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A Missouri judge handed President Donald Trump and Republicans a major redistricting victory Wednesday, ruling that the state’s referendum process cannot be used to challenge congressional maps drawn by the Legislature and allowing a new GOP-friendly map to remain in place for November’s midterm elections.

Cole County Circuit Judge Daniel Green ruled Wednesday that Missouri’s constitutional referendum provisions “do not apply to congressional redistricting enacted by the General Assembly,” siding with Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins in a closely watched fight over a Trump-backed map that could help determine control of the U.S. House.

Green also ruled that Hoskins’ decision not to certify the referendum petition was “lawful” and ordered that the Republican-backed congressional map “remains in full force and effect for the 2026 general election.”

TRUMP ALLIES NOTCH REDISTRICTING WIN AS JUDGES FIND NO ‘SMOKING GUN’ TO SCRAP RED STATE MAP

Plaintiff Richard von Glahn appealed the ruling Wednesday evening, according to the court docket.

The ruling preserves a map passed by Missouri’s Republican-led Legislature after Trump urged GOP-controlled states to redraw congressional boundaries ahead of the 2026 midterms.

The new boundaries are aimed at giving Republicans an opportunity to defeat Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver of Kansas City. Missouri’s current eight-member House delegation consists of six Republicans and two Democrats.

The map splits portions of Kansas City between neighboring Republican-held districts and stretches the remainder of Cleaver’s 5th Congressional District east into Republican-heavy rural areas. About 59% of voters in the reshaped district are new to it, according to an Associated Press estimate.

TRUMP URGES REPUBLICANS TO ‘BE BOLD’ AS RED STATES PUSH TO REWRITE CONGRESSIONAL MAPS

Republican state Sen. Rick Brattin won the GOP primary in the redrawn district earlier this month, while Cleaver was unopposed for the Democratic nomination.

The new boundaries were already used in Missouri’s August primaries.

Opponents collected thousands of signatures seeking to force a statewide referendum on the map, but Hoskins rejected the petition, arguing that Missouri’s Constitution does not allow congressional redistricting to be put to a referendum.

Green agreed, entering judgment for Hoskins and the Republican National Committee, National Republican Congressional Committee and Missouri Republican State Committee, which intervened in the case.

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

The Missouri fight is part of a broader national redistricting battle ahead of November.

Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe called lawmakers into a special session last year after Trump urged Republican-led states to redraw congressional boundaries ahead of the midterms.

Missouri became the second Republican-led state, after Texas, to pursue new congressional boundaries as part of that push.

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Green’s ruling leaves the Trump-backed map in place while the case moves to the appeals court.

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

Republican Rep. Cory Mills of Florida, facing a pair of controversies, is the latest in a growing list of congressional incumbents sent packing in party primaries this year.

Twelve House members and two senators have been ousted in the 2026 midterms as they bid for renomination, according to the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia.

“It’s one of the highest numbers in decades in a non-national redistricting year,” Center for Politics Communications Director Kyle Kondik told Fox News Digital.

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

Kondik noted that “the years that the number was higher are years that end in the number two, which are full national redistricting years. This was a partial redistricting year, but it’s a very high number historically.”

While the rare but not unheard of redistricting push over the past year contributed to some of the losses by incumbents, there were plenty of other factors. Those include incumbents wounded by scandals, President Donald Trump’s moves to oust some GOP lawmakers, the increasing push by Democrats for generational change and the successful movement by the far left to target more moderate, establishment-backed Democrats in nomination showdowns.

Democratic Rep. Shri Thanedar of Michigan was defeated earlier this month by a left-wing challenger, state Rep. Donavan McKinney, who is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).

Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman of New York was ousted in the state’s June primary by progressive challenger Brad Lander, a former New York City comptroller who was backed by socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

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Rep. Adriano Espaillat of New York, a Democrat who serves as Congressional Hispanic Caucus chair, was defeated by community organizer and activist Darializa Avila Chevalier, a DSA member who was also supported by Mamdani. Age was also a factor in the race, as the 32-year-old Chevalier ousted the 71-year-old Espaillat.

Ideology and age were also key ingredients in DSA member Melat Kiros’ victory over more moderate Democratic Rep. Diana Degette of Colorado, who has served in the House for nearly three decades.

Age and the push for fresh faces fueled a victory by 38-year-old Democratic Rep. Christian Menefee, who won a special congressional election earlier this year, over Rep. Al Green, a fellow Democrat who turns 79 next month. The two incumbents faced off for a House seat redrawn through a Texas Republican redistricting push.

CHECK OUT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POWER RANKINGS IN THE MIDTERM RACES

Redistricting in Texas also forced Democratic Rep. Julie Johnson into a showdown in the state’s 33rd Congressional District against her predecessor, former Rep. Colin Allred, which Allred won in a runoff election.

Generational change was the key factor as 47-year-old former Mayor Luke Bronin of Hartford, Connecticut, scored a victory in the Democratic primary over nearly 30-year congressional veteran Rep. John Larson, who is 78.

Trump played a key role in the ouster of Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana earlier this year. Cassidy was one of a handful of Republicans who voted to convict Trump during his second impeachment trial five years ago.

Meanwhile, longtime Republican Sen. John Cornyn was defeated in the Texas GOP Senate nomination runoff election in late May by state Attorney General Ken Paxton, a MAGA firebrand and major supporter of the president. Trump stayed neutral during the year-long bitter battle but endorsed Paxton at the last minute ahead of the runoff.

10 HOUSE INCUMBENT LAWMAKERS WHO SAW THEIR 2026 RE-ELECTION BIDS END IN PRIMARY DEFEAT

Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, a vocal Republican Trump critic, lost his renomination bid to former Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein, who was backed by the president.

Republican Rep. Dan Crenshaw of Texas went down in defeat to a more conservative challenger, state Rep. Steve Toth, who cast the incumbent as anti-Trump. While the president remained neutral in the race, Toth was supported by conservative firebrand Sen. Ted Cruz.

Republican Rep. Andy Ogles of Tennessee lost in his bid for renomination despite having Trump’s endorsement.

Ogles, saddled by controversial comments and social media posts in recent years, was defeated by former Tennessee Agriculture Commissioner Charlie Hatcher, who was backed by Gov. Bill Lee, former Gov. Bill Haslam and other prominent Republicans including former Trump Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue.

In Florida, Mills was topped by Ryan Elijah, a former local television news and sports reporter, in a four-way GOP primary in the right-leaning 7th Congressional District.

Elijah repeatedly targeted Mills over a House Ethics Committee investigation into the congressman and the restraining order placed against Mills by a judge last year after a former girlfriend said the two-term lawmaker threatened to release sexually explicit videos of her.

Mills, an Army veteran and former military contractor, denied the allegations but faced bipartisan calls to resign. An endorsement earlier this year from President Donald Trump wasn’t enough to save him in Tuesday’s primary.

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Earlier this year, GOP Rep. Tony Gonzales of Texas, who had advanced to a runoff election, quit his race after admitting to an affair with a former staffer who died by suicide.

Facing heavy pressure from House leaders, he resigned from Congress entirely weeks later.

If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

A Chinese national living in Massachusetts was arrested Wednesday after federal prosecutors said he impersonated another Chinese national to register and vote in the 2024 presidential election then reported the alleged victim to immigration authorities for illegally voting.

Yupeng Sun, 33, of Andover, was charged with one count of fraudulent voter registration and one count of fraudulent voting, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts.

The criminal complaint alleges Sun admitted during a July interview with federal investigators that he registered the victim to vote and later cast a ballot using the man’s identity.

“I tell you the truth, I register,” Sun told investigators when shown the victim’s voter registration information, according to the complaint.

CANADIAN NONCITIZEN ACCUSED OF ILLEGALLY VOTING IN FEDERAL AND STATE ELECTIONS

After investigators showed Sun a photograph of the early voting ballot envelope submitted at Malden City Hall on Oct. 31, 2024, Sun allegedly responded, “I used his name to vote.”

Massachusetts voter records show the ballot cast under the victim’s name was accepted for the 2024 presidential election, according to the complaint.

Sun previously rented a room from the victim and his family in Malden, and investigators allege he also impersonated the victim and his wife in immigration documents requesting that they abandon their legal permanent resident status.

When the couple returned from an international trip in June 2024, their green cards were confiscated, and they were placed into removal proceedings. 

An immigration judge restored their legal permanent resident status in January 2026 after finding their testimony credible and receiving forensic evidence that they had not signed the forms, according to the complaint.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT LEARNS FATE AFTER USING STOLEN IDENTITY TO VOTE IN US ELECTIONS FOR DECADES

Federal investigators say Sun later submitted anonymous tips to Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services accusing the victim of illegally voting in the 2024 election.

Sun allegedly acknowledged sending the tips when investigators interviewed him.

“I went to post office and, uh, to report the father vote,” Sun said, according to the complaint.

Sun is a citizen and national of China who entered the U.S. in September 2020 on a B-2 tourist visa that expired in March 2021, according to the complaint. He has deferred action status based on a U-Visa application submitted in February 2022.

DHS DIRECTS ICE TO DEPORT ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS WHO VOTE IN AMERICAN ELECTIONS UNDER NEW DIRECTIVE

The Massachusetts Secretary of State’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Each voter fraud charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine. Prosecutors said Sun could also face deportation after completing any sentence imposed.

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U.S. Attorney Leah Foley and Jeff Grimming, acting special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in New England, announced the charges. The Lexington and Andover police departments assisted in the investigation.

Democratic Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is facing scrutiny after an online ad revealed that campaign contributions from supporters of her re-election bid would be matched by taxpayer dollars.

“Your donation to our campaign right now is more critical than ever before,” said Bass, speaking into a lapel microphone with upbeat music playing in the background of the ad, which was posted to her campaign’s X account.

“Let me explain,” she continued. “Thanks to LA’s super match program, every qualified donation from Los Angeles residents is matched 6-to-1 by the city. But after the primary, we had to start over from scratch, so we need you to rush your matching donation right now to help fuel this campaign.”

CALIFORNIA ELECTION RESULTS STILL UNDECIDED AS LOS ANGELES BEGINS COUNTING BALLOTS

Bass noted that chipping in $5 would equate to a $35 total donation, while $25 would become $175.

The explanation immediately raised eyebrows for those concerned that taxpayer dollars are being used as campaign contributions.

“It’s a system they set up to enrich themselves and their friends and get themselves elected,” Roxanne Hoge, chairwoman of the Republican Party of Los Angeles County, told Fox News Digital in response to Bass’ video. 

“It’s like when you’re a kid, and the kid with the fancy ball gets to make all the rules of the game you’re about to play. That’s what this is.”

But the system is perfectly legal.

“It’s much like when people complain about election fraud in California. It’s not fraud. Everything is codified just the way they like it,” said Hoge.

“Almost none of the money that Los Angeles takes in is used for things that make sense,” she continued. “Money goes to homelessness and it increases homelessness. Basically, nothing makes sense here, and this is another thing that doesn’t make sense.”

Bass’ campaign did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Still, critics raged online about a program that has been in use for mayoral candidates since the 1990s.

“This is grotesque,” author and University of Austin professor Michael Shellenberger said in response to the video of Bass.

“Outrageous,” quipped Richard Grenell, a Trump administration official.

“Hold your horses… The current Mayor of the City of LA, who is running for reelection, is allowed to take money from the city to fund her campaign at a 6 to 1 payout???” former Ronald Reagan official David McIntosh asked incredulously.

“That’s so innovative, I’m sure this totally legit and not communist at all,” Los Angeles activist Tony Moon said sarcastically.

SUPREME COURT STRIKES DOWN LIMIT ON PARTY CAMPAIGN SPENDING IN COORDINATION WITH CANDIDATES

The matching program has been in effect for qualified mayoral candidates since 1990.

Slowly over time, the match limit has increased, and, in 2019, the current 6-to-1 match took effect and has been in use since then.

Qualified candidates can choose to participate in the matching program and must fill out a statement of acceptance of matching funds, according to city campaign rules.

LA MAYORAL RACE HEADS TO NOVEMBER RUNOFF AS KAREN BASS FACES MAMDANI-STYLE SOCIALIST

To qualify, a candidate must have already raised 300 times the maximum matchable amount per contributor — $257 — have at least 100 donors who have contributed $5 or more and live in Los Angeles, have an opponent and hold at least one public town hall or debate.

All matched donations must come from Angelenos.

FAR-LEFT POLITICIANS STILL USING ACTBLUE AS 88-YEAR-OLD DISPUTES DONATING NEARLY $150,000 TO FUNDRAISING GIANT

The maximum allowable qualifying donation is $257, which, after the taxpayer-funded 6-to-1 match becomes $1,799. The total cap on matched donations is just over $1.5 million in the general election.

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President Donald Trump on Wednesday issued a stern warning to any nation thinking about offering a lifeline to Iran after announcing the launch of a U.S. operation he likened to an “economic D-Day.”

“Today, I am announcing the MOST CRUSHING ECONOMIC OPERATION EVER TAKEN AGAINST ANY COUNTRY! This will be Economic Warfare and Isolation on an unprecedented scale,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “I am also announcing that ANY country that allows its financial institutions, businesses, airports, or government entities to provide any type of lifeline to Iran will itself face TREMENDOUS Economic Consequences.”

IRAN DEAL CLOCK HITS ZERO AS TRUMP DEMANDS ‘WHITE FLAG’ WITH NEW PRESSURE CAMPAIGN LOOMING

“Oil smuggling, swap lines, cash transfers, exchange houses, ship registries, front companies — It all needs to stop NOW,” he continued. “You know who you are. This will be an ECONOMIC D-DAY, and we need all of our Allies to stand with the United States of America to isolate, and defeat, the Iran threat. These maniacs are on the ropes, and these HISTORIC MEASURES will cripple them and their ability to project terror worldwide.”

Trump said Iran’s navy and air force are destroyed, while their production facilities have all been reduced to “rubble.” 

The president added Tehran’s currency is “worthless,” and the country as a whole “is hanging by a thread.”

The announcement came amid a pressure campaign from Washington, including a naval blockade, to get Iran to capitulate. Meanwhile, Iranian leaders on Wednesday warned neighboring Gulf states against assisting the U.S. military. 

KEY CHINA-IRAN INFRASTRUCTURE EXPOSES CRITICAL HOLE IN TRUMP’S WAR STRATEGY

The United Arab Emirates (UAE), a close U.S. ally and regional power, on Wednesday severed all financial and economic ties with Iran, citing a military escalation by Tehran with incoming missile fire. Iran has attacked its neighbors in similar fashion in the months since the war began. 

Amid the war with the United States, Tehran has relied on regional groups and proxies to fight back, though the country is traditionally allied with China and Russia.  

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On Monday, Trump threatened to bomb Oman if the country acts as a barrier to reopening the Strait of Hormuz, a major point of contention on both sides of the conflict. 

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is catching heat for defying President Donald Trump on a key energy policy.

The progressive Midwestern leader issued an executive order Tuesday blocking mining permits and leases near a swath of land in northeast Minnesota called the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, a significant portion of which is under federal jurisdiction.

That’s despite President Donald Trump signing legislation in April that reversed a Biden administration-era order blocking new mining leases near the Boundary Waters for a period of 20 years.

House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., the highest-ranking Minnesotan in Congress, called Walz’s move “stupid” and “dangerous.”

TRUMP’S AMBITIOUS ENERGY BET COULD BE A WINNING HAND AS THE WORLD BURNS MORE OIL, GAS THAN EVER

“This lame duck loser is trying to make us more energy and mineral-dependent on our adversaries,” Emmer told Fox News Digital.

MINNESOTA FRAUD SCANDAL WILL HAUNT FLANAGAN IN HIGH-STAKES SENATE RACE, TOP HOUSE REPUBLICAN WARNS

He said the order would “harm Minnesota (and) good union jobs in northern Minnesota,” and “put our national defense more at risk with our enemies, adversaries like Communist China.”

The legislation, which passed the House and Senate before getting to Trump’s desk, was led by Rep. Pete Stauber, R-Minn.

Walz’s order focuses on the mining of metals like copper and nickel, which have a variety of uses, including boat components, electric vehicle components, military equipment and commercial electronics.

TRUMP GETS MAJOR WIN AGAINST CHINA IN AFRICAN RARE EARTH MINERALS RACE

Northeastern Minnesota is home to the largest known untapped source of nickel and copper in North America, the Duluth Complex.

Emmer argued that a failure to tap into those resources would put the U.S. at a disadvantage to China’s metal mining industry.

Mining is already banned inside the Boundary Waters, but environmental groups who hailed Walz’s order have warned that mining in the protected lands outside its buffer zone still risks harming that inner area, according to MPR News.

“The federal government sold out our canoe country earlier this year by stripping away protections that took hundreds of thousands of Minnesotans’ voices and years of work to secure, all while ignoring science and the will of the public,” Save The Boundary Waters Executive Director Ingrid Lyons said in a statement.

“Now, our governor is doing right by Minnesota by pulling out all of the stops to keep toxic copper mining out of the headwaters of the Boundary Waters, while also calling on our state’s legislature to finish the job permanently. Thank you, Governor, for your actions that save the Boundary Waters today, and for building a foundation from which to protect it for generations to come.”

When asked about environmental groups’ support, Emmer dismissed it as a “false argument.”

“Every one of us is an environmentalist. I make this point, so nobody gets to claim the high ground. It’s like somebody saying, ‘I’m a better conservative than you.’ No, we all care about our environment. We all want clean water. We all want clean air,” he said.

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“What you’re literally saying is, ‘I’d rather have the Chinese and other adversaries mine in the old-fashioned ways and not care about leaving the world in a better condition, than allow us to do it right here in Minnesota, where we have one of the top precious metal mines in the world.’ … And we have the most stringent environmental laws in the world, I would argue, that are going to ensure that it’s done safely, and it protects not only the people doing the work, but it protects the environment.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Walz’s office for a response.

Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed said he wanted to “take it a step further” when asked whether he supported Bernie Sanders’ public-ownership model for major artificial intelligence companies, arguing for “some system of public control” — days after a top House Democrat rejected suggestions that young socialists are talking about “seizing the means of production.”

Asked during a June 12 appearance on the left-wing “Head in the Office” podcast whether he supported public ownership models for major artificial intelligence companies like one proposed by Sanders, El-Sayed said he wanted to “actually take it a step further,” adding that while he agreed “we need public ownership,” he also believed “we need some system of public control.”

El-Sayed did not explicitly call for the government to seize or take ownership of private AI companies, instead describing possible forms of “public control” that included public representation on corporate boards or an oversight body.

EL-SAYED TAUNTS TRUMP, CLAIMS HE’S GOING TO MAKE HIM ‘MAIN CHARACHTER OF THE MIDTERMS’

“I want to actually take it a step further. I agree that we need public ownership, but I also agree that we need some system of public control. What is the point of democracy if it’s not to protect us from existential risk? And, right now, there is no regulation,” El-Sayed said when asked about public ownership and public control of major AI companies, with the podcast host citing proposals from Sanders.

“I just think it’s really important for us to be thinking what is democratic control over this industry? What does it look like?” El-Sayed continued.

El-Sayed later offered examples of what such “public control” could look like, including public representation on corporate boards or a public oversight body over the companies, while arguing that AI poses potentially “existential” risks requiring greater public oversight.

“Democracy is supposed to fix these problems and right now they’re trying to slip democracy and we cannot allow that,” El-Sayed continued about the political power tech companies wield in Washington. “And so we need leaders who both understand the technological risk and are not bought off by the AI industry itself. It is mission-critical right now for our future.”

EL-SAYED AIDE LIKENS GOP OPPONENT’S CAMPAIGN TO ‘KKK CROSS BURNING’ OVER VIDEO WITH FORD PICKUP

El-Sayed’s call to “take it a step further” on public ownership comes as senior Democrats have sought to push back on the idea that the party’s rising socialist wing is seeking government control of the means of production.

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., recently argued that young Americans who identify as socialists are not embracing socialism in its traditional Marxist sense, asking whether they mean, “I want to socialize the means of production,” before answering, “I don’t think so.”

Raskin has similarly argued that young self-described socialists are primarily seeking “greater equality and opportunity,” rather than embracing concepts such as “dialectical materialism” or the “dictatorship of the proletariat.”

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But some of the movement’s most prominent figures have used more explicit language. Mamdani said during a 2021 Young Democratic Socialists of America conference that one of the movement’s firmly held beliefs was the “end goal of seizing the means of production,” while acknowledging it did not then enjoy the same level of public support as other progressive causes.

The June podcast comments are drawing fresh attention as El-Sayed, a progressive who has embraced comparisons to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, seeks to carry that brand of politics into a marquee statewide Senate race. The resurfaced exchange also comes amid a broader debate over the Democratic Party’s embrace of democratic socialists and how far the movement’s economic agenda extends beyond policies such as universal healthcare and a higher minimum wage.

Former National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent, who resigned in March due to his opposition to the Iran war, contends that President Donald Trump should remove U.S. combat troops from the Middle East. During an interview with Fox News Digital on Tuesday, he said Republicans and Democrats both support U.S. involvement in “endless foreign wars,” but that he wants to help create another “political coalition.”

Kent, a military veteran and Gold Star husband whose late wife Shannon was killed in Syria in 2019, said the U.S. is “making our troops basically tripwires so that if the Iranians hit us, and we lose more troops, then we will have to double down” on the war.

“This war is not in our national security interest,” he said. “Iran posed no imminent threat,” the retired Green Beret asserted, reiterating the same view he voiced in his mid-March resignation letter to the president less than a month after the start of the Iran war. “This war was prompted by the pressure that the Israelis were able to exert on the Trump administration and the influence that the, the Israelis have over our government.”

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U.S. bases in the region have proven to be a liability, he said.

“The Iranians were able to hit them with their ballistic missiles, with their drones. We had to evacuate our bases. We couldn’t even fight a war from our military bases. So the fundamental question is, what good is a military base that you can’t fight a war from? So really our bases and our presence in the region simply give the Iranians the ability to reach us and strike us whenever they want,” Kent asserted.

EX-COUNTERTERRORISM OFFICIAL JOE KENT CONTINUES CALLING FOR US MILITARY WITHDRAWAL FROM MIDDLE EAST

More than five months have passed since Trump launched the war against Iran in conjunction with Israel. The U.S. military is currently conducting a blockade against Iran and it remains unclear when the conflict will conclude.

“Right now, we’re at a place where President Trump could walk away from it. We haven’t recently taken any losses,” Kent said, adding that the president could withdraw U.S. troops from the region. “And I think he has the political power to basically sell it as a win or at least kind of a draw to the American people.”

Kent said he would encourage those who agree with him to “call their congressmen, call their senators, call the White House and” tell them “that we want out of war right now.”

In a statement to Fox News Digital on Wednesday, White House spokesman Davis Ingle targeted Kent.

“President Trump has destroyed nearly all of Iran’s military capabilities and is crushing what’s left of its abysmal economy with the most powerful naval blockade in world history. In quitter Joe Kent’s twisted mind, that somehow means Iran is winning, which only proves he doesn’t know his a– from his elbow,” Ingle said in the statement.

TRUMP CAN DECLARE IRAN VICTORY NOW AND WITHDRAW TROOPS, FORMER COUNTERTERROR OFFICIAL ARGUES

Asked whether he has any interest in running for political office again, Kent, who has run unsuccessfully for Congress twice, told Fox News Digital that he does not “have any political aspirations.”

But he said he wants to help construct a “political coalition” that conveys to Americans “that a reason why it seems like no matter who they vote for their, their quality of life is not improving,” is because no matter who occupies the Oval Office, much of “their time and our money… and our national will” is expended “on these foreign wars,” and “propping up an empire that does not benefit the American people.”

Both parties “agree that we should be engaged in… endless foreign wars,” he said.

When Americans choose between a Republican and Democrat, they end up with “the next war,” “more deficit,” “more debt,” and have “their civil liberties… encroached upon,” he said.

TRUMP SAYS IRAN TALKS ARE DEAD, INSISTS STRAIT OF HORMUZ IS ‘OPEN AND OPERATING’

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Kent said the U.S. cannot afford to dole out foreign aid, given the national debt, inflation and the condition of the economy — but if foreign aid is going to be distributed, he said it should go “to partners that actually benefit our nation’s security, not to countries that are gonna drag us further into more conflicts” which “actually end up costing America more in the long run.”

He said the U.S. should not provide aid to nations “that are actively spying on us and running influence operations like the Israelis are.”

President Donald Trump’s approval rating has plummeted to a record low during his second term in office, and is now tied for his lowest approval rating ever as commander-in-chief, according to a new poll.

Only 33% of those surveyed in a new Reuters/Ipsos poll approve of the 45th and 47th president’s job in the White House. The rating is down from 35% last week. A survey of 1,166 respondents showed that 64% disapproved of Trump’s job performance.

Trump hit 33% approval in December 2017, his lowest during his first term in office, according to Reuters/Ipsos.

FOX NEWS POLL: AS ECONOMIC PAIN DEEPENS, DISAPPROVAL OF TRUMP HITS NEW HIGH

Meanwhile, 80% of survey respondents said they expect the war in Iran “will go on for an extended period of time.”

The war began in February, and was explained to Americans as mission to wipe out the Middle Eastern country’s nuclear weapons program. Iranian attempts to assert dominance over the Strait of Hormuz have complicated matters.

One fifth of the world’s oil traverses the Strait, and the effects have been felt at the pump.

LAWMAKERS CLASH OVER TRUMP GAS TAX HOLIDAY AS IRAN WAR DRIVES PRICES HIGHER

Since the war began, national average gas prices have jumped from just under $3 per gallon to just over $4 per gallon, according to American Automobile Association (AAA) data. On Friday, at a rally with law enforcement in New York touting record low crime rates, Trump defended the jump in prices at the pump.

“Remember that when you have to pay a little bit more, $4, it’s okay,” he said, adding that he did “the right thing,” and saying, “I’ll never apologize.”

Inflation has also spiked since the beginning of the war. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), year-over-year inflation in February was 2.4%. That number now sits at 3.4%.

TRUMP’S AFFORDABILITY PLAN FACES CONSERVATIVE PUSHBACK AS POCKETBOOK ISSUES LOOM OVER MIDTERMS

“President Trump has signed the largest middle-class tax cuts in history, lowered the cost of prescription drugs, sealed the border, driven violent crime to the lowest level in nearly a century, unleashed an energy revolution, and sent Americans’ 401(k)s climbing to record highs,” White House spokesperson Olivia Wales told Fox News Digital in response to questions about the polling.

“President Trump is cleaning up Joe Biden’s mess and there is more work to do, but the United States of America has never been stronger,” she continued.

The White House did not comment on whether there is a target date for ending the war.

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Democrats have seized on the war, which only 35% of Americans support according to Reuters/Ipsos, along with affordability in their attempts to re-take the House and Senate in November.

A Democratic prosecutor permitted a Tajik national held in a psychiatric hospital after his landlord’s killing to travel to Washington to obtain a passport, which he later used to leave the U.S.

Abdulloi Doniyor Toshpulodzoda left the country after he was granted a second “community pass” in July from the Northern Virginia Mental Health Institute (NVMHI) in Falls Church, went to nearby Dulles International Airport and flew to Dushanbe, Tajikistan, by way of Turkey, prompting renewed criticism of Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano over his prosecution of cases involving migrants.

Toshpulodzoda had been found not guilty by reason of insanity (NGRI) in the killing of Mohammad Hemmatian but was still granted the equivalent of a day pass twice — once to travel 20 miles to Washington, D.C., to obtain a passport and again in July to stay at an apartment furnished through a Fairfax County program — despite being under county supervision.

Former Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares criticized Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano for failing to recognize what Miyares described as the danger of allowing Toshpulodzoda to obtain a passport.

SANCTUARY COUNTY REFUSED 615 ICE TRANSFER REQUESTS, TURNED OVER JUST 11 ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS, RECORDS SHOW

“A judge said no, Virginia authorities said yes anyway,” former Attorney General Jason Miyares said in a statement. Descano has faced criticism for years over his prosecution of cases involving illegal immigrants and foreign nationals.

“Fairfax’s Steve Descano supported a violent, committed man accused of killing his landlord to obtain a passport. The passport request should have been the five-alarm fire, but instead it ignored and he was allowed to walk out of a mental facility and flee the country. This is an unconscionable level of incompetence,” Miyares added.

Virginians for Safe Communities, an advocacy group that highlights crimes, including those involving foreign nationals and illegal immigrants, called Fairfax County’s justice system “a joke.”

“You hear the one about the crazed killer who walked into Dulles and went to Tajikistan?” the group tweeted.

“If Descano policies were literally written by illegal immigrant confessed murderers in mental institutions, how would they be different?” asked conservative commentator Mary Katharine Ham.

DOJ OPENS INVESTIGATION INTO SOROS-BACKED DA ACCUSED OF SHIELDING ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS FROM CONSEQUENCES

Descano’s office confirmed it “did not oppose” Toshpulodzoda taking an “escorted visit” outside the confines of NVMHI to obtain “updated documentation from the [Tajik] embassy.”

“[B]ut, that is not indicative of our position on community release [itself],” a Descano spokeswoman said.

SOROS-BACKED PROSECUTOR HIT WITH REBUKE AFTER DISMISSING PROBE AS TRUMP ‘PARTISAN ATTACKS’: ‘HEY SCUMBAG’

The spokeswoman said Descano’s prosecutors repeatedly opposed Toshpulodzoda’s release in annual court hearings, citing public safety concerns.

Descano’s prosecutor Claiborne Richardson and Toshpulodzoda’s attorney, Amy Jordan, jointly requested and received court permission for Toshpulodzoda to travel to Washington, D.C., with institute staff on May 29, 2024, according to court documents.

Descano’s office said prosecutors argued at a June hearing that Toshpulodzoda should remain in the institute’s custody, and the judge agreed.

Descano’s office deferred further questions about the issuance of day passes to the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health.

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

Laura Cunningham, a spokesperson for VDBH, said federal and state privacy laws preclude public discussion of individual patients’ cases.

She added that the “community pass” process utilized by Toshpulodzoda is available under Virginia law for clinical teams to request “graduated privileges” that are later reviewed by experts before “progress[ing] to the next level.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the Fairfax-Falls Church Community Services Board for comment. The board furnished the Alexandria apartment where Toshpulodzoda stayed through its Fairfax Permanent Supportive Housing Program.

The Daily Wire reported that Toshpulodzoda told authorities he was “guilty” but was later found NGRI.

A DHS spokesperson said in a statement that Toshpulodzoda’s departure was the “ultimate compliance of his final removal order” placed on him after an immigration judge ordered him removed on June 24.

JORDAN GRILLS SOROS-BACKED DA DESCANO IN HEATED SPAT OVER SOFT-ON-CRIME POLICY: ‘THIS IS ALMOST LAUGHABLE’

Conservative columnist and Fairfax resident Tim Carney similarly tweeted that “my local prosecutor Steve Descano has a unique deportation policy.”

“He endorsed giving an accused murderer, who was deemed insane, permission to travel to DC to get a passport. The accused murderer, on weekend leave, then hopped on a plane and fled to Asia.”

“Total system failure,” former police officer turned conservative commentator Brandon Tatum tweeted.

Virginia authorities have issued a warrant for Toshpulodzoda’s arrest if he returns to the U.S.

Toshpulodzoda entered the U.S. during the Obama administration and later violated the terms of his admission, according to DHS.

According to several reports, Toshpulodzoda admitted to Fairfax authorities that he killed Hemmatian but was later found NGRI and institutionalized.

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Hungarian-American billionaire George Soros contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to Descano’s local races in the heavily Democratic Beltway county.

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Fox News Digital reached out to the Tajik Embassy, the Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office and the State Department for comment.

President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he is nominating Heidi Overton, deputy assistant for domestic policy, as the next FDA commissioner.

Overton, a physician, is known for her pro-life views and Trump said she has been a “ROCKSTAR” in his administration so far.

“Dr. Overton will continue putting AMERICA FIRST, and creating a HEALTHY AMERICA,” Trump said in a Truth Social post.

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This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is again dunking on a popular sports brand as the company’s stock price hits a 12-year low.

Cruz joined in on social media criticism of Nike, the Swoosh-emblazoned brand whose stock price has been on a steady decline for years.

The lawmaker responded to conservative social media influencer Douglass Mackey’s list of reasons why Nike’s stock was suffering in a callback to his own boycott of the brand several years ago.

MARY CAIN’S BOOK AND NIKE’S TRANS-ATHLETE STUDY REVEAL THE SAME PATTERN OF CORPORATE HYPOCRISY

“Sad & predictable,” Cruz posted on X, where he reiterated that Nike’s decision to nix its Betsy Ross themed shoe was how the company “lost me.”

“For my whole life, I wore nearly 100% Nike for athletic wear,” Cruz said. “Kaepernick pissed me off, but when they cancelled the Betsy Ross shoe it showed that their marketing plan was America-hate. I went out & bought brand new shoes, shorts, t-shirts.”

“Turns out I wasn’t the only one,” he continued. “#GoWokeGoBroke.”

Nike’s stock price hit a 12-year low earlier this week, dropping nearly 80% since the company’s all-time high in 2021.

NIKE CRITICIZED FOR WALKING BACK BOSTON MARATHON AD FOLLOWING ‘PACE SHAMING’ BACKLASH

The yearslong tumble downward saw nearly $200 billion in market value erased for the company, which five years ago saw its share price hit an all-time high of $177.51.

It’s also not Cruz’s first foray into bashing the brand.

In 2019, Cruz joined several conservatives to boycott Nike after the company opted to dump its planned Betsy Ross-themed shoe.

Former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who earned the ire of conservatives for sitting and kneeling during the national anthem in an act of protest against police brutality a decade ago, reportedly urged the company to drop the product.

MLB GREAT JIM EDMONDS SAYS HE WOULDN’T HAVE TOLERATED NATIONAL ANTHEM PROTESTS: ‘WE STAND UP AND SALUTE’

He argued that the Revolutionary-era flag, with 13 white stars in a circle on a blue backdrop, was a symbol that had been adopted by White nationalist groups and a reminder of a time when Black people were enslaved.

Nike said in a statement at the time that it opted to yank the shoe, which was set for a July Fourth release, because of “concerns that it could unintentionally offend and detract from the nation’s patriotic holiday.”

Cruz at the time blasted the company and dumped his Nike gear.

“It’s a good thing @Nike only wants to sell sneakers to people who hate the American flag…. @NFL #HappyFourth,” he said on X.

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He wasn’t the only major political figure to take a shot at the brand. Then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., criticized the decision to pull the Betsy Ross-themed shoe, and countered that if any other company had the same idea, he’d be the first in line to buy.

“If we’re in a political environment where the American flag has become controversial to Americans, I think we’ve got a problem,” McConnell said.

The United Arab Emirates suspended all trade, commercial exchanges and financial transactions with Iran after accusing Tehran of firing ballistic missiles toward maritime traffic.

The action severs one of the Islamic Republic’s most important commercial and financial links and threatens to close off an economic route President Donald Trump’s sanctions have struggled to reach. It also further deepens Iran’s isolation amid its standoff with the U.S.

The UAE supplied 31% of Iran’s imports, valued at roughly $21 billion, in 2024, and was the destination for 13% of its exports, according to World Trade Organization trade data.

IRAN DEAL CLOCK HITS ZERO AS TRUMP DEMANDS ‘WHITE FLAG’ WITH NEW PRESSURE CAMPAIGN LOOMING

Miad Maleki, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and former Treasury official, said the UAE is one of Tehran’s two key economic lifelines.

“The UAE and China are Iran’s two economic bloodlines. If UAE is serious about its economic embargo against Iran, then it’ll close the one the U.S. Navy couldn’t touch,” Malek wrote on X.

KEY CHINA-IRAN INFRASTRUCTURE EXPOSES CRITICAL HOLE IN TRUMP’S WAR STRATEGY

Maleki said Dubai has become Tehran’s gateway to global commerce, with third-country goods routed through the emirate to Iran. “Most of what Iran calls ‘imports from the UAE’ was never Emirati. Dubai has been basically Iran’s window to the world economy,” he said.

The UAE Foreign Ministry said the measures would remain in place “until further notice,” citing a regional escalation that it said undermined peace and security.

Emirati officials said two ballistic missiles launched from Iran fell into the sea and were targeting maritime navigation. Iran denied responsibility, with its foreign ministry deeming the accusation as “baseless.” Spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said the UAE’s claim ran counter to good-neighborliness and referred to what he called a history of “multiple false-flag operations” in the region.

Dubai has also served as an important conduit for Iranian financial networks facing U.S. sanctions.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Dubai-based exchange houses and trading fronts it said helped Iranian networks move hundreds of millions of dollars and recover revenue from oil sales.

The Treasury said this action advanced President Donald Trump’s maximum-pressure policy, though neither Washington nor Abu Dhabi has said the UAE’s new trade freeze was coordinated with the U.S. campaign.

IRAN FAILS TO STRIKE DEAL WITH US AS DEADLINE PASSES AND TRUMP CALLS FOR ‘WHITE FLAG OF SURRENDER’

The UAE’s move to suspend trade comes at a time when U.S.-Iran diplomacy has again broken down due to disputes over the Strait of Hormuz, the strategic waterway that had carried roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas before the war started earlier this year.

A deadlock again emerged this week after Monday’s 60-day deadline came and went with no new deal on the table.

Trump said Tuesday that no talks with Iran were underway or planned after a 60-day window for a broader agreement expired.

He also said the U.S. naval blockade remained in effect and insisted the strait was “open and operating,” while Iran maintained it would remain closed until Washington lifted oil sanctions, ended its blockade of Iranian ports and met other conditions.

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A day earlier, Trump posted a map on Truth Social labeling the Strait of Hormuz “NEW U.S. Territory,” escalating the dispute over control of the strategic waterway.

Sen. Darline Graham, the late Sen. Lindsey Graham’s sister who was appointed to fill his vacant seat, admitted during a South Carolina GOP Senate debate that she is “not that informed on national security” as she campaigns for a full six-year term.

Graham made the candid admission just days before South Carolina’s GOP Senate runoff between her and Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., after a moderator asked whether Taiwan and the South China Sea are national security issues for the United States. She responded that national security is “not my thing” and “not my area of expertise.”

The political newcomer has the backing of President Donald Trump, who urged her to seek a full term and endorsed her candidacy after she was appointed to the Senate by South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster.

“Are Taiwan and the South China Sea national security issues for the United States, and if so, why or how?” the moderator asked.

RALPH NORMAN SUGGESTS SPECIAL GOP PRIMARY RUNOFF RIVAL DARLINE GRAHAM IS THE ESTABLISHMENT’S CHOSEN CANDIDATE

“I’m just going to be honest here. I’m not that informed on national security,” Graham responded. “But I do support the military. My brother was in the Air Force for 33 years, so I will do everything I can to support the military. My dad was in the Army. I’m not a polished politician up here. National security is not my thing, not my area of expertise. But I do support the military.”

The gaffe earned Graham backlash and responses on X, including from former U.N. ambassador and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley.

“Lindsey Graham was well informed on the United States’ national security. Darline Graham admits she’s not. This is not something you inherit. And it’s critical in the U.S. Senate,” Haley wrote on X alongside a clip of Graham’s remarks.

“DEVASTATING: Darline Graham can’t answer a softball question about China and Taiwan, admitting she doesn’t know much about foreign policy,” wrote South Carolina talk-show host Tara Servatius, noting that her “stunned 16 year old answered it off the top of his head.”

After the debate, Graham told reporters that South Carolinians are “worried about their pocketbooks more than they’re worried about the South China Sea, quite honestly,” according to the Post and Courier.

TRUMP’S FIERCEST GOP CRITIC BECAME HIS MOST INFLUENTIAL VOICE ON WAR AND PEACE

Graham’s spin room comments echoed how she has previously described the differences between herself and her late brother, who made foreign policy and national security a hallmark of his Senate career.

During a July interview on Fox News’ “Hannity,” Graham recalled urging her brother to focus more on the everyday issues facing voters rather than national security.

“I would watch him, and I’d be like, ‘Lindsey, are you just talking about national security all the time?’” Graham said, pointing instead to issues such as groceries, gas and health care.

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Graham’s response to the Taiwan question wasn’t the only gaffe she had during Tuesday night’s debate. Graham is also facing heat for saying that South Carolina was home to 50 million residents, when in fact it only has about five million.

“Darlene Graham doesn’t even know how many people live in South Carolina! Here she is saying 50 million people live here. Darlene darling, approximately 5.5 million people, not 50 million people live in South Carolina. I can’t even right now with this Senate race,” said Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., on X.

The Turkish government publicly denounced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for allegedly pursuing “expansionist and destabilizing policies” after Israel launched airstrikes on a Syrian airbase this week.

Netanyahu’s office took responsibility for the Tuesday morning strike on the Abu al-Duhur airbase the next day, saying Syria was on the verge of breaching a security agreement by allowing Turkish troops to deploy from the base, which is near Aleppo.

“Israel repeatedly warned Syria that such a deployment would pose a threat to Israel’s security,” Netanyahu’s office said Tuesday night. “Syria chose to ignore these warnings. Israel will not tolerate threats to its security, and would welcome a return to the status quo.”

On Wednesday, Turkey called these allegations from Israel “untenable,” arguing that they are “intended to legitimize Israel’s unlawful airstrikes targeting Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

CRITICS SAY TURKEY’S VERBAL ATTACKS ON ISRAEL HAVE CROSSED INTO ANTISEMITISM

“The imputations voiced stem from Netanyahu’s intent to pursue expansionist and destabilizing policies in the region ahead of the elections in Israel,” Turkey’s government said in a social media post.

“Türkiye, like the vast majority of the international community, stands for the consolidation of lasting peace in our region. The sole path to this objective lies in Netanyahu’s abandonment of his aggressive and coercive policies and in his respect for international law,” it continued.

“Türkiye will resolutely continue to cooperate with the Syrian Government on a legitimate basis for the establishment of peace, stability, and prosperity in Syria, and will never allow the destabilization of Syria,” the statement concluded.

TRUMP BETS ON FORMER NATO TROUBLEMAKER AS TURKEY’S STRATEGIC VALUE SURGES

The strike on the Syrian airbase, which caused damage but no casualties, also drew criticism from U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack, despite a senior Israeli official telling Fox News that “highly sensitive intelligence was shared with the United States in advance” of the attack.

“We are deeply concerned that the confirmed Israeli airstrikes on Abu al-Duhur Airbase constitute an unnecessary escalation that does not advance regional stability,” Barrack said in an X post.

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa has not “adopted a predatory posture nor maintained proxy forces” and has “repeatedly indicated a preference for de-escalation with Israel,” Barrack added.

Barrack, who is also the U.S. special envoy for Syria, told Reuters he is working to establish a deconfliction mechanism to ease tensions between Israel, Turkey and Syria.

TRUMP’S TURKEY ARMS SALE PROPOSAL SPARKS CONGRESSIONAL QUESTIONS BEFORE NATO SUMMIT

Al-Sharaa, formerly the head of al-Qaeda’s affiliate group in Syria, became the country’s new leader in January 2025 after he led rebel forces that ousted Bashar al-Assad from power.

President Donald Trump has expressed strong support for al-Sharaa’s government, including the lifting of broad economic sanctions on Syria in late June.

But Turkey, which has been training Syria’s soldiers to rebuild the country’s armed forces, has routinely accused Israel of trying to destabilize the region.

BRIEF ALCOHOL BAN IN DAMASCUS SPARKS CONCERNS ABOUT PRESIDENT AL-SHARAA’S VISION FOR SYRIA

Since al-Assad was deposed in December 2024, Israel has repeatedly struck targets within Syria seeking to prevent the new government from building up its military capabilities near the border.

Netanyahu reiterated in July that he wants the region south of Damascus to remain demilitarized, while also professing a desire to protect the Druze population, an ethnoreligious minority that lives in Syria.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration’s plan to move FBI headquarters into Washington, D.C.’s Ronald Reagan Building, preserving the previously selected Greenbelt, Maryland, site for the bureau’s long-planned new headquarters.

U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang ruled Monday that the FBI and General Services Administration’s (GSA) decisions to select the Reagan Building were “not in accordance with law” and exceeded their statutory authority. The court also found the FBI’s decision to redirect previously appropriated funds toward the move was arbitrary and capricious.

The FBI blasted the decision in a statement to Fox News.

REAGAN NATIONAL AIRPORT MAKES DRASTIC CHANGE FOLLOWING DEADLY 2025 MIDAIR COLLISION

“This is not the first time courts have tried to undermine the administration in its goal to make government more cost-effective for American taxpayers. The court has chosen to impermissibly intervene for political reasons. This FBI is mission focused and will continue the best course of action to meet the needs of law enforcement. Sycophants seeking to undermine the work of this FBI, which has led the largest reduction in crime in American history under President Trump, will not deter us.”

The ruling marks the latest turn in a fight stretching back more than a decade over replacing the deteriorating J. Edgar Hoover Building, which has housed FBI headquarters since 1974. The court noted that the building is obsolete, cannot house all headquarters staff and does not meet applicable security standards.

GSA selected Greenbelt in 2023 after Congress directed the agency to choose among three previously identified sites: Greenbelt and Landover, Maryland, or Springfield, Virginia. But in July 2025, the FBI and GSA announced that they instead planned to relocate headquarters to the Reagan Building in Washington.

GSA FINDS CHINA-MADE TECH LABELED ‘MADE IN USA,’ ORDERS SWEEPING FEDERAL PROCUREMENT REVIEW

Chuang found that those congressional site-selection requirements prevented the agencies from unilaterally choosing a different location. The court said the Reagan Building was not among the three sites Congress authorized and that the FBI exceeded its statutory authority by selecting it.

The ruling blocks the FBI from moving forward with its planned headquarters at the Reagan Building and reinstates Greenbelt, Maryland, as the selected site. The judge said Congress would have to change the law if the administration wants to pursue a different location.

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The White House referred Fox News Digital to the FBI for comment on the ruling.

Fox News’ David Spunt contributed to this reporting.

Wyoming Republicans chose Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wy., on Tuesday as their nominee for U.S. Senate in the race to succeed retiring Republican Sen. Cynthia Lummis.

Lummis, elected to the Senate in 2020 after serving four terms in the U.S. House , announced she would not seek a second term, opening the seat in one of the nation’s most reliably Republican states.

Hageman emerged from a five-way Republican primary featuring former Kirby Mayor Sam Mead, Jill Edwards, John Holtz and former environmental services business owner Jimmy Skovgard.

2026 MIDTERMS: PRIMARIES, KEY RACES AND ELECTION RESULTS

Hageman, in the country’s most red state based on registered voter percentage, entered the race as the best-known and best-funded candidate in the field. She is seeking a promotion to the upper chamber.

President Donald Trump endorsed Hageman after also backing her successful 2022 campaign to unseat former Rep. Liz Cheney in Wyoming’s Republican House primary.

Now serving her second term as Wyoming’s lone U.S. House member, Hageman rose to national prominence with her victory over Cheney.

Cheney became Trump’s biggest target in 2022 after she served as one of the only two Republicans on the House Committee investigating the January 6 Capitol riots alongside fellow GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-IL, who did not seek reelection that year.

The ousted Wyoming congresswoman, daughter of Vice President Dick Cheney, become one of Trump’s most prominent Republican critics.

TRUMP-BACKED NOMINEES DOMINATE PRIMARY CONTESTS AS PRESIDENT TIGHTENS PARTY VICE GRIP

Hageman will now face the Democratic nominee in the Nov. 3 general election — though with Wyoming’s deep red roots, it’s highly unlikely the single U.S. House seat will flip blue this year.

The at-large seat is ranked by the bipartisan Cook Political Report as solidly Republican with a R+23, the best odds of any Senate race this election cycle.

Republicans enter the general election with a substantial advantage in Wyoming. All of the state’s statewide elected offices are currently held by Republicans.

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The Senate contest is part of an unusually large turnover in Wyoming’s political leadership.

For the first time in 32 years, the state has open races for governor, U.S. Senate and U.S. House in the same election cycle.

Tuesday night’s primary elections featured closely watched federal races from sunny South Florida to the frigid Alaskan tundra and two states in between, all of which will help decide whether Republicans maintain control of Congress, or whether Democrats overtake them.

Three states also featured critical gubernatorial primary elections.

Observers are already using the race results as bellwethers to gauge Trump’s grip over the GOP and the power of the emergent socialist movement.

Here’s what stood out:

Sunshine State socialist scores shocking Senate upset despite being heavily outspent

A socialist will have a chance to unseat a sitting Republican senator after upsetting a heavily favored opponent who outspent her nine-to-one.

Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) member and Democratic state Rep. Angie Nixon scored a massive upset in the state’s Democratic primary for U.S. Senate. Nixon ran against retired Air Force Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a prominent critic of Trump who played a central role in the left’s failed 2019 impeachment attempt, who was expected to emerge victorious.

She defeated Vindman by almost 12 points, despite his $16.3 million war chest, compared to hers of only about $1 million. As of July, Vindman had spent about $9 million on the race, while Nixon had spent just over $700,000.

TRUMP’S HANDPICKED DESANTIS SUCCESSOR WINS CROWDED GOP PRIMARY FOR FLORIDA GOVERNOR

Nixon will square off in a statewide race against Sen. Ashley Moody, R-Fla.

Trump has a hit-or-miss endorsement night

Florida

Across the country, some of Trump’s endorsed candidates won their respective races, while others struggled.

Trump-endorsed Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., won the Sunshine State’s Republican gubernatorial primary against a field that included Lt. Gov. Jay Collins and outsider James Fishback. Donalds won 47%, compared with 25% for Collins and 10.5% for Fishback. 

Donalds will face former Florida Republican congressman-turned-Democrat David Jolly, who won the nod for the job on the Democratic side.

TRUMP FLEXES GOP MUSCLE IN ARIZONA PRIMARIES AS DEMS DODGE FAR-LEFT UPSET

Likewise, Republican Sen. Ashley Moody, herself a Trump endorsee, took home a victory in a special Senate primary election to finish the remainder of Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s U.S. Senate term, which ends in 2028. Moody was appointed to the seat last year after Rubio joined the Trump administration.

Republican Rep. Randy Fine of Florida’s 6th Congressional District, also endorsed by Trump, easily won his reelection bid.

However, it wasn’t all smiles for Team Trump.

Scandal-plagued incumbent Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., who represents the state’s 7th Congressional District, lost his race to challenger and former TV anchor Ryan Elijah.

Trump endorsed Mills in February, but the congressman is facing a wide-ranging House Ethics Committee investigation into possible campaign finance violations, allegations of assault against a romantic partner and allegations of improperly received or solicited gifts. Mills has denied wrongdoing.

The 7th District leans red, meaning Elijah should have an edge come November.

Meanwhile, Catalina Lauf, who scored an 11th-hour endorsement from Trump last week, lost her bid to fill Donalds’ seat in Florida’s 19th Congressional District in a race that featured several unusual political twists. 

Media executive Jim Schwartzel won the five-way race with 29.1% of the vote, while Lauf earned 22%. Businessman Jim Oberweis placed third with 15.7% of the vote.

Lauf and Oberweis are familiar rivals, having squared off in a crowded midwestern Republican primary years ago. Both ran in Illinois’ 14th Congressional District back in 2020. Oberweis won that round, but lost to a Democrat in the general election.

Two years later, Lauf ran unsuccessfully in Illinois’ 11th Congressional District, though that race did not feature Oberweis.

The fourth-place finisher in Tuesday night’s 19th Congressional District race in Florida was former Rep. Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina, who was defeated in 2022 amid scandal and after attempting to change districts.

Schwartzel is all but certain to win his November general election in the deep red district.

AMERICA’S REDDEST STATE CROWNS GOP GOVERNOR NOMINEE

Wyoming

A similar story played out in the western U.S.

In Wyoming’s U.S. Senate primary, Trump-endorsed Rep. Harriet Hageman, who serves as the state’s at-large congresswoman, won in a landslide. She defeated cattle rancher Sam Mead. With 80% of the votes counted, Hageman held a 62% to 28% lead over Mead, with three others lagging well behind.

However, in Wyoming’s gubernatorial primary, Republican voters spurned Trump’s choice, electing state Sen. Eric Barlow over Megan Degenfelder, the state’s superintendent of public instruction. Barlow, too, won decidedly, holding a lead of 50% to Degenfelder’s 29.7% with three quarters of the votes counted.

Both races were called shortly after polls closed.

TRUMP-ALIGNED CONSERVATIVE EMERGES FROM CROWDED PRIMARY TO DECIDE WHO FILLS WYOMING’S LONE HOUSE SEAT

Wyoming’s Secretary of State Chuck Gray won a competitive five-way primary, garnering 25% of the vote. Businessman Steve Freiss earned 20.7% of the vote. Army veteran Kevin Christensen won 17.8% of the vote.

The state hasn’t elected a Democrat in a statewide race since 2006, and that trend is likely to continue in November.

Alaska

Incumbent Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan finished second in the state’s non-partisan primaries, and will move on to the general election where he will face three other candidates, including former Democratic congresswoman Mary Peltola, the top vote-getter, in November.

Trump buried the losses in a post on TRUTH Social.

“A lot of great WINS tonight!!!” he said.

VETERAN DEM DEFEATS SCANDAL-PLAGUED FORMER LAWMAKER, PROGRESSIVE CHALLENGER IN TRUMP’S BACKYARD

Moderate Dems fend off far-left in Florida House races

On the House side, a familiar face won in the newly redrawn 20th Congressional District in Florida. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., was drawn out of the 25th District, which she currently represents.

Wasserman Schultz defeated four other candidates, including self-proclaimed socialist activist Elijah Manley, a serious contender who raised nearly $1 million in his bid. Despite the fundraising haul, Manley placed third behind former mayor of Broward County Dale Holness.

Manley argued on Monday night in an appearance on NBC News that it was inappropriate for Wasserman Schultz to run in the 20th District when she lives in what is now the 22nd District, and said Democrats “need fresh leaders” in Washington. He also argued that it was inappropriate for a White person to occupy the seat.

Race became a major issue in the contest, with Wasserman Schultz’s detractors criticizing her decision to run in a district described as “historically Black.”

“One of the last remaining opportunity districts that we have in the South being held by a white Democrat, that’s unacceptable,” Manley said in his Monday interview.

Former Democratic Rep. Sheri Cherfilus-McCormick placed fourth in the race. She represented the district until April when she resigned after facing federal criminal charges involving alleged misuse of disaster-relief funds. She has pleaded not guilty to those charges.

Wasserman Schultz should have a significant advantage in November in a district that heavily favors Democrats.

Elsewhere in the state, Rep. Jared Moskowitz crushed a surging socialist challenger in Florida’s 25th Congressional District, defeating Oliver Larkin by a 64%-36% margin.

Moskowitz ran as a centrist Democrat, while Larkin proudly touted his membership in the DSA on the campaign trail.

Larkin said on the campaign trail that he wanted to abolish and prosecute members of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), taking his party’s stance on ending the agency one step further. The former Bernie Sanders campaign field director also championed packing the Supreme Court, a $25 minimum wage, ending the Cuba embargo and D.C. statehood, along with statehood for Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands.

Moskowitz issued a fiery statement denouncing the DSA.

“Tonight, Democratic voters sent a clear message. I faced a challenge from the DSA. They threw everything at me and I didn’t change who I am or what I believe, and the voters overwhelmingly chose the independent-minded approach I’ve brought to Congress,” he said. “I led the effort to have Kristi Noem fired, I’ve taken on this Administration, and I’ve taken on extremes in the DSA and won. Now we’re running in a tough district hand-drawn by Republicans to defeat me, but I plan to win that too.”

Moskowitz’s district, once reliably blue, leans Republican after redistricting. He will face Republican former Boca Raton Mayor Scott Singer.

Incumbent GOP senator advances in Alaska

One of the most closely watched Senate races in the country is ongoing in Alaska, as Republicans cling to a narrow majority in the upper chamber.

Alaska has non-partisan “top-four” primary elections, meaning that candidates from all parties compete in an open race, and the top four vote-getters advance to the general election. In the general election, the state uses ranked-choice voting.

Trump-endorsed Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan faced 15 primary challengers, including former Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola and a retired teacher.

The incumbent Sullivan was second in voting at the time the race was called, and will move on to the general election. Peltola, who lost her seat to Republican Rep. Nick Begich III in 2024, was in first and held a razor-thin lead of less than 1%.

Alaska’s only member of the House, Begich, will be on the ballot in November as he battles to keep his seat. He will be joined by independent fisherman Bill Hill, while two additional spots in the four-candidate field remained uncalled early Wednesday.

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The top two contenders in the gubernatorial race were separated by only two percentage points at the time AP called the race.

Politics runs in the Begich family, as Nick’s uncle, Tom Begich, a Democrat and former state senator, secured a spot in the November general election alongside Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins.

As of early Wednesday morning, AP had not yet called the final two candidates advancing in each of Alaska’s Senate, House and gubernatorial races, all of which send four candidates to the November general election.

President Donald Trump is scaling back major joint military exercises with South Korea after Seoul declined to support U.S. operations against Iran, a sharp U-turn with an ally his administration publicly praised just days prior.

The move came just three days after Secretary of State Marco Rubio called South Korea an “indispensable partner” and said the allies had entered a “historic new era” of cooperation following Trump’s state visit to Seoul last fall.

Victor Cha, the Korea Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Fox News Digital that Trump appears to see the drill reduction as a win-win for the U.S. — pressure Seoul to move faster on investment and burden-sharing while offer Kim incentives to reopen diplomacy.

“He sees this as a two for one,” Cha said. “A combination of things led to Trump’s frustration, that South Korea is not moving the trade and investment framework agreement on investments faster and his desire to meet the North Korean leader.”

TRUMP ORDERS MAJOR CUT TO US-SOUTH KOREA DRILLS AS NORTH KOREA RAMPS UP MISSILE TESTS

Behind the administration’s recent praise of Seoul, strains had been building, potentially leading to the mixed-messaging.

Trump has grown frustrated with the slow rollout of a $350 billion trade and investment framework, commercial disputes involving American companies and what he sees as South Korea’s unwillingness to do more for U.S. priorities, Cha detailed.

“That combination of things led Trump to make a decision where he said, ‘Hey, yeah, I’m gonna scale down these exercises maybe it’ll get a response from Kim Jong-un. At the same time, the South Koreans are rich, they should be doing their own exercises and like we should not be paying for them.'”

The deal would bring substantial South Korean investment to the United States while offering Seoul expanded cooperation on shipbuilding and nuclear-powered submarines.

But the first investments have moved slowly, despite Trump’s earlier threat to raise tariffs on South Korean goods by 25%, while parallel agreements with Japan are advancing faster.

The pressure on Seoul comes as Trump returns to another unfinished project from his first term: diplomacy with Kim.

Trump’s tumultuous relationship with the North Korean leader swung between threats of “fire and fury” and historic summits. The first was in Singapore in 2018 and the second in Hanoi in 2019, which was followed by a third meeting at the Korean demilitarized zone later that year.

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The formal encounters made Trump the first sitting U.S. president to meet a North Korean leader, but the diplomacy ended without a denuclearization deal after negotiations collapsed over the terms of sanctions relief and North Korea’s nuclear program.

In announcing the exercise cut, Trump wrote that the drills “send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile” to North Korea, which he said “has been unthreatening and respectful” during his second term.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for more details. A War Department official said the department is “actively working on executing the Commander-in-Chief’s directive,” while declining to offer details.

Kim’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, has said her brother retains good memories of Trump, but North Korea has expanded its nuclear and missile capabilities since the first summits while deepening its ties with Russia and China.

Pyongyang has not ruled out returning to diplomacy, but it has also signaled that Washington would first need to abandon its demand for North Korean denuclearization.

NORTH KOREA LAUNCHES ANOTHER BALLISTIC MISSILE AS US, SOUTH KOREA PREPARE FOR MILITARY DRILLS

“Where they haven’t ruled out negotiations with the U.S., but they have basically said, unless the U.S. accepts their nuclear status, there isn’t really a reason to talk,” Jenny Town, a senior fellow at the Stimson Center and director of 38 North, told Fox News Digital.

The drills are more than a show of force, they are where American and South Korean troops practice how to fight together if deterrence fails — from moving forces and equipment to sharing targeting information and operating under a single command structure.

Before Trump’s order, this year’s Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise was set to incorporate lessons from the war in Ukraine, including drone warfare, GPS disruption and the prospect of losing communications in a crisis.

Those are no longer theoretical concerns for the alliance: North Korean troops have fought alongside Russian forces and brought battlefield experience back to the peninsula.

SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENT JUMPS TO INVEST IN MILITARY AFTER TRUMP CUTS JOINT EXERCISES

“The exercises are the biggest military maneuver exercise that the Alliance does every year,” Cha said. “There’s nothing that can substitute for live fire and military exercises.”

Town said the last-minute nature of the decision risks creating uncertainty inside the alliance.

“This last minute haphazard way of sending this message really sends a lot of mixed messages, but also creates a lot of angst in the U.S.-South Korea alliance,” she said.

Trump’s order drew bipartisan criticism on Capitol Hill.

Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., said: “North and South Korea are still technically at war.”

“Our ability to help defend our ally against the North Koreans is because our forces are well trained and able to coordinate with the South Koreans. Hollowing out these joint exercises is shortsighted and a mistake,” the retired U.S. Navy Captain added.

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Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, a Republican, said reducing the drills “does nothing more than free up thousands of North Korea’s troops to support Putin’s systematic kidnapping, torture, rape, and murder of innocent Ukrainian citizens.”

“President Trump is playing right into Kim Jong-Un’s hands,” Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., claimed on X.

“Our alliance with South Korea is critical to U.S. security and announcing a decision to unilaterally scale back joint exercises, over social media, all while touting a “very good relationship” with Kim, is a gross miscalculation,” she added.

“Trump is rewarding a regime that sends weapons and troops to fight for Russia and has a long history of cooperation with Iran. Undermining our allies while making concessions to our adversaries is not a show of strength—it only emboldens those who threaten us.:”

Former state representative James Byrd advanced Tuesday against former golf club greenskeeper Billy Benavidez in Wyoming’s Democratic primary race for the newly opened Senate seat.

Incumbent Republican Sen. Cynthia Lummis announced in December that she would not seek re-election, saying she did not have the energy for another six-year term and creating an open Senate seat in deep-red Wyoming.

Byrd was an exploration geophysicist in the energy industry then later became an IT project manager and software consultant.

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He served in the Wyoming House of Representatives for a decade, beginning in 2009, and has touted his bipartisan approach to lawmaking in a majority Republican legislature.

The Senate seat has been held by Republicans since 1962. Joseph O’Mahoney was the last Democrat elected to the seat, winning in 1954, while Democrat John J. Hickey was appointed to the seat in 1961 and served until November 1962.

The moderate Democratic candidate ran a Wyoming-first campaign running on protecting public lands, supporting energy jobs and lowering rural healthcare costs.

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His opponent, Benavidez, ran as a more libertarian-leaning Democrat, campaigning on individual liberty, opposition to government surveillance, free-market policies, congressional term limits, and reducing the power of the federal government.

Byrd has criticized President Donald Trump over tariffs, arguing they have hurt Wyoming beef and agricultural products by reducing access to foreign markets.

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On immigration, Byrd has taken a more moderate stance than many Democrats, supporting stronger border security and enforcement while opposing family separation and backing broader immigration reform and expanded legal pathways for workers.

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Byrd has also backed expanding data centers in Wyoming, arguing they could diversify the state’s economy, create jobs and take advantage of Wyoming’s abundant energy resources.