Free Republic

The Graham Platner scandal in Maine goes beyond the Nazi tattoo, the rape fantasies, the allegations of domestic abuse, and Jenny Racicot’s rape claim, which ended his campaign. Now, the Democratic Socialists of America are urging their candidates to never work with Morris Katz, Platner’s top aide, or his firm in future elections. Katz isn’t a DSA member, but the drama surrounding Graham Platner's inevitable downfall won’t end when he files his paperwork to quit before the July 13 deadline, something Katz says he will do despite delays on the matter (via The Intercept). Members of the Democratic Socialists of...

During the heated exchange, Behar insisted she was simply focused on “winning” in what she called an “emergency” situation under President Donald Trump. There is something hilarious about women who spent years demonizing white men suddenly treating them as saviors and their only path to victory. Behar began by floating a list of white male candidates she believes could actually win, naming Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. She framed the suggestion as cold political reality, telling her co-hosts they needed to face facts after watching the country...

Is Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman preparing for a political divorce from the Democratic Party - or is he simply becoming Washington’s most unpredictable Democrat? The speculation exploded after Fetterman and Republican Senator Dave McCormick joined forces on a rare bipartisan fundraising operation that has stunned political insiders. The unusual partnership allows the two Pennsylvania senators — one Democrat and one Republican — to work together on fundraising efforts and promote areas where they have found common ground, including bipartisan initiatives focused on Pennsylvania issues. Their cooperation has included public appearances supporting youth mentorship efforts, discussions about economic issues affecting the...

Below is my column in Fox.com on the recent decision of Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro to join the ranks of Democrats calling for packing the Supreme Court. It is a disappointing moment for many of us who hoped that Shapiro could offer a moderate voice in the upcoming elections, resisting the rise of socialists and communists in his party. Instead, he proved to be just another politician thinking of the next election rather than the next generation. Here is the column: Gov. Josh Shapiro (D. Pa.) has finally reached his Terry Malloy moment. In the classic movie, On the Waterfront,...

Secret Service Missed 102 Warnings Before Butler Assassination Attempt on Trump, DHS Report Finds Inspector general says agents missed 102 warnings that could have prevented the attack on President Trump. BIG LEAGUE POLITICS JUL 03, 2026 A new Department of Homeland Security inspector general report concludes that the U.S. Secret Service failed to act on dozens of warning signs before the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump at his July 13, 2024, campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The report, released Thursday by the DHS Office of Inspector General, details a cascade of communication failures, security lapses, and planning deficiencies that...

If you come from northern Pennsylvania, you might understand that the name "Wyoming" predates the western state, and that it played a once well-remembered, if not wholly accurate and now nearly forgotten, role in the War for Independence. The Battle of Wyoming: 1778 | 18:10 The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered 1.64M subscribers | 2,930 views | July 3, 2026

Pennsylvania state Rep. Chris Rabb, the Democrat nominee for Pennsylvania’s 3rd Congressional District, denounced the Declaration of Independence, capitalism, billionaires, and what he called “American exceptionalism.” Rabb made the remarks during the “America at 250 — Trump Fascism, Historical Erasure, and the Battle Over Truth” panel, held June 26 at People’s Plaza on Independence Mall in Philadelphia. Rabb is running unopposed in Pennsylvania's heavily Democrat 3rd Congressional District and is widely expected to win election to Congress in November. During the discussion, Rabb argued that the Declaration of Independence did not deliver freedom to everyone and instead helped preserve the...

Sunday at the Kennedy Center’s Mark Twain Prize event, Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) told Fox News that the “dirtbag left” are “clearly anti-America,” referring to the two members of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) who won primaries in New York and Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner. Fetterman said, “And in like it. It was a really it was a really big night for the dirtbag left. You know, last week, without a doubt. And some of the crazy things that they’ve said. You know, like clearly anti-America, you know, anti Western civilization. And they actually one of them was...

The list: Connecticut Illinois Maine Massachusetts North Carolina Oregon Rhode Island Vermont Washington Pennsylvania

WASHINGTON — Democratic congressional leaders downplayed wins for New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s handpicked challengers in primary races Tuesday, as moderates clamored for results to be a wake-up call for the party establishment. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) claimed the elections showed “a great united party,” and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) touted his “great working relationship” with Mamdani, while stressing there was still some “work to do” in easing tensions with congressional Democrats. “We’re seeing tremendous energy from all different areas of our party. You’re seeing centrist energy in Virginia, Iowa, and NJ. Progressive energy in...

Pennsylvania will not participate in President Donald Trump’s 250th celebration of the nation’s birthday on the National Mall, Gov. Josh Shapiro confirmed in a new interview. “This president routinely makes patriotism partisan and personal, and it shouldn’t be that way,” Shapiro told The New Republic, which noted that Trump has described his Great American State Fair as “the most spectacular Trump rally of them all.”

Political analyst Mark Halperin joins Michael Smerconish to discuss what recent Democratic primary results could mean for 2028, why Bernie Sanders may still be a major force in Democratic politics, and whether the party's energy now belongs to its progressive wing. The conversation explores Josh Shapiro, Gavin Newsom, AOC, Ro Khanna, Democratic Socialists, Israel, generational divides, and the battle for the soul of the Democratic Party.

Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA) appeared to position himself as a Make America Healthy Again (MAHA)-style Democrat as speculation continues to swirl about potential 2028 presidential contenders. In a Monday episode of GZERO Media, Shapiro claimed that Democrats are the party of “real freedom,” including allowing parents to make their own decisions about vaccines for their children. “I think Democrats are the party of real freedom, real freedom that allows women to make decisions over their own bodies, allows parents like me and my wife, Lori, to make decisions over what vaccines our kids are going to be able to get,”...

Democratic Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti said she supported disarming police officers and wanted to emulate Japan’s gun-control laws in a resurfaced video from 2020. Cognetti, who is seeking to unseat Republican Pennsylvania Rep. Rob Bresnahan in the Eighth Congressional District, has a history of supporting anti-Second Amendment groups, notably Everytown. She made the remarks about Japan’s gun-control laws during a June 2020 virtual town hall in which she also said she wanted to disarm police. “I would love to get to a world where a country where we don’t have or police don’t have firearms and where we don’t have...

District Attorney Larry Krasner is something of a bargain for Philadelphia. According to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, he has not only been serving as the city’s prosecutor but effectively as its top public defender. Krasner’s record is the subject of a scathing new opinion, which accuses him of leading a dishonest effort to undermine major criminal cases to engineer new trials for defendants. Krasner has long cultivated a reputation as the champion of the left. We were both liberal students in the same class at the University of Chicago. While I moved to the political center, Krasner moved even more...

Pa. attorney general must review cases Philly DA wants to overturn, state Supreme Court rules In an extraordinary ruling from Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court, if the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office wants to overturn a conviction in state court, the state Attorney General’s Office must be given the chance to review the case and make sure a proper investigation was done.The order comes as a King’s Bench petition, which is basically a mechanism for the high court to take over a case and review it. The case at hand involved Lavar Brown, a man convicted of killing two men in the early...

The wreckage of a plane crash burns in a field in Butler, Mo, Sunday, June 14, 2026. (Mid America News Review via AP Photo ) KANSAS CITY — Eleven skydivers and the pilot were killed Sunday morning in a plane crash at Butler Memorial Airport in Butler, Missouri. The Bates County Coroner’s Office released the victims’ names Tuesday, two days after the accident, noting some were experienced skydivers. Individuals: Kurt John Roy: 69 years old, Windber, PA Michael R. Shanahan: 54 years old, Kansas City, MO David Hershberger: 54 years old, Liberty, MO Sai Karthik Varma Datla: 24 years old,...

Over the past decade, the Lehigh Valley has voted narrowly for Donald Trump, Joe Biden, and then Trump again. In that time, the district has elected both Republicans and Democrats to the House, also by thin margins. If any place represents the changeable character of American politics over the last 10 years, surely it’s Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional District. This fall, Democrats are hoping to take back the seat, which encompasses the population centers of Allentown and Bethlehem. This district’s voters elected Democrat Susan Wild to three full terms in Congress, starting with her party’s wave election in 2018, but the...

What do a plastic surgeon with links to Al Qaeda, an oyster fisherman with a Nazi tattoo, a former bandmate of a child sex offender, and a Lutheran minister who took part in a satanic wedding have in common? They’re all Democrat candidates for Congress in this November’s midterm elections. Undoubtedly the most notorious Democrat this cycle is Graham Platner, the first-time candidate in Maine’s U.S. Senate race who defeated establishment favorite Janet Mills and is set to take on incumbent Republican Susan Collins this November. Platner first made headlines after it was revealed that he had a chest...

A glance at her bio shows that Dem Rep. Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania is the daughter and granddaughter of Holocaust survivors. CNN: "You are the daughter of Holocaust survivors... do you support him as a candidate?" HOULAHAN: " I don’t make that choice for the people of Maine; I am hopeful that his candidacy is successful"