Politics
Biden campaign manager dodges question on whether immigration executive order will get president more votes
President Biden’s campaign manager on Wednesday appeared to dodge questions about whether the president’s new executive order giving illegal immigrants a pathway to citizenship was a political move aimed at shoring up more votes before Election Day on Nov. 5.
Julie Chavez Rodriguez appeared on CBS News’ “America Decides” for an interview with Fin Gomez that aired Wednesday evening.
Gomez asked Rodriguez why the president’s new policy was implemented now “four and a half months out from the Nov. 5 election.”
President Biden speaks during an event marking the 12th anniversary of the Deferred Action of Childhood Arrivals program at the White House. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Rodriguez said immigration reform has been a major priority of the Biden administration since day 1. She also bashed former President Trump for encouraging Republicans to vote against a bipartisan immigration bill earlier this year.
Gomez asked whether Rodriguez believed Biden’s new policy would encourage “mixed-status families” who benefit from this to vote for the president.
Rodriguez said families who are eligible for Biden’s executive order “will be able to sleep better tonight knowing that they have an opportunity to help ensure that they are not separated by cruel policies.”
VIDEO SHOWS NYPD DRAG ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT RAPE SUSPECT FROM HIDING UNDER CAR AFTER CITIZEN’S ARREST
“They will be able to hug each other a little bit tighter knowing that they can remain together as a whole family in this country as a result of this executive order. Those are the things that matter most,” Rodriguez said.
Gomez noted that many Latino voters are turning away from President Biden and asked Rodriguez to respond to critics who say the executive order is a “political move to maintain support among Latino voters.”
President Biden is announcing new changes to keep families together who have DACA Dreamer spouses seeking to change their immigration status. (Andrew Leyden/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Rodriguez again invoked the president’s track record on immigration since taking office, including expanding the Affordable Care Act for recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
At no point was the issue of border security brought up in the interview. Fox News Digital has reached out to Biden’s campaign team and the White House for additional comment.
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Biden announced Tuesday that his administration will allow U.S. citizens’ spouses without legal status to apply for permanent residency and eventually citizenship without having to first depart the country for up to 10 years. About 500,000 immigrants may benefit, according to senior administration officials.
To qualify, an immigrant must have lived in the U.S. for 10 years and be married to a U.S. citizen, both as of Monday.
Immigration rights activists take part in a rally in front of the Supreme Court in 2019. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)
The Obama-era DACA program, which has shielded from deportation hundreds of thousands of people who came to the United States as young children, required applicants to be in the U.S. on June 15, 2012, and continuously for the previous five years.
More than 1 million illegal immigrants living in the U.S. are married to American citizens, according to advocacy group FWD.us, meaning hundreds of thousands won’t qualify because they were in the U.S. for fewer than 10 years.
About 50,000 noncitizen children with parents who are married to a U.S. citizen could also potentially qualify, according to senior administration officials who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity.
Biden also announced new regulations that will allow some DACA beneficiaries and other young immigrants to more easily qualify for long-established work visas.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Politics
Newsom vows to levy 100% tax on California recipients of Trump’s $1.8-billion ‘slush fund’
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom has threatened to tax 100% of the money Californians receive from President Trump’s “anti-weaponization” fund for his political allies.
Trump’s Justice Department had announced last week that it would establish a $1.776-billion fund to compensate allies of the president who claim they have “suffered weaponization and lawfare” under the Biden administration’s Justice Department.
“Anyone from California that receives any of those funds, we want to tax 100% of those proceeds,” the governor told reporters Thursday.
“That’s an action the state of California can take …[and] it’s an action we look forward to taking.”
Just how Newsom would do so remains unclear. He indicated that he would need action from the Democratic-led California Legislature to impose the new tax. If adopted, the measure would likely face legal challenge.
The fund has prompted outrage from Democrats and some Republicans — including Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who said in a statement that the “slush fund,” which would “pay people who assault cops,” was “utterly stupid.”
Newsom’s remarks about Trump’s settlement fund came on Thursday as he signed a bill designed to prevent election interference ahead of Tuesday’s primary.
The bill, Senate Bill 73, restricts law enforcement agencies and officers — including those from federal agencies — from interfering with state and local election officials, such as confiscating ballots, voter rolls or voting machines without a warrant.
The governor said the bill is meant to address “legitimate anxiety” over threats to election integrity after Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco’s decision to seize ballots from the county’s voter registrar as part of a fraud probe. Bianco, a long-time Trump supporter, is one of the top Republicans running to succeed Newsom after the end of his second and final term as governor.
Newsom also pointed to ICE and Border Patrol’s decision last November to stage an event near Dodger Stadium, calling it a “show of force designed to intimidate free expression and free speech.”
“That’s why we have to step up and we have to draw the line,” Newsom said. “We have to clarify the rules of engagement… there are fines associated with this, criminal fines and jail time of three years, so that’s a warning [to] the folks out there that think they can do the bidding of the Trump administration.”
Newsom said he expects Trump to interfere with the upcoming election — noting that the president has falsely claimed that he “won” California in the last election.
“Every single thing that Donald Trump is saying only suggests that he will do more, not less, to intimidate and to impact the outcome of this election,” Newsom said. “I absolutely expect the worst again, because we’ve been on the receiving end of it.”
Politics
See Where the Gerrymandering Wars Have Redrawn U.S. Congressional Maps
The nationwide gerrymandering battle has escalated in recent weeks, after a landmark Supreme Court ruling in April weakened the Voting Rights Act and set off a scramble to redraw maps in some Southern states that have yet to hold primaries.
Eight states have redrawn their congressional districts since President Trump pressured Texas lawmakers last summer to pass a new map favoring Republicans. Republican lawmakers in two states are pushing to use a new map ahead of November’s midterm elections.
Here is a look at how district lines have changed in each of the states that have redrawn maps, and how the new maps would have fared in the 2024 presidential election.
Tap on a district for details.
2024 presidential vote margin
Number of districts
2024
2026
Change
+20 Dem. and greater
27
21
–6
+10 to +20 Dem.
6
16
+10
0 to +10 Dem.
8
10
+2
0 to +10 Rep.
6
1
–5
+10 to +20 Rep.
3
2
–1
+20 Rep. and greater
2
2
0
Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democratic state lawmakers moved quickly to redraw California’s congressional districts in response to Texas’ gerrymandered map. The new California map, which lawmakers approved in August and voters passed in November of last year, was designed to flip five red districts.
The Supreme Court upheld the map in February, dismissing Republican claims that the state’s new district boundaries illegally favored Latino voters.
Tap on a district for details.
| 2024 presidential vote margin | Number of districts | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 2026 | Change | |
| +20 Dem. and greater | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| +10 to +20 Dem. | 0 | 1 | +1 |
| 0 to +10 Dem. | 5 | 0 | –5 |
| 0 to +10 Rep. | 0 | 1 | +1 |
| +10 to +20 Rep. | 9 | 16 | +7 |
| +20 Rep. and greater | 11 | 7 | –4 |
Florida’s Legislature passed a new map just days after the Supreme Court ruling on the Voting Rights Act. The map creates four more Republican-leaning House seats, splitting up a Democratic-leaning district in the Tampa area and eliminating a Democratic-leaning district in the Orlando area.
Tap on a district for details.
2024 presidential vote margin
Number of districts
2024
2026
Change
+20 Dem. and greater
2
1
–1
+10 to +20 Dem.
0
0
0
0 to +10 Dem.
0
0
0
0 to +10 Rep.
1
0
–1
+10 to +20 Rep.
0
3
+3
+20 Rep. and greater
5
4
–1
In late September, Gov. Mike Kehoe, a Republican, signed into law a new map that slices the Democrat-leaning core of Kansas City into districts with heavily Republican rural areas. Republicans hope to add one Republican seat, ousting longtime Representative Emanuel Cleaver and leaving the state with just one solidly Democratic district in the St. Louis area.
Tap on a district for details.
2024 presidential vote margin
Number of districts
2024
2026
Change
+20 Dem. and greater
3
3
0
+10 to +20 Dem.
0
0
0
0 to +10 Dem.
0
0
0
0 to +10 Rep.
2
1
–1
+10 to +20 Rep.
8
10
+2
+20 Rep. and greater
1
0
–1
In North Carolina, Republicans control both houses of the legislature and approved a new map in October of last year. The new map could give Republicans an extra seat in the First Congressional District, which previously included all eight of the state’s majority Black counties and was redrawn to include more conservative-leaning counties.
Gov. Josh Stein, a Democrat, cannot veto redistricting plans, per the state Constitution.
Tap on a district for details.
2024 presidential vote margin
Number of districts
2024
2026
Change
+20 Dem. and greater
2
2
0
+10 to +20 Dem.
0
0
0
0 to +10 Dem.
2
1
–1
0 to +10 Rep.
3
3
0
+10 to +20 Rep.
2
3
+1
+20 Rep. and greater
6
6
0
Ohio’s bipartisan redistricting commission approved a new map in October of last year that could add up to two Republican seats. The new map dilutes Democrat-held districts near Toledo and Cincinnati.
Unlike many other states pursuing maps ahead of the normal timeline, Ohio had been required under its state Constitution to redraw its congressional maps before the 2026 midterms.
Tap on a district for details.
| 2024 presidential vote margin | Number of districts | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 2026 | Change | |
| +20 Dem. and greater | 1 | 0 | –1 |
| +10 to +20 Dem. | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 0 to +10 Dem. | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 0 to +10 Rep. | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| +10 to +20 Rep. | 1 | 0 | –1 |
| +20 Rep. and greater | 7 | 9 | +2 |
Tennessee Republicans moved swiftly after the Supreme Court decision that weakened the Voting Rights Act. Gov. Bill Lee signed a new map into law in early May that carves up the only Democratic district in the state, a majority Black district encompassing the Memphis area, splitting it into three neighboring districts.
A coalition of voters and Democratic candidates sued Tennessee officials in federal court over the new map, arguing that it was unconstitutional to implement new district lines this close to the state’s Aug. 6 primary.
Tap on a district for details.
2024 presidential vote margin
Number of districts
2024
2026
Change
+20 Dem. and greater
10
7
–3
+10 to +20 Dem.
1
1
0
0 to +10 Dem.
0
0
0
0 to +10 Rep.
2
0
–2
+10 to +20 Rep.
4
8
+4
+20 Rep. and greater
21
22
+1
Texas was the first state to redistrict last year, after President Trump urged Republican leaders to redraw maps ahead of the midterm elections.
The new map, signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott in August of last year, could add up to five Republican seats in the state. Democrats argued that the new lines cut into majority Black and Hispanic districts in violation of the Voting Rights Act, but the Supreme Court upheld the map in December.
Tap on a district for details.
2024 presidential vote margin
Number of districts
2024
2026
Change
+20 Dem. and greater
0
1
+1
+10 to +20 Dem.
0
0
0
0 to +10 Dem.
0
0
0
0 to +10 Rep.
0
0
0
+10 to +20 Rep.
1
0
–1
+20 Rep. and greater
3
3
0
A Utah state judge in November tossed out a congressional map proposed by the state’s Republican Legislature, instead adopting a map offered by a centrist coalition. That map adds a Democratic-leaning district surrounding Salt Lake City.
Tap on a district for details.
2024 presidential vote margin
Number of districts
2024
2026
Change
+20 Dem. and greater
1
0
–1
+10 to +20 Dem.
0
1
+1
0 to +10 Dem.
1
0
–1
0 to +10 Rep.
0
0
0
+10 to +20 Rep.
0
1
+1
+20 Rep. and greater
5
5
0
Alabama had faced a ban on middecade redistricting until after the 2030 census. But after the Supreme Court ruling on the Voting Rights Act, Republicans in Alabama sought to revert back to a map first proposed in 2023 that had previously been rejected as a violation of the act.
The Supreme Court removed a critical obstacle for the use of that map in May, which would most likely do away with one of two majority-Black districts in the state.
Still, legal challenges remain. A panel of federal judges on May 26 rejected the new map, saying that the districts discriminated against Black people and could not be used so shortly before a vote. Alabama has appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court.
Gov. Jeff Landry, a Republican, delayed House primary elections after the Supreme Court’s decision on the Voting Rights Act tossed out Louisiana’s current maps. Ballots cast in the state’s primaries, where early voting began just days after the decision, did not count. New primary elections will be held in November.
The Louisiana Legislature is continuing to debate a new map, but is expected to eliminate at least one of the state’s two majority-Black districts.
Politics
John Thune goes ‘all in’ for Ken Paxton after bitter primary ripped GOP apart
Trump’s endorsement power highlighted after Texas GOP primary runoff
Fox News contributors Kaylee McGhee White and Meghan Hays analyze President Donald Trump’s significant endorsement power after Ken Paxton’s decisive victory over John Cornyn in the Texas GOP primary runoff. They discuss the strong message sent by Republican voters against entrenched politicians and the potential impact of economic concerns on the upcoming general election, where Paxton faces far-left Democrat Talarico. The segment highlights evolving voter dynamics in Texas.
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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton added another endorsement to his growing field of backers in the Senate GOP: Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D.
Thune announced his support of Paxton on the Hugh Hewitt show Wednesday afternoon, less than a day after the bloody primary fight in the Lone Star State concluded. And the main target now is Texas state Rep. James Talarico, the insurgent Democratic nominee waiting for Paxton in November.
“The voters, Republican voters in Texas spoke last night,” Thune said. “Ken Paxton is their nominee heading into November, and we got to pivot and go all in to make sure that we keep Texas red, that he wins, and that we keep a far left liberal out of the United States Senate.”
MAGA TRIUMPH: TRUMP ALLY KEN PAXTON DEFEATS JOHN CORNYN IN BITTER TEXAS GOP PRIMARY WAR
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., leaves the Republican Senate luncheon in the U.S. Capitol on March 3, 2026, arguing that Democrats were pushing to keep DHS closed because it was “politically advantageous.” (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
“And obviously, that seat is gonna be very key to our majority, which will determine the future of this country,” he continued.
Paxton was neither Thune nor the majority of Senate Republicans’ first choice, however.
Most of the Senate GOP backed longtime incumbent Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, throughout the grueling battle to elect Texas’ Republican nominee for Senate. And many were shocked when President Donald Trump opted to endorse Paxton at the last minute, one week out Tuesday night’s runoff election finale.
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Republicans feared that if Paxton came out on top, it could tip the balance in favor of Democrats, who haven’t sent a lawmaker to the upper chamber since 1988.
But facing Talarico, who easily toppled his primary opponent Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, has placed the priority of maintaining the GOP’s majority in the Senate over personal choice for Republicans.
“We’ve gotta do everything we can do as a party, to make sure that that we win this race,” Thune said. “Because, you know, losing is not an option when it comes to the state of Texas, and what it means for our majority in the Senate.”
Thune isn’t the first Senate Republican to back Paxton, either.
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Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, President Donald Trump, and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton are pictured together. (Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg)
Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, leapt ahead of the crowd Tuesday night shortly after the race was called and urged the GOP to come together to beat Talarico, who he charged was a “far left freak who supports open borders, trans ideology, and even called the American flag a ‘complicated symbol.’”
“I am proud to endorse [Paxton],” Moreno said on X. “The voters have spoken, now Republicans must unite and win.”
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And the number two Republican in the Senate, Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., soon followed.
“James Talarico is a far-left extremist,” Barrasso said on X. “He is a rubber stamp for open borders, illegal immigrant criminals, and men playing in women’s sports. Talarico is too radical for Texas.”
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