Nikki Haley’s book confession about changing husband’s name resurfaces: ‘He looks like a Michael’
Nearly 12 years ago, now-Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley wrote about how she renamed her husband, which resurfaced amid the Republican primary. A senior politics correspondent for Vox took to social media on Wednesday and posted an excerpt from her 2012 book “Can’t Is Not an Option” in which Haley recounted how she modified how people refer to her now-husband, Michael Haley. “You may be wondering how ‘Bill’ became South Carolina First Gentleman Michael Haley,” Haley wrote in her book. “After we started dating, I looked at him one day and said, ‘What’s your name?’” FIRST ON FOX: HALEY MORE THAN DOUBLES HER FUNDRAISING WITH A $24 MILLION HAUL THE PAST THREE MONTHS “‘You know it’s Bill,’ he said, puzzled.” “‘You just don’t look like a Bill. What’s your whole name?’” “‘William Michael.’” “From that point on, I started calling him Michael, and all my friends did the same. When he transferred to Clemson his sophomore year, my friends became his friends, and before we knew it, he was universally known as Michael. Everyone who knew him before I did knows him as Bill, and everyone who met him after I did knows him as Michael.” “He looks like a Michael,” she wrote. HALEY’S MOMENTUM IN THE REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL RACE APPEARS TO BE PAYING OFF Haley’s ‘renaming’ of her husband appears to have been first reported in 2012 but is widely unknown today. The X post racked up over 1 million views. Haley has experienced momentum in the polls in recent months on the heels of well-received performances in the first three GOP presidential primary debates. She leapfrogged Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for second place in New Hampshire, which holds the first primary and second overall contest in the Republican nominating calendar. She also aims to make a fight of it in Iowa, where the latest polls suggest she is pulling even with DeSantis for a distant second place behind Trump, who remains the front-runner in the GOP nomination race as he makes his third straight White House bid. Haley’s campaign did not provide a comment. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
Trump asks Supreme Court to keep name on Colorado ballot
Former President Donald Trump asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday to put his name back on the Republican 2024 primary ballot in Colorado. The appeal has been filed, but the case has not yet been officially docketed by the court. The next step would be for the high court to decide whether to expedite review, and whether to hear the case on the merits. The justices could vote privately in the next few days on whether to fast-track consideration. Earlier this month, the Colorado Supreme Court, in a 4-3 vote, overturned a lower court ruling that allowed Trump to appear on the ballot as a presidential candidate. The initial ruling said a president is not among the officials subject to disqualification on a ballot. This story is developing. Please check back for updates.
DC green-lights aggressive electric vehicle mandate despite critics sounding alarm on high consumer costs
The nation’s capital is joining several states led by California in moving forward with an aggressive electric vehicle (EV) mandate, which experts and lawmakers have warned will lead to higher consumer costs. The Washington, D.C., Department of Energy and Environment (DOEE) announced late last week that it had formally adopted the so-called Advanced Clean Cars II Rule crafted by California’s state government. Under the regulations, automakers will be required to only sell zero-emissions vehicles beginning in 2035 in an effort to curb carbon emissions and fight global warming. “District residents are already accruing savings in refueling costs from electrification,” the DOEE said in its announcement Friday. “Electric vehicle prices continue to decrease over time and EPA projects that when considering all of the economic incentives available the average electric vehicle will cost $400 to $4,000 less than a gasoline equivalent by 2032.” “Even greater cost savings occur when the maintenance and fuel savings of approximately $10,000 that the average owner will save over eight years of ownership are considered,” the statement continued. MAINE FORCED TO DELAY VOTE ON EV MANDATE AMID WIDESPREAD POWER OUTAGES The action comes as several Democratic-led states pursue EV mandates, many of which are similarly modeled after California’s regulations. In March 2022, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reinstated California’s authority under the Clean Air Act to implement its own emission standards, also allowing other states to adopt California’s rules. The Trump administration had revoked the state’s authority to pursue standards that run counter to federal rules. Months later, on Aug. 25, 2022, the California Air Resources Board, a state environmental agency, announced new regulations banning gas-powered cars, and mandating electric cars, by 2035. In addition, another 17 states have laws in place that tether their vehicle emissions standards to those set in California, meaning the mandate may impact tens of millions of Americans nationwide and a sizable share of future car purchases. BEIJING-BACKED GREEN ENERGY FIRM IS EXPANDING IN US, POSING SERIOUS NATIONAL SECURITY RISK: REPORT The House passed a bill in September that would reverse the EPA’s reinstatement of California’s authority to finalize its Advanced Clean Cars II Rule. That legislation, though, has yet to receive a floor vote in the Senate. “We are pleased to see DC adopt the Advanced Clean Cars II program that will benefit our air quality and public health while increasing access to zero-emission vehicles,” Mike Litt, conservation chair and executive committee member at Sierra Club’s DC Chapter, said on Tuesday. “DC joins a group of states attacking the scourge of transportation sector pollution,” added Kathy Harris, a senior advocate at the Natural Resources Defense Council. “The capital city is the latest to adopt the Advanced Clean Car II standards which will have massive air quality, health and economic benefits as the transition to zero emission vehicles moves forward.” In addition to Washington, D.C., several northeastern states, including Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont and Virginia, are pursuing EV mandates. Michigan and New Mexico are also moving ahead with their own EV requirements. BIDEN’S AMBITIOUS EV PLANS COULD MAKE US MORE DEPENDENT ON CHINESE SUPPLY CHAINS, EXPERTS WARN Proponents of such regulations have pointed to the transportation sector’s heavy carbon footprint, arguing EVs would help reduce pollution. Overall, transportation accounts for nearly 30% of the nation’s total greenhouse gas emissions, according to the EPA. However, critics of aggressive EV requirements have warned that the U.S. power grid is currently unequipped to handle the significantly increased demand and load that would be generated by widespread EV adoption. They have also argued that power outages, triggered by both storms and low supplies, could render large swaths of an electrified transportation sector useless. “The only way the electrification of the transportation sector and of home heating and cooling can work is if the utility sector continues to build natural-gas-fired plants and looks to building nuclear plants and perhaps building new coal plants because the grid in these states that are pushing these policies is already overloaded,” Myron Ebell, the director of the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Center for Energy and Environment, previously told Fox News Digital. “As everybody moves to EVs, if it happens, the only way to do it is to find more baseload power and dispatchable power.” The DOEE didn’t respond to a request for comment.
WATCH: Biden admin shifts blame as national debt reaches historic high of $34 trillion
The Biden administration spared no time in attempting to shift blame toward Republicans over America’s national debt reaching a historic high of $34 trillion this week despite President Biden having been in office for nearly three full years. “If you look at that data, there’s a trickle down debt. If you think about it, Republican tax cuts are responsible for about 90% of it — of the increase in the debt as a share of the economy over the last two decades, excluding emergency spending,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre claimed during Wednesday’s press briefing. Despite the new record high, Jean-Pierre argued Biden had taken action to lower the debt, including signing the Inflation Reduction Act, which some experts predicted would actually cost the U.S. more than originally projected, and “cracking down on wealthy tax cheats” through actions like growing the IRS. BIDEN CONTINUES BLEEDING SUPPORT FROM KEY VOTER GROUPS AS DEMS SOUND ALARM OVER 2024: POLL “His agenda would cut the deficit another $2.5 trillion by making the wealthy pay their fair share. So that is what the president has done. What we’ve seen on the other side is the complete opposite. What they’ve tried to do is continue to give a tax break to the millionaires and billionaires, and what they have actually put forward would add more than $3 trillion to the debt,” she added. Fox Business reporter Edward Lawrence pressed Jean-Pierre on her claims, noting the length of time Biden had already been in office, as well as that the U.S. had added $10 billion per day to the national debt without a reduction. But she doubled down. “Republican tax cuts are responsible for 90%, 90% of the increase in the debt. 90%. That is something that Republicans are responsible for,” she responded. “[The president] put forth legislation like lowering the deficit by $1 trillion, and that’s part of lowering prescription drug costs and cracking down on the wealthy tax cheats. That’s what he’s done,” she said. BATTLEGROUND STATE POSES BIDEN’S TOUGHEST 2024 CHALLENGE IN POTENTIAL TRUMP REMATCH “And meanwhile, yeah, you know what? The GOP, congressional Republicans, what they want to do is they want to continue with their MAGAnomics. What they’ve proposed will add $3 trillion to the debt,” she added. Last year, Biden was scrutinized by several liberal fact-checkers for claiming his administration had reduced the budget deficit by $1.7 billion dollars, a critical step in lowering the national debt. Some called the claim “misleading,” and “lacking context.” Although Biden was correct at the time that the annual federal deficit decreased from $3.1 trillion in fiscal year 2020 to $1.4 trillion in fiscal year 2022, translating to a $1.7 trillion drop, the fact-checkers noted Biden’s fiscal policies were hardly the lone or leading factor in driving down the deficit. RFK JR. MEETS REQUIREMENTS TO APPEAR ON FIRST 2024 GENERAL ELECTION BALLOT AS CAMPAIGN SEASON HEATS UP Biden repeated the same claim on numerous other occasions throughout 2023. In May, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office revealed that the federal government under Biden had run a near-$1 trillion federal deficit in the “first seven months of fiscal year 2023.” It found that in those months alone, the federal government had racked up $928,000,000,000. According to the Associated Press, the ballooning of the national debt in recent years was accelerated by heavy borrowing under both Biden’s administration and former President Donald Trump’s, followed by the surge of inflation that pushed up interest rates after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Biden official gets heated in clash with reporter who asks if US has escalated Gaza war with Red Sea presence
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby got heated in an exchange with a reporter who suggested the United States has provoked Iran with its naval presence in the Middle East. During Wednesday’s press briefing, the reporter asked Kirby if President Biden has widened and escalated the Israel-Hamas war by deploying naval forces to counter attacks by Iran-backed proxy groups on shipping vessels. “That’s certainly turning things upside down, isn’t it?” a bewildered Kirby responded. “Wouldn’t you consider provocation launching ballistic missiles and drones at commercial [vessels]?” There have been roughly two dozen attacks on international shipping by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen since Oct. 19. The Houthis say their attacks are aimed at Israel-linked ships to stop the Israeli offensive in Gaza. US-LED COALITION ISSUES WARNING TO HOUTHIS, VOWS ‘CONSEQUENCES’ FOR RED SEA ATTACKS Most recently, the Houthis struck a Maersk container vessel on Saturday. Following that attack, a U.S.-led coalition of 13 maritime nations has vowed consequences for the Houthis should they continue to harass vessels in the Red Sea. Last month, the U.S. announced the formation of Operation Prosperity Guardian, an international initiative to protect commercial ships traveling through the Red Sea. Since then, approximately 1,200 merchant ships have traveled through the region, and none had been hit by drone or missile strikes until Saturday. Kirby said Prosperity Guardian is a “defensive posture” adopted in response to the Houthi attacks. HAMAS LEADERS LIVED LIKE WEALTHY CELEBRITIES IN GAZA TERROR REIGN PRIOR TO OCT. 7 MASSACRE “So you’re denying then that there has been an escalation since the Red Sea patrol,” the reporter asked. “I totally disagree with the premise of your question,” Kirby replied. “It wasn’t the United States who decided to attack commercial shipping in the Red Sea. The Houthis did that. And who are the Houthis backed by? Iran. As I’ve said before, Iran provided the missiles the Houthis are using. We are simply in a defensive posture to protect that commercial shipping and we have in the last 48 hours.” Undeterred, the reporter challenged Kirby and pointed out that Iran launched a frigate into the Red Sea in apparent response to the U.S. ISRAEL ANNOUNCES PARTIAL TROOP WITHDRAWAL FROM GAZA IN NEW PHASE OF HAMAS WAR “I ask you again, has the United States’ actions supported an escalation as a result?” she said. “No,” Kirby answered. The U.S.-led coalition opposed to the Houthi attacks consists of the U.K., Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands and New Zealand. In a joint statement, the nations called attacks on trade in the Red Sea “unacceptable” and “illegal.” Currently, there are five warships from the U.S., France and the U.K. patrolling the waters of the southern Red Sea and the western Gulf of Aden. The ships have so far shot down a total of 17 drones and four anti-ship ballistic missiles. Fox News Digital’s Anders Hagstrom and Bradford Betz contributed to this report.
GOP rebels target government shutdown fears in latest push for stricter border policies
A growing faction of House GOP hardliners are calling on their leaders to leverage a potential government shutdown to force Democrats in the Senate and White House to pass conservative border policies. “You can’t imagine what we’re hearing down here,” Rep. Keith Self, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital while touring the border with a Republican congressional delegation on Wednesday. “This is madness. And I believe this has gone beyond an invasion. This is now an occupation,” he said. “Let’s either shut down the border, secure the border, or shut down the government.” Under a short-term extension of last year’s government funding priorities, Congress has until Jan. 19 to pass a spending plan for some federal agencies and until Feb. 2 for the rest. That means House and Senate leaders will have less than 10 days to strike their first deal when Congress is back in session on Jan. 8. Several conservatives signaled to Fox News Digital that they’re ready to use that pressure to pass measures they argue will help stymie the worsening border crisis. MIGRANT ENCOUNTERS AT SOUTHERN BORDER HIT RECORD 302K IN DECEMBER, SOURCES SAY Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., who is also on the border trip, told Fox News Digital, “Congress must use its power of the purse as leverage to force the Biden regime to enforce our laws and restore order at the border.” “If the Biden administration does not shut the border down, we’ll shut the government down. We control the money,” he said. It comes as talks continue between bipartisan Senate negotiators and the White House over how to handle the border crisis. Republican leaders in both chambers have insisted that Democrats give concessions on the border in exchange for GOP support for a $110 billion supplemental aid package for Ukraine, Israel and other causes. CHIP ROY ON SKIPPING GOP BORDER VISIT: REPUBLICANS NEED TO ‘PUT UP OR SHUT UP’ But members on the right of the House GOP conference have dismissed the talks. Some lawmakers said they would oppose Ukraine aid for anything less than passage of H.R.2, the Republican border security bill dubbed a non-starter by Democratic leaders. Now, they’re poised to throw up roadblocks in the looming government funding fight in addition to Ukraine. “Forget Ukraine for the moment. The border is the issue. Let’s either shut the border or shut the government. I’m not talking about just not giving money to Ukraine. Shut the government down, because this is an existential crisis,” Rep. Keith Self, R-Texas, said. Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., told Fox News Digital that voters in his district would support Congress shutting down the government if it forced Democrats to act on the border. DEMOCRAT SENATOR SOUNDS ALARM ON ‘CRISIS’ AT SOUTHERN BORDER “Instead of deporting the illegal aliens who are entering our country, the Biden administration is rewarding their criminal behavior by allowing most of them to stay,” Burlison said. “My constituents are with me; either we secure the border and stop the flow of illegal aliens into the country, or we shut down the government.” Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, wrote a letter to colleagues on Tuesday, which was obtained by Fox News Digital, calling for a shutdown save for funding for operations at the border. “[U]se of our constitutional authority to withhold funds to force adherence to the law comes with cries of ‘government shutdown’ and concerns we will fail to sustain key priorities such as funding for troops and Border Patrol agents themselves. These claims can be dismissed if we pass legislation to fund those very basic responsibilities… while withholding funding for the vast majority of the federal government,” Roy wrote. White House spokesman Andrew Bates responded to conservatives’ threats in a statement Wednesday: “Today’s statements are just House Republicans’ latest admission that as President Biden and both parties in the Senate seek common ground to address the needs of the American people, their conference is instead choosing extreme politics that would subject American families to needless pain.” Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., did not endorse or dismiss the shutdown threats when asked during a Wednesday press conference. “We have been working in earnest and in good faith with the Senate and the White House virtually every day through the holiday trying to come to an agreement. Negotiations are still ongoing. It’s [dragged] on way too long. But the sooner we get that agreement, the sooner we’ll be able to get the appropriations bills done,” he said. “Let me tell you what our top two priorities are right now. In summary, we want to get the border closed and secure first, and we want to make sure that we reduce non-defense discretionary spending.”
Liberal college professors rally around Harvard’s Claudine Gay after resignation: ‘Fascist mouth-breathers’
Several liberal college professors seized on the news of Harvard President Claudine Gay’s resignation by jumping on social media and defending Gay despite her comments on antisemitism and almost 50 accusations of plagiarism. After facing dozens of allegations of plagiarism, Gay released a letter to members of the Harvard community Tuesday saying she was stepping down as president but will return to the Harvard faculty, where she could likely keep her $900K salary. “It is a singular honor to be a member of this university, which has been my home and my inspiration for most of my professional career,” Gay wrote. “My deep sense of connection to Harvard and its people has made it all the more painful to witness the tensions and divisions that have riven our community in recent months, weakening the bonds of trust and reciprocity that should be our sources of strength and support in times of crisis.” “Amidst all of this, it has been distressing to have doubt cast on my commitments to confronting hate and to upholding scholarly rigor – two bedrock values that are fundamental to who I am – and frightening to be subjected to personal attacks and threats fueled by racial animus,” she continued. SOCIAL MEDIA ERUPTS AS HARVARD PRESIDENT CLAUDINE GAY RESIGNS: ‘SHOULD’VE BEEN FIRED WEEKS AGO’ After ther announced resignation, several college professors took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to defend Gay and accused her critics of being “racist mobs” and “fascist mouth-breathers.” “Racist mobs won’t stop until they topple all Black people from positions of power and influence who are not reinforcing the structure of racism,” Boston University professor Ibram X. Kendi posted on X. “What these racist mobs are doing should be obvious to any reporter who cares about truth or justice as opposed to conflicts and clicks.” In a community note on the post, X wrote, “Claudine Gay was accused among other things of lifting nearly half a page of material verbatim from David Cannon’s 1999 book ‘Race Redistricting and Representation: The Unintended Consequences of Black Majority Districts.’” Kendi wrote in another post, “The question is whether all these people would have investigated, surveilled, harassed, written about, and attacked her in the same way if the Harvard president in this case would have been White. I. Think. Not.” “Everyone gets a take on this: Harvard is a ‘public’ institution in that sense,” Princeton professor Arthur Spirling wrote on X. “The tragedy here is how extraordinarily easy this all was for the cultural warriors. Unforced error in Congress, then social media + plagiarism detection software did the rest. Disaster.” “Harvard has a $50 billion endowment – more than the GDP of Latvia – and they still let a bunch of fascist mouth-breathers bully their president into resigning,” Tulane professor Stan Oklobdzija posted on X. “Congratulations to American universities on winning the 2024 Neville Chamberlain Award for Excellence in Capitulation.” “She definitely did not deserve this,” Georgetown assistant professor Amanda Sahar d’Urso wrote on X. “I hope she can live her life in peace, for the sake of her mental and emotional well-being.” “For the rest of us, this is a load of crap garbage and we should be really concerned.” FIRING HARVARD’S CLAUDINE GAY WON’T CURE THE CANCER AT THIS ELITE UNIVERSITY Dartmouth assistant professor Roopika Risam wrote on X, “Oh Harvard. FFS. I am just absolutely livid that President Gay is resigning. They were always going to come for the leader who’s a brilliant Black woman.” “The intimidation is the point,” Duke University adjunct professor Eric Deggans posted on X. “Will the next president at Harvard stand for diversity? Will that person be female? Will that person be Black? If not, they have forced several steps back. And everyone across the school gets the message.” Gay’s resignation sparked a social media firestorm on Tuesday when she stepped down as president, making her tenure the shortest in university history. Gay testified before Congress following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel and struggled to answer a direct question from New York GOP Rep. Elise Stefanik, a Harvard alum, condemning genocide against Jewish people as something that violated Harvard’s code of conduct. Calls for her resignation grew in the following weeks after dozens of plagiarism allegations, first reported on by The Washington Free Beacon, were unearthed, including this claim: “In a 2001 article, Gay lifts nearly half a page of material verbatim from another scholar, David Canon, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin.” The total number of plagiarism allegations against Gay is near 50, or “half of Gay’s published works,” according to the Free Beacon.
Israel’s controversial use of weapons in Gaza
NewsFeed Israel’s bombardment of Gaza since October 7 has been one of the deadliest in recent history. Nabila Bana takes a look behind some of the weapons Israel is allegedly using and why their use could be leading to high civilian death tolls. Published On 3 Jan 20243 Jan 2024 Adblock test (Why?)
US led coalition warns Houthis of ‘consequences’ after Red Sea attacks
The Houthis have argued that their attacks on ship linked to Israel are an act of solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza. A group of countries led by the United States have warned Yemen’s Houthi rebels of “consequences” unless they stop their attacks on Red Sea shipping vessels. “Let our message now be clear: we call for the immediate end of these illegal attacks and release of unlawfully detained vessels and crews,” said the statement released by the White House on Wednesday. “The Houthis will bear the responsibility of the consequences should they continue to threaten lives, the global economy and free flow of commerce in the region’s critical waterways”. The United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Germany and Japan are among the 12 signatories. The only country in the Middle East to sign the statement was Bahrain, which has a strained relationship with Iran, which is aligned with the Houthis. The statement comes after several reports that US President Joe Biden’s administration is considering direct strikes on the rebels if the attacks continue. The Houthis have said that their attacks in the busy waterway are an act of solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza and that they are targeting ships with links to Israel. The US has sent an aircraft carrier, the USS Dwight D Eisenhower, to the area and earlier announced a coalition of countries to protect movement in the Red Sea, through which 12 percent of global trade passes. Shipping prices Earlier on Wednesday, the Houthis claimed responsibility for a previous attack on a merchant vessel in the Red Sea. “The naval forces of the Yemeni armed forces carried out an operation targeting the ship CMA CGM TAGE which was travelling towards the ports of occupied Palestine,” the Houthis said on X. The French operator CMA CGM said that its container ship was unharmed and suffered “no incident”. A CMA CGM spokesperson said the ship was headed for Egypt. The Houthi attacks in recent weeks have mainly been concentrated on the Bab al-Mandeb Strait. On Tuesday, Danish shipping giant Maersk extended a suspension of services through the waterway and the Gulf of Aden, south Yemen, “until further notice”. Adblock test (Why?)
Michigan state lawmaker enters crowded U.S. House race as Democrats aim to defend open seat
Michigan state Sen. Kristen McDonald Rivet on Wednesday became the fifth candidate to enter a competitive race for a U.S. House seat that Democrats are being forced to defend without an incumbent because of U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee’s retirement this year. Defending the seat could be vital for Democrats in a year in which they need to gain at least five seats to win a majority control of the U.S. House. The party will also need to defend a vulnerable mid-Michigan seat left vacant after U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin opted to run for an open U.S. Senate seat this year. MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY FACES DISCRIMINATION LAWSUIT FROM STUDENT PURSUING GYM-TEACHING CAREER While the state has shifted increasingly Democratic in recent years, a contested presidential election and open Senate race are expected to make Michigan one of the few swing states in 2024. Democrats in Michigan have also been divided in response to the war in Gaza, with the state’s large Arab American population vowing not to support those who don’t call for a cease fire. The 65-year-old Kildee announced in November that he would not seek another reelection to his 8th District seat after he was diagnosed earlier this year with a curable form of cancer that he has since had removed. Kildee has represented the Flint-area since 2013 after succeeding his uncle, Dale Kildee, who had served in Congress for 36 years. The recently redrawn district extends northward from the outskirts of Detroit, covering areas such as Flint, Saginaw and Midland. State Board of Education President Pamela Pugh and Dan Moilanen, the executive director of the Michigan Association of Conservation Districts, have announced in the weeks since Kildee’s retirement that they will seek the Democratic nomination. On the Republican front, Paul Junge, a former TV anchor, is set to make another bid for the seat after losing by more than 10 percentage points to Kildee last year. Saginaw trauma surgeon Martin Blank is also seeking the Republican nomination. McDonald Rivet enters to race just one year into her first four-year term in the Michigan Senate. Her win in a competitive district covering Midland, Saginaw and Bay City helped Democrats flip the state Senate last year and win control of all levels of government for the first time since 1984. In a Tuesday interview with The Associated Press prior to her campaign announcement, McDonald Rivet shared that Kildee had called her, revealing his decision to step aside and encouraging her to run for his seat. “I came to the conclusion that right now, in this time when we’re seeing chaos reign over pragmatism in Washington, this is a good time for me to go to Congress to try to get some of the stuff done,” McDonald Rivet said. As the former executive director of the Michigan Head Start Association, McDonald Rivet said that she plans to introduce a large package of bills aimed at making childcare more accessible and affordable in the upcoming legislative session. If elected to Congress, she hopes to continue that work. “The work that I’ve done throughout my career really centers around Michigan families,” McDonald Rivet said. “As a mom of six, I really can relate to what that means when you start thinking about how much childcare costs.” Mike Marinella, a spokesperson for the National Republican Congressional Campaign, said in a statement Wednesday that McDonald Rivet is a “career politician who is out-of-touch with the voters of Michigan.” If successful, McDonald Rivet’s campaign could prove bittersweet for Michigan Democrats. The party controls the state Senate by only a two-seat margin, and her exit from the seat could set up a tough race in one of the state’s most competitive districts. The party is also fighting to retain control of the state House, which moved to a 54-54 deadlock in November after two Democrats won mayoral races in their districts. Special elections for the seats will be held in April.