America’s reddest state crowns GOP governor nominee
Wyoming Republicans chose former state House Speaker and current state Sen. Eric Barlow on Tuesday as their nominee for governor in the race to succeed outgoing Gov. Mark Gordon. The selection tees up the likely next person to move into the governor’s mansion in January, considering the deep-red roots that run in Wyoming’s statewide officials. Gordon considered seeking a third term and challenging Wyoming’s two-term-limit law, before ultimately deciding against another bid. This left Republicans with an open contest to replace him in November’s midterms. Trump-endorsed State Superintendent Megan Degenfelder came in second behind Barlow Tuesday, while Marine Corps colonel and 2022 gubernatorial candidate Brent Bien finished third. 2026 MIDTERMS: PRIMARIES, KEY RACES AND ELECTION RESULTS Barlow emerged from a four-way primary that featured Degenfelder, Bien and professional bull rider Curt Blake who had less than 1,000 votes with 26% of the total counted. He will face Democrat Kenneth Casner in the Nov. 3 general election. REPUBLICAN SURVIVES PRIMARY ON TIM WALZ’S OLD CONGRESSIONAL TURF AS DEMS EYE SEAT FLIP Degenfelder and Barlow entered the final stretch of the campaign on roughly similar financial footing, reporting about $1.3 million and $1.2 million raised, respectively, according to campaign finance figures cited by The Associated Press. Bien reported raising about $192,000, while Blake reported no money raised. Republicans enter the general election with a substantial political advantage in Wyoming. Every statewide elected office is currently held by a Republican. The governor’s race is one of several open-seat contests at the top of Wyoming’s ballot this year. The state also has open races for U.S. Senate, U.S. House, secretary of state and superintendent of public instruction, creating an unusually large turnover in Wyoming’s political leadership.
Democrats pick their fighter for uphill bid to flip deep-red Senate seat
Former state representative James Byrd advanced Tuesday against former golf club greenskeeper Billy Benavidez in Wyoming’s Democratic primary race for the newly opened Senate seat. Incumbent Republican Sen. Cynthia Lummis announced in December that she would not seek re-election, saying she did not have the energy for another six-year term and creating an open Senate seat in deep-red Wyoming. Byrd was an exploration geophysicist in the energy industry then later became an IT project manager and software consultant. WYOMING OFFICIAL FACES BACKLASH AFTER POSTING ‘HANG BAD JUDGES’ COMMENT ON ABORTION RULING He served in the Wyoming House of Representatives for a decade, beginning in 2009, and has touted his bipartisan approach to lawmaking in a majority Republican legislature. The Senate seat has been held by Republicans since 1962. Joseph O’Mahoney was the last Democrat elected to the seat, winning in 1954, while Democrat John J. Hickey was appointed to the seat in 1961 and served until November 1962. The moderate Democratic candidate ran a Wyoming-first campaign running on protecting public lands, supporting energy jobs and lowering rural healthcare costs. SON OF REPUBLICAN MEGADONOR THROWS HAT IN THE RING FOR OPEN AT-LARGE HOUSE SEAT IN WYOMING His opponent, Benavidez, ran as a more libertarian-leaning Democrat, campaigning on individual liberty, opposition to government surveillance, free-market policies, congressional term limits, and reducing the power of the federal government. Byrd has criticized President Donald Trump over tariffs, arguing they have hurt Wyoming beef and agricultural products by reducing access to foreign markets. TRUMP BET TARIFFS WOULD BRING BACK AMERICAN FACTORY JOBS. NEW REPORT SAYS IT DIDN’T WORK On immigration, Byrd has taken a more moderate stance than many Democrats, supporting stronger border security and enforcement while opposing family separation and backing broader immigration reform and expanded legal pathways for workers. Byrd has also backed expanding data centers in Wyoming, arguing they could diversify the state’s economy, create jobs and take advantage of Wyoming’s abundant energy resources.
Republican who kicked Liz Cheney out of Congress seeks higher office in reddest state
Wyoming Republicans chose Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wy., on Tuesday as their nominee for U.S. Senate in the race to succeed retiring Republican Sen. Cynthia Lummis. Lummis, elected to the Senate in 2020 after serving four terms in the U.S. House , announced she would not seek a second term, opening the seat in one of the nation’s most reliably Republican states. Hageman emerged from a five-way Republican primary featuring former Kirby Mayor Sam Mead, Jill Edwards, John Holtz and former environmental services business owner Jimmy Skovgard. 2026 MIDTERMS: PRIMARIES, KEY RACES AND ELECTION RESULTS Hageman, in the country’s most red state based on registered voter percentage, entered the race as the best-known and best-funded candidate in the field. She is seeking a promotion to the upper chamber. President Donald Trump endorsed Hageman after also backing her successful 2022 campaign to unseat former Rep. Liz Cheney in Wyoming’s Republican House primary. Now serving her second term as Wyoming’s lone U.S. House member, Hageman rose to national prominence with her victory over Cheney. Cheney became Trump’s biggest target in 2022 after she served as one of the only two Republicans on the House Committee investigating the January 6 Capitol riots alongside fellow GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-IL, who did not seek reelection that year. The ousted Wyoming congresswoman, daughter of Vice President Dick Cheney, become one of Trump’s most prominent Republican critics. TRUMP-BACKED NOMINEES DOMINATE PRIMARY CONTESTS AS PRESIDENT TIGHTENS PARTY VICE GRIP Hageman will now face the Democratic nominee in the Nov. 3 general election — though with Wyoming’s deep red roots, it’s highly unlikely the single U.S. House seat will flip blue this year. The at-large seat is ranked by the bipartisan Cook Political Report as solidly Republican with a R+23, the best odds of any Senate race this election cycle. Republicans enter the general election with a substantial advantage in Wyoming. All of the state’s statewide elected offices are currently held by Republicans. The Senate contest is part of an unusually large turnover in Wyoming’s political leadership. For the first time in 32 years, the state has open races for governor, U.S. Senate and U.S. House in the same election cycle.
Your favorite cocktail could be an unexpected casualty of Trump’s looming trade fight
President Donald Trump’s latest trade fight with Canada could soon spill into your cocktail glass, with a looming 50% tariff on Canadian spirits putting bars, restaurants and liquor stores on edge. Chris Swonger, president and CEO of the Distilled Spirits Council, said the stakes cut both ways, saying the tariff could hit U.S. hospitality businesses while also potentially pressuring Canada to put American spirits back on its shelves. “First and foremost, great thanks to President Trump because he has recognized that our industry has lost 73% of our American distilled spirits exports to Canada as a result of the provincial ban of purchasing American distilled spirits,” Swonger told Fox News Digital. “We are hopeful that an agreement will be made between the Trump administration and Canadian politicians to put American spirits back on the shelves,” he added. FROM BOURBON TO BORDEAUX: TRUMP’S TARIFFS SPILL INTO GLOBAL BOOZE MARKETS The new tariff threat marks the latest escalation in a trade fight that has already sent U.S. spirits exports to Canada plunging. In retaliation for earlier U.S. tariffs, some Canadian provinces pulled American spirits from store shelves. Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney held last-minute talks Tuesday as the two sides raced to avert the 50% tariffs before the midnight deadline. The tariffs cover roughly $20 billion in Canadian imports, including liquor, dairy products, vehicles, hockey equipment and other goods. Canadian whisky, vodka, gin, rum, wine and beer are among the products facing the new levy. Canada had been a roughly $250 million annual market for American distillers before the trade dispute, but fell from the second-largest destination for U.S. spirits to sixth in 2025, according to DISCUS data previously reported by Fox News Digital. From March through December, exports plunged from $203 million in 2024 to $60 million in 2025 — a roughly $143 million drop. The fallout has been especially significant for Kentucky, which produces 95% of the world’s bourbon and supports more than 23,000 industry jobs, according to the Kentucky Distillers’ Association. Swonger said the prospect of steep tariffs on Canadian liquor could prove to be the leverage needed to persuade Canadian officials to reopen their market to U.S. producers. “Considering applying a 50% tariff on Canadian distilled spirits would hopefully be the trigger, the forcing mechanism to get the Canadian province leaders to put American spirits back on the shelves,” he said. US WHISKEY EXPORTS TO CANADA COLLAPSE NEARLY 70% AFTER TRUMP TARIFF FIGHT The stakes extend beyond distillers on both sides of the border. Canadian whisky and other distinctive Canadian spirits are consumed by Americans at home and served by U.S. bars and restaurants, meaning a new trade barrier could reverberate through the hospitality industry. Swonger said the U.S. historically exports roughly $220 million worth of distilled spirits to Canada annually, while Canadian producers have exported more than $500 million worth of spirits to the much larger U.S. market. But Swonger cautioned that the American spirits industry ultimately does not want the tariffs to take effect. He warned a 50% levy would be “absolutely devastating to the Canadian distilled spirits industry” and would have “a real impact on the American hospitality economy.” ‘WE WERE RIGHT’: HE TOOK TRUMP’S TARIFFS TO THE SUPREME COURT AND WON Unlike products that can simply be swapped for a domestic equivalent, Swonger argued that spirits are distinctive products. American consumers seek out Canadian whisky, while Canadian consumers have increasingly embraced American whiskey. The industry’s preferred outcome, he said, remains a return to free trade rather than an escalating tariff battle. “We’re an industry that thrives on zero-for-zero tariffs and zero trade barriers,” Swonger said. With negotiations continuing ahead of the deadline, Swonger said distillers are anxiously waiting to see whether Trump’s pressure campaign produces a deal. “We hope we can get back to that tomorrow,” he said.
Potential successor to cowboy hat-wearing Dem tops crowded Florida primary
Retiring Rep. Frederica Wilson’s chosen successor has won the crowded Democratic primary to replace her in Congress. Miami-Dade County Commissioner Oliver Gilbert is now likely to follow Wilson, D-Fla., to Congress representing her safe blue seat in Florida’s 24th Congressional District. The district is located in South Florida and includes part of Miami. It remains largely Democratic after Florida Republicans redrew the state’s congressional map this year, though areas along the shore, including Miami Beach, are now part of a neighboring constituency. Wilson has been in Congress since 2011, first representing Florida’s 17th Congressional District for a single term before redistricting spurred her to run in the 24th. TRUMP FLEXES GOP MUSCLE IN ARIZONA PRIMARIES AS DEMS DODGE FAR-LEFT UPSET She is perhaps best known for her eccentric attire, which centers on brightly colored wide-brimmed hats that Wilson regularly wears both inside and outside the U.S. Capitol. Her exit from Congress at the end of this year spurred a mad dash among Democrats to replace her, with seven people running in the party’s primary. House Democratic leaders have stayed out of the race so far but are likely to coalesce behind the now-chosen winner. Wilson emphatically endorsed Democrat Oliver Gilbert in the race, declaring at a rally for the candidate, “If I am endorsing you, everybody in District 24 should be endorsing you.” And while competitive, the race was notable in that it was not one of the litany of high-profile clashes between establishment Democrats and the far-left that have come to define the 2026 midterm season. BERNIE SANDERS, DSA REVEAL DEMANDS FOR DEM PARTY AFTER SOCIALISTS SWEEP NEW YORK ELECTIONS Far-left Democrats across the country, many linked to the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), have been posing competitive challenges and, in some cases, even unseating incumbent lawmakers within the party. Elsewhere in Florida, DSA member Oliver Larkin challenged moderate Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., in a district drawn to more heavily favor Republicans this year. Self-described socialist Elijah Manley is one of many challengers to Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., who has generated controversy for running in a majority-Black district after her own seat was changed by the Florida GOP-backed new congressional map. Wasserman Schultz won Tuesday night.
Federal judge blocks Trump admin plan to move FBI headquarters to Reagan Building
A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration’s plan to move FBI headquarters into Washington, D.C.’s Ronald Reagan Building, preserving the previously selected Greenbelt, Maryland, site for the bureau’s long-planned new headquarters. U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang ruled Monday that the FBI and General Services Administration’s (GSA) decisions to select the Reagan Building were “not in accordance with law” and exceeded their statutory authority. The court also found the FBI’s decision to redirect previously appropriated funds toward the move was arbitrary and capricious. The FBI blasted the decision in a statement to Fox News. REAGAN NATIONAL AIRPORT MAKES DRASTIC CHANGE FOLLOWING DEADLY 2025 MIDAIR COLLISION “This is not the first time courts have tried to undermine the administration in its goal to make government more cost-effective for American taxpayers. The court has chosen to impermissibly intervene for political reasons. This FBI is mission focused and will continue the best course of action to meet the needs of law enforcement. Sycophants seeking to undermine the work of this FBI, which has led the largest reduction in crime in American history under President Trump, will not deter us.” The ruling marks the latest turn in a fight stretching back more than a decade over replacing the deteriorating J. Edgar Hoover Building, which has housed FBI headquarters since 1974. The court noted that the building is obsolete, cannot house all headquarters staff and does not meet applicable security standards. GSA selected Greenbelt in 2023 after Congress directed the agency to choose among three previously identified sites: Greenbelt and Landover, Maryland, or Springfield, Virginia. But in July 2025, the FBI and GSA announced that they instead planned to relocate headquarters to the Reagan Building in Washington. GSA FINDS CHINA-MADE TECH LABELED ‘MADE IN USA,’ ORDERS SWEEPING FEDERAL PROCUREMENT REVIEW Chuang found that those congressional site-selection requirements prevented the agencies from unilaterally choosing a different location. The court said the Reagan Building was not among the three sites Congress authorized and that the FBI exceeded its statutory authority by selecting it. The ruling blocks the FBI from moving forward with its planned headquarters at the Reagan Building and reinstates Greenbelt, Maryland, as the selected site. The judge said Congress would have to change the law if the administration wants to pursue a different location. The White House referred Fox News Digital to the FBI for comment on the ruling. Fox News’ David Spunt contributed to this reporting.
Democrats get their man as scandals put once-safe GOP House seat in play
A retired Navy helicopter pilot backed by the Democratic establishment cruised to victory in the Florida primaries on Tuesday night. Bale Dalton defeated ex-congressman Alan Grayson and progressive Marialana Kinter, another Navy veteran, for the Democratic nomination to run in the Sunshine State’s 7th Congressional District, which is currently represented by Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla. What was once expected to be a safe GOP seat is now being viewed as a possible pickup opportunity for Democrats in November as scandals continue to pile up for Mills. WATCH: CORY MILLS BLASTS DOJ PROBE AS ‘POLITICAL OP’ AHEAD OF FLORIDA PRIMARY The nonpartisan Cook Political Report downgraded Republicans’ chances of keeping the district from a “safe” to “likely” win for the GOP. It’s rated R+5, meaning Democrats could have a shot with the right candidate. Dalton is already on the House Democratic campaign arm’s “Red to Blue” list, meaning left-wing leaders are expected to pour money and other resources into the race. He was also endorsed by progressive veterans group VoteVets, the moderate-left Blue Dog Coalition, as well as Reps. Kathy Castor, D-Fla., and Lois Frankel, D-Fla. Mills, who served in the Army, has been bogged down by controversies in recent years that have prompted two of his fellow Florida Republicans — Reps. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., and Mike Haridopolos, R-Fla. — to call for him to drop out of the race. REPUBLICAN LAWMAKER WELCOMES HOUSE ETHICS PROBE INTO SEXUAL MISCONDUCT ALLEGATIONS AGAINST HIM They backed challenger Ryan Elijah, a former longtime Orlando news anchor. Mills is under investigation by the House Ethics Committee and allegedly by the Department of Justice (DOJ), though he denied the latter probe’s existence. Mills has also denied all wrongdoing. He went into his bid for a third term endorsed by President Donald Trump, though the commander-in-chief has not spoken on the allegations of sexual harassment and financial impropriety that have dogged the sitting Republican incumbent.
Media executive overcomes Trump endorsement in race to succeed Byron Donalds in ‘circus-like primary’
Florida media executive Jim Schwartzel won the GOP nomination to succeed Rep. Byron Donalds despite President Donald Trump endorsing his opponent. President Donald Trump endorsed Catalina Lauf, who served in the Department of Commerce during his first term in office, Aug. 13, upending the race just days before voters headed to the polls in Florida’s 19th Congressional District. Tuesday night’s results bucked a trend of Trump-endorsed candidates fairing well in primary contests. As of mid-July, 97% of candidates endorsed by the president had won their primaries. Trump’s endorsement success rate has remained at 93% or higher since 2018, according to Ballotpedia’s election tracker. TRUMP MAY HAVE ENDORSED DARLINE GRAHAM, BUT GOP SENATE HOPEFULS AREN’T BACKING DOWN Lauf and Schwartzel weren’t the only candidates to throw their hats into the race to be Donalds’ successor. The field in Florida’s 19th Congressional District also included former Rep. Madison Cawthorn, who lost his North Carolina seat after a series of scandals in 2022; former Rep. Chris Collins, a former New York congressman convicted of insider trading; and Jim Oberweis, a wealthy former Illinois state senator. The unusual cast of characters running in the election attracted amusement and ridicule from the national media. Axios dubbed the race “the GOP’s carpetbagger primary” and wrote that “whoever claws their way through the circus-like primary is almost guaranteed a ticket to Washington.” TLAIB UNDER FIRE FOR WORKING TO UNSEAT TWO JEWISH HOUSE DEMOCRATS IN FLORIDA On the campaign trail, Schwartzel attacked Lauf for running for Congress twice in Illinois before recently moving to Florida, arguing that his ties to the state ran deeper than hers. Lauf responded that she is a “blue state refugee,” not a “carpetbagger.” “I came here, I didn’t have a choice to be born and raised in Illinois but I have a choice to live here,” she said during a July debate. SOCIALIST INSURGENCY HEADS TO TRUMP’S BACKYARD, TARGETS PRO-ISRAEL DEMOCRAT Lauf accused Schwartzel of being behind the firing of a popular local meteorologist. Schwartzel responded that although he owns several local media stations, he did not have an ownership stake in the network that fired the meteorologist. Schwartzel said his supporters expressed anger after Trump endorsed Lauf. “The president endorsed my opponent tonight. You’re hearing it from me before you hear it anywhere else,” he said on the night of the endorsement. “But let’s be precise about where that anger belongs. Not with President Trump. I’ve supported him from the beginning, and I’ll support him after Tuesday. “It belongs with the operation that worked this for months: the out-of-state super PACs that have poured millions into this district, the Washington consultants who packaged a candidate who ran for Congress twice in Illinois and sold her as Southwest Florida’s choice, the people who decided our seat shouldn’t be settled in a room a thousand miles from here.”
Never-Trump Republican is top Dem choice in crucial Florida primary
David Jolly, a former Republican congressman and now a Democratic candidate for governor in Florida, won a primary election on Tuesday evening, topping a crowded field of hopefuls to become the party’s nominee to replace outgoing Gov. Ron DeSantis in the Sunshine State. DeSantis is prevented by term limits from running for a third term. Jolly’s win sets up a race to see if a moderate Democrat can tempt a solidly Republican state to voice its frustrations with the Trump administration and, more pointedly, with Trump himself. In many ways, that’s the crux of Jolly’s message as a candidate. HAWAII GOV JOSH GREEN CRUISES TO DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY WIN, SETS UP FALL MATCHUP WITH GOP NOMINEE Jolly previously served as the representative for Florida’s 13th Congressional District from 2014-2017, but, after losing the general election to Democratic challenger Charlie Crist, he began voicing disagreements with the direction of the GOP and President Donald Trump. In 2018, Jolly published an opinion piece with NBC, stating that “you can’t be never-Trump and be a Republican.” “I was a sitting Republican member of Congress who took to the house floor and called on then-candidate Donald Trump to drop out of the presidential race,” Jolly said. On the campaign trail in 2016, Jolly balked at a proposed “Muslim ban” Trump and the Access Hollywood tape in which Trump made crude remarks about advances toward women. IDAHO DEMOCRATS CHOOSE SMALL BUSINESS OWNER IN UPHILL RACE AGAINST INCUMBENT GOP GOVERNOR “Three years later, I find myself fully immersed in a dwindling coalition of Republicans often referred to as never-Trumpers. That is, I was immersed in that coalition — last month I came to the conclusion that it was time to finally leave the Republican Party and registered with no party affiliation,” Jolly said. Now, running as a Democrat, Jolly has pitched himself as an opportunity to break Trump’s momentum. “Since the emergence of Donald Trump in 2015 when he came down the escalator, he has disrupted the entire American experiment over the last 10 years,” Jolly said in a campaign video. “If in the state of Florida, Florida’s voters are the ones who say, ‘not anymore, ‘we will have provided a reset.” Among his top priorities, Jolly lists insurance affordability, public schools and campaign finance reform on his website. He also supports more traditionally Democratic platform elements like increasing access to abortion. FLORIDA GOP GUBERNATORIAL PRIMARY CANDIDATE SAYS AS GOVERNOR, HE’D ‘SHUT DOWN’ EVERY ABORTION CLINIC IN STATE In his campaign, Jolly has raised nearly $6.4 million, according to the Florida Department of State Division of Elections. Having secured the nomination, Jolly faces an uphill race to the general election on Nov. 3. Florida last elected a Democrat for governor in 1994, in Lawton Chiles. Chiles served from 1991 until his death in 1998, just three weeks before the end of his second term. Most recently, DeSantis last won reelection in a 49.4% to 40.0% victory over Democratic challenger Charlie Crist, a former Biden representative to the International Civil Aviation Organization.
Trump’s support doesn’t save scandal-plagued lawmaker in primary
President Donald Trump’s endorsement was not enough to save one scandal-plagued Florida congressman Tuesday night. Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., lost his bid for a third term representing the Sunshine State’s 7th Congressional District as a House Ethics Committee investigation and alleged federal probe weighed down his candidacy. The winner in the race was Ryan Elijah, a former Orlando-area news anchor for FOX 35 and a one-time NFL sideline reporter. WATCH: CORY MILLS BLASTS DOJ PROBE AS ‘POLITICAL OP’ AHEAD OF FLORIDA PRIMARY Elijah lives in Seminole County with his wife, where the pair raised their two sons, according to his campaign website. The win is undoubtedly an upset victory against Mills, who held a sizable lead in multiple polls leading up to primary night and earned the most important and coveted endorsement in GOP politics. But the effort to oust Mills from Congress has lasted months and was ultimately successful. Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., led a failed bipartisan effort to censure Mills and threatened to push for his expulsion, though she later backed off the latter measure. She also endorsed Elijah’s bid against the Florida lawmaker. Earlier this month, Reps. Mike Haridopolos, R-Fla., and Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., announced they were also endorsing Elijah over Mills in a race for the seat in their home state. Mills, a military veteran, referenced his Trump endorsement several times on the campaign trail as he downplayed scandals plaguing his bid to keep his job. REPUBLICAN LAWMAKER WELCOMES HOUSE ETHICS PROBE INTO SEXUAL MISCONDUCT ALLEGATIONS AGAINST HIM Mills is the latest in a string of House Republicans to fall amid scandals in recent months. Rep. Chuck Edwards, R-N.C., dropped his re-election bid in the wake of an explosive House Ethics Committee report that accused him of harassing two young female staffers. House Democrats also targeted Mills as a potential vulnerability for the GOP in the 2026 midterms. It’s not clear if they will put the same focus on Elijah now that he ousted the embattled congressman.