Influencer Trisha Paytas released multiple videos over the past week noting that she is considering a run for the U.S. Congress in California.

Paytas, known for flamboyant and zany content, said in a video filmed in her car, “I don’t mean it as a joke, and I know it sounds so crazy, like to me too, but I think it’s so doable,” she said. “I really would love to run for House of Representatives. Here in California, we have 52, and I would really love to run.”

She went on to note, “They have an election this year, Nov. 3, 2026, and I do have some bills I would like to present to Congress. So I’m working on that. I really want to be able to, like, truly make a difference, because I see so much horrible stuff happening in the world and right here in California as well, and I’m like, ‘Oh, there’s nothing I can do.’ No — there’s something I can do. I can run. I can run for office. And I wholeheartedly really want to give my all for that.”

People magazine reported that she revealed her political slogan, “California could be good,” commenting, “Just need to figure out a better system for everyone and everything.”

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In the podcast episode she had filmed that day, she said one of her policies would be requiring people to be 25 years old before they can do adult film/sex work like OnlyFans. She also knocked the “old men and old women” who currently serve in politics, saying they prioritize issues such as, “like, starting wars and stuff.”

In a follow-up podcast on Thursday, she noted that she has seen some outrage about the prospect of her running for Congress, but will consider the run anyway.

“Y’all, I’m scared, the Congress thing went to the wrong side of the internet. I need to just wait a minute,” she said. “[I] loved it and then got scared.”

Even so, she said that she is still in the exploratory phase of seeking out information to test the waters before launching an official bid. Failing that, she noted that she might also consider other avenues of political change. 

“Still wanna make a difference, trying to figure out a way to do it without people just coming for me,” she said. 

“Let’s put a pin for now. We don’t have much time. I’ll decide in the next few weeks because we have until like Feb. 9, I guess, to just start getting those votes, or at least signatures,” she said. 

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According to People magazine, Paytas has a politically mercurial past. “In 2012, she threw her support behind the Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, posting a since-deleted video to her YouTube channel where she called him ‘super hot.’ She shared her support for Donald Trump in 2016 — but later released a since-deleted video in 2019 titled ‘I do NOT support Trump’ in which she admitted she had ‘never voted’ and knew ‘literally nothing’ about politics.”

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San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie told CBS News Friday that he was able to convince President Trump in a phone call several months ago not to deploy federal agents to San Francisco.

In a live interview with “CBS Evening News” anchor Tony Dokoupil, Lurie, a moderate Democrat, said that the president called him while he was sitting in a car.

“I took the call, and his first question to me was, ‘How’s it going there?’” Lurie recounted.

In October, sources told CBS News that the president was planning to surge Border Patrol agents to San Francisco as part of the White House’s ongoing immigration crackdown that has seen it deploy federal immigration officers to cities including Los Angeles, Chicago, New Orleans and most recently, Minneapolis.

At the time, the reports prompted pushback from California officials, including Lurie and California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

However, shortly after that report, Mr. Trump announced that he had called off the plan to “surge” federal agents to San Francisco following a conversation with Lurie.

“I spoke to Mayor Lurie last night and he asked, very nicely, that I give him a chance to see if he can turn it around,” the president wrote in a Truth Social post on Oct. 23. The president also noted that “friends of mine who live in the area called last night to ask me not to go forward with the surge.”

“I told him what I would tell you,” Lurie said Friday of his October call with Mr. Trump. “San Francisco is a city on the rise, crime is at historic lows, all economic indicators are on the right direction, and our local law enforcement is doing an incredible job.”

Going back to the pandemic, San Francisco has often been the strong focus of criticism from Republican lawmakers over its struggles in combatting crime and homelessness. It was voter frustration over those issues that helped Lurie defeat incumbent London Breed in November 2024.

Lurie, however, acknowledged that the city still has “a lot of work to do.”

“I’m clear-eyed about our challenges still,” Lurie said. “In the daytime, we have really ended our drug markets. At night, we still struggle on some of the those blocks that you see.”

An heir to the Levi Strauss & Co. fortune, Lurie also declined Friday to say whether he supports a proposed California ballot initiative that would institute a one-time 5% tax on the state’s billionaires.

“I stay laser-focused on what I can control, and that’s what’s happening here in San Francisco,” Lurie said. “I don’t get involved on what may or may not happen up in Sacramento, or frankly, for that matter, D.C.”

As the number one seed in the AFC, the Denver Broncos could end up playing on either Saturday or Sunday. It all comes down to which teams win during Wild Card weekend.

Head Coach Sean Payton was asked about the potential Divisional Round schedule and he said nothing is finalized. However, the NFL has been known to follow a certain schedule that could end up with the Broncos playing on Saturday if either the Buffalo Bills or Los Angeles Chargers win on Sunday and they’d play the following Sunday only if they had to wait until Monday for the outcome of the Houston Texans and Pittsburgh Steelers game.

The other thing with that extra week off is about preparation. One of the better questions the media asked of Payton on Friday was whether or not they do more advanced scouting on potential opponents they have not yet played this season.

“Look, there are four options,” Payton said. “One is in the division. We’ve played one two years in a row—or it feels like that with Houston. Buffalo. We’ll break down kind of all four and then look at… We’ll have personnel reports on the four… You do have enough time to look at third down, look at personnel packages, study situational football. I think that’s pretty common when you look at playoff history. A lot of times, you end up with a division team sometimes in the first round. I know that’s happened a number of times over the years with me. It’s hard to gauge how these other games are going to go not having spent much time looking at New England. [We’ve] seen Jacksonville. It’s one of those where you just watch them. You’re working while you watch them. You’re working on each plan, and then you go from there.”

I came away feeling like Payton and the Broncos know two of their potential opponents fairly well. The other two will get some high level review, but nothing super deep as there just isn’t enough time. That is saved for this coming week when the opponent is finalized.

Payton and his staff have some great experience coaching in the playoffs, so this young Broncos team should be well-prepared for their football game.

Frankly, I like the idea of the Broncos getting their game out of the way early. Give Payton and his staff an extra day to begin the prep work needed for the AFC Championship game provided they come out with a win in the Divisional Round.