Mamdani to release documents on 9/11 health impacts before 25th anniversary
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced Tuesday that his administration will release more than 170,000 pages of documents shedding new light on the air quality around Ground Zero in the months following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. In a press conference at the City Hall Rotunda, Mamdani said these documents would only be the first release of information that will reveal new details about “what the city knew about the toxic air around Ground Zero, when they knew it and how they acted to limit liability.” Over the next year, hundreds of thousands of more documents will be released onto a public portal that will be freely accessible to every New Yorker, Mamdani said. The creation of the portal came about after the city settled a lawsuit from 9/11 Health Watch, an advocacy organization that sued to obtain the documents now being released. 9/11 FAMILIES URGE TRUMP TO DECLASSIFY RECORDS ON SAUDI ARABIA’S ALLEGED ROLE The first tranche of documents being released Tuesday on the portal will involve the 68 boxes of Department of Environmental Protection files that were found “a few years ago,” Mamdani said. Also included in the release will be the Harding memo, a letter that was sent to Bob Harding, a deputy mayor under Rudy Giuliani. It was sent to him after the attacks on the World Trade Center, and it outlined that there could be tens of thousands of legal claims filed against the city. Jon Stewart, who has spent years advocating for 9/11 first responders, said at the press conference that the memo showed the city buried the truth about the toxic nature of the air for nearly 25 years. “There was poison in the air and on the ground and in the window sills and in your air conditioners and covering your pets and your clothes. And it stayed there for months,” Stewart said. TRUMP’S 9/11 TRIBUTE TO FEATURE MASSIVE PIECE OF GROUND ZERO HISTORY AT WHITE HOUSE “Everyone knew. And now it’s very clear that the city knew as well. And rather than take the steps to ameliorate the damage that that would cause to its citizens and to the people that were down there, they instead covered it up to get back to business as usual,” Stewart added. The document release comes days before the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people. The majority of people died at the World Trade Center after two planes were flown into the Twin Towers by al-Qaeda terrorists. In addition to the World Trade Center, hijackers struck the Pentagon, and a fourth plane crashed in rural Pennsylvania after passengers attempted to retake control of the aircraft. Officials repeatedly noted that 25 years later, more people have died from illnesses linked to the attacks than were killed on Sept. 11 itself. The documents, officials said, show that asbestos remained present in parts of Lower Manhattan for months after the attacks and that benzene levels continued to spike near Ground Zero. “Now, we in the public know that City Hall, led by former Mayor Giuliani, predicted that thousands of responders and community members would face devastating long-term health consequences from these toxins,” U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y. said at the Tuesday press conference. The next release of documents that will be released to the portal will concern correspondence in Mayor Rudy Giulani’s office, who was leading the city at the time of the attacks, according to Steven Banks, the city’s top lawyer. Banks said a third tranche will involve documents related to 7 World Trade Center, a skyscraper that was destroyed along with the Twin Towers and was subsequently rebuilt.
Fox News Power Rankings: What’s in an economy?
Eight weeks from today, millions of Americans will choose their next congressperson. Poll after poll tells us that the state of the economy will shape their choice: it’s the top issue for voters by a wide margin and most Americans are in a sour mood about it. That’s not the end of the story. We’ve learned from previous elections that voters consider a wide range of issues when they vote. The “economy” has different meanings to voters. Optimism doesn’t win over voters on pocketbook issues. And this year, while voters aren’t happy with President Donald Trump’s economy, that hasn’t yet made them enthusiastic about the Democratic alternative. These are the four rules to think about as we inch closer to the midterms. Meantime, Democrats inch closer to victory as the Power Rankings takes a fresh look at congressional races in Missouri and Ohio. The importance of the economy to elections has been a golden rule since the early ’90s, when Democratic strategist James Carville famously cited “the economy, stupid” as the most important focus for a campaign. Did you know it was only one of three orders he gave to candidates that cycle? The economy has been a top-three issue throughout the Trump era, including the last two midterm elections, where it was the most important issue for 47% of voters (2022) and 18% of voters (2018). If that 2018 figure feels low, it’s because healthcare (26%) and immigration (23%) finished ahead. That year, Republicans lost 42 seats. No wonder another of Carville’s three rules for candidates was “don’t forget health care.” (The third was “change vs more of the same.”) HAKEEM JEFFRIES REJECTS MEDICARE FOR ALL, DSA AGENDA AS RO KHANNA CALLS HEALTH PLAN ‘MOST IMPORTANT PRIORITY’ The state of the economy bleeds into other major concerns, including healthcare. But even a strong economy wasn’t enough to get the GOP out of that election unscathed. And healthcare looms as another important issue this year: it’s ranked close behind the economy in most surveys this year. When pollsters ask about voters’ views on the economy, they usually ask how important “the economy” or “the state of the economy” is, or whether they’re satisfied with Trump’s performance on that issue. In some important ways, Trump has a strong economic record. Just last week, the U.S. added 162,000 jobs, about triple what economists had expected. The unemployment rate was steady at 4.1%. The stock market also continues to grow, even as Iran and tariffs drive volatility. These have helped keep Trump’s overall economic approval rating in the low-to-mid 30s in multiple polls this summer. When pollsters ask only about Americans’ personal economic situation, things look tougher. TRUMP’S APPROVAL RATING PLUMMETS TO NEW LOW AHEAD OF CRITICAL MIDTERMS: ‘MORE WORK TO DO’ In a Reuters/Ipsos poll released last week, 32% of voters said they approved of Trump on the economy. But only a quarter approved of his performance on cost of living and 24% approved of him on inflation and prices. The costs of gas, food and other basic goods are the major factors driving this discrepancy. If Democrats deliver a strong result in November, it will come down to a presidential approval rating in the mid-20s on these issues. In 2022, President Joe Biden faced similar headwinds: the economy was rebounding, especially if you looked at unemployment, but inflation hovered around the 8% mark all year. Gas prices came in around $3.75. The Biden administration kept selling the positives. First, inflation was “transitory.” Then the president argued that “zero percent inflation” from one month to another was a win, despite the high annualized rate. Senior officials took victory laps on the unemployment rate. Voters rejected this messaging at the ballot box, delivering the House to the GOP after a net loss of nine Democratic seats and handing Biden a net approval rating of -23 points on the economy. Today, headline inflation is less than half that at 3.4%, while gas prices are a little higher at $4.15. Trump’s net approval on the economy currently sits at -33 points. The Trump administration is running a familiar playbook. Vice President JD Vance said last week that gas prices could be worse if not for the Trump administration. As Fox’s Gillian Turner noted on “Special Report,” there are similarities between a comment like that and the statements Biden officials made four years earlier. These optimistic visions are likely to remain a tough sell to voters. It’s easy to look at all this and think the Democrats are in for a big night in November. That’s certainly a possibility. But polls keep showing that voters are just as discouraged by the left’s economic messaging. FOX NEWS POLL: MOST RATE THE ECONOMY NEGATIVELY, INCLUDING HALF OF REPUBLICANS Right now, Democrats are offering voters competing economic visions. Some, like Abdul El-Sayed and Troy Jackson, want a revolution that starts with “Medicare-for-all” and higher taxes on the wealthy. Others say they want to undo Trump’s agenda while keeping the core of America’s economic system in place. It’s not yet clear whether these visions are unappealing to voters or whether the contrast between them is the problem. Either way, in the Reuters/Ipsos survey, 36% of voters say Republicans are the better party to handle the economy, while 37% prefer the Democrats. The poll has a ±3.3pt margin of error. That’s not encouraging for Team Blue. If the Republicans hold relatively steady in November – also a possibility in this forecast – those results will explain why. Democrats are still the favorites to take the House this November, with 212 seats in their columns to the GOP’s 206. There are 17 seats that are so close they could go either way. Those seats tend to swing in one direction as votes get counted. On a good night for Democrats, that means 229 seats, while a good night for the GOP would still see them hold onto their current House majority. (A “great” night for either party would mean winning some
US rebuilding weapons stockpile could delay orders from allies
The U.S. has for years been the top weapons supplier in the world. Over the past five years, arms exports have gone to nearly 100 countries. “These weapons are sought after around the world because we have the best weapons,” said War Department Under Secretary for Acquisition and Sustainment Michael Duffey. The Trump administration says some of the U.S. stockpile depletion is because of the weapons given to Ukraine. The Center for Strategic and International Studies assesses those transfers have been a minor factor in the shrinking U.S. inventories except for one important tool – the Patriot Missile Defense System. WEAPONS STOCKPILE SHORTAGES IMPACTING MILITARY STRATEGY IN THE MIDEAST “We’ve maxed out the production lines now, and that process began during the Ukraine War when it was clear that modern conflict was going to require a lot more munitions than we had been planning on,” said Mark Cancian, a retired U.S. Marine colonel and senior advisor with the CSIS Defense and Security Department. Between 2021 and 2025, Ukraine was the largest recipient of major arms around the world, with at least 36 countries supplying weapons. The U.S. was the top supplier over the five-year time period, accounting for 41% of Ukrainian arms imports. AS CHINA TENSIONS LOOM, US TEMPORARILY PAUSES TAIWAN WEAPONS SALES DUE TO IRAN WAR, ACTING NAVY SECRETARY SAYS Before Russia’s war in Ukraine began in 2022, CSIS estimates the U.S. had around 2,200 Patriot missiles in its inventory. Estimates show around 600 missiles were given to Ukraine, with a few of those possibly coming from U.S. allies. Deliveries of new production outpaced the number given to Ukraine, with an estimated 2,300 missiles in the U.S. Patriot inventory before the Iran conflict began. It’s estimated that around 36% of Patriot Interceptors remain from the pre-Iran war inventory. “As chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, my job is to sign off on all foreign military weapons and sales to countries like Israel, to countries, like Taiwan and Ukraine, for that matter. And when we can’t deliver on that promise because we can’t make those weapons fast enough, it hurts our alliances, it hurts allies’ ability to protect themselves,” said Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas. Publicly available government reports show at least four countries, including the U.S., have provided full Patriot missile systems to Ukraine. The U.S. is the only country that manufactures the Patriot battery, and one of two countries, along with Japan, to publicly show it produces Patriot missiles. “If we take all of the Patriots for ourselves, and of course, that’s 600 a year, we can refill the inventory much more quickly, but we have frozen out our allies and partners,” Cancian said. UKRAINE SEEKS MORE US PATRIOT INTERCEPTORS AS BOMB SHELTER PROBE DEEPENS Patriot producer Raytheon says, “Patriot is the foundation of integrated air and missile defense for 19 nations.” But as the U.S. prioritizes rebuilding its weapons inventory, deliveries for some countries are already delayed. “Unfortunately, the world we live in is an increasing threat, and that means that we need a bigger military force, and we need a stronger defense industrial base to be able to equip the warfighter and supply all that we need to win the fight,” Duffey said. Patriot batteries and Tomahawk missiles were first used in Operation Desert Storm. At least two other countries have Tomahawks and while the stockpile remains large compared to other systems, at around two-thirds of its prewar inventory, new orders from Japan and the Netherlands could face delays. “With Tomahawk, we have the same situation with the Japanese. They bought 400. They’re told they’re being pushed back in the queue. On the other hand, they’re facing China. They’ve reconfigured one of their ships to take the Tomahawks. So, there’s again going to be a diplomatic discussion there,” Cancian said. MORE THAN HALF OF SOME US WEAPONS STOCKPILES USED IN IRAN WAR, RAISING CONCERNS ABOUT CHINA THREAT Just the U.S., the UAE and Saudi Arabia have THAAD systems. Their first confirmed use was in 2022 after a UAE system intercepted missiles launched by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. No official delays have been reported for THAAD orders, but the U.S. has 52%-62% of its inventory remaining and outstanding deliveries for Saudi Arabia, expected to be completed by April 2028. “This military competition we’re in with China and Russia and Iran is real. And we have to win that competition,” McCaul said. OPINION: AMERICA FACES A CRISIS IN OUR MILITARY ARSENAL THAT TRUMP IS RACING TO FIX The ground-launched Precision Strike Missile (PrSm), developed by Lockheed Martin, was first used in Operation Epic Fury. CSIS says just 10-22% of those weapons remain from pre-Iran conflict levels, following the ceasefire expenditures and revised estimates from the beginning of the conflict in late February. “It’s important to keep in mind that the level of intensity in those 14 days of renewed conflict were not as high as they were during the first 39 days of the air war,” Cancian said about the July strikes after the ceasefire ended. “During the 14 days, the U.S. was launching maybe 80 to 100 strikes according to the Pentagon per day. During the 39 days of the major air war, we were launching about 350 strikes a day, plus Israel was launching another 200 to 250. So, the intensity wasn’t quite as high, but we were still going through these munitions.”
Unearthed interview exposes what Talarico thought about ‘tough-on-crime’ tactics
James Talarico, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Texas, once framed disciplinary practices in schools as an outflow of the ideas behind criminal justice reforms he hoped lawmakers would implement in Texas. “I’m recently excited about the formation of a bipartisan criminal justice reform caucus in the Texas House with prominent Democrats and prominent Republicans who understand that we have to move away from a tough-on-crime approach to a smart-on-crime approach, and that, I think, filters down to our schools,” Talarico said in a 2020 interview on school disciplinary practices and their effect on minorities. Talarico’s train of thought, from criminal reform laws to changes in educational discipline, demonstrates his underlying beliefs about moving away from punitive corrections. SOROS NETWORK REBUILDS PROGRESSIVE PROSECUTOR PUSH AFTER STRING OF ELECTION LOSSES Talarico fleshed out his view, detailing how the changes would affect the educational system. “[We are] starting in elementary school, where we really pursue restorative practices that are going to rehabilitate our students who are suffering from trauma, our students who are feeling unsafe in school and our students who harm a classroom community.” Talarico was referring to “restorative justice,” a view that links misbehavior to past personal and emotional experiences. In the words of Texas Appleseed, a group that promotes “social, economic and racial justice,” restorative justice in education emphasizes the relational cost of conflict as a way to deter future bad behavior. “Restorative Justice, when applied to a school setting, focuses on how student behavior has harmed others and how to make amends. Schools use it to build community and strengthen student–school connections,” the group wrote in a definition submitted to lawmakers. The approach is often mentioned as an alternative to “zero tolerance” policies that focus on punishments that deter discouraged conduct. To Talarico, its adoption could deemphasize other forms of punishments. “What that means is really allowing students to repair the harms that they’ve caused in a classroom community. It’s a lot more rigorous and a lot more effective than just expelling a student or suspending a student or removing them from a classroom community,” Talarico said. While in the Texas legislature in 2021, Talarico introduced a bill, HB 62, which would have sought to move schools away from in-school suspension, out-of-school suspension and removing kids to alternative educational programs. The bill stalled in committee and never became law. NORTH CAROLINA TEACHER’S KILLING REIGNITES SCRUTINY OF ROY COOPER’S CRIMINAL JUSTICE RECORD IN SENATE RACE In the wake of the Uvalde school shooting in 2022, Republican lawmakers pushed back against Talarico’s line of reasoning, arguing that, despite some calls for leniency, repercussions for problematic behavior are sometimes unavoidable. “Look, I don’t want to see a kid go to jail for being caught with some pot. I don’t want to see a kid go to jail because he gets into a fight with another kid,” Texas state Rep. Steve Toth, a Republican, told interviewers. “That’s clearly not the intent here. But if you’ve got a kid that is violent and is consistently violent, and they’ve been violent toward other children and teachers, then we either have to reach that kid or we have to remove that kid. They shouldn’t be in the classroom. Period.” Talarico’s statements are consistent with past calls to step away from law enforcement and prisons and towards social programs — calls that also show his beliefs about the best ways to deter criminal behavior. “If we took just half of what we spent on wars, prisons, and policing and spent it on education, health care, and jobs, we could make prisons obsolete,” Talarico said in a 2022 speech to a graduation ceremony for incarcerated students. A little later on in that same speech, Talarico went further, calling the idea of prisons themselves a kind of violence. “My experience as a teacher, a legislator, and a Christian tells me that birds don’t belong in cages; children don’t belong in cages; people don’t belong in cages. Poverty is violence. Pollution is violence. And yes, prison is violence,” Talarico said. MICHIGAN SENATE HOPEFUL ABDUL EL-SAYED FIRES BACK AT CNN CHOOSING TO ‘FIXATE’ ON ‘DEFUND THE POLICE’ COMMENTS “I’m not asking you to join the system; I’m asking you to change the system. Dismantle this system of violence.” When asked about his views on criminal justice and how they link to education, Talarico’s campaign said he has always prioritized both safety and smart-on-crime approaches, noting that he had been a member of the state’s criminal reform caucus. “James joined his Republican colleagues on this caucus because as a former public school teacher, James cares about keeping Texas students safe. James agrees with most Texans that we government should be smart-on-crime, and our students deserve all the support possible,” JT Ennis, a campaign spokesperson, said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “While James has passed bills in the legislature to deny bail for violent criminals, crack down on violent felons and send billions of dollars to support law enforcement, Ken Paxton has abused his office to benefit his wealthy donors and the well-connected — allowing criminals back on the street even as it made Texans less safe. Even Ken Paxton’s fellow Republicans have blasted his public safety record: more murders, soft on human trafficking, and pedophiles walking free,” he added, referring to Talarico’s Republican challenger, former Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Having cleared the primary and secured his party’s nomination, Talarico will face off against Paxton in the Nov. 3 general election.
Ex-DSA member rips Abdul El-Sayed and warns far-left adopting politics of foreign terror org
A former member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) who lives in Michigan issued a dire warning against extremism in American politics, and ripped far-left, progressive Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed as dishonest and “sanctimonious.” “So, I think that it’s up to everyone to not sit on their hands, Democrats, Republicans, Independents, we all need to be out there,” Jake Altman told Fox News Digital. “We all need to be supporting candidates who love this country, who want to deliver for Michiganders. We should not be leaning into this sectarian politics. My fear is we’ve seen the left wing of the Democratic Party import the politics of Hezbollah into the United States, and now we’re living with the sectarian aftermath of that.” Altman, who formerly worked for several labor unions, said the DSA began adding fanatical far-left factions, including Marxists and Leninists, around 2014 and 2015. He claimed that at the time, similar far-left actors were taking control of labor unions, intending to use well-meaning workers as pawns in a much larger political battle to push the Democratic Party further left. That was about the time he left the movement, which he said has become “very susceptible to extremist takeover.” FORMER DSA MEMBER ALLEGES COMMUNISTS HAVE ‘CAPTURED’ SOCIALIST GROUP, WARNS DEMOCRATIC PARTY IS NEXT “That’s not America,” he said. “We want… a broad, tolerant America. We want pluralism here. We don’t want to be at each other’s throats. I’m just — we have to stand up and say ‘no’ to this.” Tensions between the DSA and Democratic Party have reached a boiling point — nowhere more evident than in Michigan — where El-Sayed, who has palled around with socialist streamer Hasan Piker on the campaign trail, is facing difficulty rallying the party’s moderates in support of his candidacy. DEMOCRATS’ CIVIL WAR HEADS TO MICHIGAN WHERE PROGRESSIVES FACE BIGGEST TEST YET IN HIGH-STAKES SENATE SHOWDOWN “So, I’ve met Abdul several times,” said Altman. “I worked very closely with his dad when his dad was union president of the AAUP local I worked for. So I have, you know, I think I have a pretty good read on the guy.” Mohamed El-Sayed, Abdul’s father, is an engineering professor at Eastern Michigan University, where he served as president of the school’s AAUP chapter and led a faculty strike in 2022. “When I was at the Democratic Party convention, the recent Democratic Party nominating convention, [Abdul El-Sayed] recognized me,” Altman continued, clarifying that he was referring to April’s contentious Michigan Democratic Party endorsement convention. “He was working a line that I was standing in, and he recognized me, and he asked me, ‘why all the hate?’ ’cause I had been critical of the campaign up to that point.” Altman said Abdul El-Sayed told him that his campaign “doesn’t do that,” apparently claiming that his campaign wasn’t engaged in political mudslinging. EL-SAYED’S HASAN PIKER PROBLEM FOLLOWS HIM TO DEM CONVENTION AS JEWISH VOTERS BREAK RANKS “We see that the guy is not a straight shooter, he’s not an honest broker,” said Altman. “He, himself, said that his primary opponent, who I was supporting, couldn’t string two coherent sentences together. I mean, the idea that he is somehow above it all is just not true. He’s the most sanctimonious man in Democratic Party politics, and that’s going a long way because there’s a lot of sanctimony in that party.” As for the DSA, according to Altman, it is unrecognizable compared to just a decade ago. “So, you had this older generation that was very tolerant, part of a broader liberal tradition, engaged in a productive way with the Democratic Party, not a destructive way as we see today,” Altman explained. Part of that tradition, he said, was a total rejection of communism. But recently, the party voted to lift its ban on Leninists, allowing the proliferation of extremism among the party ranks. “We’ve seen in August 2025 that DSA at the convention voted to remove its prohibition on having Leninists operating within the organization,” he said. “I mean, it doesn’t get any clearer than this.” He bemoaned current DSA co-Chair Megan Romer, whom he described as a “Marxist-Leninist” and “fan of the Cuban regime.” HOW THE ‘LONG MARCH’ THROUGH THE INSTITUTIONS LED TO SOCIALIST TAKEOVER OF DEM PARTY: ‘NEED TO WAKE UP’ Romer traveled to Cuba last year with a group of 40 far-leftists, where she hyped the communist country as “care-focused vs. production-focused,” blamed the United States’ blockade for the country’s food shortages and mass emigration, and said the country has “the most LGBTQ-friendly constitution in the world.” Meanwhile, Abdul El-Sayed continues his attempts to try to win over moderate Democrats while also campaigning against Republican former congressman Mike Rogers ahead of the crucial 2026 midterms that will determine whether Democrats regain control of either or both chambers of Congress. Abdul El-Sayed has been dogged by questions about his affiliation with Piker, whom he invited on the campaign trail during primary season. He has refused to condemn Piker, choosing instead to brush him off as a “streamer from California” who has little connection with the Michigan race. Piker said in 2019 that “America deserved 9/11,” and has also praised Mao Zedong and Communist China, said capitalists should be murdered in the streets and spewed a litany of antisemitic comments. Fox News Digital reached out to El-Sayed’s campaign.
GOP faces brutal midterm headwinds as Republicans paint election as ‘competition with communism’
DALLAS — With less than two months to go until the midterm elections, President Donald Trump and Republicans gather in Texas this week for the first ever GOP midterm convention, as they aim to energize the party’s base to turn out in key races that will determine if Republicans keep control of Congress. Democrats and Republicans traditionally hold large nominating conventions during presidential election years. But Trump a year ago floated the idea of a similar gathering ahead of the midterms, to showcase the signature policy achievements he and the Republicans in Congress produced the past two years. The president called the convention “a truly Historic Event” and “a RALLY like none other!” when he announced it earlier this summer. Trump will be at the American Airlines Center in downtown Dallas for the convention’s Wednesday and Thursday evening sessions. Trump will speak on both nights, and will deliver the keynote address on the first night, with Vice President JD Vance headlining the second night. SPEAKER JOHNSON’S MIDTERM PREDICTION TO BUCK HISTORY The convention comes as Republicans face energized Democrats and stiff political headwinds as they defend their slim House and Senate majorities. There are concerns that the two-day confab that’s been described by GOP leaders as a “Trumpapalooza” may not be the best approach with the president’s approval ratings deep underwater. But Republicans are expected to paint a contrast, as they use the convention to spotlight the Democrats’ leftward lurch and tie the entire Democratic Party to far-left and socialist proposals. “This is not a midterm like any other, because we actually have a competition against communism now, and that’s a very serious thing. It’s going to animate voters coast to coast,” House Speaker Mike Johnson emphasized in a Fox News Digital campaign trail interview last month. Democrats, as they try to win back congressional majorities, were already battling a brand that public opinion polling indicates is extremely unpopular. Making matters worse, the high-profile victories this spring and summer by left-wing and socialist candidates over establishment rivals in Democratic primaries, which gave Republicans extra ammunition to portray all Democrats as extremists. THESE 12 MIDTERM RACES WILL DECIDE WHICH PARTY CONTROLS THE SENATE “What we’re going to highlight at that convention is the fact that this is not your father’s Democrat Party,” Johnson said. “It’s a contrast election, and people are making a contrast between common-sense solutions and candidates, and really crazy, which is represented by the other side.” But Republicans have their own issues. As the party currently in power, the GOP was already up against traditional political headwinds that have historically led to a loss of congressional seats during midterm election years. Add to that the challenging climate fueled by persistent inflation Americans see daily at the grocery store, high gas prices tied to what polls show is an unpopular war with Iran and Trump’s negative numbers. “Democrats are going to win back power,” Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chair Ken Martin predicted last month at the party’s summer meeting as he looked towards the midterms. But his counterpart, Republican National Committee (RNC) Chair Joe Gruters, told Fox News Digital this summer, “We have a chance to defy history and win the midterms.” DEMOCRACY ’26: STAY UP TO DATE WITH THE FOX NEWS ELECTION HUB The victories by Trump and Republicans two years ago in winning back the White House and Senate and holding the House were fueled by Americans fed up with the high cost of living. Two years later, inflation is the Republicans’ biggest liability. Three out of four voters questioned in the most recent Fox News national poll said inflation had caused financial hardship, while 54% expected the economy to worsen. “Donald Trump started a war that no one wanted, and now Americans are paying the price. Gas prices are soaring and families who were already struggling in Trump’s economy are forced to stretch their budgets even further while footing the bill for this war,” the DNC’s Martin charged. But Gruters and other GOP leaders are spotlighting the major tax cuts on tips, overtime and Social Security that congressional Republicans passed and Trump signed into law last year. “This midterm convention gives us a chance, an opportunity to showcase all the great things this president has done, and this administration, to the American people in a direct way,” he said. SIGN UP TO GET THE POLITICS NEWSLETTER But Republicans are facing a low-propensity problem: MAGA voters who don’t always go to the polls when Trump’s name isn’t on the ballot. Gruters called Trump the “best showman that’s ever existed in politics, bar none… He knows how to deliver these low-propensity voters. He knows how to get people up, motivated, excited about the midterms, and that’s what we’re going to need.” Johnson, painting a preview of the convention, told Fox News Digital: “Two nights of earned media on every station in America. We’ll parade all of our stars across the stage, talk about our extraordinary record of achievement. The president will look into the camera at the end and say, ‘I am on the ballot,’ because we need his base to turn out.” The DNC, which remains in debt and decided against holding a similar convention, sees the GOP confab as a chance to blast Republicans. “While everyday Americans struggle to pay their bills, fill up their tanks, or put food on the table, Republicans are hosting a multi-million dollar celebration to satisfy an aging and erratic Trump and tie vulnerable Republican candidates closer to his failed agenda,” DNC Rapid Response Director Kendall Witmer charged. Witmer argued that “Americans don’t want a ‘Trumpapalooza’ — they want lower costs and affordable healthcare.” STATE OF PLAY: WHO’S UP AND WHO’S DOWN IN THE LATEST FOX NEWS POWER RANKINGS Veteran Republican strategist Doug Heye said the GOP convention isn’t a bad idea. But Heye, a former RNC communications director, said “the implementation is important. If it’s Trumpapalooza and ‘America has never been hotter or richer,’ it will fall flat. If they
Key swing state voters to settle dueling Senate primary fights in crucial open-seat race
MANCHESTER, N.H. – The Democratic and Republican Senate nominations are up for grabs on Tuesday in swing state New Hampshire, in a race that may determine if Republicans keep control of the chamber in the midterm elections. Socialist-aligned candidate Karishma Manzur is on the move as she tries to pull off a major upset and defeat establishment-backed four-term Rep. Chris Pappas in the Democratic Senate primary. Once a longshot, Manzur gained momentum in recent weeks as the national spotlight turned to New Hampshire after a six-month primary season that saw the far-left score a slew of high-profile victories over centrists in what’s been framed as a battle for the Democrats’ ideological future. The winner of the Democratic primary will take on either John E. Sununu or Scott Brown, two former senators who are battling for the GOP Senate nomination in the race to succeed retiring longtime Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, the first woman in the nation’s history elected governor and senator. THESE 12 MIDTERM RACES WILL DECIDE WHICH PARTY CONTROLS THE SENATE Republicans haven’t won a Senate election in New Hampshire in 16 years, but they view the open Democrat-held seat as a top flip opportunity in the fight to hold their slim majority in the midterm elections. In the Democratic primary, Manzur is taking the fight to Pappas. “All he wants to do is just get his little cushy job and go to D.C., go to all these parties and these restaurants and just do whatever the bare minimum is,” she charged in a Fox News Digital interview. The first-time candidate, scientist with a Ph.D. in biochemistry and nonprofit leader who is a member of a local Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) group, is pushing for universal healthcare, raising the minimum wage to at least $20 per hour, abolishing ICE and ending all military aid to Israel for what she argues is the Israeli government’s “genocide” against the Palestinian people in their war against Hamas in Gaza. Manzur charged that Pappas, who has been supported over the years by the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC, is a “genocide enabler.” “Chris Pappas has had his turn and has not been able to serve this state honorably. He hasn’t done a good job in serving his corporate donors, his AIPAC foreign-aligned lobbies,” she claimed. DEMOCRACY ’26: STAY UP TO DATE WITH THE FOX NEWS ELECTION HUB Pappas, in an interview with Fox News Digital, said, “Israel’s a historic ally of the United States, the only democracy in the region. And you can say that while you have vehement disagreements with the Netanyahu government as I’ve expressed.” Referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Pappas said, “I think Netanyahu’s being incredibly reckless right now. He faces voters in a matter of weeks and could lose his election. And I think that would be important to set a new tone for the U.S.-Israel relationship.” CHECK OUT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POLLING IN THE MIDTERM ELECTIONS Pappas, who has been the frontrunner for his party’s nomination ever since Shaheen announced early last year that she wouldn’t seek re-election, enjoys strong establishment and union backing. And for over a year, as he runs for the Senate, Pappas also takes aim at what he calls a political system “rigged for billionaires.” Regardless, Manzur charges that Pappas is taking a page from her playbook. “It’s really embarrassing and insulting to the people of New Hampshire. He’s been there for eight years. He has not provided any of that sort of populist messages, and now he’s realizing, wait, he’s dropping in the polls, and now he has to catch up,” Manzur argued. Pappas defended his record, noting, “I’ve been fighting to change Washington to get big money out of our political system since I got elected to Congress in 2018.” And Pappas emphasized he’s “appealing to those voters between the 20- and 80-yard line on the political playing field, and there are a lot of them in New Hampshire. This is not a left wing or a right wing state. It’s a state of voters who are pragmatic.” SIGN UP TO GET THE POLITICS NEWSLETTER While Democrats wage an ideological battle, Republicans are fighting over Trump’s influence in their own primary. The president in February endorsed Sununu, a longtime GOP Trump critic, over Brown, one of his first-term ambassadors. Sununu is also backed by Senate Majority Leader John Thune and the National Republican Senatorial Committee. Brown charged in a Fox News Digital interview that Sununu’s “got 70 endorsements on his website, but he doesn’t have the president’s. He never talks about it. He’s embarrassed by it.” CHECK OUT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POWER RANKINGS IN THE MIDTERM ELECTIONS “I’ve had the MAGA base and a lot of those so-called traditional Republicans for almost over a year,” Brown highlighted. “Johnny came lately, and he’s here, and now he thinks everyone’s going to just vote for him. That’s not how it works. You got to go earn it.” Brown claimed that Sununu is “beholden” to Trump, Thune, the Senate leadership, and outside groups. “He owes them everything. He doesn’t work for the people of New Hampshire,” Brown charged. But Sununu emphasized, “I’ll have one job: stand up for the people of New Hampshire every single day… I don’t need to make anyone in Washington happy. It’s all about our state, our communities, our economy, and our small businesses.” Asked by Fox News Digital about Trump’s endorsement, Sununu didn’t mention the president’s name but highlighted his local endorsements, saying, “We’ve received tremendous support in New Hampshire … we’ve got great momentum at the grassroots level.” MEET THE FAR-LEFT INSURGENTS WAGING WAR ON THE DEMOCRATIC ESTABLISHMENT IN 2026 MIDTERMS Trump last week said he’d be heading out on the campaign trail to help fellow Republicans running in the midterms. Asked if he’d like Trump to join him on the Granite State campaign trail, Sununu answered, “I don’t need anyone from outside New Hampshire to campaign for me. I’ve said that from the very
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