Southwest
Republican senators hit border, touting tougher security and tax cuts, in 2026 kickoff
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Aiming to not only hold but expand their 53-47 majority in November’s midterm elections, top Senate Republicans are showcasing the plummeting rates of border crossings during a stop Friday at the nation’s southern border with Mexico.
And the group, led by Senate Majority Leader John Thune, is also highlighting how President Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers are “putting more money in Americans’ pockets.”
The stop at the border, hosted by One Nation, a nonprofit outside group closely aligned with Thune, is seen as an unofficial kickoff by Senate Republicans ahead of the midterms to tout the sweeping “One Big, Beautiful Bill Act,” Trump’s signature domestic achievement last year that was passed nearly entirely along party lines in the GOP controlled Congress.
At the event at the border, which was a regular stop for Republicans amid the surge in border crossings during then-President Joe Biden’s administration, the GOP senators are teaming up with members of the National Border Patrol Council. And they are highlighting how the passage of the domestic policy measure “secured transformational border security funding,” according to One Nation.
THUNE PREVIEWS SENATE REPUBLICANS’ MIDTERM MESSAGE
Senate Majority Leader John Thune and fellow Senate Republicans speak to reporters at an event at the nation’s southern border with Mexico, on Jan. 9, 2026. (One Nation)
“This is a remarkable, remarkable difference in just a year,” Thune said at the event. “It’s been an incredible year of progress when it comes to the southern border and the American people are experiencing the benefit of that in the form of having safer streets and safer communities and safer neighborhoods.”
But with Democrats enjoying decisive victories and overperformances in the 2025 elections and in a slew of special elections and other ballot box showdowns last year, which were fueled by their laser focus on affordability amid persistent inflation, the Republican senators are also using Friday’s trip to spotlight the tax cut and energy policy provisions in the bill, which they rebranded as the “Working Families Tax Cut.”
“The Working Families Tax Cut will make buying groceries more affordable for working Americans this year,” the Senate Republicans touted on social media on the eve of the border stop. “Every Democrat voted against it.”
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And they also highlighted that “Senate Republicans have worked closely with President Trump to lower energy prices and make life more affordable — and the results speak for themselves.”
Thune, at the border, pointed to the tax cut provisions in the GOP measure, including no tax on tips and overtime and reduced rates for seniors on Social Security, along with “the jobs that are going to be created by the pro-growth policies that we put in place….are going to lead us to a place where the American people are seeing their incomes go up.”
But Democrats see the cost of living as their winning issue heading into the midterms.
“If the Republican agenda actually made life more affordable for working Americans, then they wouldn’t be desperately flailing as families struggle to afford groceries, health care, and housing,” Lauren French, communications director at Senate Majority PAC, the top Senate Democrat-aligned outside group, told Fox News Digital. “Instead of focusing on working people, Trump and Senate Republicans are focused on bringing chaos and instability into our communities.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., holds a political and policy event Friday at the nation’s southern border with Mexico. (Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Joining Thune, the longtime senator from South Dakota, at the border is Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, number two in Senate Republican leadership.
There are also Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, who faces a bruising GOP primary showdown in March against challengers Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Rep. Wesley Hunt; and Republican Sens. Jon Husted of Ohio and Ashley Moody of Florida, who were appointed last year and will face voters this November.
HEALTHCARE, ECONOMY AND THE ‘ONE BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’: WELCOME TO THE MIDTERMS
GOP Sens. Pete Ricketts of Nebraska and Mike Rounds of South Dakota, who are up for re-election this year, are also on the trip, as are former Rep. Mike Rogers and former Republican National Committee chair Mike Whatley, the GOP Senate candidates in battlegrounds Michigan and North Carolina who are backed by Thune and the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
“We’re seeing signs already that the economy is starting to tick up and is starting to take hold as the President’s policies are getting in place,” Whatley argued last month in a Fox News Digital interview. “We need to make sure that we have the trade policies, the tax policies, the regulatory policies from this administration that are going to help our small businesses, our manufacturers and our farmers across North Carolina.”
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But Democrats are energized as the midterm year begins, as they continue to keep their focus on the issue of affordability.
“Donald Trump has lost the economy, is losing his mind, and is going to lose the midterms,” Democratic National Committee chair Ken Martin claimed in a recent statement.
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‘What’s going on with our society?’ Elderly L.A. street vendor violently beaten
WARNING: Video footage contains graphic violence
A 62-year-old street vendor is recovering after a brutally violent attack by another woman in broad daylight as bystanders in downtown Los Angeles looked on.
The attack happened around 4 p.m. on June 15 in the 700 block of Figueroa Street, where Arabelia Martinez has sold hot dogs for years to support herself and her family.
Video of the incident, which has since circulated widely online, appears to show a woman confronting Martinez at her stand before spraying sauce across the vendor’s cart. Martinez responds by throwing what appears to be Tajín seasoning in the woman’s direction, and the confrontation quickly escalates.
The difficult-to-watch footage shows Martinez being shoved to the ground and struck multiple times as people look on. Some can be seen attempting to intervene, but the assault continues for roughly a minute before coming to an end.
“I was speechless,” Martinez’s son, Constantino Garcia, said after watching the video. “I couldn’t even see the whole thing.”
According to Garcia, the suspect approached his mother before the attack and attempted to intimidate her into giving her money.
“The lady came up to my mom trying to intimidate her and extort her for money, telling her she needed a permit to sell, which my mom does have,” Garcia told KTLA’s Carlos Saucedo.
When Martinez refused, Garcia claims the woman became verbally abusive.
“After she didn’t get her way and tried to extort my mom, she said, ‘Go back to Mexico,’ and made some racist remarks,” he said. “She said some disgusting things to my mom.”
Garcia said his mother continues to suffer lingering effects from the attack.
“She keeps complaining about her head,” he said. “We need to go see a head specialist because her head doesn’t stop hurting. As you could see in the video, she got slammed to the ground.”
The video has also sparked outrage over the response from some witnesses who were nearby during the assault.
“What’s going on with our society?” Garcia said. “Are we getting desensitized to an elderly woman being beaten in broad daylight and being surrounded by people doing the bare minimum to help her? That was horrible for me to watch.”
Witness Sebastian Gutierrez said he arrived moments after the confrontation and saw Garcia’s attacker causing additional chaos in the area.
“The lady began to flip over the tables of vendors,” Gutierrez said, describing the woman as possibly unstable. “It definitely seemed like there were mental health issues or drugs involved, like we see with a lot of things here in downtown L.A.,” he said.
The Los Angeles Police Department has launched a battery investigation into the incident KTLA confirmed, though no suspect information or news of a potential arrest has been released.
Meanwhile, Martinez’s family has launched a GoFundMe campaign to help with her recovery and raise awareness about the dangers street vendors face daily.
“I hope that my mom gets justice for what happened to her,” Garcia said. He added that he’s been encouraged by the public response to the video.
“I’m grateful people are sympathizing with my mom,” he said. “People are giving it the attention it deserves.”
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