Sarah Trone Garriott, a Democratic candidate for Congress in Iowa’s 3rd Congressional District, is trying to reassure voters that she doesn’t support men having access to women’s locker rooms — a stance she believes her opponents have tried to obfuscate.

“I’m a mom with two kids in Iowa public schools. Their education and safety literally keep me up at night. So, when my opponent cherry-picks and twists my record, I have to set it straight,” Trone Garriott said in a recent campaign video.

“I oppose letting men in women’s locker rooms,” she added.

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However, Trone Garriott’s voting record from her time in the Iowa legislature is clashing with her assertions, complicating the picture for her as she attempts to flip one of the country’s most competitive House seats and topple incumbent Rep. Zach Nunn, R-Iowa.

Even before Trone Garriott captured the Democratic nomination to run in the district earlier this year, Republicans have sought to highlight parts of her record that seem to show she has championed positions farther left than the campaign she’s currently running.

Many have bashed a Muslim prayer she offered up on the Iowa Senate floor and how, as a Lutheran minister, she officiated a satanic wedding.

However, it was Trone Garriott’s stance on bathroom policy that Vice President J.D. Vance zeroed in on in a campaign speech for Nunn earlier this year.

“His opponent voted to push biological males in girls’ sports as early as kindergarten. She was voting against banning gender transition surgeries for minors,” Vance said.

Vance, like other Republican critics, referred to two key votes Trone Garriott cast in the Iowa Senate: one, passed in 2023, prohibits elementary and secondary schools from letting someone enter a bathroom “that does not correspond with the person’s biological sex.” A second bill, which became law in 2022, sets the eligibility rules for school and college sports teams based on biological sex.

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Trone Garriott voted against both of them.

Her votes seem consistent with previous statements she made in 2023 where she indicated bathroom policies and sports policies looking to restrict participants were based on racial and gender tensions.

“It’s very threatening of the idea of the white, male powerful figure because it muddies the waters and makes things ambiguous and confusing,” Trone Garriott said in an address with the United Methodist Church, speaking on politics and faith.

“We see all sorts of responses happening in legislation and in community conflict — a lot more emphasis on really funding and supporting the private schools, the parents’ rights. And within that, the parents’ rights piece is used to enact book bans, sports bans about who can play and who can compete; it’s really couched in a language of there’s a threat to women. And white men are responsible to protect women against threats.”

Her campaign did not address how her previous votes and statements align with her current campaign positions, or whether those positions have changed. But in a statement to Fox News Digital, a spokesperson for Trone Garriott said she stood by her campaign video.

“Sarah does not want men in women’s locker rooms. As a parent, there is nothing more important than the safety of our children, that’s why she will always stand up for a parent’s right to decide what’s best for their children,” Zach Schenkman, the spokesperson, said.

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In her campaign video, Trone Garriott said she believed too much political attention had been given to the topic.

“Politicians have become too extreme on these issues. I’ll always put kids and families first,” Trone Garriott said.

At least one Republican strategist isn’t buying the switch in position.

“Even Sarah Trone Garriott’s handlers realize her radical record and insane history of woke statements is completely unelectable in Iowa. No amount of false ads or consultant lies will hide the truth about the Wicked Witch of Woke and her sinister trans-for-all obsession,” Zach Kraft, a spokesperson for the Republican National Committee (RNC) said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

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Nunn, the district’s current representative, last won re-election in a 51.8% to 47.9% victory over Democratic challenger Lanon Baccam in 2024. With the Democratic nomination in tow, Trone Garriott will face off against Nunn in the Nov. 3 general election.

In a striking demonstration of support, hundreds of fired-up Californians rallied in Santa Monica to speak out against the Trump administration’s attempt to wrest local control over the state’s beloved coastline.

The Golden State’s top environmental leaders, along with prominent elected officials, environmentalists, business coalitions, community activists, Indigenous groups and everyday citizens, packed a public hearing Monday before the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of Coastal Management, which has been tasked with conducting an unprecedented investigation that could ultimately strip California of its power to say no to federal projects.

Experts see the investigation — framed as a performance review of the state’s coastal management practices — as a thinly veiled attempt by Trump officials to open California’s coast to more offshore oil drilling, more rocket launches and possibly even floating nuclear reactors. If the federal government succeeds, many worry it could set the stage for similar actions in other coastal states.

“I’m scared, not because we haven’t built something worth protecting — we have. I’m scared because this meeting is performance theater. In some ways, the decision seems already made,” said Maureen Ellenberger, a resident of Santa Barbara who said she is haunted by the possibility of another oil spill. “But I’m speaking today anyway, so there’s a record. So years from now… everyone will know we fought, that we did not consent.”

Citing California’s “environmental extremism,” Trump officials are attempting to decertify the state’s authority under the federal Coastal Zone Management Act, or CZMA. The act grants coastal states the right to review and object to any project in federal waters that clashes with state policy.

For the last five decades, the CZMA has been celebrated as a bipartisan co-management framework between coastal states and the federal government — and in California, the process had been relatively smooth through every presidential administration until Trump’s.

Tensions escalated in May when U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick declared that “California has repeatedly and unfoundedly obstructed spaceport development in bad faith” and announced that he was ordering a fresh evaluation of the state’s CZMA compliance using a “new approach.” He specifically instructed NOAA, which is under his purview, to take offshore oil production, pipeline maintenance, spaceport infrastructure, desalination projects and undersea cables into consideration, citing national priorities and economic interests.

Performance reviews under the CZMA are not uncommon (most states are subject to a routine review every five to 10 years) but what’s unusual in this case is the callout to specific industries, as well as the politically charged nature of how the review was announced (state officials learned they were under review through a social media post from the U.S. Department of Commerce).

What was also unusual was the fact California had also just undergone a routine review during the Biden administration.

A draft of that review, which was completed in 2024, but not finalized because of the change in administration, gave top marks to the three California agencies charged with implementing the CZMA — the California Coastal Commission, the California State Coastal Conservancy and the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission. The review found no issues.

Joelle Gore, left, chief of the stewardship division at the NOAA Office for Coastal Management, and Keelin Kuipers, right, acting director at NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management, listen to more than four hours of public comments.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

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The new Lutnick-ordered review began in earnest on Monday with the only hearing that people can attend in-person during the 45-day-public comment period. (Two virtual hearings will be held Tuesday and Wednesday, and NOAA is required to review all written comments that are submitted from members of the public through Aug. 22.)

More than 15,000 people have written comments so far, and for more than four hours Monday, surfers, fishers, marine scientists, community activists, business owners, real estate brokers and Californians from a wide swath of interest groups — many traveling from Marin, San José, Mendocino and other parts of the state — lined up to speak before NOAA’s acting director for coastal management.

Nobody in attendance spoke in favor of the federal review. As people in the crowd held up signs declaring “NO FEDERAL TAKEOVER” and “NO SELLOUTS FOR BIG OIL,” speakers expressed their love for the California coast and urged federal officials to take note of the state’s thriving marine economy.

The crowd erupted in whoops and applause after each person finished their three minutes of public comments. A number of speakers, some moved to tears, expressed afterward that they had never been more proud to be a Californian.

“It was just example after example after example of how the state’s coastal management program is working — it was really putting into the record those facts and also just so many personal stories,” said Jennifer Savage, a longtime policy advocate for Surfrider Foundation who drove more than 670 miles from Humboldt to testify at the hearing. “It showed more than anything that being able to go to the beach is such a unifying shared joy in California.”

The state’s top environmental leaders also took turns speaking about how the CZMA has long facilitated open dialogue and collaboration between the state and federal government.

“We sincerely hope that this review is not merely a pretense for removing California’s ability to hold public hearings on offshore oil and gas projects,” said Kate Huckelbridge, executive director of the Coastal Commission. “California has received very little information about why this new federal review is being undertaken. Still, we welcome a fair and transparent evaluation. Our record speaks for itself.”

Wade Crowfoot, California secretary for natural resources, provides public comment during the NOAA hearing.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

Out of the more than 3,700 federal actions that have come before the Coastal Commission for review since the 1970s, the commission has aligned with the federal actions 96% of the time, Huckelbridge said.

Current and former coastal officials also spoke about their experiences with past reviews and questioned the unusual timing of this evaluation and how it doesn’t follow standard procedure.

“I have personally participated in several periodic reviews, and what has happened in this review is unprecedented and, quite frankly, bizarre. There is absolutely no basis for reopening the periodic review conducted in 2024,” said Jack Ainsworth, who had worked at the coastal commission for 34 years and led it for seven of those years. “I would also note that California is recognized as the gold standard for integrated coastal management in the United States and around the world.”

At a NOAA hearing Monday, the crowd applauded after each speaker expressed their love for the California coast and urged federal officials to keep things the way they are.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

What happens after this week’s hearings will be uncharted territory, but experts say that if the review does end up taking issue with California’s coastal management program, the state should be given the opportunity to respond to any proposed changes. The process laid out in the law appears to include multiple steps and opportunities for discussion, they said.

At a rally outside the meeting room Monday, more than a hundred environmentalists gathered alongside Congress members, county supervisors, Indigenous leaders, environmental justice groups and business coalitions to further amplify the many voices that represent California.

Toni Cordero, a board member of Sacred Places Institute for Indigenous Peoples, Surfrider Foundation, and Environmental Defense Center, speaks at a rally before the NOAA hearing Monday.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

“The Creator put us here to coexist and to collaborate in caring for our mother ocean and for all her relatives, all of her inhabitants and all those who call this coast home,” said Toni Cordero, a former tribal chair of the Coastal Band of the Chumash Nation who also served as a deputy state attorney general for more than 25 years. “We must remember them. It is their homelands, their well-being and their futures that are also at stake under the guise of ensuring compliance with the Coastal Zone Management Act.”

The crowd waved signs and cheered again as Wade Crowfoot, California’s secretary for natural resources, stepped up to speak.

“It has been clear from Gov. Newsom to Atty. Gen. Bonta to our legislators to our congressional delegation: California’s coast is not for sale, and a hostile takeover of our coast by the federal government… won’t be tolerated,” Crowfoot declared.

“So rest assured,” he said, “we stand in strong solidarity with everyone here today — whether you’re a tribal government, a local government, a conservation organization or just somebody that likes to get out and be on a beach that’s safe and healthy, we are making our voices heard.”

MADISON, Wis. – For a second straight week, the Midwest is the key battlefield in the high-stakes fight between the left-wing and the center-left establishment for the future of the Democratic Party.

After far-left candidate Abdul El-Sayed narrowly edged out more moderate Rep. Haley Stevens a week ago in battleground Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary, which was the biggest stage to date in the party’s ideological civil war, the spotlight now shifts to statewide nomination showdowns Tuesday in Wisconsin and Minnesota.

At stake: a top-tier Senate showdown in Minnesota that’s among a dozen races nationwide that will determine if the Democrats can win back control of the chamber from the GOP, and a gubernatorial face-off in crucial swing-state Wisconsin where Republicans are aiming to flip the governor’s mansion.

Also on the ballot, as Minnesota and Wisconsin join Connecticut, Vermont, South Carolina, and Alabama in holding primaries: incumbent governors in Connecticut and Vermont are running to extend their tenures, and the power of President Donald Trump’s endorsement in a GOP nomination contest is on the line in South Carolina, in the race to succeed the late Sen. Lindsey Graham.

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“Michigan proved that working people are ready for something different, and Wisconsin is next,” Democratic candidate for governor Francesca Hong wrote following El-Sayed’s victory.

Hong, a state representative and Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) member, is the polling frontrunner in a Democratic gubernatorial nomination showdown that’s been rocked this summer after two major contenders dropped out, and another candidate re-entered the race.

The primary winner will likely face off in the general election with Republican Rep. Tom Tiffany, the overwhelming polling and fundraising frontrunner for the GOP gubernatorial nomination, in the race to succeed Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, who decided against running for a third term. Tiffany, who is backed by Trump, is a hard-right member of the House Freedom Caucus.

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Hong, a 37-year-old former chef and single mother, is backed by top nationally known progressives, including Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Ro Khanna of California, a potential 2028 Democratic presidential contender. But Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a longtime champion of the left, last week said he didn’t plan on endorsing Hong, arguing that he was not familiar enough with her campaign or the race.

Hong is running on a platform that includes guaranteed paid leave, boosting the state’s minimum wage from $7.25 to $20 per hour, and a one-year moratorium in Wisconsin on building AI data centers. Hong has faced scrutiny over years-old social media posts calling for defunding and abolishing the police. But she says she no longer supports cutting police budgets or abolishing police departments.

“I’m not defunding the police, not abolishing police. I am serious about public safety,” Hong emphasized on Saturday as she took questions from voters.

Hong also made national headlines over the past two weeks for a resurfaced social media post from 2020 where she argued that the country should “cancel Thanksgiving” in order to “stop celebrating colonialism.”

Hong walked back her Thanksgiving comments, amid backlash, and now says that Thanksgiving is her “favorite holiday.”

On her resurfaced tweets, Hong told reporters on Saturday that she has “evolved” and “learned.”

Tiffany, in an interview on the eve of the primary as he teamed up for a couple of campaign events with former Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, told Fox News Digital that Wisconsin will be a “firewall… We’ll be the place that stops socialism.”

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Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez and former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, two of the major contenders for the Democratic nomination, exited the race this summer. And Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, who earlier suspended his campaign and backed Rodriguez, re-entered the contest.

Crowley is backed by Evers, who joined him on the campaign trail in the closing stretch leading up to the primary.

There’s a growing number of more moderate Democrats concerned that if Hong captures the gubernatorial nomination, as many expect, it will give Tiffany a big boost in his bid to flip the governor’s office.

A Wisconsin-based Democratic strategist who asked to remain anonymous to speak more freely argued that with Hong at the top of the ticket, “it will hurt Democrats down ballot, in key congressional and legislative races” in the Midwestern battleground

Meanwhile, pro-GOP super PACs, including one aligned with the Republican Governors Association, have shelled out millions of dollars to boost Hong in the primary, because they view her as the weakest Democratic candidate.

Asked about electability concerns, Hong told Fox News on Sunday that “this election belongs to the voters. We let the voters decide. The candidate that’s the most electable is the one that earns the most votes. So we’re focused on meeting voters up until Election Day, until the polls close.”

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The Democratic Party’s civil war is also on display in Minnesota, as progressive Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan and more moderate Rep. Angie Craig are the top two contenders battling for the party’s nomination. The current senator, Democrat Tina Smith, is retiring at the end of this year.

It’s been 24 years since a Republican won a U.S. Senate election in Minnesota. But a primary victory by Flanagan, who is backed by Sanders and another progressive heavyweight, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, may boost the GOP hopes of flipping the seat in a blue-leaning but competitive state.

Former longtime TV sports reporter turned political activist and conservative commentator Michele Tafoya, who is backed by the National Republican Senatorial Committee, is the polling and fundraising frontrunner in the GOP Senate nomination race. The field also includes former Navy SEAL Adam Schwarze, 2024 Senate nominee Royce White, a former NBA basketball player, and retired U.S. Navy officer Tom Weiler.

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Embattled Democratic Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, the 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee, announced at the beginning of the year that he wouldn’t seek a third term as governor amid heavy political pressure and national scrutiny over the state’s handling of a major child care fraud investigation.

Longtime Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar is the overwhelming frontrunner for the party’s gubernatorial nomination.

Mike Lindell, the My Pillow founder and former CEO who is a close Trump ally who joined the president in denying former President Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 White House race, is a leading contender for the GOP gubernatorial nomination, along with Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth. The field also includes healthcare technology executive Kendall Qualls.

In South Carolina, Tuesday’s special Republican Senate primary is being held one month to the day after Graham’s sudden death. At the time of his death, Graham was seeking re-election and had won renomination.

In the showdown for the open nomination, Trump is backing the late senator’s younger sister, Sen. Darlene Graham, whom GOP Gov. Henry McMaster appointed last month to serve the remainder of the current Senate term. Among the other major contenders in the primary sprint are Reps. Ralph Norman and Russell Fry and Mark Sanford, a former governor and former congressman.

The primary is the latest test of Trump’s Republican endorsement clout and his sway over the GOP. But the Trump endorsement hasn’t proven to be a sure bet this cycle in solidly-red South Carolina.

Trump backed Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette in the GOP gubernatorial nomination – in the race to succeed the term-limited McMaster – ahead of the state’s early June primary.

Evette was the top vote-getter in the primary but lost the ensuing runoff election against South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson in a landslide. And Trump, ever hungry for a victory, endorsed Wilson in addition to Evette days before the runoff.

In deep-blue Connecticut, Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont is running for renomination for a third term. Lamont is facing a primary challenge from the left, from state Rep. Josh Elliott.

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And in Democrat-dominated Vermont, Republican Gov. Phil Scott is unopposed in the GOP primary, as he seeks a sixth two-year term as governor. Vermont and neighboring New Hampshire are the only two states in the nation to elect governors every two years.

Former lobbying group CEO Aly Richards and economist Amanda Janoo are facing off for the Democratic nomination, with the winner challenging Scott in the general election.

In Alabama, voters in the reliably red state’s 1st, 2nd, 6th and 7th Congressional Districts go to the polls in special primary elections. Republican Gov. Kay Ivey called for the special contests after a U.S. Supreme Court order allowed Alabama to use a 2023 GOP-drawn congressional district map district map instead of a court ordered that included a second Black-majority seat.