS LURE ‘POLITICALLY HOMELESS’ GEN Z TOWARD SOCIALISM — A COUNTERATTACK IS TAKING SHAPE

“I think a lot of young people are feeling a little bit hopeless right now, Courtney Graves, a rising senior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, told Fox News Digital. “They want to be able to have a home when they grow up. They want to be able to have a nice life and a good-paying job. And what we’ve been seeing is that when those things don’t come to fruition, people tend to go to the extremes.”

Graves’ comments come as financial milestones such as buying a home, have been perceived as increasingly difficult for younger Americans. A Pew Research Center survey published in July found that 87% of Americans say buying a home is harder for young adults today than it was for their parents’ generation.

A recent report from Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies found that nearly half of renters spent more than 30% of their income on housing in 2024, and nearly half of Americans ages 18 to 29 received financial help to cover an expense over the past year, according to a Federal Reserve report released in May.

But Graves, who is the granddaughter of immigrants who escaped Communist-controlled Latvia, argued that embracing free-market policies is the best way for people to achieve the American Dream and that the Republican Party needs to work on its messaging to make that case clearer to young Americans.

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 “I think free markets are the way to have a successful and prosperous life,” Graves said. “It’s what leads to job growth, it’s what leads to being able to buy a home at the end of the day, have a family and just overall live a great quality of life and have a strong country.”

While affordability remains top of mind for Americans this midterm cycle, Brody Baker, a University of Iowa student, praised President Donald Trump for bringing more accountability to the White House compared to former President Joe Biden’s presidency.

“I think we get more clarity of what’s happening with the United States as of today,” Baker said.

“With the administration being able to say, ‘hey, we have some criticisms,’ Baker said, “there’s some issues with gas being so high, with how the economy, for some it’s hurting a lot, and for some, it’s hurting a little.”

BESSENT CREDITS TRUMP IMMIGRATION POLICIES WITH HELPING RETURN JOBS TO AMERICANS AS WAGE GAINS RESUME

For University of Minnesota senior Jackson Barrick, pocketbook concerns are just one slice of the pie.

He pointed to the country’s immigration and border security policies and foreign policy as issues weighing most heavily on him. Barrick said Trump has done a “fantastic” job with his immigration enforcement agenda.

“I think it’s a really good step in terms of making sure that we have a good future going forward in the United States and protecting the homeland,” Barrick said.

But college students are also worried about a newer issue: artificial intelligence.

Nick Kammerzell, a recent University of Georgia graduate, said AI is the issue that most concerns him about America’s future.

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“I think that it’s very scary,” Kammerzell said. “I think one of the biggest things that I’m concerned about with the AI issue is censorship and bias within AI. I think a lot of young people are becoming very dependent on it as their source of truth.”

“I think there’s a lot of opportunities for abuse and manipulation with that,” Kammerzell added, arguing the technology could potentially be used to warp people’s opinions.

Young Americans are also more skeptical of AI than older generations. A Pew Research Center survey published in June found that 48% of adults ages 18 to 29 expect AI to have a negative impact on society over the next two decades, compared with 37% of those 50 and older. Younger adults were also more likely to worry that AI could negatively affect their own lives.

Baker also expressed concerns over the algorithms created by social media companies.

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“You are given by Instagram — all these big platforms — your algorithm, your viewings, and you’re leaned towards, and you push towards a certain agenda, or you’re pushed towards a certain idea,” Baker said, arguing this is creating staunch political divides with Americans.

Republican Colorado gubernatorial nominee and Marine veteran Victor Marx is assembling an all-Marine ticket that he says can bring the “steely spines” needed to combat a democratic socialist movement gaining ground in races around the country.

“There’s never been a successful socialism program, and I’ll say socialism, it’s just a transitionary word for communism. Let’s just say it for what it is,” said Marx in an interview with Fox News Digital.

Marx won Colorado’s primary race in June, campaigning on public safety, social conservatism and cost of living. His victory came as the Democratic Party’s left flank scored a series of primary wins nationally, including in Colorado, where democratic socialist Melat Kiros upset longtime incumbent Rep. Diana DeGette. Colorado’s primary results were mixed overall, but Kiros’ victory extended a broader run of wins by progressive and democratic socialist candidates across the country.

Marx’s answer to what he sees as socialism gaining ground nationally — and a leftward shift at home: Send in the Marines. He has tapped retired Marine Col. George Markert as his running mate, creating an all-Marine ticket that Marx says can bring military discipline and “steely spines” to Colorado government.

EXPERT WHO FLED CUBA WARNS OF ‘VICIOUS CYCLE’ THAT WILL LEAD TO ‘COMMUNISTS IN DOUBLE DIGITS’ IN CONGRESS

“People know what they’re going to get when they get Marines. We’ve got hard foreheads, steely spines. And high integrity,” said Marx.

Markert has spent more than 30 years in the Corps, including senior leadership assignments at U.S. Central Command and the 2nd and 4th Marine Logistics Groups.

Markert transitioned into the private sector, overseeing infrastructure-related field operations across North America.

Marx, who is also the founder of All Things Possible Ministries, is pitching himself and his running mate as political outsiders, arguing that they have the discipline and accountability needed to take on a socialist movement.

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Marx contrasted that approach with the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), which he described as “organized, they’re well-funded, they are focused on reshaping Colorado from the top down.”

The DSA, which endorsed Kiros, supports the eventual abolition of police — a position that puts public safety at the center of the political divide.

That debate comes as Colorado continues to grapple with crime rates well above national levels.

In 2024, Colorado recorded about 476 violent crimes and 2,593 property crimes per 100,000 residents — roughly 28% and 41% higher, respectively, than the national rates calculated by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics.

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“They’re more focused on policing speech than protecting families. While residents are worried about crime, gang activity, state leaders are advancing this ideology with policies that threaten our free speech and punish people for the beliefs,” said Marx.

Marx took aim at his opponent, Colorado Democratic Attorney General Phil Weiser, arguing that increased government spending has not translated into better results for Coloradans.

Weiser has repeatedly challenged the Trump administration in court as attorney general, including over Trump’s efforts to restrict birthright citizenship and immigration-related policies.

“[H]e hasn’t made our state safer. It’s softer on crime, and we’ve experienced it,” Marx said. “So folks are ready for a change.”

Marx said government officials in Colorado are not delivering as “hardworking taxpayers” are “paying more while the government delivers less.”

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“We’re one election away. It’s either me, or it’s a Democrat. And I lay the DSA at the Democrats’ feet. It didn’t come through the Republican Party or Independents. It came through the Democrats,” Marx said. 

Fox News Digital reached out to Weiser for comment.

The Smithsonian has relied on more than $1 billion a year in taxpayer funding in recent years even as its leadership and exhibits face mounting scrutiny over DEI priorities and ideological portrayals of American history.

The sprawling institution oversees 21 museums, the National Zoo and nearly 157 million objects and specimens, making it the world’s largest museum, education and research complex. President Donald Trump’s proposed budget reductions have made its federal funding a central pressure point in the administration’s broader effort to reshape the taxpayer-supported institution.

Since the White House released a July 2026 report accusing the Smithsonian Institution of advancing DEI and left-wing agendas, Fox News Digital has documented multiple examples. Most recently, the Smithsonian’s America 250 exhibit featured roughly three times as many items highlighting liberal figures and causes as conservative ones, prompting criticism that it presented an ideologically imbalanced account of American history.

Other examples included the Smithsonian’s promotion of a museum training guide that linked concepts such as objectivity and merit to “white dominant culture,” a program the institution later apologized for after public backlash.

Meanwhile, Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch III has faced scrutiny after saying DEI “must be at the center” of museum institutions, while receiving more than $4.4 million in salary and benefits from 2020 through 2024.

TRUMP ORDERS SIGNS OUTSIDE SMITHSONIAN MUSEUM AMID ROW OVER ITS DEPICTION OF AMERICAN HISTORY

The White House’s proposed funding reduction follows a months-long, Trump-directed review that culminated in a 162-page White House report recommending sweeping reforms and additional executive action.

Although the Smithsonian also receives private donations, grants and other funding sources, the institution has relied on more than $1 billion annually in taxpayer funds in recent years.

With taxpayer dollars at stake, the institution’s budget has become a central front in the Trump administration’s broader debate over how the Smithsonian presents American history.

TRUMP TARGETS BIDEN-ERA BILLION-DOLLAR SMITHSONIAN BUDGETS AMID ANTI-‘WOKE’ PUSH

The charts below break down how the Smithsonian’s federal funding has changed over time, where the money would go and which museums receive the largest share of taxpayer support.

A Fox News Digital analysis of Smithsonian budget requests shows the institution sought increasingly larger federal appropriations during the Biden administration, with annual requests climbing from $960 million in fiscal 2019 to a record $1.24 billion in fiscal 2024.

TRUMP V. SMITHSONIAN: A TIMELINE OF HOW THE WHITE HOUSE FIGHT OVER ‘WOKE’ HISTORY UNFOLDED

After requesting more than $1 billion in fiscal year 2025, the Trump administration proposed budgets below that threshold for fiscal years 2026 and 2027, the first such requests since fiscal year 2020.

While the overall budget has fluctuated over the years, the bulk of the Smithsonian’s federal funding is dedicated to keeping the institution operating day to day.

The Smithsonian’s budget is less about new exhibits than keeping the institution running.

Of the nearly $960 million federal budget request, a little more than $524 million funds the Smithsonian’s day-to-day operations, including staff, security, facilities and technology.

Another $310 million finances museum activity and research, while the rest supports building improvements, planning and oversight.

Not all Smithsonian museums receive the same level of taxpayer support.

The National Museum of Natural History tops the 2026 funding requests at $51 million, followed by the National Museum of the American Indian at nearly $35 million. Meanwhile, the National Zoo receives about $34 million in funding, while the National Museum of American History accounts for $27 million.

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With nearly $1 billion in proposed federal funding at stake, the Smithsonian has become more than just a network of museums. It is now a focal point in the broader fight over how American history is told and whether taxpayer dollars should support those narratives.

The Smithsonian Institute did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Democratic senators are still backing Maine Senate nominee Troy Jackson, who replaced former candidate Graham Platner on the ballot, after the latest allegations threaten to yet again shake up the race for U.S. Senate in the Pine Tree State.

Platner, following a series of scandals culminating in sexual misconduct claims, was forced to drop out ahead of the Democratic primary to take on Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, earlier this summer. But now, a bombshell report claims Platner’s replacement fathered two children with his second cousin.

The recent report wasn’t enough to turn lawmakers against Jackson, with most stressing the necessity for Democrats to win swing state races in order to win back a majority in the upper chamber — not an easy feat in Maine where Collins, a moderate, has represented the state in the Senate since 1997.

Maine’s other senator, independent Angus King, said: “I have no idea what you’re talking about and I’m not going to comment on it anyway.”

Every senator that Fox News Digital spoke with on the issue this week denied having knowledge of the report.

“I don’t know anything about that, but what I do know is that we have got to elect Democrats up and down the ballot,” Sen. Angela Alsobrooks, D-Md., told Fox News Digital.

“I haven’t heard of these reports,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., echoed. “Troy Jackson is somebody who’s obviously in this fight for working people.”

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., ignored the crux of the question. “I think it’s super important that we win that seat so that we can put an end to the wild cost increases and rampant corruption that the Senate right now is indulging,” he said.

INTERNET ERUPTS OVER REPORT THAT PLATNER’S REPLACEMENT IN KEY SENATE RACE FATHERED CHILDREN WITH SECOND COUSIN

The Maine Wire editor Steven Robinson first reported last week that Jackson shares two children with his second cousin, Lana Pelletier. In posting the genealogical findings, the independent journalist claimed Pelletier’s father is a cousin of Jackson’s mother.

The report made waves after Jackson received 94% of the 601 delegate votes in the process this summer to replace Platner, who dropped out of the race after a rape allegation finally forced his Democrat allies to turn against him. Platner denied the claim, among others made against him, but ultimately it was the nail in the coffin that resulted in him ending his bid for U.S. Senate before the deadline for Democrats to get a new candidate on the Maine primary ballot.

Without directly denying the report, Jackson’s campaign said in a previous statement to Fox News Digital that it was an attack comping from the Collins camp.

“Susan Collins will do anything to distract from the fact that she votes with Trump 96% of the time and has sold out working people in Maine. Personal attacks on Troy’s family are shameful and desperate,” the statement read.

Jackson’s campaign did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for additional comment on the reporting.

MAINE DEM IN HOT SEAT FOR CHAMPIONING POPULAR VOTE DESPITE CLINCHING SENATE BID WITHOUT IT

“Haven’t seen it,” Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., said when asked on Capitol Hill about the reports.

Ossoff initially avoided saying whether he’d back Jackson. Instead, he pointed to Michigan’s Democratic race, which the far-left progressive Abdul El-Sayed won on Wednesday, before addressing his support for Jackson.

“I’m supporting our nominee in Michigan,” Ossoff replied when asked if he will be endorsing Jackson. “In Maine, we’ll see who wins.”

Many senators credited their support for Jackson and other Democrat candidates running for office as a broader effort to target Republicans and their agendas — both within the Donald Trump administration and in Congress.

“We have a president who today, again, has no strategic plan about getting us out of that war in Iran, where our children are dying on the battlefield while his are getting rich,” Alsobrooks said.

A recent Fox News Poll found that 56% of voters oppose U.S. military action against Iran, with 40% strongly opposing the war, indicating the ongoing conflict might play a role in how voters show up at in November.

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Alsobrooks said she is supporting the Democratic nominee “in every single state,” again indirectly backing Jackson, to ensure her party takes back the majority in Congress.

“I’m supporting whoever the nominee, in every single state, the Democratic nominee,” Alsobrooks said. “We are going to have to take back the House and take back the Senate as well so that we can bring down the cost of living, get people healthcare again.”

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“That is what is important right now to the American people, and that’s what we’re looking for.”

The Democratic establishment won a key battle in the left’s ongoing civil war with its socialist insurgency on Saturday.

Longtime Rep. Ed Case, D-Hawaii, won his primary bid to seek another term in the House of Representatives, defeating progressive state Sen. Jarrett Keohokalole.

Case, who served in Congress from 2002 to 2007 and then won again in 2018, faced his toughest primary challenge yet this year. It comes amid a wider showdown between the Democratic establishment and its far-left flank that’s seen multiple House incumbents lose to socialist upstarts.

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Keohokalole, who’s been in Hawaii’s state legislature since 2014, was the most formidable of a group of primary challengers looking to oust Case this year.

Both raised considerable money on the campaign trail, though the incumbent had more money in his war chest at the outset of the race.

Keohokalole criticized Case for not doing enough to stand up to the Trump administration during the president’s second term, including President Donald Trump’s federal immigration operations.

The progressive challenger also attacked Case for being one of four House Democrats to vote for Republicans’ initial iteration of the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act in April 2025.

JOHNSON’S STRATEGY TO BYPASS DEMOCRATS’ SAVE ACT BLOCKADE SURVIVES KEY VOTE, HANDING GOP BIG WIN

That version would have imposed a federal voter ID requirement at the polls as well as a proof of citizenship mandate for registering to vote, but would have allowed for a written affidavit absent that proof.

Case told Hawaii News Now that he will “never” be someone who votes in lockstep with his party and said of the issue of noncitizen voting, “This has nothing to do with voter suppression. Now, those are fears and there are legitimate fears, and I accept those concerns.”

“It’s a solution in search of a problem. There is no security problem in our election system,” Keohokalole told the outlet.

Case later joined nearly all other House Democrats in opposing an updated version, the SAVE America Act, which would have vastly expanded the federal government’s authority over state voter rolls.

He now goes on to face Republican Adriel Lam in November.

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Hawaii’s 1st Congressional District, which encompasses part of Oahu, including Honolulu, is rated a safe Democratic seat with a Cook Political Report rating of D+13.

Nearly two months after President Doanld Trump proclaimed Washington, D.C. would launch the “LARGEST FIREWORKS SHOW IN HISTORY,” Guinness World Records confirmed it this week.

“The largest firework display consists of 840,537 fireworks, and was achieved by Freedom 250 and Pyrotecnico, Inc (both USA) at an event organized by Event Strategies Inc in Washington D.C., USA, on 4 July 2026,” the organization wrote on its website.

Despite weather delays that involved revelers being evacuated from the National Mall, hundreds of thousands of people still watched the Washington, D.C., fireworks that began just before midnight last month.

TOP HIGHLIGHTS FROM TRUMP’S LATE-NIGHT JULY 4 ADDRESS: ‘NO DREAM IN HISTORY IS BIGGER’

The president also gave an abbreviated speech beforehand as part of the “Salute to America” celebration for the 250th anniversary of the country.

Once it got underway, the show lasted for about 40 minutes.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum explained in June that the fireworks would be launched from several sites because of its immense scale.

“Normally the fireworks are set off right along here,” he told the Washington Reporter of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

“This year, because of the size and scale of the thing, there are so many locations where the fireworks are going to be going off, including barges,” he explained.

FLASHBACK: AS AMERICAN TURNS 250, HERE’S HOW THE NATION CELEBRATED ITS BIGGEST BIRTHDAYS

The White House launched Freedom 250 as a public-private partnership months ago and the president serves as chair of the initiative.

The previous record holder for largest fireworks celebration was a megachurch’s 2016 New Year’s Eve show, which featured 810,904 fireworks, according to The Washington Post.

“On July 4th, America came together to celebrate our nation’s 250th birthday with the largest fireworks display in history — over 850,000 fireworks lighting up the National Mall and the Potomac River, and miles around in a 40-minute spectacular,” Freedom 250 spokesperson Danielle Alvarez shared in a statement with Fox News Digital.

AMERICA 250 ATTENDEES FIRE BACK AT CRITICS OF TRUMP’S JULY 4 SPEECH: ‘WHAT WE NEEDED TO HEAR’

Alvarez added, “This historic display shattered the previous global benchmark and stands as a powerful symbol of unity, resilience, and pride as we begin our nation’s next 250 years. Freedom 250 is honored to have brought this moment to millions of Americans, and we thank everyone who made it possible.”

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“No other president in history could have accomplished the incredible feat that President Trump did at our Nation’s historic 250th birthday celebration, which included an incredible air show, a record-breaking fireworks display, and an inspiring speech delivered before hundreds of thousands of American patriots,” the White House said in a statement, according to the Post.

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

The Senate wrapped up its summer session at 4:57 a.m. ET.

Senators knocked two major items off their checklist. They confirmed Todd Blanche as the nation’s 88th Attorney General. 

They also approved a bipartisan interim spending bill that likely goes a long way toward preventing a government shutdown in October.

But nearly as important as what senators accomplished is what didn’t get done.

REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: SUMMER ENDS, BUT THE SENATE’S FALL CRUNCH BEGINS

The Senate did not stay in session and attempt to pass the SAVE America Act. 

In fact, there was not even procedural stunting by the pro-SAVE America Act Republicans, who advocated blowing up the August recess.

TRUMP PUMPS BRAKES ON SENATE BUDGET PLAN, DELAYING GOP SAVE AMERICA PUSH

Moreover, the Senate did not take a vote on a budget framework which could enable them to eventually tack on some election integrity measures – and pass them at a later date in a bill not subject to a filibuster.

Expect some conservatives to rail against the Senate for not working this out. 

The SAVE America Act continues to lack votes. However, advocates of the bill can use the decision by the Senate to leave town without passing it as an opportunity to apply pressure on its opponents.

That said, the Senate did take a test vote on a more narrow voter ID bill backed by Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio. The Senate blocked that bill. 

But the test vote got Democrats on the record for opposing it. And giving Husted a vote on his measure was a tactical move to boost his chances in a competitive race this fall against former Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio.

The Senate did not take a test vote on the bipartisan bill to regulate money for intercollegiate athletics – despite the endorsement by the Big 10 and SEC. 

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In fact, President Trump even implored the Senate to stay in session in August to pass the bill authored by Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., the top Democrat on the panel. 

The legislation was beset by an internecine fight among Republicans about whether the legislation kept men from competing in women’s sports. 

The President published a full-throated endorsement of the legislation Friday night, declaring that the measure did go far enough. “Anyone who tells you otherwise is lying,” wrote the President on Truth Social.

 In an overnight statement, Cruz said that the bill was still in play.

“The good news is that when the Senate returns in September, the Protect College Sports Act will be one of our first orders of business, having locked in a vote,” said Cruz.

However, no vote is officially secured on the Senate docket.

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But what about a test vote on a bill to regulate cryptocurrency?

It was thought that the Senate might pursue that bill in the closing days of the summer session. But the differences were just too wide to close. 

However, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., teed up a procedural vote on cryptocurrency for September 15.

Contempt of Congress.

It sounds bad. And it usually is.

But what does it mean?

Holding someone in contempt of Congress usually stems from them refusing to testify before a House or Senate committee or declining to provide documents and information requested by lawmakers. Especially if someone rejects an inquest by subpoena. 

REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: WHY FAUCI’S 111 FIFTH AMENDMENT PLEAS COULD END UP BEFORE THE COURTS

You refuse to cough up the goods, and Congress may try to hold you in contempt.

And if you’re held in contempt, lawmakers may send a referral to the Justice Department. That’s kind of a parliamentary suggestion box, informing the feds that House Members or senators believe you’ve earned prosecution. 

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voted recently to hold Dr. Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress for refusing to answer questions at a hearing. The panel issued a subpoena to compel Fauci’s compliance. Republican senators say that’s all the more reason why Fauci should testify. They point to his pardon by then-President Joe Biden. That’s why they believe Fauci was obligated to answer their inquiries. Instead, he invoked the Fifth Amendment.

“On the advice of counsel, I respectfully decline to answer based upon my rights under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution,” said Fauci.

Twenty-one words. Uttered an astounding 111 times. That’s a grand total of 2,331 words. Fauci never deviated from the script.

WATCH: GOP SPLIT OVER RAND PAUL’S DOJ STRATEGY IN FAUCI CONTEMPT PUSH

Democrats say it was a Republican ruse.

“The goal was to wait for Dr. Fauci to make any kind of misstatement and then have a weaponized Department of Justice file criminal charges for that new statement that would not have been covered by the pardon,” said Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H.

So the panel took action. It voted 8-5 to hold Fauci in contempt. A party line vote.

“I’ve never voted to hold somebody in contempt. But if there’s one person that should be held in contempt, it is Anthony Fauci,” said Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla.

Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security Committee.

He warned that the GOP gambit is dangerous.

“Criminal contempt is punitive. It does not compel a witness to answer questions or produce the documents we’d all like to see. What we’ll do is create a damaging precedent that future witnesses will use to resist legitimate Congressional oversight and weaken this committee’s ability to compel testimony.”

Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Rand Paul, R-Ky., was unbowed.

“We will hand carry this over to the Attorney General. We will hand carry this to the district court here in (the District of) Columbia,” said Paul.

Even though at the time, the DOJ only had an acting Attorney General.

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However, Paul was freelancing. He ignored the custom of the entire Senate voting to refer someone to the Justice Department for prosecution.

The Kentucky Republican himself previously sent other, unilateral referrals to the DoJ asking for Fauci’s prosecution. But those efforts never even went through committee. Fox can’t locate any precedent for such an independent maneuver. Especially circumventing the Senate floor.

Republicans control the Senate. It’s unclear whether there would be 51 votes to hold Fauci in contempt. But there is almost no scenario where the Senate could find 60 votes to break a filibuster on a contempt of Congress resolution of this nature. 

This is why Democrats argued that Paul is out of line.

“No individual center senator and no committee speaks for the entire Senate as a whole,” fumed Peters. “The chairman has also suggested he may attempt to refer this matter to the Department of Justice without approval of the full Senate. That would be even more dangerous and widely unprecedented.”

The DOJ says it “seriously reviews all Congressional referrals.” But Democrats believe the GOP’s disregard for Fauci invoking the Fifth could undermine any prosecution.

“It is almost certainly never going to be approved by a court because it violates basic constitutional rights,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.

In a statement, Fauci’s attorney, David Schertler, accused Paul of trying to “weaponize the Justice Department” against his client. Democrats asserted that before Fauci’s hearing, Republicans cut them out of their inquiry.

“We have been excluded from witness interviews,” said Peters.

FAUCI HELD IN CONTEMPT AS COVID CELLPHONE LANDS IN HANDS OF SENATE INVESTIGATORS

But Republicans say Democrats showed no interest in their findings and revelations.

“They have all been uploaded on a website that you were invited to join,” said Paul. “You never even asked for the password.”

However, the Republican inquiry is just starting. Another Senate panel has now obtained a copy of the Health and Human Services phone Fauci used during the pandemic.

“It’s frustrating we haven’t gotten these devices until now. But now we have them,” said Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., on Fox.

Johnson says decrypting that phone could answer questions which Fauci refused to address during the hearing.

Two interesting developments emerged since Fauci testified in late July. First, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeannine Pirro dropped her prosecution of former Olympian David Hearn for allegedly vandalizing the Reflecting Pool on the National Mall. President Donald Trump then upbraided Pirro.

Does this mean that Pirro is doing things by the book? Would that diminish chances for prosecution of Fauci? Or, since Pirro enraged the president, could she redeem herself by prosecuting Fauci? After all, Trump said he wanted Fauci prosecuted.

However, the ultimate decision to prosecute is up to the new Attorney General, Todd Blanche. Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Susan Collins, R-Maine, vowed to oppose Fauci. With former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., out, the GOP couldn’t lose any more votes without tanking the nomination. It boiled down to Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La. – who was undecided. Cassidy announced Friday morning he would vote yea on Blanche.

“I am particularly concerned about episodes of apparent lawfare. DoJ bringing suits against political enemies. Presidents of both parties have been guilty of this. It must stop. It should stop now. A never-ending cycle of prosecuting political enemies undermines the rule of law,” said Cassidy. “I’m not entirely satisfied where where this is.”

But Cassidy said he was comfortable enough to confirm Blanche.

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Democrats will say any prosecution of Fauci is emblematic of the very weaponization which Cassidy fretted about. And this could be a special test case for the new Attorney General.

President Donald Trump could win the legal fight over his planned White House ballroom, say two legal experts who believe the U.S. the Supreme Court could end the case without weighing in on the underlying constitutional issue.

In a lengthy social media post Friday, Trump vowed to take the fight over his White House ballroom to the Supreme Court after the D.C. Circuit upheld a lower court order blocking above-ground construction. In a 2-1 decision, the appeals court ruled that the project cannot move forward without Congressional approval.

Trump pointed to the dissent written by Judge Neomi Rao, appointed by Trump in his first term, as grounds for appealing the decision to Supreme Court. Rao argued that the plantiffs, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, lack legal standing in the case.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation built its case for legal standing around Alison Hoagland, a member who lives near the White House and regularly visits President’s Park. Hoagland said she visits the area about once a month and argued that the proposed ballroom’s size and design would diminish her enjoyment of the area by overshadowing the White House and weakening its aesthetic.

TRUMP SAYS WHITE HOUSE BALLROOM RULING JEOPARDIZES LIVES OF FUTURE PRESIDENTS, VOWS SUPREME COURT APPEAL

But according to Rao, the National Trust did not establish the kind of injury necessary to invoke the courts’ authority to block the project.

“The district court elevated the aesthetic displeasure of a single passerby over the government’s security interests in the ballroom and the security risks of leaving an open construction site at the President’s home and office,” Rao wrote.

Former Justice Department attorney Abhishek Kambli agreed, telling Fox News Digital the National Trust could face a particularly difficult hurdle on standing at the Supreme Court. He noted that, while Congress created the National Trust, the group still must show that its lawsuit is germaine to its interests.

“While they do have ownership of some properties, the President’s Park, where the White House East Ballroom is, is not one of them,” Kambli said. “And I think that’s going to be a very tough argument to sustain, especially with the Supreme Court, that’s more likely to agree with Rao than they are the [circuit court] majority, given the makeup of the Supreme Court, and the fact that the Supreme Court is very strict on standing.”

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Kambli also suggested that the National Trust faces a strong hurdle in proving it has standing based on aesthetic injury because it would have to prove it actually uses the space where the ballroom is being built

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“Normally, aesthetic standing requires that you intend to use it,” Kambli said. “So, for instance, if you’re planning to be visiting the East Ballroom — and even this is kind of a stretch — that’s one thing, but if you’re someone on the outside that just passes it by, that’s a little tougher.”

A similar standing issue surfaced earlier in July when U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta, an Obama-appointed judge, rejected a lawsuit seeking to block the America 250 UFC event at the White House. He ruled that the plaintiffs had not met the standard of aesthetic harm to establish standing.

Hans von Spakovsky, a senior legal fellow at Advancing American Freedom, said he expects Trump to prevail on appeal as well, based on the standing issue.

“Under Supreme Court precedent, you cannot bring a claim, you cannot bring a lawsuit, until and unless you can demonstrate a concrete, actual injury,” Spakovsky told Fox News Digital. “The idea that a passerby, who claims she will be aesthetically injured because of what she sees at the White House, has an actual injury is absurd, and obviously, and clearly defies that precedent.”

If the Supreme Court takes the case, it could resolve it without deciding whether the administration had the legal authority to build the ballroom in the first place.

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“The Supreme Court won’t rule on the substantive issue if it can dismiss the case based on a lack of standing by the plaintiffs,” von Spakovsky said. “I also don’t know of anyone else who could establish standing to bring a lawsuit. Perhaps Congress could collectively, but the chances of that happening are very slim given the partisan divides in both the House and Senate.”

The National Trust argued in its lawsuit that federal law requires Congress to approve new construction on federal property in Washington, D.C., while the administration says existing law already gives the president authority to make alterations and improvements to federal property, including the White House.

Abhishek agreed with Rao’s reasoning that the terms “alteration” and “improvement” should be understood in their ordinary real-property sense.

“For instance, if I have an extension to my house, it doesn’t become a new house,” Abhishek said. “It’s the same house, but that’s an improvement done on the house. Or if I tear down some walls and then just create an open living space in my like between my living room and my kitchen, that’s also not a new house at that point.

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“It’s the same house, but there was an alteration or an improvement done, so if you’re using real property terms, then it’s pretty clear how how the statutory authority would make sense,” Abhishek continued.

Nine Republican candidates vying to permanently fill late Sen. Lindsey Graham’s Senate seat spoke directly to voters Saturday at an event in Florence County, South Carolina, where they addressed the war with Iran, the rising tide of socialism in the Democratic Party and potential privacy concerns around Flock cameras.

The event was hosted by Alan Wilson, South Carolina’s Republican gubernatorial nominee, who pitched the gathering a kind of “speed dating,” since each candidate was given six minutes to address the crowd.

The special Republican Senate primary is coming up on Aug. 11, which made Saturday’s event one of the last chances for the candidates to make their closing arguments to voters.

Here’s what they chose to focus on in their elevator pitches.

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Darline Graham

Sen. Darline Graham — who was chosen to finish out her brother’s term after his death in July — was the last to speak but was quick to tell attendees that she intended to earn their votes.

“I’m not a politician. I never wanted to be a politician. But like Lindsey, I have a servant’s heart. I am a hard worker. And yes, I have President Trump’s endorsement, but I know I have to earn your votes,” she said at the beginning of her speech.

She emphasized that she was not a “DEI” candidate, hyping her experience running the South Carolina Commission for the Blind, a state agency with a $90 million budget and dozens of employees.

“We help blind people and people with disabilities get jobs so that they don’t have to rely on the government. How is that DEI?” she said.

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She also made sure to highlight issues she and President Donald Trump agree on, including keeping transgender girls out of female sports, standing with Israel, supporting implementing voter ID through the SAVE Act and ending blanket birthright citizenship.

Graham briefly touched on socialism within the Democratic Party, calling it a problem that has to be stopped. She also described Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., as crazy.

Her speech concluded by answering a question about Flock cameras, which can automatically read license plates and are being installed all over the country.

“I need to look into that one, because there’s two sides to that story. I know that some people are concerned about privacy and protecting their privacy, and I’m all for protecting the privacy of U.S. citizens. The other side of it is, if there’s an emergency situation that an ambulance can be called quicker, and it can save lives,” Graham said. “I’m going to be honest. That’s a hard one for me. So I want to look into it a little bit more.”

Ralph Norman

Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., focused on his frustration with the Senate, calling it the place where “good bills go to die.”

He proposed overhauling the Senate’s rules to get measures like the SAVE Act passed.

“I will use my, whatever expertise I have to go to the Senate and force the vote, whether it’s blowing up the filibuster or having a walking filibuster or getting with the parliamentarian and changing some of these stupid, arcane rules that the Senate has,” Norman said.

The Senate filibuster allows a minority of senators to delay or block most legislation, effectively requiring 60 votes to advance a bill and making it harder for a narrow majority to enact its agenda.

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Following his remarks, Norman was asked a question about the extent to which AI data centers should be regulated.

He said the federal government should not have a role but appeared to disagree with Trump’s recent full-throated support of bringing data centers to communities around the country.

“Do I think it’s bad for the community? Yes. Do I think it hurts the environment? Yes. And I will do whatever I can,” Norman said.

Mark McBride

The key takeaway from former Myrtle Beach Mayor Mark McBride’s speech is that he broke away from Trump’s position on the war with Iran.

“Y’all, there is something we have to address if we’re going to win in November,” McBride said. “We need to end the war. We need to end the war now.”

“We just have to admit we’ve lost the war. We’ve lost this battle,” he continued. “Come home and regroup for another day.”

He then addressed the crowd, saying: “There’s not one of y’all in here who voted for President Trump a year and a half ago because this is where you thought we would be.”

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Sam Shepherd

Sam Shepherd, an engineer, inventor and entrepreneur, took the opposite approach to McBride, claiming he is “more conservative than Trump.”

Shepherd cast himself as someone who has the skills to fix complex issues within the bureaucracy and the military.

He also took a moment to one-up Elon Musk, the former head of the Department of Government Efficiency, arguing he had more patents than the Tesla billionaire.

“I’ve actually authored more patents than Elon Musk. I have 44. I’m asking for you to bring common sense back to the government,” Shepherd said.

Russell Fry

Rep. Russell Fry, R-S.C., spent much of his speech tying the affordability issues Americans are facing to “onerous regulations.”

“We see this on farms. We see this in every manner of our government — regulations strangle us,” he said. “You’ve got to get government out of the way if we’re going to solve this affordability crisis.”

In response to a question about how he would secure the border if elected, Fry started off by attacking former President Joe Biden’s work ethic and praising Trump’s.

“You actually have to have a president who’s awake for more than four hours a day, right? We went from a president who slept for 20 and was awake for four, to a president who is awake for 20 and sleeps for four,” Fry said.

Fry said he would work to close “loopholes Biden used” to grant thousands of Haitians and Nicaraguans asylum in the U.S.

Mark Sanford

Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford zeroed in on the ballooning national debt, which is about to reach a staggering $40 trillion.

Sanford, who also twice served as South Carolina congressman, said the debt is incomprehensible and unsustainable.

“We’ve got a federal government that goes out and spends money it doesn’t have, and then it turns around, and it prints money that’s not there,” Sanford said.

He argued that the growing national debt is inextricably linked to Americans reaching financial and life milestones later in life.

“The average age to buy a house, not that long ago, was 39 years of age, just 15 years ago. Today, that number is 59. In 15 years, it slid back 20 years, which is to say the American dream is becoming that much more difficult — whether it’s my four boys or y’all’s kids or grandkids out there,” Sanford said.

Mark Lynch

Mark Lynch, a businessman, was another candidate who favored getting rid of the filibuster.

He also said he wouldn’t “take a penny from AIPAC,” making him one of the few candidates, along with McBride, to stake out a position at odds with the field’s staunch support for Israel.

Lynch’s “number one” issue was his strong opposition to abortion. He talked at length about how he has spent time convincing women not to go through with terminating their pregnancies and how he has lobbied state legislators to toughen abortion restrictions.

Danny Ford II

Danny Ford II, the son of the championship-winning former head football coach at Clemson University, was the first to address Flock cameras and the potential privacy issues they raise.

He also talked about rapid data center development getting “out of control.”

“It’s getting pushed straight down our citizens’ throats without any say so,” he said.

On the issue of data centers, Ford said they need to be sustainable, produce their own power and not “leave a stain on South Carolina.”

Glenda Gail Parker

Glenda Gail Parker, a retired budget analyst with the U.S. Air Force, described herself as a conservative independent who leans Republican, but broke with Trump on energy policy, saying the country needs to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels.

In response to a question about how she would ensure South Carolina farmers get the assistance they need after natural disasters, Parker said she would work to mitigate “the climate extremes that we are experiencing now.”

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“And I do that by reducing our consumption of fossil fuels, and lower[ing] the demand for fossil fuels. In fact, today I want to challenge the oil and gas companies,” Parker said. “Those companies that are interested in longevity must realize that they are in the energy business, not the oil and gas business. And so I would like to challenge the oil and gas businesses to clean up their image.”

She concluded by saying the U.S. needs to pursue solar, wind, geothermal energy and hydropower.

Hawaii voters will decide Saturday who advances to the November general election, with key contests including the race for governor and the battle to represent the state’s 1st Congressional District.

Gov. Josh Green, who was first elected in 2022, is heavily favored to win the Democratic primary, where he faces three little-known competitors. His challengers include George “Teva” Lucas-Tadeo, a Democratic socialist who has promised on social media to open a government-run grocery store and legalize recreational marijuana.

David “Duke” Bourgoin is mounting his second primary challenge against Green after losing to him in 2022, when he captured only 590 votes against Green’s 158,161. He also lost two bids for Honolulu mayor, in 2022 and 2024.

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Lauren Kapoliahiʻiaka Shim is also seeking the Democratic nomination. She is the CEO and founder of Aloha AI Incorporated, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Neither Lucas-Tadeo nor Shim had campaign websites, and none of Green’s three challengers had raised any money in the race as of June 30, according to Honolulu Civil Beat. Meanwhile, Green has raised approximately $3.5 million, far outpacing Republican Gary Cordery, the race’s second-highest fundraiser, who has raised about $313,000, according to Honolulu Civil Beat.

Cordery, owner of the contracting company Kingdom Builders, and Ken Fujiyama, an entrepreneur and investor, are competing for the Republican nomination and a chance to end nearly two decades of Democratic control of the governor’s mansion. The last Republican to serve as Hawaii governor was Linda Lingle, who held the office from 2002 to 2010.

Cordery has campaigned on lowering Hawaii’s high cost of living, expanding housing and cracking down on government waste and corruption. He has proposed adding 15,000 homes for working families, using state-owned land for housing and eliminating the state’s general excise tax on food and medicine. Fujiyama has also proposed a plan to tackle the housing affordability crisis by developing 100,000 residential lots and partnering with large landowners to spur growth.

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Whoever emerges from the Republican primary will face an uphill battle to unseat Green if he secures the Democratic nomination. Green holds a 56% approval rating, while the Cook Political Report rates the race “Likely Democrat” and gives Democrats a 13-point advantage.

Meanwhile, eyes outside of Hawaii will be locked on the Democratic primary in the 1st Congressional District, where state Sen. Jarrett Keohokalole is challenging Rep. Ed Case, D-Hawaii.

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Case, who is seeking a seventh term, has represented the district since 2019 and argues that his seniority and position on the Appropriations Committee give Hawaii greater influence in Washington. Meanwhile, Keohokalole, who is endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders‘ group Our Revolution, is running on a progressive platform that includes Medicare for All and opposition to ICE and President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

Keohokalole is seeking to portray Case as out of touch with Democratic voters, pointing to the congressman’s vote with House Republicans to pass Trump’s SAVE America Act, which would require voters to show proof of citizenship when registering to vote.

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Given the district’s strong Democratic lean, whoever wins the party’s primary will likely be favored to win the seat in November.

Polls close at 7pm local time.

Shannon Taylor, now the Democratic nominee in the race for Virginia’s First Congressional district, once endorsed progressive prosecutorial blueprints, advocating for less incarceration and more diversity as a Henrico County commonwealth attorney — some of the same “Democratic values” that ended in tragedy in other parts of Virginia.

Shortly after coming into the role in 2012, Taylor fired seven prosecutors under her.

“I stated publicly that the office needs to have more diversity and I’m going to keep to that public statement,” Taylor said in an interview ahead of the firings.

Her track record is sparking criticism that she used her role to prioritize ideological and political views at the expense of public safety. It’s also clashing with portrayals from her campaign, highlighting her work as a tough-on-crime figure as she looks to win over a Republican-leaning district.

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Taylor highlighted her work as she topped a crowded field of Democratic candidates vying to challenge Republican incumbent Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Va.

“As Henrico’s top prosecutor for the last 14 years, Shannon has tried thousands of cases and put violent criminals, drug traffickers and abusers behind bars,” Taylor states on her campaign website. “She has a record of shutting down fraudsters trying to take advantage of working families and locking up violent criminals who threaten our safety.”

But that hasn’t always been the appearance she’s given.

After her seven firings, Taylor faced blowback for trying to hire a woman named Misty Whitehead as a police oversight prosecutor. However, before the role could be made official, social media posts from Whitehead surfaced that seemingly showed a pattern of attacking police.

Taylor faced backlash from the town’s county manager over her selected candidate.

“A county manager can’t tell a commonwealth’s attorney who to hire, but he can recommend whether or not local funds are included to supplement that salary. And in this case, I absolutely will not do it under any circumstances,” County Manager John Vithoulkas said at the time.

Whitehead had a history of voicing concerns about police behavior and social justice that raised concerns for at least one county official, according to local reports.

Taylor defended her pick, telling local outlets that she believed the posts were “thoughtful analysis of the current events we are all living through.”

Taylor also has ties to similarly-minded prosecutors in other counties — some of which entered the public eye recently due to tragic circumstances.

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In Fairfax County, Virginia, news broke that Abdul Jalloh, a 32-year-old illegal alien from Sierra Leone, stabbed a Virginia resident to death at a bus stop despite over 30 prior arrests and a known tendency for violent behavior.

Jalloh’s criminal record included charges of rape, malicious wounding, assault, drug possession, identity theft, trespassing, larceny and firing a weapon.

Even so, prosecutor Steve Descano had dropped many of them, prompting concern and outrage from lawmakers.

“You dismissed the case, and it’s shameful,” Rep. Brad Knott, R-N.C. said at a hearing where Descano was summoned to Congress to explain a series of similar cases.

Knott had been highlighting one such instance involving a child predator.

“When you dismiss a case, what happens to that defendant? He walks free. A disgusting, perverted individual preying on children, that you dismissed,” Knott said.

Long before Descano’s time in the spotlight, Taylor had endorsed Descano, supporting his bid to become county prosecutor in 2019, citing shared outlooks.

“I am excited to endorse Steve Descano for Fairfax County’s Commonwealth’s Attorney because I know he will prioritize the same Democratic values we all share, making Fairfax a safe and just place for everyone and I am looking forward to working with him,” Taylor wrote.

Taylor and Descano would go on to champion their shared values in a 2021 letter to the Biden Administration.

In it, the two joined 100 other district and county attorneys in championing a set of “21 principles for the 21st-Century prosecutor.” The authors claimed that “tough on crime policies” had been “anathema to justice,” championed an end to mandatory minimums and three-strike laws, advocated for taking immigration status into consideration when negotiating sentences and plea deals, and opposed calling rapists “rapists,” drug dealers “drug dealers,” and convicted criminals “felons” or “inmates.”

“A number of elected reform-minded prosecutors are boldly redefining what it means to be a prosecutor,” the letter states.

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At least one Republican onlooker blasted Taylor’s record.

“She spent her time reshaping the prosecutor’s office around identity politics, pushing a far-left agenda that put woke activism ahead of public safety, and fighting to turn Virginia into a far-left hellscape,” Emma Hall, a spokesperson for the Republican National Committee (RNC), said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

“Instead of prosecuting criminals and making Virginia safer, DEI queen Shannon Taylor chose to be a diversity, equity, and inclusion consultant.”

Having secured the Democratic nomination, Taylor now heads to the general election on Nov. 3. Wittman, the district’s incumbent, last won re-election in 2024 in a 56.3% to 43.5% victory over Democratic challenger Leslie Mehta, an attorney.

Former Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown once praised data center expansion, records show, even as he now runs on a platform opposing their development in a bid to return to the Senate.

In 2015, Brown put out a press release celebrating the construction of a third data center in Central Ohio.

“This new data center is great news for New Albany and central Ohio. Amazon’s growth in central Ohio signals that this region is not only a great place to do business, but a place where people want to live and raise a family,” Brown said.

Now, just over 10 years later, Brown is painting Ohio’s 226 data centers as a drain on the state’s resources — a reversal that demonstrates how many Democrats have aligned themselves on the issue to press the case for affordability.

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“Ohio’s electric grid — big corporations treat it like a game,” Brown said in a recent campaign video.

“[They’re] gobbling up energy to feed their data centers no matter how much it raises our prices. It’s the latest way they’ve rigged the system.”

Brown, who was originally elected to the U.S. Senate in 2006, lost re-election in 2024 to Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio. Now he is waging a comeback bid for Ohio’s other Senate seat against incumbent Sen. Jon Husted.

Husted, who has not yet won a full term in the Senate, was appointed by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine to fill the seat of now-former Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, when Trump tapped him to become vice president.

In the 2026 midterms, Democrats have hammered President Donald Trump and what they see as unfulfilled promises to bring down the cost of everyday items like food, fuel and housing.

While slightly removed from those specific items, an increasing number of Democrats, like Brown, have tied data centers to the issue, arguing that they do little to pay for their own costs in terms of water and electrical use. In their view, data centers are being subsidized by the communities where they’re being built.

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Debates remain about whether their consumption has meaningfully changed utility rates in local communities and, if so, whether the companies should pay for the costs of their consumption.

Brown said he would support legislation along those lines.

“I’ll require the data centers to pay the full cost of their own electricity — not you,” Brown said.

Ohio, in particular, has become an increasingly important state in the data center conversation as companies like Amazon and Google have sought out state incentives for their construction.

In 2013, the state legislature passed tax exemptions for the “sale, storage, use or other consumption of computer data center equipment.” The law gives the Ohio Tax Credit Authority (TCA) the power to approve tax exemptions for companies that invest more than $100 million over three consecutive years. Not all centers are automatically qualified to participate in the benefit and can receive a partial exemption.

The move has attracted sizeable investment but also cost the state $1.6 billion in forgone revenue in 2025, according to the Ohio 2026-2027 Tax Expenditure Report.

It’s unclear if Brown would support more than just a requirement that data centers pay for their electricity and whether he would consider other legislation to slow their development. In his 2015 press release, Brown noted that the centers had created new job opportunities with their openings.

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“I look forward to working to ensure that our region’s burgeoning logistics hub continues to grow – creating good jobs for Ohioans and helping businesses prosper,” Brown wrote.

His office did not respond to requests for comment from Fox News Digital about the scope of his objections to data center developments in Ohio.

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Having secured his party’s nomination for the seat, Brown will face Husted in the state’s Nov. 3 general election.

Pro-Israel college students who have watched socialism and anti-Israel activism gain ground on campus say the same political currents are now colliding with the Democratic Party — and the backlash is pushing some young Jewish voters to the right.

“Even before the craziness of the post-October 7 campus climate, it was already an underlying sense of, ‘America is bad and we’re gonna learn about that,'” University of Michigan rising senior Addison Stone told Fox News Digital.

Speaking at the Israel on Campus Coalition’s national summit in Washington this week, students said political currents they have watched spread on college campuses are increasingly surfacing in Democratic politics, particularly as the party’s progressive wing gains ground and clashes deepen over Israel.

Dylan Goldman, a rising senior at UC Berkeley, identified himself as “left leaning” and told Fox News Digital that Democratic lawmakers welcoming the popular socialist candidates – who overwhelmingly hold hostile postures toward Israel – are making a “really poor move.”

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“Jewish Democrats who are not single-issue voters… now feel so alienated by our own party that it’s pushing us conservative. It’s pushing to go further right,” said Goldman.

Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive whose campaign drew support from the democratic socialist movement, won Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary Tuesday, adding to a string of victories for left-wing candidates challenging the Democratic establishment as the party battles for control of Congress in November’s midterm elections.

The conference brought hundreds of pro-Israel students to Washington for advocacy training, networking and discussions on supporting Israel, combating antisemitism and strengthening the U.S.-Israel relationship on college campuses.

“The academics don’t help, but they’re sort of helping indoctrinate the next generation and the next generation with the combination of learning about that in classes and going on social media and seeing it and the DSA trying to make everything cool with communism,” Stone said. “You’re really seeing the outcome of that on college campuses where they’re burning both American and Israeli flags.”

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As those political divisions play out nationally, organizers at the summit said Jewish students are still confronting the campus hostility that helped bring many of them to Washington.

“What’s happening to Jewish students on American campuses should alarm every American,” Israel on Campus Coalition CEO Jacob Baime told Fox News Digital. “The hostility is out in the open now: mobs on the quad, intimidation in the classroom, and harassment online. But here’s what the mob didn’t count on: this generation isn’t backing down.”

“These students are the proudest, toughest, most organized pro-Israel cohort we have ever seen. This week we brought more than 1000 campus leaders to Washington to train and equip them with the skills they need to go back to campus ready to fight for what they believe in,” he added.

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Fetterman, who spoke at the Israel on Campus Coalition’s flagship event, said the Democratic Party’s shifting posture toward Israel and the Jewish community is becoming increasingly consequential.

His support for Israel has repeatedly put him at odds with members of his own party, including over the broader conflict in the Middle East and his backing of President Donald Trump’s strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.

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“I think I was the only Democrat to support the Trump administration to bomb the Iranian nuclear facilities,” Fetterman told Fox News Digital. “If you don’t want them to acquire a nuclear bomb, it’s pretty reasonable to bomb their nuclear facilities.”

Fetterman argued the threat extends beyond Israel, casting the confrontation with Iran as a larger battle over American values and the West’s role in the region.

“The problem is Iran. That’s the problem,” he said, later adding, “I’m proud to stand for America, civilization, democracy, and Israel is our special ally that represents all of that in that region.”

Senate Republicans may have left Washington on a high note early Saturday morning, but they left one major item on the table: passing the SAVE America Act.

It’s the bill that has dominated President Donald Trump’s attention span and garnered heavy criticism against Republicans in the upper chamber for not being able to pass it.

And despite guarantees from some in the party that they would object to leaving until Sept. in order to pass the voter integrity bill, lawmakers’ suitcases were packed and ready for the airport. It’s one of several agenda items that didn’t get finished prior to the lawmakers’ vacation, and one that will have to wait until next month. But its biggest proponents appear okay with that outcome.

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“We’re not dropping SAVE,” Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, said. “It’s a matter of time.”

Time between now and the end of this session of Congress will be an increasingly short commodity to come by.

The Senate returns the third week of September and will be tasked with moving two massive bills dealing with cryptocurrency regulations and money in college sports, both of which didn’t make the cut during the upper chamber’s last week in town.

Then they’ll leave once again for nearly the entire month of October in preparation for midterm elections in early November.

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Another priority heavily pushed by Trump and the administration, taking another crack at the party line budget reconciliation process, was detoured, too.

That process is how Republicans hope to pass the SAVE America Act without Democrats getting the chance to block it with the filibuster. Republicans were ready to vote on the $150 billion budget blueprint drafted by Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., until Trump intervened over concerns that it would fail.

The push was paused after Johnson, who just took over the Senate Budget Committee, Lee and Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., huddled in the office of Senate Majority Leader John Thune after speaking with Trump.

Johnson said Trump agreed that the best path forward was to “just work diligently through August into September to do an actually better budget reconciliation bill.”

Republicans want to crank up the defense spending in their budget framework — Johnson said that War Secretary Pete Hegseth made a “very convincing case” to beef up the funding by $350 billion as the war in Iran continues and munitions dwindle.

Still, whether the gamble to incentivize states to take up portions of the SAVE America Act will work remains unknown, given that the Senate’s rules chief will ultimately decide if the provisions pass muster with reconciliation’s guardrails.

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Taking another shot at reconciliation that doesn’t include cost-of-living elements or affordability-minded provisions hasn’t been a popular subject among Senate Republicans, especially heading into midterms.

Thune acknowledged that there was an appetite among Republicans to use the legislative tool to muscle through defense funding and try to include elements of the SAVE America Act.

The top Senate Republican, unlike others in his conference, hasn’t been gung-ho about turning to reconciliation for a third time. That appeared to subtly change early Saturday morning.

“I think at some point, we’re going to need to do another reconciliation bill,” Thune said.

Meanwhile, Republicans were able to accomplish several items on their to-do list Saturday morning.

They passed a short-term funding extension until early December to take away Democrats’ ability to politicize another government shutdown, advanced a bone-crushing Russia sanctions package and confirmed acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to lead the Department of Justice with the command of a Senate-confirmed cabinet member.

But Democrats blocked a voter ID bill from Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio, and hurdles remained for the massive, cryptocurrency bill known as the Clarity Act, and Sen. Ted Cruz’s, R-Texas, legislation going after Name Image and Likeness (NIL) funding in college sports.

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Perhaps the most glaring omission, however, was a vote on whether to cancel the August recess.

Lee had pushed for a full vote on the Senate floor as part of the Senate’s push to reach a broader agreement on several legislative items. Instead, he accepted a voice vote, uttering a quiet “no,” on the floor against the forthcoming recess.

“Would it have been better if we had passed SAVE America already? Absolutely,” Lee said. “Would it be better if we had the votes right now? Yes. We, for a variety of reasons, don’t have the wherewithal to pass it right now.”

“No, no, no, [its] Democrats,” Johnson interjected. “The reason is Democrats. Democrats refuse to vote for any kind of voter integrity measure, that’s just the reality of the situation.”

Senate Democrats blocked a key component of the SAVE America Act that, in the past, they have supported.

During the wee hours of Saturday morning, Senate Republicans tried and failed to get Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and his colleagues to back a stripped back voter ID bill amid a spree of last-minute legislative business.

But Senate Democrats, including Schumer, have for years espoused support of identification to vote. Several states with Democratic senators have voter ID laws, too.

SCHUMER, DEMOCRATS SAY THEY SUPPORT VOTER ID, THEN BLOCK GOP AMENDMENT TO REQUIRE IT

“Democrats support voter ID,” Schumer said in March. “In fact, we included it, and it is included, in our Freedom to Vote legislation several years ago.”

Schumer and his entire caucus voted against the bill from Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio, nonetheless. Requiring identification is already the practice in 36 states. Of those, 23 require photo ID, while 13 accept another form of identification, such as a bank statement. Nine of those states have Democratic senators.

It was the last stand of the night for the Senate, which is gearing up to leave Washington, D.C., for several weeks of valuable campaign time in vulnerable incumbents’ home states.

SENATE REPUBLICANS PUSH ELECTION DAY DEADLINE FOR CALIFORNIA’S MARATHON BALLOT COUNTS

And it comes as Republicans have so far tried and failed to find a path forward for the SAVE America Act, which Democrats, along with a handful from the GOP, have blocked numerous times in a variety of configurations.

Husted’s bill would have prohibited state and local election officials from providing a ballot to vote in federal elections unless a person provided a valid form of identification.

Husted’s bill teed up a plethora of options, including an unexpired driver’s license with a photo, an unexpired state-issued ID card with a photo, a valid passport, a valid military or veteran ID with a photo or an unexpired tribal ID with a photo.

It’s also not the first time Democrats have blocked it. In March, Republicans tested their support of voter ID for the first time in a vote to attach Husted’s bill to the SAVE America Act. It failed on party lines then, too.

TRUMP KEEPS CALLING THUNE DESPITE PUBLIC FIGHT OVER SAVE AMERICA ACT

After it became clear that President Donald Trump’s top legislative priority was not going to be passed nor even considered before lawmakers exit Washington, D.C., Republicans opted to take one last crack at Democrats’ resolve.

“We’ve got many Democrats, who have said, ‘I’m just fine with voter ID,’” Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, said. “Voter ID is a major component of SAVE America, and they’ve said that over and over again when we had it on the floor in late February and early March.”

“It was the argument that I heard from many of these people, as it was on the floor for hours and hours at a time, saying, ‘I’m okay with voter ID, don’t like this,’” he continued. “So we’re gonna find out where they are.”

Lee has been the loudest supporter of the SAVE America Act in the Senate, pushing and prodding his colleagues on X to get on board with passing the package.

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Republicans had a chance earlier in the night to begin the work of crafting a version of the SAVE America Act with a budget blueprint that, if successful, would have teed up the partyline budget reconciliation process, but were called to stand down by Trump.

Now, they don’t return until early September, just weeks out from a midterm election that could reshape the balance of power in the Senate.

Once thought doomed, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Justice Department has survived the Senate and now will take the helm as the nation’s top law enforcement official.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche was confirmed early Saturday morning as part of a mad blitz by lawmakers to wrap up their work and jet from Washington, D.C. Now, he’ll officially replace Pam Bondi as attorney general.

Blanche, who is Trump’s former personal lawyer, nearly saw his confirmation hopes go up in smoke as Republicans struggled to swallow his role in rolling out the nearly $2 billion anti-weaponization and sweeping IRS audit immunity for the president and his family.

TRUMP’S AG PICK SURVIVES — FOR NOW — AS REPUBLICANS QUESTION IF WHITE HOUSE DEAL WILL HOLD

However, a last-minute ally emerged: Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., who announced on Friday that he would back Blanche’s confirmation after spending days keeping tight-lipped on his decision.

Though he was concerned about weaponization at the Department of Justice (DOJ) and just how binding an agreement to nix the anti-weaponization fund and limit Trump’s audit immunity would be, he argued that having a Senate-confirmed attorney general was a better option than a placeholder.

“Mr. Blanche is not perfect, and he will tell you this,” Cassidy said on the Senate floor. “But the choice is not between perfection and Mr. Blanche. It is between Mr. Blanche and another acting attorney general, who may not run the department effectively under President Trump.”

TRUMP’S PICK FOR TOP LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIAL GETS CRUCIAL LAST-MINUTE LIFELINE FOR CONFIRMATION

Still, Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Susan Collins, R-Maine, joined all Senate Democrats to oppose Blanche’s confirmation.

Murkowski announced her opposition hours before Cassidy’s lifeline. She contended that despite Blanche’s trek to Alaska and numerous meetings with him, she could not support him to be the next attorney general.

She was worried about his connection to the anti-weaponization fund, a weaponized Justice Department, Blanche’s role in the Epstein Files release, and the uncertain future of the fund, which several Republicans have raised concerns about over whether taxpayer dollars would flow to rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

TRUMP ADMIN PUSHES BACK ON ‘SLUSH FUND’ ATTACKS AGAINST ANTI-WEAPONIZATION FUND AND LAYS OUT WHO QUALIFIES

“The country needs an Attorney General who will check the worst impulses of this administration,” Murkowski said. “I hope Mr. Blanche is able to achieve that, if confirmed, but I simply do not have confidence that will be the case.”

Collins raised similar concerns earlier in the week, and was the first Republican out of the gate to cast doubt on Blanche’s chances of confirmation.

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“While I believe Mr. Blanche is a capable lawyer, the Department of Justice has become increasingly political,” Collins said. “Mr. Blanche has taken several actions that have further eroded the Department’s independence, and that is the basis for my vote to oppose his confirmation.”

The Senate advanced its solution to avert a government shutdown on Saturday, capping off several months of hand-wringing that, if given the chance, Senate Democrats would use a shutdown to score political points in November.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and his caucus relented, and stayed true to the bargain they struck with Republicans to keep the government funded well past Election Night and into early December.

The about-face, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told Fox News Digital, appeared to be a political calculation on Schumer and Democrats’ part.

SCHUMER CLAIMS VICTORY AS SENATE MOVES TO AVERT SHUTDOWN; GOP SAYS HE GOT PLAYED

“I think they didn’t want to spend the next, well … three months defending attacks from Republicans about wanting to shut the government down,” Thune said.

“I mean, I think there was a narrative starting to build out there based on what’s happened the last 12 months, which I think, they probably — you know, these guys are political animals,” Thune continued. “I’m assuming those guys are polling all the time.”

DEMOCRATS BLINK AS SCHUMER HELPS GOP CLEAR KEY SHUTDOWN HURDLE

And Schumer claimed victory over the process, arguing that Democrats “for months” wanted to keep the government open, and had scored key concessions from the Trump administration on an ensuing rule change to federal grants in the bipartisan continuing resolution (CR).

“We want to reach across the aisle and hammer out a budget that delivers for the American people,” Schumer said on the Senate floor. “Today, [this] CR gives us the breathing room necessary to work out a budget that helps make life more affordable to working families and reigns in Trump’s rampant chaos, his rampant corruption.”

However, Republicans have been messaging for months that congressional Democrats wouldn’t bat an eye at shutting the government down again. In the Senate, efforts have been made to inflict pain on lawmakers should another shutdown happen, like agreeing to forego their paychecks in the event of a closure.

SENATE TAKES MAJOR FIRST STEP TO PREVENT FUTURE SHUTDOWNS WITH PAINFUL ACCOUNTABILITY PLAY

That follows two government shutdowns that etched their way into the record books at 43 and 76 days, respectively, but the political winds didn’t appear to be in Democrats’ favor this go-round, the top Senate Republican said.

“And I think they see an issue set that works for them going into the fall election, and I think they view a government shutdown or the prospect of not funding the government as creating uncertainty that perhaps didn’t help their chances,” Thune said.

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While the shutdown fight is over in the Senate, for now, it will continue on in the House.

And if passed, it will give lawmakers breathing room to continue stalled negotiations to fund the government through the appropriations process. However, by then, Congress will be in the post-midterm election lame duck period. And dependent on the swing of the political pendulum, there may not be much appetite to reach a broader funding deal.

“Us having a budget done on December 11? It takes on whiffs of frozen hell, donkeys flying,” Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said. “I mean, it’s probably not gonna happen.”

As Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s confirmation appeared headed for sure defeat, one on-the-fence Senate Republican gave him, and President Donald Trump, a vital lifeline. 

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., has remained quiet throughout this and last week on how he would vote on Blanche, who barely survived his confirmation vote from the Senate Judiciary Committee. Now, after conversations with Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Justice (DOJ), the pieces are in place to confirm Blanche. 

“I will vote for Mr. Blanche,” an emotional Cassidy said on the Senate floor. “I’ll be criticized for this vote. What’s new? But the people of Louisiana can be assured that I worked hard to understand the issue and to make the right decision.” 

COLLINS DROPS THE HAMMER ON TRUMP’S PICK TO LEAD DOJ, JEOPARDIZING PATH TO CONFIRMATION

With Cassidy’s green light, Blanche has a chance, even with Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., missing in action. But to be confirmed, Senate Republicans will need an assist from Vice President JD Vance. Still, it’s unclear whether the Senate will actually vote on Blanche on Friday, which could be the upper chamber’s grand finale of the summer before it exits Washington, D.C., for the remainder of August.

Cassidy explained that after a series of conversations with Blanche and former DOJ officials, including former Attorney General Bill Barr, he reached the conclusion to support Trump’s pick, even after having sparred with the president since being ousted from office by him earlier this year. 

He contended that Blanche has been “criticized for things over which he has no control,” like Trump’s pardons of Jan. 6, 2021, rioters who stormed Capitol Hill, but was still leery of his role in the nearly $2 billion anti-weaponization fund, which the president has signaled he wants to revive. 

But he argued it would be better to have an attorney general confirmed by the Senate that could, if needed, stare down Trump on issues. 

“I am realistic that President Trump can be unrelenting on this, but this will be true no matter who the attorney general is,” Cassidy said. “And this is the rationale for having a Senate-confirmed attorney general with more leverage to push back.”

TRUMP’S AG PICK SURVIVES — FOR NOW — AS REPUBLICANS QUESTION IF WHITE HOUSE DEAL WILL HOLD

It comes after Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, announced that she would not support Blanche’s nomination to be the nation’s top prosecutor and law enforcement official, dealing another blow to his rocky confirmation process.

Her defection, despite a heavy lobbying effort by Blanche that saw him make the trek to Alaska, means that Senate Republican leadership can’t afford to lose any more votes to get him across the finish line, given that Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., though now back home, has still not returned to the Senate.

Murkowski acknowledged Blanche’s visit to Alaska and heavy lobbying effort throughout the last few weeks, but it’s his connection to President Donald Trump’s nearly $2 billion anti-weaponization fund, and broader concerns of a weaponized Justice Department, that proved the nail in the coffin for her.

“The politicization — even weaponization — of the Department did not start with this administration but has accelerated during it,” Murkowski said in a statement. “I take issue with the handling of the release of the Epstein files; the sweeping immunity protections granted to the President, his family, and their businesses; the statements that have been made to anti-abortion groups; and the repeated targeting of individuals ranging from former administration staff to sitting U.S. Senators.“

“I am also keenly aware that the Department’s nearly $2-billion dollar slush fund—which likely would have rewarded January 6 protesters—is only off the table because this nomination is pending and the Senate has leverage,” she continued. “Once we vote, that will end, and there is no telling what the future holds.”

TRUMP THREATENS TO YANK HIS OWN AG NOMINEE AS GOP REVOLT GROWS

To Murkowski’s latter issue, several lawmakers on both sides of the aisle acknowledge that though Blanche and the DOJ agreed to permanently rescind the fund in writing to Sens. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and John Cornyn, R-Texas, there’s nothing stopping Trump from reviving it.

And on several occasions, he’s made clear he wants to see it come back.

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“The country needs an Attorney General who will check the worst impulses of this administration,” Murkowski said. “I hope Mr. Blanche is able to achieve that, if confirmed, but I simply do not have confidence that will be the case.”

Before making her decision, Trump already took a swipe at her during an interview with Punch Bowl News published Friday morning.

“I’m against Murkowski,” Trump said. “I do more for Alaska than any president in history. No president’s done for Alaska what I’ve done. She’s not good.”

The Pentagon is drafting a new nuclear strategy aimed at giving President Donald Trump more options for using shorter-range nuclear weapons in a potential regional conflict with China or Russia, according to a report.

The classified effort, led by Under Secretary of War for Policy Elbridge Colby, would put greater emphasis on tactical nuclear weapons — systems intended for use against military targets in a regional conflict — rather than relying primarily on long-range strategic forces, NBC News reported, citing five people familiar with the plans.

The strategy is designed for scenarios in which China or Russia attacks a U.S. ally and Washington must determine how to respond without immediately escalating to a large-scale strategic nuclear exchange, according to the report.

TRUMP HEADS TO BEIJING FOR HIGH-STAKES XI TALKS AS TAIWAN TENSIONS, TRADE DISPUTES TEST US STRENGTH

“Our view is that we need credible nuclear options,” a senior War Department official told NBC. The official said the strategy would “expand the President’s option space by providing him with realistic and credible options and therefore strengthen deterrence.”

The reported shift comes as the United States confronts two nuclear-armed adversaries with increasingly capable arsenals.

Russia retains a large stockpile of theater nuclear weapons and has repeatedly invoked its nuclear capabilities during the war in Ukraine. China, meanwhile, is rapidly expanding and modernizing its nuclear forces, creating what U.S. military officials increasingly describe as a two-peer nuclear challenge.

Tactical, or non-strategic, nuclear weapons are generally designed for theater or regional use rather than long-range strategic missions. They often have shorter-range delivery systems and may be intended for military targets.

But the label does not mean they are limited in consequence: a nuclear detonation could kill large numbers of people, spread radioactive fallout and trigger nuclear retaliation.

US FALLS BEHIND IN HYPERSONIC RACE AS CHINA, RUSSIA GAIN EDGE

The War Department has not publicly announced a change in nuclear employment policy or a new tactical nuclear weapons program. Fox News Digital has reached out to the Pentagon for comment.

The review also comes six months after New START, the last treaty limiting U.S. and Russian strategic nuclear arsenals, expired without a replacement, leaving Washington and Moscow without binding limits or inspections for the first time in decades.

The treaty did not cover tactical nuclear weapons, an area in which Russia holds a substantial numerical advantage. U.S. Strategic Command estimated this year that Moscow possesses up to 2,000 theater nuclear warheads.

Russia has long relied on its non-strategic nuclear arsenal in part to offset NATO’s conventional military strength. China’s growing arsenal is adding a separate challenge for Pentagon planners preparing for the possibility of confronting two nuclear-armed competitors.

Supporters of the Pentagon’s reported shift argue that giving Trump more credible limited-response options could strengthen deterrence by convincing an adversary that Washington has ways to respond short of an all-out strategic exchange.

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Critics argue that putting greater emphasis on weapons intended for regional use could lower the threshold for nuclear employment and increase the risk that a limited conflict spirals into a broader nuclear war.