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Dem AG’s ‘too many golf courses’ remark goes viral as critics tee off

Dem AG’s ‘too many golf courses’ remark goes viral as critics tee off

Arizona’s Senate president took aim at viral comments about the future of golf from the state’s Democratic attorney general as their battle to be the state’s top law enforcement officer entered its final stretch before next week’s midterm elections. A remark about potentially restricting golf courses and the Grand Canyon State having “too much grass” turned a debate over water conservation into a campaign flashpoint, with Sen. Warren Petersen accusing Attorney General Kris Mayes of targeting a multibillion-dollar industry in the desert state while Mayes later insisted her remarks were taken out of context. “Kris Mayes thinks Arizona has too many golf courses. I think Arizona has too many radical politicians who believe government should dictate which industries get to thrive,” Petersen, R-Maricopa, told Fox News Digital Tuesday. 100 DAYS UNTIL MIDTERMS AND DEMOCRATS ARE WINNING BECAUSE THEY ACTUALLY HAVE A MESSAGE “Our golf courses support jobs, tourism, small businesses and communities across this state. Instead of attacking an industry that contributes to our economy, the attorney general should be focused on enforcing the law, protecting consumers and defending Arizona families.” In an interview with Politico delving into the data center debate and whether the proliferation of water-intensive buildings is wise, particularly in an arid state, Mayes cited neighboring states allegedly “backed by” the Trump administration as hindrances to Arizona’s local supply. Mayes’ golf course remarks came shortly after she warned that Arizona was headed toward a potential Supreme Court showdown over Colorado River water supplies. “We could do a hell of a lot more when it comes to conservation,” she said, citing tax incentives for catchment and removal of lawns. GRAND CANYON WATER PIPELINE DAMAGED AGAIN AS FLOODING COMPLICATES REPAIRS “We have way, way too much grass in Arizona. We probably, frankly — and I’m sure the golf industry is not going to like this when I say this — we probably have too many golf courses in Arizona right now.” That remark sparked blowback from Petersen and many others. “We don’t have a golf course problem in Arizona. We have a dumocrat (sic) problem in Arizona,” quipped Rep. Eli Crane, R-Ariz. “Kris Mayes is promising to get rid of golf courses. I promise to get rid of Kris Mayes,” Petersen added in his own tweet. E-procurement software CEO Tom Spengler added that Arizona “honestly need[s] more golf courses.” “Tee times are very hard to get and rates have doubled or tripled since COVID,” he said. “We have too much grass — said no one ever, other than Kris Mayes,” added Turning Point USA executive Justin Streiff. Arizona’s business community also took notice, and Arizona Chamber of Commerce Vice President Courtney Coolidge responded to Mayes with several statistics about golf’s impact on the state. Coolidge reported a $6 billion economic impact, 66,000 jobs, $2.3 billion in wages and $520 million in tax revenue. Most relevant to the water debate, she said golf courses collectively use 2% or less of the state’s water resources. Those stats also lined up closely with separate figures in a 2023 study by the Arizona Alliance for Golf. Popular golf satire site PGA Tuor shared a clip of Mayes’ comments, writing, “How to not get re-elected 101.” Another putting enthusiast said Mayes’ comments cost her his vote, saying, “[She] has no idea what the economic impact golf has on our entire state.” Fox News Digital reached out to Mayes for comment on the viral nature and content of her remarks. The Democrat separately tweeted that she was intending to make a larger point about water usage. “Relax, nobody’s closing golf courses,” Mayes said. “My point is we need incentives to help all Arizonans and major industries swap thirsty grass and catch rainwater, especially if our water situation gets worse — while I take on the foreign mega-farms and data centers draining our water.” She then accused Petersen of spreading “false claims.” SIGN UP TO GET THE POLITICS NEWSLETTER But Mayes’ response was also met with ridicule. X critics called it “condescending” while one also quipped, “you relax – we all heard you.” Others characterized her stated approach toward the golf industry as “communist.” With Election Day just days away, Petersen is betting the controversy will resonate beyond the fairways, casting Mayes’ remarks as part of a larger dispute over government intervention in Arizona’s economy as Republicans seek to regain control of a state government they once reliably held.

Dueling rallies thrust deep-red Lone Star town into the center of the political universe

Dueling rallies thrust deep-red Lone Star town into the center of the political universe

LUBBOCK, Texas — Two rallies, two crowds and two very different visions for Texas converged in deep-red Lubbock on Tuesday night as Republican Ken Paxton and Democrat James Talarico made their cases to voters. Trump supporters camped out at Lubbock’s Civic Center as early as Monday night, calling the event a “once-in-a-lifetime experience.” About four miles away, roughly 4,000 Talarico supporters descended on the neighborhood around the Fiesta Center. The rallies put Lubbock’s political identity on display. Long a ruby-red Republican stronghold, the city is now a battleground in a Senate race in which polls show Talarico narrowly leading Paxton. Outside Paxton’s rally, supporters remained confident the Lone Star State would stay red. Jenny, who traveled from Brownsville, dismissed the idea that the race was close. “What else do the Democrats have? They have Talarico going against Paxton,” she told Fox News Digital. “All they’ve got is the ability to try and make people think that it’s close and there is no point in voting.” “No, it’s not close,” Jenny added. “Paxton is going to wipe the floor with him.” MEET THE VOTERS WHO COULD BREAK THE GOP’S DECADESLONG GRIP ON A REPUBLICAN STRONGHOLD Eric, a Lubbock resident, also predicted a Republican win, saying Democratic policies do not align with his views. “Most of the Democrats that you talk to, when you start talking common sense to them, a lot of them, they don’t know if it’s a red or a blue policy, and a lot of them line up with red as well,” he said. “It’s gonna stay red, absolutely.” Nathan, from Milton, said he wants to preserve what he sees as Texas’ traditional values, including gun rights and opposition to abortion. “I want to make sure we are keeping all the normal values that we have in Texas,” he said. “I want to make sure that we are keeping our guns, we are keeping our safety, keeping abortion as far away from Texas and do everything we can to keep Texas, Texas.” Across town, Talarico supporters said Trump’s appearance alongside Paxton showed Republicans were worried about losing ground in a reliably red state. “Trump’s in Lubbock? Trump’s in Lubbock, Texas? He’s scared, he is scared,” one supporter told Fox News Digital. Natalie, from Friona, also viewed the same-day rallies as a sign of nervousness. “I think they have to be nervous, and I think it’s performative, like to come the exact same day as he is here,” she said. “I really hope so, and looking at all of this, I think it is.” DEEP IN TRUMP COUNTRY, A NEW GENERATION REVEALS THE DIVIDE BEHIND TEXAS’ TIGHT SENATE RACE Elias, a Lubbock resident, said Paxton’s reliance on Trump reflected poorly on the Republican candidate. He pointed to Paxton’s past controversies and impeachment by the Texas House. “I think it shows that Paxton is a weak leader,” Elias said. “He had a chance to kind of redeem himself despite his ugly past, but he’s not a man, he can’t stand up for himself. He needs daddy Trump to come and support him.” Other Talarico supporters said they believed Texas could turn blue. Jessica, from Lubbock, and Shelby, from Houston, cited dissatisfaction with how the state has been run in recent years. “I think they’re scared that it is going to flip, and I believe it will because of how they have run this county the last few years,” they said. Christine and John, both from Lubbock, also predicted change. “They are nervous, and this is the year we are going to change it all,” Christine said. Paloma, a Lubbock resident, put their optimism plainly: “This is the year that we flip blue. We are definitely going to flip the state.”

‘Radical Left Lunatic’ judge Trump wanted impeached takes up Ilhan Omar warrant fight

‘Radical Left Lunatic’ judge Trump wanted impeached takes up Ilhan Omar warrant fight

A federal judge who has become a frequent legal thorn in the side of President Donald Trump and his allies is now presiding over a fight to unseal the warrant used to search the home of Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn. The battle over whether to unseal the search warrant comes amid two separate federal investigations into the Democratic congresswoman stemming from concerns about discrepancies between financial disclosures filed a year apart and allegations that her father committed fraud when completing immigration paperwork. Omar immigrated to the United States from Somalia in 1995, when she was 12 years old. Investigators are examining whether her father misstated her age on his citizenship paperwork in 2000, potentially allowing her to obtain citizenship through him as a minor. Trump, a longtime foe of the progressive congresswoman, has been vocal in his attacks against Omar, having also accused her of committing immigration fraud by allegedly marrying her brother — referring to her first husband, Ahmed Nur Said Elmi. In the weeks following the Oct. 12 raid on Omar’s Washington, D.C., home, Trump called for Omar to be “put in jail.” TRUMP SAYS ILHAN OMAR COULD GO TO JAIL OR BE DEPORTED, CALLS HER ‘A DISGRACE TO OUR COUNTRY’ But the fight over whether to unseal the records is being overseen by Chief Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, an Obama appointee and longtime target of Trump. In March 2025, after Boasberg temporarily blocked deportation flights carrying alleged Venezuelan gang members, Trump called him a “Radical Left Lunatic of a Judge, a troublemaker and agitator” and called for his impeachment. Trump also accused Boasberg of bias, saying it was “virtually impossible for me to get an Honest Ruling in D.C.” The raid on Omar’s home came just weeks before the midterm elections, as alleged fraud in Minnesota’s social services programs had become a major political issue in the state. ILHAN OMAR’S TURBULENT WEEK EXPLAINED: THE DUELING PROBES THAT THREW THE SOMALI-BORN PROGRESSIVE INTO CHAOS Days after Department of Homeland Security Investigations and the FBI conducted a raid on Omar’s home under a search warrant issued by U.S. Magistrate Judge Matthew Sharbaugh, three separate requests were made to unseal the warrant — by the New York Times; Judicial Watch, a conservative watchdog group; and 14 press organizations. Boasberg ordered the Justice Department to defend its position on keeping the warrant sealed in response to a consolidated request from the Times and 14 press organizations by Oct. 22, but he extended the deadline following a Justice Department request to wait until the search warrant was “fully executed.” The Justice Department argued that releasing the information could compromise the integrity of the investigation. “This request sounds rash because it is rash,” Pirro wrote. “The Court should reject it without prejudice for renewal after the search warrant has been fully executed and a charging decision is made public.” The filing indicated that the Justice Department was still in the process of executing the search warrant, while other details about the investigation and warrant records remained redacted from the public record. But the Times and other media groups argue that the physical search occurred weeks ago and that any sensitive information in the warrant should be redacted rather than the entire warrant being withheld. Meanwhile, Omar is engaged in a separate dispute with the Justice Department. Her attorneys have demanded the return of property seized from her home, arguing that agents violated protections for her congressional work. They have also alleged that agents failed to provide her with a copy of the warrant and prevented her from contacting her attorneys during the search. FEDERAL AGENTS SEIZE PHONE OF REP ILHAN OMAR IN RAID TIED TO IMMIGRATION FRAUD PROBE Boasberg’s oversight of efforts to unseal the records follows a series of decisions that have drawn criticism from Trump and his allies. In June 2025, he ordered federal agencies to preserve Signal messages exchanged by senior officials while discussing U.S. military strikes in Yemen, saying the communications could constitute federal records. During the Biden administration’s Arctic Frost investigation, he signed nondisclosure orders barring phone carriers from notifying Republican lawmakers that prosecutors had subpoenaed their records. Boasberg also drew criticism over his sentencing of former FBI attorney Kevin Clinesmith. Clinesmith pleaded guilty to altering an email used in an application to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to renew surveillance of Carter Page, a former Trump campaign adviser suspected of acting as a Russian agent. Boasberg, who previously served a seven-year term on the FISA Court, said Clinesmith’s alteration of the email undermined the court’s integrity but was a misguided mistake that provided Clinesmith no personal benefit. He sentenced Clinesmith to 12 months of probation and 400 hours of community service. Boasberg said in his sentencing decision that he believed Clinesmith’s role at the center of a years-long media “hurricane” had provided sufficient punishment.

Mary Peltola’s campaign, Dems backed covert scheme to field spoiler candidates in Alaska Senate race: report

Mary Peltola’s campaign, Dems backed covert scheme to field spoiler candidates in Alaska Senate race: report

The campaign for Alaska Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola actively participated in an effort to peel votes away from incumbent Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan by recruiting namesake and spoiler candidates, according to an investigation The New York Times published Wednesday. The covert operation, internally dubbed the “ballot composition project,” allegedly involved aides from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), top campaign advisors, party lawyers and an operative who traveled across the state under assumed names. In a series of posts on Truth Social, President Donald Trump said Peltola shouldn’t be allowed to keep her name on the ballot, citing the instance as “ELECTION FRAUD.” The effort began in the summer of 2025, when a Peltola staffer was directed to comb through state voter rolls to compile a list of Alaskans named Dan Sullivan, according to the report.  The plan worked earlier this year when Dan J. Sullivan, a retired teacher and left-leaning voter from Petersburg, switched his voter registration to Republican shortly before filing his candidacy in the Senate race. TRUMP SAYS ‘WE ARE LOOKING INTO’ OTHER DAN SULLIVAN ON ALASKA BALLOT, WARNS ABOUT GOVERNOR’S RACE PERSONAL ATTACKS FLY AS SULLIVAN, PELTOLA SPAR OVER CORRUPTION, CHARACTER AND CONTROVERSY Elisa Rios, Peltola’s former campaign manager who was fired in August, told the Times that while Peltola was not directly involved in orchestrating the project, she was “definitely aware.” “Alaskan voters need to know,” Rios said. “There was a lot of speculation, and voters should get the full picture when making their decisions.” Rios later attempted to retract her comments prior to publication, but the newspaper noted that her initial interviews were corroborated by text messages, internal documents and 11 other sources. Central to the plan was Democratic operative Jerid Kurtz, who allegedly traveled through Alaska using aliases such as “Zane,” the report states. TOP ELECTION SCHEMES ROILING KEY MIDTERM RACES AS BOTH PARTIES ACCUSE RIVALS OF TRICKERY Kurtz allegedly met potential recruits at local pubs and diners, offering outside financial backing to persuade conservative and independent candidates to run and split the right-leaning vote. “The Democrats cheated!” Trump wrote. “They found a man named Dan Sullivan, put him on the Ballot, then lied to the Court, and said they didn’t know anything about it. That’s perjury. She shouldn’t be allowed to run, and neither should the FAKE Dan Sullivan!”  “Peltola should suffer the Legal and Political consequences for what she has done, A FRAUD ON THE AMERICAN PUBLIC, and Dan Sullivan should be allowed to run without either Mary Peltola or FAKE Dan Sullivan on the Ballot,” he added. Beyond the second Sullivan, operatives recruited other potential candidates, including drywall contractor Gerald Heikes, according to the report. GOP SENATOR, EX-HOUSE DEM EMERGE FROM ALASKA’S ‘JUNGLE PRIMARY’ DESPITE FAR-LEFT MEDDLING They also allegedly successfully pressured progressive candidate David Leslie to drop out of the race to avoid siphoning votes from Peltola, paving the way for Heikes to claim the fourth spot on Alaska’s ranked-choice ballot. Campaign advisors and the DSCC also weighed creating a third-party “MAGA party” to siphon votes from the incumbent senator before abandoning the idea in May, according to the report. Jacquelyn Lopez, an attorney with the prominent Democratic firm Elias Law Group, which represents both the DSCC and Peltola’s campaign, was looped into discussions regarding the third-party strategy and field operations, the Times wrote. Internal messages allegedly showed staff asking whether they needed to “follow up with Jackie about maga party stuff,” while another noted that Lopez was in touch with Kurtz. CLICK HERE FOR MORE U.S. NEWS “The Alaskans for Mary campaign has no involvement with either Sullivan campaign and did not recruit any candidates into the race,” Peltola’s campaign said in a statement to the Times. The DSCC echoed that stance, stating it had no role in recruiting either Sullivan or any other Republican candidate. In a statement to Fox News, the DSCC said it was not involved with Dan J. Sullivan, while pointing to Republicans’ allegations of political shenanigans. “Republicans have a long history of recruiting and propping up candidates in an attempt to boost their own campaigns, including recruiting a prisoner with a New York address to run against Mary Peltola and spending nearly half a million dollars to secure a spot on the ballot in Alaska for an Arizona resident in the Senate race this cycle,” a DSCC spokesperson said. The White House pointed to a social media post by Communications Director Steven Cheung on X: “BREAKING: Democrats’ secret, CORRUPT plan to stack Alaska’s ballot EXPOSED!” The report came just days before Election Day and amid a Justice Department lawsuit seeking to block certification of the election if the incumbent Sullivan loses due to voter confusion over the two identical candidate names. Under Alaska’s four-person general election system, Peltola enters Tuesday as the sole Democrat on the ballot, facing off against Sen. Dan S. Sullivan, Dan J. Sullivan and Gerald Heikes.

Peltola campaign’s alleged Dan Sullivan spoiler plot takes new turn as DOJ faces major legal hurdle

Peltola campaign’s alleged Dan Sullivan spoiler plot takes new turn as DOJ faces major legal hurdle

The Department of Justice faces an uphill legal battle in Alaska, where it is trying to convince a federal court that confusion between two Senate candidates with nearly identical names could be enough to delay certification of the election results. Roughly two weeks before Election Day on Oct. 22, the DOJ filed a federal lawsuit seeking to delay certification if Sen. Dan Sullivan loses and votes cast for another candidate named Daniel J. Sullivan could have changed the result, pending an investigation into whether voters mistakenly selected the wrong candidate. The DOJ’s complaint stems from a controversy in Alaska where two individuals by the name of Dan Sullivan, one a retired schoolteacher and the other the state’s incumbent senator, appear alongside each other on the state’s ballots. Although Alaska has traditionally been a Republican stronghold in Senate elections, the state’s race could carry greater national significance this year as Republicans seek to defend their narrow Senate majority. The New York Times reported Wednesday that the campaign of Mary Peltola, the Democrat running for Senate in Alaska, reportedly worked with operatives to recruit another Dan Sullivan to run for Alaska’s Senate seat, hoping voter confusion would draw support from the incumbent Republican senator. Citing interviews, text messages and documents prepared for a potential lawsuit, the Times reported that the effort also targeted other potential spoiler candidates, despite the Peltola campaign’s repeated denials of involvement in the second Sullivan’s candidacy. TODD BLANCHE CHALLENGES DANA BASH FOR ONLY CITING PART OF CONSTITUTION DURING HEATED ELECTION CLASH Fox News learned Wednesday that federal prosecutors are conducting an “aggressive criminal investigation” into how the second Sullivan secured a spot on Alaska’s ballot, according to two sources familiar with the probe. Investigators are preparing grand jury subpoenas and examining potential violations of voters’ rights, with the investigation expected to continue beyond Election Day. The DOJ declined to comment. On Sunday, Peltola’s campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee filed a proposed motion to dismiss the Justice Department’s lawsuit, arguing that the federal law cited by the DOJ governs voter registration, not candidate eligibility or ballot design. They also urged the court to resolve the case before Election Day. Conservatives have argued that two similar names on the same ballot could possibly lead to voters who would prefer to reelect the state’s Republican senator accidentally voting for the retired school teacher. Opponents of the effort to remove Daniel J. Sullivan from the ballot argue that sharing a name with an incumbent is not grounds for disqualification and that Alaska’s ranked-choice voting system allows voters to rank both candidates, potentially limiting the effects of mistaken selections. Alaska’s Division of Elections initially sided with conservatives, disqualifying Sullivan the schoolteacher by finding that his candidacy was not a genuine, good-faith bid for office but instead was designed to confuse voters into mistaking him for the senator. Alaska Superior Court Judge Thomas Matthews overturned the decision in June, holding that the Division of Elections had no authority to void a candidacy on that basis. Alaska’s general election ballot identifies the incumbent as “Sullivan, Dan S.,” with Republican and incumbent designations, while listing the other candidate as “Sullivan, Daniel J. Jr.,” without a party affiliation, a measure some argue is enough to clear up potential confusion. Lawyers at the Justice Department, however, remain unconvinced. Although Attorney General Todd Blanche has suggested that officials could examine ranked-choice ballot patterns for signs of confusion, the Justice Department has not explained how those patterns could establish that individual voters mistakenly selected the wrong candidate. Voter privacy protections pose a major obstacle to a potential federal case, as it would be nigh impossible to tie specific voters to specific ballots to serve as evidence of confusion. ALASKA HAS A VOTING SYSTEM LIKE NO OTHER STATE; REPUBLICANS WORRY IT COULD COST THEM IN NOVEMBER “This is just the stuff that is just impossible to measure after the fact,” Notre Dame law professor Derek Muller said of the DOJ’s plan to infer voter intentions from anonymous ballots. Blanche, in interviews with the press, has provided some insight into how he would like the DOJ to go about solving this problem. “So, because of rank-based voting, voters… they write not just one, not just two, but multiple names on the ballot. And so there are a number of scenarios where it could be obvious that a voter was confused by the way they wrote down candidates,” Blanche told CNN’s Dana Bash. Blanche’s comments suggest that the Justice Department could examine ranked-choice ballot patterns for potential signs of confusion, although such patterns alone would not establish whether voters intended to support a different candidate. “It will be obvious from the results and from the ballots that voters were confused, and that could be obvious from the way that they rank the Dan Sullivans or not including a Dan Sullivan on the ballot,” he said in a later interview with CBS. ALASKA REPUBLICANS SCRAMBLE TO EDUCATE VOTERS ON SUSPECTED DEM PLANT AS ‘BALLOT FATIGUE’ THREATENS RACE Don Palmer, senior legal fellow for election integrity at the right-of-center Heritage Foundation, told Fox News Digital that he feels the Justice Department might have a case if the agency’s lawyers construct it properly. Statistical analysis of ballots alone, he maintains, will likely not be sufficient to convince a judge of the administration’s position.  “You’ll have the opportunity to interview witnesses, do some statistical analysis, and make a decision whether or not the campaign wants to contest the results of the election,” Palmer said. “So it’s actually quite a high standard where you have to bring in witnesses. You can’t generally just prove it with some statistical analysis… the campaign would have to show to the court through statistical and expert testimony, plus witness testimony, plus affidavits, that enough voters were confused, that they made inaccurate choices on what they intended to do. Then and only then could the court determine whether the race should be overturned.” “If voters voted for the non-Republican Dan