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Rep. John James of Michigan Announces Bid for Governor

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Rep. John James of Michigan Announces Bid for Governor

Representative John James, Republican of Michigan, announced on Monday that he would run for governor, jumping into an increasingly crowded, high-profile contest.

In a post on social media, Mr. James tied himself closely to President Trump while criticizing recent Democratic leadership of Michigan as “radical” and “out-of-touch.”

“It’s time to get Michigan’s government out of fantasyland and back to common sense,” Mr. James wrote.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat elected in 2018, is term-limited, which has set up a competitive 2026 race to determine her successor in the battleground state. On the Republican side, Mr. James joins Aric Nesbitt, the minority leader in the State Senate. Two prominent Democrats in Ms. Whitmer’s administration, Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II and Jocelyn Benson, the secretary of state, have also announced runs for governor.

Pete Buttigieg, the former transportation secretary and 2020 Democratic candidate for president who is often mentioned as a likely 2028 presidential contender, said last month that he would not enter the governor’s race, nor would he run for the U.S. Senate seat held by Gary Peters, a Democrat who is retiring.

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The governor’s race could be further complicated by the candidacy of Mayor Mike Duggan of Detroit, a longtime Democrat who announced last year that he would run as an independent, an effort to distance himself from the Democratic Party brand after Mr. Trump flipped the state back to the Republican column in the presidential race last November.

Closely divided Michigan has seesawed between the two parties in recent years, with voters narrowly electing Elissa Slotkin, a Democrat, to an open Senate seat while at the same time backing Mr. Trump for the presidency.

Mr. James, 43, has represented a competitive district in the northern Detroit suburbs since 2023, after previously losing two bids for the Senate. A businessman and former Army helicopter pilot who served in Iraq, he would be Michigan’s first Black governor.

In his announcement post, Mr. James underscored his credentials and suggested he would help to reverse a decline in manufacturing jobs in Michigan. “Our state has suffered long enough,” he wrote.

In a statement, Sam Newton, a spokesman for the Democratic Governors Association, dismissed Mr. James as a right-wing politician who supports policies that would harm Michiganders. “John James has spent his time in Congress putting his own extreme partisan politics first, and now he’s running to bring the chaos and dysfunction of D.C. to Michigan,” Mr. Newton said.

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NYC mayor-elect tells residents how to resist ICE agents knocking at their door in new video

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NYC mayor-elect tells residents how to resist ICE agents knocking at their door in new video

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New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani on Sunday released a video outlining New Yorkers’ rights during encounters with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after an attempted raid in Manhattan, pledging that his administration will safeguard immigrant communities while protecting the city’s constitutional right to protest.

The video comes as immigration enforcement in New York faces renewed scrutiny, underscoring how Mamdani plans to confront federal actions he says threaten immigrant communities and demand that New Yorkers be prepared, informed and confident in asserting their legal rights.

In the video, Mamdani opens by recalling an ICE raid last weekend in Manhattan that sought to detain immigrants.

“As mayor, I’ll protect the rights of every single New Yorker, and that includes the more than 3 million immigrants who call this city their home,” he said. “But we can all stand up to ICE if you know your rights.”

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MAMDANI VOWS NYPD WILL ‘NEVER’ GO BACK TO ADAMS-ERA COOPERATION WITH ICE ENFORCEMENT

New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani speaks during a news conference in the Queens borough of New York, Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025. (Heather Khalifa/AP Photo)

He then offered guidance for immigrants who may encounter ICE.

“First, ICE cannot enter into private spaces like your home, school or private area of your workplace without a judicial warrant signed by a judge,” Mamdani advised. “If ICE does not have a judicial warrant signed by a judge, you have the right to say, ‘I do not consent to entry’ and the right to keep your door closed.’”

He noted that ICE may present paperwork claiming authority to make an arrest, but said “that is false.”

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BONDI PUTS SANCTUARY CITIES NATIONWIDE ON NOTICE AFTER DC POLICE FEDERAL TAKEOVER

“ICE is legally allowed to lie to you, but you have the right to remain silent,” the mayor-elect said. “If you’re being detained, you may always ask, ‘Am I free to go?’ repeatedly until they answer you.”

Mamdani also said that people are “legally allowed to film” ICE agents as long as they do not interfere with an arrest.

“It is important to remain calm during any interaction with ICE or law enforcement. Do not impede their investigation, resist arrest or run,” he said.

DHS DEMANDS LETITIA JAMES TAKE ACTION OVER NEW YORK’S REFUSAL TO HONOR ICE DETAINERS

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Zohran Mamdani, mayor-elect of New York, left, and President Donald Trump are seen during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 21, 2025.  (Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Mamdani closed by emphasizing New Yorkers’ constitutional right to protest.

“New Yorkers have a constitutional right to protest, and when I’m mayor, we will protect that right,” he said. “New York will always welcome immigrants, and I will fight each and every day to protect, support and celebrate our immigrant brothers and sisters.”

The video comes more than two weeks after the mayor-elect met with President Donald Trump, appearing to forge a new path in their relationship as they found common ground on affordability issues and improving conditions in New York.

Despite that meeting, Mamdani reaffirmed New York’s status as a sanctuary city during a speech at a church in the Bronx.

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“I shared with the president directly that New Yorkers want to follow the laws of our city, and the laws of our city say that, in our sanctuary city policies, city government can be in touch with the federal government on around 170 serious crimes,” Mamdani said last month. “The concern comes from beyond those crimes, the many New Yorkers who are being arrested, they’re being detained, they’re being deported for the crime of making a regular court appearance.”

“My focus as the next mayor of this city is going to be to protect immigrants who call this city their home,” the mayor-elect added.

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Trump, Sheinbaum extend mutual invitations for visits after Washington meeting

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Trump, Sheinbaum extend mutual invitations for visits after Washington meeting

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Friday that she and President Trump had a “cordial” hourlong meeting in Washington that ended with both leaders extending invitations to visit each other’s country.

“We’ll arrange a date later,” Sheinbaum told reporters outside the Mexican Cultural Institute.

The meeting was the first time the two had met face to face and followed months of clashes between the United States and Mexico over contentious issues such as trade, immigration and how to combat drug trafficking.

But on Friday, the two world leaders were brought together by soccer.

Sheinbaum was in Washington to attend the FIFA World Cup 2026 draw at the Kennedy Center, alongside Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. The U.S., Mexico and Canada are co-hosting the soccer tournament, which begins in June.

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In a social media post, Sheinbaum said the three leaders talked about “the great opportunity that the 2026 FIFA World Cup represents for the three countries and about the good relationships we have.”

“We agreed to continue working together on trade issue with our teams,” she added.

She later reiterated to reporters that the meeting had been “very positive,” and that she impressed upon Trump that Mexico is “extraordinary” country. She said she personally invited him to visit Mexico, and that he extended an invitation to come back to Washington.

Asked if Trump asked anything of her, she said he had “nothing in particular.”

After months of friction between the two countries, the meeting on Friday could break the ice and set the stage for policy negotiations as both presidents navigate pressures from their constituencies.

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Since the start of his second term in January, Trump has threatened to impose large trade tariffs on Mexico, the United States’ largest trade partner — but so far, Sheinbaum has been able to stave off many tariffs.

Trump and his team have also been floating the prospect of U.S. strikes on suspected criminals and drug laboratories in Mexico. But Sheinbaum has insisted she would not allow the U.S. military to fight drug cartels within its nation’s borders.

The ongoing negotiations come as Mexicans’ attitudes toward Trump and the United States have continued to sour. In contrast, Mexicans continue to see their own government’s management of the border positively, according to a Pew Research Center report published in July.

The upbeat aftermath of Friday’s meeting belied profound differences of opinion between the leaders of two nations that have an almost 2,000-mile border and share deep economic, security and cultural ties.

The two North American presidents could hardly be more different: Sheinbaum is a scientist and life-long leftist activist who maintains a low-key demeanor; Trump is a real-estate scion who embraces right-wing talking points and craves being the center of attention.

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Sheinbaum has had to walk a thin line as she has fought off Trump’s repeated threats to impose punishing tariffs on imports from Mexico, a nation heavily dependent on cross-border trade with the United States.

She has also rejected Trump’s suggestions that U.S. forces may intervene unilaterally in Mexico to attack drug cartels. She has maintained her mantra of “cooperation, not subordination,” even as Trump has mused about striking gangs in Mexico.

In various remarks, Trump has lauded Sheinbaum as “wonderful” and “brave,” while also declaring that she rejected U.S. military aid to fight Mexican cartels because she is is “scared to death” of the cartels.

Sheinbaum has assailed U.S. strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean and Pacific that have left dozens dead. She has also declared Mexico’s opposition to U.S. military intervention in Venezuela or anywhere else in Latin America.

Repeatedly, the Mexican president has insisted that her country would be “nobody’s piñata.”

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In his career, Trump has long used Mexico and Mexicans as a political punching bag, catering to anti-immigrant sentiment in the United States. Trump kicked off his 2016 presidential campaign declaring that Mexican immigrants were criminals, drug-runners and and “rapists” — though he acknowledged there were some “good people” among them — and repeatedly pledged to build “a big beautiful wall” along the U.S.-Mexico border that Mexico would pay for. It didn’t.

After Friday’s meeting, Ronald Johnson, the U.S. ambassador to Mexico, said on X that the encounter “reaffirmed a historic partnership based on results,” adding: “Their dialogue advances a high-level agenda focused on cooperation, security, and prosperity.”

Staff Writers Ceballos reported from Washington and McDonnell from Mexico City.

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Video: The Impact of Trump’s Slipping Approval Rating

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Video: The Impact of Trump’s Slipping Approval Rating

new video loaded: The Impact of Trump’s Slipping Approval Rating

After months of holding steady, President Trump‘s approval rating has dipped over the past several weeks, according to a New York Times analysis of public polling.

By Tyler Pager, Claire Hogan, Whitney Shefte and Stephanie Swart

December 7, 2025

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