FIRST ON FOX: Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, is formally introducing impeachment articles against U.S. District Judge James Boasberg on Tuesday for his role in the “Arctic Frost” probe.
Republican allies of President Donald Trump have been criticizing Boasberg after news broke that he was the judge who signed off on subpoenas and other measures in former Special Counsel Jack Smith’s probe.
“Chief Judge Boasberg has compromised the impartiality of the judiciary and created a constitutional crisis. He is shamelessly weaponizing his power against his political opponents, including Republican members of Congress who are faithfully serving the American people within their jurisdiction,” Gill told Fox News Digital.
“Judge Boasberg was an accomplice in the egregious Arctic Frost scandal where he equipped the Biden DOJ to spy on Republican senators. His lack of integrity makes him clearly unfit for the gavel. I am proud to once again introduce articles of impeachment against Judge Boasberg to hold him accountable for his high crimes and misdemeanors.”
Rep. Brandon Gill, left, is introducing impeachment articles against U.S. District Judge James Boasberg.(Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images; Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Gill’s resolution accused Boasberg of one count of abuse of power, according to text obtained first by Fox News Digital.
“Ignoring his responsibility to wield the power of his office in a constitutional manner, Chief Judge Boasberg granted Special Counsel John L. Smith authorization to issue frivolous nondisclosure orders in furtherance of the Federal Bureau of Investigation project codenamed ARCTIC FROST,” the text said.
“These nondisclosure orders covered Members of Congress who were acting in accord with their legislative duties and privileges guaranteed by Article 1, Section 6, Clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution.”
The redacted Arctic Frost documents were made public late last month by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa. They included subpoenas of phone records for 10 senators and one House lawmaker, and gag orders sent to Verizon and AT&T instructing them not to notify lawmakers of the subpoena. Verizon complied, but AT&T did not.
Both the subpoenas and gag orders were signed by Boasberg, according to the documents — a detail that prompted fresh criticism and indignation from Republicans, including Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who blasted the investigation as “worse than Watergate” and a gross violation of prosecutorial powers.
Jack Smith, former U.S. special counsel, speaks during a news conference in Washington, Aug. 1, 2023. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Under the Stored Communications Act, federal judges exercise discretion in signing off on such orders — they are not automatic. It is unclear what materials Boasberg would have reviewed in this particular case before authorizing the tolling records of the senators, as much of the information and materials in the probe remain classified or are heavily redacted.
Republicans named in the subpoenas have argued they are potential violations of the Speech and Debate Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which protects lawmakers from being arrested or questioned by law enforcement for things they say or do in their legislative roles.
Those protections are not absolute, however, and the clause remains the subject of ongoing, spirited debate over the separation of powers and what degree of protection members of Congress should enjoy from the other two branches of government.
The federal judge was the target of Republican impeachment threats earlier this year after he issued an order temporarily pausing Trump’s migrant deportation flights to El Salvador.
Gill and other GOP lawmakers pushing impeachment resolutions backed off of those threats after House Republican leaders suggested it was not the most potent route to affect change.
Elizabeth Elkind is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital leading coverage of the House of Representatives. Previous digital bylines seen at Daily Mail and CBS News.
Follow on Twitter at @liz_elkind and send tips to elizabeth.elkind@fox.com
Former Vice President Dick Cheney has died at the age of 84. CBS News chief Washington correspondent Major Garrett looks back on Cheney’s life and his view of President Trump.
NEW YORK — Voters were casting ballots in high-stakes elections on both coasts Tuesday, including for mayor of New York, new congressional maps in California and governor in both New Jersey and Virginia, states whose shifting electorates could signal the direction of the nation’s political winds.
For voters and political watchers alike, the races have taken on huge importance at a time of tense political division, when Democrats and Republicans are sharply divided over the direction of the nation. Despite President Trump not appearing on any ballots, some viewed Tuesday’s races as a referendum on him and his volatile second term in the White House.
In New York, self-described democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani, 34, was favored to win the mayoral race after winning the Democratic ranked-choice mayoral primary in June. Such a result would shake up the Democratic establishment and rile Republicans in near equal measure, serving as a rejection of both former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a more establishment Democrat and Mamdani’s leading opponent, and Trump, who has warned that a Mamdani win would destroy the city.
On election eve, Trump warned that a Mamdani win would disrupt the flow of federal dollars to the city and took the dramatic step of endorsing Cuomo over Curtis Sliwa, the Republican in the race.
“If Communist Candidate Zohran Mamdani wins the Election for Mayor of New York City, it is highly unlikely that I will be contributing Federal Funds, other than the very minimum as required, to my beloved first home, because of the fact that, as a Communist, this once great City has ZERO chance of success, or even survival!” Trump wrote Monday on his social media platform.
A vote for Sliwa “is a vote for Mamdani,” the president added. “Whether you personally like Andrew Cuomo or not, you really have no choice. You must vote for him, and hope he does a fantastic job. He is capable of it, Mamdani is not!”
Mamdani, a Ugandan-born naturalized U.S. citizen and New York state assemblyman who defeated Cuomo in the primary, has promised a brighter day for New Yorkers with better public transportation, more affordable housing and high-quality child care if he wins. He has slammed billionaires and some of the city’s monied interests, which have lined up against him, and rejected the “grave political darkness” that he said is threatening the country under Trump.
He also mocked Trump’s endorsement of Cuomo — calling the former governor Trump’s “puppet” and “parrot.”
Samantha Marrero, a 35-year-old lifelong New Yorker, lined up with more than a dozen people Tuesday morning at her polling site in Brooklyn’s Greenpoint neighborhood to cast her vote for Mamdani, whom she praised for embracing people of color, queer people and other communities marginalized by mainstream politicians.
Marrero said that she cares deeply about housing insecurity and affordability in the city, but that it was also “really meaningful to have someone who is brown and who looks like us and who eats like us and who lives more like us than anyone we’ve ever seen before” on the ballot. “That representation is really important.”
New York mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo speaks to reporters as he marks his ballot in New York on Nov. 4, 2025.
(Richard Drew / Associated Press)
And she said that’s a big part of why people across the country are watching the New York race.
“We’re definitely a beacon in this kind of fascist takeover that is very clearly happening across the country,” she said. “People in other states and other cities and other countries have their eyes on what’s happening here. Obviously Mamdani is doing something right. And together we can do something right. But it has to be together.”
Elsewhere on the East Coast, voters were electing governors in Virginia and New Jersey, races that have also drawn the president’s attention.
In the New Jersey race, Trump has backed the Republican candidate, former state Rep. Jack Ciattarelli, over the Democratic candidate, Rep. Mikie Sherrill, whom former President Obama recently stumped for. Long a blue state, New Jersey has been shifting to the right, and polls have shown a tight race.
In the Virginia race, former Rep. Abigail Spanberger, a 46-year-old former CIA officer, defeated Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, according to an Associated Press projection.
Trump had not endorsed Earle-Sears by name, but called on Virginians to “vote Republican” and to reject Democratic candidate Spanberger, whom Obama has also supported.
“Why would anyone vote for New Jersey and Virginia Gubernatorial Candidates, Mikie Sherrill and Abigail Spanberger, when they want transgender for everybody, men playing in women’s sports, High Crime, and the most expensive Energy prices almost anywhere in the World?” Trump recently wrote on his social media site, repeating some of his favorite partisan attacks on Democrats from the presidential campaign trail last year.
At a rally for Spanberger in Norfolk, Va., over the weekend, Obama put the race in equally stark terms: as part of a battle for American democracy.
“We don’t need to speculate about the dangers to our democracy. We don’t need to wonder about whether vulnerable people are going to be hurt, or ask ourselves how much more coarse and mean our culture can become. We’ve witnessed it. Elections do matter,” Obama said. “We all have more power than we think. We just have to use it.”
Voting was underway in the states, but with some disruptions. Bomb threats disrupted voting in parts of New Jersey early Tuesday, temporarily shutting down a string of polling locations across the state before law enforcement determined they were hoaxes.
In California, voters were being asked to change the state Constitution to allow Democrats to redraw congressional maps in their favor through 2030, in order to counter similar moves by Republicans in red states such as Texas.
Leading Democrats, including Obama and Gov. Gavin Newsom, have described the measure as an effort to safeguard American democracy against a power grab by Trump, who had encouraged the red states to act, while opponents of the measure have derided it as an antidemocratic power grab by state Democrats.
Trump has urged California voters against casting ballots by mail or voting early, arguing such practices are somehow “dishonest,” and on Tuesday morning suggested on his social media site that Proposition 50 was unconstitutional.
“The Unconstitutional Redistricting Vote in California is a GIANT SCAM in that the entire process, in particular the Voting itself, is RIGGED,” Trump wrote, without providing evidence of problems. “All ‘Mail-In’ Ballots, where the Republicans in that State are ‘Shut Out,’ is under very serious legal and criminal review. STAY TUNED!”
Both individually and collectively, the races are being closely watched as potential indicators of political sentiment and enthusiasm going into next year’s midterm elections, and of Democrats’ ability to get voters back to the polls after Trump’s decisive win over former Vice President Kamala Harris last year.
Voters too saw the races as having particularly large stakes at a pivotal moment for the country.
Michelle Kim, 32, who has lived in the Greenpoint neighborhood for three years, stood in line at a polling site early Tuesday morning, waiting to cast her vote for Mamdani.
Kim said she cares about transportation, land use and the rising cost of living in New York and appreciated Mamdani’s broader message that solutions are possible, even if not guaranteed.
“My hope is not, like, ‘Oh, he’s gonna solve, like, all of our issues,’” she said. “But I think for him to be able to represent people and give hope, that’s also part of it.”
Lin reported from New York and Rector from San Francisco. Times staff writer Jenny Jarvie in Atlanta contributed to this report.
Nick Fuentes, a white nationalist known for his deeply antisemitic, racist, and misogynist worldview, just might be tearing the Republican party apart.
The schism was triggered last Tuesday when former Fox News host Tucker Carlson released an in-depth interview with Fuentes, the leader of the so-called America First movement who has denied the Holocaust, praised Hitler, and shared deeply misogynistic views.
During the interview, Fuentes waxed antisemitic about the threat apparently posed by “organized Jewry” in America, while Carlson slammed figures like Senator Ted Cruz and former president George W. Bush as being “Christian Zionists” who have been ”seized by this brain virus.” Carlson was criticized by, among others, US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee for giving Fuentes a platform, and the argument kicked into overdrive after Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation, a high-profile conservative think tank, condemned those attacking Carlson as a “venomous coalition.”
“Tucker Carlson remains and always will be a close friend of the Heritage Foundation,” Roberts said in a video posted to X on Thursday.
Roberts’ comments, which were viewed by many as a tacit approval of Fuentes’ antisemitic worldview, triggered a massive split on the right, with everyone from prominent podcasters and influencers to senators and other lawmakers weighing in to attack or defend Roberts and Carlson.
The debate continued to rage over the weekend as many claimed the situation was a reflection of a broader concern about a perceived rise in antisemitism within the MAGA movement.
“In the last six months, I’ve seen more antisemitism on the right than I have in my entire life,” Cruz told the Republican Jewish Coalition conference in Las Vegas last Thursday, hours after Roberts’ video was released. “If you sit there with someone who says Adolf Hitler was very, very cool and that their mission is to combat and defeat global Jewry, and you say nothing, then you’re a coward and you are complicit in that evil.”
Senator Mitch McConnell, quoting Roberts’ video, wrote on X that conservatives are not obliged “to carry water for antisemites and apologists for America-hating autocrats.”
“My mother was a Heritage board member for 40 years,” John Podhoretz, a conservative political commentator, wrote on X, quoting Roberts’ post. “You have befouled her, you rancid wretch of an amoeba.” Podhoretz deleted the post on Monday.
A number of prominent Republicans, however, came out in support of Roberts.
Republicans are blasting New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani for getting help from a foreign government official in the waning days of his campaign.
Jeremy Corbyn, the controversial former Labour Party leader who still holds a seat in the British Parliament, joined the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) for a phone-banking event on Mamdani’s behalf on Sunday night.
While it does not run afoul of any U.S. election laws, the move has raised eyebrows among Mamdani’s critics — particularly given the far-left platform Corbyn supports in the U.K.
“I’m honestly not surprised to see a foreign socialist engaging in get-out-the-vote efforts for an American socialist,” said House Committee on Administration Chairman Bryan Steil, R-Wis., whose panel has jurisdiction over U.S. election law.
Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani speaks during a mayoral debate in New York, Oct. 16, 2025.(Angelina Katsanis, Pool/AP Photo)
“Zohran Mamdani’s candidacy, from his support for government-owned grocery stores to his anti-law enforcement record, is a textbook case of why American families are leaving the Democrat Party behind,” he said.
Steil is also working on legislation to address foreign interference in U.S. elections, an issue he’s sought to address in previous congresses as well.
Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., who represents part of upstate New York, said Corbyn’s involvement “raises serious concerns about foreign election interference in our elections.”
“New Yorkers, not a disgraced British politician, should decide their own leaders,” Tenney told Fox News Digital.
Meanwhile, Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., the lone House Republican representing part of New York City, accused Mamdani of “getting support from left-wing politicians from foreign countries, even after getting caught receiving thousands of dollars in illegal foreign donations.”
“Everything about this guy is shady and voters must stop him at the ballot box,” she said.
Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn addresses a protest at the Village Hotel where workers strike on Aug. 22, 2025, in Glasgow, Scotland. (Jeff J. Mitchell/Getty Images)
Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, hit out at Corbyn’s own record at home in the U.K., telling Fox News Digital, “Jeremy Corbyn should focus on the Islamic terrorism he imported into his own country before weighing in on politics here.”
And Rep. Randy Fine, R-Fla., who previously called for Mamdani to be denaturalized and deported, said it was a party-wide controversy for Democrats.
“Of course it is,” he said when asked if he believed Corbyn campaigning for the New York socialist was improper. “But Democrats have shown a willingness to do this in the past.”
He pointed to past reports that alleged the former Obama administration tried to tip the scales against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“This is what the radical left does in order to advance their goals,” Fine said.
However, Corbyn is not the first British politician campaigning for U.S. causes. U.K. Independence Party founder Nigel Farage has spoken at rallies for President Donald Trump on multiple occasions and has appeared alongside other GOP figures in the U.S.
Corbyn has been a controversial figure in British politics, facing antisemitism accusations on multiple occasions — which also got him banned from running under the Labour Party banner several years back.
Mamdani has also been accused by leading Jewish figures in New York of taking too harsh a stance on Israel and not doing enough to make Jewish city residents feel safe amid rising antisemitism in the U.S.
The Democratic Party candidate has pledged to be a mayor for all New Yorkers if elected.
New York City residents head to the polls Tuesday.
Elizabeth Elkind is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital leading coverage of the House of Representatives. Previous digital bylines seen at Daily Mail and CBS News.
Follow on Twitter at @liz_elkind and send tips to elizabeth.elkind@fox.com
The White House has not yet reacted to news of former Vice President Dick Cheney’s death at the age of 84. During the 2024 Election, Cheney decried Mr. Trump’s presidential run and said he would vote for former Vice President Kamala Harris, a Democrat. CBS News’ Nancy Cordes reports, and presidential historian Lindsay Chervinsky joins with more on Cheney’s legacy.
How Republicans and Democrats define Dick Cheney’s politics and his legacy – CBS News
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Republicans and Democrats are reacting to news of former Vice President Dick Cheney’s death at the age of 84. Political strategists Joel Payne and Terry Sullivan join CBS News with more on Dick Cheney’s impact.
Former Vice President Dick Cheney died at 84 surrounded by his family following complications from pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease.
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Former Vice President Dick Cheney, who served under President George W. Bush during the 9/11 attacks and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, has died at 84, his family announced Tuesday.
The former vice president died due to complications of pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease, his family said.
“For decades, Dick Cheney served our nation, including as White House Chief of Staff, Wyoming’s Congressman, Secretary of Defense, and Vice President of the United States,” a family statement reads.
Vice President Dick Cheney in his West Wing office at the White House, Jan. 25, 2007, in Washington, D.C.(Charles Ommanney/Getty Images)
“Dick Cheney was a great and good man who taught his children and grandchildren to love our country, and to live lives of courage, honor, love, kindness and fly-fishing. We are grateful beyond measure for all Dick Cheney did for our country. And we are blessed beyond measure to have loved and been loved by this noble giant of a man.”
He had a long history of cardiac problems, including five heart attacks. He received a heart transplant on March 24, 2012, at a Virginia hospital after nearly 21 months on a waiting list.
Cheney, who served as vice president for two terms under President George W. Bush, was one of the most powerful and controversial men ever to hold that position. He was a driving force behind America’s “war on terror,” including the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and also known for his penchant for secrecy. A hero to hawkish conservatives, he was a villain to liberals and Democrats. Hillary Clinton once compared him to Darth Vader.
A son of the American West, Cheney went from the plains of Casper, Wyoming, to a decades-long public career as a Republican congressman, defense secretary, White House chief of staff and one of the most powerful American vice presidents ever.
FILE – Vice President Dick Cheney makes remarks to 4,000 Army soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division returning from duty in Iraq during a “Welcome Home Rally,” Oct. 16, 2006, at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.(TIM SLOAN/AFP via Getty Images)
In the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks, he never expressed doubt about his support for indefinite detention for alleged terrorist prisoners or even about waterboarding.
“I feel very good about what we did,” he told Fox News in 2008. “If I was faced with those circumstances again, I’d do exactly the same thing.”
In May 2011, after the death of Osama Bin Laden, Cheney called it a “very good day” for the U.S. but warned the country was “still at war” with terrorists and should not “let down our vigilance.”
After the election of Democratic President Barack Obama in 2008, Cheney, still a face of his party, became one of the new president’s most prominent critics, attacking his foreign policy and accusing him of being soft on terrorism. In addition to his decades-long political career, Cheney also worked in the oil industry as chairman and chief executive officer of the Halliburton Company, from 1995 until he returned to politics in 2000.
In 1968, he moved to Washington as a congressional fellow and in 1969 became a staff assistant in the Richard Nixon administration.
FILE – Former President George W. Bush, right, shakes hands with former Vice President Dick Cheney after Cheney introduced Bush during the groundbreaking ceremony for the President George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas, Tuesday, Nov. 16, 2010. (AP Photo/LM Otero, file)
From 1975–77, he was chief of staff for Nixon’s successor, Gerald Ford. In 1978 he was elected to the House of Representatives from Wyoming and served six two-year terms, rising to become minority whip. Cheney was popular in Congress, noted for his integrity and civility.
He next became Secretary of Defense under President George H. W. Bush, with the Senate confirming him unanimously, from 1989–93.
After Bush failed to win re-election, Cheney went to the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank, and then to Halliburton.
FILE – Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney, left, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Gen. Colin Powell, huddle prior to testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Thursday, Feb. 21, 1991 on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/John Duricka, file)
He was elected vice president in 2000 and 2004 on the ticket with George W. Bush and flourished as one of Bush’s inner circle of advisers on defense and foreign policy.
He also actively promoted expanding the powers of the presidency. In August 2011, he released a memoir, “In My Time.”
He was born on Jan. 30, 1941, in Lincoln, Nebraska, and grew up in Casper, Wyoming, where he captained his high school football team and married his high school sweetheart, Lynne Vincent, in 1964.
He is survived by Lynne Vincent, two daughters, Elizabeth and Mary, and seven grandchildren.
Michael Dorgan is a writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business.
You can send tips to michael.dorgan@fox.com and follow him on Twitter @M_Dorgan.
South Asians have played a prominent role in President Trump’s universe, especially in his second term.
Second Lady Usha Vance is the daughter of Indian immigrants who came to California to study and never went back. Harmeet Dhillon, born in India and a devout Sikh, is currently his U.S. assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division. And the head of the FBI, Kash Patel, is (like potential New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani,) of Indian descent by way of Uganda.
Some Republicans have taken pride in this kind of diversity, citing it for the gains Trump made in 2024 with Black and Latino voters.
But these days, the MAGA big tent seems to be collapsing fast.
Last week, MAGA had a total anti-Indian meltdown on social media, revealing a deep, ugly racism toward South Asians.
It comes amid the first real rebellion about rampant and increasingly open antisemitism within the MAGAverse, creating a massive rift between traditional conservatives and a younger, rabidly anti-Jewish contingent called groypers whose leader, Nick Fuentes, recently posted that he is “team Hitler.”
Turns out, when you cultivate a political movement based on hate, at some point the hate is uncontrollable. In fact, that hate needs to be fed to maintain power — even if it means feasting on its own.
This monster of white-might ugliness is going to dominate policy and politics for the next election, and these now-public fights within the Republican party represent a new dynamic that will either force it to do some sort of soul searching, or purge it of anything but white Christian nationalism. My bet is on the latter. But if conservatives ever truly believed in their inclusive talk, then it’s time for Republicans to stand up and demand the big Trump tent they were hailing just a few months ago.
Ultra-conservative commentator Ben Shapiro, who opposes much of Fuentes’ worldview, summed up this Republican split succinctly.
Fuentes’ followers “are white supremacists, hate women, Jews, Hindus, many types of Christians, brown people of a wide variety of backgrounds, Blacks, America’s foreign policy and America’s constitution,” Shapiro explained. “They admire Hitler and Stalin and that splinter faction is now being facilitated and normalized within the mainstream Republican Party.”
MAGA’s anti-Indian sentiment had an explosive moment a few days ago when a South Asian woman asked Vice President JD Vance a series of questions during a Turning Point USA event in Mississippi. The young immigrant wanted to know how Vance could preach for the removal of nearly 18 million immigrants? And how could he claim that the United States was a Christian nation, rather than one that valued pluralism?
“How can you stop us and tell us we don’t belong here anymore?” the woman asked. “Why do I have to be a Christian?”
Vance’s answer went viral, in part because he claimed his wife, although from a Hindu family, was “agnostic or atheist,” and that he hoped she would convert to Christianity.
“Do I hope eventually that she is somehow moved by the same thing that I was moved in by church? Yeah, I honestly do wish that,” he said.
Vance later tried to do some damage control on social media, calling Usha Vance a “blessing” and promising to continue to “support her and talk to her about faith and life and everything else, because she’s my wife.”
But many South Asians felt Vance was dissing his wife’s heritage and attempting to downplay her non-whiteness. They vented on social media, and got a lot of MAGA feelings back.
“How can you pretend to be a white nativist politician who will ‘bring america back to it’s golden age’ … when your wife is an indian immigrant?” wrote one poster.
Dhillon received similar feedback recently for urging calm and fairness after a Sikh truck driver allegedly caused a fatal crash.
“[N]o ma’am, it is CRYSTAL CLEAR that sihks and hindus need to get the hell out of my country,” one reply stated. “You and your kind are no longer welcome here. Go the [expletive] home.”
Patel too, got it, after posting a message on Diwali, a religious holiday that celebrates the victory of light over darkness. He was dubbed a demon worshipper, a favorite anti-Indian trope.
Perhaps you’re thinking, “Duh, of course MAGA is racist.” But here’s the thing. The military has been scrubbed of many Black officers. The federal workforce, long a bastion for middle-class people of color, has been decimated. Minority cabinet members or top officials are few. Aside from another South Asian, Tulsi Gabbard, there’s Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Labor Secretary Lori Chavez‑DeRemer and HUD head Scott Turner.
South Asians are largely the last visible sign of pluralism in Republican power, an erstwhile proof that the charges of racism from the left are unfair. But now, like Latinos, they are increasingly targets of the base.
At the same time anti-Indian hate was surfacing last week, a whole load of MAGA antisemitism hit the fan. It started when Tucker Carlson, who in his post-network life has re-created himself as a hugely popular podcaster with more than 16 million followers on X, invited Fuentes on his show.
In addition to calling for the death of American Jews, Fuentes has also said women want him to rape them and should be burned alive, Black people belong in prison and LGBTQ+ people are an abomination.
Anyone who is not his kind of Christian “must be absolutely annihilated when we take power,” he said.
Turns out far-right Charlie Kirk was a bulwark against this straight-up American Nazi. Kirk’s popularity kept Fuentes — who often trolled Kirk — from achieving dominance as the spirit guide of young MAGA. Now, with Kirk slain, nothing appears to be stopping Fuentes from taking up that mantle.
After the Fuentes interview, sane conservatives (there are some left) were apoplectic that Carlson would support someone who so openly admits to being anti-Israel and seemingly pro-Nazi. They demanded the Heritage Foundation, historical backbone of the conservative movement, creators of Project 2025 and close allies of Tucker, do something. The head of Heritage, Kevin Roberts, offered what many considered a sorry-not-sorry. He condemned Fuentes, saying he was “fomenting Jew hatred, and his incitements are not only immoral and un-Christian, they risk violence.”
But also counseled that Fuentes shouldn’t be banished from the party.
“Join us — not to cancel — but to guide, challenge, and strengthen the conversation,” Roberts said.
Are Nazis really all bad? Discuss!
The response from ethical conservatives — Jewish and non-Jewish alike — has been that you don’t politely hear Nazis out, and if the Republican Party can’t clearly say that Nazis aren’t welcome, it’s got a problem.
Yes, the Republican Party has a problem.
The right rode to power by attacking what it denigrates at “wokeism” on the left. MAGA declared that to confront fascism or racism or misogyny — to tell its purveyors to sit down and shut up — was wrong. That “canceling,” or banishment from common discourse for spewing hate, was somehow an infringement on 1st Amendment rights or even terrorism.
They screamed loud and clear that speaking out against intolerance was the worst, most unacceptable form of intolerance itself — and would not be tolerated.
You know who heard them loud and clear? Fuentes. He has checkmated establishment Republicans with their own cowardice and hypocrisy.
So now his young Christian white supremacists are empowered, and intent on taking over as the leaders of the party. Fuentes is saying what old guard Republicans don’t want to hear, but secretly fear: He already is dangerously close to being the mainstream; just read the comments.
Roberts, the Heritage president, said it himself: “Diversity will never be our strength. Unity is our strength, and a lack of unity is a sign of weakness.”
Trying to shut Fuentes up or kick him out will likely anger that vocal and powerful part of the base that enjoys the freedom to be openly hateful, and really wouldn’t mind a male-dominated white Christian autocracy.
So now this remaining vestige of traditional conservatives — including senators such as Ted Cruz and Mitch McConnell — is faced with a painful reckoning. Many mainstream Republicans for years ignored the racism and antisemitism creeping into the party. They can’t anymore. It has grown into a beast ready to consume its maker.
Will they let this takeover happen, call for conversation over condemnation to the glee of Fuentes and his followers?
Or will they find the courage to be not just true Republicans, but true Americans, and declare non-negotiable for their party that most basic of American ideals: We do not tolerate hate?
California Democrats’ effort to block President Trump’s agenda by increasing their party’s numbers in Congress was overwhelmingly approved by voters on Tuesday.
The Associated Press called the victory moments after the polls closed Tuesday night.
The statewide ballot measure will reconfigure California’s congressional districts to favor more Democratic candidates. The Democratic-led California Legislature placed the measure on the Nov. 4 ballot, at Gov. Gavin Newsom’s behest, after Trump urged Texas and other GOP-led states to modify their congressional maps to favor their party members, a move designed to keep the U.S. House of Representatives in Republican control during his final two years in office.
Newsom watched the election results from across the country come in from the historic Victorian-style governor’s mansion in Sacramento with First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom and his political team, his office said.
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, the chair of the Democratic Governors Assn., said they were thrilled by the passage of Proposition 50.
“This is a clear victory for Americans who believe we should have fair elections and a major rejection of Donald Trump’s dangerous attempt to rig the midterms,” Kelly said in a statement.
Charles Munger Jr., the chief donor to the anti-Proposition 50 efforts, pledged to continue his work promoting independent redistricting, while lamenting the ballot measure’s success.
“For what looms for the people of California, I am saddened by the passage of Proposition 50,” he said. “But I am content in this, at least: that our campaign educated the people of California so they could make an informed, if in my view unwise, decision about such a technical but critical issue as redistricting reform, a decision forced to be made over such a very short time.”
Proposition 50 was the sole item on the statewide, special election ballot Tuesday. Supporters hope the ballot measure has become a referendum about Trump, who remains extremely unpopular in California, while opponents call Proposition 50 an underhanded power grab by Democrats.
Supporters of the proposal had the edge going into election day. They vastly outraised their rivals, and Proposition 50 led in recent polls.
Elections took place across the nation Tuesday, with Democrats claiming major victories including in the Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial contests, the New York City mayoral race and Proposition 50.
Supporters celebrate during the election night watch party for Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger.
(Alex Wong / Getty Images)
California voters had been inundated with television ads, mailers and social media posts for weeks about the high-stakes election, so much so that only 2% of the likely voters were undecided, according to a recent UC Berkeley poll co-sponsored by The Times.
“Usually there was always a rule — look at undecideds in late-breaking polls and assume most would vote no,” said Mark DiCamillo, director of the survey by UC Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies. “But this poll shows there are very few of them out there.”
Polls opened at 7 a.m. Tuesday and closed at 8 p.m., although any voter in line at that time was allowed to cast a ballot. The state allows same-day voter registration on election day, permitting Californians to cast a conditional ballot that will be counted if their eligibility is verified.
Minutes after polls opened, Trump posted on Truth Social that “The Unconstitutional Redistricting Vote in California is a GIANT SCAM in that the entire process, in particular the Voting itself, is RIGGED.”
The president, who has not actively campaigned against the proposition aside from a few social media posts, provided no evidence for his allegations. His Department of Justice has said it was sending monitors to polling locations across the state.
Secretary of State Shirley Weber pushed back at Trump’s claims along with similar ones made by the president’s press secretary.
Election workers organize sorted ballots by precinct for the California Statewide Special Election at the Orange County Registrar of Voters in Santa Ana Tuesday.
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
“If there are irregularities, what are they? Why won’t they identify them? Where exactly is this fraud?” Weber said in a statement. “Ramblings don’t equate with fact.”
Voters, some in shorts and flip-flops, waited in line for 30 minutes or more outside a voting center in Huntington Beach on Tuesday afternoon.
“Vote no, don’t ruin Huntington Beach!” one man shouted as he left the center.
If the ballot measure is approved, the conservative seaside city would fall into a new congressional district that includes Long Beach, but no longer keeps some Republican-rich communities to the south. The politically divided district is currently represented by Dave Min (D-Irvine), but is designed to become a safer seat for Democrats under the new districts created by Proposition 50.
Huntington Beach resident Luke Walker, 18, spent time researching the arguments for and against Proposition 50 and came down against it because he believes the redesigned districts will ignore residents’ voices.
“You look at the people who will be voting and I don’t think they’ll be properly represented in the new state lines,” said Walker, who predicted that if the ballot measure passes, it will lead to more division. “It’s going to cause more of a rift in society. People are going to start disliking each other even more.”
Sister Theres Tran, Lovers of the Holy Cross-Los Angeles, votes in the California Statewide Special Election at the Orange County Registrar of Voters in Santa Ana Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025.
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
DeAyn Van Eyk, 63, also voted against the proposition on Tuesday, believing that Newsom, who is considering running for president in 2028, is using it to further his own political interests.
“It sounds like it’s good for him,” she said. “I totally dislike Newsom. … I don’t like Trump as a person — I think he can be a good leader.”
Among those who voted for the proposition was Huntington Beach resident Miko Vaughn, 48, who said she wanted Democrats to “level the playing field.”
“It’s a temporary thing, but I think it’s important with the changes in Texas that it stays even,” Vaughn said.
Though some see Proposition 50 as a proxy war between Trump and Newsom, Vaughn views it differently and said it’s just “against Trump.”
“I feel like there’s not much we can do individually, so it does feel good to do something,” Vaughn said, adding that she was impressed to see so many people turn out during a non-presidential election.
Californians have been voting for weeks. Registered voters received mail ballots about a month ago, and early voting centers recently opened across the state.
More than 7.2 million Californians — 31% of the state’s 23 million registered voters — had cast ballots as of Tuesday morning before the polls opened, according to a voting tracker run by Democratic redistricting expert Paul Mitchell, who drew the proposed districts on the ballot. Democrats were outpacing Republicans, though GOP voters were believed to be more likely to vote in person Tuesday.
The gap in early voting alarmed GOP leaders and strategists.
Matthew Harper, former Huntington Beach Mayor and former State Assemblyman, votes in the California Statewide Special Election at the Huntington Beach Central Library in Huntington Beach Tuesday.
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
“In California, we already know they surrendered,” Steve Bannon, who served as Trump’s chief strategist for several months during his first term in office, said on his podcast over the weekend. “Huntington Beach, California … it is full MAGA, one of the most important parts of Southern California, yet we’re going to get blown out, I don’t know, by 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 points on the massive redistricting Prop. 50.”
Congressional districts traditionally are drawn every decade after the U.S. census. In California, the boundaries are created by an independent commission created by voters in 2010.
But after Trump urged Texas Republicans to alter their House boundaries to boost the number of GOP members in Congress, Newsom and other California Democrats countered by proposing new districts that could add five Democrats to the state’s 52-member delegation.
The high-stakes election attracted tens of millions of dollars and a carousel of prominent politicians, notably former President Obama in support and former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in opposition, who were featured in ads about the ballot measure, including some that aired during the World Series won by the Dodgers.
Democrats who previously championed independent redistricting to remove partisan politics from the process argue that they needed to suspend that political ideal to stop the president from furthering his agenda during his last two years in the White House.
Citing public opposition to immigration raids that began in Los Angeles in June, the military being deployed in American cities, and cuts to nutrition assistance programs for low-income families and healthcare programs for seniors and the disabled, Democrats argue that winning control of Congress in next year’s election is critical to stopping the president’s agenda.
“Republicans want to steal enough seats in Congress to rig the next election and wield unchecked power for two more years,” Obama says in an ad that includes footage of ICE raids. “With Prop. 50, you can stop Republicans in their tracks. Prop. 50 puts our elections back on a level playing field, preserves independent redistricting over the long term, and lets the people decide. Return your ballot today.”
A sign points to a polling station at Culver City City Hall on Tuesday.
(Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times)
Republicans who oppose the effort countered that Proposition 50 is an affront to the electorate that voted to create an independent redistricting commission.
They want to “take us backwards. This is why it is important for you to vote no on Proposition 50,” Schwarzenegger says in an ad that was filmed when he spoke to USC students. “The Constitution does not start with ‘We, the politicians.’ It starts with ‘We, the people.’ … Democracy — we’ve got to protect it, and we’ve got to go and fight for it.”
Even with passage of the ballot measure, it’s uncertain whether potential Democratic gains in California’s congressional delegation will be enough to offset the number of Republicans elected because of gerrymandering in GOP-led states.
SenateRepublicans blocked a push by Democrats to restore full funding for the Supplemental Food Assistance Program (SNAP) on Monday, which has seen its resources run out over the weekend due to the ongoing government shutdown, according to multiple reports.
Sens. Jeff Merkley and Chuck Schumer, the Senate Minority Leader, put forward a resolution backed by 44 Democrats in the upper house demanding that SNAP benefits be immediately restored for the roughly 42 million Americans who rely on it to put food on the table for them and their families.
The Department of Agriculture would have been forced to release enough funds to support the delivery of SNAP benefits for the month of November—an estimated $8 billion – if the measure had been passed.
But the initiative was blocked by Republicans after Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso objected calling the move a “political stunt” and saying reopening government would be the easiest way to restore benefits, reports The Hill.
California voters have one big ballot measure to consider this year. Here’s what you need to know about Proposition 50 and how it would impact the state. What is Proposition 50? If passed, it would change California’s congressional district map. Normally the map is drawn by an independent commission, but state Democrats drew *** new map to try and get more members of their party elected to Congress. It’s *** direct response to Texas changing their congressional maps in favor of electing more Republicans. *** yes vote would support changing the maps. The congressional districts will get redrawn in *** way that spreads out likely Democratic voters into areas that are normally solved Republican spots. *** no vote would keep the current maps in place. What are people saying about Prop 50? Well, supporters say it is *** crucial step in keeping President Trump’s power in check and counter his push to get other states to redraw their maps. Governor Gavin Newsom is behind this move. Because Republicans hold the majority in both the Senate and House of Representatives, supporters of this measure say it would limit President Trump and his ability to pass items on his agenda. Opponents who are mostly members of the Republican Party say this is just *** power grab by the Democratic Party that would undermine *** fair election. 5 districts are likely to change from red to blue if Proposition 50 passes. District 1, currently represented by Doug LaMalfa. District 3 is represented by Kevin Kiley. District 22 is represented by David Valadaa. District 41 is currently held by Ken Calver. Lastly, District 48, which is held by Darrell Issa. Election day is November 4th, and ballots have already been mailed out. They must be returned or mailed in by that date for your vote to count.
Special Election Day in Northern California: The latest on voting for Prop 50 redistricting measure
Election Day has arrived for the special election. On Tuesday, Californians will decide whether to temporarily adopt new congressional district maps statewide, as Democratic leaders push to send more Democrats to the U.S. House of Representatives.Proposition 50, or Prop 50 for short, is part of a larger national fight in which Republicans and Democrats are trying to gerrymander their congressional districts to determine which party controls Congress halfway through President Trump’s term. The proposed maps target five California Republicans in an attempt to offset the five Republicans Texas is aiming to add.(Video Above: What to know about California’s Prop 50)Some communities in Northern California also have other measures or local races to weigh in on, including some measures in El Dorado County and the town of Truckee and races in Plumas County.All polling locations will open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. If you’re still in line when polls close, you should be able to cast your ballot. We’ll continue to update this page with updates from Election Day. Make sure to download our app for the latest breaking news updates with election results. What to know before polls open at 7 a.m.While voters can cast their ballot in person on Election Day, millions of California voters have already mailed in or dropped off their ballot. Here’s how to track your ballot. Here’s a look at early voter turnout across the state.Before heading out the door to vote, check if you are heading to the correct or closest voting location.Find out how to check here.Still need to learn more about Prop 50? Here’s everything to know.For those eager to head to the polls, make sure you know what you can and can’t do when it comes to voting in California. For example, you cannot wear pins, hats, shirts or other visible items that display a candidate’s name, image, logo or information about supporting or opposing a ballot measure. Here are more Election Day dos and don’ts.See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel
Election Day has arrived for the special election.
On Tuesday, Californians will decide whether to temporarily adopt new congressional district maps statewide, as Democratic leaders push to send more Democrats to the U.S. House of Representatives.
Proposition 50, or Prop 50 for short, is part of a larger national fight in which Republicans and Democrats are trying to gerrymander their congressional districts to determine which party controls Congress halfway through President Trump’s term. The proposed maps target five California Republicans in an attempt to offset the five Republicans Texas is aiming to add.
(Video Above: What to know about California’s Prop 50)
Some communities in Northern California also have other measures or local races to weigh in on, including some measures in El Dorado County and the town of Truckee and races in Plumas County.
All polling locations will open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. If you’re still in line when polls close, you should be able to cast your ballot.
We’ll continue to update this page with updates from Election Day. Make sure to download our app for the latest breaking news updates with election results.
What to know before polls open at 7 a.m.
While voters can cast their ballot in person on Election Day, millions of California voters have already mailed in or dropped off their ballot.
Before heading out the door to vote, check if you are heading to the correct or closest voting location.
Still need to learn more about Prop 50?
For those eager to head to the polls, make sure you know what you can and can’t do when it comes to voting in California.
For example, you cannot wear pins, hats, shirts or other visible items that display a candidate’s name, image, logo or information about supporting or opposing a ballot measure. Here are more Election Day dos and don’ts.
BOSTON, Massachusetts: Two federal judges ruled on October 31 that President Donald Trump’s administration cannot halt food assistance for millions of Americans during the ongoing government shutdown. They ordered the government to rely on existing contingency funds to keep benefits flowing.
The rulings, issued in federal courts in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, came in response to separate lawsuits challenging the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s plan that stopped Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits on November 1. SNAP, also known as food stamps, helps low-income households afford groceries. For weeks, Democrats and Republicans in Congress have blamed each other for the shutdown, which has put SNAP payments at risk.
It remains uncertain whether the decisions guarantee that benefits will be issued. Both judges asked the administration to update them on November 3 on how it will follow the orders.
Trump posted on social media that the federal government may lack legal authority to distribute SNAP funds during a shutdown. He said administration lawyers are asking courts for guidance on how to restore payments quickly. “If we are given the appropriate legal direction by the Court, it will BE MY HONOR to provide the funding,” he wrote.
SNAP benefits go to households earning less than 130 percent of the federal poverty level. In many states, that currently means about US$1,632 per month for a single person or $2,215 for two people. While the federal government funds the program, states handle daily operations and distribute monthly payments.
According to the USDA, it costs between $8.5 and $9 billion per month to fully fund SNAP for the roughly 42 million Americans who rely on it. The administration has argued that the agency has no authority to spend that money during the shutdown, which began on October 1, until Congress approves new funding.
However, U.S. District Judge John McConnell in Providence said the administration’s refusal to use $5.25 billion in available contingency funds was arbitrary and would cause real harm to families worried about access to food. He ordered that those funds be distributed as soon as possible and said the agency should also consider tapping a separate account that holds about $23 billion if needed.
Minutes earlier, U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston reached a similar conclusion. Her ruling came in a case brought by 25 Democratic-led states and Washington, D.C. She said the suspension of benefits was based on a mistaken belief that the contingency funds could not legally be used during a shutdown.
The USDA had previously stated that contingency money could keep benefits going if Congress failed to pass a budget. But last week, the agency changed its position and warned that “the well has run dry,” triggering the legal challenges.
Despite administration claims that the payment systems might struggle or that partial benefits would be too difficult to distribute, both judges stressed that the government has the authority and responsibility to fully fund SNAP during the shutdown.
Watch as President Trump discusses testing nuclear weapons, U.S.-China relations, Israel, the government shutdown, immigration, tariffs, and whether he’ll try to stay in the White House beyond 2028.
But if Democrats succeed in California, the question remains: Will it be enough to shift the balance of power in Congress?
To regain control of the House, Democrats need to flip three Republican seats in the midterm elections next year. That slim margin prompted the White House to push Republicans this summer to redraw maps in GOP states in an effort to keep Democrats in the minority.
Texas was the first to signal it would follow Trump’s edict and set off a rare mid-decade redistricting arms race that quickly roped in California, where Gov. Gavin Newsom devised Proposition 50 to tap into his state’s massive inventory of congressional seats.
Californians appear poised to approve the measure Tuesday. If they do, Democrats potentially could gain five seats in the House — an outcome that mainly would offset the Republican effort in Texas that already passed.
While Democrats and Republicans in other states also have moved to redraw their maps, it is too soon to say which party will see a net gain, or predict voter sentiment a year from now, when a lopsided election in either direction could render the remapping irrelevant.
GOP leaders in North Carolina and Missouri approved new maps that likely will yield one new GOP seat in each, Ohio Republicans could pick up two more seats in a newly redrawn map approved Friday, and GOP leaders in Indiana, Louisiana, Kansas and Florida are considering or taking steps to redraw their maps. In all, those moves could lead to at least 10 new Republican seats, according to experts tracking the redistricting efforts.
To counter that, Democrats in Virginia passed a constitutional amendment that, if approved by voters, would give lawmakers the power and option to redraw a new map ahead of next year’s election. Illinois leaders are weighing their redistricting options and New York has filed a lawsuit that seeks to redraw a GOP-held district. But concerns over legal challenges already tanked the party’s efforts in Maryland and the potential dilution of the Black vote has slowed moves in Illinois.
So far, the partisan maneuvers appear to favor Republicans.
“Democrats cannot gerrymander their way out of their gerrymandering problem. The math simply doesn’t add up,” said David Daly, a senior fellow at the nonprofit FairVote. “They don’t have enough opportunities or enough targets.”
Complex factors for Democrats
Democrats have more than just political calculus to weigh. In many states they are hampered by a mix of constitutional restrictions, legal deadlines and the reality that many of their state maps no longer can be easily redrawn for partisan gain. In California, Prop. 50 marks a departure from the state’s commitment to independent redistricting.
The hesitancy from Democrats in states such as Maryland and Illinois also underscores the tensions brewing within the party as it tries to maximize its partisan advantage and establish a House majority that could thwart Trump in his last two years in office.
“Despite deeply shared frustrations about the state of our country, mid-cycle redistricting for Maryland presents a reality where the legal risks are too high, the timeline for action is dangerous, the downside risk to Democrats is catastrophic, and the certainty of our existing map would be undermined,” Bill Ferguson, the Maryland Senate president, wrote in a letter to state lawmakers last week.
In Illinois, Black Democrats are raising concerns over the plans and pledging to oppose maps that would reduce the share of Black voters in congressional districts where they have historically prevailed.
“I can’t just think about this as a short-term fight. I have to think about the long-term consequences of doing such a thing,” said state Sen. Willie Preston, chair of the Illinois Senate Black Caucus.
Adding to those concerns is the possibility that the Supreme Court’s conservative majority could weaken a key provision of the landmark Voting Rights Act and limit lawmakers’ ability to consider race when redrawing maps. The outcome — and its effect on the 2026 midterms — will depend heavily on the timing and scope of the court’s decision.
The court has been asked to rule on the case by January, but a decision may come later. Timing is key as many states have filing deadlines for 2026 congressional races or hold their primary election during the spring and summer.
If the court strikes down the provision, known as Section 2, advocacy groups estimate Republicans could pick up at least a dozen House seats across southern states.
“I think all of these things are going to contribute to what legislatures decide to do,” said Kareem Crayton, vice president of the Brennan Center for Justice. The looming court ruling, he added, is “an extra layer of uncertainty in an already uncertain moment.”
Republican-led states press ahead
Support for Prop. 50 has brought in more than $114 million, the backing of some of the party’s biggest luminaries, including former President Obama, and momentum for national Democrats who want to regain control of Congress after the midterms.
In an email to supporters Monday, Newsom said fundraising goals had been met and asked proponents of the effort to get involved in other states.
“I will be asking for you to help others — states like Indiana, North Carolina, South Carolina and more are all trying to stop Republican mid-decade redistricting efforts. More on that soon,” Newsom wrote.
Indiana Republican Gov. Mike Braun called a special session set to begin Monday, to “protect Hoosiers from efforts in other states that seek to diminish their voice in Washington and ensure their representation in Congress is fair.”
In Kansas, the GOP president of the state Senate said last week that there were enough signatures from Republicans in the chamber to call a special session to redraw the state’s maps. Republicans in the state House would need to match the effort to move forward.
In Louisiana, Republicans in control of the Legislature voted last week to delay the state’s 2026 primary elections. The move is meant to give lawmakers more time to redraw maps in the case that the Supreme Court rules in the federal voting case.
If the justices strike down the practice of drawing districts based on race, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, has indicated the state likely would jump into the mid-decade redistricting race.
Shaniqua McClendon, head of Vote Save America, said the GOP’s broad redistricting push underscores why Democrats should follow California’s lead — even if they dislike the tactic.
“Democrats have to be serious about what’s at stake. I know they don’t like the means, but we have to think about the end,” McClendon said. “We have to be able to take back the House — it’s the only way we’ll be able to hold Trump accountable.”
In New York, a lawsuit filed last week charging that a congressional district disenfranchises Black and Latino voters would be a “Hail Mary” for Democrats hoping to improve their chances in the 2026 midterms there, said Daly, of FairVote.
Utah also could give Democrats an outside opportunity to pick up a seat, said Dave Wasserman, a congressional forecaster for the nonpartisan Cook Political Report. A court ruling this summer required Utah Republican leaders to redraw the state’s congressional map, resulting in two districts that Democrats potentially could flip.
Wasserman described the various redistricting efforts as an “arms race … Democrats are using what Republicans have done in Texas as a justification for California, and Republicans are using California as justification for their actions in other states.”
‘Political tribalism’
Some political observers said the outcome of California’s election could inspire still more political maneuvering in other states.
“I think passage of Proposition 50 in California could show other states that voters might support mid-decade redistricting when necessary, when they are under attack,” said Jeffrey Wice, a professor at New York Law School where he directs the New York Elections, Census & Redistricting Institute. “I think it would certainly provide impetus in places like New York to move forward.”
Similar to California, New York would need to ask voters to approve a constitutional amendment, but that could not take place in time for the midterms.
“It might also embolden Republican states that have been hesitant to redistrict to say, ‘Well if the voters in California support mid-decade redistricting, maybe they’ll support it here too,’” Wice said.
To Erik Nisbet, the director of the Center for Communications & Public Policy at Northwestern University, the idea that the mid-decade redistricting trend is gaining traction is part of a broader problem.
“It is a symptom of this 20-year trend in increasing polarization and political tribalism,” he said. “And, unfortunately, our tribalism is now breaking out, not only between each other, but it’s breaking out between states.”
He argued that both parties are sacrificing democratic norms and the ideas of procedural fairness as well as a representative democracy for political gain.
“I am worried about what the end result of this will be,” he said.
Ceballos reported from Washington, Mehta from Los Angeles.
When it comes to Proposition 50, Marcia Owens is a bit fuzzy on the details.
She knows, vaguely, it has something to do with how California draws the boundaries for its 52 congressional districts, a convoluted and arcane process that’s not exactly top of the mind for your average person. But Owens is abundantly clear when it comes to her intent in Tuesday’s special election.
“I’m voting to take power out of Trump’s hands and put it back in the hands of the people,” said Owens, 48, a vocational nurse in Riverside. “He’s making a lot of illogical decisions that are really wreaking havoc on our country. He’s not putting our interests first, making sure that an individual has food on the table, they can pay their rent, pay electric bills, pay for healthcare.”
Peter Arensburger, a fellow Democrat who also lives in Riverside, was blunter still.
President Trump, said the 55-year-old college professor, “is trying to rule as a dictator” and Republicans are doing absolutely nothing to stop him.
So, Arensburger said, California voters will do it for them.
Or at least try.
“It’s a false equivalency,” he said, “to say that we need to do everything on an even keel in California, but Texas” — which redrew its political map to boost Republicans — “can do whatever they want.”
A reasoned attempt to even things out in response to Texas’ attempt to nab five more congressional seats. Or a ruthless gambit to drive the California GOP to near-extinction.
It all depends on your perspective.
Above all, Proposition 50 has become a political ink-blot test; what many California voters see depends on, politically, where they stand.
Mary Ann Rounsavall thinks the measure is “horrible,” because that’s how the Fontana retiree feels about its chief proponent, Gavin Newsom.
“He’s a jerk,” the 75-year-old Republican fairly spat, as if the act of forming the governor’s name left a bad taste in her mouth. “No one believes anything he says.”
Timothy, a fellow Republican who withheld his last name to avoid online trolls, echoed the sentiment.
“It’s just Gavin Newsom playing political games,” said the 39-year-old warehouse manager, who commutes from West Covina to his job at a plumbing supplier in Ontario. “They always talk about Trump. ‘Trump, Trump, Trump.’ Get off of Trump. I’ve been hearing this crap ever since he started running.”
Riverside and San Bernardino counties form the heart of the Inland Empire. The next-door neighbors are politically purple: more Republican than the state as a whole, but not as conservative as California’s more rural reaches. That means neither party has an upper hand, a parity reflected in dozens of interviews with voters across the sprawling region.
On a recent smoggy morning, the hulking San Bernardino Mountains veiled by a gray-brown haze, Eric Lawson paused to offer his thoughts.
The 66-year-old independent has no use for politicians of any stripe. “They’re all crooks,” he said. “All of them.”
Lawson called Proposition 50 a waste of time and money.
Gerrymandering — the dark art of drawing political lines to benefit one party over another — is, as he pointed out, hardly new. (In fact, the term is rooted in the name of Elbridge Gerry, one of the nation’s founders.)
What has Lawson particularly steamed is the cost of “this stupid election,” which is pushing $300 million.
“We talk and talk and talk and we print money for all this talk,” said Lawson, who lives in Ontario and consults in the auto industry. “But that money doesn’t go where it’s supposed to go.”
Although sentiments were evenly split in those several dozen conversations, all indications suggest that Proposition 50 is headed toward passage Tuesday, possibly by a wide margin. After raising a tidal wave of cash, Newsom last week told small donors that’s enough, thanks. The opposition has all but given up and resigned itself to defeat.
It comes down to math. Proposition 50 has become a test of party muscle and a talisman of partisan faith and California has a lot more Democrats and Democrat-leaning independents than Republicans and GOP-leaning independents.
Andrea Fisher, who opposes the initiative, is well aware of that fact. “I’m a conservative,” she said, “in a state that’s not very conservative.”
She has come to accept that reality, but fears things will get worse if Democrats have their way and slash California’s already-scanty Republican ranks on Capitol Hill. Among those targeted for ouster is Ken Calvert, a 16-term GOP incumbent who represents a good slice of Riverside County.
“I feel like it’s going to eliminate my voice,” said Fisher, 48, a food server at her daughter’s school in Riverside. “If I’m 40% of the vote” — roughly the percentage Trump received statewide in 2024 — “then we in that population should have fair representation. We’re still their constituents.” (In Riverside County, Trump edged Kamala Harris 49% to 48%.)
Amber Pelland says Proposition 50 will hurt voters by putting redistricting back into the hands of politicians.
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
Amber Pelland, 46, who works in the nonprofit field in Corona, feels by “sticking it to Trump” — a tagline in one of the TV ads supporting Proposition 50 — voters will be sticking it to themselves. Passage would erase the political map drawn by an independent commission, which voters empowered in 2010 for the express purpose of wrestling redistricting away from self-dealing lawmakers in Washington and Sacramento.
“I don’t care if you hate the person or don’t hate the person,” said Pelland, a Republican who backs the president. “It’s just going to hurt voters by taking the power away from the people.”
Even some backers of Proposition 50 flinched at the notion of sidelining the redistricting commission and undoing its painstaking, nonpartisan work. What helps make it palatable, they said, is the requirement — written into the ballot measure — that congressional redistricting will revert to the commission after the 2030 census, when California’s next set of congressional maps is due to be drafted.
“I’m glad that it’s temporary because I don’t think redistricting should be done in order to give one political party greater power over another,” said Carole, a Riverside Democrat. “I think it’s something that should be decided over a long period and not in a rush.” (She also withheld her last name so her husband, who serves in the community, wouldn’t be hassled for her opinion.)
Texas, Carole suggested, has forced California to act because of its extreme action, redistricting at mid-decade at Trump’s command. “It’s important to think about the country as a whole,” said the 51-year-old academic researcher, “and to respond to what’s being done, especially with the pressure coming from the White House.”
Felise Self-Visnic, a 71-year-old retired schoolteacher, agreed.
She was shopping at a Trader Joe’s in Riverside in an orange ball cap that read “Human-Kind (Be Both).” Back home, in her garage-door window, is a poster that reads “No Kings.”
She described Proposition 50 as a stopgap measure that will return power to the commission once the urgency of today’s political upheaval has passed. But even if that wasn’t the case, the Democrat said, she would still vote in favor.
“Anything,” Self-Visnic said, “to fight fascism, which is where we’re heading.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom, former Vice President Kamala Harris and a slew of other national and California Democrats on Saturday rallied supporters to stay fired up in seeking passage of a ballot measure to redraw the state’s congressional districts ahead of the midterm elections.
While polling suggests Proposition 50 is likely to pass Tuesday, volunteers must continue knocking on doors, phone banking and motivating voters through Election Day, they said. Newsom told volunteers they ought to follow the model of sprinters, leaving it all on the field.
“We cannot afford to run the 90-yard dash. You Angelenos, you’ve got the Olympics coming in 2028. They do not run the 90-yard dash. They run the 110-yard dash. We have got to be at peak on Election Day,” Newsom told hundreds of supporters at the Convention Center in downtown Los Angeles. “We cannot take anything for granted.”
Hours earlier, Republicans spoke out against the ballot measure at John Wayne Park in Newport Beach, before sending teams into neighborhoods to drum up votes for their side.
“What Proposition 50 will do is disenfranchise, meaning, disregard all Republicans in the state of California,” state Assembly member Diane Dixon (R-Newport Beach) said. “Ninety percent of 6 million [Californian Republicans] will be disenfranchised.”
Prop. 50 would redraw California’s congressional districts in an attempt to boost the number of Democrats in Congress. The effort was proposed by Newsom and other California Democrats in hope of blunting President Trump’s push in Texas and other GOP-led states to increase the number of Republicans elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in next year’s midterm elections. But even if voters approve the ballot measure that could flip five California districts currently represented by Republicans, it’s unclear whether that will be enough to shift control of the House unless there is a blue wave in the 2026 elections.
The party that wins control of the House will shape Trump’s final two years in the White House and determine whether he is able to continue enacting his agenda or whether he faces a spate of investigations and possibly another impeachment attempt.
The special election is among the costliest ballot measures in state history. More than $192 million has flowed into various campaign committees since state lawmakers voted in August to put the proposition on the ballot. Supporters of the redistricting effort raised exponentially more money than opponents, and polling shows the proposition is likely to pass.
As of Friday, more than a quarter of the state’s 23 million registered voters had cast ballots, with Democrats outpacing Republicans.
Newsom was joined Saturday by Harris, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, Sens. Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla of California and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas, other Democrats and labor leaders.
Harris, in a surprise appearance at the gathering, argued that the Trump administration is implementing long-sought GOP goals such as voter suppression.
“This fight is not about sitting by and complaining, ‘Oh, they’re cheating,’” the former vice president said. “It’s about recognizing what they are up to. There is an agenda that we are witnessing which feels chaotic, I know, but in fact, we are witnessing a high-velocity event that is about the swift implementation of a plan that has been decades in the making.”
Several speakers referred to the immigration raids that started in Los Angeles in June and deep cuts to federal safety nets, including the nutrition assistance program for low-income families and healthcare coverage for seniors and the disabled.
“We know there’s so much on the line this Tuesday. And a reminder, Tuesday is not Election Day — it’s the last day to vote,” Padilla said. “Don’t wait till Tuesday. Get your ballots in, folks…. As good as the polls look, we need to run up the score on this because the eyes of the country are going to be on California on Tuesday. And we need to win and we need to win big.”
Padilla, a typically staid legislator, then offered a modified riff of a lyric by rapper Ice Cube, who grew up in South Los Angeles.
“Donald Trump — you better check yourself before you wreck America,” said Padilla, who is considering running for governor next year.
Nearly 50 miles southeast, about 50 Republican canvassers fueled up on coffee and doughnuts, united over the brisk weather and annoyance about Newsom’s attempt to redraw California’s congressional districts.
Will O’Neill, chairman of the Orange County Republican Party, equated this final push against Prop. 50 as the California GOP’s Game 7 — a nod to Friday night’s World Series battle between the Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays.
“Orange County right now is the only county in Southern California that has a shot of having more Republicans than Democrats voting,” O’Neill said. “We expect that over the next three days, around 70% of everyone who votes is gonna vote no on 50. But we need them to vote.”
Ariana Assenmacher, of California Young Republicans, center, organizes during a gathering of Republican Party members pressing to vote no on Proposition 50 in the upcoming California Statewide Special Election at John Wayne Park in Newport Beach on Saturday, November 1, 2025.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
O’Neill labeled the measure a “hyper-partisan power grab.” If Prop. 50 passes, it will dilute Republican power in Orange County by splitting communities and roping some residents into districts represented by Los Angeles County politicians.
Dixon also rallied volunteers — which included a handful of college students from across the state: “Be polite. Just say thank you very much. Just like Charlie Kirk would. Don’t [stimulate] an argument. Just be friendly.”
“They’re squeezing out what very little representation Republicans have in the state,” said Kristen Nicole Valle, president of the Orange County Young Republicans.
“We will not be hearing from 40% of Californians if Prop. 50 passes.”
Randall Avila, executive director of the Orange County GOP, said the measure disenfranchises Latino GOP voters like himself.
Nationally, Trump managed to gain 48% of the Latino vote, a Pew Research study showed, which proved crucial to his second presidential victory.
“Obviously our community has kind of shown we’re willing to switch parties and go another direction if that elected official or that party isn’t serving us,” Avila said. “So it’s unfortunate that some of those voices are now gonna be silenced with a predetermined winner in their district.”
Not all hope is lost for Republicans if Prop. 50 is approved, Avila said. A handful of seats could be snagged by Republicans, including the districts held by Reps. Dave Min (D-Irvine) and Derek Tran (D-Orange).
“If the lines do change, that doesn’t mean we pack up and go home,” he said. “Just means we reorganize, we reconfigure things, and then we keep fighting.”
Former President Barack Obama on Saturday slammed Republicans for the ongoing federal government shutdown.
“The government is shut down and the Republicans who currently are in charge of Congress, they’re not even pretending to solve the problem,” the 64-year-old told a rally crowd while campaigning for former Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., turned Democratic gubernatorial candidate in Norfolk, Virginia. “They have not even been showing up to work, not in session. Where are you? What are you doing?”
The government shutdown began a month ago on Oct. 1, after lawmakers failed to pass a spending bill to fund the government, with Democrats concerned expiring Affordable Care Act tax cuts could raise premiums and that Medicaid cuts could leave people without coverage.
Republicans have blamed the shutdown on Democrats, with Trump recently calling them “crazed lunatics.”
Former President Barack Obama speaks during a campaign event for Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger, Saturday, in Norfolk, Va.(AP Photo/Steve Helber)
“The shutdown proceeds because the Democrats just don’t know what they’re doing,” President Donald Trump told reporters this week. I don’t know what’s wrong with them. They’ve never done a thing like this. They’ve become crazed lunatics. All they have to do is say, ‘Let’s go, let’s go. Let’s open up our country.’ And everything snaps back into shape. So there’s something wrong with them.”
“Remember, Republicans, regardless of the Schumer Shutdown, the Democrats will terminate the Filibuster the first chance they get,” he wrote on Truth Socila on Saturday. “They will Pack the Supreme Court, pick up two States, and add at least 8 Electoral Votes. Their two objectors are gone!!! Don’t be WEAK AND STUPID. FIGHT,FIGHT, FIGHT! WIN, WIN, WIN! We will immediately END the Extortionist Shutdown, get ALL of our agenda passed, and make life so good for Americans that these DERANGED DEMOCRAT politicians will never again have the chance to DESTROY AMERICA!”
He added, “Republicans, you will rue the day that you didn’t TERMINATE THE FILIBUSTER!!! BE TOUGH, BE SMART, AND WIN!!! This is much bigger than the Shutdown, this is the survival of our Country!”
Obama didn’t mention Democrats’ part in the shutdown when talking about it on Saturday. He did, however, have choice words for Trump and his administration.
“Our country and our politics are in a pretty dark place right now. It’s hard to know where to start, because every day this white House offers up a fresh batch of lawlessness and recklessness and mean-spiritedness and just plain craziness,” he charged.
Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger joins former President Barack Obama, during a campaign event Saturday, in Norfolk, Va.(AP Photo/Steve Helber)
The former president joked: “It’s like every day is Halloween. Except it’s all tricks and no treats. And and here’s the thing, it’s not as if we didn’t see some of this coming. I will admit, it’s worse than even I expected. But I did warn y’all.”
He claimed that while the economy has been good for Trump’s “billionaire pals,” costs haven’t gotten any better for average people.
Obama said “there is absolutely no evidence Republican policies have made life better for you” while claiming that Republicans are more focused on “scapegoat[ing] minorities and DEI for every problem under the sun. You got a flat tire? DEI. wife mad at you? DEI.”
Supporters of Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger cheer during a campaign event with former President Barack Obama, Saturday, in Norfolk, Va.(AP Photo/Steve Helber)
“What they have not devoted energy to is helping you,” he told the crowd. “They have not put forward serious proposals to lower housing costs or make groceries more affordable.”
He urged the crowd to vote for Spanberger who is facing Virginia’s Liutenant Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears for an open seat in the state.
Later Saturday, Obama headed to New Jersey for a rally with Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rep. Mikie Sherrill, who is in a close race against Republican Jack Ciattarelli.
Nancy Mace, the South Carolina Republican congresswoman, unleashed a tirade against law enforcement at the Charleston International Airport on Thursday, WIRED has learned.
According to an incident report obtained by WIRED under South Carolina’s Freedom of Information Act, Mace cursed at police officers, making repeated derogatory comments toward them. The report says that a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) supervisor told officers that Mace had treated their staff similarly and that they would be reporting her to their superiors.
According to the report, officers with the Charleston County Aviation Authority Police Department were tasked with meeting Mace at 6:30 am to escort her from the curb to her flight and had been told that she would be arriving in a white BMW at the ticketing curb area. Around 6:35, the report says, they were told she was running late; they never saw the car arrive.
Shortly before 7 am, the report stated, dispatch told the officers that Mace was at the entrance for the Known Crewmember program—a trusted access lane with a smaller checkpoint overseen by the TSA and intended for flight crew members.
When officers quickly located her, according to a supplemental incident report filed by one of the officers, the congresswoman immediately began “loudly cursing and making derogatory comments to us about the department. She repeatedly stated we were ‘Fucking incompetent,’ and ‘this is no way to treat a fucking US Representative,’” the report states.
As officers escorted her to her gate, according to the report, she brought a South Carolina Senate colleague into the fracas.
“She also said we would never treat Tim Scott like this,” says one officer tasked with escorting Mace says in the report.
“The entire walk to gate B-8 she was cursing and complaining and often doing the same into her phone,” an officer writes in the report. In the main incident report, an officer notes that Mace was yelling into her phone, either on a phone call or dictating text messages. “After standing in the vicinity of B-8 for several minutes with her continuing her tirade, she finally boarded the aircraft.”
After Mace’s flight took off, the report states, an American Airlines gate agent approached the officers. According to the report, he “stated he was in disbelief regarding her behavior. He implied that a US Representative should not be acting the way she was.”
The report goes on to state that officers checked with a TSA supervisor, who told the officers “he was very upset with how she acted at the checkpoint.” This supervisor, according to the report, told the officers that Mace had “talked to several TSA agents the same way” and that they would be “submitting a report to his superiors about her unacceptable behavior.” TSA agents are not currently being fully paid, due to the ongoing government shutdown.
Trump whooping it up with Japan’s prime minister, Sanae Takaichi. Photo: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
You know, it’s hard work being a historic president elevated by God himself to save America and then the whole world. So it’s understandable that Donald Trump is deeply annoyed, and even embarrassed, that while he was off cutting deals, ending wars, and accepting presents from grateful foreign leaders, his hirelings in Congress still can’t end the government shutdown. He fully vented his wrath at Truth Social:
I just got back from Asia where I met the Leaders of many Countries, including China, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, and others. It was a Great Honor to meet them but, more particularly, to see that America is respected again — RESPECTED LIKE NEVER BEFORE! Great Trade Deals were made, Long Term relationships now exist, and money is pouring into our Country because of Tariffs and, frankly, the Landslide Results of the 2024 Presidential Election. The one question that kept coming up, however, was how did the Democrats SHUT DOWN the United States of America, and why did the powerful Republicans allow them to do it? The fact is, in flying back, I thought a great deal about that question, WHY?
After repeating some lies about illegal immigrants being the principal beneficiaries of the Democratic health-care demands that congressional Republicans have refused to consider, the president cut to the chase: “It is now time for the Republicans to play their ‘TRUMP CARD,’ and go for what is called the Nuclear Option — Get rid of the Filibuster, and get rid of it, NOW!”
In other words: “This isn’t my problem, it’s yours, so go fix it!”
It’s certainly an unwelcome message to his loyal congressional troops. Along with their Democratic opponents, they have been waiting for Trump to cut some sort of deal to end the shutdown. Having deferred to the administration to an embarrassing degree from the moment his second term began, Republicans in Congress will be understandably chagrined to be told they are on their own. The one thing, perhaps the only thing, that they are likely to deny him in this demand (and not for the first time) is a complete end to the Senate filibuster. Yes, it would rob Democrats of the one bit of leverage they have in 2025, which they’ve used to bring Trump’s legislative agenda to a halt and to advance their own priorities. But it would also expose Republicans to the future wrath of a Democratic trifecta regime long after Trump has left Washington for good. You can’t really expect the narcissist-in-chief to care about what happens when he’s gone, but Republicans will be loathe to disarm future Senate minorities.
They are certainly making that clear today in extremely rare rebukes to Trump, as Politico reports:
[John] Thune has defended the filibuster multiple times during the shutdown, calling it a “bad idea” to suggest eliminating it. “The 60-vote threshold has protected this country,” he said earlier this month.
Ryan Wrasse, a spokesperson for the South Dakota Republican, said in a statement on Friday that “Leader Thune’s position on the importance of the legislative filibuster is unchanged.”
Kate Noyes — a spokesperson for Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, the No. 2 GOP leader — said on Friday his position in support of the legislative filibuster also hasn’t changed….
Prior to Trump’s postings Thursday, more than a dozen GOP senators had rejected chatter about changing Senate rules as the shutdown dragged on in recent weeks.
As so the government shutdown will drag on for the time being, with the man who considers himself the greatest deal-maker in human history on the sidelines, pouting. Perhaps he’ll get back on Air Force One and seek more congenial surroundings somewhere, anywhere, other than the ungrateful country over which he grudgingly presides. Or maybe he’ll get over it and do his job. Tens of millions of Americans who are about to lose SNAP benefits this weekend, along with tens of millions more who will receive notices their health-insurance costs are about to skyrocket, are counting on him to help resolve the crisis. Having said for years about every problem that “Only I can fix it,” it’s no time for him to just walk away.
