Politics

The Next Generation of Democrats Don’t Plan to Wait Their Turn

Published

1 year ago

April 10, 2025

The Next Generation of Democrats Don’t Plan to Wait Their Turn

George Hornedo, a liberal activist and Democratic Party strategist in Indianapolis, had already been weighing a primary challenge to the local congressman when he was confronted last month by a senior Indiana Democrat.

Asked whether he was planning a run, Mr. Hornedo, 34, acknowledged he was considering it. The woman, he recalled, told him he was “going to get hurt.” He posted his recounting of the interaction on TikTok, where it quickly went viral. “Don’t let them scare you off,” one commenter wrote.

On Wednesday, Mr. Hornedo announced his campaign against the nine-term incumbent, Representative André Carson, while deriding him and those like him as “do-nothing Democrats” and promising a new generation of leadership for Washington. “The Democratic Party cannot win the future with a leadership structure that is built for the past,” he said in an interview.

A small but growing group of young Democrats are being propelled to act by outrage among rank-and-file voters, and especially among young people. Infuriated by the early months of President Trump’s second term, impatient with the status quo and frustrated with party leadership, they are mounting bids for office.

In California, Jake Rakov, 37, a onetime Capitol Hill aide to Representative Brad Sherman, 70, is challenging his former boss. And even Representative Nancy Pelosi, 85, the California Democrat who stepped down from her two-decade leadership role in 2023, faces a primary challenge, from Saikat Chakrabarti, 39, the former campaign manager for Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, who ran a similar playbook in her first race for Congress.

Some of these efforts look like long shots against well-funded and better-known incumbents. But they amount to a manifestation of the anger felt by voters toward the Democratic Party — after President Joseph R. Biden Jr., ignoring their concerns, waited until late in the game to abandon his attempt at re-election — and the sentiment that a younger generation might be better equipped to oppose Mr. Trump.

“They’re looking to build a Democratic Party that will fight instead of fold,” said Amanda Litman, the leader of Run for Something, a progressive group that pushes young Democrats to run for office. Young people, Ms. Litman said, were essentially saying: “It’s time to pass the torch. And if they’re not going to pass it, we’re going to take it.”

Here’s a look at three young Democrats who recently announced runs for office.

Seeking to shake up the status quo

A member of the Indiana Democratic Party representing the Latino caucus, Mr. Hornedo (rhymes with tornado) has a résumé that does not quite qualify him as a party outsider. He held a communications role in the Obama administration’s Justice Department and has worked for a range of prominent Democrats, including Pete Buttigieg, the former transportation secretary, who has had presidential ambitions.

But Mr. Hornedo said he rejected any labels like “progressive” or “establishment,” arguing instead that the split in the party is between those like himself who feel a sense of urgency to shake up the status quo and those “who believe that our system and institutions are largely working for people, and we simply have to protect them and manage them in this decline.”

Mr. Hornedo said that he planned to take a more active role than Mr. Carson in building up the Democrats’ bench in Indiana and that he was especially interested in pushing for more affordable housing in Indianapolis, which Mr. Carson has represented since 2008. In a statement, Mr. Carson said he was a lifelong progressive and invited “all voices to join me to defeat far-right extremism.”

Tired of compromise

Kat Abughazaleh, a 26-year-old former researcher for Media Matters, a liberal advocacy organization, first gained online attention for her social media posts and videos skewering conservative media personalities.

Last month, she entered the political arena herself, announcing a primary challenge against Representative Jan Schakowsky, an Illinois Democrat first elected the year Ms. Abughazaleh was born, with an unusual tagline: “What if we didn’t suck?”

Ms. Abughazaleh (pronounced AH-boo-guh-ZAH-lay) said she had grown tired of watching Democrats compromise and work with Mr. Trump, and had been dismayed to see Democratic leaders who had called Mr. Trump a fascist and a threat to democracy show up to his inauguration.

“I was hoping that someone would do something in the chambers or legislatively, or speak out,” she said. “And instead, there were a lot of headlines of, ‘Oh, we want to work with DOGE’ — compromising on basic human rights, rolling over almost immediately,” she added, referring to Elon Musk’s effort to slash the federal government, known as the Department of Government Efficiency. Eventually, she said she realized that “we’re all we’ve got — no one else is coming to save us.”

Ms. Abughazaleh, a progressive who is making the cost of living a major part of her platform, is taking on a fellow progressive in Ms. Schakowsky. But she argues that it is time for Ms. Schakowsky, who is 80, to give way to a new generation.

In a statement, Ms. Schakowsky said that she had not yet decided whether to retire or run for re-election but that she welcomed “new faces getting involved as we stand up against the Trump administration.”

No ‘time to waste’

Deja Foxx’s upbringing would stand out among members of the House. Growing up in Tucson, Ariz., Ms. Foxx was homeless at one point as a teenager, and she worked at a gas station to help make ends meet.

While in high school in 2017, she confronted Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona, a Republican, at a town hall, asking him about his support for a bill that allowed states to direct funding away from Planned Parenthood, an exchange that went viral. Since then, Ms. Foxx has worked on Democratic campaigns, including on former Vice President Kamala Harris’s run last year.

But last November left her disheartened. And Ms. Foxx, 24, was alarmed by the relatively staid reactions from Democrats to Mr. Trump’s joint address to Congress in March, which she attended in person.

“I left balancing both a feeling of disappointment and a sense of urgency,” she said, adding later, “These cannot be the people who are standing between Donald Trump and Elon Musk and your grandmother’s Social Security checks.” She went on, “These cannot be our strongest fighters.”

Ms. Foxx announced a run for an open House seat in southern Arizona this month, joining a crowded special election field vying to replace Representative Raúl Grijalva, who died of complications from lung cancer in March. She said she was representing young people and members of the working class who want to see a fiercer resistance to Mr. Trump.

“For the people who tell me to sit down and wait my turn, I have nothing to say to them other than, ‘We don’t have time to waste,’” she said.

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Politics

Why Supreme Court Justices Are Asking for More Security

Published

2 hours ago

July 14, 2026

Press Room

Supreme Court justices are asking lawmakers on Capitol Hill to increase their 2027 budget, with most of the additional funding earmarked for security. Ann E. Marimow, a New York Times reporter, explains why the justices say these measures are necessary to protect them from rising threats.

Politics

Trump reveals who he’s eyeing to replace Lindsey Graham

Published

3 hours ago

July 14, 2026

Press Room

Trump reveals who he’s eyeing to replace Lindsey Graham

GOP scrambles to replace Sen. Lindsey Graham

Former Kevin McCarthy communications director Mark Bednar discusses the urgent political scramble to replace Sen. Lindsey Graham in South Carolina. He emphasizes President Donald Trump and Gov. McMaster’s need to quickly coordinate an interim appointment and rally around a strong Republican candidate for the impending special election. Potential candidates include Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette and Rep. Russell Fry, with warnings against infighting.

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President Donald Trump teased who he may like to see as a long-term replacement for the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., as a special election to lock in a candidate for the seat fast approaches.

Private and public jockeying is already underway to snag Trump’s coveted endorsement in the special election, which is slated for Aug. 11, with two lawmakers already expressing interest in launching a campaign.

And as members of the South Carolina GOP congressional delegation and beyond line up for the race, the president hinted that he may already have a favorite: Rep. Russell Fry, R-S.C.

GRAHAM ALLY RIPS ‘THIRSTY’ REPUBLICANS JOCKEYING TO REPLACE LATE SENATOR

Sen. Lindsey Graham speaks with reporters aboard Air Force One with President Donald Trump and Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on the way back to Washington, D.C., on Jan. 4, 2026. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)

“I think Russell Fry, a young congressman, is outstanding, and that could happen. I could see that happening,” Trump told Newsmax on Monday night. “I think he’s a very, very talented person.”

Trump backed Fry in his first bid for Congress in 2022, where he toppled former Rep. Tom Rice, R-S.C., in the primary. Rice was one of 10 House Republicans to vote to impeach Trump following the Jan. 6, 2021, riots on Capitol Hill.

‘THE HALLS OF THE SENATE ALREADY FEEL EMPTY’: TEARFUL THUNE HONORS LINDSEY GRAHAM AS SISTER TAKES HIS SEAT

“He took the place of somebody that was — I mean, he’s doing much better than the person that preceded him,” Trump said. “He’s been very popular in the state, so I think a name like Russell Fry is somebody you can watch out for and there are probably some others.”

Trump’s comments on Fry come after Politico reported that the lawmaker has been communicating with the White House about a run and was viewed as a top contender for the president’s stamp of approval. Fox News Digital did not immediately hear back from the White House or Fry on whether he’s being eyed for the special election.

LINDSEY GRAHAM’S SISTER APPOINTED TO SENATE AS GOP RUSHES TO PROTECT FRAGILE MAJORITY

Rep. Russell Fry, R-S.C., arrives for a House Republican Conference caucus meeting at the Capitol Hill Club in Washington on May 13, 2026. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)

In the meantime, Trump threw his support behind Graham’s sister, Sen.-designate Darline Graham, to take over the lawmaker’s seat for the remainder of his term. South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster appointed her on Monday, and she’ll be sworn in to the role Tuesday afternoon.

Trump said that he believed Graham would be there “only on an interim basis.”

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Meanwhile, Reps. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., and Ralph Norman, R-S.C., are eyeing the race, too. Norman has gone so far as to ask Trump for his endorsement.

Both Mace and Norman failed to clinch the GOP nomination for governor in South Carolina, which ultimately went to South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, who toppled Trump-backed South Carolina Lt. Gov. Pam Evette.

Alex Miller is a writer for Fox News Digital covering the U.S. Senate.

Politics

Commentary: Two Lorenzos from Mexico. One fulfilled his American dream. ICE killed the other

Published

4 hours ago

July 14, 2026

Press Room

Commentary: Two Lorenzos from Mexico. One fulfilled his American dream. ICE killed the other

They were Mexican immigrants, both named Lorenzo.

They came to this country without papers as teenagers. Lack of legal status didn’t stop them from building beautiful lives — a wife, a home, a loving dog. A blue-collar job that paid the bills, weekend carne asadas with friends and family, children who followed their father’s example of hard work.

The Lorenzos enjoyed the fruits of their labor in their adopted land, even as they battled to become American citizens while politicians demonized immigrants as invaders and worse.

Lorenzo Arellano arrived in the United States in 1968 and didn’t get his citizenship until nearly 30 years later. Back then, the path to naturalization was far easier.

Lorenzo Salgado Araujo arrived in the early 1990s, when those opportunities were becoming severely limited.

Lorenzo Arellano is my father, a happily retired truck driver living in Anaheim.

Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, 52, who ran his own construction crew, was on his way to a job with his brother and two other men when an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot him dead on July 7 in Houston.

When I see a photo of Salgado Araujo beaming in front of a cake with the number 52 on it at the well-kept home he built with his own hands, I’m reminded that we’ll be celebrating my father’s 75th birthday next month. When I see video of Salgado Araujo’s feet twitching on the ground with two ICE agents next to him as he bleeds out and moans for help, I weep.

Only geography, age and Donald Trump separated the Lorenzos. Even their children — he had three boys, while my father had two boys and two girls — are similar. The Salgado Araujos, like the Arellanos, are college-educated. The eldest son, Ronaldo, is a teacher like my sisters. He wears glasses like me and is now telling the story of his father to the nation, as I have for decades.

I write about my Papi as the puckish personification of immigrant America.

Ronaldo is eulogizing his dad way too soon.

“He wanted nothing else in life but to provide for his wife and see his sons become great people,” Ronaldo said proudly at a news conference the day after his father’s death — words I’ve always said about my Papi. “He did not deserve to be reduced to a headline of ‘Mexican man shot and killed by ICE’” — words I hope to never utter but can sadly see as a possibility given la migra’s unapologetic shoot-first approach and indiscriminate targeting of anyone brown.

Salgado Araujo’s killing came as part of the Trump administration’s newest deportation surge — the New York Times reported that the feds have arrested nearly 2,000 people a day since the end of June. The rate is higher than ICE’s campaign of terror last summer, yet it hasn’t drawn the same attention, fulfilling the promise of newish Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin that la migra would operate far more quietly and efficiently than under his reckless predecessor, Kristi Noem.

Those quiet times are over.

Ronaldo Salgado, son of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, dries his tears while talking at a news conference on July 8 in Houston. His father was shot and killed by ICE agents the day before.

(David J. Phillip / Associated Press)

Vigils are popping up across the country in Salgado Araujo’s name. Stories about his life and death have replaced those about Mexico’s World Cup run on my social media timelines. They are heartbreaking, infuriating and a baleful reminder for Mexican Americans that these last five weeks of soccer, as joyful as they were, didn’t change our precarious status in this country under President Trump.

“He deserved to live a quiet life as a husband, a father and a job creator for dozens of men who also wanted the American dream,” Ronaldo said at the news conference through tears as his younger brother, Lorenzo Jr., comforted him. That their father never will — that the Department of Homeland Security is now smearing his name by claiming he “weaponized” his van by trying to run over an agent, even though video evidence proves no such thing — is the latest indictment against the Trump administration’s cruelty toward the undocumented.

Salgado Araujo wasn’t even the target of ICE’s operation. His family said he had applied for a work permit and was on his way toward finally obtaining legal status.

We should heed Ronaldo’s words about his father. As people protest and seek justice, we should also hail the life of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo the way we one day will hail the life of Lorenzo Arellano — as Mexicans who made it, challenges be damned. And we should continue to fight for immigrants who remain in legal limbo, afraid for their lives more than ever.

I called my father to ask how he felt about a tocayo — someone with the same first name — losing his life to la migra.

“I put myself in his place and lament that ese [that] Lorenzo couldn’t get the citizenship that I could,” Papi said in Spanish.

He remembered how immigration agents “did it with respect” when they caught him living in this country illegally in the 1970s and 1980s.

“They asked you for your papers, and if you didn’t have them, they put handcuffs on you, you got deported and that was that. None of these beatings or shootings that are happening now under Trump,” he said. The worst it ever got was when he said he was going to Los Angeles, and an agent snapped that he was going to L.A. but now had to return to Mexico.

Papi asked me what justification ICE has offered for killing Salgado Araujo.

“I hope they put those people who killed him in prison for many years,” he said with disgust. “Will they?”

I replied that probably wasn’t going to happen. ICE has shot and killed 11 people during Trump’s second term, both citizens and noncitizens, and scores more have died in immigration detention. No agents have faced charges for any of these deaths. The agents involved in Salgado Araujo’s killing didn’t even have dashboard cameras or body cameras, a convenient oversight that a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson blamed on “multiple government shutdowns.”

“Pues, Dios sabe que todo se paga en la vida,” my dad responded. Well, God knows you reap what you sow.

Nothing can bring Lorenzo Salgado Araujo back to his loved ones. But I hope they find solace in his namesake, St. Lawrence. Tradition has it that Roman authorities roasted the Spanish deacon to death after Emperor Valerian demanded that he turn over the treasures of the Church. Instead, Lawrence presented the emperor with the city’s poor and maligned, insisting that he confront the oppression he had forced on them.

May we remember Lorenzo Salgado Araujo as a modern-day martyr, killed because our government refused to give him and so many others a chance at living in this country without fear.

May his name resonate through the ages as embodying the promise and tragedy of the American dream.