Free Republic

FAIRVIEW, N.C. — Jamie Ager has spent much of the past year rebuilding his farm in the foothills of western North Carolina after Hurricane Helene tore through the region, cutting power, destroying fences and scattering livestock. Then, earlier this year, Ager lost his beef contract with local schools, a casualty of billions of dollars in cuts to the U.S. Department of Agriculture under the Trump administration. Now, the fifth-generation farmer is running for Congress — part of a new crop of Democratic candidates the party is turning to as it tries to compete in the tough, often rural districts it...

Deanne Criswell, Joe Biden’s pick to run FEMA, had a years-long extramarital affair that was financed by taxpayer dollars through the Office of Emergency Management of Aurora, Colorado, the Transportation Security Administration, and FEMA, according to the former husband and wife who were victim to Criswell’s extramarital engagement. National File spoke extensively to Lisa Borbe, a United States Marine veteran who also worked for the Department of Homeland Security and the TSA, and recently retired after spending 31 years of serving her country. Borbe is the ex-wife of Mark Haught. Haught says Borbe’s characterization of his participation in the affair...

Democrats have promoted Roy Cooper as a model of controversy-free leadership, but scrutiny of his past is raising new questions about his moral judgment. ... The former North Carolina governor running for Senate had a 'secret' divorce and began dating his second wife while she was still married.. Roy Cooper, 68, is at the top of Democrat politics, and was even tipped to replace Joe Biden as a presidential candidate last year and was on the shortlist to be Kamala Harris's 2024 running mate. But despite his decades-long prominent standing in the party, Cooper has kept his divorce, and the...

A Florida pastor and his alleged accomplice were busted Thursday for running a phony immigration racket out of a church, duping desperate migrants out of thousands, police said. Nelson David Ochoa-Vasquez, 46, a pastor at La Iglesia de Dios Jireh, and Ismer Gonzalez, 45, were arrested by the sheriff’s Organized Crimes Bureau for what officials called an “organized scheme to defraud” in a press release. The pair allegedly posed as legal helpers while targeting at least 16 immigrants between April 2024 and January 2025, ... Ochoa-Vasquez used his pulpit to gain victims’ trust before allegedly referring them to Gonzalez under...

The first Emerson College Polling survey of the 2026 U.S. Senate race in North Carolina finds former Governor Roy Cooper starting the race with a six-point edge on Republican National Committee Chair, Michael Whatley, 47% to 41%, with 12% undecided.

Republican senators were appalled by President Trump’s rough treatment of 91-year-old Sen. Chuck Grassley (Iowa), the Senate’s most senior Republican, on social media and are pushing back on Trump’s attempts to squeeze the senator into abolishing an arcane procedure known as the Senate blue slip. GOP senators were not pleased that Trump piled so much pressure on Grassley, the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, to get rid of a long-established Senate tradition. Trump piled on by reposting on Truth Social posts accusing Grassley of being a “RINO” and “sneaky” and standing in the way of Trump’s agenda. Sen. Thom...

The North Carolina state legislature overrode the Democrat governor’s veto of HB805, which seeks to “prevent the sexual exploitation of women and minors,” on Tuesday, passing it into law. Both the state House and the state Senate voted to override Gov. Josh Stein’s veto of the a Republican sponsored legislation that would officially “recognize two sexes in all administrative rules, regulations, or public policies adopted” by the state, prohibit state funding from going toward trans procedures, and require schools to “adopt policies” enabling parents and students to opt out of curriculum on religious grounds. According to the North Carolina Family...

Roy Cooper broke fundraising records in his first 24 hours as a Senate candidate — a massive cash boost the former North Carolina governor will need for what’s expected to become one of the most expensive statewide campaigns in U.S. history. National and North Carolina strategists from both parties said the race — likely between Cooper and Republican National Committee chair Michael Whatley, who has President Donald Trump’s endorsement — could be one of the costliest Senate races in the 2026 midterms, topping out at $650 to $800 million, according to private estimates described by both parties. That would crack...

Former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper’s (D) Senate campaign announced it raised more than $3.4 million in the 24 hours since launching Monday. Cooper’s campaign said it raised $2.6 million for his Senate campaign plus an additional $900,000 for the Democratic Party. Ninety-five percent of the individual donations that came into the campaign in the first 24 hours were $100 or less, according to the campaign. The former governor’s campaign called the haul “a testament” to Cooper’s “strong and deep support across North Carolina.” “I have thought on it and prayed about it, and I have decided: I want to...

A federal judge approved a settlement this week between the Davidson County Board of Education and the parents of a student who was suspended for using the term “illegal alien” in class. Leah and Chad McGhee’s 16-year-old son was suspended for three days last year after making what school officials called a “racially insensitive remark.” The parents filed a lawsuit against the Board of Education shortly after the incident. Now, court documents show the parties have reached a settlement. The school board has agreed to issue a public apology for the “mischaracterization of racial bias” of the student’s comments and...

Former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper is planning to launch a run for Senate, according to two sources familiar with his plans, handing Democrats a top candidate in a state that will be central to the fight for the majority. Axios, which broke the news of Cooper's expected bid, reported that he is expected to enter the race next week, according to multiple sources. Morgan Jackson, Cooper’s top political advisor, would not confirm Cooper's plans but said that the former governor would share more about his plans in the coming days. Cooper is also listed as a speaker at the...

Descriptions and displays at scores of parks and historic sites have been flagged for review in connection with an executive order from President Trump.At Cape Hatteras National Seashore in North Carolina, the Trump administration is set to review, and possibly remove or alter, signs about how climate change is causing sea levels to rise.At Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia, the administration will soon decide whether to take down exhibits on the brutality of slavery.And at Castillo de San Marcos National Monument in Florida, Trump officials are scrutinizing language about the imprisonment of Native Americans inside the Spanish stone fortress.According...

KINGS MOUNTAIN, N.C. (WBTV) - At least eight of the 30 people detained last month by federal immigration officers at a Kings Mountain business have since been charged with federal crimes. Affidavits were filed on July 1 and July 3 by an agent with Homeland Security Investigations, which operates under the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, or ICE. The affidavits brought charges against eight people who were detained on June 25 when federal agents carried out a search warrant at Buckeye Fire Equipment Company in Kings Mountain. Seven of the people charged, who all appeared to be men, were...

Republican senators aren’t happy about how President Trump treated Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), whom the president blasted last week on social media after Tillis said he wouldn’t vote for Trump’s “big, beautiful bill.” Tillis is highly regarded among colleagues as a team player focused on getting results, and many Republicans thought he would have had the best chance of keeping the North Carolina Senate seat in GOP hands.

A Colorado man who founded and directed an orphanage in Haiti has been sentenced to 210 years in prison for sexually abusing children there. Michael Karl Geilenfeld, 73, founded the St. Joseph’s Home for Boys in 1985, which housed orphaned, impoverished, and vulnerable children in Haiti. In the over two decades that Geilenfeld operated the orphanage, the Department of Justice said that he "repeatedly traveled from the United States to Haiti, where he sexually abused the boys entrusted to his care." The children also suffered physical and emotional abuse at the hands of Geilenfeld. A federal jury convicted Geilenfeld in...

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — U.S. Rep. Don Bacon, a Republican from Nebraska, announced Monday he will not seek reelection next year amid an increasingly polarized political climate.Bacon, 61, said at a news conference at Omaha’s airport that he would not seek a sixth term representing Nebraska’s second district with its so-called blue dot that includes many progressive voters around Omaha.Bacon has had to navigate an ever-thinning line between staying in his party’s and President Donald Trump’s good graces without alienating his increasingly Democratic district. He said he is proud of his bipartisan approach in the face of bitter partisanship in...

A House GOP centrist from a key battleground district, Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., announced Monday that he will not seek re-election next year. Bacon's announcement comes as Congress works overtime to pass President Donald Trump's "big, beautiful bill" by their self-imposed July 4 deadline. Through the reconciliation process, the megabill seeks to deliver on the president's key campaign promises, including tax cuts, immigration reform and energy production. The moderate Republican has built a reputation for bucking Trump's agenda in the House. While Bacon ultimately voted with his Republican colleagues to pass the One Big Beautiful Bill Act last month, the...

Memo offers a snapshot of how personal statements can be used to skirt affirmative action ban... At the end of finals period each May, the Duke Law Journal hosts a two-week-long competition to select its next crop of editors. Applicants write a 12-page memo, or casenote, analyzing an appellate court decision, as well as a 500-word essay about what they would "contribute" to the journal. Students are chosen based on their grades, casenotes, and personal statements. Less than 20 percent of the class makes it onto the law review, which is overseen by Duke Law School and has no legal...

There might soon be another elected Trump in Washington. President Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, is “seriously considering” a Senate run in her native North Carolina, a source told NOTUS. Another source close to the Trump family told NBC News that there is a “high” chance she will run. Word of the younger Trump’s ambitions came hours after Thom Tillis, one of the state’s two Republican senators, announced he would not

Thom Tillis says he will retire following Trump attacks