Free Republic

President Donald Trump on Saturday attacked Sen. Thom Tillis for opposing the party's sweeping domestic policy bill, threatening to meet with potential primary challengers to the North Carolina Republican. Tillis, who faces re-election next year in a battleground state, was one of two Republicans, along with Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, to vote against advancing the "big, beautiful bill" in the Senate Saturday evening. "Numerous people have come forward wanting to run in the Primary against 'Senator Thom' Tillis," Trump wrote Saturday night. "I will be meeting with them over the coming weeks, looking for someone who will properly represent...

An appeals court on Friday revived a legal challenge against a Washington, D.C., law allowing noncitizens, including illegal migrants, the ability to vote in local elections. An Obama-appointed judge in March 2024 dismissed a lawsuit challenging the district law giving certain noncitizens the right to vote in elections within the District of Columbia, ruling that the plaintiffs did not have standing to sue. However, an appeals court Friday breathed life back into that challenge, finding that the law could dilute the voting power of citizens. “As long as each person can be said to have suffered a distinct and concrete...

Maine could be the first state to withdraw from the compact aimed at abolishing the Electoral College. In a stunning reversal of last year's misguided attempt to overthrow the Electoral College, Maine’s House of Representatives recently voted to withdraw the state from the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC). Three Democrats and two Independents joined Republicans in the vote for withdrawal. The NPVIC is an agreement among member states and the District of Columbia to award their electoral votes to the presidential candidate who wins the national popular vote once states with a majority of electoral votes join. Democrats created...

@RepThomasMassie 🚨This wasn’t widely covered in the news, so I will tell you: Congress was scheduled to vote on rescissions THIS WEEK to cut the waste that DOGE found, but the votes were quietly canceled. USAID and other programs like PBS and NPR were to be targeted.

The bulk of the mammoth $254 billion state budget deal was unveiled Wednesday with some last minute self-serving quietly slipped into the batter before Albany lawmakers were set to finally vote on it. The spending plan documents — nicknamed “The Big Ugly” in capital lingo — provide a last-minute, warts-and-all look at much-anticipated legislation focused on New York City’s mental health crisis, recidivism problems and more. Gov. Kathy Hochul ran a victory lap Wednesday after a deal to revamp the state’s discovery laws — a move to combat a slew of criminal cases that have been getting dismissed on technicalities....

Chuck Schumer announces that the SAVE Act, which requires proof of citizenship to register to vote nationwide, is DONE. Won't go to Trump's desk. DOA. It needs 60 votes. Schumer turned around, looked at Republicans, and gloated as he said this.

Two Ukrainian women in South Florida on temporary visas were hit with federal charges after being accused of illegally voting in the last 2024 U.S. presidential election, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ). Svitlana Demydenko, 53, and her daughter, Yelyzaveta Demydenko, 22, purportedly handed in their 2024 presidential votes in Palm Beach, Florida, on October 31, 2024. “Svitlana and Yelyzaveta entered the United States in April 2021 on nonimmigrant visas. In August 2024, while living in Florida, Svitlana and Yelyzaveta registered to vote in federal elections using a system that requires certification of United States citizenship, which neither of...

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., on Thursday blocked a portion of President Donald Trump’s executive order on election integrity, specifically provisions related to providing documentary proof of citizenship before being allowed to register to vote. Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia handed down the order in response to lawsuits filed by three separate groups of plaintiffs over five different provisions in a March 25 Trump executive order relating to election integrity. While Kollar-Kotelly dismissed requests to block three of the provisions, requests to block two other provisions pertaining to a proof of...

Here we go again—another judge sticking her nose where it doesn’t belong, derailing President Donald Trump’s efforts to make our elections secure. A federal judge in Washington, Colleen Kollar-Kotelly — a Bill Clinton appointee — just slammed the brakes on Trump’s executive order that would’ve required proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections. Trump signed the order in March, pointing out that the U.S. “fails to enforce basic and necessary election protections” compared to countries like India or Brazil, which tie voter ID to biometric databases. He’s not wrong. There's no denying that our elections are a mess, with...

Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy admitted he would “absolutely” vote for the Democrats in the 2026 midterm elections if President Trump continues to rattle the economy with his sweeping tariff war. The 48-year-old, who voted for Trump in the last election, told CNN Wednesday that he would still give the commander-in-chief a chance to prove his sweeping levies — but wouldn’t rule out jumping ship if the stock market continues to flounder. Asked if he’d be willing to ditch the GOP if the market doesn’t improve, Portnoy responded: “Yeah, absolutely.” “I was never some crazy MAGA guy,” the Barstool honcho...

House Republicans on Wednesday advanced the Senate’s blueprint to enact key parts of President Trump’s legislative agenda, teeing up the measure for a final vote — even as its fate hangs in the balance amid conservative opposition. The chamber voted 216-215 along party lines to adopt the rule, which governs debate for legislation, the last step before the entire House weighs in on whether to adopt the measure. Three Republicans voted with all Democrats against adopting the rule. A final vote is slated for around 5:30 p.m. Three Republicans voted with all Democrats against adopting the rule: Reps. Thomas Massie...

The Senate passed a framework for a sweeping bill promoting President Donald Trump’s agenda after an hourslong series of amendment votes during which Democrats sought to put Republicans on record on issues like tariffs and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). It passed mostly along party lines in a 51 to 48 vote around 2:30 a.m. ET on Saturday morning. Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Rand Paul, R-Ky., were the only two Republicans to join Democrats in opposing the measure. The amended framework would raise the debt ceiling by up to $5 trillion within the reconciliation process, taking future leverage...

President Donald Trump endorsed two Republicans ahead of Tuesday’s special elections in Florida’s 1st and 6th Congressional Districts, urging residents to get out and vote so Republicans can continue to secure their majority in the House. Florida’s 1st Congressional District is a race between Republican Jimmy Patronis and Democrat Gay Valimont, who are both vying for former Congressman Matt Gaetz’s (R-FL) seat. “Jimmy Patronis, Chief Financial Officer and Fire Marshall for the Great State of Florida, is running an incredible Campaign for Congress in Florida’s 1st Congressional District!” Trump said on Truth Social, describing him as a “wonderful friend” to...

About 100 protesters rallied outside Sen. Chuck Schumer’s Park Slope home Sunday to rip him for folding on a GOP-backed spending bill — with one sign reading, “Lost spine, if found please return to Chuck.” Schumer — the Empire State’s 74-year-old senior senator and Democratic caucus leader since 2017 — has insisted he won’t step down from his leadership role despite mounting pressure to do so. The senator showed a “devastating lack of leadership as he capitulated to [President] Trump, [Elon] Musk and the GOP during negotiations over government funding,” said a statement from Indivisible Brooklyn, the liberal group that...

New York State's top court on Thursday struck down a New York City law that would have permitted more than 800,000 legal non-citizens to vote in municipal elections. In a 6-1 decision, the Court of Appeals ruled that the law, passed by the City Council in 2021, violates the state constitution. "Americans have fought over the meaning of citizenship and the right to vote since the earliest days of our Republic," Chief Judge Rowan Wilson wrote for the majority. "Whatever the future may bring, the New York Constitution as it stands today draws a firm line restricting voting to citizens."...

The first cloture vote didn’t clinch 60, so the House GOP’s continuing resolution, which was passed on a party-line vote, remained in legislative limbo. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) delivered his ‘Republicans don’t have the votes’ bit, only to cave less than 36 hours later. After another drawn-out process that engulfed the Hill in chaos, he voted for cloture this afternoon—the Democrats are a total mess.

A pair of Senate Democrats from a key battleground state on Thursday said that they would vote against the GOP’s six-month spending bill, raising questions about the possibility of a government shutdown when funding expires on Friday. Arizona Sens. Mark Kelly (D) and Ruben Gallego (D) said they will oppose both the spending bill itself and a procedural motion to advance the measure, which requires 60 votes. “I cannot vote for the Republican plan to give unchecked power to Donald Trump and Elon Musk,” Kelly said in a statement. “I told Arizonans I’d stand up when it was right for...

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said Thursday that Republicans are open to giving Democrats an amendment vote on a monthlong stopgap funding patch in exchange for votes to help Republicans pass a yearlong spending bill to avert a government shutdown. Thune told reporters he has yet to speak directly with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on a path forward. “If they want a vote on that in exchange for getting us the votes to pass the [CR] to Sept. 30, I think we’re open to that,” Thune said Thursday morning. “But as you all know, the House is...

Democrats and the D.C. Board of Elections are pushing to allow noncitizens — including potential foreign spies — to vote in local elections. The D.C. Board of Elections will head to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday to fight to preserve a district law allowing noncitizens to vote in local elections. The lawsuit centers around the Local Resident Voting Rights Amendment Act of 2022, which permits noncitizens eighteen or older who have lived in D.C. for at least 30 days prior to an election to vote for local officials and on ballot initiatives. With an estimated 10,000 foreign...

President Trump’s public debacle with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky halted hopes for a signed minerals agreement while dividing the world — and Washington — over their support for them both. Long-simmering tensions between Trump and Zelensky exploded into the open during a heated Oval Office exchange that will have ramifications for the U.S., Russia, Ukraine and all of Europe. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) called his vote to confirm Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was in that meeting with Trump and Zelensky, “a mistake” in a Sunday interview with CNN’s “State of the Union.” “It was a mistake. I think...