INTERNACIONAL
Longtime House Republican weighs run to flip Dem-held Senate seat in key battleground
Longtime Republican Rep. Bill Huizenga of Michigan says that as soon as Democratic Sen. Gary Peters announced earlier this year that he wouldn’t seek re-election in the key Great Lakes battleground state in next year’s midterms, «my phone started to ring and it hasn’t stopped ringing.»
Huizenga, who was first elected to the House in 2010 and represents Michigan’s 4th Congressional District, which covers parts of the southwestern part of the state, highlighted that he’s getting «encouragement» to seek the Senate from «grassroots folks,» as well as donors.
«I have been very flattered and honored to have this kind of support emerging,» he said.
The Senate seat in Michigan is a top target for the GOP in the 2026 midterm elections to flip from blue to red, as the party aims to expand its current 53-47 majority in the chamber. And the emerging showdown is expected to be one of the most expensive and bruising battles of the cycle.
2026 ELECTIONS: THIS SENATOR IS RUNNING FOR GOVERNOR NEXT YEAR
Republican Rep. Bill Huizenga of Michigan speaks at a campaign rally for former President Donald Trump in Portage, Michigan, on Nov. 1, 2024. (Bill Huizenga campaign)
Huizenga, who is now the vice chair of the House Financial Services Committee, pointed to «the connections that I’ve got and have built up over the last now going into my eighth term here» when asked about fundraising.
«It’s donors in Michigan. It’s donors nationally,» he touted. «I’ve got a network of folks that have been very, very helpful in the past, and they’re very interested in helping me out again.»
WILL THIS BLUE STATE REPUBLICAN END THE GOP’S 20-YEAR LOSING STREAK IN HIS STATE?
But Huizenga isn’t the only Republican making noise about a Senate run.
Former Rep. Mike Rogers announced at the end of January that he was «strongly considering» a second straight Republican run.
And Rogers, a former FBI special agent who later served as chair of the House Intelligence Committee during his tenure in Congress, is likely to announce his campaign on Monday.
Michigan Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers speaks during a Trump/Vance campaign rally in Flint, Michigan, on Nov. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
Rogers won the 2024 GOP Senate nomination in Michigan but narrowly lost to Rep. Elissa Slotkin, the Democrats’ nominee, in last November’s election in the race to succeed longtime Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow, who retired. Slotkin, who vastly outspent Rogers, edged him by roughly 19,000 votes, or a third of a percentage point.
Asked if a campaign launch by Rogers would affect his decision-making process, Huizenga said «quite honestly, no.»
«I think the question that everyone needs to answer is, who can win? Who can win the state of Michigan, and Michigan politics has shifted, and that’s the reality,» he said.
A LIKELY BRUISING SENATE BATTLE IN BATTLEGROUND MICHIGAN HEATS UP AS THIS CANDIDATE ENTERS THE RACE
Michigan was once part of the Democratic Party’s blue wall states that helped boost the party’s candidates in presidential elections. But President Donald Trump narrowly carried Michigan in his 2016 and 2024 White House victories.
«What we don’t know is whether that Trump coalition of union households, Hispanics, the Arab American population and African Americans, especially males, that came out and supported Donald Trump, along with those independents and Republicans, whether that coalition is going to be held,» Huizenga said.
Republican Rep. Bill Huizenga of Michigan arrives at a campaign rally for former President Donald Trump in Portage, Michigan, on Nov. 1, 2024. (Bill Huizenga campaign)
And Huizenga pointed to his double-digit re-election margin last year in a competitive House District (his seat is one of 35 House seats Democrats are targeting in next year’s midterms). Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer narrowly won the district in her 2022 re-election victory, and Trump carried the district by six points last November.
WHY PETE BUTTIGIEG SAID NO TO RUNNING FOR THE SENATE NEXT YEAR
An endorsement by Trump, whose sway over the GOP is stronger than ever, is expected to play a significant role in the Republican Senate primary in Michigan.
And while Trump has yet to weigh in on the race, Rogers earlier this year hired veteran Republican strategist and 2024 Trump co-campaign manager Chris LaCivita as a senior advisor.
Michigan Republican Senate nominee and former Rep. Mike Rogers, right, speaks alongside former President Donald Trump during a campaign event hosted by Trump at the Falk Productions manufacturing facility in Walker, Michigan, on Sept. 27, 2024. ( Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Asked about his relationship with Trump, Huizenga called it «very good» and claimed that «there is one elected official that has spoken at all three of his last rallies [in Michigan], in 2016, 2020 and 2024, and that’s me.»
As for his timetable, Huizenga said: «I’m still going to do my evaluation here, and need to kind of push through on the fundraising and need to make sure that I’m able to get the support that I really need to have to be able to do this kind of run.»
«We’re still more than a year out from the filing deadline, and so there’s a lot of runway here, and so I’m not in a huge hurry,» he added. «It needs to be done soon. But it would seem to me, sometime this summer or right after Labor Day, is more than enough time to make sure that we got the right candidate.»
THIS CONSERVATIVE COMMENTATOR IS MULLING 2026 STATEWIDE RUN IN KEY BATTLEGROUND
And in what appeared to be a comment directed at Rogers, Huizenga added that «it’s better to have the right person at the right time, rather than somebody early on.»
Besides Rogers and Huizenga, business executive, conservative commentator and 2022 Republican gubernatorial nominee Tudor Dixon has said she’s seriously mulling another run for governor, or for the Senate, in 2026.
And Republican businessman and auto dealership executive Kevin Rinke, who ran for governor in 2022, is also thought to be considering another statewide run next year.
Mallory McMorrow, a Democratic Michigan state Senator, launched a 2026 campaign for the U.S. Senate in the Great Lakes battleground state earlier this month. (Reuters/Elizabeth Frantz)
Earlier this month, Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow launched a campaign for the Democratic Senate nomination.
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Reps. Kristen McDonald Rivet and Haley Stevens are considering a run, as is Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel.
Last month, Pete Buttigieg, a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate who later served as Transportation Secretary in former President Joe Biden’s administration, ruled out a campaign after seriously considering a bid.
Politics,Elections,Senate,Republicans,Michigan,Donald Trump
INTERNACIONAL
El Gobierno de Trump sacó una página web para culpar a China por el Covid: «Fuga de laboratorio»
La Casa Blanca eligió este viernes tensar aún más la cuerda de la relación con Beijing y acusó a China por la pandemia de coronavirus. «El verdadero origen del Covid», acusó el gobierno de Donald Trump al gigante asiático, mediante la construcción y publicación de una página web llamada «LabLeak» (algo así como «fuga del laboratorio»), la cual aduce trasladar las investigaciones del Congreso y otras instituciones estadounidenses.
«Si existieran pruebas de un origen natural, ya habrían aparecido. Pero no es el caso», acusó el gobierno norteamericano este viernes mediante su nueva página, un subdominio del sitio web de la Casa Blanca que se llama «Lab Leak, el verdadero origen del Covid».
Se refiere a China, que además de ser el primer país en que se reportaron casos de coronavirus a fines de 2019, este año se ve envuelta en una guerra comercial con los Estados Unidos, luego de que Donald Trump anunciara que incrementará los aranceles comerciales para productos hechos en el gigante asiático. Beijing, su contraparte, anunció lo mismo posteriormente y Trump volvió a retrucar.
La página que la Casa Blanca instituyó este viernes es, en realidad, una actualización del anterior apartado «covid.gov», que el gobierno estadounidense usaba hasta el 10 de abril pasado para dispensar distinta información sobre el coronavirus, cómo prevenirlo y cómo tratarlo.
Pero no sólo la página publicada por la Casa Blanca acusa a China por el origen, sino que rechaza el uso de barbijos y la implementación de medidas de distanciamiento social como políticas relevantes en materia sanitaria durante el transcurso de la pandemia.
Y cimenta su teoría en base a cinco argumentos a favor de la teoría de una fuga del laboratorio. Uno de ellos es que Wuhan, la ciudad donde se registró el primer caso conocido del virus, también alberga el «principal laboratorio de investigación del (virus respiratorio) SARS» de China y tiene un historial por investigar con «niveles inadecuados de bioseguridad». Es en esa línea que argumenta que «si existieran pruebas de un origen natural del virus, ya habrían aparecido. Pero no es el caso».
La hipótesis de una fuga de un laboratorio chino ha ganado cierta popularidad no sólo en la sociedad estadounidense, sino también en agencias gubernamentales de ese país, como el FBI, la CIA o el Departamento de Energía, que se han pronunciado a lo largo del transcurso de la pandemia y en la posterioridad en concordancia con esa hipótesis.
Con base en eso es que en la página web en cuestión, la Casa Blanca cita un informe de más de 200 páginas de extensión acerca de las investigaciones sobre el Covid, que provienen de esas y otras instituciones del gobierno norteamericano.
La nueva escalada de Trump contra China condice con el recrudecimiento de la guerra comercial entre ambos países, luego de que el gobierno estadounidense aumentara a más de 100 % los impuestos sobre ciertos productos made in China. Pero no sólo la tensión responde a motivos estrictamente comerciales, sino también a cuestiones geopolíticas.
Sin ir más lejos, Scott Bessent, secretario del Tesoro de Estados Unidos, se metió de lleno en esa contienda y desde Buenos Aires, donde afirmó que el gobierno de Trump quiere evitar que América Latina se convierta en la «nueva África», continente en el que el gobierno chino cobra más y más importancia cada año.
Además de comparar la situación argentina con la de Africa, Bessent vino especialmente informar que su país deseaba que los argentinos pusieran fin a su dependencia del financiamiento chino a través del millonario intercambio de monedas, conocido como swap.
La movida en varios frentes reveló una clara estrategia de armar grupos de aliados para aislar a China. Esta representa un triunfo de la mirada geopolítica de Bessent, el hombre más importante hoy en la guerra arancelaria de Trump, y quien logró pausar las bruscas subas de aranceles para empezar a negociar. Empezaron por Japón, seguirán por los vecinos asiáticos de China, siguen negociando con Canadá y México. Y al gobierno de Javier Milei también le toca un lugar.
Casa Blanca,Washington,Donald Trump,China,Coronavirus,Últimas Noticias
Welcome to the Fox News Politics newsletter, with the latest updates on the Trump administration, Capitol Hill and more Fox News politics content.
Here’s what’s happening…
-Gabbard announces RFK files released months after Trump’s order: ‘Light on the truth’
-Top Dem asks Noem how TSA will prevent ‘major disruptions’ as many travelers still lack REAL ID
-Biden’s vax-focused COVID-19 website obliterated by White House, replaced with ‘true origins’ virus guide
‘We are not the same’
The White House released a splitscreen image overnight to underscore the stark contrast between where Republicans and Democrats stand on illegal immigration.
One image featured distraught Angel Mom Patty Morin being comforted by President Trump in the Oval Office. Morin’s daughter, Rachel Morin, was savagely beaten, raped and killed in Maryland by an illegal migrant from El Salvador in 2023.
The other image showed Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., sitting and talking with deported illegal alien Kilmar Abrego Garcia, 29, in El Salvador…Read more
The White House released a splitscreen image overnight to underscore the stark contrast between where Republicans and Democrats stand on illegal immigration. (The White House, Sen. Van Hollen via X)
Abrego Garcia
HOMELAND SECURITY REPORT: Kilmar Abrego Garcia suspected of human, labor trafficking in Homeland Security report
‘LOOKED LIKE A FOOL’: Trump calls Sen. Van Hollen a ‘fool’ after meeting with deported MS-13 suspect in El Salvador
White House
POLL POSITION: How Trump’s approval rating compares to his presidential predecessors
PUT THAT ON HOLD: Federal judge bucks Trump admin, delays dismissal of of MS-13 leader’s case
CROWN OF THORNS: LGBTQ Christians crusade against Trump’s religiously ‘hostile’ policies during Holy Week
A group of LGBTQ+ Christian leaders gathered outside the U.S. Capitol to reject President Donald Trump’s «anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, with one religious leader telling Fox News Digital the Trump administration is «the most hostile administration to religion in recent memory.» (Fox News Digital)
‘BIG HONOR’: Trump announces a conservative media star, a GOP governor, and others for Homeland Security Advisory Council
CENTURY-OLD LAW: When did the US stop keeping up with the Joneses? The maritime law at the crux of US shipbuilding
‘YOU WANT PEOPLE TO BUY’: Trump says US ‘talking to China end may be in sight amid tariff hikes
World Stage
‘NEVER ALONE’: Huckabee visits iconic holy site in Israel, delivers Trump’s prayer for peace
HAMAS CASH CRISIS: Hamas terror group reportedly buckling under financial strain amid Israeli military gains and growing unrest
Palestinian Hamas militants gather at the site of the handing over of the bodies of four Israeli hostages in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza on February 20, 2025. (Photo by EYAD BABA/AFP via Getty Images)
‘UNACCEPTABLE’: Chinese firm aiding Houthi attacks on US vessels, as airstrikes kill 74
HOLY WEEK OUTREACH: Pope Francis visits Rome prison during Holy Week
‘MOVE ON’: Rubio says US ready to ‘move on’ within days if no progress on Russia-Ukraine peace deal
Capitol Hill
DEMOCRATS IN DISARRAY: Confidence in Congressional Democrats hits all time low in new poll
The New York Times Editorial Board accused the Democratic Party’ of being in «denial’ over why it lost in 2024. (Getty Images)
PINK ALERT: Top GOP senator calls out Code Pink, The People’s Forum allegedly pushing CCP propaganda in US
Across America
UNMASKED: Anti-Israel agitator charged in violent hate crime attack on two Jewish college students
GLOVES ARE OFF: Top GOP lawmaker, Hochul trade barbs amid speculation Trump ally is jumping in gubernatorial race
‘SAFER TODAY’: ICE arrests over 200 illegal aliens in New York City’s ‘most crime-infested neighborhoods’
GATHERING INFO: ICE and DOGE seek sensitive data in crackdown on illegal immigration, waste: report
ICE agents in Los Angeles are frustrated with sanctuary city policies. (Fox News)
UNHEALTHY: HHS probing hospital over firing of nurse who blew whistle on minors getting gender treatments
‘WIDE FISSURE’: Federal judge temporarily restricts DOGE access to personalized Social Security data
Get the latest updates on the Trump administration and Congress, exclusive interviews and more on FoxNews.com.
Elections Newsletter
INTERNACIONAL
Three tourists among 4 killed after Italian cable car crashes to the ground near Naples
Three tourists were among four people who were killed when a cable car crashed south of Naples, an Italian official said Friday.
A British woman and an Israeli woman were among the three foreign victims identified since the accident on Thursday, said Marco De Rosa, the spokesperson for the mayor of Vico Equense. The fourth victim was the Italian driver of the cable car.
FSU STUDENT RECOUNTS MOMENTS SHOTS RANG OUT
Four are dead after a cable car crash in Italy. (Soccorso Alpino e Speleologico)
According to initial information, a traction cable snapped and one car crashed after both the upward and a downward-going cable cars came to a halt as they traversed Monte Faito, in the town of Castellammare di Stabia.
A fifth person, who is also believed to be a foreign tourist, was seriously injured and is being treated in hospital in Naples, officials said. Sixteen passengers were helped out of the other cable car that was stuck mid-air near the foot of the mountain following the incident.
The accident happened just a week after the cable car, popular for its views of Mount Vesuvius and the Bay of Naples, reopened for the season.
Local prosecutors have opened an investigation into possible manslaughter, which will involve an inspection of the cable stations, the pylons, the two cabins and the cable, local officials said Friday,
The emergency services, including Italy’s alpine rescue, more than 50 firefighters, police and civil protection personnel, worked into the evening in severe weather conditions, which made the rescue operations difficult.
«The traction cable broke. The emergency brake downstream worked, but evidently not the one on the cabin that was entering the station,» Luigi Vicinanza, the mayor of Castellammare di Stabia, said on Thursday. He added that there had been regular safety checks on the cable car line, which runs 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) from the town to the top of the mountain.
SCHOOL BUS FLIPS ON SOUTH CAROLINA HIGHWAY
Rescue workers recover a body at the scene of a cable car crash in Italy. (AP Photo/Salvatore Laporta)
The company running the service, the EAV public transport firm, stressed that the seasonal cable car had reopened with all the required safety conditions.
«The reopening had taken place a week ago after three months of tests every day, day and night,» said EAV President Umberto De Gregorio. «This is something inexplicable.»
De Gregorio said technical experts believed there was no connection between the severe weather and the cause of the crash. «There is an automatic system. When the wind exceeds a certain level, the cable car stops automatically,» he said.
The Monte Faito cable car opened in 1952. Four people died in 1960 when a pylon broke.
Italy has recorded two similar fatal accidents involving cable cars in recent years.
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A cable car crash in May 2021 in northern Italy killed 14 people, including six Israelis, among them a family of four. In 1998, a low-flying U.S. military jet cut through the cable of a ski lift in Cavalese, in the Dolomites, killing 20 people.
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Mauricio Macri respaldó al Gobierno por ponerle fin al cepo, pero advirtió que “habrá una devaluación”
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