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Ex-McConnell advisor-turned-MAGA star doesn't rule out potential Senate bid as rumors swirl

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Ex-McConnell advisor-turned-MAGA star doesn't rule out potential Senate bid as rumors swirl

Scott Jennings, CNN’s Trump-supporting commentator who has gone viral on social media for his sparring matches with left-leaning guests, responded to reports that he may run for Senate in Kentucky to succeed GOP Sen. Mitch McConnell.

“Man, the internet’s a crazy place. Long way until next May,” Jennings, who formerly advised multiple McConnell campaigns, told Fox News Digital at the White House Correspondents Dinner on Saturday. “I read all this with some amusement, but again, it’s a long way until next year.” 

Fox News Digital reported in February that he is being encouraged to run, and the Lexington Herald-Leader reported on Friday that he’s mulling a bid.

Jennings went on to say that he believes “Kentucky has benefited from having Republican senators for a long time” and that he thinks the Senate seat “ought to be in the hands ultimately of somebody who’s going to help Donald Trump execute on the president’s agenda.”

CNN’S JENNINGS SAYS ALL THE ‘CLINTON GUYS FROM THE 90S’ HAVE LEFT THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY FOR TRUMP

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CNN commentator Scott Jennings defends the Trump administration’s efforts to deport illegal immigrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia. (Screenshot/CNN)

“And frankly, I think politics is a team sport. The president’s the head of our team and I think eventually he’ll need to weigh in here on who he thinks is the best to help him execute on his agenda,” Jennings added.

At President Donald Trump’s 100-day rally in Michigan on Tuesday night, the president invited Jennings to address the audience.

“We have a man here that I don’t know, but he’s defending me all the time on CNN. And he defends me really well, but he can’t go too far because if he goes too far, he’ll get fired,” Trump said.

“I got to get a farm in Michigan, because when you own as many Libs as I do, you gotta get a place to put ‘em all!” Jennings joked.

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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., takes a question from a reporter during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on Nov. 19, 2024. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Currently, Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., and former Kentucky Attorney General David Cameron are in the race for the seat on the Republican side. There has also been speculation that Kentucky businessman Nate Morris, a close ally of Vice President JD Vance, will hop into the race.

In the Democratic primary, Kentucky House Minority Leader Pamela Stevenson is in the race. Trump won the state by a wide margin in November and it is generally considered a red state, with the notable exception of Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear.

HOUSE REPUBLICAN ENTERS RACE FOR MITCH MCCONNELL’S SENATE SEAT, SETTING UP HIGH-STAKES GOP PRIMARY

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Kentucky Rep. Andy Barr, left, is considering joining the contest against former Attorney General Daniel Cameron to replace Sen. Mitch McConnell. (Reuters)

The 83-year-old McConnell, who has regularly butted heads with the president despite also receiving high praise from Trump, said in February he would not run for re-election after being in the seat since the 1980s. 

As for Jennings, who was initially floated as a potential pick for the White House press secretary role before Karoline Leavitt was chosen, he was formerly a top advisor to McConnell and served in the George W. Bush administration. He has also advised several other campaigns and is the founding partner of RunSwitch, which is advertised as “Kentucky’s largest PR and public affairs firm.”

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GOP Rep Nancy Mace introduces ‘Death Penalty for Child Rapists Act’

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GOP Rep Nancy Mace introduces ‘Death Penalty for Child Rapists Act’

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Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., has introduced a bill to authorize the death penalty as a potential punishment for the sexual abuse of children.

“We have zero mercy for child rapists. Those who prey on our most vulnerable deserve the harshest consequence we can deliver,” Mace said in a statement.

The proposal is aptly called the “Death Penalty for Child Rapists Act.”

Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., announces she will run for South Carolina governor during a press conference at the Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina, on Aug. 4, 2025. (Tracy Glantz/The State/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

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“No predator should be allowed to walk away from the most unthinkable crimes against children,” Mace noted. 

“This bill is simple. Rape a child and you don’t get a second chance, you get the death penalty. We will never apologize for protecting America’s children,” Mace added.

The bill would put capital punishment on the table as an option to punish those who sexually abuse children.

REP NANCY MACE SLAPS DOWN EARLY RETIREMENT RUMOR: ‘BIG FAT NO FROM ME’

Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., attends the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington, D.C.  (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

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“INTRODUCING: The Death Penalty for Child Rapists Act to amend Title 18 to authorize the death penalty for aggravated sexual abuse, sexual abuse of a minor and abusive sexual contact offenses against children. It will also amend the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) to authorize the death penalty for the rape of a child,” she said in a post on X.

“We’ve spent months fighting to expose Jeffrey Epstein’s network of powerful predators. We’ve demanded accountability and pushed for transparency. Now we’re making sure anyone who rapes a child faces the ultimate consequence,” she noted.

Mace has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since early 2021. 

NANCY MACE CLAIMS NANCY PELOSI ‘WAS A MORE EFFECTIVE HOUSE SPEAKER THAN ANY REPUBLICAN THIS CENTURY’

She is one of the candidates currently running in the South Carolina Republican gubernatorial primary.

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Virginia Democrats talk affordability — and vote to nearly triple their own pay

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Virginia Democrats talk affordability — and vote to nearly triple their own pay

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The Virginia State Senate and its Democratic majority may have voted to nearly triple their pay if a provision inserted into their final budget survives the House reconciliation process and reaches Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s desk.

The development comes as Spanberger has centered her campaign on “affordability,” with Richmond Democrats echoing that they are working to improve their constituents’ personal finances.

Virginia’s legislature itself was founded as a part-time, gentleman’s chamber, where lawmakers would return to their day jobs when Richmond wasn’t holding session.

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger signs executive orders. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

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Proponents of raising the current 1988-established salary of $18,000 for senators and $17,640 for delegates say the structure restricts who can afford to serve as a lawmaker today. Lawmakers also qualify for a $237 per diem, mileage reimbursements, and coverage of office, meeting and other expenses.

Senators’ new salary would be $50,000.

Republicans were quick to criticize the final budget, with the Virginia Senate Minority Caucus saying in a statement that “teachers got a 3% raise, but Democrats give themselves 300%.” The actual increase would be closer to 178%, though one could say the new salary would be 300% of the original. 

“The affordability hoax just gets worse and worse,” the caucus said, adding that the chamber’s majority killed a repeal of the car tax — something GOP gubernatorial nominee Winsome Sears ran on — while increasing the state budget by $1 billion overall.

Sen. Mark Obenshain, R-Rockingham, told WVTF it is the “wrong time” to address lawmaker pay.

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 “It’s supposed to be affordability for working families across Virginia, not members of the General Assembly,” he said.

Virginia’s legislature — the oldest continuous legislative body in the New World — has been making laws since its inception as the House of Burgesses in Colonial Williamsburg, where Spanberger gave the Democratic Party’s State of the Union response.

In her speech, she claimed President Donald Trump is the one “enriching himself, his family and his friends” and said Republicans are the ones “making your life more expensive.”

“I traveled to every corner of Virginia, and I heard the same pressing concern everywhere: costs are too high. In housing, healthcare, energy, and childcare,” she said.

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“Americans deserve to know that their leaders are focused on addressing the problems that keep them up at night.”

“Democrats across the country are laser-focused on affordability — in our nation’s capital and in state capitals and communities across America,” Spanberger said Tuesday.

The pay raise could be moot if the Democrat-controlled House of Delegates does not amend its own budget proposal to include the provision.

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The House’s budget includes $137 million for expanded childcare access, a minimum wage increase to $13.75 in 2027 and $15 in 2029, and a $20 million appropriation for state employees’ and home health care workers’ collective bargaining, according to Washington’s ABC affiliate.

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Fox News Digital reached out to the governor, as well as the House and Senate minority leaders, for further comment.

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Virginia murder suspect in bus stop stabbing had lengthy criminal history, multiple dropped charges

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Virginia murder suspect in bus stop stabbing had lengthy criminal history, multiple dropped charges

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A Virginia murder suspect accused of fatally stabbing a woman at a bus stop earlier this week has a lengthy criminal history filled with multiple arrests, but was let back onto the streets nearly every time. 

Abdul Jalloh, 32, is charged with the Monday night killing of Stephanie Minter, 41, of Fredericksburg, at a bus stop shelter, the Fairfax County Police Department said. 

Minter was found by officers with stab wounds to her upper body and pronounced dead at the scene, police said. 

Abdul Jalloh, 32, is accused of killing Stephanie Minter, 41, at a Virginia bus stop.  (Fairfax County Police Department; provided)

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Jalloh, 32, who was seen on surveillance cameras exiting the bus with Minter at Richmond Highway and Arlington Drive, was arrested the next day. 

He was arrested at a liquor store after an employee called 911. At the time, officers arrested him for allegedly shoplifting. Investigators linked him to the murder a day later. 

Authorities were still trying to determine a motive for the killing and what led to the deadly stabbing. 

A search of online court records revealed Jalloh has more than a dozen arrests in northern Virginia, including on charges of petty larceny and malicious wounding. 

In most of the cases, prosecutors dropped the charges, FOX D.C. reported. 

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Abdul Jalloh seen on a bus in Virginia.  (Fairfax County Police Department)

Laura Birnbaum, the chief of staff for Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano, said Jalloh was known to the district attorney’s office and was “acutely aware of the risk he posed to the community.”

“That is why we convicted the defendant of a 2023 malicious wounding charge, and have since made every effort to hold him accountable each subsequent time that he has come in contact with the criminal justice system, including asking him to be held in custody whenever possible,” Birnbaum said. 

“Unfortunately, the defendant in this case also had a history of selecting victims with no fixed address – some of the most vulnerable members of our community,” she added. “In multiple cases, we were unable to move forward with prosecution because victims could not be located or contacted.”

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Stephanie Minter, 41, was killed on Monday after getting off of a bus in Virginia.  (Provided)

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An obituary for Minter described her as a “happy, jolly” person. 

“A beam of light in dark places,” the obituary states. 

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