Latest news with #NRCC
Fox News
5 hours ago
- Business
- Fox News
House Dems' campaign chair says her party's 'on offense' in 2026 battle to win back majority from GOP
With the early moves heating up in the 2026 battle for the House majority, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's (DCCC) chair argues President Donald Trump and the Republican majorities in the House and Senate are "doing incredible damage to working families and to our country." And with the GOP defending a razor-thin majority in the House in next year's midterm elections, Rep. Suzan DelBene, the DCCC chair, noted, "We only need three more seats." "We have 35 districts in play across the country where we have opportunities," DelBene said in a Fox News Digital interview last week in the nation's capital, pointing to the Republican-held seats the DCCC is targeting. "We are on offense. We are fighting for the American people and for the important issues they care about, and Democrats are united in doing that." While the party in power after a presidential election — currently the GOP — typically faces political headwinds and loses House seats in the following midterms, the 2026 map appears to favor Republicans."The battlefield is really laying out to our advantage. There are 14 Democrats who won seats also carried by Donald Trump. There are only three Republicans in seats that were carried by [former Vice President] Kamala Harris. So, that tells me we're going to be on offense," Rep. Richard Hudson of North Carolina, the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) chair, told Fox News Digital at the start of the 2026 cycle. DelBene countered that "the reason we have opportunities is because people are outraged, because they do want to see someone come into office who is going to fight for their communities and not just be blindly loyal to a president." And pointing to the small bite House Democrats took out of the GOP's majority in the 2024 elections, she added that "those are the types of candidates that won in our districts last cycle. It's a reason we actually gained seats in 2024 and is absolutely the reason why we're going to take back the majority in 2026." But Hudson noted he has a powerful ally as he works to keep control of the House. "The president understands that he's got to keep the House majority in the midterm so that he has a four-year runway instead of a two-year runway to get his agenda enacted," Hudson said. "He's been extremely helpful to us, and we appreciate it." And the Democrats are facing a polling dilemma because the party's ratings have been sinking to historic lows in a number of national surveys so far this year. The Democrats' ratings in a Fox News poll stood at 41% favorable and 56% unfavorable in a survey conducted April 18-21. That's an all-time low for the Democrats in Fox News polling. And for the first time in a decade, the party's standing was lower than that of the GOP, which stood at 44% favorable and 54% unfavorable. The figures were reversed last summer, when Fox News last asked the party favorability question in one of its surveys. But there is a silver lining for the Democrats. The Fox News poll indicated that if the 2026 midterm elections were held today, 49% of voters would back a generic Democrat in their congressional district, with 42% supporting the generic Republican candidate. The Democrats also have another problem — the possibility of primary challenges against longtime and older House lawmakers in safe blue districts. Recently elected Democratic National Committee (DNC) Vice Chair David Hogg last month pledged to spend millions of dollars through his outside political group to support primary challenges against what he termed "asleep at the wheel" House Democrats who he argued have not been effective in pushing back against Trump. The move by the 25-year-old Hogg, a survivor of the shooting seven years ago at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in South Florida, to spend money against fellow Democrats ignited a firestorm within the party. In response, DelBene said, "Democrats across the country are united in taking back the House." Asked by Fox News if the move by Hogg would force the DCCC and allied super PACs to divert money and resources from competitive districts in order to defend incumbents in safe blue districts from primary challenges, DelBene responded, "I think everyone knows how important it is that we take back the House, and folks are focused in helping make sure that we do that in districts all across the country." But the dispute is giving the GOP ammunition. In response to the intra-Democratic Party feud, NRCC spokesman Mike Marinella argued, "No Democrat is safe. A political earthquake is underway, and the old guard is scrambling."
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Medicaid cuts in Republican bill emerge as an early flash point for the 2026 elections
WASHINGTON — Early battle lines are forming over a centerpiece of the sprawling domestic policy bill that House Republicans narrowly passed, with Medicaid spending cuts emerging as a flash point that could define the 2026 midterm elections. Democrats are fine-tuning their message as they blast the legislation, which now heads to the GOP-led Senate, as a tax cut for the wealthy that would be funded by cutting health care, after Republicans broadly promised they wouldn't cut Medicaid. A recent memo from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee vows to make the GOP's 'tax scam' and Medicaid cuts 'the defining contrast of the 2026 election cycle' in its efforts to win the House majority next year. The DCCC is advising Democratic candidates to criticize the Republican bill as a Trojan horse designed to throw millions off of Medicaid — not address waste — with new red tape, said a separate source with knowledge of the private conversations. And Republicans are trying to frame the fight on their terms. The National Republican Congressional Committee is advising members to tout the bill as 'strengthening Medicaid' by limiting the program to those who need it — 'not fraudsters, able-bodied adults who refuse to work, or illegal immigrants.' Underneath the clash is a wonky debate about what, exactly, constitutes a Medicaid 'cut.' Republicans insist they aren't directly cutting benefits for low-income and disabled people, so their bill shouldn't be defined as a cut. Democrats and outside critics say it would strip away coverage for millions of people, including those who need the program the most, who would fall through the cracks if they can't meet the new bureaucratic requirements to keep proving their eligibility. The bulk of the cost savings would come from strict new rules to maintain eligibility for Medicaid, which would require adult recipients to prove they're working or engaging in 'community service' for at least 80 hours per month, with limited exceptions that include pregnant women. That rule would kick in at the end of 2026. Other new rules would involve verifying addresses, proving lawful immigration status and screening eligibility more frequently, once every six months, instead of once a year. The bill would impose about $700 billion in cuts to Medicaid relative to current law, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, and rescind health coverage for about 8.6 million people. (The estimate was based on the work requirement's beginning in 2029, before it was moved up in the revised bill, meaning the uninsured number could be larger.) Still, Republicans are seeking to steer the debate toward the work requirements, which surveys say voters generally support for able-bodied adults, and selling the bill as an attempt to return Medicaid to those who need it the most. Asked to respond to the GOP argument on the bill's work requirements, DCCC spokesperson Viet Shelton said in an email: 'House Republicans got caught lying about their vote to rip health care away from millions of people and are now scrambling to change the subject. Their tax scam bill was specifically designed to be the largest cut to Medicaid in history and Republicans are now stuck in a doomloop debating how many and how quickly people will get kicked off their health insurance — not if.' The politics of the escalating fight could prompt Senate Republicans to make changes to the bill. Some have already expressed discomfort with the changes proposed for Medicaid, though they broadly favor work requirements and don't count them as 'cuts.' President Donald Trump has similarly said he doesn't want to cut Medicaid, yet he championed the House legislation. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee released a digital ad last week describing the GOP Medicaid policies as 'devastating.' A recent national survey by KFF, a nonpartisan health research group, highlights the nuances of the issue. Overall, the poll found that 62% of U.S. adults support new legislation 'requiring nearly all adults to work or be looking for work in order to get health insurance through Medicaid' — including 6 in 10 independents. But the KFF poll found the support to be soft. It plummets to 32% when respondents hear the argument that most Medicaid recipients are already working or are unable to work. When respondents hear the argument that such new rules would raise administrative costs without significantly affecting the share of Medicaid recipients who are working, support drops to 40%. There are other headwinds for Republicans. Overall, the KFF poll found that Medicaid funding cuts are unpopular: 82% of respondents said they wanted Medicaid spending to increase or stay about the same, while just 17% said they want it to decrease. Even among Republican respondents, just 33% said Medicaid spending should be reduced. The survey found that 3 in 4 U.S. adults said the legislation was about reducing government spending, while just one-fourth of them said it was about improving how Medicaid works. Still, the GOP focus has tripped up at least one Democratic candidate. Manny Rutinel, who is eying the seat of freshman Rep. Gabe Evans, R-Colo., declined three times in an interview on NBC affiliate KUSA of Denver to say whether he favors work requirements for able-bodied adults. 'It was painful to watch,' said a national Democratic strategist, who spoke candidly on condition of anonymity. The strategist said the onus is on Democrats to elevate the voices of regular people in their districts who would be harmed by the new rules and to make the case that 'people who need Medicaid are going to lose it because of what Republicans are doing.' As top Democrats echo their successful message from the 2018 election cycle, whereas Republicans tried to repeal the Affordable Care Act and enacted the Trump tax cuts, some in the party warn that the dynamics are different this time. The Republican 'message today is about requiring able-bodied Americans to work, preventing fraud and ensuring noncitizens are not covered,' said Ashley Schapitl, a former Democratic Senate communications aide. 'While Medicaid cuts poll horribly, these individual policies poll well. Democrats can still win the argument, but members need a sharp message and discipline around the issues of work requirements and immigration, not to feel complacent around rerunning the exact 2017 playbook.' House Majority Forward, a political group focused on electing Democrats, launched a six-figure ad campaign Wednesday in 26 Republican-held districts, accusing those lawmakers of voting to raise prices for ordinary people through Medicaid cuts. An ad running in Pennsylvania's 8th District says freshman GOP Rep. Rob Bresnahan 'just cast the deciding vote to raise the cost of your groceries and cut your health care including Medicaid — to pay for tax cuts for the ultra-rich.' A similar script is used against other incumbents, all of whom were pivotal in the 215-214 vote to pass the legislation last week and send it to the Senate. Republicans, notably, are focusing a new ad campaign of their own on touting the bill's tax cuts, not its spending cuts. The NRCC announced new ads Friday targeting 25 Democratic incumbents in competitive districts, saying they voted 'for the largest U.S. tax hike in generations' by opposing the bill that extends the expiring 2017 Trump tax cuts. The ad obliquely refers to citizenship verification for benefits, saying that under the status quo, 'illegals get freebies, you get the bill.' The ad doesn't mention Medicaid. This article was originally published on
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
AOC fundraises on trying to abolish ICE amid Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration
Republicans are ripping progressive New York Democrat Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for renewing her call to abolish U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in a recent fundraising email. "I believe that ICE, an agency that was just formed in 2003 during the Patriot Act era, is a rogue agency that should not exist," Ocasio-Cortez said in a fundraising email obtained by Fox News Digital. The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), House Republicans' campaign arm, criticized the potential 2028 presidential candidate in an X post for fundraising on wanting to abolish ICE, a progressive rallying cry that rejects President Donald Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration. "House Democrat Minority Leader AOC is doubling down on their party's most extreme, unhinged agenda, while the rest of her party is bending their knee to the radical wing. At this rate, the Democrat platform in 2026 will be a fever dream of defunding the police, wide open borders, and far-left hellscapes," NRCC Spokesman Mike Marinella told Fox News Digital in a statement. Trump Border Czar Fires Back At Aoc Over Doj Probe Remarks: 'Why Doesn't She Pass Some Legislation?' "Why are you considered to be extreme?" Ocasio-Cortez asked in the fundraising email. It's a strategy often deployed by the progressive New Yorker, according to a Fox News Digital review of Ocasio-Cortez's campaign emails. Read On The Fox News App Ice Touts Record-breaking Immigration Enforcement During Trump's First 100 Days Ocasio-Cortez says she is considered "extreme" because she supports Medicare for All, champions the Green New Deal, challenges Democratic Party leadership, believes in "democratic socialism," is funded by small-dollar donations and believes ICE should "not exist." "Pathetic, yet predictable from AOC," DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News Digital. "This kind of demonization of ICE officers has led to our officers facing a 413% increase in assaults. While bottom-barrel politicians like AOC fight to protect criminal illegal aliens, our ICE officers will continue putting their lives and safety on the line to arrest murderers, kidnappers, and pedophiles that were let into our country by the Biden Administration's open border policies." "AOC, Democrat Party leader, calls for abolishing ICE," White House spokeswoman, Abigail Jackson, said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "Meanwhile, the brave men and women of ICE get dangerous criminal illegal immigrants off our streets and protect American citizens. Why does AOC want to stop that?" The potential 2028 candidate was at the forefront of the "abolish ICE" movement, a rejection of Trump's immigration policies in his first administration, during her 2018 congressional campaign when she unseated longtime Democrat incumbent Rep. Joe Crowley. While older, moderate Democrats haven't been as vocal about abolishing ICE, another young progressive, who has faced heat within his party for a plan to primary challenge older Democratic incumbents in safe blue districts who are "asleep at the wheel," DNC vice chair David Hogg, has also called to "abolish ICE." "We must acknowledge the terrifying moment that we are in right now, and that what we are hearing and seeing with our own eyes is, in fact, happening. We are watching as our neighbors, students and friends are being fired, targeted and disappeared. It is real. People we love are being targeted and harassed for being LGBTQ. Our co-workers, U.S. citizens and immigrants alike are being disappeared off the street by men in vans with no uniform," Ocasio-Cortez told a crowd in Montana on Sen. Bernie Sanders' "Fighting Oligarchy" Tour. Ocasio-Cortez has an ongoing feud with Trump's border czar, Tom Homan, as the New York congresswoman instructs her constituents how to impede ICE arrests. Ocasio-Cortez is facing a potential Department of Justice probe for a webinar she hosted in February on how to handle ICE agents. The Trump administration has led a robust crackdown on illegal immigration since returning to the White House this year. During the first 100 days of Trump's second term, ICE arrested 66,463 illegal immigrants and removed 65,682, according to ICE. The agency said three in four of those arrests of illegal immigrants involved someone accused of committing a crime. The Fox News Voter Analysis in 2024 found that 52% of voters said Trump was the better candidate to handle immigration, while just 36% said Harris. Additionally, it was a top issue for voters, with 20% saying it was the most important issue facing the country. Ocasio-Cortez, Homan and the DCCC did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's requests for comment. Fox News Digital's Alexandra Koch contributed to this report. Original article source: AOC fundraises on trying to abolish ICE amid Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration
Fox News
4 days ago
- Business
- Fox News
AOC fundraises on trying to abolish ICE amid Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration
Republicans are ripping progressive New York Democrat Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for renewing her call to abolish U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in a recent fundraising email. "I believe that ICE, an agency that was just formed in 2003 during the Patriot Act era, is a rogue agency that should not exist," Ocasio-Cortez said in a fundraising email obtained by Fox News Digital. The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), House Republicans' campaign arm, criticized the potential 2028 presidential candidate in an X post for fundraising on wanting to abolish ICE, a progressive rallying cry that rejects President Donald Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration. "House Democrat Minority Leader AOC is doubling down on their party's most extreme, unhinged agenda, while the rest of her party is bending their knee to the radical wing. At this rate, the Democrat platform in 2026 will be a fever dream of defunding the police, wide open borders, and far-left hellscapes," NRCC Spokesman Mike Marinella told Fox News Digital in a statement. "Why are you considered to be extreme?" Ocasio-Cortez asked in the fundraising email. It's a strategy often deployed by the progressive New Yorker, according to a Fox News Digital review of Ocasio-Cortez's campaign emails. Ocasio-Cortez says she is considered "extreme" because she supports Medicare for All, champions the Green New Deal, challenges Democratic Party leadership, believes in "democratic socialism," is funded by small-dollar donations and believes ICE should "not exist." The potential 2028 candidate was at the forefront of the "abolish ICE" movement, a rejection of Trump's immigration policies in his first administration, during her 2018 congressional campaign when she unseated longtime Democrat incumbent Rep. Joe Crowley. While older, moderate Democrats haven't been as vocal about abolishing ICE, another young progressive, who has faced heat within his party for a plan to primary challenge older Democratic incumbents in safe blue districts who are "asleep at the wheel," DNC vice chair David Hogg, has also called to "abolish ICE." "We must acknowledge the terrifying moment that we are in right now, and that what we are hearing and seeing with our own eyes is, in fact, happening. We are watching as our neighbors, students and friends are being fired, targeted and disappeared. It is real. People we love are being targeted and harassed for being LGBTQ. Our co-workers, U.S. citizens and immigrants alike are being disappeared off the street by men in vans with no uniform," Ocasio-Cortez told a crowd in Montana on Sen. Bernie Sanders' "Fighting Oligarchy" Tour. Ocasio-Cortez has an ongoing feud with Trump's border czar, Tom Homan, as the New York congresswoman instructs her constituents how to impede ICE arrests. Ocasio-Cortez is facing a potential Department of Justice probe for a webinar she hosted in February on how to handle ICE agents. The Trump administration has led a robust crackdown on illegal immigration since returning to the White House this year. During the first 100 days of Trump's second term, ICE arrested 66,463 illegal immigrants and removed 65,682, according to ICE. The agency said three in four of those arrests of illegal immigrants involved someone accused of committing a crime. The Fox News Voter Analysis in 2024 found that 52% of voters said Trump was the better candidate to handle immigration, while just 36% said Harris. Additionally, it was a top issue for voters, with 20% saying it was the most important issue facing the country. Ocasio-Cortez, Homan, DHS and the DCCC did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's requests for comment.
Fox News
4 days ago
- Business
- Fox News
Longtime Democrat senator's daughter takes aim at Trump, Musk, RFK Jr, in launch for key House swing seat
The eldest daughter of longtime Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire is taking a step to follow in her mother's political footsteps. Stefany Shaheen on Wednesday declared her candidacy for the U.S. House in the open seat race in New Hampshire's competitive 1st Congressional District. The younger Shaheen wasted no time in targeting President Donald Trump, Elon Musk, who has been steering Trump's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr, and Republicans in Congress. In a campaign launch video, Shaheen spotlighted her efforts as a healthcare advocate for her daughter Elle, who has Type 1 diabetes. Shaheen said the diagnosis turned her "into a fierce fighter for medical research and innovation to help Elle and millions like her." "So, when I see Donald Trump crushing medical research and slashing health care for kids, seniors and veterans to give tax breaks to billionaires and corporations, I have to fight back. That's why I'm running for Congress," Shaheen said in a statement.. "No one fights harder than a mom for her kids, and that's how I will fight for your family, too. I'll never give up." Shaheen, in her video, also charged that Musk has been "chasing out our best scientists and doctors" and claimed that Kennedy is "allowing measles to run rampant because he believes in conspiracy theories instead of proven vaccines." The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), the House GOP's campaign arm, took aim at Shaheen over her famous family's political pedigree. "Nepo baby Stefany Shaheen is a DC elitist who is committed to the Democrats' radical agenda that makes life more expensive and less safe. Granite Staters will resoundingly reject her and her out of touch policies," NRCC spokeswoman Maureen O'Toole argued in a statement to Fox News. Shaheen is running for the seat currently held by four-term Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas, who is campaigning to succeed the elder Shaheen, the first woman in U.S. history to be elected both as a governor and a U.S. senator. The 78-year-old senator announced in March that she would not seek re-election to the Senate in 2026. The move by the younger Shaheen, who previously served on the Portsmouth City Council and the Portsmouth Police Commission, sets up a likely blockbuster primary with Maura Sullivan, a New Hampshire Democratic Party vice chair. Sullivan is also a Marine veteran who served in the Iraq War and was the 2018 Democratic primary runner-up to Pappas in the 1st District. Sullivan launched a congressional campaign last month. New Hampshire's 1st District, which covers the eastern half of New England's only battleground state and includes the cities of Manchester and Portsmouth, was once one of the nation's premiere swing congressional districts. Republicans are aiming to flip the seat in next year's midterm election, and the race is likely to be competitive and expensive. However, no Republican has won the district since 2014. In the race for the GOP congressional nomination, facilities management executive Chris Bright, who ran unsuccessfully in 2024 for the seat, has declared his candidacy. Former state Sen. Russell Prescott, the 2024 nominee who lost to Pappas, is mulling another run for Congress. So are New Hampshire GOP Vice Chair Hollie Noveletsky and Joe Kelly Levasseur, who, along with Bright, came in behind Prescott in the 2024 GOP primary. State Attorney General John Formella is also thought to be a possible contender for the GOP nomination.
