Rep. Valerie Foushee, candidate for U.S. House District 4.
Courtesy of the Valerie Foushee campaign
Rep. Valerie Foushee announced Monday evening that she will not attend the State of the Union address Tuesday night.
This will be the second State of the Union that Foushee has boycotted and the second President Donald Trump has given since taking back his office.
“While the president prepares to describe a vision of national strength and prosperity, the real state of the union is measured by families crushed by rising costs, by attacks on voting rights and civil liberties, and by immigrant communities who are being vilified, detained and deported under policies rooted in cruelty rather than humanity,” Foushee, a Democrat from Hillsborough, said in a news release. “It is also measured by an administration that continues to evade accountability, resist transparency, and undermine the very checks and balances that hold our democracy together.”
“I will not lend my presence to a speech that ignores the lived realities of millions,” she added.
Foushee is in her second term representing the 4th Congressional District, which includes Durham and Orange and parts of Chatham and Wake counties.
She’s facing a tough primary on March 3 that includes a rematch with Durham County Commissioner Nida Allam.
“Until this administration confronts the harm caused by extreme policies that deepen inequalities, sow division, target vulnerable communities and sidestep responsibility to the American people, I will continue to stand in firm opposition and fight for a vision of this nation rooted in equity, justice, compassion, and opportunity,” Foushee said.
North Carolina is represented in Congress by three other Democrats: Reps. Don Davis, Deborah Ross and Alma Adams.
Davis, of Snow Hill, announced he would bring 17-year-old Nathaniel Simmons, an eighth generation farmer, and Ross, of Raleigh, is bringing state Supreme Court Justice Anita Earls.
Matt Van Swol, a right-wing social media influencer from Western North Carolina, said that he is the guest of Rep. Pat Harrigan, a Republican from Hickory.
Danielle Battaglia is the D.C. correspondent for The News & Observer and The Charlotte Observer, leading coverage of North Carolina’s congressional delegation and elections. She also covers the White House. Her career has spanned three North Carolina newsrooms where she has covered crime, courts and local, state and national politics. She has won two McClatchy President’s awards and numerous national and state awards for her work.
Rep. Valerie Foushee announced that she will not attend the State of the Union address Tuesday night. This will be the second State of the Union that Foushee has boycotted and the second President Donald Trump has given since taking back his office.
Heather Diehl
Getty Images
Rep. Valerie Foushee announced Monday evening that she will not attend the State of the Union address Tuesday night.
This will be the second State of the Union that Foushee has boycotted and the second President Donald Trump has given since taking back his office.
“While the president prepares to describe a vision of national strength and prosperity, the real state of the union is measured by families crushed by rising costs, by attacks on voting rights and civil liberties, and by immigrant communities who are being vilified, detained and deported under policies rooted in cruelty rather than humanity,” Foushee, a Democrat from Hillsborough, said in a news release. “It is also measured by an administration that continues to evade accountability, resist transparency, and undermine the very checks and balances that hold our democracy together.”
“I will not lend my presence to a speech that ignores the lived realities of millions,” she added.
Foushee is in her second term representing the 4th Congressional District, which includes Durham and Orange and parts of Chatham and Wake counties.
She’s facing a tough primary on March 3 that includes a rematch with Durham County Commissioner Nida Allam.
“Until this administration confronts the harm caused by extreme policies that deepen inequalities, sow division, target vulnerable communities and sidestep responsibility to the American people, I will continue to stand in firm opposition and fight for a vision of this nation rooted in equity, justice, compassion, and opportunity,” Foushee said.
North Carolina is represented in Congress by three other Democrats: Reps. Don Davis, Deborah Ross and Alma Adams.
Davis, of Snow Hill, announced he would bring 17-year-old Nathaniel Simmons, an eighth generation farmer, and Ross, of Raleigh, is bringing state Supreme Court Justice Anita Earls.
Matt Van Swol, a right-wing social media influencer from Western North Carolina, said that he is the guest of Rep. Pat Harrigan, a Republican from Hickory.
Trump’s speech is expected to begin at 9 p.m.
This story was originally published February 23, 2026 at 5:47 PM.
Danielle Battaglia is the D.C. correspondent for The News & Observer and The Charlotte Observer, leading coverage of North Carolina’s congressional delegation and elections. She also covers the White House. Her career has spanned three North Carolina newsrooms where she has covered crime, courts and local, state and national politics. She has won two McClatchy President’s awards and numerous national and state awards for her work.
U.S. Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García of Chicago will not run for reelection, a source close to the congressman said Monday, apparently ceding the spot to his chief of staff, who filed to run for the 4th Congressional District seat that García has held since 2019.
García last week filed to run for reelection next year but on Monday his chief of staff, Patty Garcia, also filed for the same spot. A source who was briefed on the matter told the Tribune that the congressman was expected to withdraw his petitions to run for another term, leaving the Democratic slate free for Patty Garcia to win and all but ensuring she’d be elected in the heavily blue Chicago congressional district.
Rep. García would join four other members of Illinois’ congressional delegation not running for reelection next year — U.S. Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi and Robin Kelly are running to replace retiring U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, while Reps. Jan Schakowsky and Danny Davis are retiring. Rep. García did not return calls seeking comment.
García, 69, is a former Chicago alderman, Cook County commissioner and state senator and twice unsuccessful mayoral candidate, including being defeated in a 2015 runoff against Mayor Rahm Emanuel and finishing fourth in 2023.
An ally of the late Mayor Harold Washington, García has been an unabashed political progressive and supporter of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent who calls himself a democratic socialist. In his runs for president, Sanders used García as a surrogate to appeal to Latino voters.
The circumstances involving García’s apparent departure are reminiscent of how he got into Congress in the first place. Only days before the deadline for petition filing in 2017, 13-term Democratic U.S. Rep. Luis Gutiérrez pulled his petitions. A day later, García announced his intention to run for the seat and won Gutiérrez’s backing.
García won the nomination with two-thirds of the primary vote.
Patty Garcia is no relation to the congressman. The Chicago Sun-Times first reported that the congressman would not seek another term.
U.S. Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García, center, kicks off a reelection campaign for 2026 as he and a coalition of elected officials collect signatures on the first day of petition gathering outside the CTA Orange Line Station in Chicago on Aug. 5, 2025. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)
The sudden move by Rep. García came on the final day that petitions to run in the 2026 elections could be filed with the Illinois State Board of Elections, the end of the weeklong period for prospective March 17 primary contenders to appear on the ballot.
In another surprise move, symbolizing the weakened state of Illinois Republicans, no one filed for the GOP primary ballot for state treasurer.
The lack of a GOP challenger to file petitions to face three-term Democratic Treasurer Mike Frerichs represents a further breakdown in a state Republican Party that has been shut out of all statewide offices and two U.S. Senate seats. The GOP is also in a superminority in the legislature and state Supreme Court, and holds only three of the state’s 17 U.S. House seats.
Frerichs’ campaign said the absence of a GOP primary filer marked the first time in at least 90 years that a major political party in Illinois had no candidate file to run in a primary election for statewide office.
The Illinois Republican State Central Committee, made up of representatives from each of the state’s congressional districts, will have the ability to appoint a candidate to fill the treasurer ballot vacancy, but the appointee will be required to obtain at least 5,000 valid signatures from registered voters as a regular candidate would.
All told, more than 630 people filed candidate petitions for the Democratic and Republican primary ballots for federal and state offices in the weeklong filing period, with Democrats facing heavily contested races due to retirements and political ladder-climbing in several open-seat contests.
But the end of the filing period also leaves one week for the filing of objections to the candidacy petitions. And the sheer volume of candidates filing means the likelihood that some will be tossed off the ballot for lacking enough valid petition signatures or other filing mistakes.
Joining Fioretti in seeking the GOP attorney general nomination was JoAnne Giullemette of Chicago, who finished third in a 2022 GOP primary challenge to veteran U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood of Peoria, and Andy Williams Jr. of Darien, a onetime write-in candidate for president.
The winner would take on Democratic incumbent Kwame Raoul, who is seeking a third term as the state’s top law enforcement official.
Filing a Republican challenge to two-term Democratic Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias is Walter Adamczyk of Chicago. Adamczyk, who filed last week, got six votes in a losing bid for 29th Ward Chicago alderman in 2023. Joining Adamczyk on Monday was Diane Harris of Joliet, who lost a 2022 bid for state Senate and lost previous bids for state House and Congress.
Democratic Comptroller Susana Mendoza’s decision not to seek reelection, potentially for a 2027 bid for Chicago mayor, created a rare opening for a state government office. A total of five Democrats filed: state Reps. Margaret Croke of Chicago and Stephanie Kifowit of Oswego, along with state Sen. Karina Villa of West Chicago, Lake County Treasurer Holly Kim and, on Monday, Champaign County auditor George Danos.
Republican Bryan Drew of downstate Benton, a personal injury attorney who lost a GOP primary race for judge last year, filed last week for the party’s comptroller nomination.
With Durbin’s decision to retire after his term ends in 2027, a field of 22 candidates developed to try to succeed him. Krishnamoorthi of Schaumburg and Kelly of Lynwood, as well as Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, head a list of 14 Democratic contenders. Eight Republicans, including former state GOP Chair Don Tracy, filed for the nomination.
In the open seat for the 2nd Congressional District, which Kelly is giving up to seek the U.S. Senate nomination, a dozen people filed for the ballot: 10 Democrats and two Republicans. The sprawling district includes parts of the South Side, south suburbs even the downstate city of Danville.
A dozen candidates filed in the northwest suburban 8th Congressional District, where Krishnamoorthi is leaving to seek the U.S. Senate nomination — eight Democrats and four Republicans.
Davis’ decision to retire at the end of his 15th term created a wide-open race in the 7th Congressional District, which covers the West Side and downtown. A total of 13 Democrats and two Republicans filed for the seat.
In the north suburban 9th Congressional District, where 14-term Schakowski, of Evanston, is not seeking reelection, 21 candidates filed — 17 Democrats and four Republicans.
After hearing candidate objections, the State Board of Elections has scheduled Jan. 8 to finalize the primary ballot.
DENVER — U.S. Rep Lauren Boebert is projected to win her bid to be the Republican candidate in Colorado’s 4th Congressional District, according to Decision Desk HQ and the Associated Press.
The Colorado Republican fled a tough reelection bid in the 3rd District to run in a more favorably red congressional district on the other side of the state.’
Boebert beat a group of homegrown primary candidates who had far less name recognition and generally less combative political styles.
She is expected to win the November general election in the 4th District, which is a dark shade of red and tilted heavily toward former President Donald Trump in the 2020 election.
Her opponents in the primary were more traditional rivals including former state Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg; current state Reps. Mike Lynch and Richard Holtorf; and parental rights advocate Deborah Flora.
While the theater incident and Boebert’s district jump rattled some Republicans, Gilbert Kendzior, 68, a voter in Boebert’s new district, shrugged them off, asking “who’s perfect?”
Kendzior said he voted for the congresswoman because she shakes things up. “It’s gotten too staid. Same promises, nothing happens,” he said. “We need to get rid of the old farts.”
It’s still too close to call Boebert’s Democratic opponent.
Colorado’s 4th Congressional District special election
Former Parker Mayor Greg Lopez has won the 4th Congressional District special election on Tuesday, according to the Associated Press.
Lopez will serve the remainder former Republican U.S. Rep. Ken Buck’s term.
The staunch conservative announced in November of last year that he wasn’t going to seek reelection, citing his party’s handling of former President Donald Trump. Buck resigned from Congress in March.
Lopez had said if he wins the special election, he intends to be a “placeholder” member of Congress and has no interest in serving a full term of his own.
8th Congressional District Republican primary
Republican state Rep. Gabe Evans, a former police officer, defeated former state Rep. Janak Joshi, a retired physician, in the race to challenge Democratic incumbent Yadira Caraveo. Caraveo won the 8th District, which stretches north of Denver, by fewer than 2,000 votes in 2022.
The primary winner will likely benefit from a windfall of support from the National Republican Campaign Committee, which is intent on defending the party’s thin House majority.
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CHICAGO (WLS) — Three-term U.S. Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García has won the Democratic primary against Chicago Alderman Raymond Lopez, the Associated Press projected.
The congressman, who dominated in funding and endorsements, was facing his first primary challenger since 2018, when he won congressional office.
García thanked those who helped make his reelection possible.
Three-term U.S. Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García has won the Democratic primary against Chicago Alderman Raymond Lopez, the Associated Press projected.
“I say ‘thank you’ from the bottom of my heart,” García said.
The congressman, born in Mexico, spoke on Tuesday night of his 41-year journey to bring more diversity to all levels of government.
Both García and Lopez are Democrats, but they have very different views on major issues. Last month, ABC7 sat down with both candidates to talk about key issues and what might decide the race.
Lopez had argued García is no longer the right fit for Illinois’ 4th Congressional District, which is predominantly Hispanic and includes working-class communities and neighborhoods on the city’s Southwest Side as well as wealthy suburbs.
Lopez, 45, is one of the most conservative members of the Chicago City Council, often backing police. He has called García an “extreme Democrat.”
García, 67, says voters have repeatedly put him in office, including in 2022 after a remap added new territory to the district. He’s also a former state legislator and city alderman.
García dominated in fundraising, raising $376,000 last year compared to Lopez’s $46,000 in the same time period, according to federal election records. He picked up endorsements from labor groups, while Lopez had support from the Chicago police union.
But that support was not enough for Lopez on Tuesday night. He has unsuccessfully run for mayor, and now congressman.
“So Wednesday, city council, back to work, back to doing what I do best. And hopefully, this will be a wakeup call for many members of Congress who saw challengers in the primary that they need to start delivering for their districts,” Lopez said on Tuesday night.
Earlier Tuesday, Lopez said his day was like most election days for him.
He brought donuts to poll workers and gave $50 at 20 sites for the workers to buy lunch. He said he has always brought food and added the cash after the COVID-19 pandemic started, because he said the workers preferred to buy lunch and not share.
“My judges actually asked if they could just buy their own. I said, ‘Fine. We can help facilitate that,’” Lopez said.
But offering cash to poll workers now has the attention of the attorney general’s Election Integrity Unit, which confirmed the office is looking into a complaint filed by García about Lopez’s gifts to poll workers.
“This is a distraction when we should talk about issues he’s had months, to talk about things. And all he wants is to talk about is the kind of donut I brought for breakfast,” Lopez said.
García said the action of giving out money at a polling place is not the image Illinoisans want of their elected officials.
“It’s fine to take donuts, but when you start passing cash around in envelopes, it sure raises a lot of concerns,” García said. “I think anytime cash is being spread around at a polling place on Election Day certainty suggests there could be efforts to move Chicago backwards. Chicago ain’t moving backward.”
ABC7 Political Analyst Laura Washington said García filing the complaint is a way to emphasize the difference between him and Lopez.
“He may be, more than anything, trying reinforce in the voters’ minds that Ray Lopez is the past represents the Democratic machine’s past,” Washington said.
Meanwhile, there’s no Republican running in the heavily Democratic district, so García is expected to win outright in November.
