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Kansas Democrats have made their choice in one of the most crowded primary battles in the nation and are backing a political newcomer with an eye-popping campaign war chest.

Adam Hamilton emerged victorious in an 11-way primary Tuesday night in the race to take on incumbent Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., who is running for a second term in the upper chamber.

And he has a line of attack against Hamilton already teed up.

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“Look, this guy is a woke, big megachurch pastor,” Marshall told Fox News Digital. “He’s too woke for Kansas. I think all we have to do is share his own sermons … with the Kansas people, and they’re gonna realize that he’s too woke for Kansas.”

Hamilton’s campaign countered in a statement to Fox News Digital that Marshall’s voting record spoke for itself.  

“Roger Marshall would rather attack a church whose community is one of the largest sources of food donations in his alleged home state than talk about why he constantly votes for higher prices, why he’s been hiding from Kansans for over 500 days, and why only 27 named Kansans donated to his campaign last quarter,” Tyson Brody, a spokesperson for Hamilton’s campaign, said. 

History is on the side of Marshall, who previously served four years in the House before making the leap to the Senate in 2020. That’s because Kansas has not sent a Democrat to the Senate in nearly a century. The last time was in the 1930s, when Kansans elected former Sen. George McGill. He only served one term before being ousted by a Republican.

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Still, Marshall is not resting on his laurels as he stares down another likely funding disadvantage.

National Republicans aren’t dumping resources into Kansas like they are in other states, given that Marshall is a strong incumbent and valuable campaign cash is needed in tougher contests in Texas, Maine and Ohio.

While Kansas is not on Senate Republicans’ radar as a battleground state, there is big money flowing in that could make Marshall’s bid for another term complicated.

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Hamilton, who leads the nation’s largest United Methodist church and congregation, has raised just north of $4.1 million since launching his campaign in February, according to financial filings with the Federal Election Commission.

Marshall, on the other hand, has raised just over $6.2 million during this cycle.

“Well, this is probably why my staff tells me, no matter what the polls show, they tell me that we’re down by three points, and we did get outspent about four to one last time around. Regardless, we’re gonna keep working hard,” Marshall said.

And as precious campaign resources flow to other marquee races during this cycle, where the GOP has more vulnerable incumbents up for reelection than Democrats, Marshall isn’t asking for a handout.

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He wants the resources from major GOP campaign arms, like the National Republican Senatorial Committee or the GOP leadership-aligned Senate Leadership Fund, to stay put.

“I guess we’re trying to not need to do that,” Marshall said. “That’s what our hope is, is that they won’t need to do that. Leader McConnell was super helpful last time. So, you know, they’re keeping tabs on this. We got to, you know, we’re all one big happy family here, so we’re hoping we don’t need them.”

Democrats are hoping their new candidate will be able to keep the governor’s mansion Democrat in deep red Kansas as they put up Cindy Holscher to face the Republican nominee Ty Masterson in the Nov. 3 general election.

Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly is term-limited, and the party is hoping to extend their hold on the governor’s office despite Kansas’ strong Republican lean. Meanwhile, the GOP views the open-seat race as a prime opportunity to reclaim the governorship after two terms under Kelly.

The Democratic field featured state Sens. Ethan Corson and Cindy Holscher, along with Overland Park Mayor Curt Skoog.

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On the Republican side, voters had a crowded field from which to select their candidates.

Secretary of State Scott Schwab, Senate President Ty Masterson, Insurance Commissioner Vicki Schmidt, former Johnson County Commissioner Charlotte O’Hara, businessman Nick Reinecker, businessman Philip Sarnecki and former Johnson County Sheriff Stacy Rogers duked it out for the nomination.

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The primary in the Sunflower State coincided with a closely watched constitutional amendment that would replace the current system of appointing Kansas Supreme Court justices by instead holding direct elections.

The proposal, backed by Republican lawmakers, comes after years of criticism from conservatives over the state’s judicial selection process. If approved, it would amend the Kansas Constitution to require Supreme Court justices to be elected rather than selected through the state’s nominating commission system.

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The winner of November’s election will become Kansas’ next governor after Kelly reaches her term limit in January.

The governorship has frequently changed hands in recent election cycles, with voters alternating between Democratic and Republican leadership in Kansas despite its strong red tendencies, including voting 57% for President Donald Trump in 2024.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee endorsed former state Agriculture Commissioner Charlie Hatcher, the candidate running against President Donald Trump-backed U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles in a Republican U.S. House primary.

“Charlie Hatcher and I have been friends for 25 years,” Lee said in a video, noting that “for seven years, he served as my commissioner of agriculture. I know Charlie. I know his conservative values and how much he loves our country.”

Lee asserted that Hatcher “has stood with President Trump since day one.”

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The governor’s last-minute endorsement on Tuesday came just ahead of the August 6th primary, but after early voting in the contest had already ended.

“Join me in voting for Charlie Hatcher this Thursday, August 6th,” Lee said in the video.

In part of a Facebook post that featured the governor’s video, Hatcher noted, “I am deeply honored to receive the endorsement of my longtime friend, Governor Bill Lee. Bill and I have known each other for decades, and I have tremendous respect for his faith, his leadership, and his commitment to serving the people of Tennessee.

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“I especially appreciate the faith he placed in me when he appointed me to serve as Tennessee’s Commissioner of Agriculture. It was an honor to serve in his administration and work on behalf of Tennessee’s farmers, families, and rural communities,” he noted in the post.

Ogles has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since early 2023.

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Trump endorsed him for re-election last year, calling him “a Conservative Warrior.”

After an explosive series of congressional hearings on alleged woke “ideological capture” at the Smithsonian, a resurfaced video of a presentation by National Museum of American History Director Anthea Hartig shows her calling “history as a practice” a “prime tool of social justice.”

In a series of July hearings on Capitol Hill, Hartig defended the Smithsonian’s record of objectivity and nonpartisanship. However, in a resurfaced presentation to University of California, Los Angeles students in February 2025, Hartig described “a number of ways in which your National Museum of American History is taking an equity-based, justice forward, community driven and necessarily humble approach to public history and to service.”

Later in her presentation, Hartig asserted that the “United States’ long and violent racial history continues to be present in our reckoning, if you will.”

She said that “redress in the form of reparation, of course, goes beyond acknowledgement of wrongdoing; it should leverage responsibility, it should think about the act of correction, as we pursue restorative justice and, for us [on the call], restorative justice through history.”

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During her testimony on Capitol Hill last month, Hartig stated: “Our work is governed by the Smithsonian standards of scholarship, accuracy, independence and nonpartisanship.” She said, “the museum does not take sides in America’s political debates,” but instead, “We preserve and document the evidence of American life in all of its breadth, so that the public can encounter the past and draw their own conclusions.”

However, in her presentation to UCLA, she asserted that “history as a practice … is for me a prime tool of social justice.”

Hartig began her talk with a land acknowledgement and a slide showing a picture of an American flag defaced with words that appeared to read “Defund the Police.” Her caption said the photo was from a Black Lives Matter protest in Washington, D.C., in 2020. Another photo Hartig showed later in the presentation depicted a protester holding a sign that read, “America loving you is complicated.”

She remarked that the museum opened in 1964 as “this kind of Cold War, you know, ‘We’re going to be the best and most technologically advanced country in the nation and we’re going to show everyone how we did that’ … We clearly have moved away from that.”

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Instead, Hartig highlighted what she called the museum’s “bold new vision” to become the “most accessible, inclusive, relevant, and sustainable public history institution in the country.” This, the vision states, will allow the museum to “serve an audience that reflects the full racial, class, gender, ethnic, and geographic demographics of the United States.”

To this end, Hartig said the museum “joined a very collaborative Smithsonian-wide collecting effort around Black Lives Matter … to document and preserve and share objects focused on Black Lives Matter to show the history of the movement starting in 2012.”

She shared a picture of protest signs outside the White House from the summer of 2020 and spoke highly of “these phenomenal, ephemeral statements, signs … expressing that kind of very heartfelt and incredibly poignant [message].”

Hartig also praised an anti-ICE organization called “Tsuru for Solidarity” as a “truly remarkable group,” highlighting its collaboration with the Black Lives Matter movement.

According to its website, Tsuru for Solidarity is a “nonviolent, direct action project of Japanese American social justice advocates and allies working to end detention sites and support directly impacted immigrant and refugee communities that are being targeted by racist, inhumane immigration policies.” Its website also states, “We stand on the moral authority of Japanese Americans who suffered the atrocities and legacy of U.S. concentration camps during WWII and we say, ‘Stop Repeating History!’”

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Besides the Black Lives Matter initiative, Hartig said the museum is pursuing a “proactive multilingual strategy to support language justice.”

She explained that “the idea, of course, [is] that everyone has the right to communicate in the language in which they feel most comfortable to be understood and to understand.”

To this end, she said that since the fall of 2019, “all exhibitions and signage and digital projects will be at least bilingual in English and Spanish and a number of them in more languages depending on the project and communities of origin.”

Hartig asserted, “We’re under attack for speaking complicated truths” and urged students to “raise your voices and speak them together.”

She said, “It continues to grow resolute in my mind, [history] is the key that unlocks the mysteries of humanity, of meaning, of place, of conquest, of love, power, authority and self.”

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“We are tellers of stories and seekers of truths, hopefully embracers of nuance, ambassadors of empathy and defenders of inalienable rights,” she said.

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Fox News Digital reached out to the National Museum of American History, the Smithsonian Institution, Black Lives Matter and Tsuru for Solidarity for comment.

Republicans just took a major step forward in their goal to keep the House majority this November.

A GOP hopeful backed by President Donald Trump advanced in a jungle primary for Washington’s 3rd Congressional District alongside Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash., and the two will now face each other in this fall’s general election.

A jungle primary is a race that’s not separated by political party, but rather has all candidates compete on one ballot. The top two vote-getters advance to the general election.

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In this case, Gluesenkamp Perez and Republican state Sen. John Braun are the two winners who will now compete for the former’s seat in the House of Representatives.

For Gluesenkamp Perez, that meant surviving challenges from her left flank. Among her opponents was Brent Hennrich, a progressive politician who ran on policies like taxing the rich and Medicare for All.

He accused the moderate Democrat of siding too often with Republicans at the expense of the left’s agenda, including on his campaign website, where he highlighted all the times she voted with the GOP.

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But Gluesenkamp Perez, who is seeking a third term, is likely Democrats’ best chance to keep hold of that swing district in Southwest Washington state.

And the race is shaping up to be one of the most competitive House elections in the country with Braun’s victory as well.

Unlike former Trump administration official Joe Kent, whose association with far-right groups made him a controversial figure in a general election, Braun is a much more mainstream GOP figure.

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Kent ran and lost against Gluesenkamp Perez twice before serving as Trump’s director of the National Counterterrorism Center from 2025 until earlier this year.

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Braun is a former Navy captain and businessman who is running on a pledge to stop reckless spending by the federal government. He’s currently serving as minority leader of the Washington State Senate.

In an April 2026 Truth Social post, Trump said Braun “will work hard to Grow the Economy, Cut Taxes and Regulations, Promote MADE IN THE U.S.A., Keep our Border SECURE, Stop Migrant Crime, Support our Great Military/Veterans, and Defend our always under siege Second Amendment.”

DETROIT — The Democratic Party‘s progressive wing was aiming to notch its biggest victory yet Tuesday, hoping to deliver a high-profile blow to the center-left establishment in an intensifying ideological battle.

But the anticipated triumph, in battleground Michigan‘s Democratic Senate primary, will have to wait.

That’s because the race between left-wing candidate Abdul El-Sayed, a former Wayne County Health Department director, and Rep. Haley Stevens, a more moderate contender, was too close to call in the early Wednesday hours.

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While the biggest prize was yet to be awarded as five states from coast to coast held primary elections, the establishment scored some victories, including Rep. Wesley Bell of Missouri defeating Democratic Socialists of America (DSA)-backed challenger former Rep. Cori Bush, a one-time Squad member, in a rematch of their 2024 showdown.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump’s powerful sway over the Republican Party was reaffirmed as two Trump-backed candidates won gubernatorial nominations in Michigan and Kansas.

Here are the top takeaways from a busy primary night across the country.

Verdict still out in high-stakes showdown

“We’re going to have to wait a little longer to see the outcome of this race,” El-Sayed told supporters at a primary night event in Detroit early Wednesday morning.

El-Sayed, a former Wayne County Health Department director backed by top leaders of the left, including progressive champions Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, held on to a razor-thin lead over Haley, who is supported by establishment leaders including longtime Senate Democratic leader Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, as votes continued to be counted.

“I know it’s been a long night because that’s the Michigan way. But I want to give you all an update. I. We knew that this was going to be a close race, and that’s exactly what we’ve got. A close race,” Stevens said.

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The race to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters, who is backing Stevens, is a must-hold for the Democrats and one of roughly a dozen Senate races from coast to coast that will determine if Republicans hold onto their slim Senate majority.

Boosted by a string of victories this spring in mostly blue congressional districts across the country, the Democrats’ ideological war moved to the Great Lakes battleground state, where the combustible and expensive clash became the biggest stage to date in the intra-party showdown.

El-Sayed, who, if elected, would make history as the nation’s first Muslim senator, is an epidemiologist who unsuccessfully ran for governor as an insurgent candidate in 2018. He has made support for “Medicare-for-all” a major component of his campaign.

The far-left candidate has also called for abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and is a vocal critic of Israel amid its war with Hamas — even characterizing Israel’s actions in Gaza as “genocide” against Palestinians.

Schumer and the party establishment view Stevens, who flipped a GOP-held district in her 2018 election to Congress, as more electable than El-Sayed, who has sparked controversy with his past comments.

Over $80 million was spent on the primary showdown, making it the most expensive Democratic Senate nomination race in history. Much of the money was shelled out by outside groups in support of Stevens and against El-Sayed. The biggest spending came from United Democracy Project, a political action committee aligned with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

“We all knew that we’re going to spend their money. We didn’t know they were going to spend $70 million of their money. We didn’t know that they were going to outspend us $11 to $1. And yet we’re still standing,” El-Sayed highlighted in his speech.

El-Sayed urged party unity and took aim at former Rep. Mike Rogers, the GOP Senate nominee.

So did Stevens in her primary night speech.

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“Whoever wins is going to go and take on Mike Rogers. Republicans are going to do everything they can to throw all the dirt, all the mud, the kitchen sink at us because they want to keep the U.S. Senate red so Mike Rogers can keep rubber stamping Donald Trump’s ridiculous agenda,” she argued.

The left-wing versus establishment battle also played out in Michigan’s 7th Congressional District, a key Republican-controlled swing seat race that’s among roughly two-dozen that will impact whether the GOP holds onto its fragile House majority.

William Lawrence, a co-founder of the Sunrise Movement, which advocates for political action to tackle climate change, edged out two more moderate Democrats. Lawrence is backed by Sanders and El-Sayed, as well as some top progressive groups. Lawrence will now face GOP Rep. Tom Barrett in the general election.

And the party’s civil war was also on display in Michigan’s deep blue 13th Congressional District, where the Associated Press had yet to project a winner.

Rep. Shri Thanedar, who is supported by top House Democratic leaders, is being challenged by state Rep. Donovan McKinney, who is backed by Sanders, El-Sayed, and “Squad” members Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, and Summer Lee of Pennsylvania

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Wins for centrists to cheer

The party’s ideological warfare was front-and-center in Missouri, in the state’s St. Louis-based and heavily Democratic 1st Congressional District.

That’s where Bell, who was backed by House Democratic Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries and other establishment leaders, defeated Bush, a former two-term representative who Bell ousted in the 2024 primary.

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Bell was once again boosted by a major infusion of outside money, allowing him to massively outspend Bush and her allies. Much of the funding and attack ads targeting Bush came from United Democracy Project — the super PAC aligned with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the pro-Israel advocacy group best known by its acronym, AIPAC. Bush was one of the first House Democrats to accuse Israel of genocide against Palestinians in its war against Hamas in Gaza.

“Two years ago, St. Louis voted for better and more accountable representation. We have kept that promise, whether it’s bringing federal resources home to our neighborhoods, standing with working folks when they needed someone in their corner, or helping families cut through red tape,” Bell said following his victory. “That work does not stop tonight.”

But Bush lambasted Bell, calling him out for not showing up to candidate forums and claiming he is controlled by billionaires.

“It pisses me off that for the next two years, this community will be represented by someone that didn’t deem you valuable enough to show up to one candidate forum where there were audience comments, even though I showed up to every one,” Bush emphasized.

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Back in Michigan, two candidates who are far from left-wingers captured Democratic nominations in statewide contests. Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson won the Democratic gubernatorial primary in the race to succeed term-limited Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Attorney General Dana Nessel was renominated.

“It’s not all that clear that the party has shifted that far to the left,” Matt Bennett, one of the leaders at the Third Way, a leading center-left Democratic organization, told Fox News Digital.

Pointing to the increasing visceral opposition to Trump by Democrats across the country, Bennett said the Senate primary results in Michigan may be “a unique situation where candidates matter.”

“And in this moment Democratic voters everywhere are very very angry at Trump and they’re flipping over the tables and taking it out on the establishment and Haley, for better or worse, has run as the establishment.”

Trump flexes political muscle

Trump’s immense clout over the GOP and the power of his endorsements in Republican primaries was tested once again on Tuesday, and the president easily passed the test.

Trump-backed Rep. John James of Michigan, a West Point graduate and two-time GOP Senate nominee, topped multi-millionaire businessman Perry Johnson, a former gubernatorial and presidential candidate, to capture the party’s gubernatorial nomination.

James now takes on Democratic nominee and current Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, in the race to succeed term-limited Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

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In Kansas, Trump-endorsed state Senate President Ty Masterson prevailed in a crowded field of Republican gubernatorial contenders.

Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly is term-limited, which makes the race to succeed her a top flip opportunity for the GOP.

Fox News’ Matthew Donnell and Luke Trevisan contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump renewed his warning to Iran on Tuesday, saying the U.S. could strike the country “really hard” if negotiations between Washington and Tehran collapse again.

“If they back out again, they’re going to get hit really hard,” Trump told Fox News’ Trace Gallagher. “They know that. They understand that. I have no choice. They can’t have a nuclear weapon. It’s very simple.”

Trump said military action remained an option if diplomacy fails.

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“The hard hit is yet to come, and hopefully we won’t have to use it,” he said during the interview.

Trump’s comments came days after he held off on a planned military strike on Iran that he said would have been the largest since World War II after Tehran and several Middle Eastern countries requested more time to negotiate over reopening the Strait of Hormuz and addressing Iran’s nuclear program.

“We were going to a tremendous attack, the biggest since World War II, and they called me and said very politely, ‘Please, can we talk? Can we talk?’ And I said, ‘Yes, we can talk. Let’s get it done,'” Trump said.

Earlier this week, Trump said a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and curb Iran’s nuclear program was “imminent.”

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Iranian officials have denied holding direct talks with the United States, saying negotiations are taking place through mediators in Oman. The Associated Press reported Tuesday that Iranian and Omani officials had made significant progress toward a potential agreement to reopen the strait, though negotiations remained ongoing.

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Trump described Tuesday’s negotiations as “very good,” despite Iran’s repeated public denials that direct talks were underway.

“They don’t like to admit that, but, well, you know, it’s a little bit disconcerting,” he said.

“It’s just such a lie,” Trump added.

“But it doesn’t matter. That’s talk. The only thing that matters is action. And they want to make a deal. We’ll see what happens. If they don’t make a deal, it’s going to be too bad.”

When asked at what point the U.S. might abandon talks with Iran after negotiations repeatedly collapsed, Trump said he was not in a rush to walk away from diplomacy.

“I have plenty of time,” he said.

Trump argued that previous administrations failed to resolve the issue and again criticized the nuclear agreement negotiated under former President Barack Obama.

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“It should have been done by many presidents over many years, and it wasn’t, and I’m doing it,” Trump said. “Obama was taken to the cleaners.”

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Trump has previously called the latest round of negotiations Iran’s “last chance” to avoid an escalation of US military action. He has said negotiators will initially focus on reopening the Strait of Hormuz before addressing Tehran’s nuclear program.

Fox News Digital’s Morgan Phillips contributed to this report.

Jordan Herrera, an attorney, Air Force veteran and former Missouri assistant attorney general, won the Democratic nomination Tuesday in Missouri’s newly redrawn 4th Congressional District, defeating better-funded democratic socialist Hartzell Gray in a seven-way primary.

Herrera prevailed over Gray, the 33-year-old former Kansas City radio host and tenant organizer who drew national attention after appearing on Hasan Piker’s Twitch livestream and blasting “sell-out Democrats.”

The result puts a more conventional Democrat on the November ballot against Republican Rep. Mark Alford in the GOP-leaning district, rather than Gray, who had framed his campaign as a left-wing challenge to the party establishment.

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The new 4th District takes in part of Kansas City before extending south through a broad swath of suburban and rural Missouri. While the map made Alford’s district less Republican than it had been, it remains a solidly GOP seat.

Gray emerged as the clear financial leader in the Democratic field. FEC records showed his campaign had raised about $250,000 through mid-July — more than six times the roughly $40,000 raised by Herrera and far more than Cass, the 2024 Democratic nominee who again sought the seat.

The Kansas City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America said its backing of Gray marked its first endorsement in a federal race. The group praised Gray’s refusal to take money from corporations, developers and lobbying groups, while pointing to his support for universal health care, tenant protections and more progressive taxation.

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Gray, who has also called for rent controls, Medicare for All and ending the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, has framed his campaign as a rebuke of a Democratic Party he argues has become too closely tied to wealthy donors and corporate interests. The 2010 ruling allowed corporations and unions to spend unlimited sums independently to influence elections.

His appearance on Piker’s show helped turn an otherwise low-profile Missouri primary into a small test case for the party’s socialist left, which has increasingly relied on social media personalities, small-dollar donors and activist networks to build support outside traditional party structures.

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Gray’s campaign said viewers gave more than $30,000 after the Piker appearance. He later appeared on The Majority Report , another left-leaning online program, as his campaign sought to translate national attention into turnout in Kansas City.

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The primary also included former Democratic nominee Jeanette Cass, attorney and Air Force veteran Herrera, radio host Randy Miller, Ashleigh Rogers, Wayne Russell and G. Rick.

Gray’s nomination is a win for a local Democratic Socialists of America chapter that had not previously backed a federal candidate. But the general election will test whether the kind of coalition that powered him through a fractured Democratic primary can compete in a district intentionally drawn to favor Republicans.

Christina Hines, a prosecutor and Democratic candidate for Congress in Michigan’s 10th Congressional District, secured her party’s nomination in a primary election on Tuesday evening.

Democrats will count on Hines’ messaging on affordability and her story as as a special victims prosecutor to flip the district and chip away the GOP’s slim majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.

“My work was a different kind of chaos. Protecting families from predators isn’t just a job for me. It’s a mission. Now families like ours are getting screwed by a system that only works for the rich,” Hines said in a campaign video.

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In recent years, the district has leaned Republican but remains largely competitive.

Incumbent Rep. John James, R-Mich., last won re-election in 2024 in a 51.1% to 45.0% victory over Democratic challenger Carl Marlinga, a judge and former prosecutor.

The cycle before that, James beat out Marlinga by a narrow 48.8% to 48.3% win in 2022.

But now, James, who enjoyed the benefit of incumbency, announced he would vacate the seat and instead pursue a gubernatorial bid, calling it a way to secure Michigan’s prosperity to future generations.

“My family, like countless others, came to our great state for the better opportunities our manufacturing and automotive industries offered and to live the American dream,” James said in a statement.

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With an open seat in play, Hines has pitched her candidacy as a way to protect the country from what she characterized as an overzealous administration and institutional corruption.

“Congress has too many millionaires but not nearly enough moms who get things done,” Hines said.

In her career as a prosecutor, Hines described her work as helping victims of sexual abuse and human trafficking, according to her website. She has also prosecuted cases involving homicide, torture and hate crimes.

On her website, Hines listed priorities like reducing the cost of living by pushing back against what she identified as “price gouging” and increasing the minimum wage, investing in technical educations and protecting federal programs against cuts from the Trump administration like Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare.

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Her platform has attracted endorsements from fellow local figures like Marlinga, the former Democratic nominee against James and a former Macomb County Prosecutor and Circuit Court Judge. She also received an endorsement from Michael Taylor, Sterling Heights Mayor.

With the party’s nomination secured, Hines will advance to the general election on Nov. 3.

The far-left insurgency within the Democratic Party scored another victory on Tuesday night, with a co-founder of the progressive Sunrise Movement trouncing two establishment-backed Democrats in a contentious Michigan primary.

William Lawrence defeated former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink and former Navy SEAL Matt Maasdam to win the Democratic nomination for Michigan’s 7th Congressional District, anchored in Lansing.

Lawrence will now go on to face Rep. Tom Barrett, R-Mich., a military veteran who is seeking a second term in Congress this November.

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Barrett ran unopposed in the Republican primary after winning the seat in an open race in 2024. It was previously held by Democrat Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., who vacated it when she successfully ran for Senate that year.

Lawrence’s victory is a commanding win in the wider civil war for the soul of the Democratic Party, with battles being waged across the country.

Mike Marinella, spokesman for House Republicans’ campaign arm the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), told Fox News Digital after Lawrence’s victory, “The Democrats’ path to the House majority is evaporating in real time. Every embarrassing defeat leaves them with a radical socialist nominee, an emptier bank account, and another must-win seat off the board.”

BERNIE SANDERS, DSA REVEAL DEMANDS FOR DEM PARTY AFTER SOCIALISTS SWEEP NEW YORK ELECTIONS

The establishment left’s main opponent has been the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), which has not endorsed a candidate in this race. 

But Lawrence does have backing from Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., his fellow Michigan Democrat and a prominent DSA member who’s stirred controversy for her comments about Israel.

He was also endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., a self-described democratic socialist.

The Sunrise Movement, which Lawrence co-founded in 2017, began as a youth-focused climate activist group that pushed the Green New Deal alongside progressives in Congress.

HOUSE PROGRESSIVES REVIVE GREEN NEW DEAL FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS AS DEM CIVIL WAR EMPOWERS FAR LEFT

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Since then, its non-climate policy platform has included calls to get Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) out of U.S. cities and abolishing police, according to its website.

Lawrence’s victory is likely the best outcome for Republicans, who are fighting a nationwide uphill battle to keep control of the House of Representatives.

President Donald Trump’s kingmaker status in Republican primaries was on the line Tuesday in Michigan’s GOP gubernatorial nomination showdown – and the president passed the test.

Republican Rep. John James, a two-time U.S. Senate nominee in the crucial Great Lakes battleground state who was endorsed by Trump in late June, topped multimillionaire businessman Perry Johnson to win the GOP primary, the Associated Press reported.

The West Point graduate and Army Ranger who served multiple combat tours as an Apache helicopter pilot in the Iraq war will face off in a high-stakes and expensive general election battle with two-term Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, the Democrats’ gubernatorial nominee, in the race to succeed term-limited Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

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The GOP primary between James and Johnson, a former gubernatorial and presidential candidate, turned combative. Johnson, who is White, referred to James, one of the few Black Republicans in Congress, as a “DEI candidate” and in a recent debate accused James of playing the “race card.” James, meanwhile, called Johnson “desperate.”

Johnson, who shelled out millions of his own money into his campaign, dramatically outspent James in the primary showdown.

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But James told Fox News on the eve of the primary that “nobody outworks a ranger,” and “money isn’t the only thing. People want someone who resonates with them, someone who has the proven leadership capability to turn the state around.”

James and Johnson were the final two Republican candidates in a nomination race that previously included former Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox and state Senate Republican leader Aric Nesbitt. They both suspended their GOP gubernatorial campaigns, but their names remained on the primary ballot.

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Trump gave James a boost last month as he campaigned with the congressman at a rally in Michigan.

The brute force of the president’s endorsement power has been on display in GOP primaries this spring and summer, with his candidates ousting incumbents he targeted in showdowns in Indiana, Kentucky and Texas, as well as the Louisiana primary.

But Trump’s endorsement streak in statewide and congressional Republican primaries was snapped in early June when his last-minute endorsement of Republican Rep. Randy Feenstra of Iowa in the race to succeed retiring GOP Gov. Kim Reynolds wasn’t enough to propel the three-term congressman to victory.

Feenstra was narrowly edged by Zach Lahn, a businessman, farmer and former political strategist who was backed by the political wings of MAHA — the acronym for the Make America Healthy Again movement aligned with Trump’s Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — and Turning Point USA, the powerful conservative organization co-founded by the late Charlie Kirk.

Trump-backed candidates won two of the three top races in key GOP primary runoff elections in Georgia and Alabama in June, with the one setback coming against billionaire businessman Rick Jackson, who shelled out over $100 million of his own money to boost his campaign.

A week later, Trump-backed first-time candidate Anthony Constantino, a businessman and former boxer, defeated Robert Smullen, a retired Marine Corps colonel and New York assemblyman who had the backing of the state party, in the upstate New York race to succeed retiring GOP Rep. Elise Stefanik.

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Meanwhile, in South Carolina’s Republican gubernatorial runoff, Trump couldn’t lose.

That’s because, besides backing Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette a few weeks earlier, he also gave a last-minute endorsement to state Attorney General Alan Wilson, who ended up winning the late June showdown in a landslide.

The president also enjoyed victory in Louisiana, where Sen. Bill Cassidy, who voted to convict Trump in his 2021 impeachment trial, was ousted as he sought renomination. Trump-backed Rep. Julia Letlow ended up winning the nomination in the runoff election.

And last month, Trump-backed Rep. Andy Biggs, a former House Freedom Caucus chair, won Arizona’s primary for governor in a landslide.

Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., one of Congress’ most outspoken progressives and a member of the “Squad,” won the 12th Congressional District’s Democratic primary on Tuesday evening, teeing up her reelection for a fifth term.

Tlaib’s primary victory against Michigan state lawmaker Shanelle Jackson and Inkster Mayor Byron Nolen continues a string of victories for progressives as the Democratic Party’s far-left wing enjoys pronounced primary election success that has strengthened the hand of their coalition. It has also widened the range of positions held by their candidates.

When Tlaib and her fellow Squad members joined the House of Representatives in 2019, their campaigns stood out for their far-left views. Tlaib and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., in particular, stood out because of their membership in the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).

Eight years later, the DSA has backed Tlaib again.

BERNIE SANDERS, DSA REVEAL DEMANDS FOR DEM PARTY AFTER SOCIALISTS SWEEP NEW YORK ELECTIONS

“For years Rashida has been a strong voice in the halls of the Capitol, unapologetically standing up for the working class everywhere. Fighting for affordable housing, for clean air and water, for an end to the genocide in Gaza, and so much more – Rashida is a beacon of hope and courage for those in her district and across the world,” the group said in a statement.

The group has also vastly expanded its influence beyond established figures like Tlaib.

From primary candidates in New York like socialist Darializa Avila Chevalier and her victory over incumbent Rep. Adriano Espillat, D-N.Y., the veteran chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, to Melat Kiros, another socialist in Colorado, unseating 30-year incumbent Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., progressives have expanded their influence over the party.

It’s a stark reversal of the party’s finger-pointing in the wake of disappointing 2020 congressional election results where Democrats were left with slimmer majorities in the House and Senate.

DYING FORMER CONGRESSMAN BARNEY FRANK TELLS DEMOCRATS THEIR FAR-LEFT MESSAGING IS COSTING THEM VOTERS

“Don’t say socialism ever again. We need to get back to the basics,” then-Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., said at the time.

But Tlaib, along with other progressives in the party, pushed back, arguing that their platforms would set the future tone of the party. In a widely circulated memo on Nov. 10, 2020, they made the case that progressives would appeal to an expanded voter base.

“We need a new generation of leadership grounded in a multiracial, working-class experience and background,” the memo urged.

“As we speak, congressional Democrats are debating why they underperformed and some have been quick to blame progressives. There is no denying Republicans levied salient rhetorical attacks against Democrats, but these will continue to happen as they do every cycle,” they continued.

Tlaib, in comments to Politico at the time, argued the platform would appeal to a kind of populist streak in the Democratic Party — similar to the populism she saw present in Trump’s appeal among the GOP.

FAR-LEFT SURGE: MAMDANI-BACKED CANDIDATES OUST DEM ESTABLISHMENT INCUMBENTS

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“If we truly want to unify our country, we have to really respect every single voice. We say that so willingly when we talk about Trump supporters, but we don’t say that willingly for my Black and Brown neighbors and for LGBTQ neighbors or marginalized people,” Tlaib said.

Having once again secured the Democratic nomination in 2026, Tlaib will advance to the general election on Nov. 3, 2026, where she is heavily favored to win. She last won reelection against Republican challenger James Hooper in a 69.7% to 25.4% victory in 2024.

President Donald Trump on Tuesday urged the Senate to quickly pass legislation making daylight saving time permanent, arguing that ending the twice-yearly clock changes would improve public safety, boost the economy and benefit Americans’ health.

Trump’s push comes after the House of Representatives voted 308-117 to pass the Sunshine Protection Act, which would allow states to observe daylight saving time year-round.

Although the bill received bipartisan support in the House, it has yet to be taken up by the Senate, where its prospects remain uncertain amid skepticism from lawmakers in both parties.

“For many years, the vast Majority of Americans have asked to make Daylight Saving Time permanent, but no Administration has been able to get it done, until now,” Trump posted on Truth Social.

HOUSE PASSES DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME REFORM AS TRUMP SIGNALS SUPPORT FOR ENDING CLOCK CHANGE

“People are sick and tired of having to change their clocks twice a year,” he continued. “It is foolish, inconvenient and, in some cases, very costly.”

Support for the legislation has generally come from lawmakers representing coastal states, while opposition has been concentrated among lawmakers from the Midwest and agriculture-heavy states.

Trump argued that making daylight saving time permanent would strengthen the economy and provide Americans with an extra hour of evening daylight.

“For Cities and States with Watchtowers, and hard to reach places, it costs Millions of Dollars,” he said.

TRUMP KEEPS CALLING THUNE DESPITE PUBLIC FIGHT OVER SAVE AMERICA ACT

Trump also argued that ending the twice-yearly clock changes would improve public health and reduce crime.

“A recent case was made that it is also bad for your health in the anxiety it creates,” he wrote.

“Leading Medical, Crime, and Economic Studies have shown that ceasing the biannual time change, giving us one extra hour of natural sunlight in the evenings, will help Decrease Robbery and Murder Rates, Reduce Car Accidents (especially those involving Pedestrians!), Lower Risk for Cardiac Issues, Stroke, and Seasonal Depression, Make It Safer for Children to Walk Home from School, Increase Time with your Family, Strongly Support Extracurricular Activities, Boost the Sports, Fitness, Tourism, Retail, and Restaurant Industries (and more!), and Save Money on Energy Bills, because everyone will be enjoying an EXTRA HOUR OF DAYLIGHT.”

MAN ARRESTED AT TRUMP GOLF COURSE AHEAD OF PRESIDENT’S VISIT ALLEGEDLY HAD WEAPONS CACHE

“In other words, leave it as it is now, and never change again,” Trump continued. “This is an issue that Republicans, Democrats, and Independents can unite behind. I am asking Republican Senators to release their holds, and allow the hotline to clear on the Republican side.”

“LET’S PASS THE SUNSHINE PROTECTION ACT, ASAP,” he added.

Trump has long called for ending the twice-yearly clock changes, and the White House urged lawmakers to support the Sunshine Protection Act in an internal memo sent to Capitol Hill last month, calling it a “popular, common-sense reform.”

While nearly every state sets clocks ahead one hour in March before turning them back one hour in November, many have already passed legislation that would make daylight saving time permanent if Congress authorizes the change.

Hawaii and most of Arizona do not observe daylight saving time.

An AP-NORC survey released in December found that only 12% of Americans support the current system of changing clocks twice a year. Nearly half opposed the practice, while 40% had no opinion.

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Fox News Digital’s Adam Pack contributed to this report.

The Trump administration has revoked the visa of Brazil’s ambassador to the United States amid escalating tensions between Washington and Brasília.

“We communicated continually with the Brazilian government for weeks and have given the Brazilian government every opportunity to do the right thing, yet they have continually delayed and obfuscated,” a State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital.

The spokesperson said Brazilian Ambassador Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti has not been declared persona non grata. However, she would have to reapply for a visa if she leaves the U.S.

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION CRACKS DOWN ON BRAZIL’S BIGGEST DRUG GANGS WITH ‘GLOBAL TERROR’ DESIGNATION

The move came after Brazil denied visas to two American diplomats last month and delayed approving former Florida House Speaker Danny Perez, President Donald Trump’s nominee to serve as ambassador to the South American country, according to The Associated Press.

“This is a reciprocal action,” the spokesperson said, adding that further diplomatic measures remain possible if Brazil continues to delay or refuses to approve Perez.

Viotti is not being expelled from the U.S. and could resume her duties if Brazil approves Perez, The Associated Press reported.

TRUMP DOJ UNLEASHES LARGEST DENATURALIZATION EFFORT IN DEPARTMENT HISTORY — AND SAYS IT’S ‘ONLY THE BEGINNING’

Last month, Brazil denied visas to Riley Barnes, the State Department‘s assistant Secretary of State for democracy, human rights and labor, as well as one of Barnes’ top aides, the outlet reported.

The State Department said the pair planned a routine visit to Brazil focused on election integrity, religious freedom and freedom of expression, rejecting claims that they had intended to criticize Lula or the election process.

TRUMP ADMIN BACKS BOLIVIA STATE OF EMERGENCY AS LEFTIST EX-LEADER’S LOYALISTS FRACTURE NATION

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President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is set to face Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, the son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, in the Oct. 4 election, according to The Associated Press.

The dispute also comes as the Trump administration has imposed tariffs of up to 37.5% on thousands of Brazilian exports and designated two major Brazilian drug-trafficking groups as foreign terrorist organizations.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The road to confirmation just got bumpier for acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.

After surviving a key committee vote on Tuesday, Blanche’s fate became even more uncertain as Republican leaders eye a full floor vote to confirm him. That’s because Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, is not going to back him.

“While I believe Mr. Blanche is a capable lawyer, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has become increasingly political,” Collins said in a statement. “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.”

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

Collins’ decision came after reviewing Blanche’s qualifications to be the replacement for former Attorney General Pam Bondi, including records and his responses during his appearance before the Senate Appropriations Committee that she chairs and his confirmation hearing.

She listed several reasons to go against Blanche, including his approval of a “shield” from IRS audits for Trump, his sons and family and the nearly $2 billion anti-weaponization fund, which has rankled the feathers of several Republicans since its announcement earlier this year.

Collins also pointed to his promises to anti-abortion organizations that he would try to halt mailed abortion medication, his attempted indictments of Sens. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., and Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., for their “ill-advised, but constitutionally protected, videos encouraging resistance to unlawful orders,” and pushback from over 1,200 Justice Department employees as basis to buck his nomination.

TRUMP’S AG PICK OFF LIFE SUPPORT AFTER KEY REPUBLICAN REBELS RELENT

“For these reasons, I will vote against this nomination,” Collins said.

Her defection serves a crucial, but not fatal, blow to Trump and Blanche. Republicans can only afford to lose one more vote before the confirmation is dead in the water.

That’s because Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is still absent with no clear timeline for his return. And there are more Republicans who are leery of, or not outright saying, that they will support Blanche.

Those include Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, John Curtis, R-Utah, and Bill Cassidy, R-La.

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

It all comes after Blanche and the Department of Justice (DOJ) struck a deal with Sens. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and John Cornyn, R-Texas, to win their support in the Senate Judiciary Committee that gave explicit direction that the anti-weaponization fund was dead and narrowed the scope of Trump and his family’s audit immunity.

But critics of the deal in the Senate say there’s no real binding mechanism to ensure that neither Trump nor Blanche would just turn around and tear up the agreement after his confirmation.

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It also throws a wrench into Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and the rest of Republican leadership’s plans to try and swiftly confirm Blanche amid a blistering sprint to a near monthlong break for the remainder of August.

Fox News Digital did not immediately receive comment from the White House on Collins decision.

FIRST ON FOX: The reports of President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s dead working relationship have been greatly exaggerated, the South Dakota Republican leader told Fox News Digital.

“I’ve heard from him twice this morning already. He called me over the weekend, and so there, you know, we talk, I don’t bother him, I’m not calling him every day,” Thune said in an interview.

Last week, Trump said, “We’re going to find out,” whether Thune was the man for the job to lead Senate Republicans, casting doubt on a critical relationship between him and the Senate’s top Republican.

TRUMP QUESTIONS THUNE’S LEADERSHIP AS SAVE AMERICA ACT STALLS

The tension stems from the SAVE America Act floundering in the Senate, and Trump’s desire to see the election integrity package passed by any means necessary.

Thune doesn’t see Trump’s comment as a personal slight, however. Both he and the president “want to get to the same place. We have, sometimes, disagreements about how best to get there.”

“Most of mine are constrained by what’s achievable in an institution like the Senate that has procedural roadblocks to do almost anything,” Thune said.

“We have those candid conversations, but I’m not worried about that relationship,” he continued. “I know he’s going to push as hard as he can. That’s his business model, is to just keep pushing, pushing, pushing to get people to go as far as they can go.”

SENATE FACES ‘COME-TO-JESUS’ MOMENT ON TRUMP’S ELECTION PRIORITY UNDER GOP’S NEW PLAN

There is a voracious appetite among Trump, Senate Republicans and their base to see the SAVE America Act passed. One that Thune hears every day, either online or within his own conference.

It’s dominated the oxygen inside the Capitol and beyond its walls, and the pressure comes as the Senate is sprinting to finish work on key items, like preventing a government shutdown and confirming dozens of Trump’s nominees.

“There are good days and bad days,” Thune said. “And around here, probably lately more bad days than good days, but you know you just kind of, like I said, keep your head down, do the work.”

But passing the SAVE America Act is the most elusive item for Republicans, given the current make up of the Senate.

While there are a cohort of Republicans who are voting against it, Thune made the point that every single Senate Democrat has shut it down each of the five times that it’s been brought to the floor in a variety of configurations.

And Thune is one of the Republicans that wants the bill passed — he’s an original co-sponsor of the SAVE Act, the precursor to the current version of the SAVE America Act. The avenue of cutting Democrats out of the equation and ramming through aspects of the bill through budget reconciliation exists, which Thune is interested in pursuing.

But then comes the problem of generating 50 votes to support that, and keeping those votes together to shut down “crazy democratic amendments.”

GOP RIFT GROWS AS THUNE HITS BRAKES ON TRUMP’S ELECTION BILL TO AVERT SHUTDOWN

Thune’s job helming the Senate majority is to do the math on what can be accomplished in an institution that’s “designed” to be difficult. And the votes still aren’t adding up.

“I keep asking the question, am I the only one in this town that can count to 50? Because it seems like these questions recur and there are a lot of people out there who haven’t seemed to internalize the fact that there aren’t Democrats that are going to flip and vote for this,” Thune said.

“And there aren’t 50 Republicans that are going to vote to nuke the filibuster. Those are two facts that are indisputable and unchangeable.”

Thune’s position is, by extension, an embodiment of the Senate in many ways.

Unlike the House, legislation and agendas can’t be rammed through without a bipartisan agreement to blast through the filibuster. And senators’ concerns and desires encompass an entire state, not just a sliver of a state’s population.

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Through several interviews with Fox News Digital, he’s instilled that part of his job is to listen and take consensus on what does and doesn’t work, deliberating on the best path for a deliverable outcome.

“This place was supposed to be difficult, so that no dictator could master it, and I think that’s kind of the role of the Senate in our system and our democracy,” Thune said.

“It’s important to keep that in perspective, but it’s frustrating as heck when you’re somebody who likes to get things done, likes to get results, and you’ve got procedural roadblocks holding things up as we try to wind down and get some things done,” he continued.

The Trump administration is rejecting concerns that the war with Iran has left the U.S. low on some of its most advanced long-range missiles, after a report found the Army burned through “virtually all” of its stocks of two of its primary long-range precision weapons.

The Army has used “virtually all” of its inventories of Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) and Precision Strike Missiles (PrSM) during the five-month conflict with Iran, Reuters, citing people familiar with internal U.S. military data, reported Tuesday. Officials fear the drawdown could complicate the military’s ability to respond to future crises involving adversaries such as China and Russia, according to the report.

The White House disputed any suggestion the U.S. military lacks the weapons needed to carry out its missions.

WEAPONS STOCKPILE SHORTAGES IMPACTING MILITARY STRATEGY IN THE MIDEAST

“We have far more munitions than anyone in the world, and far more than we need, despite the fact that an unprecedented amount was given away by Crooked Joe Biden and the Biden Administration to Ukraine and Europe at no cost, in one of many of their extremely dumb moves,” President Donald Trump said in a statement provided to Fox News Digital.

“Our defense companies are, at this moment, making more munitions than they have ever made before, in addition to expanding their plants and equipment at record levels. And as we build up, we will start issuing more to our allies in Europe and elsewhere.”

If accurate, the report underscores a longstanding Pentagon concern: America’s most sophisticated precision weapons can be expended in months but often take years to replace.

Reuters also reported that the conflict significantly reduced inventories of Patriot and THAAD missile interceptors, along with Tomahawk cruise missiles, though the Pentagon has maintained the U.S. military retains the capabilities needed to carry out operations worldwide.

HEGSETH DISMISSES ‘FOOLISH’ US STOCKPILE CONCERNS AS IRAN CONFLICT TESTS MUNITIONS

Exact U.S. weapons stockpile figures remain classified for national security reasons.

The Pentagon also pushed back on the reporting. “America’s military is the most powerful in the world and has everything it needs to execute at the time and place of the President’s choosing. We have executed multiple successful operations across combatant commands while ensuring the U.S. military possesses a deep arsenal of capabilities to protect our people and our interests,” chief spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement.

Independent analysts have also warned that months of combat have strained U.S. inventories of high-end munitions. The Center for Strategic and International Studies estimated last week that the U.S. had expended roughly 65% of its Patriot interceptor stockpile and that inventories of THAAD interceptors had fallen by at least 38% since the start of the Iran conflict, based on open-source analysis and budget data. Reuters reported Tuesday that its sources said those figures broadly aligned with internal U.S. data.

ATACMS and the newer Precision Strike Missile are among the Army’s premier long-range precision strike weapons, capable of striking targets hundreds of miles away without putting pilots in harm’s way.

ARMY CUTS HELICOPTERS, PUSHES ‘AMAZON FOR WAR’ AS DRONE COMBAT RESHAPES MILITARY

Military planners consider them particularly valuable against heavily defended adversaries because they can destroy command posts, air defenses, logistics hubs and other high-value targets from beyond many enemy air-defense systems.

Patriot and THAAD serve a different mission. Rather than striking enemy targets, they defend U.S. forces and allies by intercepting incoming ballistic missiles, while Tomahawk cruise missiles allow the Navy to conduct long-range strikes from ships and submarines.

The report comes as Pentagon leaders have increasingly warned about the challenge of sustaining prolonged, high-intensity conflicts against major powers while replenishing advanced weapons consumed in combat.

That concern has accelerated efforts to pair expensive precision missiles with far larger numbers of lower-cost, “attritable” drones and autonomous systems that can be produced rapidly and fielded at scale. Officials argue the approach would allow commanders to reserve million-dollar precision weapons for the highest-value targets while relying on less expensive systems for surveillance, electronic warfare and many strike missions.

Military leaders caution, however, that inexpensive drones are not a replacement for long-range precision missiles such as ATACMS and PrSM. Those weapons remain essential for striking hardened command centers, air-defense batteries and other heavily defended targets at distances many lower-cost drones cannot yet reach or survive.

Trump has met repeatedly with executives from the nation’s largest defense contractors, pressing them to accelerate production and expand manufacturing capacity as conflicts in Iran and Ukraine strain U.S. stockpiles.

Following a White House meeting in March, Trump said the companies had agreed to quadruple production of what he called “Exquisite Class Weaponry,” including some of the military’s most advanced missile systems. At a second meeting in June and again at a defense summit in July, the president urged industry leaders to move faster, telling executives, “We have the best quality in the world, but we need a little more speed.”

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The production push is also reflected in the administration’s budget priorities. Trump’s proposed $1.5 trillion defense budget would more than triple spending on drones and autonomous systems while boosting investment in munitions production, missile defense and Tomahawk cruise missile procurement.

President Donald Trump’s administration announced the results of a crackdown on illegal immigration in the trucking industry on Tuesday.

The Department of Transportation (DOT) began the crackdown, Operation Highway Shield, in Florida earlier this year. The DOT has since expanded the effort to multiple states in the Midwest, including Illinois, Indiana, Iowa and Ohio, Fox News has learned.

Officials carried out 3,487 enforcement stops during the operation that resulted in 766 unsafe commercial vehicles or drivers placed out of service, 51 immigration detentions, 47 criminal charges filed, 39 incarcerations, 36 English Language Proficiency (ELP) violations, and three cargo theft recoveries totaling roughly $1 million in stolen freight.

TRUMP TAPS VETERANS TO FIX ILLEGAL ALIEN TRUCKING PROBLEM PLAGUING US ROADWAYS

The Trump administration maintains that federal immigration and commercial driving enforcement remains a top priority.

Fox News previously broke news about the ramped-up enforcement efforts in Florida in March. Florida Troopers said that up to half of truckers at some weigh stations cannot meet English proficiency requirements.

“I try to concentrate on the [signs] they have to read,” Master Trooper Craig Lents said at the time. “If you are going down the road at 70 miles per hour, and you see that sign, you only see it for a split second.”

In another encounter caught on video, a trooper asked a trucker what a road sign meant.

VIRGINIA BUS CRASH THAT KILLED FIVE INVOLVED DRIVER WHO DOESN’T SPEAK ENGLISH, SEAN DUFFY SAYS

The trucker replied, “No.”

The trooper then asked what drivers should do if they saw the sign, to which the trucker replied, “No,” again.

The Trump administration has noted that federal English requirements have been on the books for years.

“It’s been the law for a long period of time,” said Derek Barrs, Federal Motor Carrier Safety administrator. “It’s a safety issue. … If there was a crash or something like that, I would want to make sure that driver would know how to respond — slow down for upcoming traffic or a crash that has happened up ahead.”

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT TRUCK DRIVER FROM INDIA ARRESTED IN DEADLY CALIFORNIA HIT-AND-RUN AFTER BIDEN RELEASE

Authorities explained that being unable to speak or read English is extremely dangerous, as truckers are driving by important road signs at high speeds while carrying hundreds of tons.

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The enforcement push comes after a string of deadly crashes nationwide involving drivers the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) claims were in the U.S. illegally or operating with commercial drivers’ licenses (CDLs) they should never have had.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., could be facing headwinds in his quest for power even if Democrats win back Congress’ upper chamber in November.

Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., who is running in a heated primary against incumbent Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., said during a debate Monday night that he would not support Schumer as leader if elected.

“The first vote that I take when I get to the United States Senate will be for not Senator Schumer, because we need new leadership at the top as well,” Moulton said.

MASSACHUSETTS SENATE CANDIDATES TRADE SHARP ATTACKS IN FIERY DEBATE AS INCUMBENT MARKEY SKIPS EVENT

He was alluding to the selection of each party’s leadership ranks, which generally comes after the November election.

Markey also did not explicitly endorse Schumer for leader, but he has supported him in the past. Markey’s campaign directed Fox News Digital to the senator’s comments during the debate when asked about his support for Schumer.

“We need a big debate about new leadership in the Senate – the direction of the Senate,” Markey said.

It’s a notable move for both Democrats to distance themselves from the current party leader, as the primary for Massachusetts’ Senate seat has been marked by bitter accusations on both sides.

Moulton has accused Markey of selling out his beliefs by taking money from fossil fuel groups, and slammed the 80-year-old senator for his age and lengthy tenure in Congress. Meanwhile, Markey has attacked Moulton for investing in defense companies that the House committees he sits on have jurisdiction over, and his prior comments on transgender participation in youth sports.

The Salem-area House Democrat has a notable history of challenging his party’s leadership. In 2018, he led a rebellion within his caucus to challenge former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., from keeping her leadership post.

He said in a 2019 HuffPost interview that Democratic leadership was “failing” in standing up to President Donald Trump and accused leaders of fueling divisions within the caucus.

Now that fight is playing out in deep blue Massachusetts as part of a wider national war within the Democratic Party. Younger candidates are challenging the establishment left in races across the U.S., arguing that the status quo is not working for Americans today.

HOUSE PROGRESSIVES REVIVE GREEN NEW DEAL FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS AS DEM CIVIL WAR EMPOWERS FAR LEFT

“If you think the Democratic establishment is winning for Massachusetts, if you think it’s fine that the Democratic establishment has allowed a second term of Donald Trump, then vote for the status quo,” Moulton said during the debate.

Schumer is not up for re-election until 2028, but he must face his fellow Senate Democrats every two years in the internal leadership race to make a case for why he should stay at the helm.

And younger candidates like Moulton could pose issues for him on that front.

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., who at 53 years old is younger than a significant number of his colleagues, was evasive when asked if Schumer should remain in leadership during an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” in March.

SCHUMER DODGES QUESTION ON WHETHER DSA BELONGS IN DEMOCRATIC PARTY

“Well, I think we are united right now as a caucus. There’s always a lot of focus on Senator Schumer and [House Minority] Leader Jeffries,” Murphy said when asked if he supported Schumer, who he said had a “tough job.”

Abdul El-Sayed, a Democratic socialist running in the Michigan Senate primary against an opponent backed by the New York Democrat, said at a recent rally, “If you’re Chuck Schumer, I’m pretty damn dangerous.”

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And Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., has also called on Schumer to step aside and make way for new leadership.

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Fox News Digital reached out to Schumer’s office and Markey’s campaign for comment on Moulton’s remarks.

“Should I stay or should I go now? If I go there will be trouble. And if I stay it will be double.” – The Clash

The words “schedule” and “Congress” don’t always mesh.

But the formal Senate schedule has long had senators taking off at the end of this week until early September for the customary “August recess.”

Only thing is, President Trump and some conservatives pushing for approval of the SAVE America Act don’t want the Senate to beg off. They assert that the Senate should remain in session until it passes the bill, which requires proof of citizenship to vote.

“I think there’s nothing more important than they pass the SAVE America Act. I think they should stay,” said President Trump. “They do what they want. But I think they should stay.”

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The Senate has already defeated two efforts to adopt the SAVE America Act. So there’s not an obvious pathway to alter those previous outcomes. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has rebuffed the President’s demands to stay in session.

“I don’t think having a Congress sitting around here for the month of August and quorum calls or having to vote on Democrat amendments is probably a good use of anybody’s time,” said Thune.

There’s tension between the South Dakota Republican and the President over the Senate’s legislative realities. Thune may be Majority Leader. But Thune believes the President bears responsibility for changing some minds on Capitol Hill.

“We have in the past suggested to he and his team to come up here and visit with some of my Republican colleagues,” said Thune. “Now if he can change the facts and start moving some of those senators who are noes into yesses, then we have a different conversation. But that’s just the reality.”

As always, it’s about the math. And the SAVE America Act lacks the votes.

“I know Sen. Thune says the votes aren’t there. I’m not saying he’s wrong. I’m just saying people change their mind sometimes,” argued Sen. John Kennedy, R-La.

But it doesn’t look like there will even be a vote on that, unless something ripens quickly.

That’s where Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Roger Marshall, R-Kas, Rick Scott, R-Fla., and others have suggested the Senate shouldn’t go on break unless they pass the bill.

So what happens next?

Let’s say we get to Friday night. The Senate has taken its final vote of the summer. Maybe to confirm Todd Blanche as Attorney General. Perhaps the measure named after late Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., which sanctions Russia. The Senate is ready to finish until mid-September. In recent years, the Senate has not voted on a resolution to go out of session for weeks on end. That’s where SAVE America Act proponents would attempt to block such an effort. But its immaterial since there is no vote.

In the not too distant past, the House and Senate often approved “adjournment resolutions.” But not right now. Such a plan must align with the wishes of the House of Representatives. Article I, Section 6 of the Constitution bars either body for adjourning for more than three days “without the Consent of the other.” The House isn’t around to approve an adjournment resolution. It’s been out of session for a couple of weeks now. Moreover, it’s not clear that the House could adopt an adjournment resolution.

So, under the Constitution, each body must – at a minimum – hold a brief “pro forma” session where lawmakers convene for just a few seconds and then immediately gavel out. That meets the Constitutional requirement.

But there’s the rub.

When the Senate wraps up, Thune or one of his lieutenants would usually go to the floor and ask “unanimous consent” that the Senate meet on a series of Mondays and Thursdays or Tuesdays and Fridays between now and September. These are the “pro forma” sessions, convening at three-day intervals. But if Lee or someone wants to object, they’re stuck. The Senate can’t green light the set of pro formas. The Senate must have buy-in of all 100 senators.

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But an objection in this case hardly blocks the recess or compels debate – let alone a vote or passage – on the SAVE America Act.

If Thune or his designee can’t get unanimous consent, the only option they have is to move to meet again the next day. Let’s say 9 a.m. ET. If someone objects to the time, it will meet at noon et under the Senate’s default protocols.

That said, this is where someone could force what might constitute the de facto “vote to go on recess.” A Republican senator might demand a vote on the Senate adjourning for the day on Friday and meeting on Saturday. This is not a vote to “go on recess.” But it’s the closest someone can engineer a possible vote related to Senate action.

A motion to adjourn is not debatable on the floor. But it is amendable. Someone could offer another option about when the Senate should meet. But that’s about it.

On this hypothetical Saturday session, it’s possible that Thune could simply get recognition and ask for the Senate to adjourn for the day again. One of those pushing the SAVE America Act doesn’t even get recognized to speak. However, if Thune is gracious and is willing to allow someone to have their say, they could get the floor and hold it as long as they want.

Note that doing so does not constitute a filibuster. Filibusters are efforts by senators to stop something. In this case, advocates of the SAVE America Act are trying to start something. So no filibuster. This would just be a really long speech. But Thune might not let it come to that. And even though they’ve chattered about it a lot, the strongest advocates of the SAVE America Act have not taken advantage of their prerogatives as senators and gone down to hold the floor at length.

Keep in mind that SAVE America Act advocates could potentially do this and push for recognition on the floor on all subsequent days during the August recess. Thune could block them from speaking because the order of the day is to convene and adjourn during a pro forma session. And if the SAVE America Act faction were to push for a vote, all it takes is another senator to block them on the floor.

One might ask the question about whether the SAVE America Act group might demand a “live” quorum call (where all senators must report to the floor for attendance) or even the more extreme motion of “instructing the Sergeant at Arms to arrest” absent senators and bring them to the floor. Well, this works at cross purposes during August. The reason? The Senate doesn’t have a quorum. In the old days, the Senate took quorum calls to establish if enough senators present were present to do business. It violates the Constitution to conduct business without a quorum present.

The SAVE America Act coalition may prove that there aren’t enough senators in Washington to conduct business. That helps make their point. But it also forces the Senate to adjourn because it can’t operate without a quorum.

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These gambits might not achieve the legislative goal of passing the SAVE America Act. But there are other benefits for SAVE America Act advocates. A series of lengthy speeches could potentially delay the recess. These Republican senators could argue that they are willing to stay and debate the SAVE America Act while their colleagues fled Washington for summer. Such a maneuver would focus attention on the issue. It would draw a contrast between senators willing to fight for the issue and those who went home. The effort might impress President Trump. And such a maneuver could show divides between them and Thune – who the President often chastises.

But pass the SAVE America Act? It’s not going to do that. And some Republican senators emphasize the importance of taking a few weeks off so their colleagues can campaign.

“The worst case scenario is for us is to stay all the way through and then we lose the Senate in the days ahead,” said Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., on Fox. “Then President Trump is dealing with all the impeachment crazy all over again.”

Remaining in Washington for the next five weeks would pull the most vulnerable GOP senator off the trail, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.

Collins was crystal clear when pressed by yours truly whether she would campaign and miss her first roll call vote since entering the Senate in 1997.

“I don’t miss votes,” said an emphatic Collins.

So don’t expect the Senate to forgo the recess at the end of the week.

In fact, a decision by the Senate to go on recess may even work to the political advantage of those pushing for the SAVE America Act. They can then rail against Thune’s leadership and their colleagues for not passing the bill. Again, they don’t score the legislative outcome. But they sure rack up some political points.

This is why those philosopher kings who comprise the band The Clash may have been on to something. If the Senate stays, Republicans can’t pass the SAVE America Act. But if they go, certain GOP senators can rabble rouse.

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There’s trouble whether senators stay or go.