Northeast
85-year-old longtime House Democrat facing primary challenger who's making age a key issue
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Longtime Democratic Maryland Rep. Steny Hoyer has yet to announce whether he will seek re-election next year for a 24th two-year term in Congress.
If he does, he will face a primary challenger who is making Hoyer’s age — the congressman turns 86 next month and would be 89 at the end of his next term — a centerpiece of his campaign.
Harry Jarin, 35, a volunteer firefighter and emergency services consultant, said Thursday in a new video announcing his candidacy, “If you live here in southern Maryland, I want to ask you a tough question. Do you really think that Steny Hoyer, at 89-years-old, is the best person to represent us?”
Jarin argued that “we’re in a moment of real crisis. Radical Republicans are burning down our country around us. Our friends and family who work in the government are losing their jobs. We keep sending politicians like Steny Hoyer back to Congress again and again. Tired politicians like Steny can’t put up a fight that we need.”
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Democrat Harry Jarin, seen in campaign launch video, is primary challenging longtime Democratic Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland in the 2026 elections. (Harry Jarin for Congress)
“Here’s the bottom line: You don’t put out a fire by sending in the same people who let it spread. Send in a firefighter,” Jarin said. “Maryland deserves a new generation of leadership, and I’m ready to take up the fight.”
And in an interview with Fox News Digital, Jarin said: “I think we’re facing a really serious constitutional crisis… Congress has really declined as an institution over the last three or four years. Congress has surrendered a lot of its legislative power under the Constitution over to the executive branch. I think that’s been very corrosive to our political system.”
Asked about his motivation to primary challenge Hoyer, Jarin said, “It’s not just about getting someone younger and fresher in. It’s getting someone in who understands the need to revitalize Congress as an institution.”
Fox News reached out to Hoyer’s office for a response, but a spokesperson declined to respond.
Hoyer, who first won his seat in Congress in a 1981 special election, from 2003 to 2023, was the second-ranking House Democrat behind Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. He served as House Majority Leader from 2007-2011 and from 2019-2023, when the Democrats controlled the chamber.
Along with Pelosi, Hoyer stepped down from his longtime leadership position at the end of 2022 but remained in Congress.
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“I think all of us have been around for some time and pretty much have a feel for the timing of decisions. And I think all three of us felt that this was the time,” Hoyer told CNN at the time, as he referred to the moves by the top three House Democrats — Pelosi, Hoyer and Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C. — to step down from their leadership roles.
Hoyer has long been a major backer of the Democrats’ top issues, and during his second tenure as House majority leader, he played a crucial role in the passage of then-President Joe Biden’s so-called American Rescue Plan and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
Longtime Democratic Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, a former House majority leader, will face a primary challenge if he decides to seek re-election in 2026. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
He represents Maryland’s Democrat-dominated 5th Congressional District, which covers a region known as Southern Maryland, and includes the suburbs south and east of Washington, D.C., a sliver of suburban Baltimore and Annapolis, as well as rural areas farther south.
Hoyer, who suffered a minor stroke last year, is the latest high-ranking House Democrat to face a primary challenge from a younger opponent.
Pelosi and Reps. Brad Sherman of California and Jan Schakowsky of Illinois have drawn primary challenges, with Schakowsky later announcing that she will no longer run for re-election.
Jarin told Fox News that when he spoke with voters in the district about Hoyer, they had concerns about the incumbent’s age.
“The main reaction I got when I asked people about Steny Hoyer was first and foremost his age,” Jarin said. “The idea that he would be close to 90 years old at the end of the next term is just a little bit nuts for people. I think people are starting to process how extreme a situation that is.”
The primary challenges come as Democrats are still trying to regroup following last November’s election setbacks, when the party lost control of the White House and their Senate majority, and came up short in their bid to win back the House.
The party’s base is angry and energized to push back against the sweeping and controversial moves by President Donald Trump in the four months since he returned to the White House.
Additionally, while much of that anger and energy is directed at fighting the White House and congressional Republicans, some of it is targeted at Democrats whom many in the party’s base feel aren’t vocal enough in their efforts to stymie Trump.
Concurrently, other longtime and older House Democrats in safe blue districts are facing the possibility of primary challenges.
Democratic National Committee Vice Chair David Hogg is pledging to support primary challenges against older House Democrats in blue districts. (Dominic Gwinn/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
This, after newly elected Democratic National Committee Vice Chair David Hogg last month pledged to spend millions of dollars through his outside political group to back primary challenges against what he called “asleep at the wheel” House Democrats — lawmakers he argued have failed to effectively push back against Trump.
The move by the 25-year-old Hogg, a survivor of the horrific shooting seven years ago at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in South Florida, to spend money against fellow Democrats ignited a firestorm within the party.
Jarin said that “we have reached out to David Hogg. We’ve been in communication.”
But Hogg told The Washington Post last month that he wouldn’t support primary challenges against Hoyer, Pelosi or Clyburn.
As for his ability to raise money for his campaign, Jarin said, “I do come from a political family.”
He noted that his husband was a major donor and bundler for former President Joe Biden’s successful 2020 campaign and also served as a DNC finance director, and that his uncle had “been a big bundler for Democratic causes for a long time.”
“I think a lot of donors realize that this is a problem but may not be able to say it out loud for fear of repercussions,” he argued.
Jarin said that he’s received “some pushback from donors for concerns of prioritizing more marginal districts” instead of pouring resources into swing seats as the party aims to win back the House majority in 2026.
“My message to them has been that putting extremely elderly politicians like Steny Hoyer back into office for a 24th term sends a message to voters across the country that Democrats are just the party of status quo and clearly that message has not been working,” he highlighted.
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Here’s what we know now about school cellphone bans
More states are implementing or considering phone bans in schools following guidance from the U.S. Surgeon General on children and social media.
If Pennsylvania sees statewide restrictions on cellphones in schools, would anything change in Pittsburgh?
It’s too early to say for sure.
On June 1, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives passed legislation that would require school districts to adopt phone restrictions, leaving the details of the exact policy’s implementation up to individual districts, according to USA TODAY. Now, if cleared by the Senate — which already passed another version of the proposal with almost unanimous support — it will go to Gov. Josh Shapiro, who has repeatedly said he supports getting cellphones out of classrooms with a bell-to-bell ban.
“Here in Pennsylvania, Democrats and Republicans agree: We need to let our kids be kids again,” Shapiro said in a June 4 post to his X account.
But Pittsburgh’s already ahead of the curve when it comes to banning cellphones during school hours because of a school board policy approved in late 2025.
Here’s what to know.
Are cell phones banned in Pittsburgh schools?
Yes, cellphones are banned during the school day at Pittsburgh Public Schools.
In December 2025, Pittsburgh Public Schools Board voted to ban the use of phones by students during the school day, Pittsburgh’s Action News 4.
Under the policy, the possession of phones by students is prohibited. While they may bring cellphones to school, the devices must be turned in to school personnel during the school day.
There are exceptions to the policy in cases where a student may need a phone for instructional activities, an Individualized Education Plan, a Section 504 Plan or for other reasons approved by a school administrator.
Why are schools banning cellphones?
Numerous states have already banned cellphones in schools, including Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and others, according to ABC News.
This year, Indiana and Kansas banned phones during the day, implementing policies that require students to keep their phones in inaccessible locations through the entire school day, USA TODAY reported.
Recently, Delaware, Georgia, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia and Wyoming passed or updated less restrictive legislation on phones in schools, according to an analysis by the Becca Schmill Foundation, the Institute for Families and Technology, Smartphone-Free Childhood US and Jonathan Haidt’s The Anxious Generation.
Illinois, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania may follow suit.
Do cellphone bans work?
Yes and no.
Cellphone bans keep kids off their devices, but they don’t appear to impact test scores, attendance, self-reported classroom attention or perceived online bullying, according to a study published in April by the National Bureau of Economic Research. Additionally, researchers found that during the first year of a cellphone ban, disciplinary incidents rose and students’ reported well-being fell, though the effects subsided as the years passed.
Still, there’s a push for bans nationally, with the U.S. surgeon general’s office warning on May 20 that “compulsive” screen use is linked to poor sleep, substance abuse, developmental disruptions and social, mental and behavioral issues. The office suggested that cellphone bans in schools are a way to help put excessive screen time in check.
Finch Walker is the Pittsburgh Connect Reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Contact Walker at FWalker@usatodayco.com. Instagram: @finchwalker_. X: @_finchwalker.
Rhode Island
The Most Expensive House in Rhode Island—Around the Corner From Taylor Swift’s Home—to Ask $23.5 Million
A waterfront estate in Rhode Island could set a record in the same neighborhood where Taylor Swift owns a home.
The 2.75-acre estate on Pawcatuck Avenue in the village of Watch Hill will soon hit the open market for $23.5 million, making it the most expensive active listing in Rhode Island. The property is in Westerly, a peninsula in the state’s western-most section, at the meeting point with Connecticut and New York.
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The main New England-style home spans 7,000 square feet across four levels, with five bedrooms, several reception rooms, a wet bar and a wine cellar. There is also a three-bedroom guest house, which spans close to 5,000 square feet, along with a saltwater pool surrounded by a bluestone deck and a newly refinished tennis court, according to the listing with Geb Masterson of William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty.
“Properties don’t often come up for sale in Watch Hill,” Masterson said via email. “People and families often stay for generations, holding onto the homes their parents bought.”
The property, which has an alternate address on Bay Street, is fully outfitted with amenities for waterfront living, including a boat house, boat garage and a dock that can accommodate a 70-foot yacht. There is also a three-bedroom guest house, according to the listing.
Swift has owned a home in the Watch Hill neighborhood since 2013—a bolthole where the global pop star reportedly throws the best July 4th bash in town. Additionally, earlier in the year, Swift and her fiance, football star Travis Kelce, were rumored to be marrying in a coastal wedding venue nearby, but recent gossip suggests the wedding will actually be held in New York City in less than a month, on July 3.
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The sellers purchased the Watch Hill property in April 2020 for $10.4 million via a trust, from the family who built it in 2006, according to records accessed through PropertyShark. The 2020 sale was approved by a Connecticut District bankruptcy court, as the prior owner was in the middle of bankruptcy proceedings related to the home as well as to a ski resort he owned in Vermont, according to court documents and news reports.
The sellers and previous owners couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
LONDONDERRY, Vt. – At a quick June 1 meeting, the Londonderry Selectboard heard from Trevor Powers, a member of the Londonderry Planning Commission, who discussed a few zoning bylaw proposals. Powers reported that members of the planning commission have been making revisions to the bylaws since July 2024, “with the valuable assistance of William Goodwin, zoning administrator.”
“Items that people of the town have been objecting to have been removed,” Powers continued, adding that clarifications have been made to sections that the state requires and therefore could not be removed. He reported that definitions have been added, and language of the bylaws themselves have been updated.
A summary of the changes can be found in the first two pages of the report, included with the eighth draft of the bylaws, which were approved by planning commission on April 27.
Some of the amendments to the bylaws were discussed by Powers. With input from the housing commission, the number of days that nonpaying guests can stay on a property have increased. The shopping plaza is allowed one large sign, and a smaller sign for each corresponding business. The boundary of the conservation district was raised to 2,000 feet.
The selectboard moved to approve and warn a public hearing for the proposed amendments to the bylaws on July 6, at 6 p.m., at the town office.
Town Administrator Aileen Tulloch announced that treasurer Tina Labeau has initiated tax sales. Tulloch also reported that Doings in Derry would like photograph submissions of the community to upload to the town website, and that the Chester Snowmobile Club sent a thank-you note to the town and will be hosting a community barbecue on June 7, in Chester.
Matthew Barlow from Turning Point of Windham County then spoke to the board about their peer recovery center. Barlow stated that they have a full center in Brattleboro, but the center understands that is not easily accessible to those in the greater Londonderry community. Turning Point is looking to spread awareness about their recovery services, and are seeking spaces in Londonderry or Townshend in which to set up and expand their resources.
Town Clerk Allison Marino moved to discuss the malfunctioning alarm system at the town office, and suggested switching the town’s provider. Currently, Countryside Alarms is servicing the building, but an issue with the alarms sounding has not been resolved in a year. Marino believed there were some redundancies in the system setup that could be eliminated and thought the town could get a cheaper and updated alarm service.
The board then moved to close the Prouty property to the public once construction on site begins.
The Londonderry Selectboard meets on the first and third Mondays of the month, at 6 p.m., at the town office and on Zoom.
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