‘Stop the clock’: GOP, Dems come together to end Daylight Saving over health, economic risks
In 1957, rockabilly singer Bob Ehret repeated, “We’ve got to stop the clock, baby; to spend more time with you” – and in a Senate Commerce Committee hearing, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle strongly considered the benefits of doing so, in a way. Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said Daylight Saving was grounded in good-faith efforts to reduce energy consumption, but that instead it has led to increased auto accidents in the dark, workplace issues, and objections from the agriculture sector that relies on early-morning sunlight. “We find ourselves adjusting our clocks… springing forward and falling back in the fall. For many Americans, this biannual ritual is a minor inconvenience… But when we take a closer look at the implications of changing the clocks, its impact on our economy, our health and our everyday lives, we can see that this practice is more than an annoyance,” Cruz said. “The idea was simple. Fewer hours of darkness meant less electricity consumption for lighting and heating.” TRUMP’S DAYLIGHT SAVINGS PLAN However, unlike the early 1900s, when the U.S. economy was heavily reliant on energy consumption tied to daylight hours, today’s effects from sunrise and sunset timings are “de minimis,” he said. Cruz, along with Massachusetts neurology physician Dr. Karin Johnson, spoke about the health concerns associated with changing the time twice a year and with the permanence of Daylight Saving Time, versus Standard Time. “Research has shown that the abrupt shift in time, especially the spring transition when we lose an hour of sleep,” Cruz said, as Johnson spoke about the effects on people’s circadian rhythm, vascular system and sleep deprivation. The panel also hosted an official from the National Golf Course Owners Association, as he and other lawmakers spoke of the increased revenue from evening tee times and other tourist activities only possible during daylight hours. On the Democratic side, Sen. Lisa Blunt-Rochester of Delaware agreed that it was time to consider a “permanent time for our country.” She noted a bill from then-Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., to abolish DST stalled in the House. “This body [then] took a harder look at how time changes work state-by-state,” she said. “What works in my home state of Delaware may not work in Washington state, but I know I speak for many Americans when I say it’s time. It’s time to figure this out.” ‘I CAN’T SLEEP BECAUSE OF RACING THOUGHTS AT NIGHT — HOW CAN I STOP THEM?’: ASK A DOCTOR Witnesses to the hearing noted that it is indeed southern states like Florida and Texas where the negative effects of a permanent Daylight Saving Time would be most felt. Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., spoke about his work shifting Daylight Saving Time twice to help assuage some of the issues that were brought up each time, including better guaranteeing trick-or-treating happens at worst at dusk. Markey quipped that his decades-long work on this issue earned him the nickname “the Sun King.” “We need to stop the clock,” Blunt-Rochester said. “We know that changing the clock disrupts sleep, which can lead to negative health outcomes. Several studies have noted issues with mood disturbances increase hospital admissions, and even heart attacks and strokes.” Lock The Clock movement founder Scott Yates testified about the flawed history of DST, noting a time during the 1970s energy crisis that the Nixon administration briefly made DST permanent. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Nixon signed the law in December 1973 while embroiled in Watergate – but it took effect the first week the following year – Jan. 6, 1974. “So you can imagine, the worst Monday of the year already is the one after the holiday break where you have to go back to school and everything – to have an extra hour of sleep robbed away right before that. You can understand why it was so unpopular and why it was repealed,” Yates said, noting that months later, Nixon resigned. The burglary by the “Plumbers” at the Watergate Hotel also notably occurred during nighttime hours. “So maybe – if we had more daylight, the Watergate break-in doesn’t happen,” Cruz quipped in response. “And history would be different.”
New York Republican congresswoman makes 7-figure campaign haul, aims to flip districts to red in 2026
EXCLUSIVE – After President Donald Trump made surprising gains in solid-blue New York in 2024, one Republican congresswoman capitalized on the momentum with an aggressive fundraising campaign in the Empire State. Her goal is to flip some districts to red in the upcoming midterms and help her party’s goal of expanding the House majority in 2026. Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., has already hauled in more than $1 million in donations in the first quarter, with more than $223,000 of that being transferred to the National Republican Congressional Committee’s war chest. She attributes those seven-figures to 5,500 donations from more than 2,400 donors. Tenney told Fox News Digital that she believes the 2026 election will be a “referendum” on Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul, who created what she described as a “catastrophic powder keg” in the state prison system. New York Attorney General Letitia James, she added, “Is extremely unpopular and has engaged in malicious prosecution and lawfare. “We’ll have the weakest governor that we’ve had in a long time on the Democratic side facing a Republican,” Tenney said. BILL MAHER SUGGESTS ANDREW CUOMO’S NURSING HOME SCANDAL MAY COST HIS NYC MAYORAL CAMPAIGN Tenney, the founder of the House Election Integrity Caucus, attributed her gains in 2022 and 2024 to “aggressive advocacy” and grassroots efforts geared toward Republicans and Democrat-leaning moderates. In addition to sending more Republicans from New York to the House of Representatives, Tenney hopes to challenge the governor’s seat and several statewide offices. She also believes that Republicans have a chance at the New York City mayoral race. Hochul’s predecessor, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, is seen as the top contender for the mayor’s race. He has already reported big campaign dollars and favorable public polling. Meanwhile, current mayor Eric Adams has decided to run in the June primary as an independent. Fellow Democrats have turned on Adams for cooperating with the Trump administration on curtailing illegal immigration. Tenney was elected to the state legislature in 2010 when Cuomo began his first term as governor. Within a year, Tenney said, Cuomo “reversed all the policies that he said he was going to run on,” and instead implemented policies that she called “catastrophic.” SECOND COVID NURSING HOME DEATH’S CASE AGAINST CUOMO TOSSED “Trump did well in New York in 2024. He got his best numbers, his best turnout that he’s had in the two prior races. But I think that the referendum is on Kathy Hochul and the down-ballot Democrats who are still very unhinged, still talking about things that are 80-20 wins for Republicans,” Tenney said. She said Democrats remain focused on issues proven to flop with voters, such as forcing biological males into women’s sports and unchecked illegal immigration. Tenney said it’s important for Republicans to continue to deliver wins on their side, vowing to use her position on the House Ways and Means Committee to extend Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and “start our road to prosperity and begin the Golden Age.” Tenney also sits on the House Science, Space and Technology Committee, which oversees the energy sector – another focal point for Republicans, especially in Tenney’s district. Tenney said “people are worried about rising energy costs and the policies in New York State put forth by Hochul and the Democrats,” which are driving up energy costs for seniors. “That is a looming, really catastrophic issue that is facing New York,” Tenney said. “And the Democrats have compromised our state on that issue, and it’s going to prevent us from having prosperity, energy, and energy security as well.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Tenney believes that the new, post-2024 environment has given Republicans an opportunity in her home state. ” I don’t want to turn the lights out on New York State. It’s my home state. It is the state I love. I love my district and my communities. We want to make New York Great Again,” she said. “The only way to do that is to start replacing some of these Democrats with Republicans who are common sense and who care about preserving and protecting New Yorkers and are concerned about the future of New York.”
Unpacking Israel’s war on international humanitarian law
On March 24, Israel struck a car in northern Gaza and killed Al Jazeera correspondent Hossam Shabat. The 23-year-old is one of countless civilians – men, women and children – Israel has killed since launching what legal scholars describe as a “genocidal” war on Gaza. Israel often justifies its killings by claiming that the targets are people sympathetic or affiliated with Hamas or other armed factions. This was the justification given for killing Shabat. Israel also regularly destroys entire neighbourhoods and buildings, killing dozens – often hundreds – at a time, ostensibly to target a single Hamas operative. For years, Israel has tried to justify these practices by employing lawyers to create shadowy quasi-legal concepts in the hope of establishing new, dangerous precedents, according to legal scholars and experts. However, legal scholars told Al Jazeera that neither so-called “targeted killings” nor disproportionate attacks against civilians have any grounding in international law. Advertisement “Is there any semblance of law or legal justification for the war tactics Israel is using in Gaza? The simple answer is no. There isn’t,” said Heidi Matthews, assistant professor of law at York University in Toronto, Canada. Setting precedents On September 28, 2000, Palestinians across the occupied West Bank and Gaza began demonstrating against Israel’s ever-entrenching occupation in what became known as the second Intifada. Israel’s repression of the Intifada quickly prompted Palestinians to mobilise and fight back. Over the next five years, Israel launched what it named “targeted killings”, assassinating unarmed Palestinians. Israel claimed that these targets could pose a threat to Israelis in the future because of their alleged membership in an armed faction. “Israel … strips protection from civilians based on their views or perspectives,” said Noor Kilzi, a researcher with Legal Agenda, a nonprofit in Lebanon that advocates for legal reform and human rights in the Middle East. Relatives of the Palestinians who died as a result of an Israeli attack on a house belonging to the Mikdad family in Khan Younis refugee camp mourn as the dead bodies are taken from Nasser Hospital for burial on the second day of Eid al-Fitr in Khan Younis, Gaza, on March 31, 2025. It was reported that many people, including children, were killed and injured in the attack [Abed Rahim Khatib/ Anadolu Agency] Israel’s concept of targeted killings laid out a blueprint which the United States adapted during its “war on terror”, analysts told Al Jazeera. Advertisement “[In the early 2000s] Israel and the US changed their legal doctrines and implemented that as part of their military dogma,” York University’s Matthews told Al Jazeera. “When it came to distinguishing between civilians and combatants… the US and Israel began to view [anyone as a target] based on their membership to a group,” she added. According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, a person is only a legitimate target if they are directly engaged in armed combat at the time they are killed. This means that suspected membership in an armed group is not a sufficient basis to assassinate someone. Leiber’s legacy? Throughout Israel’s war on Gaza, it has routinely dropped 2,000lb (900kg) bombs in densely populated residential areas, as well as systematically targeted schools, hospitals and displacement shelters. Israeli officials justify these attacks by claiming that Israel is fighting a “just war” against barbarians. As a result, the ostensible goal of destroying Hamas outweighs minimising civilian casualties. This is rooted partly in the philosophy of Francis Leiber, a 19th-century German American military theorist, who was tasked with setting out the “rules of conduct” for Unionist soldiers fighting the Confederates in the US Civil War. He argued that some wars are vital to the moral progress of civilised nations and require a quick victory, which can only be achieved using tactics that will likely cause huge civilian casualties. “Leiber basically said that whatever is militarily necessary to carry out war is legal,” Alonso Gurmendi Dunkelberg, a legal scholar at the London School of Economics, told Al Jazeera. Advertisement This terrifying reasoning is blatantly at odds with international norms and laws, Gurmendi Dunkelberg added. “He believed in killing as many people as you can, so that you finish the job quickly. He believed that was more humane than trying to protect people to the point that the war drags on for say 15 years,” he said. Since the beginning of Israel’s war on Gaza, its spokespeople have made similar arguments. Mark Regev, an adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said the goal was to “get the [war] done quicker” when asked by PBS about why Israel had dropped 6,000 bombs in the first six days of attacks on the besieged enclave. Then spokesperson for the Israeli army, Daniel Hagari, also admitted during the first days of the war that the emphasis in Gaza was on “damage and not accuracy”. Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a house, in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, on April 8, 2025 [Ramadan Abed/REUTERS] (Reuters) Destroying the system In November 2024, the International Criminal Court (ICC) approved two arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his then-Defence Minister Yoav Gallant – accused of using starvation as a weapon of war and deliberately attacking civilians in Gaza. An earlier ruling by the International Court of Justice found that Palestinians in Gaza faced a real risk of genocide due to Israel’s war practices. The rulings by the ICC and ICJ add weight to the argument that Israel has failed in trying to legally justify its war practices, which likely amount to multiple war crimes, crimes against humanity and even genocide. Advertisement As a result, Israel and its western allies are now trying to sabotage the very institutions that were created to uphold international law and prosecute perpetrators of atrocities, said Nadim Khoury, former director at Human Rights Watch and the founder of the Arab Reform Initiative think tank. “Israel has clearly hit the limit of what they can get away with by using legal arguments. Now, they’re just
Trump-China tariff war: What could the US gain and lose?
US President Donald Trump’s abrupt decision to implement a 90-day pause on the tariffs he imposed on dozens of countries has sent battered stock markets surging, even as he ratcheted up his trade war with China. Trump’s turnaround on Wednesday, which came just 13 hours after the duties had gone into effect, followed the most intense episode of financial market volatility since the COVID-19 pandemic. Stocks soared following Trump’s announcement of a pause on some tariffs. The S&P 500 jumped 9.5 percent on Wednesday, the index’s biggest single-day leap since 2008. Oil prices, which slid in recent days on fears of a global recession, also rallied on the news. Still, not all of Trump’s tariffs have been lifted. A 10 percent levy on most countries remains in place. Meanwhile, the United States escalated its trade war with China, raising tariffs to a whopping 125 percent – deepening an economic crisis between the world’s two largest economies. What are Trump’s latest moves? On Wednesday, Trump announced a 90-day pause on “reciprocal” tariffs for almost 60 countries and the European Union. The tariffs were customised for each country and corresponded to the size of their trade surplus with the US. Advertisement Imports from those countries will now be subject to a flat tax of 10 percent, which Trump introduced on April 5. China was not included in the pause. Instead, Trump announced that he would raise levies on Chinese goods to 125 percent, from 104 percent. Trump’s decision came after Beijing announced plans to retaliate with an 84 percent duty on American goods on Wednesday. World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has said the tensions “pose a significant risk of a sharp contraction in bilateral trade” between the US and China. “Our preliminary projections suggest that merchandise trade between these two economies could decrease by as much as 80 percent,” she said in a statement on April 9. What did Trump actually say? At a White House event celebrating Joey Logano, the NASCAR Cup Series Champion, Trump claimed his method for assigning and adjusting tariffs was based on “more of an instinct than anything else”. “You have to be flexible,” he said. Trump acknowledged that some investors had been “queasy” about the economic turbulence prompted by his tariffs. “I thought that people were jumping a little bit out of line, they were getting yippy, you know.” But he emphasised a positive outlook towards the financial markets. “They [stock prices] change.” He said that markets had rallied to “the biggest day in financial history” after his latest tariff adjustment. “That’s a pretty big change.” He added that countries were now lining up to do business with his administration. “We have many other countries, as you know – many more than 75 – and they all want to come.” He also predicted the US would reap dividends before the end of the year. Advertisement “I did a 90-day pause for the people who didn’t retaliate because I told them, ‘If you retaliate, we’re going to double it.’ And that’s what I did with China, because they did retaliate.” He re-emphasised that his punitive tariff campaign against China would push Beijing to the bargaining table. “A deal could be made with every one of them. A deal’s going to be made with China. A deal’s going to be made with every one of them. And they’ll be fair deals. I just want fair,” Trump said. “They weren’t fair to the United States. They were sucking us dry. And you can’t do that.” What is the state of US-China trade relations? Despite growing tensions between the US and China, Washington and Beijing remain major trade partners. According to data from the Office of the United States Trade Representative, the total goods trade between the US and China stood at an estimated $582.4bn in 2024. US goods exports to China totalled $143.5bn. On the other hand, US goods imports from China totalled $438.9bn. The upshot is that America’s trade deficit with China was $295.4bn last year, marking a 5.8 percent rise ($16.3bn) over 2023. China is the US’s third-largest trade partner, after Mexico and Canada. But the US has been slowly weaning itself off Chinese imports. Chinese goods accounted for 13.3 percent of US imports in 2024, down from a peak of 21.6 percent in 2017. Still, from washing machines and TV sets to clothing, China is one of the top suppliers of goods to the US. The US Department of Commerce calculated that mechanical appliances (mainly low to mid-range technology products) made up 46.4 percent of all US imports from China in 2022. (Al Jazeera) On the flipside, $24.7bn of agricultural products were exported from the US to China in 2024 – mainly in the form of soya beans. Advertisement China is also a large importer of US farming equipment, computer chips and fossil fuels. In what ways could the US benefit? Trump has long maintained that tariffs can reduce America’s trade deficits and bring foreign manufacturing back to the US. He has also said they will pave the way for future tax cuts. In 1979, nearly 20 million Americans made their living from manufacturing. Today, it’s closer to 12.5 million. In the years following World War II, the US was a leading producer of motor vehicles, aircraft and steel. “Since then,” says Vincent Vicard, head of international trade at the economic think tank CEPII, “foreign competition and productivity gains have shrunk the US relative share of manufacturing jobs”. “And while it’s hard to say exactly what Trump wants,” Vicard told Al Jazeera, “part of the tariff plan is about raising revenue for income tax cuts and boosting industry.” He pointed out that “some industries, like cars and steel, could benefit from lower foreign competition. However, they will also face higher prices for intermediate goods [used in their own manufacturing processes].” Vicard said there may be “investment in several industries over the longer term… beyond five years. But the impact of tariffs on consumers in the near term will be
‘Make showers great again’: Why Trump’s fighting bathroom water pressure
EXPLAINER Trump’s new executive order declares showerheads will not be ‘weak and worthless’ any more. But what about water bills? US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday repealing limits to the flow of water from bathroom showers imposed by previous Democratic Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama. Biden and Obama introduced these limits to increase efficiency and conserve water. Where their focus was on the environment, Trump’s order aims to “make America’s showers great again,” a White House fact sheet says. Showerheads, it added, will no longer be “weak and worthless”. Trump’s order to free the showerhead from regulations would, he said, help him wash his “beautiful hair”. It came at a time when his back-and-forth tariff policies had washed away billions of dollars from the stock markets, which plunged following his declaration of a trade war on the rest of the world, only to gain back some of its lost territory after Trump’s sudden reprieve on tariffs for most countries. Here is more about Trump’s latest order: What is Trump’s executive order about showerheads? Trump’s order calls on Energy Secretary Chris Wright to reverse the definitions of what constitutes a showerhead usable in the United States, as implemented by Obama and Biden. “The Biden definition was a staggering 13,000 words. The Oxford English Dictionary, by contrast, defines “showerhead” in one short sentence,” the White House fact sheet says. Advertisement Trump wants to go back to a 1992 federal energy law, which sets the standard of water pressure for showers to 2.5 gallons (9.5 liters) per minute. Over the years, new showerhead designs began to include multiple nozzles or spray systems. To ensure water conservation, the Obama administration clarified the rule in 2013 to say that even if a showerhead has multiple nozzles, they collectively should not release more than 2.5 gallons a minute. Trump’s order, in effect, would allow each nozzle to eject up to 2.5 gallons of water a minute. So if a showerhead has four nozzles, it could release up to 10 gallons a minute. “These changes served a radical green agenda that made life worse for everyday Americans,” the White House factsheet says about the Obama-era rule. “Overregulation chokes the American economy, entrenches bureaucrats, and stifles personal freedom.” “In my case, I like to take a nice shower, take care of my beautiful hair,” Trump said while signing the order in the Oval Office. “I have to stand under the shower for 15 minutes until it gets wet. It comes out drip, drip, drip. It’s ridiculous.” Has Trump eased showerhead rules before? During his first administration, Trump reversed the Obama-era rule to allow multiple nozzles on one showerhead to each spray out 2.5 gallons of water per minute individually, increasing the permitted amount of water released by a singular showerhead. This was finalised in December 2020. “So, showerheads — you take a shower, the water doesn’t come out. You want to wash your hands, the water doesn’t come out. So what do you do? You just stand there longer or you take a shower longer? Because my hair — I don’t know about you, but it has to be perfect. Perfect,” Trump said on the campaign trail in 2019. He has complained about low water pressure multiple times since. Advertisement In 2021, the Biden administration reversed Trump’s relaxation of water flow rules. Biden went back to Obama’s 2013 rule to permit an overall 2.5 gallons of water per minute for a showerhead, regardless of the number of nozzles on it. “Biden undid this progress and the shower wars continued,” says the White House factsheet. How could this affect Americans? The average family spends $1,000 every year on water costs, according to a factsheet by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), last updated on March 24. The EPA estimated that households could save more than $380 annually if they retrofitted their homes with WaterSense-labelled fixtures and energy-efficient appliances. A showerhead qualifies for the WaterSense label if it releases no more than two gallons (7.6 liters) per minute. A US government-backed report, published in 2019, issued a warning that climate change and population growth increase the risk of water shortages in many regions of the US. Adblock test (Why?)
SHOCKING! Man chokes to death after fish he caught swims in his throat, here’s what happened
In a surprising incident in Tamil Nadu’s Chennai, a man fishing in a lake was choked to death after it started swimming in his throat, as reported by Times of India.
NIA formally arrests Mumbai attack plotter Tahawwur Rana, releases first pic
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday evening formally arrested Tahawwur Hussain Rana, the key conspirator in the deadly 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, immediately after his arrival at Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA), New Delhi.
U.S. House passes SAVE Act, led by Rep. Chip Roy, to require proof of citizenship to vote
Democrats argue that the bill places unnecessary hurdles on voting and could cause issues for people who have changed their name — like millions of married women.
FLASHBACK: Mitt Romney mocked in 2012 for self-deportation concept that has now become a reality
President Donald Trump’s push to increase the number of illegal immigrants who self-deport was originally the brainchild of former Sen. Mitt Romney, who pitched the idea of encouraging voluntary departures during his 2012 bid for president. “The answer is self-deportation, which is people decide they can do better by going home because they can’t find work here because they don’t have legal documentation to allow them to work here,” Romney said during a Republican primary debate in 2012, when asked how the U.S. could deport the millions of illegal immigrants in the country. Romney was largely mocked for the idea during that campaign, including by Trump, who told Newsax in November 2012 that Romney’s “maniacal” and “crazy” proposal had turned off Latino voters. THOUSANDS LEAVE COUNTRY VOLUNTARILY AMID TRUMP SELF-DEPORT PUSH, DHS SAYS Fast-forward to 2025, and self-deportation has become a central theme of Trump’s effort to speed the overall number of removals, with Trump sending an Oval Office video message last month to illegal immigrants encouraging them to use the CBP Home app to voluntarily leave the country. “Leave now and self-deport voluntarily. If they do, they could potentially have the opportunity to return legally at some point in the future,” Trump said in the video, adding that those who do not self-deport “will be found, they will be deported, and they will never be admitted again to the United States.” “Using the CBP home app to leave the United States voluntarily is the safest option for illegal aliens,” Trump added. That message has seemingly hit home over the last month, according to Department of Homeland Security Data (DHS) shared with Fox News Digital, which shows that more than 5,000 people have used the app to arrange their voluntary departure to the United States. IMMIGRATION THINK TANK COOKS UP SCHEME TO USE ‘SNITCHES’ TO FORCE MIGRANTS TO SELF-DEPORT The push to increase that number has accelerated in recent days, with the administration unveiling a new plan to fine illegal immigrants who have received a final order of removal $998 for every day they fail to comply with the order and remain in the country. That fine is in addition to fines of $1,000-$5,000 for those who claimed they would self-deport but subsequently failed to do so. DHS has also released a flyer spelling out the benefits of self-deportation, which boasts that illegal immigrants will be able to keep the money they earned while in the United States and retain the ability to legally migrate to the country in the future. TRUMP ADMIN UNVEILS PLAN COSTING MIGRANTS MASSIVE FINE FOR EVERY DAY THEY DON’T SELF-DEPORT “Illegal aliens should use the CBP Home app to self-deport and leave the country now. If they don’t, they will face the consequences,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News on Tuesday. “This includes a fine of $998 per day for every day that the illegal alien overstayed their final deportation order.”
John Cornyn scores Tim Scott endorsement, but John Rich calls Cornyn ‘the Lindsey Graham of Texas’
National Republican Senatorial Committee chair Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., is supporting Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, for re-election as the Lone Star State incumbent faces a challenge from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton – but country music star John Rich has sided with Paxton, who announced a U.S. Senate bid this week. “John Cornyn is a leader who delivers on President Trump’s agenda and for the people of Texas in the U.S. Senate. He’s a proven fighter, man of faith, and essential part of the Republican Senate Majority,” Scott asserted in a post on X. John Rich compared Cornyn to Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and expressed support for Paxton. TEXAS AG KEN PAXTON ANNOUNCES RUN FOR US SENATE “Cornyn is the Lindsey Graham of Texas… and that’s about the WORST thing you could say about someone in my book,” Rich declared in a post on X, adding, “@KenPaxtonTX Go get ’em!” A Cornyn campaign spokesperson contacted by Fox News Digital on Thursday had not provided a comment from the lawmaker by the time of publication, and a Graham campaign spokesperson declined to comment. President Donald Trump drew conservative backlash after endorsing Graham for re-election last month. CORNYN’S RE-ELECTION CAMPAIGN SPARKS QUESTIONS ON BOTH PARTY FLANKS AS DEMS CHASE ‘THE GHOST OF A BLUE TEXAS’ Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., supported Cornyn last month as the lawmaker launched his re-election bid. “I’ve been honored to work alongside @JohnCornyn – one of the most effective and respected conservative leaders in the country. He was tireless and instrumental in building our majority. We need to keep him in the Senate & in the fight to deliver on President Trump’s agenda,” Thune declared in a post on X. FACING POSSIBLE PRIMARY CHALLENGE FROM TRUMP ALLY, LONG-SERVING SENATOR GETS BACKING OF LEADER THUNE CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Former Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Florida Republican, expressed support for Paxton this week, tweeting, “Ken Paxton for Senate!”