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Tag: Elections

  • Canine candidates face off in Salem’s first dog mayoral race

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    SALEM — Salem residents can still cast their votes in the heavily contested dog mayoral race with candidates’ platforms ranging from safer crosswalks to more treats.

    The city’s very first dog mayoral race is a fundraiser organized by Salem Main Streets that has already seen 58 candidates raise a total of $12,497 since its launch at the end of August. The fundraiser has attracted at least 388 donors with contributions ranging from $1 to $250, the majority of whom have not donated to Salem Main Streets before, according to the organization.


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    By Michael McHugh | Staff Writer

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  • Harris stops biting her tongue in ‘107 Days,’ her book about last year’s campaign

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    WASHINGTON — When it was all over, Kamala Harris couldn’t believe it. “I could barely breathe,” she writes in her new book about learning she had lost the 2024 presidential election to Donald Trump.

    One of her aides peeled “Madame President” off celebratory cupcakes before serving them to crushed staffers. Harris kept asking, “My God, my God, what will happen to our country?”

    The next morning was no easier. “I was ashamed to realize I was in the denial and bargaining stages of grief, a very long way from acceptance,” she wrote.

    It’s one of several raw admissions in Harris’ book, “107 Days,” that is scheduled for release Tuesday. The title refers to the length of the hyperspeed campaign that the former vice president launched against Trump after Joe Biden dropped out of the race.

    Although Harris earned a reputation as guarded and circumspect, the book has the tone of someone who is finished biting her tongue. She concedes mistakes, reveals frustrations and details some of the stranger moments from her race.

    The book isn’t a winding memoir or a political treatise, and Harris doesn’t disclose any future plans. Instead, it reads like a ticking time bomb, with each chapter counting down to Election Day.

    Here’s some memorable moments.

    Harris insists in the book that she had no concerns about Biden’s ability to serve as president. “If I believed that, I would have said so.”

    “But at eighty-one, Joe got tired,” Harris wrote. “That’s when his age showed in physical and verbal stumbles.”

    Harris wrote that Biden’s inner circle “should have realized that any campaign was a bridge too far.” However, “it seemed that the worse things got, the more they pushed him.”

    The tenuous situation unraveled when Biden and Trump faced off with each other. “As soon as he walked onto the debate stage in Atlanta, I could see he wasn’t right,” Harris wrote.

    Biden’s team appeared to be in denial. Afterward, they gave Harris talking points that said “JOE BIDEN WON.”

    Harris wrote warmly of her partnership with Biden, but there were frosty moments too. As Biden faced calls to drop out of the race, he invited Harris to join him for a Fourth of July celebration at the White House.

    First lady Jill Biden pulled Harris’ husband Doug Emhoff aside. “What’s going on?” she asked. “Are you supporting us?”

    Later, in private, Emhoff erupted in anger. “They have to ask if we’re loyal?”

    Another difficult episode came after Harris had replaced Biden at the top of the ticket and was preparing for her own debate with Trump.

    Shortly before she took the stage, Biden called to say he heard from his brother that Harris had been badmouthing him, upsetting some power brokers in Philadelphia. Then he rambled about his own debate performances while Harris was “barely listening.”

    “I just couldn’t understand why he would call me, right now, and make it all about himself,” she wrote.

    Harris admits some mistakes of her own, particularly a damaging appearance on “The View” talk show. When one of the hosts asked what she would have done differently than Biden during the previous four years, Harris blanked on the talking points she had prepared and simply said, “There is not a thing that comes to mind.”

    “I had no idea I’d just pulled the pin on a hand grenade,” Harris writes. Around the studio, “my staff were besides themselves” about how she had just given a “gift to the Trump campaign.”

    Harris wrote that she didn’t want to criticize Biden or litigate any of the areas where they disagreed. But she also didn’t understand how much her association with the president was holding back her candidacy.

    David Plouffe, a senior adviser, told Harris bluntly that “people hate Joe Biden.”

    There’s plenty of grist in the book that could make the next Democratic convention a little more awkward.

    Harris wrote that Pete Buttigieg, Biden’s transportation secretary and a former mayor from Indiana, was her first choice to be her running mate. He’s also gay, and Harris thought it was “too big of a risk” to pick him while already asking voters to accept a Black woman as president.

    Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro was another possibility. But Harris “had a nagging concern that he would be unable to settle for a role as number two and that it would wear on our partnership.”

    She ended up going with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, but his debate performance against JD Vance left her yelling at the television screen. “You’re not there to make friends with the guy who is attacking your running mate,” she said.

    There’s only one reference to California Gov. Gavin Newsom in the book. When Harris reached out to him after Biden ended his reelection campaign, he texted, “Hiking. Will call back,” but he never did.

    Harris’ brother-in-law is Tony West, a former top Justice Department official and member of her inner circle of political advisers. While Harris was serving as vice president, West put together what was known as the “Red File,” a collection of plans in case something happened to Biden.

    West argued that it would be foolish not to prepare. Harris writes that she “didn’t want to dwell on such an eventuality” and “I left it in his hands.”

    He kept refreshing the document as people pressured Biden to drop out, which came in handy when Biden finally pulled the plug on his reelection campaign.

    Harris writes that Biden was planning to wait a day before endorsing her as his successor, an idea that horrified her.

    “If you want to put me in the strongest position, you have to endorse me now,” she recalled telling him. Harris prevailed, and the endorsement happened shortly after Biden announced that he was done.

    Campaigns can be hallucinatory affairs, and this one was full of bizarre moments.

    Harris writes that she warmed up for her convention speech with a professional voice coach who “wanted me to stand there and emit animal noises.” A little hesitant, Harris got her entire team to make “hums, grunts and trills” with her.

    Harris also writes about talking with Trump after a second assassination attempt against him. Despite tearing into her on the campaign trail, Trump proceeded to flatter his opponent.

    “How do I say bad things about you now?” he said. “I’m going to tone it down. I will. You’re going to see.” Then Trump said that his daughter Ivanka “is your big fan.”

    When the call was over, Harris was left marveling at Trump’s ability to turn on the charm. “He’s a con man,” she thought. “He’s really good at it.”

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  • Trump’s moves against media mirror approaches by authoritarian leaders

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    BUDAPEST, Hungary — Since taking office in January, President Donald Trump has waged an aggressive campaign against the media unlike any in modern U.S. history, making moves similar to those of authoritarian leaders that he has often praised.

    On Wednesday, Trump cheered ABC’s suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show after the comedian made remarks about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk that criticized the president’s MAGA movement: “Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.


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    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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    By JUSTIN SPIKE and NICHOLAS RICCARDI – Associated Press

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  • San Francisco NIMBYism strikes again as one neighborhood recalls a city supervisor who created a new park for the whole city to enjoy | Fortune

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    During the coronavirus pandemic, the city closed a stretch of a four-lane highway along San Francisco’s Pacific Coast and made it an automobile-free sanctuary where bicyclists and walkers flocked to exercise and socialize under open skies and to the sound of crashing waves.

    But with the post-pandemic return to school and work, resentment grew among neighborhood residents who relied on the artery to get around. Some blamed the district city supervisor who helped make the change permanent by placing on a citywide ballot a measure to turn the 2-mile (3.2-kilometer) stretch into a new park.

    On Tuesday, district voters will decide whether to recall Supervisor Joel Engardio.

    The recall of a local supervisor who represents one-tenth of a city of 800,000 might seem like minor politics. But the election highlights a San Francisco in flux and a still cranky, even emboldened electorate as leaders prepare to make tough decisions about the city’s future.

    Controversial housing proposal collides with NIMBY legacy

    The action also speaks to San Francisco’s long history of “Not In My Backyard,” or NIMBY politics. Since the 1970s, the formerly bohemian city’s unusually direct form of democracy has increasingly empowered small, local groups to block development with wider social benefits, resulting in a relatively small city that competes with New York and Los Angeles for the title of worst housing crisis in the country. Although San Francisco is relatively dense by American standards, much of the city has height limits in place, preventing an even denser and more affordable city.

    Researchers from Australia studied San Francisco NIMBYism in 2021 and found that it “continues to dominate the dialog at public hearings on development proposals. Planning meetings appear to be dominated by older, white, and financially stable residents, and this is a major (though not sole) barrier to the city’s social mix.” In fact, the scourge of housing advocates, single-family zoning, was invented in the Bay Area, in nearby Berkeley, in the 1910s.

    Tuesday’s vote comes as San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie faces his biggest test with a controversial plan to construct taller, denser buildings with tens of thousands of new housing units, which San Francisco very much needs. Engardio, who is a moderate Democrat like Lurie, supports the plan, which has strong opposition in his district.

    The recall election will be the city’s third in four years. It’s fueled by many of the same people who tossed out three liberal school board members in February 2022 followed by the ouster of politically progressive San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin in June of that year.

    “Anybody that thought that the recalls were just a rejection of progressive politics is wrong,” said Jason McDaniel, who teaches political science at San Francisco State University.

    He says other politicians are getting the message, “and it’s going to make them less likely to embrace difficult positions.”

    “This recall is really about the future of our city,” said Engardio in an interview with The Associated Press. “Do we want to be a city that just preserves itself in amber and goes back in time? Or do we want to be a city that innovates, thinks ahead, is forward-looking and welcomes new people?”

    Who is Joel Engardio?

    Engardio, a crime victims’ advocate, supported the previous recalls. He was among detractors who said Boudin was too lenient on crime and the San Francisco Unified School Board too focused on progressive politics, including renaming 44 school sites.

    Later in 2022, he defeated an incumbent to win one of 11 seats on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Engardio represents the Sunset District, a low-key residential neighborhood of single-family homes on the west side with a high Chinese population.

    Last year, he was one of five city supervisors who placed a proposal to permanently ban cars from the Great Highway on the November 2024 ballot. Measure K passed citywide, but failed in his district. In May, recall petitioners submitted 10,500 valid signatures to qualify the initiative for Tuesday’s ballot.

    A new park divides the city

    On an overcast afternoon last week, people jogged and rode bikes down what had once been called the Great Highway. Moms pushed babies in strollers on a road divided by a median of blowing sand and creeping ice plant succulents, still striped with dotted white lines marking what used to be driving lanes. An older man walked by slowly, using a cane.

    The new park dubbed Sunset Dunes is popular with many San Francisco residents — but not so much with those in its home community.

    Backers of the recall say Engardio betrayed his constituents by going back on support for a compromise that would have kept the highway open to vehicles during the week and banned them on weekends. They say he failed to listen to their concerns about quality of life and traffic safety in the district.

    Engardio says he was always clear about his preference for an oceanside park and only supported the compromise because it was up against a ballot measure at the time that would have fully reopened the highway to cars.

    His supporters say the ocean belongs to everyone and that the supervisor is being targeted unfairly. They also say the city has made significant changes to mitigate traffic flow through the district.

    Dueling campaigns

    Wearing a blue cap and white sneakers, volunteer Heather Davies slips a recall flier under a door. At another house, she thanks a man for returning his ballot with a yes vote.

    Davies says the recall is what regular people like herself have to counter the interests of Engardio’s wealthy donors, including Yelp co-founder Jeremy Stoppelman and Ripple cryptocurrency co-founder Chris Larsen. The tech entrepreneurs have contributed a combined $375,000 to support the anti-recall campaign, which has raised more than $800,000 total; the pro-recall campaign has raised about $250,000.

    “We don’t have the levers to pull in democracy like these guys. They can flood the market with social media, and we can’t afford to do that,” she said.

    But Alex Wong, a father of two young children, says he supports Engardio because the supervisor has always endorsed family-friendly policies, like building more housing and improving schools.

    “The recall itself is centered around a road closure that the rest of the city voted on in support. It may not be popular among my neighbors, but I don’t think that in itself is worthy enough of a recall,” Wong said. “The Sunset is better than this.”

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    Janie Har, Nick Lichtenberg, The Associated Press

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  • California Democrat turns to TikTok to reach Hispanic voters in governor’s race

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    A Democratic candidate for governor of California will be giving TikTok a go, but with a caveat: He’ll only post videos in Spanish.

    At least for now.

    Former Biden administration Health Secretary Xavier Becerra is embracing the popular short-video app to target Spanish-language users. His campaign and surveys note that Hispanic adults use TikTok in much higher numbers than Black and white adults.

    Congress last year passed a ban on TikTok, but President Joe Biden, who signed the bill into law and was Becerra’s boss at the time, announced before leaving office that he wouldn’t enforce it. After the Supreme Court ruled the ban constitutional, President Donald Trump suspended it on his first day in office to give the China-based company ByteDance time to find a new buyer.

    Trump, a Republican, had tried to ban dealings with ByteDance during his first term, but he joined the platform last year and has millions of followers. He has repeatedly extended the deadline for ByteDance to find a buyer and hinted occasionally that there was a deal in place, but without offering details. The White House started its own TikTok account last month.

    Becerra’s new approach is part of an effort by Democrats to counter the rightward swing that was seen last year both in red states such as Texas and Florida and blue states such as California, New Jersey and New York, where Trump improved his numbers among Latinos.

    The idea is to lock in a key user base by pushing out content early on a platform politicians are still largely experimenting with. The effort comes when the Trump administration is phasing out multilingual services as part of the president’s push to make English the official language of the United States.

    Candidates running in the 2025 elections in New Jersey and Virginia are already adapting their campaigns to appeal to Hispanics, who may have stayed away from the polls or voted for Trump based on his economic promises. But strategists say that it’s still very much up for debate whether the trend will hold.

    “It’s critical to communicate in the language and on the platforms where voters spend their time and get their information,” Becerra said in a statement.

    A 2024 Pew Research Center survey concluded that while TikTok has seen significant user growth in a short time, the demographics were different depending on race and ethnicity. Nearly half of Hispanic adults reported using it compared with 39% of Black adults and 28% of white adults.

    Becerra’s campaign says it will push out a mix of videos with him speaking directly to the camera, policy explainers and behind-the-scenes clips from the campaign trail. It also plans to collaborate with influencers and publish videos created by supporters. All in Spanish.

    “The working-class Latinos Democrats need to win back aren’t necessarily going to a Spanish-language website, but they are scrolling and watching vertical video in their free time,” said José Muñoz, a Democratic strategist advising the campaign and a former press secretary at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

    In the New Jersey governor’s race this year, both Democratic candidate Mikie Sherrill and Republican candidate Jack Ciattarelli are participating in Spanish-language town halls on Univision, where Hispanic voters will ask the candidates questions. In Virginia, Democratic gubernatorial nominee Abigail Spanberger speaks Spanish in a radio ad about being a mother of three girls who attended public school.

    “I know how difficult things are for families these days,” she says in Spanish.

    One of Becerra’s challengers in the 2026 California governor’s race, Katie Porter, has quickly established herself as a leading contender in the Democratic primary and has already built a sizable following on TikTok, with more than half a million followers, compared with about 200,000 followers on Instagram and 164,000 on Facebook.

    In his introduction video, Becerra says his priority is to make housing more affordable and reduce health care costs.

    “I am the only candidate in this race who will speak to you in Spanish on this platform,” he said. “But I want this to be a two-way conversation. I want to learn what worries you the most and what you want from the next California governor.”

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  • Charlie Kirk’s close friend reveals what he would be ‘proudest of’ while reflecting on legacy

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    NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

    A close friend and colleague of Charlie Kirk says the conservative leader and media star “was one of one” and doubts he’ll ever be replaced.

    But asked about a void in the conservative movement, Andy Surabian, who’s a top political adviser to both Vice President JD Vance and Donald Trump Jr., told Fox News Digital that Kirk “inspired a generation of young conservatives who have the potential to grow into being somebody like Charlie Kirk.”

    Kirk, who was shot and killed this past Wednesday during a college campus event in Utah, was a top conservative activist, culture warrior, and media rockstar for millions of MAGA and right-wing followers.

    A crucial ally to President Donald Trump, Vance, and Donald Trump Jr., Kirk transformed the Turning Point USA conservative youth organization that he co-founded at age 18 into an extremely influential political powerhouse and a voter turnout machine for Trump in last year’s presidential election.

    HOW CHARLIE KIRK HELPED FUEL DONALD TRUMP’S RETURN TO THE WHITE HOUSE

    From left to right: Vice President JD Vance, Donald Trump Jr., Republican strategist Andy Surabian, and Turning Point USA co-founder and conservative leader Charlie Kirk. (JD Vance social media post)

    “I don’t think there’s any singular person who will ever replace Charlie Kirk,” Surabian said.

    But pointing to Kirk’s inspiration to a generation of younger conservatives, Surabian said, “This is the thing that Charlie would be proudest of, it’s the thing that makes me so proud of Charlie.”

    UTAH’S GOVERNOR REVEALS POSSIBLE MOTIVE IN CHARLIE KIRK SHOOTING

    Surabian said he and Kirk first met in 2018 and quickly became “generational piers.”

    “We would constantly gut check things with each other….both of us respected the political instincts of the other,” Surabian said. “There was an implicit trust.”

    In a social media post, Surabian wrote that he and Kirk “bonded quickly over our similar political views and closeness in age, and ultimately developed a close friendship. We always had each other’s back. If I needed help, I knew he would always be there for me. If he needed anything, I was always there for him. If there was a candidate for office he vouched for, that was all I needed. If there was a candidate for office I vouched for, that was all he needed.”

    Surabian said Kirk was the person who introduced him to Vance, ahead of Vance’s successful 2022 campaign for the Senate in Ohio.

    Vice President JD Vance escorts casket of Charlie Kirk in Utah.

    Vice President JD Vance walks toward Air Force Two alongside Charlie Kirk’s casket on the tarmac in Salt Lake City on Thursday. (Fox News / Pool)

    “I was skeptical, but since Charlie was vouching for him, I was on the phone with JD within the hour. 90 minutes later, after JD and I had hit it off and decided to work together, Charlie excitedly told me I wouldn’t regret it — and he was certainly right about that,” Surabian wrote.

    Speaking with Fox News, Surabian listed off Kirks’ numerous political attributes.

    “Charlie was a terrific fundraiser. He was beloved by donors. Charlie was extremely charismatic and was extremely impressive in debates. Charlie was very talented at doing media. He was a great talk show host. Charlie understood how to organize students. Charlie understood messaging and how to deliver a message in a way that even some of the top PR experts in the country couldn’t touch with a 10-point pole. Charlie understood how to organize in politics. Very rarely do figures come along who can put all those things together the way Charlie put it together,” Surabian highlighted.

    “Never mind the fact that, in addition to all that stuff, he was highly intelligent. And most important of all, he was a fundamentally decent person,” Surabian added.

    Charlie Kirk mourners in Arizona

    Arizonans mourn Turning Point USA Founder Charlie Kirk outside of the Turning Point USA headquarters on September 12, 2025 in Phoenix, Arizona. US President Donald Trump on Friday announced that the suspect had been taken into custody over the killing of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk after a massive manhunt.  (CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP via Getty Images)

    While Kirk had already accomplished much by age 31, Surabian predicted that his friend would have had many chapters to come.

    CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

    “Despite how influential he became, despite how famous he was, I do absolutely believe that he was still at the start of his rise and not at the end of it,” he said.

    And Surabian said that Kirk “was getting to a place where in a few years I think he had the potential to be the next Rush Limbaugh, and when I say that, anyone who understands the influence that Rush Limbaugh had on the conservative movement knows what a big statement that is.”

    Paul Steinhauser is a politics reporter based in the swing state of New Hampshire. He covers the campaign trail from coast to coast.”

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  • Kerry McCormack Stepping Down Early from Council, Names Lauren Welch as Successor – Cleveland Scene

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    With 112 days left in his last term on Cleveland City Council, Kerry McCormack has called it quits.

    On Thursday, McCormack, who’s represented Ward 3 for the past decade and earlier this year announced that he would not be seeking re-election, said that he was stepping down from his seat a tad early, just months before Council’s refresh in January. He will nominate Lauren Welch, a communications strategist for Say Yes! Cleveland and an RTA board member, to finish his term. (Council has historically approved whoever a departing councilperson nominates.)

    McCormack told Scene the reasons behind his premature departure after a decade in the politics was twofold: to start a new job and allow a buffer period before Cleveland’s new ward maps go into effect.

    “I’m taking one quick step back to allow the community to have an open conversation about the new councilperson who will start in January,” McCormack said in a phone call. And for “the folks in the majority of Ward 3 to have a conversation with these candidates.”

    Ward 3 will pretty much become Ward 7, boundaries that encompass Tremont, Ohio City, The Flats, the North Coast and Burke Lakefront Airport. It holds some of the most exciting development prospects, including Irishtown Bend Park and the big-picture plans for the lakefront.

    Welch, McCormack said, is a natural choice to segue from old to new.

    She grew up in Ohio City, campaigned for President Obama, was a Ward 15 precinct leader, is on three boards of trustees and works days as a communications strategist for Say Yes! Cleveland, a nonprofit that gives CMSD kids a leg up applying for college. She also founded her own marketing firm, Laurel Cadence, in 2019.

    Welch was ecstatic when McCormack offered her a chance to succeed him. As she saw it, the opportunity is yet another way she’s being “called to serve” the public.

    Even if that means a little challenge.

    “I think that anytime you take on a leadership position in this capacity, one that has to do with raising the profile, the visibility, the livelihood and the safety of residents, it’s going to be challenging work,” Welch said in a call.

    But, she added, “I’m already working on those things on a regular basis already.”

    McCormack will depart from the gig on October 3, which means Welch, the first Black woman leader of Ward 3, will serve for about three months on council before either Austin Davis or Mohammad Faraj takes over in January. The two will square off in November’s general election after advancing in this week’s primary.

    As for McCormack, he will be working as a Cleveland-based public affairs leader for Flock Safety, a surveillance tech company headquartered in Atlanta.

    “Ensuring that we continue to build safe and thriving neighborhoods remains my professional passion,” McCormack said in a statement. “I look forward to joining the team at Flock as they partner with thousands of communities and organizations across the country to achieve that goal.”

    Joining Council in 2016, McCormack championed bringing Cleveland further into the 21st century.

    He long advocated for a nonprofit leader of the West Side Market, urged the city open up more public access to Lake Erie and worked with Mayor Bibb to pass the city’s first Complete and Green Streets ordinance in 2023, which sets legal standards for bike lanes and tree lines on newly-built or repaved city streets.

    “It’s been a great 10 years—almost 10 years,” he said.

    “I think about advocacy and reproductive freedom. I think about getting folks through the pandemic. I think about, you know, rebuilding playgrounds and parks around the ward,I think about making our roads safer,” he said. “I mean, like, these are the things that I believe we’ve contributed to make sure that the city is in a better direction.”

    And as for getting out of politics altogether, he said, “I never wanted to overstay my welcome. I just thought it was a good time for me to move on.”

    Subscribe to Cleveland Scene newsletters.

    Follow us: Apple News | Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Or sign up for our RSS Feed

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    Mark Oprea

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  • ‘On The House!’ event explores housing, community impacts from Salem’s 1914 Great Fire

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    SALEM — On Sunday, Solidarity Rising and Salem artist Krystle Brown will host an afternoon of “art, community, and connection” at Forest River Park.

    The event is expected to celebrate the installation of “What We Learned from the Fire” — a public art project reflecting on the lasting impact of Salem’s 1914 Great Fire and what it can teach us about housing and community today.


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    Michael McHugh can be contacted at mmchugh@northofboston.com or at 781-799-5202

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    By Michael McHugh | Staff Writer

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  • Cleveland Heights Voters Overwhelmingly Decide to Oust Mayor Seren in Recall Election

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    click to enlarge

    Mark Oprea

    Over 80 percent of voters decided Cleveland Heights Mayor Kahlil Seren was no longer fit for office, Tuesday’s election results show.

    Voters in Cleveland Heights decided to recall embattled Mayor Kahlil Seren in Tuesday’s election, the results from the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections showed in an unofficial count.

    As of Wednesday morning, 8,307 voters turned out to polls across the city to cast their decision on the issue; a whopping 6,829 of them decided that Seren was no longer fit to lead. The city needed a simple majority to oust Seren three months before the end of his term in January.

    Josie Moore, a 2021 mayoral candidate that helped back Seren’s recall campaign, said she believes Cleveland Heights made the right decision.

    “The people of Cleveland Heights were clear: we could not afford to wait,” Moore told Scene. “We must now act to protect our city.”

    “This wasn’t about politics. It was about responsibility,” she added. “To our city employees, to our finances and to our future.”

    After the results are certified on September 26, Cleveland Heights’ first elected mayor will be forced to concede his seat to City Council President Tony Cuda, who will act as mayor until January 1.

    In early June, Moore and a handful of colleagues traversed Cleveland Heights with fellow supporters to try and validate a recall they all felt was long overdue. They collected 3,845 signatures—well over the 2,900 needed.

    Seren, they claimed, was unfit to lead. He and wife Natalie McDaniel had become embroiled in a series of scandals, including anti-semitic remarks, multiple instances of unprofessional behavior, allegations of wiretapping, and McDaniel’s indictment on trespassing charges.

    There was, Moore and others wrote in a letter this summer, “a pattern of leadership failures that place the city at risk.” Those that, they claimed, led to “extremely high” staff turnover, the resignation of three city administrators and a my-way-or-the-highway take on management that “fostered public alarm and distrust.”

    Seren’s successor will undeniably have to tackle issues of trust when they take the seat from Cuda in January.

    In Tuesday’s primary mayoral election, Jim Petras and Davida Russell, both on Cleveland Heights City Council, finished with roughly 28 percent of the vote each. The two will face off in a general election in November.

    Cleveland Heights City Hall has not released an official statement on the election results thus far, and did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.

    “We will not speculate about outcomes. We will await the Board of Elections’ official results and, as required, certification,” Seren wrote in a statement Tuesday afternoon.

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    Mark Oprea

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  • Amesbury mayor proposes Prop. 2 1/2 override

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    AMESBURY – Mayor Kassandra Gove on Tuesday announced she will be asking the City Council to consider approving a Proposition 2 ½ budget override question as part of the Nov. 4 city election this month.

    The proposal for the override question states “Shall the City of Amesbury be allowed to assess an additional $6 million in real estate and personal property taxes for the purposes of funding the operating budgets of the city and of the public schools for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2026?”


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    By Caitlin Dee | cdee@newburyportnews.com

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  • Elias: Lawsuit threatens California schools’ U.S. grants to help Latinos

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    As students last month headed back to school at California’s more than 200 college and university campuses, some had more reason than usual to be nervous. That’s because a federal program that — for a change — is not currently threatened with defunding by President Trump appears to be in trouble from a completely different source.

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    Thomas Elias

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  • Hasan Piker Will Never Run for Office

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    Are you gonna collaborate?

    Yeah.

    All right. What’s your favorite sandwich?

    That’s a tough one because I love all of them. I would say a New Jersey sub from this institution called Sorrento’s around Freehold. A Number 14, which is a combination, I believe, of like Number 7 and Number 12. [Eds. note: Sorrento’s menu says the Number 14 is a combo of a Number 5 and a Number 12 called the Pig Special.] So an Italian sub from a real New Jersey institution, and if not that, then a Wawa Club sandwich.

    I really appreciate how specific that was. Thank you. First video game you ever bought?

    I pirated a lot because I was in Turkey growing up, so it was virtually impossible for us to get like a lot of video games. As far as purchase, it could be Metal Gear Solid 2 for the PlayStation 2, or I guess a Pokémon game.

    So let’s rewind 34 years. You were born in New Jersey. You spent the majority of your childhood in Turkey.

    Yeah.

    You’ve talked before about that upbringing. You’ve characterized it as a very privileged one. How did that experience, now that you’re able to look back and reflect, affect your worldview? How does that turn you into the person that you are today?

    There’s massive income inequality in Turkey that almost resembles America now, but that’s still far worse in Turkey. For that reason, if you’re above board, if you’re relatively affluent, you come across as very wealthy in comparison to the average person.

    I’ve never sheltered people from that truth, but I did grow up fairly affluent. It was very positive in the sense that I didn’t have to worry about making ends meet or having to take on a job or anything like that. My parents’ main concern was to make sure that I wasn’t spoiled, so I didn’t get everything I wanted.

    Outside of that, I would say that as a young boy I was sent to public school in Turkey. I think it was a good thing that my parents did that because it made me understand that there were very different income brackets with people living in very different conditions.

    You moved to the United States for college, right? What was surprising to you about that transition?

    When I came to college, this is literally what I wanted. Other people were like, “I want to be an astronaut,” “I want to be a teacher,” “I want to be a race car driver.” I was like, “I want to go to college in America.”

    So I loved it. I was so stoked to be here, and I had all of these beliefs. You know, this is a land of freedom, land of prosperity, right?

    Right.

    This is where I’m gonna make a name for myself, make a career for myself.

    Slowly but surely, experiences growing up or going to college and then onwards living in America, slowly chipped away at that dream. Piece by piece.

    Yeah.

    It’s interesting because in comparison to other fresh-off-the-boat immigrant stories, I did it. I am living the American dream, but I just realized that it’s not something that is readily accessible for all.

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  • Trump says Democrats have ‘blood on their hands’ after deadly Charlotte train stabbing

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    President Donald Trump said that “blood is on the hands of the Democrats” after the brutal stabbing of a Ukrainian refugee in Charlotte, North Carolina, who was attacked and killed on a light rail train by a man with a lengthy criminal history last month. 

    Social media exploded over the weekend after surveillance footage, released by the Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS), showed 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska boarding a Lynx Blue line last month before a man pulled out a knife and began stabbing Zarutska three times, including at least once in the neck.

    “The blood of this innocent woman can literally be seen dripping from the killer’s knife, and now her blood is on the hands of the Democrats who refuse to put bad people in jail, including Former Disgraced Governor and ‘Wannabe Senator’ Roy Cooper,” Trump said on Truth Social. “North Carolina, and every State, needs LAW AND ORDER, and only Republicans will deliver it! Additionally, where is the outrage from the Mainstream Media on this horrible tragedy? VOTE FOR MICHAEL WHATLEY FOR UNITED STATES SENATE, HE WON’T LET THIS HAPPEN AGAIN!”

    GOFUNDME PULLS FUNDRAISERS FOR FELON ACCUSED OF KILLING COMMUTER IN RANDOM CHARLOTTE TRAIN ATTACK

    Suspect in the motion of stabbing the victim aboard the train next to a photo of President Donald Trump. (NewsNation via Charlotte Area Transit System; AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

    Earlier in the day, the White House posted  reaction from Trump on X.com, saying, “The perpetrator was a well known career criminal, who had been previously arrested and released on CASHLESS BAIL in January, a total of 14 TIMES. What the hell was he doing riding the train, and walking the streets? Criminals like this need to be LOCKED UP.”

    The suspect, identified as 34-year-old Decarlos Brown, was arrested shortly after the stabbing and hospitalized before being arrested on a charge of first-degree murder. Records obtained by The New York Post showed that Brown has a history of arrests going back more than a decade, including charges of felony larceny, robbery with a dangerous weapon and communicating threats. Police said Brown did not know Zarutska and the attack was random.

    By taking aim at the Democratic former Gov. Roy Cooper of North Carolina, Trump directly injected the tragedy into the center of the upcoming U.S. senate race in North Carolina, slated for next year. Cooper and Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley are the two major front-runners. 

    On Monday, the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) echoed Trump’s argument, insisting Cooper’s policies “kept violent criminals like this on the streets instead of in jail where they belong.”

    RNC Chair Michael Whatley announces his run for Senator for North Carolina on July 31st, 2025.

    RNC Chair Michael Whatley announces his run for Senator for North Carolina on July 31st, 2025.

    Meanwhile, Whatley said in a X post on Monday that “a vote for Roy Cooper is a vote for more crime, more violence, more criminals.”

    REPUBLICAN WANTS JUDGES HELD ACCOUNTABLE IF THEY RELEASE REPEAT VIOLENT CRIMINALS WHO STRIKE AGAIN

    He followed up later in the day after Trump’s Truth Social post, adding that the president was “spot on” with his assessment of Democrats. 

    “My far-left opponent Roy Cooper’s spineless, soft-on-crime policies have unleashed predators like Decarlos Brown Jr. and countless other violent thugs who unleash hell on innocent people because they know they’ll face no real justice,” Whatley said.

    A spokesperson for Cooper’s campaign, when reached for comment, accused Whately of “lying again” because “he knows his support for federal policies that cut local and state law enforcement funding is wrong for North Carolina.” 

    “This was a heartbreaking, despicable act of evil and Iryna Zarutska’s family and loved ones are in our prayers,” the spokesperson continued in a statement to Fox News Digital. “Roy Cooper knows North Carolinians need to be safe in their communities; he spent his career prosecuting violent criminals and drug dealers, increasing the penalties for violence against law enforcement, and keeping thousands of criminals off the streets and behind bars.” 

    North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper

    Former Democratic North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, who, last month, threw his hat in the ring for the U.S. Senate.

    North Carolina’s Gov. Josh Stein, a Democrat, was slammed over the weekend, when the video of the stabbing was first released, for not speaking out earlier. He ultimately commented on the matter Monday morning.

    “I am heartbroken for the family of Iryna Zarutska, who lost their loved one to this senseless act of violence, and I am appalled by the footage of her murder. We need more cops on the beat to keep people safe,” Stein posted on X. 

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    “That’s why my budget calls for more funding to hire more well-trained police officers. I call upon the legislature to pass my law enforcement recruitment and retention package to address vacancies in our state and local agencies so they can stop these horrific crimes and hold violent criminals accountable.”

    During a tour of the Museum of the Bible in the nation’s capital on Monday, Trump weighed in on the event once again after the video of the attack surfaced over the weekend.

    “We’re all people of religion, but there are evil people,” Trump said. “And we have to confront that.”

    Fox News’ Andrew Mark Miller and Stephen Sorace contributed to this report.

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  • Texas’s Gerrymander May Not Be the Worst Threat to Democrats in 2026

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    I think the upshot is that if the next wave of states goes as expected, the Republicans will build a modest advantage in the House of Representatives. I would say that the Democrats will have to win the popular vote by at least two or three points in order to be clearly favored to win the House, as opposed to today where if they win the popular vote, you should presume they’re likely to prevail.

    When you look at the total number of seats that a party has targeted, it does not necessarily mean they will win all of those seats. And because the Republicans are mostly on offense, that tends to mean that the Democrats have it a little bit easier than some of the reporting makes it sound. Texas is a great example.

    What do you mean by that?

    Republicans have targeted five seats, but two of those seats they’ve made a little bit redder but not so red that they’re no longer competitive. That is not to say that the Republicans haven’t hurt Democratic chances in those districts, but the maps aren’t quite as challenging for Democrats as it appears when you hear that the Republicans have “added five seats.”

    You said that, if these changes go through, the Democrats will need to win the House popular vote by a few points. I imagine you don’t consider that result unlikely given that it’s an off-year election with a Republican President.

    Yeah, I think that if Democrats fail to win the popular vote by two or three points next November, that would be surprising and very disappointing for the Party. It would be very hard for them to turn around and blame redistricting for their woes. Strictly speaking, that would be true. They could have won. But I think they would have reasonably expected given that it’s an off-year election and given that Donald Trump’s approval ratings are as bad as they are, that they should be positioned to do even better than that. Democrats are up about four points right now on generic-ballot polls. So, if the election were held today, the Democrats would still be considered a favorite.

    Do generic-ballot polls generally move toward or away from the incumbent party in the second year of off-year cycles?

    They tend to move toward the party out of power. But Donald Trump is already pretty unpopular. So that would give me at least a little bit of pause of whether the Democrats have as much room to improve their standing as, say, Republicans did in the summer of 2009 when Barack Obama’s approval ratings were still in the mid-fifties and there was still a whole nine months worth of fighting over the Affordable Care Act to come. But, generally speaking, as the President takes more actions, the public slowly becomes more inclined to vote for a check against him.

    There is a Voting Rights Act case that’s going to come before the Supreme Court next month. My understanding is that this could have even more of an effect on the House than the redistricting wars that have taken place these last few months. Is that your understanding, too?

    That is absolutely correct. The Voting Rights Act case could potentially put in peril just as many seats or more across the South where the Republicans have full control of the redistricting process and the only reason that Democrats have seats at all is because those seats are protected under the Voting Rights Act. If you add another eight seats to the Republican tally in the South—and it’s worth noting that those will be safely Republican seats, not seats that are potentially competitive—then we’re talking about the Democrats needing to win the popular vote by five or six points. And that’s the point where there’s a real chance that the Democrats could claim a pretty decisive electoral victory and yet fail to retake the House, or only barely retake it.

    At issue in this case is whether the Voting Rights Act requires states to draw so-called minority-majority districts where there’s a racially polarized voting pattern and where a minority group exists in a compact place. So, in a place like Tennessee, for instance, the only Democratic seat is the one based in Memphis, where there’s a large Black population and where there’s a high amount of racially polarized voting. If the Tennessee state legislature had the freedom to do so, they could easily split Memphis up into a number of Republican-leaning districts, just like they have in Nashville. But they cannot do so, because of the Voting Rights Act.

    Why are they able to do it in Nashville?

    The Black population is smaller. If the Court does what Democrats fear, the amount of representation for Black voters in the Deep South would plunge and the Republicans would obtain a much more sizable structural advantage in the House of Representatives.

    Let’s turn to Trump. In the 2024 election, Trump showed political strength that he did not show in 2020, and certainly not in 2016. He had more support among nonwhite groups, and his control of the Party seemed more complete. But looking at his approval rating, which the Times currently has at forty-three per cent, it seems that we are back in the situation that we were in for much of his first term. Is that your sense, too?

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    Isaac Chotiner

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  • Mamdani slammed for using kids in campaign videos after gloating about social media-free childhood

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    Zohran Mamdani is taking heat for using school kids in his online campaign ads even after noting how “fortunate” he was to enjoy a childhood free of social media.

    The 33-year-old New York City mayoral candidate, who has built his brand on viral content, was criticized by Instagram followers after he featured interviews with two kids promoting his bid for City Hall. 

    The criticism also came as New York City launched a statewide classroom cellphone ban aimed at protecting student mental health, and ahead of the mayoral election. On Thursday, Mamdani appeared outside I.S. 5 in Queens, praising the new cellphone ban while welcoming families back for the first day of the school year. 

    On Instagram, he also shared a post and contrasted his own childhood with today’s digital reality, writing:

    EX-MAYOR DE BLASIO TOUTS SOCIALIST MAMDANI AS NEW YORK CITY’S ANSWER TO TRUMP POLICIES

    The 33-year-old mayoral candidate posted videos of kids endorsing him after praising his social media-free childhood. (Zohran Kwame Mamdani)

    “I consider myself fortunate—when I was a student, it was before social media had cannibalized the way that kids interact with one another,” he wrote. The post was paired with a back-to-school message about “hope and new beginnings.”

    But just days later, Mamdani’s campaign accounts featured the two young kids speaking directly to Mamdani and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. 

    MAMDANI APPEALS TO NON-DEMOCRATS WITH GENERAL ELECTION PUSH, VOWS GOVERNMENT CAN MEET VOTERS’ ‘MATERIAL NEEDS’

    Mamdani speaking with a little girl

    Zohran Mamdani featured young children endorsing his bid just days after welcoming families back to school. (Zohran Kwame Mamdani)

    In one clip, a girl confidently endorsed him; in another, a boy offered support while Warren sat nearby.

    “How old is she? So articulate, but she’s so tiny,” one follower said about the little girl.

    Critics wondered why Mamdani was using children in his social media ads even as he decried the effects of cellphones and social media on children.

    “Why are you using kids to promote your political agenda?” complained another follower commenting on the post featuring the boy’s interview.

    One critic wrote: “He can express his personal opinion and promote whomever he wants, using the kids to do it is unacceptable.” 

    Mamdani smiling in an ad

    Mamdani was criticized by Instagram followers after he featured interviews with two kids promoting his bid for City Hall.  (Zohran Kwame Mamdani)

    Mamdani’s posts featuring the two children also came days before New York Governor Kathy Hochul defended the new cellphone restrictions, arguing they will reduce distractions, improve mental health and even protect children during emergencies by preventing location-sharing. 

    Hochul discussed the state’s ban on cellphone use in public schools on “Fox News Sunday.”

    The new law prohibits smartphones and smartwatches during school hours, except for medical or educational use.

    CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

    Mamdani, who unseated a longtime incumbent in the Democratic primary, is campaigning on sweeping progressive promises, from a $30 minimum wage to a rent freeze. 

    Fox News Digital reached out to Mamdani for comment.

    Emma Bussey is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital. Before joining Fox, she worked at The Telegraph with the U.S. overnight team, across desks including foreign, politics, news, sport and culture. 

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  • Sanders and Mamdani energize supporters at town hall as NYC mayor’s race enters final stretch

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    NEW YORK — U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and Zohran Mamdani rallied supporters at a town hall in Brooklyn on Saturday, slamming President Donald Trump and boosting their shared progressive message as Mamdani works to energize his base in the final weeks of the New York City mayor’s race.

    The crowd was friendly, and the reception was almost entirely warm.

    The idea of health care as a human right? Cheers. The mere mention of Trump? Heavy boos. The notion of an oligarchy? Even more boos. At one point, the crowd chanted the campaign slogans that helped Mamdani win the Democratic nomination in the race.

    “We will freeze the?” Mamdani asked. The booming response: “Rent!”

    “Make buses fast and?,” he continued.

    “Free!,” the audience yelled.

    The town hall — part of Sanders’ “Fighting Oligarchy” tour, which has drawn massive crowds in red and blue states alike — packed an auditorium in Brooklyn as Mamdani’s campaign barrels toward the November election.

    He is facing off against former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, who are both running as independents, along with Republican Curtis Sliwa, the founder of the Guardian Angels crime patrol group.

    Sanders, an independent who represents Vermont, dubbed Mamdani “the future of the Democratic Party,” while criticizing the state’s top Democratic leaders for not endorsing him.

    “I find it hard to understand how the major Democratic leaders in New York state are not supporting the Democratic candidate,” Sanders said.

    The event, which felt more rah-rah lovefest than the usual caustic questioning of most political town halls, came near the end of a chaotic week in the race.

    Adams has spent the last few days fending off reports that Trump intermediaries have been assessing his willingness to drop out of the contest to take a job with the federal government.

    At the same time, Trump has told reporters he doesn’t want Mamdani, a democratic socialist, to be the city’s next mayor but believes he will win unless two of the three other major candidates exit the race. Trump has also said he thinks Cuomo might be able to win in a one-on-one race, adding, “If you have more than one candidate running against (Mamdani), it can’t be won.”

    Edward Donlon, a 75-year-old Mamdani supporter who trekked from Staten Island to Brooklyn on a rainy day for the town hall, said it would be “outrageous” for the president to get involved in the race.

    “I want to have an honest politician,” said Donlon, a retired attorney. “I’d like to have someone who you can believe what they’re saying.”

    Through the town hall, Mamdani and Sanders, an independent who represents Vermont, fielded mostly friendly questions, though there was one raucous moment where a man was removed by security.

    Just a few minutes into Mamdani’s opening remarks, a man with a shirt that read Cuba and had a Cuban flag approached the stage and began to yell, saying you are a Communist.

    “You know that something has changed when it’s not enough to call us democratic socialists anymore,” Mamdani said as the man was removed by security.

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  • California woman facing felony charges for registering her dog to vote, casting 2 ballots

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    A California woman illegally registered her dog to vote and cast two ballots under the canine’s name, according to officials.

    Laura Lee Yourex, 62, of Costa Mesa, faces five felony charges, including perjury, procuring or offering a false or forged document to be filed, casting a ballot when not entitled to vote and registering a non-existent person to vote, according to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.

    Yourex submitted mail-in ballots under her dog’s name, Maya Jean Yourex, during the 2021 gubernatorial recall election and the 2022 primary, the District Attorney’s Office said.

    NONCITIZEN ILLEGALLY VOTED IN SWING STATE’S 2024 ELECTION, AUTHORITIES SAY

    A California woman illegally registered her dog to vote and cast two ballots under the canine’s name. (PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)

    The recall ballot was counted, but the primary ballot was rejected.

    The woman reported herself in October of last year to the Orange County Registrar of Voter’s Office, which reported her to the District Attorney’s Office.

    An investigation into the incident revealed she posted about her dog’s voting activity on social media.

    In January 2022, Yourex posted a photo of her dog wearing an “I Voted” sticker and posing with the ballot.

    Ballots at a voting center

    Laura Lee Yourex, 62, is facing five felony charges. (AP)

    In October of last year, she posted a photo of the dog’s collar and a mail-in ballot addressed to the animal, saying that Maya still received the ballot despite passing away.

    “Maya is still getting her ballot,” Yourex wrote.

    Yourex faces a maximum sentence of six years in prison if convicted on all counts.

    TWO MEN CONVICTED IN PENNSYLVANIA MAYORAL RACE ELECTION FRAUD CASE HIT WITH HARSHER SENTENCES THAN EXPECTED

    Absentee envelopes

    The woman posted about her dog’s voting activity on social media. (Getty Images)

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    The District Attorney’s Office did not reveal how Yourex cast the fraudulent votes or which party received the dog’s votes.

    To register to vote in California, an eligible voter must fill out a form with identifiable information, political preference and affirm their citizenship under the penalty of perjury.

    Proof of residence or identification is not required for citizens to register to vote or cast a ballot in state elections, but proof of residence and registration is needed for first-time voters to cast a ballot in a federal election.

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  • Trump endorses Hinson in 2026 race to keep key Senate seat red

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    President Donald Trump on Friday endorsed Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson as she runs to succeed retiring GOP Sen. Joni Ernst in Iowa.

    Hinson — a former TV news anchor who is in her third term representing Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District, which covers the northeastern portion of the state — showcased her support for Trump as she launched her Senate campaign on Tuesday.

    “I’m running to be President Trump’s top ally in the United States Senate,” she said. And in a Fox News Digital interview this week, Hinson highlighted that she’s “proud to stand” with Trump.

    Trump, in a social media post, said, “I know Ashley well, and she is a WINNER!” 

    HINSON LAUNCHES SENATE BID IN RACE TO SUCCEED IOWA’S ERNST

    Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson of Iowa, who is running in the 2026 race to succeed retiring GOP Sen. Joni Ernst, sits for a Fox News Digital interview on Sept. 4, 2025 in Washington D.C. (Paul Steinhauser – Fox News )

    “I know Ashley well, and she is a WINNER! A Loving Wife and Proud Mother of two sons, Ashley is a wonderful person, has ALWAYS delivered for Iowa, and will continue doing so in the United States Senate,” the president said. 

    “Ashley Hinson will be an outstanding Senator, and has my Complete and Total Endorsement – SHE WILL NOT LET YOU DOWN!”

    Trump’s support followed earlier endorsements from Senate Majority Leader Sen. John Thune and the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), which is the Senate GOP’s campaign arm.

    “We need conservative fighters in the Senate — and that’s exactly what we’ll get with Ashley Hinson,” Thune wrote early Friday as he endorsed Hinson.

    And NRSC chair Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina said, “Having traveled Iowa with Ashley, I know she is the fighter the Hawkeye State needs to deliver President Trump’s agenda in 2026 and beyond.”

    Hinson doesn’t have the GOP primary field to herself. Former state Sen. Jim Carlin and veteran Joshua Smith had already entered the primary ahead of Ernst’s announcement.

    But the support from Trump, Thune, and the NRSC will further boost Hinson, who was already considered the frontrunner for the nomination, and will likely dissuade any others from entering the primary. The president’s clout over the GOP is immense, and his endorsement in a Republican primary is extremely influential.

    Hinson’s campaign launch came a few hours after Ernst, in a social media video, officially announced that she wouldn’t seek re-election in next year’s midterms.

    “After a tremendous amount of prayer and reflection, I will not be seeking re-election in 2026,” the 55-year-old Ernst, who was first elected to the Senate in 2014, said in a video posted to social media.

    TRUMP NOT ON BALLOT BUT FRONT-AND-CENTER IN 2025 ELECTIONS

    Ernst, a retired Army Reserve and Iowa National Guard officer who served in the Iraq War, had been wrestling for months over whether to run for re-election in 2026. And in her video, she said, “This was no easy decision.”

    Ernst first grabbed national attention 11 years ago with her “make ’em squeal” ads as she won the high-profile Senate election in Iowa in the race to succeed retiring longtime Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin.

    And Ernst highlighted in her video that “11 years ago, Iowans elected me as the first female combat veteran to the U.S. Senate, and they did so with a mission in mind – to make Washington squeal. And I’m proud to say we have delivered. We’ve cut waste, fraud, and abuse across the federal government.”

    Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa

    Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa announced on Tuesday that she wouldn’t seek re-election in the 2026 midterms. (Reuters)

    Hinson, in a social media post, thanked Ernst for her “incredible service to our state and nation” as well as for her friendship. “Iowa is better off thanks to your selfless service,” she said.

    In an Iowa radio interview on Tuesday, she said that among her priorities as she runs for the Senate are “secure borders, keeping men out of girls’ sports, cutting taxes for our working families, standing up for Iowa agriculture and helping our young Iowans who are trying to buy a house and start a family.”

    Hinson also pledged to campaign across all 99 of Iowa’s counties, starting with a kick-off event on Friday.

    And as she entered the race, Hinson was endorsed by Republican Sens. Jim Banks of Indiana, Katie Britt of Alabama, and Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma.

    House Majority Leader Rep. Steve Scalise, Majority Whip Rep. Tom Emmer, House Republican Leadership Chair Rep. Elise Stefanik and Iowa House Majority Leader Bobby Kaufmann also backed Hinson.

    Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) communications director Maeve Coyle, following Hinson’s announcement, argued that “Republicans failed to convince Joni Ernst to run for reelection, and now they may be stuck with Ashley Hinson, who has repeatedly voted to raise costs and make life harder for Iowans by voting to slash Medicaid, cheering on the chaotic tariffs that threaten Iowa’s economy, voting against measures to lower the cost of insulin, and threatening Social Security.”

    Responding, Hinson told Fox News Digital, “I think they’re misinformed at best.”

    And she charged that “when I hear the lies and the fearmongering coming out of the left, it’s to only cover up for the fact that they have no message and no real leader other than Bernie and AOC and now Mamdani in New York,” as she referred to Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani.

    “If that’s the direction they want to take our country, I think Iowans are going to reject that wholeheartedly,” she predicted.

    FOUR KEY SENATE SEATS THE GOP AIMS TO FLIP IN NEXT YEAR’S MIDTERM ELECTIONS

    Iowa was once a top battleground state that former President Barack Obama carried in his 2008 and 2012 White House victories. But the state has shifted to the right in recent election cycles, with President Donald Trump carrying the state by nine points in 2016, eight points in 2020, and by 13 points last November.

    Republicans currently hold both of the state’s U.S. Senate seats – Ernst and longtime Sen. Chuck Grassley – and all four of Iowa’s congressional districts, as well as all statewide offices except for state auditor, which is held by Democrat Rob Sand, who’s running for governor next year.

    But Democrats in Iowa are energized after flipping two GOP-held state Senate seats in special elections so far this year.

    Iowa's all GOP congressional delegation

    Iowa’s all-Republican congressional delegation teams up at Sen. Joni Ernst’s annual Roast and Ride fundraiser in Des Moines, Iowa on June 3, 2023. From left to right are Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Sen. Chuck Grassley, Ernst, Gov. Kim Reynolds, Rep. Ashley Hinson, Rep. Zach Nunn, and Rep. Randy Feenstra. (Rachel Mummey/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

    Five Democrats are already running for Senate in Iowa. The field includes state Rep. Josh Turek, a Paralympian wheelchair basketball player, state Sen. Zach Wahls, Knoxville Chamber of Commerce executive director Nathan Sage and Des Moines School Board Chair Jackie Norris.

    “An open seat in Iowa is just the latest example of Democrats expanding the senatorial map,” Lauren French, spokesperson for the Democrat-aligned Senate Majority PAC, said in a statement.

    But Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, the chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), said in a statement, “The NRSC is confident Iowans will elect a Republican to continue fighting for them and championing President Trump’s agenda in 2026.”

    SENATE DEMOCRATS RECRUITING TOP CANDIDATES IN PUSH TO WIN BACK MAJORITY

    Republicans are aiming to not only defend, but expand, the current 53-47 Senate majority in next year’s elections.

    Senate Republicans enjoyed a favorable map in the 2024 cycle as they flipped four seats from blue to red to win back the majority.

    But the party in power – the Republicans – traditionally faces political headwinds in the midterm elections. Nevertheless, a current read of the 2026 map indicates the GOP may be able to go on offense in some key states.

    In battleground Georgia, which Trump narrowly carried in last year’s White House race, Republicans view first-term Sen. Jon Ossoff as the most vulnerable Democrat incumbent up for re-election next year.

    They’re also targeting battleground Michigan, where Democratic Sen. Gary Peters is retiring at the end of next year, and swing state New Hampshire, where longtime Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen decided against seeking a fourth six-year term in the Senate.

    Also on the NRSC’s target list is blue-leaning Minnesota, where Democratic Sen. Tina Smith isn’t running for re-election.

    CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP 

    But the GOP is defending an open seat in battleground North Carolina, where Republican Sen. Thom Tills decided against seeking re-election. And Republicans will likely be forced to spend resources to defend Sen. Jon Husted of Ohio – who was appointed to succeed former senator and now-Vice President JD Vance – as he faces off next year against former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown.

    Meanwhile, Democrats are also targeting moderate Sen. Susan Collins – who has yet to announce her expected 2026 re-election — in blue-leaning Maine. 

    Paul Steinhauser is a politics reporter based in the swing state of New Hampshire. He covers the campaign trail from coast to coast.”

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  • Japan welcomes Trump’s order to implement lower tariffs on autos and other goods

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    TOKYO — Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba welcomed U.S. President Donald Trump’s signing of an order to implement lower tariffs on automobiles and other Japanese imports as a step that addressed uncertainty for key industries.

    The reduction to 15% from the previous 25% was agreed between the two sides on July 22.

    “Tariff negotiations between Japan and the United States was the top priority for the government and we have put all our effort into achieving an agreement in a best possible way as soon as possible,” Ishiba said Friday. “The way it was achieved … is just excellent.”

    The step on tariffs comes as the Japanese prime minister faces pressure from right-wing rivals within his party to resign over its July election loss.

    In Washington, Japan’s top tariff negotiator Ryosei Akazawa and his U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick also signed a joint statement, confirming a $550 billion Japanese investment in U.S. projects.

    Akazawa said Trump’s order brings down tariffs on automobiles and auto parts to 15% and that there will be no stacking on the existing rate, and so-called reciprocal tariffs on most other goods are also set at the same rate without stacking. He said aircraft and aircraft parts will be excluded from reciprocal tariffs.

    The two allies agreed on the deal in July but Japanese officials discovered days later the preliminary deal had added 15% on existing rates and objected. Washington acknowledged the mistake and agreed to fix and to refund any excess import duties paid.

    Akazawa said he expected the order to take effect within two weeks.

    Ishiba said Akazawa carried the prime minister’s letter to Trump, stating his wish to build “a golden era of Japan-U.S. relations” together, and inviting the president to visit Japan.

    He welcomed the deal as a result of his consistent push for investment instead of tariffs and stressed that “it is important to implement the agreement faithfully and promptly.”

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  • Trahan faces renewed criticism over term limit pledge

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    BOSTON — A Washington, D.C.-based watchdog group is renewing its criticism of U.S. Rep. Lori Trahan for reneging on a previous pledge to support term limits for congressional lawmakers.

    The group U.S. Term Limits has paid for a billboard ad along Interstate 93 in Methuen, criticizing the Westford Democrat for backing away from a proposal to amend the U.S. Constitution limiting House members to three terms, or six years, and senators to two terms, or 12 years.


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    By Christian M. Wade | Statehouse Reporter

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