Free Republic

Sen. John Cornyn’s (R-TX) Second Amendment weakness, the result of his high profile support for gun control under Joe Biden, is hampering his reelection prospects. On May 28, 2025, Texas Southern University’s Barbara Jordan Public Policy Research and Survey Center reported that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has a nine percent lead over Cornyn in the March 2026 Republican primary. Five days later, on June 3, 2025, Punch Bowl News pointed to “a new independent poll” showing the Cornyn’s deficit had greatly increased, with Paxton ahead by 22. Breitbart News previously noted that Cornyn fell into low esteem with Texas...

The “end of history” is over and Europe is experiencing a “transatlantic crisis”, says Ursula von der Leyen, former Angela Merkel acolyte turned European Commission supremo. “Another, new European Union” is needed to shape the “new world order” emerging out of power struggles between the United States, China, and Russia the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen told a German newspaper. Speaking to Die Zeit, the top Eurocrat expressed her interpretation of events that “The West as we knew it no longer exists”, stating that beyond the old understanding of what countries were Western and which not,...

President Trump on Monday directed a powerful US national security panel to take a fresh look at Nippon Steel’s bid for US Steel to help determine if “further action” is appropriate, raising hopes for an elusive greenlight for the deal. “I direct the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States…to conduct a review of the acquisition of U.S. Steel by (Nippon Steel) to assist me in determining whether further action in this matter may be appropriate,” the memo reads. US Steel did not respond to requests for comment. Nippon Steel said it was “pleased” by the news. “We have...

Two Bronx legislators announced Monday they’re introducing legislation to aid Bally’s bid to open a casino next to the borough’s golf course formerly run by President Trump’s firm. The bill pushed by Sen. Nathalia Fernandez and Assemblyman Mike Benedetto would reclassify the parkland for commercial use in order for the gambling and entertainment company’s casino bid to move forward. The project can’t proceed without the redesignation. Bally’s took over the lease for the golf course from The Trump Organization in 2023 — renaming “Trump Links” at Ferry Point to “Bally Links.”

Pete Buttigieg is expected to announce Thursday that he will not run for Michigan’s open Senate seat — leaving the door open for a widely expected presidential run in 2028, according to a report. The former Transportation Secretary, who earlier said he was “looking” at a Senate campaign to replace retiring Democrat Gary Peters in one of the most competitive seats in the 2026 cycle, plans to announce that he’s now not running at some point on Thursday, a person briefed on his decision told Politico. His decision was framed by allies as a move to put him in the...

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s (D) administration has faced lawsuits alleging it rigged the bidding process for the state’s controversial overhaul of a $9 billion homecare program. A December lawsuit alleged that the powerful healthcare union 1199 Service Employees International Union (SEIU) helped Public Partnerships LLC secure a multi-million dollar contract to take care of payment services for the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program (CDPAP). Several lawsuits have sought to unravel Hochul’s overhaul of CDPAP, two of which alleged a rigged bidding process by the governor’s administration.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) is under increasing political pressure as she faces a likely competitive reelection fight and legal battles with President Trump. Hochul’s approval rating has been underwater for months as she surpasses the midpoint of her first full term in office and seems likely to have a serious primary battle on the horizon from Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.), who has become one of her sharpest critics. Presuming she gets past Torres, popular GOP Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) seems equally likely to run and could give Republicans their best shot at winning New York’s gubernatorial race in...

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) is at the center of intense speculation as Republicans wait to see whether the popular two-term governor will run against Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) next year. Republicans believe Kemp would clear the field and be the party’s most formidable candidate against Ossoff, a first-term senator who beat a Trump-backed Republican in one of the biggest upsets of the 2020 election cycle.

Florida first lady Casey DeSantis is considering running to replace her husband as governor when his final term runs out, according to a report. Donors are pushing her to run because her husband, Gov. Ron DeSantis, cannot seek re-election when his second term ends in 2026, NBC News reported, citing multiple sources. “I would say this: I have heard donors have been urging her to run and that while it’s not something she has wanted to do, they are causing her to at least stop and listen,” a source told the outlet. The prospect — which would make her the...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky offered some of the most effusive praise for President Donald Trump on the occasion of his inauguration on Monday – a stark contrast to his apparent support for former election rivals Joe Biden and Kamala Harris during the 2024 campaign. Zelensky published a statement celebrating Trump as a “strong person” and “always decisive,” expressing optimism about his country’s relationship to Washington during the second Trump term. He congratulated Trump a second time during a video message to the Ukrainian people also published on Monday, encouraging Ukrainians by suggesting that the Russian invasion may soon come to...

Michigan Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt (R) launched his gubernatorial bid on Tuesday, becoming the first Republican to jump into the race ahead of the 2026 midterms. “Michiganders deserve so much better than what they’re getting from these Democrats up in Lansing,” Nesbitt said in an announcement video. “What we’ve seen is higher taxes, more spending, more debt, and less jobs.” In the video, Nesbitt detailed his family’s history of farming in Lawton, located in the southwest region of the state. Additionally, Nesbitt called for an end to the state’s eclectic vehicle mandates, greater investment in manufacturing, and a ban...

Former Democrat presidential candidate Marianne Williamson has announced her bid to chair the Democratic National Committee (DNC), saying she will “work to reinvent the party from the inside out.” In a Substack blog post on Thursday, the 72-year-old author said the rise of the “MAGA phenomenon” means that Democrats need to change their “playbook” to regain control of the White House: This year’s election of a DNC Chair feels different than in past years. Before now, the party had faced defeats to be sure. But our playbook still basically worked. The waters were turbulent at times, but our ship was...

Establishment Republican strategist Karl Rove attacked highly popular Vice President-elect JD Vance this week for his successful Senate bid in 2022, claiming he was a poor candidate. Rove’s odd and unprompted insult came in a comment to the New York Times in an article published Thursday about Steven Law stepping down as head of the Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY)-aligned Senate Leadership Fund super PAC: “There was a candidate running in Ohio who was a terrible fund-raiser and was not a particularly effective candidate and the rest of the Republican ticket is winning by — from 18 to 24 points,” Mr....

The United Nations General Assembly on Friday overwhelmingly backed a Palestinian bid to become a full U.N. member by recognizing it as qualified to join and recommending the U.N. Security Council “reconsider the matter favorably.” The vote by the 193-member General Assembly was a global survey of support for the Palestinian bid to become a full U.N. member – a move that would effectively recognize a Palestinian state – after the United States vetoed it in the U.N. Security Council last month. The assembly adopted a resolution with 143 votes in favor and nine against – including the U.S. and...

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has been using taxpayer resources to promote his wife as she campaigns to become the Garden State’s latest US Senator, according to records and critics. Gov. Murphy’s press office has pumped out a slew of fawning press releases — which appear on the governor’s website — about First Lady Tammy Murphy after she announced her Senate run on Nov. 15. The releases include: Jan. 16, 2024: “First Lady Tammy Murphy Celebrates Signing of Doula Access Bill” Jan. 23, 2024: “First Lady Tammy Murphy today hosted a roundtable discussion to celebrate Maternal Health Awareness Day” Jan....

Jill Stein, who famously ran in the 2016 presidential election, announced on Thursday that she is running for president yet again with a platform that includes guaranteeing the “right” to a living-wage job, housing, food, healthcare, education “and more.” In a video posted to social media, Stein laid out the current state of affairs, contending that “people are tired of being thrown under the bus by wealthy elites and their bought politicians.” They are “tired of living paycheck to paycheck, struggling to pay the rent, locked in student debt and medical debt, child poverty doubling, rising diseases of despair, growing...

Representative Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said Friday on CNN’s “New Central” that Republicans were in a “very bad place” after Rep. Jim Jordan’s (R-OH) bid for the speakership failed a third time. Reporter Manu Raju said, “This went in the wrong direction for Jim Jordan. He clearly does not have the votes. Is it time for him to withdraw?” McCarthy said, “That’s a question for him. I think we’ll go to conference here shortly and see which direction we go in.”

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she was “all in” on President Biden’s reelection bid in a Thursday interview. “When I look at what’s been accomplished with the team that was put together, I am very impressed,” Clinton said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “And I’m all in to reelect people who got things done. That’s what this country needs.” Clinton acknowledged what she described as “legitimate” questions about Biden’s age, but she suggested the long list of Biden’s accomplishments should outweigh those concerns.

Michael Cohen, who served as former President Trump’s personal attorney, said in a new interview that he is considering a run for Congress. Cohen told Semafor he is “interested” in running as a Democrat. Cohen added that he is currently living on the East Side of Manhattan, meaning he would potentially make a bid for New York’s 12th Congressional District seat, now held by Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.). “I am interested and there’s a multitude of folks encouraging me to run,” Cohen said in the interview.

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) on Sunday said he’s “seriously considering” a Senate bid, with plans to make a decision on whether to run for an upper chamber seat by July 4. “I’ve not decided. I love the House of Representatives. I love the people I serve. And I love being in the people’s House. But, as some of my House colleagues have pointed out, these Senate seats only open up every 25 or 30 years,” Raskin said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”