With 20 days until midterm elections, Blakeman, Hochul spar over Trump, sanctuary status, ICE

President Donald Trump was speaking at a rally in Montana on Wednesday when a heckler interrupted, the latest of a series of heckler disruptions at his rallies in recent weeks.

After the heckler interrupted the president's speech, Trump responded that it was not "nice"

That’s not nice. Who is that guy?" Trump said.

Other rallygoers began booing before chanting, "Trump! Trump! Trump!"

There have been other heckler incidents at Trump's rallies in multiple locations earlier this month, although some of the others were more violent.

On Monday, a heckler wearing a "Release the Epstein Files" shirt was punched in the face by an apparent supporter of Trump during a rally in Ohio before the president mocked the protester's weight.

Video of the confrontation showed a rallygoer who appeared to support Trump shoving the heckler and striking her in the face as the crowd chanted "USA!"

"He's a paid protester," Trump said, appearing to be unaware that the heckler was a woman. "They’re all paid. They get paid by the lefties in order to destroy our country. They’re scum. But he’s going back home to Mom. He’s going back home to Mom. Look at him. Look at him. Terrible. Don’t we love law enforcement? Oh, he’s gotta go on a diet! He’s a fat guy. Wow. Wow. Gotta go on a diet fast. We all do."

Just days earlier, at another rally in Texas, a man wearing a MAGA hat grabbed a heckler by the hair and pulled him to the ground.

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that leakers who disclose sensitive military information should be shot, saying they should be dealt with "very, very strongly" and that they are "the scum of the earth."

"In my opinion, leakers should be shot. They should be shot. In the old days, we used to shoot leakers, you know, when — when they leak what time you're going to attack a country. And the reason you're attacking is really for defense, because you don't want them to have a weapon that can blow up millions of people at one shot," Trump said at a rally in Arizona, referring to the June 2025 U.S. military strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities.

"No, leakers should be dealt with very, very strongly. They're real — to me, they're — they're the scum of the earth. The leakers are the scum of the earth," he added.

Texas Senate candidate James Talarico, a Democrat, said that the Bible does not take a position on abortion during a CNN town hall on Wednesday before a voter pushed back on his claim.

Talarico told voter Jody Hunt, a self-described "one-issue voter," that his support for abortion rights was compatible with her Christian values because "the Bible is silent on the issue of abortion."

But Hunt disagreed with Talarico's characterization of the text.

"I just want to add that the Bible is not silent on abortion. There is the 10 Commandments: 'Thou shall not kill,'" Hunt replied.

"And as Catholics, we take great insult, I guess sometimes, when it’s described that way," she continued.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul declined to directly apologize to the families of people killed by illegal immigrants after Republican challenger Bruce Blakeman confronted her over the issue during Tuesday night's gubernatorial debate.

Hochul instead turned the exchange toward Americans killed by federal immigration agents.

Looking directly at Hochul as he brought up several victims, Blakeman asked what she had to say to families who will "never get to sit at another Thanksgiving dinner, never be able to open their presents on their Christmas tree.

"Will you apologize to them, and will you please return Sheridan Gorman's parents' calls to talk to you about your sanctuary policy?" he said.

Jose Medina-Medina, an illegal immigrant from Venezuela, faces charges related to the fatal shooting of Sheridan Gorman, an 18-year-old Loyola University Chicago student from Yorktown, New York, as she walked with friends near her campus late at night. Her death has fueled calls for change from her parents, who have taken aim at sanctuary policies that limit cooperation between local law enforcement and ICE.

Hochul responded by calling all crimes "heartbreaking," adding, "I abhor all crimes, regardless of the perpetrator."

She went on to say her administration has spent billions to "help law enforcement do their jobs" and reduce crime across the state.

This is an excerpt of an article by Fox News Digital's Kiera McDonald and Andrew Mark Miller.

Anthropic announced Wednesday that its Claude chatbot will provide live election results during the November midterms, while revealing that foreign operators used its AI to produce politically-charged content targeting American audiences.

The company said Claude will display updated election results directly in conversations on Election Day and afterward, alongside state-specific voting information sourced from Democracy Works.

Anthropic also disclosed that foreign-based operators of a fake news website used Claude to generate U.S. midterm coverage favoring Russian, Iranian and North Korean narratives.

"We banned the accounts involved in these cases and improved our ability to detect this type of abuse," Anthropic said.

The company acknowledged that testing revealed vulnerabilities in its election safeguards, including instances where Claude rejected overtly deceptive campaigning requests but failed to recognize malicious operations broken into smaller, seemingly harmless tasks.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested a Cuban national accused of illegally voting in at least 15 Missouri elections over two decades, including the 2024 presidential election, the Department of Homeland Security announced.

Andres Garcia, a lawful permanent resident, was arrested Oct. 6 by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Kansas City and charged with two counts of unlawful voting by an alien for allegedly casting ballots in the November 2022 and November 2024 elections.

According to DHS, Garcia entered the United States illegally in 1969 and registered to vote in Missouri in 2004, years before receiving lawful permanent resident status under the Obama administration in 2009.

"This alien from Cuba has been arrested and charged with illegally voting in multiple elections," DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said. "Only American citizens should be electing American leaders," Mullin added.

DHS alleges Garcia voted in at least 15 elections, including 13 federal elections, despite not being a U.S. citizen.

When voters rate the economy and the president negatively just weeks before Election Day, the incumbent party is vulnerable, and that’s certainly the case in the latest Fox News survey.

The economic landscape is stark. Six in 10 voters say the cost of living is their top economic worry, overshadowing government spending (15%), jobs and income inequality (7% each), tariffs (6%) and taxes (5%).

Majorities rate the economy negatively (74%) and expect it to worsen next year (53%), while two-thirds are dissatisfied with how things are going in the country (66%). Few, 18%, say their family is better off compared to two years ago. Independents say they’re worse off (52%) and think the economy will get worse (70%).

A majority of voters, 55%, say inflation is "not at all" under control. That’s up from a low of 45% earlier this year, and includes 30% of Republicans.

President Donald Trump’s lowest job rating is on inflation: 22% approve, a new low. Last summer, 36% approved. Four years ago, before the 2022 midterms, 29% approved of former President Joe Biden’s performance on inflation.

Disapproval of the job Trump is doing has reached 77% on inflation, 70% on the economy, 69% on tariffs and 64% on foreign policy. A smaller share, but still a majority, disapprove of his handling of immigration (56% disapprove), while border security is the only issue that is close to positive (50% approve, 50% disapprove).

Trump’s overall job approval is 36%, his lowest ever in a Fox News survey for either term. It had been holding steady at 39% since May. The decline is mainly driven by decreases among voters under age 45, those with annual household income below $50,000, non-White voters, and those without a college degree.

This is an excerpt of an article by Fox News' Dana Blaton.

Democratic congressional candidate Cait Conley accused Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., of "mansplaining" during Wednesday night's PIX11 debate after the two sparred over sexual assault allegations and campaign contributions.

The exchange began with a question about consent and campus sexual assault investigations following a controversy at Cornell University.

Conley criticized Lawler over domestic abuse allegations involving Republican Rep. Max Miller of Ohio.

"I did not blame Emily. I know both of them. It's very tragic. And it should be dealt with in family court," Lawler responded, before challenging Conley over campaign contributions from former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer.

"I'm sorry. I do not need, I do not need you mansplaining to me," Conley fired back.

"Sexual assault is a real thing, and as the father of two young daughters, I don't ever want to see a young woman abused. Period. Full stop," Lawler said.

Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., sparred with Democratic challenger Cait Conley over immigration enforcement during Wednesday night's PIX11 debate, blaming sanctuary policies for putting communities at risk.

The exchange followed questions about last week's ICE-involved shooting in New York City, which left an illegal immigrant wounded while his 5-year-old son was in the vehicle.

"Kathy Hochul's disastrous new law, which Cait Conley supports mak[es] New York a sanctuary state, prohibits cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration officials. It is fundamentally wrong," Lawler said.

Lawler defended the need for immigration enforcement while acknowledging that ICE should adopt reforms, including body cameras and restrictions on masks.

"If you are in this country illegally and you commit a crime, there should be no safe harbor," Lawler said.

Lawler also invoked the killing of Sheridan Gorman, a New York college student murdered in Chicago, arguing that cooperation between local police and ICE could have prevented her untimely death. Conley also chimed in afterward, calling the killing an atrocious crime and said the suspect should have been deported.

President Donald Trump took aim at Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed on Wednesday, accusing him of having ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and questioning whether he should serve in Congress.

"Yeah, he's a member of the Muslim Brotherhood," Trump told reporters. "He's a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, he said that years ago. He was a proud member, and you can't have a member of the Muslim Brotherhood in Congress being on one of our security committees, right?" Trump said.

The president reiterated his accusation at the end of the exchange, saying, "But he is a member of the Muslim Brotherhood."

El-Sayed's half-sister, Eman Abdelhadi, wrote in resurfaced 2012 social media posts that their mother had been active in the Muslim Brotherhood during college in Egypt in the early 1970s. In another post, Abdelhadi wrote, "My family has long been MB," according to previous reporting by Fox News Digital.

An El-Sayed campaign spokesperson previously told Fox News Digital, "Independent fact checkers have repeatedly debunked [opponent] Mike [Rogers'] lies, but their campaign continues to use bad faith attacks on Abdul's faith and family."

Republicans are eyeing a rare Senate pickup opportunity in Minnesota, where GOP nominee Michele Tafoya is narrowing the gap with Democratic Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, prompting Fox News to move the race toward Republicans less than three weeks before Election Day.

It's been nearly a quarter-century since Republicans last won a Senate election in the blue-leaning state. But Tafoya, a former longtime NFL sideline reporter, is aiming to break that losing streak by flipping the seat held by retiring Democratic Sen. Tina Smith.

A new Minnesota Star Tribune/KARE 11 poll shows Tafoya trailing Flanagan by just four percentage points. On Tuesday, the Fox News Power Rankings shifted the race to the right, from Likely Democrat to Lean Democrat.

"The more that Minnesotans learn about me and my opponent and see what my opponent has failed to do over the last eight years alongside [Democratic Gov.] Tim Walz, they're understanding Minnesota needs change. We need fresh ideas, we need an independent thinker and they're jumping on board," Tafoya said in a Fox News Digital interview.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Flanagan campaign for comment but didn't receive a response at the time this story was published.

The race is unfolding against the backdrop of Minnesota's massive welfare assistance fraud scandal, which has attracted national attention for nearly a year and prompted Democratic Gov. Tim Walz to abandon his 2026 re-election bid. The scandal has also become a central issue in Tafoya's campaign against Flanagan.

Tafoya noted that "there has been historic fraud under this administration, where Peggy Flanagan, my opponent, has been the second-in-charge in this state. And not only was the money stolen, it hollowed out these programs that were supposed to be getting help, like kids' meals or autistic kids or seniors who were supposed to be getting visits, health visits, wellness visits. And, so, that's been hollowed out."

This is an excerpt of an article by Fox News Digital's Paul Steinhauser.

The Supreme Court sided with Republicans Wednesday for a second time in a dispute over discounted broadcast advertising rates for political party committees ahead of the midterm elections.

In a 7-2 decision, the justices blocked a lower court order requiring the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to resolve a challenge to the discounted rates within 48 hours. Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented.

Four Democratic candidates had challenged an FCC policy extending preferential advertising rates to political parties and certain joint fundraising committees, arguing the discounts should apply only to individual candidates.

"The Fourth Circuit’s decision to issue an 'extraordinary' writ was inappropriate under the circumstances," the Supreme Court wrote.

NRCC Chairman Richard Hudson, R-N.C., said the ruling "preserves stability" in a statement.

"Today's ruling stops Democrats’ last-minute attempt to rewrite the rules and preserves stability for candidates, broadcasters, and voters in the final stretch of the election," Hudson said. "The ruling has protected candidates’ core political speech, and the NRCC is proud to have defended that principle before the nation's highest court."

The ruling preserves the existing policy while the legal battle continues, allowing GOP committees to retain access to cheaper broadcast advertising ahead of Nov. 3, Election Day.

Maine Democratic Congressional candidate Matt Dunlap appeared to dodge a question regarding illegal immigration on the campaign trail, per a video posted by the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC).

"Matt Dunlap, is illegal immigration illegal?" an NRCC staffer asked Dunlap in the video. "Do you think there should be a process to legally enter the country Matt Dunlap?"

The Maine Democrat offered no response as he entered a vehicle.

"No response," the NRCC tracker noted in the video.

Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) launched Operation "Catch of the Day" across Maine in January.

President Donald Trump's name came up 41 times during Tuesday night's New York gubernatorial debate, while the word "affordability" was mentioned just twice, according to a word-count analysis shared by Republican candidate Joseph Hernandez.

Hernandez, who is running for New York Comptroller, posted a graphic Wednesday tallying words used during the debate between Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul and Republican Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman.

According to Hernandez's analysis, "energy" was mentioned 26 times, "tax" or "taxes" 22 times, "ICE" 19 times and "crime" 18 times. "Budget" appeared just three times.

Hernandez accused Hochul of focusing on Trump rather than defending her record.

"I counted every word from last night's governor's debate," Hernandez wrote on X, arguing that Hochul "kept bringing up Trump because she can't defend her own record."

The figures are based on Hernandez's count of automated captions from the NY1/Spectrum News debate, including remarks by moderators and both candidates. The counts have not been independently verified.

Fox News Digital reached out to the office of Gov. Kathy Hochul for comment.

EXCLUSIVE: Tyler, Texas — Faced with an uphill battle in November's midterms as costs soar for Americans, Vice President JD Vance is making a pitch that the alternative is not better — and argues that Democrats would only make existing problems like street crime worse.

"It sort of drives home how the Democrats have kind of lost their minds," Vance told Fox News Digital on Tuesday when asked about a recent rash of Somali gang violence in Minnesota.

"And if you elect Democrats, you're fundamentally electing people who will invite criminals into your state, into your communities and make your communities less safe," he added in discussing the upcoming duel for control of Congress.

In typically-blue Minnesota, Democratic Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan is vying for a seat in the U.S. Senate, but facing a tough challenge from Republican Michele Tafoya.

"If you elect Republicans, you may not agree with us on everything, but we agree on some basic principles," Vance continued. "Like, for example, everybody should be safe, everybody should be secure in their communities — and we don't want let violent criminals come into our country."

"So, I do think that contrast is driven a little bit more starkly given what's happening in Minnesota."

Fox News Digital spoke with the vice president after a campaign rally in the town of Tyler, Texas, about 100 miles east of Dallas, on Tuesday. There, Vance rallied for Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton who is also in a tight U.S. Senate race with Democrat state Rep. James Talarico.

This is an excerpt of an article from Fox News Digital's Peter D'Abrosca.

The Texas Senate race has surpassed $500 million in combined political advertising spending and future reservations across its primary, runoff and general elections, according to new figures released by AdImpact Politics.

The advertising tracking firm said Wednesday that the contest is only the second non-presidential race to cross the half-billion-dollar threshold, joining Ohio's 2024 Senate race, which recorded $542.7 million.

Republican advertisers account for $368.2 million of the Texas total, or approximately 74% of all spending and reservations tracked by AdImpact.

The figures include advertising already purchased and future reservations, meaning the entire $500 million has not necessarily been spent.

The spending surge comes as Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton faces Democrat James Talarico in the Nov. 3 general election.

Incumbent Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., who has repeatedly shot down the prospect of mounting a 2028 presidential bid, reiterated his position during a Tuesday night Georgia U.S. Senate debate.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution chief political reporter Greg Bluestein pressed Ossoff about the issue during the Atlanta Press Club U.S. Senate debate at the Georgia Public Broadcasting studios.

"Senator Ossoff, you've repeatedly said you won't run for president in 2028, but your name continues to surface as a potential contender," Bluestein said, adding, "So will you pledge right now tonight to serve your full six-year term if you win?"

"Yes, I will," Ossoff replied. "I have zero interest in running for president. I'm not running for president. I'm running for re-election to the Senate."

The Democrat faces Rep. Mike Collins, R-Ga., in the Peach State contest, a Republican congressman who has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since early 2023.

Collins pushed back during the debate, saying Ossoff "is running for president" and will "be your DSA candidate," apparently referring to the Democratic Socialists of America.

Ossoff has served in the U.S. Senate since early 2021.

While President Donald Trump has endorsed Collins, former President Barack Obama is backing Ossoff.

This is an excerpt of an article by Fox News Digital's Alex Nitzberg.

Texas Democrat candidate for U.S. Senate James Talarico appears to be further moderating his previous left-wing stances as he slammed former President Joe Biden for ‘failing us’ on border security in a new campaign advertisement released Monday.

Despite spewing a seemingly hawkish and downright right-leaning border stance in the recent ad, Talarico previously called to slash Texas’ entire border-security budget in an unearthed interview.

"I called out Joe Biden for failing us on the border," Talarico says in the opening of the ad released this week.

But Talarico’s campaign couldn’t give Fox News Digital an example of him ever publicly criticizing Biden during his presidency. And the Texas Democrat explicitly made a call to put Texas’ entire $800 million two-year border security budget toward public education in a 2019 interview with The Austin Chronicle.

"We're also sending about $800 million per biennium to the border with Mexico for ‘increased border security,’" Talarico said in the more than seven-year-old interview.

The two-year deal allocating $400 million per year toward border security in the state of Texas was the state’s entire budget toward warding off illegal immigration at the time Talarico made the call to replace that funding.

"I'd rather take that money and put it back into public education and help increase the basic allotment, for instance," he said in the interview.

Talarico has ramped up his efforts to come off more moderate amid claims that he is too progressive to win a Senate seat in notoriously red Texas. His move to a more moderate stance on immigration only started during his Senate bid in the state with the highest rates of illegal immigration.

The New York gubernatorial race heated up Tuesday as Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul and Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman clashed on the debate stage, with the pair trading jabs over President Donald Trump, a recent ICE-involved shooting and inflation.

The debate opened with the candidates being asked about the conduct of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which last week drew outrage in New York City following the shooting of a 28-year-old Dominican national whom the Department of Homeland Security said refused to comply with lawful orders during a targeted operation in the Bronx. A 5-year-old boy inside Oscar Bergal's vehicle was unharmed.

"Kathy Hochul appealed to ICE to let this criminal out. The question that New Yorkers have to ask is what was this guy doing in New York in the first place? It's because Kathy Hochul has made us a sanctuary state," said Blakeman, a Republican.

"Think about it. This guy came into the country illegally. He's been convicted of a crime. He's got pending charges for dealing drugs, poison to our children. And he's a gangbanger. This is who Kathy Hochul is defending?" Blakeman continued. "I have a cooperative agreement with ICE until Kathy Hochul said we could no longer cooperate with ICE. We got over 2,000 illegal migrants out of my county with criminal records ranging from rape, attempted murder, robbery, burglary, drug dealing, carjacking, gang activity. And that's because we cooperated with ICE, and we didn't raid one school, one hospital, one daycare center or one church. If you cooperate with federal law enforcement, it makes for a safer community. That's what I did. Kathy Hochul is taking that ability away from us. That's why things like this happen."

Hochul called Blakeman's response a "non-answer," because "he refused to condemn what ICE did."

"So he basically says in the state of New York, he'd be fine if ICE agents shoot into cars, shoot guns into vehicles, not knowing who's inside and could have killed a 5-year-old child. If that doesn't shock the conscience of everybody — and it should shock his conscience as well — that he says, that's OK, that's how ICE is supposed to do it," Hochul added. "I'll tell you what. I oversee over 500 policing agencies in the state of New York, over half a million arrests every year. That's not how you conduct yourself. ICE is out of control. It's out of control in Nassau County."

Blakeman pushed back, saying, "it never would have happened" but for Hochul's "sanctuary policy."

"You have invited criminals to come into our state and prey on our communities. And now you won't let local law enforcement cooperate with ICE in an orderly way, like we did in my county," Blakeman added. "We didn't have any incidents in my county because we were allowed to cooperate with local law enforcement. But you took that tool away. The reason why that happened is because of you, Kathy Hochul, and your immigration policies, where you actually invite people into our state, give them free everything, and you don't care whether they're criminals or not. That's a bad policy.

This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News' Greg Norman.