Midwest
Minnesota Republican Party issues surprising endorsement of BLM protest leader seeking to oust Dem senator
The Republican Party of Minnesota tossed its support behind Royce White, a former NBA player and Black Lives Matter protest leader turned GOP Senate candidate, in his bid to oust Democrat Sen. Amy Klobuchar.
The state party’s decision to back White came at the Minnesota GOP convention in St. Paul’s RiverCentre on Saturday.
White, a former professional basketball player, was introduced on stage at the convention by former Trump adviser Steve Bannon.
White received 67% of the vote on the first ballot at Saturday’s convention to receive an endorsement from the party to challenge Klobuchar, who has represented Minnesota in the upper chamber for nearly two decades.
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The Republican Party of Minnesota tossed its support behind Royce White, left, in his bid to oust Democrat Sen. Amy Klobuchar. (Getty Images)
“I’m a ‘We the People’ guy through and through,” White told Minnesota’s Star Tribune on Saturday.
White unsuccessfully sought the GOP nomination to challenge “Squad” Rep. Ilhan Omar for Minnesota’s Fifth Congressional District during the 2022 election cycle, losing to fellow Republican Cicely Davis in the primary election by more than 1,000 votes.
Hundreds of Minnesota Republicans — several of whom held signs that read “The People Are Coming” — packed into the room where White delivered a speech after receiving the state party’s endorsement.
Prior to joining the Republican Party and running for Senate, White led Black Lives Matter protests in Minneapolis at the height of the controversy surrounding the death of George Floyd.
Royce White of the Power fights for position against Keith Benson of the Enemies during the game in BIG3 Week Three at Comerica Center on July 02, 2022, in Frisco, Texas. (Ron Jenkins/Getty Images for BIG3)
The GOP Senate hopeful also has made controversial remarks in the past, including one where he claimed to be a Christian and a “real Jew” while responding to a social media user.
“Shut up shill. I’m a Christian and Jew (Real Jew)… I can smell the [bulls–t] in this tweet from a mile away. It is weird to see a bunch of people deny that Black Jews exist and could theoretically be here in America. What in the rewritten history is this? Lol,” White wrote in a November 2022 tweet.
During the same month, White appeared to praise notorious antisemite Louis Farrakhan and rebuked Black people who had “sold out” in a social media post, writing, “The Minister Louis Farrakhan is very gracious in his age and wisdom. He lives and speaks with a certain love and empathy for all Black ppl, even when he knows they’ve sold out. I hold no such quarter for them. I’m not the judge, but I will speak the tough word. Stop Selling Out!”
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White appeared to praise noted antisemite Louis Farrakhan and rebuked Black people who had “sold out” in a November 2022 social media post. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
Amid Israel’s war with Hamas, White took to X in December and claimed, “Israel has a right to exist but not to be the lynchpin of New World Order.”
“I pray my Jewish brothers and sisters stop letting their identity be used to justify globalism. . . . The same way I pray Black people stop letting their identity be used to justify marxism. This unwavering support for Israel from MAGA, knowing full well that Israel and a World War II is used to call anybody who is a nationalist, a fascist or a Nazi, really has me stumped,” White wrote at the time. “Nationalism is not synonymous with Fascism or Nazism, I’m sick of hearing it. Especially from a country that takes our tax money to be ethno-national. Israel has a right to exist but not to be the lynchpin of New World Order.”
White’s campaign did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on the support he received from the Minnesota Republican Party on Saturday, or his past remarks.
On his campaign website, White lists four goals he hopes to achieve or build on if he’s elected, including “Term Limits,” “No Taxes (American jubilee),” “American Manufactering,” and “Energy.” No additional explanation for how White will accomplish those goals was shared on the website.
A Republican operative who attended the Minnesota GOP convention Saturday said she expected delegates to do a better job of selecting a candidate to take on Klobuchar and support former President Trump’s re-election bid.
“I truly believe at the end of the day that the Minnesota GOP handed Amy Klobuchar a win on a silver platter,” the Republican operative told Fox News Digital.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., has represented Minnesota in the Senate since 2007. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
The operative placed some of the blame on the state party’s nominating committee, which allowed White to be on the convention’s endorsement ballot as “qualified, with reservations.”
White is one of several Republicans who were seeking the GOP nomination. The campaign for one of those candidates, U.S. Navy veteran Joe Fraser, told Fox that Royce as the nominee would only help Democrats.
“We’d like to congratulate the MNGOP on securing another term for Amy Klobuchar and Joe Biden. They literally couldn’t have picked a better candidate than Royce White to accomplish this goal,” said Fraser campaign spokeswoman Preya Samsundar.
Minnesota holds an August 13 primary election, and the deadline to register for the primary is June 4. The winner of that election will go on to face off against Klobuchar, the Democratic Party’s presumptive nominee, in the state’s general election on November 4.
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Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., says her guest at President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address was forcibly removed and arrested by Capitol Police on Tuesday night.
Omar cited “reports” claiming that software engineer Aliya Rahman was “aggressively handled” as she was forcibly removed from the chamber during Trump’s speech. Omar invited Rahman after she had an altercation with federal agents in Minnesota during “Operation Metro Surge” in January.
“My guest, Aliya Rahman, stood up silently in the gallery during the president’s speech for a short period of time, part of which other guests were also standing. For that, she was forcibly removed, despite warning officers about her injured shoulders and ultimately charged with ‘Unlawful Conduct,’” Omar wrote in a statement.
“Reports indicate she was aggressively handled until someone intervened to secure medical attention. She was taken to George Washington University Hospital for treatment and later booked at the United States Capitol Police headquarters,” she continued.
Rep. Ilhan Omar says her guest to Trump’s State of the Union address was arrested. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP via Getty Images)
“The heavy-handed response to a peaceful guest sends a chilling message about the state of our democracy. I am calling for a full explanation of why this arrest occurred,” she added.
Fox News reached out to Capitol Police, but they did not immediately respond.
The charge Omar said Rahman faces exposes her to a possible sentence of six months in prison and a fine of up to $500.
“There are only two things you can do at the State of the Union, and they are sit down and stand up,” Rahman told Democracy Now. “I was arrested for standing up.”
ILHAN OMAR DOESN’T HAVE ANY REGRETS FOR HER ”UNAVOIDABLE’ OUTBURST AT STATE OF THE UNION
Aliya Rahman, a guest of Rep. Ilhan Omar, D- MN, and a Minneapolis resident who was detained by DHS agents, is escorted from the chamber as Trump delivers his State of the Union address during a Joint Session of Congress at the U.S. Capitol on February 24, 2026, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
The incident comes after Trump deployed border czar Tom Homan to Minneapolis last month after several violent and even deadly interactions between anti-ICE agitators and federal law enforcement.
Homan announced the end of “Operation Metro Surge” earlier this month, saying it was no longer necessary thanks to new cooperation from local law enforcement.
“As a result of our efforts here, Minnesota is now less of a sanctuary state for criminals,” Homan said Feb. 12.
White House border czar Tom Homan attends a press conference in Minneapolis, Minn., Jan. 29, 2026. (Shannon Stapleton/Reuters)
Homan clarified that a “small footprint of personnel” would remain for a period of time, and he also remains in Minnesota monitoring the drawdown process.
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“Additionally, federal government personnel assigned to conduct criminal investigations into the agitators, as well as the personnel assigned here for the fraud investigations, will remain in place until the work is done,” Homan said at the time.
Fox News’ Stephen Sorace contributed to this report.
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When to call 911 and when to use non-emergency lines
This video explains the importance of knowing when to call 911 for emergencies and when to use non-emergency lines for less critical situations.
Detroit restaurateur and nightlife mainstay Michael “Mike B.” Brown was fatally shot early Saturday morning on the city’s west side, a violent incident that also left two other people injured and sent shockwaves through Detroit’s hospitality and entertainment communities.
According to Detroit police, the shooting occurred outside Suite 100, a cocktail bar on Schaefer Highway near Puritan Avenue. Investigators are urging anyone with information to come forward. As of Sunday afternoon, authorities had not announced any suspects or arrests.
“At approximately 4:30 a.m., Saturday, there was a triple shooting that occurred at 15789 Schaefer,” Detroit Police Department (DPD) media relations manager Jasmin Barmore wrote in an official statement Sunday afternoon. “Two of the vicims were found in front of the location and the third across the street from the location. Unfortunately, the victim found across the street from the location, Mikey Brown, succumbed to his injuries.
“The Detroit Police Department extends their condolences to the family and is asking the community for assistance with this incident. Anyone with information about this incident is asked to please contact DPD’s homicide unit or, they can submit an anonymous tip through Crime Stoppers or Detroit Rewards TV.”
Brown, 52, had spent decades building a name for himself across Detroit’s club and restaurant circuits, evolving from party promoter to business owner and, in recent years, a culinary entrepreneur with expanding ambitions. His death comes at a moment when he had been working to grow his “Sloppy” restaurant brand – a move that aligned with the rise of new Black-owned establishments reshaping the city’s dining landscape.
His first major restaurant venture, Sloppy Chops, opened in 2020 on West McNichols just off the Lodge Freeway. The steakhouse featured high-end cuts like ribeyes and tomahawks, but it quickly drew wide attention for its low-cost lamb chop specials – a dish with a fervent local following and long-standing ties to the city’s food culture.
A year later, Brown launched Sloppy Crab, later renamed the Crab Sports Bar, on East Jefferson Avenue near the Renaissance Center. The seafood spot mixed Detroiters’ love for crab dishes with the energetic, nightlife-forward atmosphere Brown had refined during his years in the entertainment scene. Occasional cover charges, signature strong cocktails and celebrity drop-ins helped make the venue one of downtown’s most animated destinations, placing it alongside longstanding nightlife pillars such as Floods Bar & Grille and Sweetwater Tavern.
Both restaurants emerged during a period when Detroiters were increasingly vocal about who new development served. Sloppy Crab’s proximity to the riverfront offered an answer to residents who wondered where Black diners fit into the city’s transforming downtown, while Sloppy Chops demonstrated that restaurants with the energy and polish of downtown destinations could thrive in the neighborhoods as well.
As of Sunday afternoon, more than 1,000 comments expressing sadness and shock had flooded a pinned post on Brown’s Instagram page, along with a number of posts on his Facebook profile.
On her own page, Darralynn Hutson, an award-winning journalist, author, documentarian and media strategist who has provided content to a host of media outlets including the Detroit Free Press, shared photos of herself with Brown.
“I had the opportunity to interview Mike a few years ago for a feature in Food & Wine and I remember how reluctant he was about sitting down to talk,” Hutson recalled. “Interviews weren’t his thing – he was much more comfortable building than explaining. I had to call him more than 20 times to set up the interview. He didn’t care about Food & Wine. But once we ate and got into conversation, what came out was his commitment to creating something for his Detroit.”
Brown’s influence stretched far beyond his menus. His establishments became recognizable gathering places, and his presence – familiar from downtown corridors to Dexter Avenue – made him a significant cultural figure in Detroit’s nightlife and, later, its dining renaissance.
His death leaves both industries mourning a personality whose ambitions were still growing, and whose imprint on the city’s social fabric remains unmistakable.
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