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As she runs for re-election in 2026, Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York will now face a primary challenge from her own lieutenant governor.

New York Lt. Gov. Anthonio Delgado on Monday announced his bid to try and oust his boss as the Democrats’ nominee in next year’s election, in a very rare move by a lieutenant governor to primary challenge a sitting incumbent.

“New York, I’m not here to play the game. I’m here to change it. I’m running to be your next Governor,” Delgado said in a social media post.

In an accompanying video, the 48-year-old Delgado took a jab at his boss, saying “what we need right here in New York is bold, decisive, transformational leadership.”

 MORE POLLING PROBLEMS FOR THIS BLUE STATE DEMOCRAT GOVERNOR FACING RE-ELECTION NEXT YEAR

And in an interview with the New York Times, the lieutenant governor said that “people are hurting and New York deserves better leadership.”

Delgado, who is Black, in 2018 became the first person of African-American or Latino descent to be elected to Congress from Upstate New York. 

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Four years later Hochul appointed Delgado to fill the then-vacant lieutenant governor’s office, making him the first Latino to hold statewide office in New York.

But in recent years, their working relationship deteriorated and after months of political friction with Hochul and mulling a bid for governor, Delgado made it official.

FILE – New York Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado, on Monday announced that he would launch a 2026 Democratic primary challenge against incumbent Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul. (Photo by Paul Morigi/Getty Images) (Paul Morigi/Getty Images)

Hochul was the state’s lieutenant governor when, in August 2021, she was sworn in as New York’s first female governor, after three-term Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo resigned in disgrace amid multiple scandals.

She defeated then-Rep. Lee Zeldin by just over six points in 2022 to win a full four-year term steering New York. Zeldin’s showing was the best by a Republican gubernatorial nominee in blue-state New York since then-GOP Gov. George Pataki won re-election to a third term in 2002.

In July of last year, Hochul announced her intention to run for re-election in 2026.

While the governor’s approval ratings in a recent Siena College poll were holding slightly in positive territory, the survey indicated a majority of New Yorkers would still prefer someone else to win the 2026 election for governor in the Empire State.

REPUBLICAN GOVERNORS CHAIR, POINTING TO CAMPAIGN BATTLES AHEAD, TOUTS ‘OUR POLICIES ARE BETTER’

According to the poll, which was conducted May 12-15, 36% of registered voters in New York state said they would vote to re-elect Hochul to a second four-year term, with a majority (55%) saying they wanted someone else. 

It is a 10-point negative movement for Hochul compared to Siena’s April survey, when 39% of those questioned said they were prepared to vote to re-elect the governor and 48% wanted someone else.

Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York, seen at a press conference in New York City on March 3, 2025, is seeking re-election next year for a second four-year term. (REUTERS/David Dee Delgado) (REUTERS/David Dee Delgado)

Fifty-one percent of Democrats surveyed in the new poll said at this early point in the 2026 election cycle they are prepared to re-elect Hochul, with 38% of Democrats saying they want “someone else.”

But the poll indicated Hochul holding a wide lead over Delgado and Rep. Richie Torres, who is also mulling a Democratic gubernatorial campaign. Hochul stood at 46% in the poll in the Democratic nomination race, with Delgado at 12% and Torres at 10%.

The Democratic Governors Association (DGA) praised Hochul in a statement following Delgado’s announcement.

“Governor Kathy Hochul is a proven leader with a strong record of delivering for New Yorkers: putting money back in their pockets, protecting reproductive rights, and keeping communities safe. The Governor knows how to take on big fights and win for New York families — and her agenda is overwhelmingly popular with New Yorkers on both sides of the aisle. The Democratic Governors Association is 100 percent behind Governor Hochul as she continues to deliver for New York, take on Donald Trump, and build the operation it will take to beat Republicans up and down the ballot in 2026,” DGA executive director Meghan Meehan-Draper said.

Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi of New York, who unsuccessfully primary challenged Hochul in 2022, took to social media to caution Delgado.

“Antonio, you are a talented guy, with a great future. Based upon my experience this may not be the most well-thought out idea!” Suozzi said.

Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., seen on Capitol Hill on Nov. 13, 2024 in Washington, D.C., is seriously considering a 2026 run for New York governor. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, who is seriously considering a 2026 run for governor, used Monday’s news of Delgado’s primary challenge to reiterate her criticism of Hochul.

“There is a reason I dubbed Kathy Hochul the worst Governor in America. It’s because it’s true,” Stefanik claimed in a statement.

And the six-term congresswoman from Upstate New York, whom the Siena poll indicated was the front-runner in a hypothetical GOP primary, added that Hochul’s “own Lieutenant Governor that she hand picked is now primarying her which shows she has lost support not just from Republicans and Independents, but Democrat New Yorkers as well.”

Republican Rep. Mike Lawler of New York State, seen interviewed by Fox News Digital on April 7, 2025, in Washington D.C., is mulling a 2026 bid for New York governor. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)

GOP Rep. Mike Lawler of New York, who is also seriously considering a run for governor, took to social media to also blast Hochul “as the worst Governor in America — failed, feckless, and grossly incompetent.”

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“She must be defeated in 2026 and replaced with a Republican Governor who can restore balance and common sense to Albany,” he argued.

FIRST ON FOX – The Department of Justice demanded California’s public high schools confirm by next week that they do not allow transgender athletes to compete in girls’ sports, escalating a federal inquiry into the state over its compliance with Title IX.

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, who heads the DOJ Civil Rights Division, said in a letter obtained by Fox News Digital that public school districts must “certify in writing” by June 9 that they will not abide by the the California Interscholastic Federation’s gender identity rules.

“Knowingly depriving female students of athletic opportunities and benefits on the basis of their sex would constitute unconstitutional sex discrimination under the Equal Protection Clause,” Dhillon warned in the letter, obtained by Fox News Digital. 

CALIFORNIA HIGH SCHOOLER BEGS STATE OFFICIALS TO BAN TRANS ATHLETES FROM GIRLS SPORTS AT CONTENTIOUS MEETING

Harmeet Dhillon, nominee to be an assistant attorney general, testifies during her Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing in Dirksen building on Wednesday, Feb 26, 2025. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

The California Interscholastic Federation governs public and private high school sports in the state and has a bylaw that requires its members to recognize gender identity in sports.

All students should be able to participate in school sports “in a manner that is consistent with their gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on a student’s records,” the bylaw states.

Dhillon, a former California-based conservative attorney, said the certifications she is seeking from the public school districts will “ensure compliance” with Title IX and help them to “avoid legal liability.”

Her demand pits public school districts against the California Interscholastic Federation, the entity that schools are required to comply with to participate in state sports competitions.

DOJ INTERVENING IN CALIFORNIA TRANS ATHLETE CONTROVERSY AS TRUMP MONITORS GIRLS’ TRACK AND FIELD CHAMPIONSHIP

Fox News Digital reached out to the California Interscholastic Federation’s executive director for comment.

Dhillon’s move comes after she and the U.S. attorney for the Central District of California announced last week that they were investigating the California Interscholastic Federation and other public entities over whether the state’s laws conflicted with Trump’s interpretation of Title IX.

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When Trump took office, he ordered federal agencies to enforce Title IX in a manner that excluded gender identity after the Biden administration attempted to reinterpret the statute.

Title IX, passed in 1972, is a landmark civil rights law designed to prevent sex discrimination in schools. Former President Barack Obama made the first, albeit unenforceable, attempt to reinterpret Title IX at the end of his term by directing schools that received federal funds to allow transgender students to use bathrooms and participate in sports that corresponded to their gender identities.

Trump quashed those efforts in his first term and, in coordination with former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, underwent a lengthy process of creating new rules within the Education Department to require schools to adhere to the long-held meaning of Title IX.

Former President Joe Biden made embracing gender identity and re-imagining Title IX a pillar of his presidency by moving to unravel the Trump administration’s new rules. Biden was, however, met with numerous injunctions and never able to get his version of Title IX off the ground.

TRUMP DOJ, EDUCATION DEPT FORM TASK FORCE TO PROTECT FEMALE ATHLETES FROM ‘GENDER IDEOLOGY’ IN SCHOOLS, SPORTS

President Donald Trump, left, and first lady Melania Trump attend the national prayer service at the Washington National Cathedral, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, in Washington.  (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Now, Trump has aggressively sought to enforce his first term’s rules. He signed a string of executive orders focused on, as one order described it, the “biological reality of sex,” and his agencies have sent demand letters and opened federal inquiries into states that are resistant to the administration’s efforts.

In addition to targeting California, the DOJ sued Maine over Title IX, arguing its state Education Department was out of compliance with federal law, citing a transgender athlete who won a girls’ pole-vaulting competition in February.

Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) has downplayed the matter, telling local news at one point that there were “like two” transgender athletes in her state.

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California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), meanwhile, has shown an openness to Trump’s position that transgender athletes competing in girls’ sports is unfair, to the chagrin of some of Newsom’s liberal base.

Newsom also recently said he supported a new pilot initiative by the California Interscholastic Federation to allow any female track and field athlete who would have qualified for an upcoming state championship to compete if they had been displaced by a transgender athlete.

The Trump administration is fighting to pause a second court ruling that blocked President Donald Trump‘s sweeping and so-called reciprocal tariffs, the signature economic policy of his second term. 

The administration’s new appeal, filed Monday in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, comes less than a week after a very similar court challenge played out in the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT) in New York, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington.

At issue in both cases is Trump’s use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to enact his sweeping “Liberation Day” tariff plan. The plan, which Trump announced on April 2, invokes IEEPA for both his 10% baseline tariff on most U.S. trading partners and a so-called “reciprocal tariff” against other countries. 

TRUMP TARIFF PLAN FACES UNCERTAIN FUTURE AS COURT BATTLES INTENSIFY

Trump delivers remarks on tariffs in the Rose Garden at the White House on April 2, 2025. (Reuters/Carlos Barria/File Photo)

Trump’s use of the emergency law to invoke widespread tariffs was struck down unanimously last week by the three-judge CIT panel, which said the statute does not give Trump “unbounded” power to implement tariffs. However, the decision was almost immediately stayed by the U.S. Court of Appeals, allowing Trump’s tariffs to continue. 

But in a lesser-discussed ruling on the very same day, U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras, an Obama appointee, determined that Trump’s tariffs were unlawful under IEEPA. 

Since the case before him had more limited reach than the case heard by the CIT – plaintiffs in the suit focused on harm to two small businesses, versus harm from the broader tariff plan – it went almost unnoticed in news headlines.

But that changed on Monday. 

TRUMP DENOUNCES COURT’S ‘POLITICAL’ TARIFF DECISION, CALLS ON SUPREME COURT TO ACT QUICKLY

A woman under a purple umbrella walks past the Supreme Court, Feb. 28, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Lawyers for the Justice Department asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit – a Washington-based but still separate court than the Federal Court of Appeals – to immediately stay the judge’s ruling.

They argued in their appeal that the judge’s ruling against Trump’s use of IEEPA undercuts his ability to use tariffs as a “credible threat” in trade talks, at a time when such negotiations “currently stand at a delicate juncture.”

“By holding the tariffs invalid, the district court’s ruling usurps the President’s authority and threatens to disrupt sensitive, ongoing negotiations with virtually every trading partner by undercutting the premise of those negotiations – that the tariffs are a credible threat,” Trump lawyers said in the filing. 

Economists also seemed to share this view that the steep tariffs were more a negotiating tactic than an espousal of actual policy, which they noted in a series of interviews last week with Fox News Digital.

TRUMP TARIFF PLAN FACES UNCERTAIN FUTURE AS COURT BATTLES INTENSIFY

The bottom line for the Trump administration “is that they need to get back to a place [where] they are using these huge reciprocal tariffs and all of that as a negotiating tactic,” William Cline, an economist and senior fellow emeritus at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said in an interview.

Cline noted that this was the framework previously laid out by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who had embraced the tariffs as more of an opening salvo for future trade talks, including between the U.S. and China.

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters after David Perdue was sworn in as U.S. ambassador to China. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

“I think the thing to keep in mind there is that Trump and Vance have this view that tariffs are beautiful because they will restore America’s Rust Belt jobs and that they’ll collect money while they’re doing it, which will contribute to fiscal growth,” said Cline, the former deputy managing director and chief economist of the Institute of International Finance.

“Those are both fantasies.”

What comes next in the case remains to be seen. The White House said it will take its tariff fight to the Supreme Court if necessary. Counsel for the plaintiffs echoed that view in an interview with Fox News.

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But it’s unclear if the Supreme Court would choose to take up the case, which comes at a time when Trump’s relationship with the judiciary has come under increasing strain. 

In the 20 weeks since the start of his second White House term, lawyers for the Trump administration have filed 18 emergency appeals to the high court, indicating both the pace and breadth of the tense court battles. 

A federal judge on Monday blocked the Trump administration from deporting a Venezuelan migrant under the Alien Enemies Act, saying it hasn’t provided adequate notice or due process for it to be challenged. 

U.S. District Court Judge John Holcomb, a Trump appointee, ruled that those subject to deportation under the Alien Enemies Act have to be given a chance to challenge the move. 

“The Government is hereby preliminarily ENJOINED and RESTRAINED from removing or transferring out of this district any member of the putative class pursuant to the Proclamation pending further Order of this Court regarding the amount of notice and process that is due prior to removal,” Holcomb wrote. 

In a win for Trump, Holcomb also said the president has “unlimited” authority to invoke the AEA, which is being challenged separately. 

Monday’s ruling came amid a complaint by Darwin Antonio Arevalo Millan, a Venezuelan citizen being held at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Adelanto, California.

TRUMP ASKS SCOTUS TO STRIP PROTECTED STATUS FOR HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF VENEZUELAN MIGRANTS

Venezuelan migrants deported from the United States arrive at Simon Bolivar International Airport in Maiquetia, Venezuela, Feb. 20. (AP Photo/Cristian Hernandez)

In his lawsuit, Arevalo said he is a “vocal dissident” of the Venezuelan government who was granted a permit authorizing him to work and reside in the U.S. pending the review of his asylum application.

He was arrested after he reported for a scheduled ICE check-in, his lawsuit states. The arrest was premised upon his status as a Venezuelan with allegedly basketball-related tattoos, which could indicate that Arevalo is affiliated with the notorious Venezuelan Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang, it said. 

Arevalo’s complaint was filed on behalf of himself and other Venezuelan citizens subjected to Trump’s AEA executive order proclamation. He is asking a judge to require the government to provide at least 30 days’ notice before any removal or transfer. 

SUPREME COURT BLOCKS NEW DEPORTATIONS OF VENEZUELANS IN TEXAS UNDER 18TH CENTURY ALIEN ENEMIES ACT

This split shows President Donald Trump and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. The Trump administration has invoked the Alien Enemies Act to deport dangerous Venezuelan migrants. (AP)

Monday’s ruling came days after the Supreme Court handed Trump a win by staying a lower court order that blocked the administration from deporting roughly 500,000 migrants from Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela.

The order stays the lower court ruling that halted Trump’s plans to terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) protections for some migrants living in the U.S. TPS allow certain individuals to live and work in the U.S. legally if they cannot work safely in their home country due to a disaster, armed conflict or other “extraordinary and temporary conditions.”

The TPS program is typically extended to migrants in 18-month increments, most recently under the Biden administration toward the end of his presidency. 

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However, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in February attempted to end protections for a specific group of Venezuelan citizens, saying they were not in the national interest. 

Fox News Digital’s Breanne Deppisch contributed to this report. 

The Department of Homeland Security’s list of “sanctuary jurisdictions” has disappeared from its website. 

The list, unveiled last Thursday, outlined portions of 35 states and the District of Columbia that, according to the DHS, “undermine the rule of law and endanger the lives of Americans and law enforcement.” 

“We are exposing these sanctuary politicians who harbor criminal illegal aliens and defy federal law,” the DHS wrote on X while announcing the list. 

However, users who now try to access the list on the Department of Homeland Security’s website are greeted with a “Page Not Found” message and a note that “The page may have been moved, deleted, or is otherwise unavailable.” 

DEMOCRAT COUNTY EXECUTIVE DINGS TRUMP ADMINISTRATION OVER SANCTUARY JURISDICTION DESIGNATION 

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents walk down a street during a multi-agency targeted enforcement operation in Chicago, Ill., on Jan. 26. Chicago was listed as a “sanctuary jurisdiction” by the Department of Homeland Security. (Christopher Dilts/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

When asked about the matter on Monday, a senior Homeland Security official told Fox News Digital, “As we have previously stated, the list is being constantly reviewed and can be changed at any time and will be updated regularly.”

“Designation of a sanctuary jurisdiction is based on the evaluation of numerous factors, including self-identification as a Sanctuary Jurisdiction, noncompliance with Federal law enforcement in enforcing immigration laws, restrictions on information sharing, and legal protections for illegal aliens,” the official added. 

When Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was asked on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” about the disappearance of the list, she said, “The president put out an executive order that directed us to recognize these sanctuary cities and to cooperate with the Department of Justice and Homeland Security to identify them and how they are making are jobs much more difficult to keep America safe and to make it a place that our families can raise their children again. 

“That list – going forward – some of the cities have pushed back. They think because they don’t have one law or another on the books that they don’t qualify, but they do qualify,” Noem continued. “They are giving sanctuary to criminals because they are not backing up our ICE officers, because they are not out there honoring detainers, they are not letting us know when these dangerous criminals are being released from their courthouses and it’s making it much more difficult for us to ensure that these individuals that have broken our laws, that have perpetuated violence are brought to justice and are gotten out of our country.  

“So that list is absolutely continuing to be used and it is going to be identifying those cities and those jurisdictions that aren’t honoring law and justice,” Noem also said. 

ALLEGED BOULDER TERRORIST OVERSTAYED VISA, GRANTED WORK PERMIT BY BIDEN ADMINISTRATION 

Kristi Noem, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, is seen during a meeting with President Donald Trump and Nayib Bukele, El Salvador’s president, in the Oval Office of the White House on April 14. (Ken Cedeno/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Before the list was taken down, DHS said on its website, “Each jurisdiction listed will receive formal notification of its non-compliance with Federal statutes.  

“DHS demands that these jurisdictions immediately review and revise their policies to align with Federal immigration laws and renew their obligation to protect American citizens, not dangerous illegal aliens,” it added. 

Some of the jurisdictions on the list received pushback from local officials, according to the Associated Press. 

In California, the city of Huntington Beach made the list even though it had filed a lawsuit challenging the state’s immigration sanctuary law and passed a resolution this year declaring the community a “non-sanctuary city.” 

Jim Davel, administrator for Shawano County, Wisconsin, told the AP that the inclusion of his community must have been a clerical error. Davel voted for Trump as did 67% of Shawano County. 

Law enforcement is seen walking with an individual as he was detained in the Bronx during ICE-led operations to apprehend illegal immigrants on Jan. 28 in New York City. Homeland Security also listed New York City as a “sanctuary jurisdiction.” (Matt McClain/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

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Davel thinks the administration may have confused the county’s vote in 2021 to become a “Second Amendment Sanctuary County” that prohibits gun control measures with it being a safe haven for immigrants. He said the county has approved no immigration sanctuary policies. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.  

One is a Democrat sporting a hoodie, the other is a Republican wearing a tie, but bipartisan Pennsylvania Sens. John Fetterman and Dave McCormick stand on common ground. 

The two first-term senators from the critical swing state participated in the sixth installment of The Senate Project series on Monday. It was organized by the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate and the Orrin G. Hatch Foundation and moderated by Fox News’ Shannon Bream.

Sitting across from one another in a full-sized replica of the U.S. Senate Chamber at the Kennedy Institute in Boston, Fetterman towered over McCormick in his signature Carhartt sweatshirt, basketball shorts and sneakers. 

While Fetterman strutted on stage with an approachable wave to the audience, McCormick emerged from the double doors in a well-fitted suit and tie and immediately shook hands with his Democratic counterpart. 

KNIVES OUT FOR FETTERMAN: MAVERICK SENATOR JOINS LONG LINE OF DEMS PUNISHED FOR BREAKING FROM LEFT

Pennsylvania Sens. Dave McCormick and John Fetterman shake hands ahead of The Senate Project discussion. (FOX Nation)

Fetterman, who suffered a stroke and struggled with his auditory capabilities during his 2022 Senate campaign, has again found his health topping national headlines amid renewed concerns about his mental health. 

LEAKS TO MEDIA ABOUT FETTERMAN ARE A COORDINATED SMEAR CAMPAIGN, HILL COLLEAGUES SAY

But Fetterman again dismissed the slew of media reports as a “smear campaign” on Monday. And Republicans have surprisingly rallied behind the Democrat, who has gained a reputation for bucking his own party on top issues like immigration and Israel. 

It’s not just their wardrobes that set the senators apart. While McCormick speaks like a true politician, the Republican is only a few months into his first term serving elected office. McCormick’s background is in the U.S. Army, as under secretary of the treasury for international affairs for President George W. Bush and as CEO of Bridgewater Associates. 

Sens. Fetterman and McCormick found common ground on Monday. (FOX Nation)

Fetterman may have started his career in the insurance industry, but the Democrat has been in politics for almost a decade. He began his political career as mayor of Braddock before serving as lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania. 

Despite Fetterman’s years of experience in politics, his wardrobe choice and casual speaking tone set him apart from McCormick’s polished speech. Style points aside, the bipartisan senators found more common ground than not on Monday. They may have different deliveries, but the content of their arguments seem aligned. 

Both Fetterman and McCormick condemned the attack in Boulder, Colorado, this weekend, which authorities are investigating as an act of antisemitism. The Pennsylvania senators have been steadfast supporters of Israel and united to condemn what they call the rise of antisemitism on college campuses. They also agreed with President Donald Trump that Iran should not have nuclear capabilities. 

SWING STATE SENATORS COME TOGETHER IN RARE SHOW OF BIPARTISANSHIP, DEMS AREN’T HAPPY ABOUT IT

On Trump’s steel deal that allows Nippon Steel to invest in U.S. Steel in Pennsylvania, Fetterman and McCormick said they didn’t initially agree but were able to find common ground and deliver a deal for Pennsylvania workers. 

“We sat down within a week or two after I got elected and talked about a bunch of things,” McCormick said. “There’s a number of things we agreed on. We had both taken different positions on this, but we agreed the most important thing was the workers in Pennsylvania. There are a lot of things we disagree on, but the thing we agreed on was [protecting] those jobs in western Pennsylvania.”

Sens. McCormick and Fetterman participated in The Senate Project discussion with Fox News’ Shannon Bream on Monday. (Fox Nation)

McCormick said it’s a bipartisan strategy the Pennsylvania senators have tried to adopt since they started working together this year. 

“We’re looking for ways to find common ground,” McCormick said. “When we disagree, we disagree. But when we can agree, we agree.”

When pushed by Bream about Senate reconciliation on Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” McCormick indicated he would vote in favor of the bill while Fetterman said he’s a “no,” highlighting concerns over Medicaid reform. 

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“We both represent the most purple part of America,” Fetterman said before adding, “We are going to disagree and vote on different things, but for me, it’s about trying to find the things we can win together and deliver those kinds of wins for Pennsylvania and ultimately for America.”

FIRST ON FOX: California has agreed to drop its Advanced Clean Fleet (ACF) mandates dictating stringent emissions standards for big rigs, following a year-long court battle with an anti-regulations group whose legal arm is led by former Attorney General William Barr.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta and California Air Resources Board (CARB) executive Steven Cliff agreed in court documents filed Friday to withdraw their ACF mandates, leading the American Free Enterprise Chamber of Commerce (AmFree) to drop its legal challenge.

In a document signed by Obama-appointed federal Judge Troy Nunley and obtained by Fox News Digital, Cliff and Bonta agreed to present a repeal proposal for the ACF requirements in a public hearing no later than Oct. 31. They also agreed not to retroactively enforce any such regulations.

While a timeline in the court filing cited California had applied for an environmental waiver from the Biden administration in 2023, AmFree originally sued on ground that Sacramento’s regulations violated the Clean Air Act because a waiver was never obtained.

DOZENS OF STATES LOBBY EPA TO DENY CALIFORNIA WAIVER FORCING OUT-OF-STATE STRUCKS TO COMPLY WITH GREEN MANDATE

A traffic jam on the I-405 freeway in Los Angeles (iStock)

The regulations had been in effect since 2024, directing trucking firms to rapidly transition fleets from diesel to zero-emission vehicles. 

At the time, Barr called the move a “threat to our American free enterprise” and suggested the restrictions would lead to “negligible” environmental benefits at best while causing negative economic repercussions.

“This ruling is the final nail in the coffin of California’s crazy attempt to eliminate the traditional trucking sector, and yet another example of Gavin Newsom’s complete failure in California,” said AmFree CEO Gentry Collins.

“Even after the American public resoundingly voted to steer the country in a new direction last November, liberal states like California are hellbent on implementing a green agenda that consumers don’t want and technology cannot support,” said Collins, a former Iowa attorney general.

YOUNGKIN DECLARES INDEPENDENCE FROM CALIFORNIA AS VIRGINIA EXITS EMISSIONS PACT

“AmFree will remain vigilant, holding blue states to account for their misguided crusade that defies common sense and flies in the face of consumer choice and freedom, and ensuring that completely failed politicians like Gavin Newsom eager to run away from their liberal records are reminded of the disastrous policies that occurred on their watch.” 

The group positions itself as a more free-market alternative to the pro-business stalwart U.S. Chamber of Commerce. 

One major regional trucking outfit celebrated the news, telling Fox News Digital that firms across the country had a shared interest in seeing California’s mandates be reversed.

“Here in Alabama and also across America, we stand up every day for our members to defend free enterprise and stand against failed policies from states like California,” said Alabama Trucking Association CEO Mark Colson.

“We’re proud to unite with AmFree and our allies on the ground in California to accomplish shared goals and get our economy roaring again.”

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The nixing of the regs is only the latest in several sudden reversals of green mandates, as Congress has overturned at least three Biden-era EPA waivers that were officially granted to California to allow it to self-regulate its own emissions standards.

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., chairwoman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, praised the rollback of California’s clean-cars mandate as a win to “protect American workers and consumers from radical and drastic policy.”

“The impact of California’s waiver would have been felt across the country, harming multiple sectors of our economy and costing hundreds of thousands of jobs in the process,” Moore Capito said.

The big-rig regulations had required operators of several types of fleets to begin transitioning to zero-emissions tractor-trailers.

Fox News Digital reached out to Newsom, Bonta and CARB for comment.

EXCLUSIVE: One of four Jewish Republicans serving in the House of Representatives is calling for the federal government to deport the alleged illegal immigrant accused of setting Jewish people on fire in Colorado on Sunday.

Rep. Randy Fine, R-Fla., called for both the alleged perpetrator and his family to be kicked out of the United States in an interview with Fox News Digital Monday.

“I’m very angry, if you can’t tell. Many of us have been talking about this stuff for years,” Fine said sternly. “Maybe next time somebody says, ‘Globalize the Intifada, resistance by any means necessary,’ maybe people will take it seriously.”

A man identified as Mohamed Sabry Soliman allegedly threw Molotov cocktails and used a “makeshift flamethrower” to set peaceful Jewish activists on fire Sunday, according to officials. He allegedly yelled, “Free Palestine,” while committing the attack.

SUSPECT IN BOULDER TERROR ATTACK DETERMINED TO BE EGYPTIAN MAN IN US ILLEGALLY: FBI 

Rep. Randy Fine, left, is calling for the deportation of the relatives of Mohamed Sabry Soliman, right, the suspect in the Boulder attack. (AP/Reuters)

“The entire Palestinian cause is a lie… The entire justification of the cause is to eradicate Israel and to exterminate Jews,” Fine said.

“Find me a single person who yells, ‘Fee Palestine,’ who says they’re OK with Israel existing. You won’t find them. Find someone who says, ‘Globalize the intifada,’ who thinks Israel should exist. This is a philosophy built on evil. And this is what happens when we don’t do anything about it.”

Fine told Fox News Digital that House Republicans’ massive tax and spending reconciliation bill – President Donald Trump’s “one big, beautiful bill” – would give the White House resources to help mitigate such risks.

“President Trump needs the resources to round up and deport every single illegal immigrant, everyone – number one, starting with the family of Mohamed, who’s sitting at home illegally in Colorado right now.”

The immigration status of Soliman’s relatives – and whether he has family in the U.S. – is not immediately clear.

Several people were injured in the Boulder attack, but no fatalities were announced so far. (KDVR)

But the Department of Homeland Security said Monday morning that the suspect was in the U.S. illegally. Spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin wrote on X, “He entered the country in August 2022 on a B2 visa that expired on February 2023. He filed for asylum in September 2022.”

It comes after Department of Homeland Security (DHS) sources told Fox News that Soliman is an Egyptian immigrant who overstayed a visa but then was given a work permit during the Biden administration.

Eight people aged 52 to 88 were injured in the attack, including a Holocaust survivor. No fatalities have been reported so far. The activists were marching in support of Israeli hostages held by Hamas.

Soliman has been hit with multiple charges, including murder in the first degree.

“Jews were burned alive in the United States in 2025. We got burned 80 years ago, and we said, ‘Never again.’ And I’ll be damned if I let this continue,” Fine said.

US POLITICIANS, JEWISH GROUPS CONDEMN ‘HORRIFYING’ BOULDER TERROR ATTACK 

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He also called on Congress to pass his recent legislation that would make religion a protected class on college campuses, and for the U.S. to “cut off” Qatar’s financial influence in the U.S.

Asked how he would accomplish that, Fine pointed out he had previously been given the nickname, “Hebrew Hammer.”

“I didn’t come up with it, but they gave it to me for a reason,” Fine said.

Fox News’ Bill Melugin contributed to this report.

Progressive California Rep. Maxine Waters’ campaign has agreed to pay a $68,000 fine after an investigation found it violated multiple election rules.

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) said the longtime House lawmaker’s 2020 campaign committee, Citizens for Waters, ran afoul of several campaign finance laws in a tranche of documents released Friday.

The FEC accused Citizens for Waters of “failing to accurately report receipts and disbursements in calendar year 2020,” “knowingly accepting excessive contributions” and “making prohibited cash disbursements,” according to one document that appears to be a legally binding agreement that allows both parties to avoid going to court.

DEMS FUME OVER ‘DUE PROCESS’ FOR ABREGO GARCIA DESPITE LONG HISTORY OF PARTY BUCKING THE LEGAL PRINCIPLE

Rep. Maxine Waters, a Democrat from California, was accused of violating campaign finance rules. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Waters’ committee agreed to pay the civil fine as well as “send its treasurer to a Commission-sponsored training program for political committees within one year of the effective date of this Agreement.”

“Respondent shall submit evidence of the required registration and attendance at such event to the Commission,” the document said.

Citizens for Waters had accepted excessive campaign contributions from seven people totaling $19,000 in 2019 and 2020, the investigation found, despite the maximum legal individual contribution being capped at $2,800.

The committee offloaded those excessive donations, albeit in an “untimely” fashion, the document said.

Waters’ campaign committee also “made four prohibited cash disbursements that were each in excess of $100, totaling $7,000,” the FEC said. 

The investigation focused on Rep. Maxine Waters’ 2020 campaign finances. (REUTERS/Mike Segar)

The campaign committee “contends that it retained legal counsel to provide advice and guidance to the treasurer and implemented procedures to ensure the disbursements comply with the requirements of the Act.”

Leilani Beaver, who was listed as Citizens for Waters’ attorney, sent the FEC a letter last year that maintained the campaign finance violations were “errors” that “were not willful or purposeful.”

Waters, the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, has served in Congress since 1991.

The new movements in the probe were first reported by OpenSecrets.

MAXINE WATERS FLOATS DEPORTING MELANIA TRUMP IN ANTI-DOGE DIATRIBE

It is not the first time, however, that Waters has generated public scrutiny.

In 2023, a Fox News Digital investigation found that Waters’ campaign paid her daughter $192,300 to pay for a “slate mailer” operation between Jan. 2021 and Dec. 2022.

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It was reportedly just one sum out of thousands that Waters had paid her daughter for campaign work.

A complaint that Waters’ campaign had accepted illegal campaign contributions in 2018 was overwhelmingly dismissed by the FEC in a 5-1 vote.

Fox News Digital reached out to Beavers, Waters’ congressional office and Citizens for Waters for comment.

Russian and Ukrainian delegations have begun talks in Istanbul, Turkey, on Monday, less than 24 hours after a massive Ukrainian drone attack struck Russian airfields.

The two delegations entered Ciragan Palace in Istanbul alongside a group of senior Turkish officials. It is the second round of peace talks to take place in the three years since Russia invaded Ukraine.

Images from the event show many of the Ukrainian delegation wearing military uniforms, while the Russian group exclusively wore suits. 

Details of the meeting are not expected to be made public until after its conclusion. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin will not be meeting face-to-face, however. 

GEN. KELLOGG REVEALS WHAT CONCERNS HIM ABOUT RUSSIA

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. (Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Sputnik/Kremlin Pool Photo/Efrem Lukatsky/AP)

Ukrainian forces destroyed 40 aircraft in the drone attack this weekend, which an official says took more than a year to orchestrate. Russia’s defense ministry confirmed the attack on Sunday, saying it struck five airfields.

The operation saw drones transported in containers carried by trucks deep into Russian territory, he said. The drones reportedly hit 41 planes stationed at several airfields on Sunday afternoon, including A-50, Tu-95 and Tu-22M aircraft, the official said.

PUTIN MASSES 50,000 TROOPS ON UKRAINE’S NORTH FRONT AS TRUMP AGAIN AGREES TO MEET RUSSIAN, UKRAINIAN LEADERS

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan chairs Turkiye-Russia-Ukraine Trilateral Meeting in Istanbul, Turkey, on June 2, 2025.  (Murat Gok/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Moscow has previously used Tupolev Tu-95 and Tu-22 long-range bombers to launch missiles at Ukraine, while A-50s are used to coordinate targets and detect air defenses and guided missiles.

A series of explosions also struck bridges in Russia near Ukraine’s border on Saturday, though Ukraine has not taken responsibility for the attacks.

Ukrainian soldiers from the 115th Brigade Mortar Unit conduct mortar training, as members of the Anti-UAV unit test an FPV drone inhibitor in Lyman, Ukraine. (Photo by Jose Colon/Anadolu via Getty Images)

A highway bridge over a railway in the Bryansk region was blown up at 10:50 p.m. on Saturday night just as a passenger train carrying 388 passengers to Moscow was passing underneath, Russian investigators said.

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Just four hours later, a railway bridge over a highway was blown up in the neighboring Kursk region, showering the road with parts of a freight train, the investigators said.

EXCLUSIVE: Over the last several years, a few dozen diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) consultant groups have racked up over a hundred million dollars in taxpayer-funded contracts from K-12 schools across the country, a new report by Defending Education found.

The report, shared with Fox News Digital, details how 41 DEI consultant groups garnered millions in taxpayer-funded contracts from 303 school districts and public education entities from 2021 until now.

In total, the groups collected over $123 million from public schools in 40 states. The report found public school DEI contracts in both red and blue states, from Florida and Alabama to California and Washington.

Erika Sanzi, a spokesperson for Defending Education, described the schools-consultants partnership as a “total racket that makes schools worse” and often takes no consideration of age-appropriateness in curricula.

THE ‘GRADING FOR EQUITY’ PROPOSAL IS ABOUT LOWERING STANDARDS FOR STUDENTS, EXPERT SAYS

Over the last several years, a few dozen consultant groups have racked up over a hundred million dollars in tax-dollar contracts from K-12 schools across the country, a new report found. (Getty)

According to the report, the biggest winner in the scheme was Amplify, a firm that provides professional development and curricula to school districts, which scored a total of over $70,500,000.

The report states that in a now-scrubbed statement on its website, Amplify said its mission is to “make education, and thereby the world, more equitable and accessible” and to “help teachers support their students in constructing, questioning, expanding, and strengthening knowledge of where they come from and who they are becoming.”

In response, a representative for Amplify told Fox News Digital that the group “publishes textbooks and other instructional materials that help students learn reading, math and science” and that “there is no place anywhere in Amplify’s products, or in the training programs about how to use them, for ideologies or political agendas.” 

The representative said “our programs help students learn how to think, not what to think.” 

The report highlights another consultant group, Adjusted Equity Solutions, which it says is associated with the Culturally Responsive School Leadership Institute, that claims to help schools challenge “whiteness and hegemonic epistemologies in school,” use “equity audits to measure student inclusiveness, policy, and practice” and serve as “advocate and social activist for community-based causes in both the school and neighborhood community.” 

MAHA REPORT RAISES CONCERNS ABOUT CHILDHOOD CHRONIC DISEASE

Students arrive at Benson High School for the first day of hybrid instruction for middle and high schools on April 19, 2021, in Portland, Oregon. (Carlos Delgado/AP Images for Portland Public Schools)

This group took in over a million dollars from public schools during the study period.

“Tinkering in the minds of other people’s children is big business and countless K-12 schools across the country are active participants,” Sanzi said. “They pay big bucks to enter into contracts with ideologues and activists who, in turn, gain access, directly or indirectly, to a captive audience of young minds.”

Speaking with Fox News Digital via Zoom, Sanzi said that “rather than this being a focus on sort of academic interventions, it’s a lot of jargon that so far has not proven itself to be measurable. And there’s really not much evidence, if any, that any of this is helping students or helping schools or helping staff.”

EDUCATION SECRETARY LINDA MCMAHON PUSHES BACK ON CLAIMS THAT THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ‘DOESN’T CARE ANYTHING ABOUT THE LAW’

Sanzi said that though these DEI groups couch their activities in agreeable terms like “belonging” and “empathy,” they often end up being a “wolf in sheep’s clothing.”

“At first, you’re thinking lesson on empathy, like that’s good,” she said. “Who wouldn’t want their child to be empathetic? We want that. Until you realize that the lesson on empathy is going to be about something like a little girl in her bathroom at school, a staff member who’s trans, so biologically male, but identifies as female, comes into the restroom with her. She naturally feels uncomfortable because that’s a very natural feeling in a circumstance like that. But she’s told that she needs to have ‘empathy’ for this grownup who identifies as female, right? And that her discomfort is the problem… That feeling discomfort in that situation is wrong or makes her un-empathetic.”

Morning sun lights the front of the Department of Education building in Washington, D.C., Feb. 4, 2025. (Reuters/Kevin Lamarque)

The Trump Department of Education has warned state education departments in all 50 states that they must remove diversity, equity and inclusion policies or risk losing federal funding.

Despite this, Sanzi said many of these consultant groups have adjusted by scrubbing references to DEI on their websites and using other words to describe the same thing. 

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“We see a lot of renaming,” she said. “So, they might say, ‘Well, we’re getting rid of our DEI office or we’re getting rid of our equity officer.’ [But] the proof will be in the pudding because what we notice often is that you’ll see a switch, like suddenly we hear the word belonging a lot more now. And so the question becomes, ‘Are you getting rid of it? Or are you just rebranding it and shifting it somewhere else and taking it off your website?’” 

“What many people don’t understand is that the founders of these consultant companies and the people who run them and the practitioners are activists. They are ideologues,” she went on. “They have every right to believe that what they’re transmitting is the right thing, but in a public-school setting that is required to maintain viewpoint diversity, these really have no place, not only because of the cost, not only cause it’s public money, not only because they’re not very transparent about what they’re doing, but also because they are really trying to push an ideological agenda on other people’s children.”

The Culturally Responsive School Leadership Institute did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s time as the face of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has come to an end following the expiration of his time as a special government employee. 

Since January, Musk has been heading up DOGE, which was tasked with cutting $2 trillion from the federal government’s budget through efforts to slash spending, government programs and the federal workforce.

But how will the Trump administration look at DOGE now that Musk is gone?

So far, there are no signs that DOGE is being dismantled or that its efforts will be reversed, and former DOGE employees are infiltrating other areas of the Trump administration. Plus, President Donald Trump signaled that Musk could return in some capacity, although he did not dive into specifics. 

“Elon’s really not leaving,” Trump said Friday in the Oval Office. “He’s going to be back and forth … it’s his baby. And I think he’s going to be doing a lot of things. But Elon’s service to America has been without comparison in modern history.”

MUSK CONFIDENT DOGE WILL SAVE $1 TRILLION AS GOVERNMENT COST CUTTING CONTINUES

Elon Musk holds the key to the White House, a gift received from President Donald Trump, at a press conference in the Oval Office at the White House, in Washington, D.C., on May 30, 2025. (Nathan Howard/Reuters)

DOGE’s efforts to cut waste have led to roughly $175 billion in savings due to asset sales, contract cancellations, fraudulent payment cuts, in addition to other steps to eliminate costs, according to a May 26 update from DOGE’s website. That translates to roughly $1,086.96 in savings per taxpayer, according to the website. 

Meanwhile, Musk signaled that despite his departure as a special employee, DOGE would only continue to pick up steam and that DOGE is now an essential aspect of the federal government. 

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“This is not … the end of DOGE, but really the beginning. My time as a special government appointee necessarily had to end,” Musk said Friday in the Oval Office. “The DOGE team will only grow stronger over time. The DOGE influence will only grow stronger. I liken it to a sort of person of Buddhism. It’s like a way of life, so it is permeating throughout the government. And I’m confident that over time, we’ll see $1 trillion of savings, and a reduction in $1 trillion of waste, fraud reduction.” 

UNFINISHED BUSINESS: THE BUDGET CUTS MUSK COULDN’T COMPLETE AND WHAT’S NEXT FOR DOGE

Elon Musk, left, receives a golden key from President Donald Trump in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., on May 30, 2025. (Nathan Howard/Reuters)

The White House has said that DOGE leadership following Musk’s departure will continue through members of Trump’s Cabinet. 

“The DOGE leaders are each and every member of the president’s Cabinet and the president himself, who is wholeheartedly committed to cutting waste, fraud and abuse from our government,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Thursday at a White House press briefing. 

“The entire Cabinet understands the need to cut government waste, fraud and abuse,” Leavitt said. “And each Cabinet secretary at their respective agencies is committed to that. That’s why they were working hand in hand with Elon Musk. And they’ll continue to work with their respective DOGE employees who have onboarded as political appointees at all of these agencies. So surely the mission of DOGE will continue, and many DOGE employees are now political appointees and employees of our government.”

DOGE STAFFING SHAKEUP AS ELON MUSK HANGS UP HIS HAT, WHITE HOUSE CONFIRMS

President Donald Trump, right, is joined by Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, and his son, X Musk, during an executive order signing in the Oval Office at the White House on Feb. 11, 2025. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

A senior White House official previously told Fox News Digital that DOGE is now part of the “DNA” of the federal government, and that the agency will continue to function as it has done so far. 

“The DOGE employees at their respective agency or department will be reporting to and executing the agenda of the president through the leadership of each agency or department head,” the official said.

Fox News’ Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report. 

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., slammed the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s move to give the green light to Moderna’s mNEXSPIKE COVID-19 vaccine.

“Not MAHA at all!!!,” the congresswoman wrote in a post on X, using the acronym for the phrase “Make America Healthy Again,” calling the move “Unreal.”

“MNEXSPIKE is approved for use in individuals who have been previously vaccinated with any COVID-19 vaccine and are 65 years of age and older, or 12 years through 64 years of age with at least one underlying condition that puts them at high risk for severe outcomes from COVID-19,” an FDA letter to Moderna notes.

GREENE CALLS FOR YANKING FDA APPROVAL OF COVID-19 VACCINES: ‘CAUSING PERMANENT HARM AND DEATHS’

Chair of the Subcommittee on Delivering On Government Efficiency (DOGE) U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., presides over a hearing of the House Oversight Subcommittee in the U.S. Capitol on Feb. 26, 2025 in Washington, D.C.  (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

According to a Moderna press release, CEO Stéphane Bancel said that “COVID-19 remains a serious public health threat, with more than 47,000 Americans dying from the virus last year alone.”

The company describes itself as “a leader in the creation of the field of mRNA medicine.”

REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE AIRS FRUSTRATIONS, WARNS THAT SHE REPRESENTS A ‘NOT HAPPY’ REPUBLICAN BASE

Greene has previously spoken out against COVID-19 vaccines, saying their FDA approval should be nixed.

“COVID-19 vaccines should have never received approval and they’ve known the entire time how bad the side effects are and deaths caused by them. It’s time to do the right thing. Stop the COVID-19 vaccines,” she declared in part of a tweet in March.

TRUMP ALLY MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE SAYS SHE WON’T RUN FOR SENATE WHILE BLASTING DEMS AND FELLOW REPUBLICANS

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The congresswoman is currently serving her third term in the House of Representatives.

Nearly 1,000 people gathered at Main Beach in Santa Cruz, California, on Saturday for a Pride Month protest aimed squarely at President Donald Trump.

Participants formed a massive human banner that spelled out “Resist!” in rainbow colors as part of a demonstration organized by Indivisible Santa Cruz County. 

The 220-foot-wide display, with letters reaching 70 feet high, was designed by longtime left-wing activist Brad Newsham.

Organizers described the event as a peaceful act of resistance and a show of solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community.

SEATTLE MAYOR ACCUSED OF LYING AFTER BLAMING CHRISTIAN RALLY FOR PARK VIOLENCE

Left: Protesters hold signs reading “Peace,” “Love,” and “Freedom.”
Right: Beachgoers gather near coastal homes along the cliffs at Main Beach in Santa Cruz, California. The area was the site of a large-scale protest against President Donald Trump organized as part of the city’s Pride celebration. (iStock and Getty Images)

“It’s very important, the more people [who] can show our neighbors, our politicians in the world, that nonviolent resistance is the way to express our dissatisfaction with the way our country’s going,” said event organizer Becca Moeller to Lookout Santa Cruz.

But just above the colorful banner was a very different kind of message: “86 47,” a phrase many interpreted as a call to “get rid of” the 47th President of the United States.

In slang, “86” typically means to cancel, eliminate, or even destroy. Combined with “47,” the number now associated with President Trump’s second term, the phrase has raised alarms among critics who say it crossed a line.

Earlier this month, former FBI Chief James Comey posted a similar message in the sand, but instead of kelp, they were shells. He has since removed the post after widespread criticism and action by law enforcement.

SEATTLE MAYOR BLAMES CHRISTIAN RALLY FOR INSPIRING VIOLENT ‘ANARCHISTS’ WHO ‘INFILTRATED’ COUNTER-PROTEST

Beachgoers enjoying a sunny day with tents and umbrellas along the coastline, houses situated on the cliff in the background, Santa Cruz, California, June 22, 2024.  (Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)

“We don’t need a king. We want to go back to the way we were. We want to make America kind again,” said protester Beth Basilius to Lookout Santa Cruz.

While the event promoted “kindness” and inclusivity, the imagery told a more conflicted story.

“They claim they want to make America ‘kind’ again, but then they spell out ‘86 47’ in the sand. That’s not kindness — that’s a coded call to eliminate someone they disagree with. It’s hypocritical,” said Mike LeLieur, chair of the Santa Cruz County Republican Party to Fox News Digital.

LeLieur said local conservatives face growing hostility from the political left.

“We’ve had vehicles vandalized, tires slashed, and windows broken. I was forced off the road and attacked just for having a Trump sticker. At our State of the Union watch party, we were swarmed by angry protesters. It’s been nonstop hostility — and these are the same people who call themselves the ‘Party of Peace.’”

Aerial view of the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk with various amusement rides and beachgoers on a sunny day, Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, Santa Cruz, California, June 22, 2024. (Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)

Just 8.5% of voters in the city of Santa Cruz are registered Republicans, according to the most recent data from the California Secretary of State.

Despite the message written in the sand, some participants insisted the demonstration was rooted in compassion.

“We want to go back to the way we were. We want to make America kind again,” said protester Beth Basilius to Lookout Santa Cruz.

Supporters of the protest claimed that “86 47” was a symbolic rejection of Trump’s agenda, not a literal threat. But critics say that argument falls flat in a political climate where coded language carries real-world consequences.

“In California — and especially in Santa Cruz County — the left is creating a political environment of non-acceptance and persecution,” said Daniel Enriquez, a representative of the California Republican Assembly. “It’s consistent with the goals of socialist movements throughout history.”

Jenny Evans, co-leader of Indivisible Santa Cruz County, defended the event.

“When a great number of people come out to do something like this, it just is one more thing to show that we’re not all saying, ‘Fine, fine. We’ll go along with whatever you want,’” she said to Lookout Santa Cruz.

The event was also part of Santa Cruz’s 50th Pride celebration. Participants were instructed to dress in matching rainbow colors, coordinated with fabric laid out across the beach starting at 7 a.m.

The protest was peaceful, but critics say calling for kindness while displaying “86 47” sent a message that was anything but.

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Indivisible Santa Cruz County did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

SIMI VALLEY, CALIFORNIA – China’s rampant theft of intellectual property from American institutions and industry must be thwarted as the U.S. battles to remain the world’s economic and military leader – but America cannot completely decouple from the economic behemoth, Republican South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview.

The key, according to Rounds, is maintaining China as a key trade partner without giving them access to America’s technology, including artificial intelligence and computer chips.

“In doing so, maybe we’ll restrict their ability to actually be able to have a market that they can create their own stuff with. They’ll be using ours. And in using ours, they’ll be our standards,” Rounds told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview from the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library during the Reagan National Economic Forum on Friday in California. 

“Let’s not necessarily just totally divest. Let’s see if we can have an influence on them and the rest of the world as well when it comes to standards for AI and other technological advances in the future,” he added. 

Rounds was among the conference panelists who spoke on the threats China poses as President Donald Trump addresses the country’s chronic trade deficit with foreign nations, and his optimism for the future as the U.S. sprints to remain the world’s economic and military leader. 

SPY SURGE SPARKS TRUMP VISA CRACKDOWN ON CHINESE STUDENTS

South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds was a panelist for the inaugural Reagan National Economic Forum in California. (Getty Images)

Rounds’ remarks focused on keeping the U.S. in the driver’s seat of the world’s economy, which he explained is deeply entwined in technological advances and bucking Chinese theft of intellectual property, while also acknowledging and combating how China has advanced into a “near-peer competitor” with the U.S. from a military standpoint. 

‘NO REASON’ FOR NEW NUKES: TRUMP FLOATS DISARMAMENT TALKS WITH CHINA, RUSSIA

“We’ve got to do a better job of protecting the intellectual properties that we’ve got. The most advanced types of technologies that we have, everything we can do to slow down their connection with that, protecting against that infiltration or de-filtration of really good information that, right now, they’re stealing from us on a regular basis,” Rounds said during a panel called “China and the U.S.: When Trading Partners are also Great Power Competitors.”

The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California. (Fox News Digital )

He added that China has no qualms about stealing U.S. intellectual property – which is understood as intangible creations, such as patents for inventions or trade secrets such as tech algorithms. Rounds recalled a recent conversation with an ambassador to China who told him their culture does not understand “how someone can own an idea.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced last Wednesday that the U.S. will begin “aggressively” revoking visas of Chinese students, most notably those with ties to the Chinese Communist Party who are trained at U.S. schools, but return to China or feed U.S. information to China. 

China has stolen billions in intellectual property on an annual basis, Sen. Mike Rounds says. (Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Rounds said the country needed a pause on admitting Chinese nationals with CCP ties into elite U.S. schools until an enforceable agreement is in place protecting intellectual property and processes from Chinese capture. 

“We have Chinese students that come in here, and then they [maintain] ties back home. And even if they want to stay here, one of the challenges we have is that their family may very well be coerced into requiring them to come back home again. And if that’s the case, any of the knowledge that we’ve helped them to develop here goes back home with them,” Rounds said. 

“Until such time as we’re able to address that, and until such time as we’re able to be assured that the information that they’re getting here, the data that they are catching here, the knowledge that they gain here isn’t going to be used against our young men and women in the future, we want to slow this down a little bit. Let’s just take a break. Let’s not be bringing in these Chinese students that have ties with the Chinese Communist Party, until we have some kind of agreement in place that is enforceable,” he said. 

South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds was a panelist for the inaugural Reagan National Economic Forum in California. (Fox News Digital )

Rounds explained during the Reagan library forum that protecting U.S. intellectual property from Chinese theft has a ripple effect on U.S. efforts to remain the world’s military leader as China seeks parity with America. 

STATE DEPARTMENT SAYS IT WILL ‘AGGRESSIVELY REVOKE’ VISAS OF CHINESE STUDENTS

“[China is] a strategic challenger for us on the military side. They are a near-peer competitor. And they have an advantage over us in one particular way: They are unified in terms of when Xi Jinping wants to move, it’s not just the government that moves, but the entire rest of their economic activity is required to move the way that he wants them to move. We don’t have that here. And so for us, we have to recognize that challenge. Now, I’m not suggesting we go the direction that they go, but we have to recognize their ability to move very, very quickly,” he said. 

Chinese President Xi Jinping listens during a meeting in Hanoi, Vietnam, on April 14. (AP/Minh Hoang)

The Trump administration leveled tariffs as high as 145% on Chinese goods in April, and China retaliated against the president’s “Liberation Day” policies with tariffs of its own. China and the U.S. reached a preliminary trade agreement last month, which Trump said China violated in a Truth Social post on Friday. 

TRUMP CALLS OUT PUTIN, ACCUSES CHINA OF NOT HONORING TRADE DEAL TERMS DURING 19TH WEEK IN OFFICE

“I made a FAST DEAL with China in order to save them from what I thought was going to be a very bad situation, and I didn’t want to see that happen. Because of this deal, everything quickly stabilized and China got back to business as usual. Everybody was happy! That is the good news!!! The bad news is that China, perhaps not surprisingly to some, HAS TOTALLY VIOLATED ITS AGREEMENT WITH US. So much for being Mr. NICE GUY!” he wrote. 

President Donald Trump speaks during the National Prayer Breakfast, Feb. 6, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Rounds explained that the U.S. is in the midst of reaching a favorable trade deal while also acknowledging China has stolen billions of dollars in intellectual property for its own advantage. 

“We do, right now, really close to about a half a trillion dollars a year in economic activity with China today, but they steal about $600 billion in intellectual property on an annual basis. And so we have this dichotomy of trying to do good trade and at the same time recognizing that they’re stealing our property,” he said. 

Rounds said the floodgates of accepting and leveraging AI have not yet opened in the U.S., as many Americans are still hesitant to trust the technology. In mere months and years, however, he said the health industry will see massive overhauls, aided by tech that can quickly identify cancer or diagnose diabetes and Alzheimer’s. This will lead American culture to accept AI and rally the private sector’s proliferation of it, he said.

HOUSE CHINA COMMITTEE ZEROS IN ON LATEST CCP EFFORTS TO STEAL AMERICAN AGRICULTURE IP

“I think what the American people want to see is, what’s in it for them? What improves their quality of life? I think one of the most critical issues – that would really be one of the easiest to get into – is talking about health care. And I firmly believe that Americans will see AI as a benefit to them rather than as a challenge when we start to see cures for diabetes, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and cancers. And those are all within reach,” Rounds told Fox Digital. 

Rounds added during the forum that when Americans personally feel how their quality of life has improved due to AI, “that’s when we’ll really see the push across the country to develop AI at a rate that you’ve never seen before by the private sector, as well.”

“That’s what’s going to keep us ahead of China,” he said. 

Red flags flutter in front of the Great Hall of the People on March 4, 2022, in Beijing, China. (VCG/VCG via Getty Images)

The forum at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, which is nestled in California’s Santa Susana Mountains and the Simi Hills, kicked off on Thursday evening, and featured more than a dozen discussions and panels focused on the economy, artificial intelligence, U.S. defense strategies, the energy sector and more across Friday. Banking leader Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase, Energy Secretary Chris Wright and former Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin were among those who joined Rounds in addressing the nation’s economic health. 

The Reagan library’s retired Air Force One jet is showcased in a pavilion. (Fox News Digital)

“The Reagan Library does an excellent job working on defense issues, and now they’ve also opened up a seminar basically working on economic issues critical to the United States. And so to come in here and to work with other people that care about the economic well-being of our country, this is an excellent place to do it.… So it’s an opportunity for me to really learn what’s going on and what other people are thinking about our economy in general,” Rounds told Fox Digital of the forum. 

JPMORGAN’S JAMIE DIMON CALLS ON US TO STOCKPILE BULLETS, RARE EARTH INSTEAD OF BITCOIN

A statue of the former president at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

The conference comes as the Senate works to pass the Big Beautiful Bill, which is a sweeping multitrillion-dollar piece of legislation that advances Trump’s agenda on taxes, immigration, energy, defense and the national debt. Rounds said the legislation must pass or Americans will see their taxes spike. 

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“We don’t have a choice. We have to pass the bill to get the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act back in place on a permanent basis. If we don’t do that, the average American family is going to see about a $2,400 a year increase in their taxes. So we have to do something. And it’s critical that we pass this bill. We’re going to work with the House. We’re gonna get this deal done. The Senate will put their mark of approval on it, but nonetheless, we want to do everything we can as quickly as we can to take care of this so that we can get on to other things. The president has made it very clear he wants to get this done. We want to help in that regard. This is our job,” he said. 

Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., criticized the Trump administration for “sowing chaos” in communities while announcing that a member of his staff was handcuffed and briefly detained at his New York City office last week.

Federal Protective Service (FPS) officers were responding Wednesday to reports that protesters were inside Nadler’s district office in Manhattan. At the time, a protest was taking place outside an immigration courthouse in the same facility as the congressman’s office. 

“Based on earlier incidents in a nearby facility, FPS officers were concerned about the safety of the federal employees in the office and went to the location to ensure the safety and wellbeing of those present,” a Homeland Security spokesperson told Fox News Digital. 

TRUMP DHS ISSUES WARNING AFTER ANTI-ICE PROTESTERS ATTEMPT TO DISRUPT ARREST

Rep. Jerry Nadler criticizes Trump administration after his staff member was detained by DHS officers during protests in New York City, calling for an end to intimidation tactics. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

The officers were let inside and came upon four people, the spokesperson said. 

“Officers identified themselves and explained their intent to conduct a security check, however, one individual became verbally confrontational and physically blocked access to the office, the spokesperson added. “The officers then detained the individual in the hallway for the purpose of completing the security check. All were released without further incident.”

In a video of the arrest posted online, the officers were heard saying that Nadler’s staff were “harboring rioters” and that they were conducting a check. The staff member being arrested can be heard crying during the incident. 

In a statement released Saturday, Nadler said the DHS officers “forcefully” entered his office before handcuffing a member of his staff.

NOEM DISMISSES JEFFRIES’ WARNINGS AS DHS CONSIDERS ARRESTS OF DEMOCRATIC LAWMAKERS AFTER ICE FACILITY CLASH

“President Trump and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) are sowing chaos in our communities, using intimidation tactics against both citizens and non-citizens in a reckless and dangerous manner,” Nadler said. 

“The decision to enter a Congressional office and detain a staff member demonstrates a deeply troubling disregard for proper legal boundaries,” he added. “If this can happen in a Member of Congress’s office, it can happen to anyone–and it is happening,” Nadler said, in part.

Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., has accused President Donald Trump of “sowing chaos” after his staff member was briefly handcuffed and detained at the congressman’s office last week.  (AP)

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Nadler further called on Trump and DHS to halt “these dangerous tactics” and to abandon the expedited removal process, which he said denies due process for illegal immigrants and U.S. citizens. 

“While no arrests were made and the situation was quickly deescalated, I am alarmed by the aggressive and heavy-handed tactics DHS is employing in New York City and across the country,” he said. 

President Donald Trump shared a post on social media this weekend claiming that President Joe Biden died in 2020 and was replaced with clones.

Trump shared a link to the post from his personal account on Truth Social on Saturday. The post originated from a small account on the platform responding to discussions about Biden’s health.

“There is no Joe Biden – executed in 2020,” the post says. “Biden clones, doubles and robotic engineered soulless, mindless entities are what you see.”

“Democrats don’t know the difference,” it adds, before listing a litany of hashtags.

POLITICAL WORLD REACTS TO FORMER PRESIDENT BIDEN’S ‘AGGRESSIVE’ CANCER DIAGNOSIS: ‘INCREDIBLY DIFFICULT’

President Donald Trump shared a social media post claiming that President Joe Biden had been “executed” in 2020 and replaced with clones. (Win McNamee/Pool via REUTERS, Getty Images)

Trump added no words of his own to the post, merely sharing the link on his personal account.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.

Trump shared several links to Truth Social posts without offering his own commentary Saturday night. Most of the posts detailed Trump’s efforts to return steel manufacturing to the U.S.

JOE BIDEN DIAGNOSED WITH ‘AGGRESSIVE FORM’ OF PROSTATE CANCER WITH METASTASIS TO THE BONE

President Trump shares a post on Truth Social.

The Saturday post comes amid new controversy over Biden’s health while in office. Speculation has exploded in the days since Biden announced he has stage 4 metastatic prostate cancer, a diagnosis that typically takes years to develop.

The nature of the diagnosis has led to speculation that members of the previous administration were aware of the cancer but withheld information about it from the public, even as they attempted to run Biden for a second term.

Former President Joe Biden shared an image of he and his wife Jill after it was announced he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. (X.com/@JoeBiden)

Trump said he and first lady Melania Trump were “saddened” to learn of Biden’s diagnosis and wished him a “fast and successful recovery” in a post on social media this weekend.

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“Melania and I are saddened to hear about Joe Biden’s recent medical diagnosis,” Trump wrote. “We extend our warmest and best wishes to Jill and the family, and we wish Joe a fast and successful recovery.”

Conservatives are mocking Sen. Cory Booker for delivering an alleged “Nazi salute” to California Democrats, while quipping the New Jersey Democrat won’t get the same scrutiny Elon Musk did when he raised his arm to MAGA supporters in January. 

“NEW: Democrat Senator Cory Booker appears to do a ‘Nazi’ salute in front of a large crowd of Democrats. I’m looking forward to the wall to wall coverage from the ‘honest’ and totally not biased media,” Trending Politics co-owner Collin Rugg posted to X, accompanied by footage of the gesture. 

“If Elon Musk is a Nazi for doing this gesture…  Cory Booker is one too. Sorry, I don’t make the rules,” X user Angela Belcamino posted. 

Booker traveled to the Los Angeles area on Saturday, where he addressed the California Democratic Party’s convention, calling on supporters to “stand up” to President Donald Trump and repeating a handful of messages he delivered during his marathon 25-hour speech on the Senate floor in March railing against Musk, the Department of Government Efficiency, and the Trump administration for its alleged attacks on “Americans’ safety, financial stability, the core foundations of our democracy.”

ELON MUSK’S MOTHER URGES HIM TO SUE CNN, OTHER NEWS OUTLETS FOR PEDDLING ‘NAZI SALUTE’ NARRATIVE

Sen. Cory Booker addressed the California Democratic convention at the Anaheim Convention Center.

“Real change does not come from Washington. It comes from communities. It comes from the streets. It comes from the people who’s standing up and have shown over and over again – against the powerful, against the elected, against the rich – that the power of the people is greater than the people in power,” Booker said on Saturday to the California Democrats. 

He capped off his roughly 15-minute speech with a gesture where he placed his right hand on his chest before raising it to the crowd. 

Musk delivered a similar gesture in January on Trump’s inauguration day, which yielded dozens of headlines from mainstream media outlets that Musk delivered a “Nazi-style salute” to Trump supporters. Liberals and critics frequently attacked Trump while he was on the campaign trail by calling him a Hitler-esque fascist, including former Vice President Kamala Harris, who compared Trump to the German dictator during a town hall in October. 

BOOKER CONCLUDES RECORD 25-HOUR SPEECH AGAINST TRUMP, MUSK, MARKING THE LONGEST EVER ON THE SENATE FLOOR

Elon Musk gestures as he speaks during the inaugural parade inside Capital One Arena, in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 20, 2025. (Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images )

Conservatives and others pounced on the footage of Booker, asking if media outlets would accuse the New Jersey Democrat of gesturing like a Nazi. 

“Will Corey Booker be plastered all over msm with headlines claiming he’s a ‘Nazi’?” The Post Millennial’s X account posted, accompanied by footage of the gesture. 

DEM SENATOR SAYS PARTY BRAND IS ‘REALLY PROBLEMATIC’ AND LED TO THE LOSS OF TRUST OF WORKING-CLASS VOTERS

“Here’s a list of all the news networks who have not covered Cory Booker’s salute: – NYTimes – CNN – Washington Post – MSNBC – NPR – USA Today – Reuters – Axios – ABC News Every single one of them wrote stories on Elon Musk’s ‘salute’… …do you get it yet?” former government scientist Matt van Swol posted to X. 

Musk responded to van Swol: “Legacy media is one big psy op.”

Sen. Cory Booker speaks at the California Democratic convention at the Anaheim Convention Center on Saturday, May 31, 2025, in Los Angeles. (Carlin Stiehl/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

ELON MUSK’S OFFICIAL ROLE AT TRUMP’S DOGE ENDS, BUT HIS POLITICAL IMPACT LINGERS AHEAD OF MIDTERMS

“Cory Booker is a straight up NAZI! WOW,” conservative X user Gunther Eagleman posted. 

Other X posts included direct comparison between Musk’s wave in January and Booker’s gesture on Saturday. 

President Donald Trump and Elon Musk attend a press conference in the Oval Office of the White House, May 30, 2025. (Reuters/Nathan Howard)

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“Cory Booker was obviously just waving to the crowd. Anyone who claims his wave is the same as Elon Musk’s gesture is operating in bad faith. The differences between the two are obvious to anyone without an agenda,” Booker spokesperson Maya Krishna-Rogers told Fox News Digital on Sunday when asked about the gesture. 

Booker did not appear to join fellow liberals in comparing Musk’s wave to a Nazi salute in January, although he has previously slammed Trump as “worse than a racist,” accusing him in 2019 of using “racist tropes” as “a weapon to divide our nation against itself.” 

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said on Sunday that he would support President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” if the debt ceiling hike was removed.

Paul told CBS’ “Face the Nation” host Margaret Brennan that he and three other Republican senators will hold out against the bill unless it is modified. 

“I think there are four of us at this point, and I would be very surprised if the bill at least is not modified in a good direction,” Paul said. 

“I want the tax cuts to be permanent. But at the same time, I don’t wanna raise the debt ceiling five trillion,” he continued, adding, “The GOP will own the debt once they vote for this.”

SENATE REPUBLICANS EYE CHANGES TO TRUMP’S MEGABILL AFTER HOUSE WIN

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., talks with reporters in the U.S. Capitol after the House passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act on Thursday, May 22, 2025.  (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc )

Trump on Saturday warned Paul would be “playing right into the hands of the Democrats” if he votes against the bill.

“If Senator Rand Paul votes against our Great, Big, Beautiful Bill, he is voting for, along with the Radical Left Democrats, a 68% Tax Increase and, perhaps even more importantly, a first time ever default on U.S. Debt,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Saturday afternoon. 

TRUMP WARNS RAND PAUL HE’S PLAYING INTO ‘HANDS OF THE DEMOCRATS’ WITH ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ OPPOSITION

President Donald Trump on Saturday warned Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., he would be “playing right into the hands of the Democrats” if he votes against Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill.”  (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images; Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

“Rand will be playing right into the hands of the Democrats, and the GREAT people of Kentucky will never forgive him! The GROWTH we are experiencing, plus some cost cutting later on, will solve ALL problems. America will be greater than ever before!”

Next week, Senate Republicans will get their turn to parse through the colossal package and are eying changes that could be a hard sell for House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who can only afford to lose three votes.

The US Capitol in Washington, DC, US, on Sunday, May 18, 2025. (Alex Wroblewski/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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Congressional Republicans are in a dead sprint to get the megabill — filled with Trump’s policy desires on taxes, immigration, energy, defense and the national debt — onto the president’s desk by early July.

Fox News Digital’s Brie Stimson and Alex Miller contributed to this report.

New Jersey voters will choose their Democrat and Republican nominees for governor on June 10, closing out competitive primary contests that could have major implications for the Garden State. 

It’s a crowded field on both sides of the aisle as six Democrats and five Republicans are vying for the chance to replace Democrat Gov. Phil Murphy, who is term-limited this year. 

Democratic candidates include Newark mayor Ras Baraka, Jersey City mayor Steve Fulop, New Jersey Education Association president Sean Spiller, former New Jersey Senate president Steve Sweeney and U.S. Reps. Josh Gottheimer and Mikie Sherill.

2021 Republican gubernatorial nominee Jack Ciattarelli, radio personality Bill Spadea, New Jersey state Sen. Jon Bramnick, former Englewood Cliffs Mayor Mario Kranjac and political outsider Justin Barbera are among the Republican candidates. 

DEM LAWMAKER FUNDRAISES OFF FEDERAL ASSAULT CHARGES AFTER ICE FACILITY CONFRONTATION: ‘DOING MY JOB’

Democrat Rep. Mikie Sherrill, left, and Republican Jack Ciattarelli, right, are among the leading gubernatorial candidates ahead of the New Jersey primary.  (Getty Images)

Democrat and Republican candidates have evoked President Donald Trump’s name during their gubernatorial campaigns, as Democrats position themselves as the most anti-Trump and Republicans try to be the most pro-Trump. 

REP. MIKIE SHERRILL SUGGESTS THIRD TRUMP IMPEACHMENT AS SHE CAMPAIGNS TO BE NEXT NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR

New Jersey is one of just two gubernatorial elections in 2025, along with Virginia. Both races will be used by politicians and pundits to gauge how Americans are responding to Trump’s second term ahead of the midterm elections next year. 

Trump outperformed in the Garden State in 2024, according to Fox News Voter Analysis. 

While Vice President Kamala Harris won New Jersey in 2024 as expected, Trump gained a nearly five-point improvement from his 2020 vote share and Harris’ support dropped by about five points. He gained across New Jersey, with his largest swings in the northeast corner of the state. Hudson and Passaic counties lead the pack.

Trump arrives for his campaign rally in Wildwood Beach on May 11, 2024, in Wildwood, New Jersey. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

Trump held a large “Make America Great Again” rally on the Jersey Shore during his 2024 presidential campaign as he told the crowd that New Jersey was in play, despite its reputation as a reliable blue state. 

Republican gubernatorial candidates have been eager to play up their relationships with Trump and cast their campaigns as the most aligned with Trump. But the president endorsed Ciattarelli on Truth Social earlier this month – a blow to Ciatarelli’s closest competitor, Spadea.

Ciattarelli is leading the pack of Republican candidates with 42% of New Jersey registered Republicans and Republican-leaning independent voters, according to a Rutgers-Eagleton/SSRS Garden State Panel poll conducted from April 1 to April 10. Spadea comes in a distant second, with 12%. Four percent of Republicans said they preferred Bramnick, 3% chose Barbera, and no one chose Kranjac. Four percent say they don’t prefer any of the candidates.

Ciattarelli landed Trump’s endorsement earlier this month.  (Getty Images)

This is the leading Republican’s third consecutive gubernatorial bid. Ciattarelli lost by a hair to Murphy in 2021 and has framed his candidacy as a referendum on the Democrat policies that have driven New Jersey for the past eight years. 

Meanwhile, the Democrat candidates have walked a fine line between building on Murphy’s legacy and promising to change the status quo in Trenton. Like Murphy, Democrat candidates have rejected Trump’s executive orders, crackdown on illegal immigration and Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cuts. 

The same poll found Democrats were more split about their leading candidate. 17% of registered Democrats and Democrat-leaning independents said they prefer Sherrill and 12% said they support Fulop, which is within the margin of error. Spiller picked up 10%, Baraka had 9% and Sweeney landed 7% of the vote. Four percent didn’t prefer any of the candidates. 

Baraka speaks after exiting a courthouse on May 15, 2025, in Newark, New Jersey. (Getty)

Democratic candidates threw their support behind Baraka this month when he was arrested for trespassing at an ICE facility in Newark. The Department of Homeland Security called it a “beyond bizarre political stunt,” but Baraka has maintained that he did nothing wrong. 

As the New Jersey primary comes to a head next month, the Garden State has dominated national headlines this year. Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) has experienced multiple FAA system outages, prompting concern among fliers and air traffic controllers. 

And a New Jersey transit strike created more travel mayhem when railways closed last week. Not to mention the large sinkhole that shut down Interstate 80, redirecting even more New Jersey travelers and commuters. 

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In-person early voting runs Tuesday, June 3, to Sunday, June 8. Vote-by-mail ballots must be postmarked by Election Day, and received by the county Board of Elections on or before the sixth day after the close of the polls. In-person voting on election day, Tuesday, June 10, will be from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. 

Fox News’ Remy Numa contributed to this report.