Blistering new ad slams Spanberger’s trans record as Virginia governor’s race intensifies
A conservative political group has launched a scathing new ad in the Virginia governor’s race aimed at forcing Democrat Abigail Spanberger to publicly clarify her position on transgender policies, an issue the group says she has avoided discussing as the race enters its final stretch. The video, released by Restoration of America PAC, a network of various conservative organizations, paints the former congresswoman as a radical who is putting the safety of children at risk by being in favor of sex changes for kids and allowing biological boys to use girls’ locker rooms. “Abigail Spanberger is as extreme as it gets,” the narrator says to ominous music. SPANBERGER CAMPAIGN STILL SELLING JAY JONES CO-BRANDED MERCH AMID SCANDAL; GOP CALLS IT FULL ENDORSEMENT “She’d allow boys to play girls sports and shower in girls locker rooms … naked. Worse? She’s apparently all in on horrifying gender mutilation reversal and irreversible sterilization of children.” Spanberger, a former CIA officer, is facing off against Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears in one of only two governor races in the U.S. this November. The face-offs are viewed as political bellwethers ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, with former President Barack Obama endorsing Spanberger this week. Most polls indicated Spanberger enjoying a lead over Earle-Sears. “Spanberger refuses to answer questions about this because she knows how evil it is,” the ad continues. “Most of the civilized world bans it, and Spanberger’s silence enables the horror.” The 30-second spot is running on television and digital platforms across Virginia as part of a $3.3 million statewide buy, according to the PAC. The group says Spanberger has been ducking the issue on the campaign trail and that the ad’s goal is to force her hand while highlighting what it calls her “pro-trans record” in Congress. OBAMA ENDORSES SPANBERGER, ATTACKS REPUBLICANS IN VIRGINIA GOVERNOR’S RACE ADS Spanberger voted against the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act in 2023, a bill aimed at restricting transgender women and girls from competing in female sports categories. She also co-sponsored the Equality Act in 2019, 2021 and 2023. The legislation aimed to include gender identity and sexual orientation as a protected class, a move critics say would have required public schools and facilities to allow transgender girls to use girls’ restrooms and compete in female sports. Earle-Sears has also made the issue a focal point on the campaign trail and released her own ad last month targeting what she calls Spanberger’s positions. Local media pressed her directly about allowing transgender women in girls sports and using girls bathrooms last month. “I think it’s important that we have parents and teachers and administrators making decisions … based on the age of children, based on the type of sport, based on competitiveness,” Spanberger told WSET last month. Spanberger’s campaign did not respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment about her position on transgender policies or about the new ad targeting her. Doug Truax, the founder and CEO of Restoration of America PAC, slammed Spanberger’s reluctance to discuss the issue, calling it one that could decide the race. “She’s not running for library board in some town. She wants to be governor of Virginia,” Truax told Fox Digital in a video interview. “She’s taken some pretty exacting stances on child mutilation, and she’s been perfectly fine with it. “She’s got to make a stand on this,” Truax said. “If she doesn’t, then it just means she agrees with it.” The scandal surrounding Democrat attorney general nominee Jay Jones has also rocked the race after texts surfaced depicting him envisioning the murder of a GOP leader and his children. Truax said Spanberger’s voting record makes her position “very clear” despite what he called efforts by her campaign team to avoid the topic. “Her political people are saying, ‘Don’t talk about it,’” he said. “But she can’t hide. The people of Virginia deserve to know where she stands.” He said the issue is reaching a “boiling point” among parents and grandparents nationwide. “Gender-affirming care is code for mutilating kids,” he said. “It’s horrific. We’ll look back on this in a decade and ask what was going on.” He also credited President Donald Trump’s re-election with emboldening voters who oppose gender policies to fight back against the woke culture. “They don’t want guys in girls sports or locker rooms,” he said. “They know this is wrong, and they’re tired of being told otherwise. “There was a window of time when people knew what the right thing to do was but weren’t saying it out loud,” Truax said. “Now, they’re voting that way.”
New Jersey Democratic governor hopeful attends ‘No Kings’ protest, vows to fight Trump ‘tooth and nail’
New Jersey Democratic gubernatorial candidate, Rep. Mikie Sherrill, D-N.J., attended a “No Kings” protest in Montclair, N.J., where she vowed to fight President Donald Trump’s agenda “tooth and nail.” “We know at every level this president is raising costs on people,” Sherrill told the crowd. She later added, “We’ve got a guy in Washington, D.C., that thinks he’s going to reap all of the benefits of being in charge. We’re going to fight it. We’re going to fight it tooth and nail.” SHERRILL ACCUSES CIATTARELLI OF SIDING WITH TRUMP AFTER PRESIDENT HALTS MAJOR NEW JERSEY RAIL PROJECT The New Jersey Democrat has received endorsements from several high-profile members of her party, including former President Barack Obama, current New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J.,and Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J. Earlier on Saturday, Sherrill was joined at a rally by Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., both of whom slammed the Trump administration and New Jersey Republican gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli. “We’re facing a president who thinks he can just barge into any state in America, including ours, and have his way,” Gottheimer said before adding that Sherrill will “stand up to Donald Trump and fight for us.” CIATTARELLI UNLOADS ON MIKIE SHERRILL IN NJ TOWN HALL, CITING IMMIGRATION AND NAVAL ACADEMY: ‘NOT A CENTRIST’ Whitmer also went after the Trump administration and Ciattarelli, claiming the Republican gubernatorial candidate “doesn’t give a damn about actually doing the job.” The Michigan governor went on to add that, if elected, Ciattarelli would “take his orders from the folks in Washington, D.C.“ “During the last debate, he said he agrees with everything the administration is doing. That’s like all of you agreeing that someone from Philly makes a better Taylor ham and cheese,” Whitmer quipped, invoking the Garden State’s iconic sandwich. Sherrill then accused Trump of “participating in a worldwide extortion racket that the president is operating so that he can put billions of dollars in cryptocurrency in his own pocket.” Additionally, the New Jersey Democrat implied Americans were better under former President Joe Biden, saying that last year employers were looking to grow the workforce, and now workers are struggling to find jobs. With just 17 days until the election, the polls in New Jersey are tightening. A Fox News poll conducted Oct. 10–14 put Sherrill at 50% support among likely voters, with Ciattarelli at 45%. Sherrill’s five-point advantage was down from an eight-point lead in Fox News’ September survey in New Jersey. Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.
Nationwide unrest looms as ‘No Kings’ demonstrators begin to gather in major US cities
Millions have been expected to gather across thousands of locations in the United States on Saturday for a nationwide “No Kings” protest challenging Donald Trump and his GOP priorities. Saturday’s demonstrations across the nation mark the second “No Kings” protest since Trump took office. Some Democratic members and candidates for Congress are expected to attend. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., did not provide a clear answer when asked if he would attend one of the rallies Saturday, telling reporters he hasn’t “finalized” his schedule. However, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., as well as House Democratic Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., both told the press they would be in attendance Saturday. Republicans have argued that this second mass “No Kings” protest event scheduled for Saturday is simply an effort to distract from the current government shutdown battle and appease their base. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told FOX Business he hoped that Democratic leaders who attended would be more willing to accept the GOP’s plan after the demonstrations were over — but he did not sound overly optimistic. ANTI-ISRAEL RADICALS FROM ‘GLOBAL INTIFADA’ MOVEMENT JOIN ‘NO KINGS’ PROTESTS “It’ll be a collection of wild leftist policy priorities, and that’ll be on display for the whole country. After that’s over, I hope there’s a few Democrats over here who will come to their senses and return to governing the country,” Johnson said. “Right now, I don’t think — it’s my assumption and all of ours that they would not make that concession before that rally’s over because they don’t want to face the angry mob. I mean it’s sad, but that’s where we are.” “My guess is if they don’t want a primary from the left, they’ll probably find a way to sneak [attending a rally] into their schedule,” Rep. Zach Nunn, R-Iowa, told Fox News Digital earlier this week. “The real question that’s going to be is, do they have the fortitude after Saturday to come back and open up the government?” By around 10:30 a.m. ET, crowds had already begun gathering in New York City’s Times Square, on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. and in Atlanta. LEADER SCALISE: DEMOCRATS CHEER ‘NO KINGS’ PROTESTS, BUT LET SHUTDOWN DEVASTATE FAMILIES In the state of Virginia, Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin mobilized the National Guard to help with any potential chaos. “I want to be clear that Virginians have a fundamental right to free speech and peaceful assembly, but that right does not include the destruction of property, looting, vandalism, disruption of traffic or violence of any kind — for which there will be zero tolerance,” Youngkin said, according to The Virginia Pilot. Virginia-specific protests are expected to take place in Hampton Roads, Chesapeake, Virginia Beach, Newport News and Williamsburg, according the official No Kings website. In addition to the protests taking place in the continental United States, protests are also expected in Puerto Rico, Hawaii and Alaska. Protests are also planned for outside the U.S., including in multiple European countries, and there is at least one rally planned in Mexico. Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Elkind and Chase Williams contributed to this report.
From Israel to Ukraine, Trump spends week focused on navigating global conflicts
President Donald Trump kicked off the week with a major breakthrough brokering a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, and closed out the week seeking to make progress on the next global conflict: Ukraine. Trump met with Israeli lawmakers in the Knesset on Monday, before heading to Egypt where he met with leaders there as well as Qatar, Turkey and other regional powers. The president urged countries in the region to “put the old feuds and bitter hatreds behind us.” “At long last, we have peace in the Middle East, and it’s a very simple expression, peace in the Middle East,” Trump told reporters in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. COULD TRUMP’S GAZA CEASEFIRE PLAN OFFER A BLUEPRINT FOR PEACE IN UKRAINE? “We’ve heard it for many years, but nobody thought it could ever get there. And now we’re there,” Trump said. The peace deal in the Middle East includes a provision to return the hostages that were still in captivity within 72 hours of Hamas signing off on the deal. It also called for Israeli forces to withdraw its troops and a complete disarmament of Hamas. Now, Trump has said that he will set his sights on resolving the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, and met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Friday at the White House. TRUMP WRITES MESSAGE TO ISRAELIS AFTER ALL LIVING HOSTAGES RELEASED BY HAMAS While Trump said that there is momentum to solve the conflict on the heels of the peace deal in the Middle East, there is “tremendous bad blood” between Putin and Zelenskyy that is stalling a resolution. “They have tremendous bad blood,” Trump told reporters. “It’s really is what is holding up I think a settlement. I think we are going to get it done, and we have to make it long-lasting, as I said in the Middle East, everlasting.” “The Middle East is a much more complicated situation. You know, we had 59 countries involved, and every one of them agreed. And it’s, you know, it’s sort of amazing. Most people didn’t think that was doable. This is going to be something I really believe that’s going to get done. I had a very good talk yesterday with President Putin. I think he wants to get it done,” Trump said. WORLD LEADERS PRAISE ‘LANDMARK’ ISRAEL-HAMAS PEACE DEAL MEDIATED BY US: ‘NEW HORIZON OF HOPE’ Meanwhile, Zelenskyy said that Trump has a big opportunity to make headway on mediating an end to the conflict. “President Trump has really showed for the world that he can manage a ceasefire in the Middle East. And that’s why I hope that he will do this. And we will also have such big success. For Ukraine, it’s a big chance, and I hope that President Trump can manage it,” Zelenskyy said Friday.
Sherrill pulls out all stops with Obama endorsement, star-studded New Jersey campaign push as race tightens
New Jersey Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rep. Mikie Sherrill is pulling out all the stops in the final push ahead of Election Day, campaigning alongside Democratic Govs. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan and Wes Moore of Maryland, both considered potential 2028 presidential candidates. While the Sherrill campaign gears up for high-profile campaign collaborations, former President Barack Obama endorsed Sherrill’s gubernatorial campaign on Friday. “This November, we have an opportunity to chart a different path forward — to reject the chaos in Washington and lower costs in New Jersey — and I’m so grateful to have President Obama’s support and endorsement in this race,” Sherrill said in a statement, commending Obama’s leadership on healthcare amid the government shutdown as congressional Democrats seek to extend healthcare premiums set to expire this year. Sherrill will rally with Whitmer in Paramus, New Jersey, on Saturday morning. Later, she will join Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin for a “No Kings” rally in Montclair — one of hundreds scheduled across the country in rejection of President Donald Trump’s sweeping, second-term agenda. NJ SHOWDOWN: CIATTARELLI PILES ON DEM RIVAL AFTER HEATED DEBATE WITH SCATHING NEW ADS On Sunday, Sherrill will host a policy roundtable with Moore and Newark Mayor Ras Baraka. Baraka was one of several Democratic candidates who competed for the New Jersey gubernatorial nomination earlier this year. FINAL FACEOFF: DEMOCRAT, REPUBLICAN NOMINEES IN KEY RACE FOR GOVERNOR BLAST EACH OTHER ON DEBATE STAGE Baraka made national headlines during his campaign when he was arrested for trespassing at Delaney Hall, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement holding facility in Newark, while protesting earlier this year. He was later accused of fostering toxic work environments for women. After the policy roundtable on Sunday, Sherrill and Moore will canvass in Newark before she attends an Oktoberfest event in Hamilton later that day. A Fox News survey released Thursday found Sherill ahead of her Republican opponent Jack Ciattarelli by 5 points among New Jersey likely voters (50-45%), down from an 8-point lead in late September (50-42%). As the race to replace Gov. Phil Murphy, who is term-limited in the Garden State this year, Sherrill’s edge has tightened over Ciattarelli, within the poll’s margin of sampling error. New Jersey is one of two statewide elections in the U.S. this year and will be considered a bellwether ahead of competitive midterm elections expected next year. The race for the Garden State’s highest office has become increasingly hostile between Sherrill and Ciattarelli in the final weeks ahead of Election Day. And while Trump isn’t on the ballot, he’s loomed large over the New Jersey gubernatorial election. At last week’s second and final debate, Sherrill charged that her GOP rival had “shown zero signs of standing up to this president. In fact, the president himself called Jack 100% MAGA, and he’s shown every sign of being that.” Asked whether he considered himself part of the MAGA movement, Ciattarelli said he was “part of a New Jersey movement.” When asked to grade the president’s performance so far during his second term, Ciattarelli said, “I’d certainly give the president an A. I think he’s right about everything that he’s doing.” “I think that tells us all we need to know about who Jack Ciattarelli’s supporting. I give him an F right now,” Sherrill responded, as she pointed to New Jersey’s high cost of living. While Democrats have long dominated federal and state legislative elections in blue-leaning New Jersey, Republicans are very competitive in gubernatorial contests, winning five out of the past ten elections. And Trump made major gains in New Jersey in last year’s presidential election, losing the state by only 6 percentage points, an improvement over his 16-point deficit four years earlier. This week multiple sources confirmed to Fox News that Trump will hold tele-rallies with Ciattarelli. In what’s expected to be a low-turnout election, Trump’s backing could prove crucial for Ciattarelli, who’s making his third run for governor after narrowly losing to Murphy four years ago. HEAD HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS REPORTING ON THE 2025 ELECTIONS The race in New Jersey was rocked a couple of weeks ago by a report that the National Personnel Records Center, which is a branch of the National Archives and Records Administration, mistakenly released Sherrill’s improperly redacted military personnel files, which included private information like her Social Security number, to a Ciattarelli ally. But Sherrill’s military records indicated that the United States Naval Academy blocked her from taking part in her 1994 graduation amid a cheating scandal. The showdown was jolted again last week after Sherrill’s allegations that Ciattarelli was “complicit” with pharmaceutical companies in the opioid deaths of tens of thousands of New Jerseyans, as she pointed to the medical publishing company he owned that pushed content promoting the use of opioids as a low-risk treatment for chronic pain. This week, Trump set off a political hand grenade in the race, as he “terminated” billions of federal dollars for the Gateway Project, which is funding a new train tunnel under the Hudson River connecting New Jersey and New York. Sherrill, holding a news conference Thursday at a major commuter rail station just a few miles from the site of the tunnels in one of the busiest train corridors in the nation, called the project “critical” as she took aim at Trump and Ciattarelli. “I’m fighting for the people of New Jersey. He’s fighting to excuse Trump. It’s unacceptable,” Sherrill charged. New Jersey traditionally elects a governor from the party out of power in the White House, which this year favors the Democrats. But Garden State voters haven’t elected a governor from the same party in three straight elections in over a half century, which would favor the Republicans. One of those political trends will be busted in next month’s election.
Trump admin makes Supreme Court plea for National Guard in Chicago after judge denies ‘rebellion’ concern
The Trump administration has urged the U.S. Supreme Court to allow the deployment of the National Guard in Chicago to protect federal personnel and federal property amid protests over immigration enforcement in the area. Solicitor General D. John Sauer, Trump’s top Supreme Court lawyer, urged the justices to step in immediately after a judge ruled last week that National Guard troops sent to Illinois by President Donald Trump to combat crime can remain in the state but can’t patrol or deploy to protect federal property. A federal appeals court had refused to put the judge’s order on hold. U.S. District Judge April Perry said she found no convincing evidence that a “danger of rebellion” exists in Illinois amid Trump’s immigration enforcement push. TRUMP’S NATIONAL GUARD TROOPS CAN STAY IN ILLINOIS BUT FEDERAL JUDGE BLOCKS DEPLOYMENT Sauer wrote in the emergency filing that the judge’s ruling “intrudes on the president’s authority and needlessly puts federal personnel and property at risk.” The Trump administration argues in its filing that the case represents a “disturbing and recurring pattern” in which federal officers enforcing immigration law are met with “prolonged, coordinated, violent resistance that threatens their lives and safety and systematically interferes with their ability to enforce federal law.” “Federal agents are forced to desperately scramble to protect themselves and federal property, allocating resources away from their law enforcement mission to conduct protective operations instead,” the filing states. “Receiving tepid support from local forces, they are often left to fend for themselves in the face of violent, hostile mobs. Confronted with intolerable risks of harm to federal agents and coordinated, violent opposition to the enforcement of federal law, the president lawfully determines that he is unable to enforce the laws of the United States with the regular forces and calls up the National Guard to defend federal personnel, property and functions in the face of ongoing violence,” it says. The Supreme Court has asked for the opposition’s response to the Trump administration’s emergency filing by 5 p.m. on Monday. The court is then expected to offer that the administration file a reply. The plea to the nation’s top court comes as 11 protesters were arrested Friday outside a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Broadview, a west Chicago suburb that has become a frequent flashpoint for demonstrations against federal agents in recent weeks. The filing also further escalates Trump’s standoff with Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, who have staunchly opposed deploying troops. They have called any deployment unconstitutional and insisted the city is not facing the kind of crime crisis the White House claims. Pritzker fired back at the filing on X, accusing Trump of trying to “invade Illinois with troops” and vowing to defend the state’s sovereignty. “Militarizing our communities against their will is not only un-American but also leads us down a dangerous path for our democracy,” Pritzker wrote. “What will come next?” Trump has already deployed the National Guard to Los Angeles, Washington D.C., and Memphis, Tenn., to help curb violent crime. He has said the moves caused crime to plummet in those areas. Earlier this week, the president floated the idea of invoking the Insurrection Act to tackle violent crime in Chicago and urged Pritzker to “beg for help” from the federal government. ‘UNTETHERED FROM REALITY’: LAWYERS FOR TRUMP, OREGON, SPAR OVER NATIONAL GUARD DEPLOYMENT IN COURT CLASH “I could use it if I wanted to. I could use it — that’s a very simple answer. I’m allowed to use the Insurrection Act,” Trump said, after the question was put to him by a reporter aboard Air Force One. The Insurrection Act of 1807 gives the president authority to deploy active-duty military or federalized National Guard troops inside the country in limited circumstances, such as to suppress civil disorder, rebellion or obstruction of federal law. It has been invoked about 30 times by roughly 10 presidents, most recently by George H. W. Bush during the 1992 Los Angeles riots, according to The Associated Press. But on Monday, Trump said he didn’t have to “go there yet” because his administration is “winning on appeal.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “You know, we lose with radical-left judges at the lower level, but we’re winning on appeal. So we’ll see what happens,” Trump said. The conservative-dominated court has handed Trump repeated victories in emergency appeals since he took office in January, after lower courts have ruled against him and often over the objection of the three liberal justices. The court has allowed Trump to ban transgender people from the military, claw back billions of dollars of congressionally approved federal spending, move aggressively against illegal immigrants and fire the Senate-confirmed leaders of independent federal agencies. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
REBECCA GRANT: How Tomahawks work and how they could change everything for Ukraine
Tomahawks, Tomahawks, Tomahawks. That’s the word buzzing in the ears of Russian President Vladimir Putin, as President Donald Trump weighs providing America’s precision strike missile of choice to Ukraine. Since May, Trump has bombed the Houthis in Yemen, obliterated Iran’s nuclear facilities and hit narco-terrorist drug boats in the Caribbean. Putin has to realize that Tomahawks could soon be in the skies over Russia. What can Ukraine hit with the 1000-mile range Tomahawks? Start with the Shahed drone factory in Tatarstan, and at least 67 Russian airbases. Tomahawks in Ukraine’s hands rip open Russian energy infrastructure to precision attack with no warning. ZELENSKYY PITCHES TRUMP ON UKRAINE DRONE-FOR-TOMAHAWK MISSILE EXCHANGE AS PRESIDENT WEIGHS ESCALATION CONCERNS If Ukraine launches Tomahawks, they’ll be flying as low as 100 feet, hugging the terrain, evading radar. TLAMs can each take separate routes at 500 mph then meet up over the Russian target for a coordinated strike. Trump is baiting Putin. “Hopefully, they won’t need it,” Trump said of the Tomahawks at Friday’s lunch with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House. Trump said he’d like to “get the war over without Tomahawks” but then went on to describe the missiles as “very dangerous” and “incredible.” Here’s the backstory on the Tomahawks, and why Trump is keeping them on the table to pressure Putin. First tested in 1972, the Tomahawk Land Attack Cruise Missile or TLAM was actually developed by the U.S. Navy during the Cold War to attack targets on land in the Soviet Union. In case you haven’t seen one up close, the Tomahawk is 20 feet long but just 21 inches wide. It looks like a white pole with wiglets, but inside is a powerful turbo-fan engine and sophisticated guidance. Today’s Block IV Tomahawks can be retargeted in flight, and loiter over a target for hours, taking electro-optical scans and waiting for other missiles to arrive before detonating. They carry a unitary warhead for harder targets, or dispense cluster munitions over a wide pattern to hit airfields, for example. (Yes, there was once a nuclear TLAM variant with a 200 Kiloton warhead, but they were placed in storage in 1991 and eliminated in 2010.) The presence of Tomahawks in Ukraine will set up an almost insoluble air defense problem for Putin. No way can Russia place air defenses at every remote gas pipeline point or cover all the airbases where planes park out in the open. TLAMs could be in Ukraine in 24 hours. The Army Mid-Range Capability missile system is a tractor-trailer missile launcher that can be driven onto a U.S. Air Force C-17 cargo plane. The Army deployed TLAM launcher 8,000 miles away to North Luzon in the Philippines in under 15 hours last year for a wargame. Trump has plenty of time. Deterring Putin. The brutal escalation of mass attacks by Russia led Ukraine to ramp up its drone strikes on Russian energy starting in August. According to a Reuters study, Ukraine’s drones have hit 18 pumping stations, plus 32 strikes on refineries. Ukraine’s Liutyi drones have a range of about 600 miles and carry warheads of about 50 pounds. Mixing in TLAMs would intensify pressure on Russian energy, Putin’s single biggest source of government revenue. Zelenskyy has called Ukraine’s drone attacks on Russian energy “the sanctions that work the fastest.” The U.S. still has about 4,000 Tomahawks in its inventory, and new missiles like the U.S. Navy’s SM-6 are already in action. The U.S. Army deployed its new Dark Eagle long-range hypersonic weapons to Australia in August and will have its first full battery by December. By the way, last year Japan bought 400 Tomahawks for targeting China and North Korea. Tomahawks have piled up an incredible combat record since Jan. 17, 1991, when 122 TLAMs hit Iraqi oil and command and control targets at the start of Operation Desert Storm. Eight-hundred TLAMs were fired in Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. Over the years, Tomahawks have hit targets in Iraq, Serbia, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Yemen and, of course, Iran. On June 22, TLAMs hit above-ground “key surface infrastructure targets” in the nuclear complex at Isfhahan, according to Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine. The TLAM strikes left the sprawling site visibly damaged and blackened. “We gave it a capper with 30 TLAMS,” as Trump said Friday. Putin may yell and scream about Tomahawks for Ukraine. Pay no attention. He’s grumbled about each weapon system, from F-16s to Patriots. And no, Putin does not dare escalate with nuclear weapons in Ukraine, because the wind patterns blow radiation clouds back into Russia. As Trump said Friday: “Yeah, its escalation. But we’re going to talk about it anyway.”
Meet the new ‘Squad’: The next generation of Trump-era progressive congressional candidates
Galvanized by President Donald Trump’s sweeping second-term agenda, a new generation of progressive Democrats is working to redefine the party’s future. The original “Squad,” a group of young, left-wing lawmakers, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2018 as a referendum on Trump’s first term. Now, with Trump back in the Oval Office and Republicans controlling both the House and Senate, a new wave of progressive candidates is emerging across the country. The next generation of progressive leaders includes some recognizable names, like mayoral candidates Zohran Mamdani, the “Mamdani of Minneapolis” Omar Fateh, U.S. Senate candidate Mallory McMorrow and progressive congressional candidates Kat Abughazaleh and the “AOC of Tennessee” Aftyn Behn. SQUAD 2.0: MEET AMERICA’S NEXT WAVE OF RADICAL DEMOCRATS SHAPING THE PARTY’S FUTURE Others, such as Saikat Chakrabarti, Dr. Abdul El-Sayed and Justin Pearson, are gaining national attention as discontent among young Democrats grows with each day of the Trump administration’s second act. YOUNG PROGRESSIVES LOOK TO ZOHRAN MAMDANI, AOC AS FUTURE OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY – UNDER ONE CONDITION Saikat Chakrabarti arrived on the political scene during the rise of the first “Squad,” running Ocasio-Cortez’s successful 2018 congressional campaign and then serving as her chief of staff. The progressive met Ocasio-Cortez when he launched “Justice Democrats,” a political action committee committed to recruiting a new generation of leaders. Now, Chakrabarti has become the generational candidate himself, challenging House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi for her congressional district in San Francisco next year — a seat she has held since 1987. After 38 years in Congress, Chakrabarti said Pelosi “no longer has the strength for the current fight,” and it’s time for “totally new leadership” in Washington, D.C. His policy platform includes a long list of progressive promises, including Medicare-for-all, a wealth tax on the ultra-rich, millions of units of housing, a ban on congressional stock trading and an end to military funding to Israel. During a phone interview, Chakrabarti told Fox News Digital that his main focus is fixing the “underlying economic anxieties that most Americans are facing” — the same “plan for bold, sweeping economic change” that landed Trump back in the White House last year. Chakrabarti’s said a new generation of candidates, like himself, have been inspired to run since witnessing “the complete failure of the Democratic political establishment.” “I think the people are feeling that the Democratic Party, the establishment, is just sort of weak and slow moving and unable to face the moment,” he added. Chakrabarti’s first campaign commitment, according to his website, is to stop Trump’s “authoritarian coup.” The congressional candidate described Trump’s deportation mandate led by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as “a flagrant violation of our constitutional rights and the freedom of speech and everything we hold dear in this country.” When asked if the party is moving to the left in response to Trump’s second term, he said, “It’s not really a left versus right thing.” “I think people are looking for real solutions to the problems. People are looking for a change to the system, and I don’t think Donald Trump is doing it, but that’s what Donald Trump articulated in his campaign.” Overall, Chakrabarti said voters are “very sick and tired of corruption” and the “old guard” that he described as only looking out for themselves, rather than their constituents. Dr. Abdul El-Sayed is one of several progressive candidates vying for Michigan’s open U.S. Senate seat next year. “Abdul literally wrote the book on Medicare for All,” according to his campaign website. He wrote “Medicare for All: A Citizen’s Guide,” explaining how the U.S. healthcare system can provide affordable care to all Americans. El-Sayed led Detroit’s Health Department after its bankruptcy and restructured Wayne County’s Department of Health, Human & Veterans Services. In 2020, he helped President Joe Biden craft policies to help lower prescription drug prices. He believes in abolishing medical debt and that students deserve debt-free and tuition-free two-year apprenticeship programs or a four-year college education. Tennessee state Rep. Justin Pearson garnered national attention in 2023, just months after taking office, when he was expelled from his Republican-led legislature for protesting a mass shooting in Nashville that killed three 9-year-olds and three adults. Pearson was expelled alongside state Reps. Justin Jones and Gloria Johnson, who became known as the “Tennessee Three.” Voters re-elected Pearson weeks later with 94% of the vote. He co-founded Memphis Community Against Pollution, a climate justice non-profit. Pearson has been endorsed by fellow congressional candidate Chakrabarti’s former PAC, “Justice Democrats,” in his campaign for Tennessee’s 9th Congressional District. Pearson also secured an endorsement from “Leaders We Deserve,” a super PAC founded by former DNC vice chair David Hogg, who created a rift in the Democratic Party when he vowed to invest millions to support young, progressives challenging older, incumbent Democrats he said were “asleep at the wheel.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Fox News Digital reached out to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, El-Sayed and Pearson but did not immediately receive a response. A Pelosi spokesperson declined to comment.
Ciattarelli gains momentum in New Jersey governor’s race as polls narrow sharply
SADDLE BROOK, N.J. – With Election Day fast approaching, the Republican nominee in one of only two races for governor in the nation this year is fired up. “Championship teams finish strong,” Jack Ciattarelli told a crowd of supporters jam-packed into a diner in this northern New Jersey town earlier this week. “Let’s win this race.” Ciattarelli, who’s making his third straight run for Garden State governor and who nearly upset Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy four years ago, has good reason to be confident. In a state where registered Democrats still outnumber Republicans despite a GOP surge in registration this decade, two new public opinion polls released this week indicated Ciattarelli narrowing the gap with Democratic gubernatorial nominee Rep. Mikie Sherrill in the race to succeed the term-limited Murphy. THE POLITICAL BOMB TRUMP EXPLODED IN THE NEW JERSEY SHOWDOWN FOR GOVERNOR The slightly fresher of the two surveys, a Fox News poll conducted Oct. 10–14, put Sherrill at 50% support among likely voters, with Ciattarelli at 45%. Sherrill’s 5-point advantage was down from an 8-point lead in Fox News’ September survey in New Jersey. New Jersey and Virginia are the only two states to hold gubernatorial showdowns in the year after a presidential election, and the contests traditionally grab outsized attention and are viewed as political barometers ahead of the following year’s midterm elections. CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POLLING And this year, they’re being viewed to a large degree as ballot-box referendums on President Donald Trump’s unprecedented and combustible second-term agenda. While Democrats have long dominated federal and state legislative elections in blue-leaning New Jersey, Republicans are very competitive in gubernatorial contests, winning five out of the past 10 elections. And Trump made major gains in New Jersey in last year’s presidential election, losing the state by only six percentage points, a major improvement over his 16-point deficit four years earlier. Ciattarelli, interviewed by Fox News Digital Wednesday in Bayonne, New Jersey, noted that he “made big gains” in his 2021 showing “in Hudson County and Passaic County,” two long-time Democratic Party strongholds. “And the President did very, very well in ’24 in those very same counties. And if you take a look at who’s been endorsing me, including some very prominent Democrats here in Hudson County, people want change,” Ciattarelli emphasized. But Ciattarelli is also aiming to energize Republican base voters in what’s likely to be a low-turnout election. Multiple sources confirmed to Fox News that Trump will hold tele-rallies with Ciattarelli ahead of Election Day. Trump’s teaming up with Ciattarelli may help energize MAGA supporters, many of whom are low propensity voters who often skip casting ballots in non-presidential election years. And on Wednesday, Ciattarelli was joined at his diner stop, where there was an overflow crowd of a couple of hundred people outside, by Vivek Ramaswamy, the MAGA rockstar who is running for governor next year in his home state of Ohio. Ramaswamy, the multimillionaire biotech entrepreneur and conservative commentator who pushed an “America First 2.0” platform as he ran for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination before ending his bid and becoming one of Trump’s top supporters and surrogates, told Ciattarelli, “We’re going in Ohio next year, but you’ve got to pave the path this year. We’re counting on you.” ONLY ON FOX: RAMASWAMY SAYS GOP VICTORIES IN THE 2025 ELECTIONS WOULD ‘SET THE TABLE’ FOR BIGGER WINS IN 2026 Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin, commenting on why Republicans feel bullish about the New Jersey showdown, raised concerns. “New Jersey is the best place, probably, for Donald Trump to actually stop the Democratic momentum — or at least minimize the Democratic momentum that we’ve seen throughout this year,” Martin said in a Politico interview. But the Democratic Governors Association (DGA) is confident of a Sherrill victory next month. “As numerous polls show her holding a strong lead and earning more than 50% of the vote, Mikie Sherrill is rising to meet the moment in this incredibly competitive race,” DGA Spokesperson Izzi Levy told Fox News. “It’s clear that Mikie has the momentum, and that New Jersey voters are all-in to reject Ciattarelli for a third time this November.” While Trump isn’t on the ballot, he’s loomed large over the New Jersey gubernatorial election. At last week’s second and final debate, Sherrill charged that her GOP rival had “shown zero signs of standing up to this president. In fact, the president himself called Jack 100% MAGA, and he’s shown every sign of being that.” Asked whether he considered himself part of the MAGA movement, Ciattarelli said he was “part of a New Jersey movement.” CIATTARELLI WELCOMES TRUMP’S HELP IN FINAL STRETCH IN BATTLE FOR NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR When asked to grade the president’s performance so far during his second term, Ciattarelli said, “I’d certainly give the president an A. I think he’s right about everything that he’s doing.” “I think that tells us all we need to know about who Jack Ciattarelli’s supporting. I give him an F right now,” Sherrill responded, as she pointed to New Jersey’s high cost of living. The race in New Jersey was rocked a couple of weeks ago by a report that the National Personnel Records Center, which is a branch of the National Archives and Records Administration, mistakenly released Sherrill’s improperly redacted military personnel files, which included private information like her Social Security number, to a Ciattarelli ally. HEAD HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS REPORTING ON THE 2025 ELECTIONS But Sherrill’s military records indicated that the United States Naval Academy blocked her from taking part in her 1994 graduation amid a cheating scandal. The showdown was jolted again last week after Sherrill’s allegations that Ciattarelli was “complicit” with pharmaceutical companies in the opioid deaths of tens of thousands of New Jerseyans, as she pointed to the medical publishing company he owned that pushed content promoting the use of opioids as a low-risk treatment for chronic pain. This week, Trump set off a political hand grenade
Anti-Israel radicals from ‘global intifada’ movement join ‘No Kings’ protests
New York City organizers embedded in the global intifada to destroy the state of Israel moved Friday to join the controversial “No Kings” protests planned for today, despite the peace deal reached between Israel and Hamas. “UAW Labor for Palestine” and “NYC Labor for Palestine” quietly posted a call-to-action for the “Palestine Labor Solidarity Contingent” to meet Saturday at 11 a.m. at Duarte Square at the corner of Grand Street and Canal Street in midtown Manhattan and then flow into the #NoKings protests planned to protest President Donald Trump. They’re not alone. Around the country, anti-Israel blocs are slotting themselves into the “No Kings” protests as a “Palestine Contingent” and “Socialist Contingent,” positioning their messages “front and center,” as Seattle activists put it, “from Providence to Palestine.” ‘NO KINGS’ ORGANIZER DISCOURAGES VIOLENCE FOLLOWING COAST-TO-COAST ARRESTS The alignment underscores a strategic pivot in the global intifada’s next phase, experts say, carrying the anti-Israel message into any high-energy civic protest, even after Hamas agreed to a ceasefire by linking “Free Palestine” to domestic fights like ICE, police and “fascism.” Billionaire donor George Soros is reportedly funding many of the organizations leading the “No Kings” protests, like Indivisible, whose co-founders, Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin, received a $3 million two-year grant last year from Soros’s Open Society Foundations for “social welfare activities.” Details about the “Palestine Contingent” weaving into the “No Kings” protests raises new questions about the way big Democratic donors like Soros are funneling nonprofit dollars into a professional protest industry that is fractious, divisive and partisan, potentially in violation of tax and nonprofit laws. ‘NO KINGS’ MOVEMENT AND WHAT IT WANTS: INSIDE THE MESSAGE DRIVING SATURDAY’S NATIONWIDE PROTESTS Behind the emotion and patriotic imagery of the protests, a Fox News Digital investigation revealed that the movement’s polished “pro-democracy” branding masks a coordinated network of Democratic tax-exempt nonprofits and labor unions, political action committees, coalitions and for-profit protest consultants that include some of the most virulent activists against Israel, including self-declared socialist groups like the Party for Socialism and Liberation, Democratic Socialists of America and Students for a Democratic Society. According to a public database of the protest’s organizers, compiled by the Pearl Project, a journalism initiative, the protest’s “partners” include 265 mostly nonprofit organizations, including some anti-Israel groups, like Jewish Voice for Peace, exploiting their nonprofit benefits to wage a political war against the sitting president. Their nonprofit status shields them from paying taxes on most of their total annual revenues of $2.9 billion, even while they engage in partisan work they aren’t supposed to be doing. Critics say they are allegedly skirting, if not violating, tax and nonprofit laws. Event organizers didn’t return requests for comment. “They call it ‘No Kings,’ but what they’ve built is an empire of tax-exempt organizations doing the Democratic Party’s work on the taxpayer’s dime,” said Jennica Pounds, a computer scientist who runs a platform, DataRepublican.com, following the money on these organizations. “They are using every excuse in the book, from immigration to Israel, to rage-bait America. There is nothing ‘charitable’ about their professional protest enterprise, and they should be investigated for fomenting so much hate in America behind the shield of ‘charity work.’” Already, Trump has said that he has directed the Justice Department to investigate possible violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, has opened an investigation that follows the money to anti-Israel groups, including some of the groups who will be bringing their protest signs to the “No Kings” demonstrations. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital, “The Trump administration and the Republican Congress are committed to countering this network of left-wing violence.” Last week, House Speaker Mike Johnson called the protests a “hate America rally.” Indeed, on June 14, at the “No Kings” protest in Philadelphia, activists from the “Palestinian Contingent,” including activists from the Council on American-Islamic Relations and Democratic Socialists of America, hissed as a woman sang the national anthem. “Booooo! Boooooo!” they yelled, covering their faces in keffiyehs, carrying Palestinian flags and heckling bystanders, “Zionist!” While organizers insist the movement transcends party lines, its structure tells a different story. The protest network’s official “partners” include 24 Democratic political action committees that make no secret of their partisan agenda, dedicated to electing Democratic politicians. Among them are the mega-organizing groups Indivisible Action, Hollywood Democrats and the Democratic National Committee’s Washtenaw County Democratic Party in Michigan, Westside Democratic Headquarters in Los Angeles, Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club in northern California, 504 Democratic Club and College Democrats of America. The motto of Field Team 6, another political action committee, is “Register Democrats. Save the World.” However, those PACs are just one layer of a much larger partisan infrastructure. About one-third, or 79 groups, behind the “No Kings” protests hold 501(c)(3) status, meaning their donors receive tax deductions while the groups face strict restrictions to do “charitable” work, not political work. They are supposed to be nonpartisan. Yet most have clearly stated political agendas. On its donation page, one of the protest partners, “Build the Resistance,” states a partisan mission to “fight against autocracy, fascism, and donald [sic].” Donations go to Oil and Gas Action Network, a 501(c)(3) that reported $1.9 million in revenues in its last tax filing. Another 100 are 501(c)(4) political nonprofits that may do limited lobbying but still cannot devote themselves primarily to political work. Meanwhile, 24 are 501(c)(5) labor union nonprofits, like the labor unions marching against Israel in New York and the San Francisco Bay Area, that also have limits on the amount of political work they can do. It’s clear that the protests are all about politics. The protest’s own internal online “toolkit” mentions Trump 12 times and describes the mobilization explicitly as a direct stand against “the Trump administration,” “Trump and his enablers,” “President Trump’s authoritarian takeover” in a partisan-centered campaign. In Rhode Island, the “Free Palestine Contingent” activists will march “FROM PROVIDENCE TO PALESTINE” to “FIGHT FASCISM! FIGHT GENOCIDE.” It connects the battles against ICE law enforcement officers and the battles of Palestinians, noting, “Military occupations and