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Blue-leaning state emerges as top GOP trouble spot as Senate campaign chief sounds midterm alarm
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The Senate Republican campaign chair has a stark warning for his party as the GOP defends its 53-47 majority in the chamber in this year’s midterm elections.
National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) Chair Tim Scott pointed to a ballot box deficit the GOP’s facing in a new Fox News national poll, saying it could impact specific Senate races this year.
And Scott said that the toughest challenge may be in Maine, where longtime GOP Sen. Susan Collins is running for re-election in the blue-leaning northern New England state.
The straight talk from Scott, which came at a closed-door meeting Tuesday with fellow GOP senators, comes as Republicans, as the party in power in the nation’s capital, face traditional political headwinds in the midterms. But the GOP is also facing a rough political climate, with President Donald Trump’s approval ratings remaining underwater while Democrats are energized as they work to win back the House majority and possibly recapture the Senate.
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An exterior view of the Senate side of the U.S. Capitol, on Jan. 12, 2026. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)
Scott, in his briefing, pointed to the Democrats’ six-point margin over Republicans on the generic ballot — which asks respondents whether they’d back the Democrat or Republican candidate in their congressional district without mentioning specific candidate names — in the latest Fox News national poll. Scott’s briefing was first reported by Axios and confirmed by Fox News Digital.
Maine, which Scott pointed to, and battleground North Carolina, where Republicans are defending an open seat in the race to succeed retiring GOP Sen. Thom Tillis, are the Democrats’ top two targets in the 2026 election cycle.
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«The Democrats are targeting a number of our incumbents. And so we’ve got some races that are going to be expensive and hard fought in places like Maine and North Carolina,» Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters following the NRSC briefing.
But Thune added, «We feel really good about… where our Senate races are.» And he emphasized that «incumbents in our conference are seasoned veterans who will outwork any of their opponents.»
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., center, arrives for a news conference after a policy luncheon on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026, in Washington (Mariam Zuhaib/AP Photo)
The Fox News poll was the latest national survey to give Republicans pause.
More than half (54%) surveyed in the poll, which was conducted Jan. 23–26, said the nation was worse off than it was a year ago, when Trump took office, with only 31% saying the U.S. was in a better position. And only three in 10 said the economy was in excellent or good shape.
The Democrats’ brand image remains in negative territory, according to the latest polls. But thanks in part to their laser focus on the issue of affordability amid persistent inflation, Democrats scored decisive victories in the 2025 elections, and have overperformed at the ballot box in other off-year and special elections since the start of Trump’s second administration.
That was vividly illustrated this past weekend, when Republicans suffered a stunning setback at the hands of Democrats: a double-digit shellacking in a special Texas state Senate election, in a Fort Worth area district that Trump won by 17 points in 2024 just 15 months ago.
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Thune said the special election results in Texas «remind us that we need to up our game and do a better job of not only putting up a record of accomplishment for the American people, but then, being able to deliver that message. And I think if you look at what we’ve accomplished in this last year, it’s a it’s a terrific record of accomplishment for our candidates to run on.»
Thune pointed to the GOP’s sweeping «One Big Beautiful Bill Act,» Trump’s signature second-term domestic achievement, which includes numerous tax cuts that many voters will feel this spring.
President Donald Trump signs sweeping spending and tax legislation, known as the «One Big Beautiful Bill Act,» during a picnic with military families to mark Independence Day, at the White House in Washington, D.C., on July 4, 2025. (Reuters/Ken Cedeno)
«I think what happened in Texas should capture our attention and remind us that we need to up our game and do a better job,» Thune said. «We’ve got to get out and tell that story. And I think over the course of the next several months, we’ll do that.»
Scott, in a Fox News Digital interview late last year, touted that «2026 is shaping up to be the year where Donald Trump’s activities, his actions, the legislation we’ve passed, shows up for the American voter. And consumers all across the country will see a more affordable economy because of President Trump and the Senate majority and the House majority in the hands of the Republican Party.»
Democrats are happy to have that fight.
«President Trump is creating a toxic agenda that’s harming people,» Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) Chair Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand told Fox News Digital last month.
And she added she’s «optimistic that we have a shot to take back the majority.»
Gillibrand argued that Trump «is creating this massive backlash because of his bad and hurtful and harmful agenda,» which she said «adds more to the map.»
Besides Maine and North Carolina, Democrats are also trying to flip GOP-held Senate seats in Texas, Ohio, Alaska and Iowa, which are all red states.
But they’re playing defense as they defend open seats in battleground Michigan, swing state New Hampshire, and blue-leaning Minnesota. And the NRSC’s targeting battleground Georgia, where they consider first-term Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff very vulnerable as he seeks re-election.
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While Scott offered a sobering presentation to his Senate GOP colleagues this week, he told Fox News Digital in December that in the battle for the majority, «54 is clearly within our grasp right now, but with a little bit of luck, 55 is on our side.»
Asked about Scott’s aspirations to pick up one or two seats, Gillibrand last month responded, «No chance.»
elections,midterm elections,senate elections,republicans elections,maine,donald trump,campaigning,democrats elections
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Mamdani’s response to Trump’s Iran strike sparks conservative backlash: ‘Rooting for the ayatollah’
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New York City’s socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani is facing blowback from conservatives on social media over his post condemning the U.S. attack on Iran that led to the killing of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
On Saturday, as a joint strike on Iran by the United States and Israel was developing, Mamdani blasted the Trump administration’s decision in a post on X that has been viewed roughly 20 million times.
«Today’s military strikes on Iran — carried out by the United States and Israel — mark a catastrophic escalation in an illegal war of aggression,» Mamdani wrote.
«Bombing cities. Killing civilians. Opening a new theater of war. Americans do not want this. They do not want another war in pursuit of regime change.»
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks to reporters during a news conference in New York Feb. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Mamdani said Americans prefer «relief from the affordability crisis» before speaking directly to Iranians in New York City.
«You are part of the fabric of this city — you are our neighbors, small business owners, students, artists, workers, and community leaders,» Mamdani said. «You will be safe here.»
The post was quickly slammed by conservatives on social media making the case that Mamdani’s response appeared sympathetic to Iran’s brutal regime and pointing to his lack of public reaction to the Iranian protesters killed in recent years.
«Comrade Mayor is rooting for the Ayatollah,» GOP Sen. Ted Cruz posted on X. «They can chant together.»
OBAMA OFFICIAL WHO BACKED IRAN DEAL SPARKS ONLINE OUTRAGE WITH REACTION TO TRUMP’S STRIKE: ‘SIT THIS ONE OUT’
«Do u say anything pro American ?» Fox News host Brian Kilmeade posted on X. «do u know any Iranians – ? they hate @fr_Khamenei they celebrate his death, you should be celebrating his death ! hes killed thousands of American’s and just killed 30k Iranians, did u even say a word about that? You are an embarrassment !! Please quit.»
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, questions Pam Bondi, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to be attorney general, during her Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing in Hart building Jan. 15, 2025. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
«I don’t feel safe in New York listening to someone like you, Mamdani, who sympathizes with the regime that killed more than 30,000 unarmed Iranians in less than 24 hours,» Iranian American journalist Masih Alinejad posted on X.
«We Iranians do not allow you to lecture us about war while you had nothing to say when the Islamic Republic shot schoolgirls and blinded more than 10,000 innocent people in the streets. You were busy celebrating the hijab while women of my beloved country Iran were jailed and raped by Islamic Security forces for removing it.
«And NOW you find your voice to defend the regime? No. I will not let you claim the moral high ground. The people of Iran want to be free. Where were you when they needed solidarity?»
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«How is it that you can’t differentiate between good and evil?» Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman posted on X. «Why is this so hard for you?»
«It takes a particular kind of audacity, or ignorance, for a city mayor to appoint himself the conscience of American foreign policy while his constituents step over garbage on their way to work,» GOP Rep. Nancy Mace posted on X. «History will not remember his bravery. It will not remember him at all.»
«Iranian New Yorkers are thrilled today and see right through you,» Republican New York City Councilwoman Vickie Paladino posted on X.
Bill Ackman, CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management LP, speaks during the WSJ D.Live global technology conference in Laguna Beach, Calif., Oct. 17, 2017. (Patrick Fallon/Bloomberg/Getty Images)
«When Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, UAE, Bahrain all support today’s operation eliminating world’s #1 sponsor of terror, but New York City’s Mayor @ZohranMamdani is shilling for Iran,» Republican New York City Councilwoman Inna Vernikov posted on X.
Fox News Digital reached out to Mamdani’s office for comment.
Shortly after Mamdani’s post, it was announced by President Trump and Israeli officials that the military operation resulted in Khamenei’s death.
Israeli leaders confirmed Khamenei’s compound and offices were reduced to rubble early Saturday after a targeted strike in downtown Tehran.
«Khamenei was the contemporary Middle East’s longest-serving autocrat. He did not get to be that way by being a gambler. Khamenei was an ideologue, but one who ruthlessly pursued the preservation and protection of his ideology, often taking two steps forward and one step back,» Behnam Ben Taleblu, senior director of FDD’s Iran program, told Fox News Digital.
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war with iran,zohran mamdani,politics
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Iran goes dark amid ‘regime paranoia’, blackout follows Israeli, US strikes on compound
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Iran was plunged into an internet blackout Saturday after Israel and the U.S. launched military strikes around the country, according to a global internet monitor.
Within hours of the strikes — which officials said targeted infrastructure and killed dozens of senior regime figures at a compound in Tehran— NetBlocks CEO Alp Toker confirmed connectivity started «flatlining.»
«We’re tracking the ongoing blackout, but our assessment is that this is straight out of Iran’s wartime playbook and consistent both technically and strategically with what we saw during the 2025 Twelve-Day War with Israel,» Toker told Fox News Digital.
«Iran’s internet connectivity is now flatlining around the 1% level, so the original blackout the regime imposed during the morning has been consolidated,» he confirmed.
«The blackout was imposed just after 7:00 UTC, not long after the attack on the Iranian regime compound,» Toker clarified, adding that Iran had been largely offline for approximately 12 hours following the attack.
«At 06:10 UTC, there is the main compound strike; at 07:10 UTC, telecoms disruption starts; at 08:00 UTC, the blackout is largely in effect; and by 08:30 UTC, connectivity flatlines.»
«Wartime national blackouts are exceedingly rare around the world, and it’s something we’ve only really seen at this scale in Iran,» he said.
President Donald Trump monitors U.S. military operations in Iran following an Israeli strike in Tehran on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026. (@WhiteHouse/X)
In the wake of the attack, dubbed Operation Epic Fury, President Donald Trump said on Truth Social that the «heavy and pinpoint» bombing in Iran «will continue uninterrupted throughout the week or as long as necessary to achieve our objective of PEACE THROUGHOUT THE MIDDLE EAST AND, INDEED, THE WORLD!»
He claimed Iranian security forces and members of the regime’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were already seeking immunity. He urged them to «peacefully merge with the Iranian Patriots.»
«We are hearing that many of their IRGC, Military, and other Security and Police Forces no longer want to fight and are looking for Immunity from us,» Trump said in the post. «As I said last night, ‘Now they can have Immunity; later they only get Death!’»
Toker argued the timing of the blackout suggested it was imposed deliberately as the regime sought to secure communications amid fears of further targeting.
TRUMP TELLS IRANIANS THE ‘HOUR OF YOUR FREEDOM IS AT HAND’ AS US-ISRAEL LAUNCH STRIKES AGAINST IRAN
TEHRAN, IRAN – FEBRUARY 28: Smoke rises over the city center after an Israeli army launches 2nd wave of airstrikes on Iran on February 28, 2026. (Photo by Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu via Getty Images) (Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu via Getty Images)
«The Iranian regime will have deployed this new blackout to counter potential cyberattacks during their own military operation, but also to avoid leaking the locations of senior regime figures through metadata and user-generated content,» he said.
«Communications would have been limited, and Iran’s leadership would have proceeded with the assumption that all communications, including satellite or whitelisted networks, carry risks,» he said before claiming that «paranoia would be well grounded at this point, with the blackout a belated but direct response to that.»
«Those participating directly would already know to avoid technology that could betray their whereabouts,» Toker said.
«However, the metadata may well have played a part in determining that the meeting of regime leaders was being held at the Tehran compound, who was in attendance, and at what time.»
DID THEY GET HIM? KHAMENEI’S FATE REMAINS UNKNOWN AFTER ISRAEL-US STRIKE LEVELS HIS COMPOUND
In this handout image provided by the Office of the Supreme Leader of Iran, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei addresses the nation in a state television broadcast on June 18, 2025 in Tehran, Iran. (Office of the Supreme Leader of Iran via Getty Images)
Toker revealed that the broader network around the regime leaders and around the compound wouldn’t have had the same strict restrictions.
«This kind of adjacent ‘background noise’ can be correlated against other intelligence sources to build an understanding of activity on the ground,» he added.
«Smartphones are a readily available, almost ‘free’ source of intelligence, and even when locked down, they eventually connect to international online services and generate insights that can be used to pinpoint regime figures,» Toker said.
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«In the aftermath of Saturday’s strike, this concern will have been high on the remaining Iranian leadership’s minds, especially if they didn’t have a clear and specific understanding of how the meeting was compromised.»
Iran has previously imposed sweeping internet shutdowns during periods of domestic unrest, including nationwide protests in January, which saw thousands killed, often seeking to curb the spread of information and restrict coordination.
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war with iran,ali khamenei,bombings,middle east,terrorism
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El Salvador registra más de 25,000 inmuebles inscritos en el primer bimestre de 2026 y mantiene dinamismo en la creación de empresas
En lo que va del año 2026, el Centro Nacional de Registros (CNR) reporta la inscripción de 25,381 inmuebles, una cifra que equivale a $720 millones, según datos oficiales difundidos por el director ejecutivo del CNR, Camilo Trigueros. Este comportamiento refleja la continuidad de una tendencia positiva que se consolidó en 2025, cuando se efectuaron 151,567 transferencias de dominio, generando un movimiento superior a $4,212 millones en el mercado inmobiliario salvadoreño. El incremento interanual en las transferencias de dominio alcanzó el 13%, impulsado tanto por la recuperación de zonas residenciales antes afectadas por la violencia, como por el renovado interés de inversionistas y ciudadanos residentes en el exterior.
Trigueros explicó en entrevista con el Noticiero Hechos, de Canal 12, que el proceso de transferencia de dominio responde principalmente a operaciones de compraventa, aunque también se registran casos de donaciones y herencias. Un estudio interno del CNR identificó que, en años recientes, las compraventas en colonias bajo control de pandillas eran prácticamente inexistentes debido a la falta de compradores y al temor de los propietarios a vender. Actualmente, tras mejoras en las condiciones de seguridad, estas zonas experimentan una reactivación del mercado inmobiliario, con participación de inversionistas nacionales, extranjeros y miembros de la diáspora salvadoreña.
El dinamismo del sector inmobiliario se suma al crecimiento sostenido de la actividad empresarial en el país. De acuerdo con datos publicados por Infobae el 4 de enero, El Salvador cerró 2025 con la creación de 8,373 nuevas empresas y más de 13,000 solicitudes de registro de marca, alcanzando cifras récord para la economía nacional. El crecimiento interanual en la conformación de nuevas empresas fue del 11%, mientras que las solicitudes de marca aumentaron un 18%, con especial énfasis en los sectores de gastronomía y comercio. Entre los factores que explican esta expansión se encuentran la digitalización de trámites, la simplificación de procesos y la implementación de figuras jurídicas más accesibles, como las Sociedades por Acciones Simplificadas (SAS).
El inicio de 2026 mantiene la tendencia al alza. Según datos oficiales, solo en enero se constituyeron cerca de 900 nuevas entidades, lo que proyecta que, de mantenerse el ritmo actual, El Salvador podría superar las 10,000 empresas creadas al finalizar el año. La digitalización de los servicios del CNR permite que el 70% de los usuarios obtenga respuesta a sus trámites en menos de 24 horas, lo que ha fortalecido la confianza de los inversionistas y emprendedores.
La recuperación del sector inmobiliario y el auge en la creación de empresas se explican, en parte, por la percepción de mayor seguridad, la estabilidad macroeconómica y el fortalecimiento institucional. De acuerdo con el balance presentado por Trigueros en medios radiales y televisivos, la mayoría de las nuevas empresas corresponden a sectores de servicios y comercio, con énfasis en pequeñas empresas familiares y emprendimientos gastronómicos. Además, la eliminación de barreras burocráticas y la gratuidad de trámites electrónicos han sido determinantes para el aumento de la formalización empresarial.
En 2025, la demanda de servicios del CNR creció un 11.1%, con más de 130,000 atenciones registradas a nivel nacional. El Instituto Adam Smith de la Universidad de la Florida ubicó a El Salvador en la quinta posición de facilidad para abrir una empresa en Latinoamérica, subiendo quince posiciones respecto a años previos. Las autoridades anticipan que la continuidad de las reformas y la ampliación de los servicios digitales mantendrán el ritmo de crecimiento en ambos rubros durante 2026.
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