Ex-Biden official projected to win bid to unseat Mike Lawler in high-stakes House race
A former Biden administration aide is projected to defeat Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., in one of the most closely watched races of the 2026 election cycle. Cait Conley, a military veteran who served on the White House National Security Council, will likely be coming to Congress next year after beating the two-term incumbent for the job, The Associated Press projected late Thursday. Multiple forecasts suggested the seat would be a likely pickup for Democrats. THUNE WEIGHS NIGHTMARE SCENARIO FOR GOP AS DEMOCRATS THREATEN TO FLIP HOUSE Both parties poured enormous resources into the race for New York’s 17th Congressional District in the months before Election Day. It was widely seen as key to both parties’ quests to win the House majority. The district, which sits just north of New York City, was won by Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024. TENSION ERUPTS DURING HOUSE MIDTERM DEBATE AS LAWLER FACT-CHECKS NEW YORK DEMOCRAT OPPONENT ON IMMIGRATION Lawler spent much of the race walking a political tightrope between supporting President Donald Trump and positioning himself as an independent voice. And the race itself was marked by bitter divisions on issues like immigration enforcement and taxes. DHS BOSS REVEALS OVAL OFFICE PLAN TO ‘WITHHOLD FUNDING’ FROM SANCTUARY CITIES AFTER AGGRESSIVE NEW YORK BUST Among Lawler’s backers were the parents of Sheridan Gorman, a college student from his district who was killed in Chicago while she was out with friends. Gorman’s accused killer is an illegal immigrant who was previously arrested for shoplifting, but was released without a federal immigration detainer because of Chicago’s sanctuary city laws. Lawler and Gorman’s parents have pointed to her killing as proof that Democrat-backed sanctuary laws — which are active in New York as well — are deadly for Americans. He argued that Conley would do nothing to mitigate the effects of illegal immigration. ARMY COMBAT VETERAN CHALLENGING MIKE LAWLER CALLS HEGSETH NATIONAL SECURITY ‘HAZARD,’ BACKS IMPEACHMENT Conley, for her part, condemned Gorman’s killing and has said she is against illegal immigration, but she has not spoken out against sanctuary laws specifically. Conley served as counterterrorism director on the White House National Security Council from 2021 to 2023 and spent the remainder of former President Joe Biden’s term as a senior advisor on election security at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. Fox News Power Rankings rated the district as “lean Democrat,” while the Cook Political Report ranked it a toss-up.
Hegseth expands National Guard operations in DC, authorizes police patrol cars, Humvees and boats
War Secretary Pete Hegseth has authorized National Guard troops in Washington, D.C., to use dozens of marked police cars, military vehicles and boats as local officials demand an end to the deployment. Two Pentagon officials confirmed to Fox News Digital that Hegseth signed an Oct. 29 memo authorizing up to 60 marked patrol cars, Humvees, military tactical vehicles, D.C. National Guard boats and up to 20 light towers and generators. Roughly 3,000 National Guard troops are deployed in the nation’s capital as part of President Donald Trump’s crime crackdown. FBI TOUTS 6,000 ARRESTS, 44% HOMICIDE DROP ONE YEAR INTO TRUMP’S DC CRIME CRACKDOWN “The secretary of war has authorized the continued use of National Guard personnel and capabilities in support of the Make D.C. Safe and Beautiful mission,” a War Department official told Fox News Digital. “The October 29, 2026, guidance authorizes the use of up to 60 marked patrol cars, military tactical vehicles, up to 20 light towers and generators and D.C. National Guard maritime boat assets in support of federal and local law enforcement operations.” Politico first reported the authorization, which follows Hegseth’s decision last year to allow National Guard troops to carry service-issued weapons when required by their mission. TRUMP’S DC LAW-AND-ORDER BLITZ MARKS ONE YEAR WITH EYE-POPPING HAUL OF SUSPECTS The move comes as D.C. Councilmember Brooke Pinto, chair of the council’s public safety committee, held a hearing Thursday examining the federal law enforcement and National Guard presence. “I am very hopeful and optimistic that we now have the partners we need at the state and congressional level to push back and demand that this unnecessary, harmful and unlawful military presence be removed from the district,” she said during the hearing. Pinto called on newly elected Democratic governors in Georgia, Iowa, Nevada, Ohio and Texas to withdraw the combined 628 troops she said their states have deployed to Washington. Pinto also urged congressional Democrats to increase oversight of federal law enforcement operations in January, including requirements for identifying badges and body cameras.
Midterms and 2028: Join America’s conversation here!
Click “Comments” to weigh in. What’s your take on where the 2028 race goes from here?
DeSantis nukes ‘tech guy’ Vivek after Ohio drubbing: ‘Not in tune’ with blue-collar voters
Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis blasted failed Ohio Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and his GOP handlers, arguing on a podcast that he wasn’t “in tune” with the working-class people of the state. Biotech entrepreneur Ramaswamy lost his scandal-plagued race to Democratic candidate Amy Acton by 7.9 percentage points. Despite President Donald Trump’s endorsement and guidance from Vice President JD Vance’s top advisers, Ramaswamy lost amid a “blue wave” that produced major Democratic upsets across the country. The midterm elections were widely viewed as a referendum on Trump’s presidency. But DeSantis, who ran for president in 2024 and is term-limited after 2026, shared on the Sage Steele Show that Ramaswamy bore some responsibility for his loss. “I don’t know why they would have pushed him to be the candidate there. Oh, my mom’s from Youngstown. Ohio is a working class state, very blue collar. You know Vivek, he’s like a tech guy,” DeSantis said. RAMASWAMY OUTLINES KEY CONTRASTS WITH DEM OPPONENT LESS THAN 100 DAYS OUT FROM KEY GUBERNATORIAL ELECTION Ramaswamy, who previously ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, is the founder of biotech company Roivant Sciences and anti-ESG investment firm Strive Asset Management. He also briefly co-led President Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency with Elon Musk. He was warmly embraced by Trump, who endorsed him the same day Ramaswamy announced his candidacy. Trump had previously encouraged Ramaswamy to consider seeking Vance’s former Senate seat. Ramaswamy and Vance have known each other since their time at Yale Law School. DeSantis criticized Ramaswamy’s support for a merit-based H-1B visa system, arguing that it likely further distanced him from Ohio’s blue-collar voters. Ramaswamy had said the current lottery-based system should be “gutted.” ‘He wants to bring in foreign workers on visas. That is not the type of person that’s going to sell.” DeSantis said. Ramaswamy’s own companies have used the H-1B program, with Roivant Sciences having 29 H-1B applications approved between 2018 and 2023. Meanwhile, Strive Asset Management, the investment firm he co-founded, moved its headquarters from Columbus to Dallas in 2025, months before Ramaswamy launched his campaign for Ohio governor. Ramaswamy said he was no longer involved in the company’s operations, but remained a major shareholder. FOX NEWS VOTER POLL: 2026 MIDTERM ELECTIONS USHER IN A BLUE WAVE AS DEMOCRATS WIN CONTROL OF CONGRESS “And I know he shot himself in the foot,” DeSantis said. “I know he did a lot of other stuff to make it a real landslide against him. But even with that, it’s like you know you got to meet the voters where they are on some of this stuff,” DeSantis said. “I think we would have done better in Ohio had we had a candidate that was more representative or more in tune with the interests of kind of these blue collar people that make the backbone of Ohio.” Just weeks before the election, Ramaswamy’s campaign drew bipartisan outrage for using Democratic Gov.-elect Amy Acton’s estranged mother in an attack ad that called the Democratic candidate a “liar” and disputed her account of childhood poverty and homelessness. The ad omitted that Acton had not seen or spoken to her mother since age 12, when her stepfather was arrested on charges of raping her. He pleaded not guilty but fled the area before trial, and court records show authorities continued seeking his arrest for years. Acton’s brother has said their mother remained married to him until his death in 2004. Ramaswamy’s loss, alongside Republican U.S. Senate candidate Jon Husted’s loss to Democratic candidate Sherrod Brown by 4.9 percentage points, came just two years after Trump won the state by 11.2 percentage points. DESANTIS CALLS GOP MIDTERM LOSSES ‘EXTINCTION-LEVEL EVENT’ — AND EXPLAINS WHY FLORIDA SURVIVED In addition to criticizing Ramaswamy, DeSantis took aim at Congress, saying Republicans are now on the “defensive” and faulting lawmakers for failing to codify Trump’s executive orders into law. “Last night’s elections did not only kneecap the last two years of the Trump administration, it basically ensures the four years after that are going to either be Democrat years where they have a trifecta or where you have a Republican president that is hemmed in and limited,” DeSantis said. DeSantis also pushed back against any 2028 speculation. SIGN UP TO GET THE POLITICS NEWSLETTER “The only way that I would run for any office is if you can actually deliver big results,” DeSantis said. “I don’t want to just be a timepiece where I just sit there like a potted plant.” Fox News Digital reached out to Ramaswamy for comment.
Ex-Alaska lawmaker details mystery recruiter as FBI, Congress widen ‘Decoy Dan’ scrutiny
A former Alaska Republican lawmaker told Fox News Digital the FBI interviewed him after an apparent Democratic political operative allegedly posed as a conservative recruiter and tried to persuade him to enter the state’s U.S. Senate race amid an intensifying congressional investigation into the controversial “Decoy Dan Sullivan” ballot scheme. The allegations raise questions about potential federal criminal liability. Article III Project attorney Will Chamberlain argued that a coordinated effort to deceive voters about a candidate’s identity could violate 18 U.S.C. § 241, the federal conspiracy-against-rights statute. The revelations come after former campaign staff for Democratic Senate nominee Mary Peltola spoke to the New York Times about their knowledge of a reported scheme to stack Alaska’s four-person ballot with other “Dan Sullivans” to help siphon votes from incumbent GOP Sen. Dan Sullivan. MARY PELTOLA’S CAMPAIGN, DEMS BACKED COVERT SCHEME TO FIELD SPOILER CANDIDATES IN ALASKA SENATE RACE: REPORT The ballot ultimately included Peltola, incumbent Republican Sen. Dan S. Sullivan, Republican Gerald Heikes and retired Petersburg teacher Dan J. Sullivan. Whether the similarly named candidate diverted votes or affected the outcome remains unproven. Chamberlain told Fox News Digital the alleged operation could constitute a federal felony if prosecutors establish that participants conspired to interfere with voters’ constitutional rights. PELTOLA CAMPAIGN’S ALLEGED DAN SULLIVAN SPOILER PLOT TAKES NEW TURN AS DOJ FACES MAJOR LEGAL HURDLE “The basic concept is you’re not allowed to conspire to injure or harm people’s constitutional rights. And one of those rights is to vote for the candidate of your choice,” Chamberlain said. “These people conspired to put a fake ‘Decoy Dan’ Sullivan on the ballot in order to trick people who were going into the ballot box intending to vote for the incumbent Senator Dan Sullivan,” he alleged. “There’s a lot of good precedent on this that suggests that’s a crime and a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison.” Chamberlain cited historical cases involving ballot manipulation, while acknowledging that the precise circumstances of recruiting a same-name candidate have not previously been addressed in an identical case. “Nothing exactly like this has happened before in the sense of recruiting a same-name candidate to trick people in the ballot box,” he said, adding that a lot of slanted electoral messaging is not illegal. ALASKA’S GOVERNOR ORDERS INVESTIGATION AFTER NYT REPORT ON ALLEGED DEM-LINKED SENATE ELECTION SCHEME “If you want to pretend that another Republican is better than the current incumbent or pretend that the incumbent’s not running and then persuade someone to vote for that candidate, that’s not a ‘conspiracy against rights’ because the right to vote for the candidate of your choice has not been impinged upon,” he said. “It’s the fact that when you’re conspiring to put two people with the exact same name on the ballot to trick people who are going in there intending to vote for the incumbent and get them to vote for somebody else by deception.” Meanwhile, former state Rep. David Eastman, a Republican from the Matanuska-Susitna Valley, told Fox News Digital by phone from Wasilla that he was approached by an operative under what he later surmised were false pretenses to recruit him into the race. Eastman said he also received several “fake mailers” suggesting “Decoy Dan” Sullivan was the real or only Sullivan in the race. The mailers, shared with Fox News Digital, are framed in a “meet the candidates” format and do omit Senator Sullivan. Eastman told Fox News Digital he was approached in the Mat-Su by an operative he later identified in a blog post as Jerid Kurtz, who was named in the New York Times report. Eastman said the operative claimed to represent conservative donors and encouraged him to run for Senate. “He approached me through a constituent. I sat down with him in April here in Wasilla,” Eastman said. “He pretended to represent conservative donors and was looking for conservative candidates to run for federal office; none of which was true,” Eastman added. Eastman alleged Kurtz “pretended” to represent conservative donors and used a false name, but said the operative never mentioned either Sullivan or disclosed an intention to confuse voters during their meeting. Fox News Digital reached out to the DSCC, Peltola’s campaign and Wingspan Strategies — where Kurtz is named in congressional documents as a co-owner — for comment. Dan J. Sullivan reportedly “vanished” as investigators began knocking on doors in his remote community, according to the Wall Street Journal. The allegations come as federal investigators examine whether Democratic political operatives improperly recruited Dan J. Sullivan in an effort to confuse voters who intended to support Senator Sullivan. The controversy has also reached Capitol Hill. In an October 29 letter, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., requested that Kurtz appear for an in-person transcribed interview on November 6 concerning allegations that operatives associated with Mary Peltola’s campaign sought to recruit similarly named candidates to confuse voters. “As a Democrat operative who was allegedly tasked with assisting in this effort, you have information that will assist the Committee’s investigation,” Comer wrote. “If you do not voluntarily appear for the interview, we will be forced to evaluate the use of compulsory process,” he warned. SIGN UP TO GET THE POLITICS NEWSLETTER Eastman said Kurtz did not mention either Sullivan or disclose an effort to confuse voters during their April meeting. He nevertheless questioned the operative’s intentions after subsequent reporting connected Kurtz to the alleged candidate recruitment effort. Eastman also confirmed the FBI has interviewed him. Fox News Digital reached out to the bureau for comment.
Gavin Newsom wipes out California’s death row in historic mass commutation
California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Thursday that he will spare the lives of 548 inmates currently on the state’s death row, effectively clearing capital punishment in the state years after issuing an executive moratorium on executions. In a letter to constituents, Newsom, a Democrat, declared the state’s capital punishment system fundamentally flawed, error-prone, and morally incompatible with California’s core values. “After nearly 30 years in public office, I have come to understand the limits of what government can justly accomplish,” Newsom wrote. “I take this action because I firmly believe that state-sanctioned killing is incompatible with California’s values, undermines the foundations of our legal system, and diminishes each of us.” EX-CHIEF SAYS CHRISTA PIKE WAS ‘ALMOST GIDDY’ DESCRIBING MURDER AS GOVERNOR WEIGHS IN AFTER BOTCHED EXECUTION Under the executive action, all death sentences will be converted to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. The move comes amid renewed national conversations surrounding capital punishment following a botched execution in Tennessee involving death row inmate Christa Pike. California has not carried out an execution since 2006. Shortly after taking office in 2019, Newsom placed an official moratorium on executions and ordered the dismantling of the execution chamber at San Quentin State Prison. The decision drew immediate criticism from victims’ rights advocates, including Marc Klaas, whose 12-year-old daughter, Polly, was kidnapped and murdered in 1993. Her killer, Richard Allen Davis, remains on death row. CHARLES MANSON FOLLOWER TIED TO SHARON TATE MURDERS GETS RECOMMENDED FOR PAROLE AFTER 55 YEARS IN PRISON “He just gave the gift of life to [hundreds of] people who took the gift of life from their victims,” Klaas told Fox News Digital, expressing disappointment over the decision. “I don’t understand his rationale behind it… but it’s probably the same old tired stuff that he said when he did his moratorium.” “He has definitely secured the serial killer vote now,” he added. POPE LEO DENOUNCES DEATH PENALTY AS ‘INADMISSIBLE’ AHEAD OF PENTAGON’S PLANNED LIVESTREAMED EXECUTION Conversely, anti-death penalty advocates strongly praised the move. “The silence after the very breath of a human is violently wrestled out of them is deafening,” Rev. Jeff Hood, a spiritual adviser to death row inmates, said in a statement reported by The Sacramento Bee. “I’ve heard it 14 times. Today, Governor Newsom has courageously chosen to break that silence. These commutations represent the height of moral leadership,” he added. “Cruelty laid down. Now, I’m left with one prayer: God, don’t let any of the governors in the other executing states get any sleep until they find the ethical stamina to follow Newsom’s lead.” Despite the move, Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman noted that it doesn’t eliminate the death penalty. “Only the Legislature or the voters can do that,” he said in a statement. “Californians have been asked on two separate ballot initiatives to abolish the death penalty and both times they have chosen to keep it for the most serious crimes.” “Until the law is changed, my office will continue to evaluate every death penalty-eligible case with the rigor, care and restraint these decisions demand. As always, we will be guided by the facts, the law and the evidence. If the Legislature or the voters remove the death penalty, we will follow that law just as faithfully,” he added, noting that his thoughts “are with the families of victims, who deserve a justice system that honors the law as it is written and pursues it with fairness and due process.” Dan Dow, the district attorney for San Luis Obispo County, said framed Newsom’s order as an insult to murder victims. “Governor Newsom just told the families of Rachel Newhouse, Aundria Crawford, Kesha Gurke and every other innocent victim of California’s 548 condemned killers that the killers’ lives matter more,” he said. “Juries chose justice case by case, voters chose it five times, and one outgoing governor tried to erase it all with a pen. California voters have consistently supported the death penalty. In 2016, voters rejected Proposition 62, which sought to repeal the death penalty, while narrowly approving Proposition 66 to expedite the appeals process.
Democrats ‘divorced from voters’ as 5 states back citizen-only voting, bolstering GOP push
Voters in five states overwhelmingly approved ballot measures barring noncitizens from voting, including Kansas, where Democrats scored a major Senate upset, and Alaska, where the Senate race remains uncalled. Federal law already prohibits noncitizens from voting in federal elections, but measures approved in Kansas, Alaska, Arkansas, South Dakota and West Virginia clarify or explicitly codify citizenship requirements for voting in state and local elections, with support exceeding 60% in each state. Election integrity advocates pointed to the results as evidence supporting President Donald Trump and Republicans’ argument that their push to require proof of citizenship for federal voter registration has “overwhelming bipartisan support.” REPUBLICANS SUFFER HISTORIC SENATE UPSET AS DEM FLIPS DEEP-RED STATE FOR FIRST TIME IN NEARLY A CENTURY “I would absolutely agree that noncitizen voting bans are overwhelmingly popular,” Jason Snead, executive director of Honest Elections Project, told Fox News Digital. “They enjoy bipartisan support.” A 2024 Gallup poll found that 83% of Americans, including 66% of Democrats, support requiring first-time voters to provide proof of citizenship when registering to vote. The ballot measure wins also come as the conservative-majority Supreme Court prepares to consider a related dispute over whether Arizona can require proof of citizenship on its state voter registration form and remove suspected noncitizens from the rolls before an election, a ruling that could affect how states enforce citizenship requirements. Related election measures failed in California and Arizona. California’s Proposition 39 was defeated 58.5% to 41.4%, a margin of roughly 17 percentage points; the measure would have required voter ID and additional citizenship-verification procedures. “I would note that the unique thing there is not only that California is openly hostile to the idea of trying to prevent noncitizen voting in terms of its elected leadership, but also the left poured more than $30 million into the ballot measure campaign to defeat that,” Snead told Fox News Digital. Snead said Arizona’s measure was broader legislation that included several provisions beyond noncitizen voting, which may have contributed to its defeat. The victories for the measures barring noncitizens from voting follow the Trump administration and congressional Republicans’ failed efforts to pass the SAVE America Act, which would require proof of citizenship to register to vote. ARIZONA VOTER LAW FIGHT REACHES SCOTUS AS ELECTION GROUPS WARN ‘ABSURD’ CONSEQUENCE COULD ENSUE The SAVE America Act also became a flashpoint in Congress, with Republicans and Democrats sparring over whether to attach it to a budget reconciliation package. Trump’s effort to tie the bill to Department of Homeland Security funding contributed to a prolonged standoff during the department’s shutdown. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Republicans lacked the votes to pass it, while Democrats argued it would disenfranchise eligible voters. Hans von Spakovsky, a former member of the Federal Election Commission and senior legal fellow of Advancing American Freedom, said the Democratic Party is completely “divorced” from its voters. Snead agreed, saying Democrats took a “90-10 issue” and turned it into a highly politicized fight. “The left is far out of step with the American public, and they really should be answering the question, ‘Why are you opposed to something that 90% of the public is in favor of?” Snead said. “Only citizens should vote in our elections. And if you believe, as the left claims to, in democracy, well then, we should start by making sure that we have free and fair elections that are decided only by American citizens.” But while Spakovsky applauded the passage of the ballot measures, he warned they could prove ineffective unless states are allowed to verify voters’ citizenship. “Look, I’m glad those states passed that referendum, but those provisions aren’t going to be much good unless states are able to do two things,” Spakovsky said. Spakovsky pointed to Republican National Committee v. Mi Familia Vota, a case in which the Supreme Court will decide whether federal law prevents Arizona from requiring documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections and from removing suspected noncitizens from its voter rolls. He said the ruling could affect how effectively states can enforce citizenship requirements. ELECTION EXPERT SOUNDS ALARM ON HOW NONCITIZENS ARE LANDING ON VOTER ROLLS Snead said simply checking a box attesting to citizenship on a federal form has not been sufficient. “As we have seen in a number of recent arrests by the Justice Department, with indictments going out against noncitizens, and with the failures of the automatic voter registration system in New Jersey, which added 6,600 noncitizens to the rolls, with almost 400 of them voting, we clearly have been let down by that check-a-box system,” Snead said. However, Spakovsky said a ruling in favor of Arizona would only go so far, arguing that proof of citizenship would only apply to future voter registrations. “The only way for them to try to check the citizenship of people who are already registered is by using the SAVE database at the Department of Homeland Security, and with complete control of Congress, I have no doubt that one of the first things Democrats will do is try to defund the database so that states can’t use it,” Spakovsky said. Snead applauded the Trump administration’s efforts to expand states’ access to the SAVE database to clean up their voter rolls, arguing the previous process of tracking down ineligible voters was “cumbersome.” He also voiced concerns that Democrats will gut the database. SIGN UP TO GET THE POLITICS NEWSLETTER “I would not be surprised if they try to defund the entire safe system or pass legislation to prevent its use for cleaning up voter rolls,” Snead said. “I think that we are fast approaching the point where it is fair to say, ‘Why are Democrats actively pushing for noncitizen voting?’” Snead continued. “I think that’s the direction that we are going.”
Harmeet Dhillon resigns as Justice Department’s assistant attorney general for civil rights: sources
Harmeet Dhillon resigned Thursday as the Department of Justice’s assistant attorney general for civil rights, sources told Fox News. Dhillon, who assumed office in April 2025, ran the Civil Rights Division. This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Alito reiterates he’s not retiring, is committed through end of current Supreme Court term
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito confirmed to Fox News that he has no plans to retire and is committed through at least the current term, which is set to end in late June. Alito made the statement Thursday amid speculation about the future of the Supreme Court after a disastrous GOP performance in the midterm elections. When the new congressional term begins in January, Democrats will be in firm control of the Senate, with predictions, including from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, that this will not change for at least six years. That would make it extremely difficult, if not impossible, for President Donald Trump to fill any potential vacancy with a conservative after this year. ALITO NOT EXPECTED TO RETIRE THIS TERM, COOLING SUPREME COURT VACANCY SPECULATION: SOURCES After Justice Clarence Thomas, 78, Alito is the oldest member of the Supreme Court at 76 years old. “Chance of confirming a worthy successor to Justice Thomas and/or Alito during President Trump’s term: Zero. Chance of confirming a worthy successor during a hypothetical GOP admin 2029-2033: probably zero (GOP won’t be able to recapture enough seats in 28),” DeSantis posted to X on Tuesday night. REPUBLICANS SOUND ALARM OVER HIDDEN MIDTERM STAKES THAT COULD RESHAPE SUPREME COURT FOR DECADES “Assuming Republicans lose the seats where prediction markets have the Democrats at 90+% to win, that would produce 55 Democrat Senate seats,” DeSantis added. JONATHAN TURLEY: SHERROD BROWN’S PLEDGE TURNS ADVICE AND CONSENT INTO A PUNCHLINE DEMS SEIZE THE SENATE AS BLUE TIDAL WAVE CRASHES DEEP INTO TRUMP COUNTRY, TOPPLES GOP STRONGHOLDS Ed Whelan, a conservative legal expert who clerked for the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, wrote on X that Trump is now effectively blocked from appointing federal judges or Supreme Court justices during the final two years of his term. “If a Republican is elected president in 2028, that president will not be able to appoint any justices or judges until Republicans regain the Senate,” Whelan wrote. “Given the deep hole, that might not happen until 2033. “ Whelan also explained that a justice resigning during the upcoming “lame duck” session is highly unlikely and Republicans would have a hard time securing 51 votes. “If Sherrod Brown wins Ohio seat, he gets sworn into Senate in early December, so Senate becomes 52R-48D,” Whelan wrote. “Collins and Murkowski would be unlikely to support anyone Trump would nominate. John Cornyn, Thom Tillis, and Bill Cassidy aren’t going to be eager to do Trump any favors. And there are other senators—e.g., John Curtis of Utah—who would be leery of anyone Trump would be eager to push through.” Fox News’ Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.
House conservative emerges with 2028 presidential pick after GOP’s midterm massacre: ‘I am all in’
One of the original members of the House Freedom Caucus has made his decision on who to support in 2028 after Republicans’ historic losses in Tuesday night’s midterms. Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Ind., told Fox News Digital “I am all in” for Secretary of State Marco Rubio and called on fellow Republicans to begin thinking about how to rebuild in the wake of their election losses. “He can be a unifier,” Stutzman said. FLORIDA CONGRESSMAN DIAGNOSES GOP’S BLUE TSUNAMI LOSSES: ‘WE FAILED TO MAKE THEM THINK WE CARED ABOUT THEM’ He also told Fox News Digital that Republicans “have to do better at communicating” since they “can’t push policy” after losing the House and Senate majorities. Among those communication changes, he suggested changing the way Republicans discuss immigration. STATE OF PLAY: BLUE WAVE SWEEPS DEMOCRATS INTO POWER, WITH KEY RACES STILL HANGING IN BALANCE “We need to get off the deportation messages, take credit for closing the border, and now start finding a path forward for those here illegally obeying the laws,” Stutzman said. “No citizenship just work visas.” A blue tsunami swept both federal and state races on Tuesday night. In the House, both battleground districts and seats considered safe GOP strongholds saw upset Democrat victories. Dozens of races have yet to be called, but Democrats are projected to hold at least 54 seats in the Senate. In the House so far, they’re projected to win 240 seats, compared to 147 projected for Republicans. Democrats also scored upset victories in multiple governorships, namely in Texas and Iowa. FROM TEXAS TO KANSAS, 6 STUNNING MIDTERM RESULTS THAT UPENDED THE POLITICAL MAP And within hours of the writing landing on the wall, various GOP factions began publicly discussing how to rebuild and move forward. Vice President JD Vance quickly distanced himself from the war in Iran, which is thought to be one of the biggest drivers of voters moving away from the GOP. TRUMP TOLD DONORS ‘WE NEED TO ELECT JD,’ SOURCE CONFIRMS, AS HE WEIGHS VANCE OR RUBIO IN 2028 “The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night,” Vance posted on X in a lengthy statement. “If you’d like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next 6 years was worth it, then do so. Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay. Agree or disagree, that’s at least honest. But everyone knows why we lost. And any honest conversation about where we go from here must start there.” Vance is considered a top presidential contender for Republicans in 2028, as is Rubio. But it’s not clear yet whether their senior roles in the Trump administration will similarly sandbag their prospective bids.