Conservatives on social media are having a field day mocking the Democratic National Committee for featuring a handful of "beyond parody" moments during its leadership vote over the weekend, which critics say underscores that Democrats have "learned absolutely nothing" from their 2024 election losses.
The DNC voted to elect Minnestota Democrat Party leader Ken Martin as its chair on Saturday, after eight candidates vied to succeed Jaime Harrison. Following the Democratic Party's losses in November, when Republicans reclaimed the White House and Senate and retained control of the House, the DNC's chair vote serves as a fresh slate for the party as they ramp up strategies and fundraising for the next election cycle.
Conservatives and critics took to social media over the weekend to highlight what they viewed as the most out of touch speeches and comments from party leaders, including the election of left-wing activist David Hogg as one of its three co-chairs. Hogg is an outspoken gun control advocate and the co-founder of March for Our Lives, a gun control group that was formed after the Parkland school shooting in 2018.
"DNC Vice Chair David Hogg has some legitimately INSANE views that are wildly out of step with the American people. Good to see that the Democrat Party has learned absolutely nothing," conservative communicator Steve Guest posted to X.
Hogg, a Parkland school shooting survivor, said from the DNC vote in Maryland that the party will put Republicans "on the defense" in the coming days and reclaim lost political ground.
"After Parkland, our country was in a similar moment – where we had a Republican trifecta in Washington," the 24-year-old said during the DNC election. "We went on the offense, put the Republicans on the defense, and we won. That’s what we need to do right now."
"We’re going to show people that the reason people should vote for us isn’t just because we’re not Republicans – it’s because we’re damn Democrats. We give a s---," he pledged. "And we deliver. Now it’s time to rebuild the party and to rethink the way we’ve been doing things."
Amid the hours-long vote and gathering of Democrats on Saturday in Maryland, former DNC chief Harrison announced that the elections must be gender-balanced, including when a non-binary candidate is in the running, sparking condemnation from conservatives.
DEMOCRATS RALLY AROUND LIGHTENING ROD ISSUE AT FINAL DNC CHAIR DEBATE
"We have an amazing group of new officers. So far, as you know, our three at large vice chair positions are used to ensure gender balance among seven offices: treasury secretary, national finance chair and vice chair for civic engagement and voter participation and the three at large vice chairs. Our rules specify that when we have a non-binary candidate or officer, the non-binary individual is counted as neither male nor female, and the remaining six offices must be gender balanced with the results of the previous four elections. Our elected officers are currently two male and two female. In order to be gender balanced… we must elect one male, one female, and one person of any gender."
Before the election kicked off on Saturday, the eight candidates had traveled to Georgetown University for a forum co-hosted by MSNBC on Thursday, where they declared "racism and misogyny" compounded former Vice President Kamala Harris' election loss.
"So, I’m going to have a show of hands. How many of you believe that racism and misogyny played a role in Vice President Harris’ defeat?" MSNBC's Jonathan Capehart asked the eight candidates.
"That’s good. You all passed," Capehart said after all candidates raised their hands in agreement.
Republican lawmakers and pundits pounced on clips of the exchange, including Sen. Tommy Tubervile, R-Ala., who quipped that the GOP will expand its majority in the midterms.
Singing also broke out both during the forum and the vote. Dr. Quintessa Hathaway was in the running for chair and belted out a song with the lyrics, "You fight on, when the government is doing you wrong, you fight on" during the Thursday forum. She also sang another song ahead of the vote on Saturday vowing, "We shall overcome."
FIRST ON FOX: AFTER 2024 ELECTION SETBACKS, DEMOCRATS EYE RURAL VOTERS
Harrison was also spotted on camera singing on Saturday, delivering a rendition of Stevie Wonder's "Happy Birthday."
DEMOCRATS' HOUSE CAMPAIGN CHAIR TELLS FOX NEWS HER PLAN TO WIN BACK MAJORITY
DNC members also "acknowledged" during the vote that the U.S. was "built on indigenous lands."
Ken Martin, who previously slammed Trump as a "traitor" who should be prosecuted for treason, celebrated his win on Saturday, vowing to combat Trump and the Republican Party.
"We have one team, one team, the Democratic Party," Martin said following his victory. "The fight is for our values. The fight is for working people. The fight right now is against Donald Trump and the billionaires who bought this country."
"We need to go on offense," Martin said. "We're going to go out there and take this fight to Donald Trump and the Republicans."
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Fox News Digital reached out to the DNC on Sunday for comment on the negative backlash over the gathering, but did not immediately receive a reply.
Fox News Digital's Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.
New York Democratic lawmakers are working to keep Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik's House seat vacant until the summer in an unprecedented move hashed out during late-night discussions last week, a Republican Empire State assemblyman told Fox Digital.
"We still haven't seen the final proposal from the Democrats in Albany, but there's no doubt that Tammany Hall corruption is alive and well in the state capital," Republican New York Assemblyman Matt Slater, who represents the state's 94th district in areas of Putnam and Westchester counties, told Fox News Digital in an exclusive Zoom interview on Sunday morning.
"It is just blatantly corrupt for the New York State Democrats to keep changing the rules of engagement simply out of self-interest. Meanwhile, New Yorkers are struggling in so many different ways. U-Haul just gave us our worst migration rating ever because there's so many New Yorkers who are fleeing this state. So they can get things done, but they only do it when it benefits them," Slater continued.
Slater, who serves as the ranking Republican on the state's Election Law Committee, was reacting to state Democrats working to introduce legislation that could keep Stefanik's House seat vacant until June, when the state holds its scheduled primary elections. Stefanik is in the midst of her confirmation process to serve in the Trump administration and is expected to resign her House seat if the Senate confirms her as the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
Under current law, New York's governor has 10 days to declare a special election for a vacant seat and an additional 80 to 90 days to hold the election. Stefanik's seat is key for the Republican Party and Trump's second administration, as Republicans hold a slim majority at 218 members to the Democrats' 215 members.
The state Democrats' anticipated legislation has not yet been introduced, but Democrats were summoned to an emergency conference on Friday evening to reportedly discuss such a bill, Slater explained. He expects to have a copy of the Democrats' bill on Monday morning.
Slater said the Democrats' objective of changing election laws to move the special election back to the summer is part of their bigger agenda to combat the second Trump administration.
"Speaker Johnson has the hardest job in government right now, trying to keep the Republican conference, caucus together. This obviously would make that margin of Republican control that much more thin and that much more challenging for the speaker and, again, jeopardizing President Trump's agenda to get through Congress. That's their entire mission and goal, the Albany Democrats, is to make sure that they're combating President Trump each step of the way. And this is their latest way of doing it," Slater said.
He pointed to a bevy of instances in which New York Democrats have leveraged their state power to combat Trump and the Republican Party in recent years, including gerrymandering and "stacking" New York's top court with Democrats.
NEW YORK APPEALS COURT JUDGES IN TRUMP CASE ROUTINELY DONATED TO DEMOCRATS, RECORDS SHOW
"If you look at the track record of the Democrats, who control every aspect of state government here in New York, they have changed the rules so many times just because it benefits them. Whether it's redistricting, whether it's stacking the Court of Appeals, whether it's allowing the governor to remove her then-indicted lieutenant governor from the ballot. The list goes on and on," he said.
"And in this case, it will deprive 800,000 New Yorkers of proper representation in Washington. And oh by the way, there were two special elections last year. And the Democrats didn't say anything about changing the rules because fact of the matter is, these are Republican districts that will be impacted, and they are trying to disrupt the Trump administration and, frankly, Leader Johnson from being able to deliver on their agenda."
President Donald Trump nominated Stefanik to serve as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under his second administration. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted to advance the New York Republican's confirmation on Thursday, with her full Senate floor vote expected later this week.
Stefanik is expected to resign from the U.S. House to take the ambassadorship if and when the Senate officially confirms her nomination.
A spokesperson for Democrat New York Gov. Kathy Hochul told Gothamist that she "believes it’s critical to increase voter turnout and reduce the cost of election administration, and she would support legislation that achieves that goal."
Slater poured cold water on the office's claim that the proposal is rooted in promoting voter turnout and easing costs, pointing to two special elections held last year – former Democrat Rep. Brian Higgins' seat as well as the February 2024 special election to replace former Republican Rep. George Santos' in a district where Democrats were expected to have an edge over the GOP. Democrats, who have held trifecta control in the state since 2018, did not push to change special election laws last year, Slater noted.
WHAT STEFANIK'S HOUSE TENURE REVEALS ABOUT WHAT TYPE OF UN AMBASSADOR SHE MAY BE
"I can't believe how hypocritical the governor and her office can be in this, because let me remind the governor that she had two special elections for Congress last year," he said.
"To sit here and say that this is going to save taxpayer money and increase voter turnout, but you didn't think about that last year when your own party had special elections that you were favored to win? Fact of the matter is, this has everything to do with the fact that this is a Republican seat. This is about control of Republicans in Congress, and this is about disrupting President Trump's agenda in Washington."
Local outlets have reported the bill could push the special election beyond June to November, when the state holds its general elections, though Slater cast doubt that Democrats would push the envelope that far.
"If you want to talk about increasing voter turnout and saving taxpayer money, they really don't have an excuse to wait past that June date. And so, you know, yes, it's always a possibility that November is the date that they put in the legislation. But I'm hard-pressed to believe that they would go that far," he said.
Slater argued that the push from Democrats to approve the special election change is a wake-up call for New Yorkers.
"[It's] so transparently political that New Yorkers need to wake up, and they need to understand that this isn't the leadership that we're asking for. President Trump has a great agenda moving forward, and this is all about disrupting that agenda to put America first," he said.
Stefanik is a longtime Trump ally who chaired the House Republican Conference from 2021 to 2025, making her the fourth-most powerful Republican in the House. She was first elected to the House in blue New York in 2014 at age 30, making her the youngest woman elected to the House at the time.
Fox News Digital reached out to the governor's office on Sunday but did not immediately receive a reply.
DORAL, Fla. — The lawmaker in charge of House Republicans’ elections arm is feeling confident that the GOP can buck historical precedent and hold onto their majority for the entirety of President Donald Trump’s term.
The 2024 elections saw Republicans make significant inroads with Hispanic and Black voters.
National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) Chairman Richard Hudson, R-N.C., said progress would continue heading into the 2026 midterm elections.
BLACK CAUCUS CHAIR ACCUSES TRUMP OF 'PURGE' OF 'MINORITY' FEDERAL WORKERS
"We’ve done well with African Americans, comparatively," Hudson told Fox News Digital, referring to years prior. "We've put a lot more effort in reaching out to that community as well and letting them know that we want your votes, and we want to represent you, and we care about the issues that matter to you and your family."
"I think we can do better, and we'll continue to attempt to do better. But, look, our message, our values, our principles are all universal."
He said Republicans’ values also lined up with Hispanic and Latino voters, 42% of whom supported Trump, according to the Associated Press.
"We are focused on the issues you care about," Hudson said the pitch was. "It's crime in your neighborhoods. It's education for your children. It's securing the borders. It's the price of things for your family. I mean, these are all things we campaigned on. But we deliberately went out into the Hispanic community and said, ‘We want your vote.’ And they responded."
Earlier in the interview, he credited Trump with delivering on those values in 2024, and argued that Trump’s policies would get Republicans over the line again next year.
Historically, the first midterm after a new presidential term serves as a rebuke of the party in power.
Democrats won the House of Representatives in a "blue wave" in 2018 during Trump’s first term. Four years later, Republicans wrestled it back under former President Joe Biden.
But the circumstances are somewhat different this time, something Hudson noted.
"We’re in a unique time in history, where you had a president serve four years with all his policies, and then he was replaced by another president who had completely different policies. . . . And then the two ran against each other," Hudson said. "So the American people sort of had a referendum on which president they wanted, which policies they chose, and they overwhelmingly selected Donald Trump."
NONCITIZEN VOTER CRACKDOWN LED BY HOUSE GOP AHEAD OF 2026 MIDTERMS
Trump is in his second term, and Hudson argued that the 2024 presidential race was a referendum between two clear White House records.
"He has a mandate that I think is unique in history. And so this isn't a first-term president going into his first midterm. I mean, this is someone the American people know, and they've chosen," Hudson said.
Hudson also pointed out that Democrats will be defending 13 lawmakers whose districts Trump won, while Republicans only had to hold onto three seats that voted for former Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024.
"The battlefield out there for us going into 2026 favors Republicans," Hudson said.
He spoke with Fox News Digital at Trump National Doral golf course and resort in South Florida, where Republicans held their three-day retreat to strategize their agenda.
Hudson was one of the senior Republicans who gave a presentation to fellow lawmakers during the event, where his message was: "We’re on offense this cycle."
"We're going to lean in. We have a lot of opportunity in those Donald Trump seats," Hudson said he told colleagues. "We're going to hold Democrats accountable for their voting against the policies the American people want."
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) on Saturday elected Minnesota party leader Ken Martin, who once called for President Donald Trump to be tried for treason, as its next national chair in the wake of the party's disastrous performance in the November elections.
The election of Martin is the party's first formal step to try and rebound from the November elections, in which President Donald Trump recaptured the White House, and Republicans flipped the Senate, held on to their fragile majority in the House and made major gains with working-class, minority and younger voters.
"We have one team, one team, the Democratic Party," Martin said following his victory. "The fight is for our values. The fight is for working people. The fight right now is against Donald Trump and the billionaires who bought this country."
Martin, over the past eight years, has served as a DNC vice chair and has led the association of state Democratic Party chairs.
RNC CHAIR, AFTER CRUISING TO RE-ELECTION, VOWS TO BE ‘TIP OF SPEAR’ TO PROTECT TRUMP
He topped Wisconsin Democratic Party chair Ben Wikler by over 100 votes among the 428 DNC members who cast ballots as they gathered for the party's annual winter meeting, which this year was held at National Harbor in Maryland, just outside of Washington, D.C.
Martin O'Malley, the former two-term Maryland governor and 2016 Democratic presidential candidate who served as commissioner of the Social Security Administration during former President Biden's last year in office, was a distant third in the voting.
Among the longshot candidates were Faiz Shakir, who ran the 2020 Democratic presidential campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, and Marianne Williamson, who ran unsuccessfully for the 2020 and 2024 Democratic presidential nominations. Williamson endorsed Martin on Saturday, ahead of the vote.
FINAL DNC CHAIR DEBATE ROCKED BY PROTESTS
The eight candidates in the race were vying to succeed DNC Chair Jaime Harrison, who decided against seeking a second straight four-year term steering the national party committee.
With no clear leader in the party, the next DNC chair could become the de facto face of Democrats from coast to coast and will make major decisions on messaging, strategy, infrastructure and where to spend millions in political contributions.
In his victory speech, Martin stressed unity and that the party needed "to rebuild our coalition."
"We need to go on offense," Martin said. "We're going to go out there and take this fight to Donald Trump and the Republicans."
Martin has used stronger language against Trump in the past.
In 2020, he called Trump a "traitor" who should be tried for treason.
"[Donald Trump] should be immediately impeached and then put on trial for treason," Martin wrote on June 29, 2020, citing an anonymously sourced news story. "His actions led to the deaths of American soldiers. He is a traitor to our nation and all those who have served."
Trump, during his first term in office, at times accused Democrats of being "un-American" and "treasonous."
An key Martin supporter, longtime New Hampshire Democratic Party Chair Ray Buckley, told Fox News Digital ahead of the chair election that "it's an important opportunity for us to not only refocus the party and what we present to voters, but also an opportunity for us to look at how we internally govern ourselves."
WHAT RNC CHAIR WHATLEY TOLD FOX NEWS
Buckley, a former DNC vice chair and Martin's predecessor as head of the state party chairs, said he's "very excited about the potential of great reform within the party." He emphasized that he hoped for "significantly more support for the state parties. That's going to be a critical step towards our return to majority status."
Former Vice President Kamala Harris, who succeeded President Biden last July as the party's 2024 standard-bearer, spoke with Martin, Wikler and O'Malley in the days ahead of Saturday's election, Fox News confirmed. But Harris stayed neutral in the vote for party chair.
In a video message to the audience as the vote for chair was being tabulated, Harris said that the DNC has some "hard work ahead."
But she pledged to be with the party "every step of the way," which could be a signal of her future political ambitions.
The debate during the three-month DNC campaign sprint mostly focused on the logistics of modern political campaigns, such as media strategy and messaging, fundraising and grassroots organizing and get-out-the-vote efforts. On those nuts-and-bolts issues, the candidates were mostly in agreement that changes are needed to win back blue-collar voters who now support Republicans.
But the final forum included a heavy focus on race and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, issues that appeared to hurt Democrats at the ballot box in November.
The forum, moderated and carried live on MSNBC and held at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., devolved into chaos early on as a wave of left-wing protesters repeatedly interrupted the primetime event, heckling over concerns of climate change and billionaires' influence in America's elections before they were forcibly removed by security.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
The chair election took place as a new national poll spelled more trouble for the Democrats.
Only 31% of respondents in a Quinnipiac University survey conducted over the past week had a favorable opinion of the Democratic Party, with 57% seeing the party in an unfavorable light.
"This is the highest percentage of voters having an unfavorable opinion of the Democratic Party since the Quinnipiac University Poll began asking this question," the survey's release noted.
Meanwhile, 43% of those questioned had a favorable view of the GOP, with 45% holding an unfavorable opinion, which was the highest favorable opinion for the Republican Party ever in Quinnipiac polling.
Fox News' Matthew Reidy contributed to this report
The unprecedented cover-up of Joe Biden is finally seeing sunlight.
Critics of the legacy media have long accused news organizations of shielding the 46th president from bad press, particularly when it came to revelations of his family's shady financial dealings as well as his cognitive decline, which was put on full display at last year's CNN debate resulting in his exit from the 2024 presidential race.
Efforts to cover up for Biden began as early as May 2019 as the primary race for the 2020 Democratic nomination was underway. Last week, former Politico reporter Marc Caputo shed light on a report he had written at the time that stemmed from opposition research from the campaign by one of Biden's Democratic rivals. The report involved a "tax lien" on Biden's son Hunter pertaining to his work at Ukrainian energy company Burisma. At the time, the former vice president held a substantial lead over Democratic candidates in the polls.
"And I wrote what would have been a classic story saying, you know, ‘The former vice president’s son was slapped with a big tax lien for the period of time that he worked for this controversial Ukrainian oil concern, or natural gas concern, which is haunting his father on the campaign trail.' That story was killed by the editors. And they gave no explanation for that either," Caputo said on the "Somebody's Gotta Win" podcast.
Fast-forward to October 2020. Biden had secured the Democratic nomination and maintained a narrower lead in the polls against then-incumbent President Trump. The New York Post published its bombshell report on Hunter Biden's laptop, offering unprecedented insight into his overseas finances and their potential ties to his father.
"I was covering Biden at the time, and I remember coming to my editor and saying, ‘Hey, we need to write about the Hunter Biden laptop.’ And I was told this came from on high at Politico: Don’t write about the laptop, don’t talk about the laptop, don’t tweet about the laptop," Caputo said.
Caputo, now with Axios, called out Politico's one and only story about the laptop, which he referred to as the "ill-fated headline" that read "Hunter Biden story is Russian disinfo, dozens of former intel officials say." The report cited an open letter signed by 51 intelligence officials declaring that the material from the laptop had "all the earmarks of a Russian intelligence operation."
Then-candidate Biden cited the open letter while dismissing the laptop revelations as a "Russian plant" during the second presidential debate with Trump.
Politico wasn't the only one that was caught turning a blind eye towards Hunter Biden's laptop. A leaked audio recording obtained by Project Veritas showed top CNN executives directing staff not to cover the controversy.
"Obviously, we're not going with the New York Post story right now on Hunter Biden," CNN political director David Chalian said during a conference call on Oct. 14, the same day the Post published its first story on Hunter Biden's emails. Chalian later insisted the report was "giving its marching orders" to the "right-wing echo chamber about what to talk about today."
"The Trump media, you know, moves immediately from – OK, well, never mind – the [Michael Flynn] unmasking was, you know, found to be completely nonsensical to the latest alleged scandal and expects everybody to just follow suit," then-CNN president Jeff Zucker told his staff on Oct. 16. "So, I don't think that we should be repeating unsubstantiated smears just because the right-wing media suggests that we should."
Several CNN stars echoed their bosses' dismissive stance on the brewing scandal to their viewers.
"There's a lot about this story that does not add up," CNN's Brian Stelter told his viewers at the time. "And, I mean, for all we know, these emails were made up, or maybe some are real and some are fakes, we don't know. But we do know that this is a classic example of the right-wing media machine."
"The right wing is going crazy with all sorts of allegations about Biden and his family. Too disgusting to even repeat here," Jake Tapper said during a segment. "I mean, some of the ones I've seen from the president's son and some of the president's supporters are just wildly unhinged."
Much of the legacy media either offered minimal coverage rejecting the scandal or offered zero coverage altogether. ABC News' George Stephanopoulos completely avoided mentioning the laptop during a Biden town hall he moderated. Social media giants blocked users from sharing The New York Post's reporting on their platforms.
NPR public editor Kelly McBride addressed a listener's question about the news outlet's blackout of the Hunter Biden story. After claiming that the Post's reporting had "many, many red flags," including its potential ties to Russia, NPR apparently determined that the "assertions don’t amount to much."
"We don't want to waste our time on stories that are not really stories, and we don't want to waste the listeners’ and readers’ time on stories that are just pure distractions," NPR managing editor Terence Samuel told McBride. "And quite frankly, that's where we ended up, this was … a politically driven event, and we decided to treat it that way."
LOOKING BACK ON 2024: LIBERAL MEDIA INSISTED BIDEN WAS STILL SHARP UNTIL DEBATE DEBACLE EXPOSED HIM
Last year, veteran NPR editor Uri Berliner came forward suggesting that the decision not to cover the laptop was politically motivated.
"The laptop was newsworthy. But the timeless journalistic instinct of following a hot story lead was being squelched. During a meeting with colleagues, I listened as one of NPR’s best and most fair-minded journalists said it was good we weren’t following the laptop story because it could help Trump," Berliner wrote in a tell-all essay about NPR for The Free Press.
Berliner was later forced out of NPR and has since joined The Free Press as an editor.
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Glenn Greenwald similarly blew the whistle on The Intercept, the news outlet he co-founded, alleging "repression, censorship and ideological homogeneity" from its editors aiding Biden's campaign just days before the 2020 election.
"The Intercept’s editors, in violation of my contractual right of editorial freedom, censored an article I wrote this week, refusing to publish it unless I remove all sections critical of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, the candidate vehemently supported by all New-York-based Intercept editors involved in this effort at suppression," Greenwald wrote in October 2020.
Even after Biden won the presidency and was sworn into office, reporting about his scandal-plagued son was still being slow-walked, at least according to former Politico reporter Tara Palmeri, who broke the story of Hunter Biden's gun incident that led to a felony charge for lying about his drug use on a gun form.
"I spent three months on it, I went to the laptop shop, and I did all of the reporting in Delaware, and I did all of that. But yeah it had, it had to be like much- it had to be 100% nailed down," Palmeri told Caputo on the podcast. "I had everything, you know, the police reports… I’m a solid reporter. But I do wonder if it could have, if it would have been published a little quicker if it was a different type of story."
Speaking with Fox News Digital, Palmeri expanded on how her bosses dragged their feet before running her story.
"I certainly had to push very hard to get that reporting published. Like, it was a constant, 'Hey, when are we going to do this? Hey, when are we going to get this out there? Hey, when we're going to do this?' Because it was so difficult. Like it was kind of a known feeling that like, it's gonna be difficult to report stuff that's really tough on the Biden administration and family. It's just like a culture." Palmeri told Fox News Digital last week. "And I think when the culture is that a reporter has to push so hard that it just creates a feeling that there's not an interest in that type of reporting. And ultimately, you know, we work to be published and to get our editors to support our work."
Palmeri, now with Puck News, said she first obtained the police report shortly after Biden's inauguration in January 2021, but her story wasn't published until late March 2021.
"I just think if it was a Trump kid, it would have been published much sooner," Palmeri said. "I just had to work really hard to like- you're like 'Hey, what's going on with the story? Hey, what's going on with the story? Like, what's going on with the story?' We gave the White House a lot of time, like a week or so to respond. I don't know if that would have been the case for a Trump story."
The former Politico journalist went on to cite the "honeymoon phase" of the Biden administration as being a factor behind the slowed pace of her story. She also suggested her bosses wouldn't run the story unless she was able to link it to a federal agency.
"It had to be about the fact that the Secret Service was involved," Palmeri told Fox News Digital. "The blanket fact that he lied on the gun form, which I had. I had the gun form and I pointed out that he lied on it. But in the piece, we downplayed it and said, ‘Although many people lie on gun forms and are not prosecuted for it’ which is true, by the way. But it's not like the headline wasn't ‘Hunter Biden lies on gun form,’ which is a felony. That was not the headline even though I had the gun form in which he lied."
It wasn't until 2022 that the media began conceding legitimacy to the controversies surrounding Hunter Biden. Several news organizations that dismissed the laptop like Politico, CNN, The New York Times, The Washington Post, NBC News and CBS News ultimately verified the laptop.
The shielding of Joe Biden evolved to encompass not just questions about his family's finances but about the president's own health. The Wall Street Journal reported last month that Biden was having "good days and bad days" for White House staff to deal with as early as spring 2021.
"Yet a sign that the bruising presidential schedule needed to be adjusted for Biden’s advanced age had arisen early on—in just the first few months of his term. Administration officials noticed that the president became tired if meetings went long and would make mistakes," the Journal wrote.
BIDEN ADMIN OFFICIALS NOTICED STAMINA ISSUES IN PRESIDENT'S FIRST FEW MONTHS IN OFFICE: REPORT
It appears White House staff weren't the only ones aiding Biden. Former ESPN host Sage Steele revealed her March 2021 interview was "scripted" by network executives.
"That was an interesting experience in its own right because it was so structured," Steele told Fox News Digital in April 2024. "And I was told, ‘You will say every word that we write out, you will not deviate from the script and go.’"
"To the word. Every single question was scripted, gone over dozens of times by many editors and executives. Absolutely. I was on script and was told not to deviate," Steele said. "It was very much ‘This is what you will ask. This is how you will say it. No follow-ups, no follow-ups. Next.' … This went up to the fourth floor, as we said, where all the bosses, the top executives, the decision makers are, the president of our company, the CEO, where they all worked."
Two other Biden interviewers, on the condition of anonymity, previously spoke with Fox News Digital about their experience with the president's frailty.
"I was left with the impression that he is old, and it's impossible not to notice this and be focused on it. His voice is so soft," one interviewer said. The other said "I will say he was careful not to go on at length with answers. It was clear he was trying to edit himself, possibly because he’d been coached to keep answers short." Both noticed his "stiff" physical presence.
The media's efforts to dismiss concerns over Biden's mental decline went into high gear in 2024, particularly when he became the presumptive Democratic nominee. News organizations seethed after the February release of Special Counsel Robert Hur's damning report on Biden's handling of classified documents that described him as a "sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory."
The New York Times went with the "Republicans pounce" framing when covering Biden's reported memory issues, Jeffrey Toobin returned to CNN to insist Hur made "unnecessary points" about Biden’s advanced age, and MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow gushed that everything is fine because Biden still "rides a bike."
Later in the year, the media ran the White House's talking points that accused conservatives of peddling "cheap fakes" when moments that showed Biden wandering or freezing up went viral.
"Experts have warned that while advanced technology like generative artificial intelligence can spread misinformation, so-called cheap fakes that often use only minor or selective editing can be more effective at spreading false narratives," NBC News wrote in reaction to one viral moment.
LIBERAL MEDIA OUTLETS ‘RUNNING COVER’ FOR BIDEN BY CALLING VIRAL CLIPS ‘CHEAP FAKES,’ CRITICS SAY
The Washington Post similarly elevated the term "cheap fakes," telling readers such "deceptively edited videos… misrepresent events simply by manipulating video or audio, or by leaving out context" and that they've "become staples of Republican attacks against Biden."
MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace condemned the "highly misleading & selectively edited videos" while refusing to show the raw footage to viewers. CBS News released a report sounding the alarm on "cheap fakes" and their impact in the upcoming election, echoing the White House's claim that Biden is "victim to a simpler version of ‘deepfakes.’"
The Associated Press ran its own fact-check on the video showing Biden standing still at his star-studded LA fundraiser until former President Obama was seen grabbing his wrist and guiding him off the stage with his hand behind Biden's back.
"CLAIM: Biden froze onstage during his fundraiser in Los Angeles on Saturday night and had to be led away by Obama," AP wrote at the time. "THE FACTS: Biden paused amid cheers and applause as he exited the stage with his predecessor following an interview moderated by late-night host Kimmel."
Notably, actor George Clooney, who attended the LA fundraiser that the AP fact-checked, came clean in the now-infamous New York Times op-ed revealing the Biden he saw just weeks prior "was the same man we all witnessed at the debate."
In June, just weeks before the CNN debate, The Wall Street Journal published a bombshell report about Biden's "signs of slipping" behind closed doors. It was met with strong hostility from liberal pundits. MSNBC's "Morning Joe" declared the report was a "Trump hit piece on Biden." Then-CNN media reporter Oliver Darcy accused the paper of "playing into a GOP-propelled narrative" and that it "owes its readers — and the public — better."
It wasn't until after Biden's disastrous debate performance and his exit from the 2024 race that journalists began expressing regret over their lack of coverage of his cognitive decline.
New York Times correspondent Peter Baker suggested journalists broadly need to do some "soul-searching" on how they handled covering Biden.
"It's very personal. Anybody who's had a father or mother whose age and you talk to them by taking away their keys, these are not easy issues… And how do you write something in the appropriate way, balanced and yet tough," Baker said in September during a panel discussion at the Texas Tribune Festival. "I can sit down and make the case that we did too little about it. I can make the case we did too much. I can play it either way. But the truth is, it's an important issue."
"We weren't relentlessly covering, the way some of my peers were, Biden's age necessarily, even all the way up until the debate," PBS NewsHour's Laura Barrón-López said in the same panel. "It is and was a valid question. Many times when I was on the trail, even before the debate, voters would bring it up. Almost every single voter I spoke to would bring it up, even if they were planning to vote for President Biden."
The Guardian's David Smith, also on the panel, conceded the possibility of bias: "There was perhaps, even on an unconscious level, the notion that if you focus so much on Joe Biden's age, you are somehow helping Donald Trump."
In December, ex-CNN editor-at-large Chris Cilizza offered an "apology" for not pushing hard enough to question Biden's mental health, admitting he felt guilty of "age shaming" by the president's allies.
"While I did ask the question from time to time… I didn't really push on it, if I'm being honest," Cillizza said in a video message. "I probably should've pushed harder on the Biden age stuff because, in retrospect, it's clear that the people close to him knew that at best, he had some good days and some bad days."
"And so I think it's a lesson that we have to learn going forward. Because again, Donald Trump will be the oldest person ever to hold office if he serves for four years, and I will be mindful of that. Because again, asking those questions isn't a partisan thing. Asking those questions is a journalism thing, and I should have pushed harder and not been as willing to accept the 'Nah, he's fine. Look at him when he's in public' campaign," he added.
Nearly three months after Democrats' major setbacks up and down the ballot in the 2024 elections, the party gathers on Saturday to choose new leadership.
It's the Democratic National Committee's (DNC) first formal step to try and emerge from the political wilderness and rebound in upcoming elections after President Donald Trump recaptured the White House and Republicans flipped the Senate, held onto their fragile majority in the House and made major gains with working-class, minority and younger voters.
And with no clear leader in the party, the next DNC chair will become the de facto face of Democrats from coast to coast and will make major decisions on messaging, strategy, infrastructure and where to spend millions in political contributions.
"It's an important opportunity for us to not only refocus the party and what we present to voters, but also an opportunity for us to look at how we internally govern ourselves," longtime New Hampshire Democratic Party Chair Ray Buckley told Fox News.
DEMOCRATS RALLY AROUND LIGHTENING ROD ISSUE AT FINAL DNC CHAIR DEBATE
Buckley, a former DNC vice chair, said he's "very excited about the potential of great reform within the party." And he emphasized he hoped for "significantly more support for the state parties. That's going to be a critical step towards our return to majority status."
Eight candidates are vying to succeed DNC Chair Jaime Harrison, who decided against seeking a second straight four-year term steering the national party committee.
FIRST ON FOX: AFTER 2024 ELECTION SETBACKS, DEMOCRATS EYE RURAL VOTERS
The next chair, as well as vice chairs and other officers, will be chosen by the roughly 450 DNC voting members gathered for the party's winter meeting, which is being held this year at National Harbor just outside Washington, D.C.
Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party Chair Ken Martin, a DNC vice chair who has led the association of state Democratic Party chairs, is considered to be the frontrunner for chair heading into Saturday's election, with Wisconsin Chair Ben Wikler close behind.
Martin recently told Fox News Digital that if he becomes chair, the first thing he would do is "figure out a plan to win. And we need to start writing that plan, making sure we’re looking underneath the hood. How much money do we have at the party? What are the contracts? What contracts do we need to get rid of? And, frankly, bringing all of our stakeholder groups together. That’s the biggest thing."
DEMOCRATS' NEW SENATE CAMPAIGN CHAIR REVEALS KEYS TO WINNING BACK MAJORITY IN 2026
Wikler, in a Fox News Digital interview, emphasized that the party needs to show voters "that we're fighting for them against those who would try to rig the economy for those at the very top and deliver that message in places where people aren't paying attention to politics much. But they know what they're struggling with in their own lives."
Wikler, who pointed to the success of Democrats in his home state, a crucial battleground, added, "That means communicating in clear language in a way that shows people that we see them. And with our actions showing that we're fighting for them to bring costs down and make sure that working people have a fair shot in this country."
Also considered competitive is Martin O'Malley, the former two-term Maryland governor and 2016 Democratic presidential candidate who served as commissioner of the Social Security Administration during former President Biden's last year in office.
DEMOCRATS' HOUSE CAMPAIGN CHAIR TELLS FOX NEWS HER PLAN TO WIN BACK MAJORITY
O'Malley told Fox News Digital he's running for DNC chair "because I love my country, and the only way we're going to save the Republic is if the Democratic Party gets itself battle-ready as quickly as possible."
Pointing to his past steering the Democratic Governors Association, he noted, "I'm the only candidate that's actually chaired a national committee — the Democratic Governors — and I'm the only candidate that's actually run for office and been elected to office, city council, mayor, governor. And we need to recruit people all across the ballot in order to bring our party back."
Among the longer-shot candidates for chair are late entry Faiz Shakir, who ran the 2020 Democratic presidential campaign of progressive champion Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, and Marianne Williamson, who ran unsuccessfully for the 2020 and 2024 Democratic presidential nominations.
"This party's not going to rise up unless there's some deeper honesty," Williamson told reporters Thursday after the final chair election forum, as she took aim at the Democrats' establishment.
The debate during the three-month DNC campaign sprint has mostly focused on the logistics of modern political campaigns, such as media strategy and messaging, fundraising and grassroots organizing and get-out-the-vote efforts. On those nuts-and-bolts issues, the candidates are mostly in agreement that changes are needed to win back blue-collar voters who now support Republicans.
But the final forum included a heavy focus on systemic racism and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, issues that appeared to hurt Democrats at the ballot box in November.
And the forum, moderated and carried live on MSNBC and held at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., devolved into chaos early on as a wave of left-wing protesters repeatedly interrupted the primetime event, heckling over concerns of climate change and billionaires' influence in America's elections before they were forcibly removed by security.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
The chair election comes as a new national poll spells more trouble for the Democrats.
Only 31% of respondents in a Quinnipiac University survey conducted over the past week had a favorable opinion of the Democratic Party, with 57% seeing the party in an unfavorable light.
"This is the highest percentage of voters having an unfavorable opinion of the Democratic Party since the Quinnipiac University Poll began asking this question," the survey's release noted.
Meanwhile, 43% of those questioned had a favorable view of the GOP, with 45% holding an unfavorable opinion, which was the highest favorable opinion for the Republican Party ever in Quinnipiac polling.
There was a heavy focus on systemic racism and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs during the final debate among the eight candidates vying to chair the Democratic National Committee (DNC), as the party aims to exit the political wilderness.
The forum, moderated and carried live on MSNBC and held at Georgetown University in the nation's capital city, develed into chaos early on as a wave of left-wing protesters repeatedly interrupted the primetime event, heckling over concerns of climate change and billionaires' influence in America's elections before they were forcibly removed by security.
Thanks in part to their repeated targeting of DEI efforts under former President Joe Biden's administration, President Donald Trump recaptured the White House in November's elections, with Republicans also retaking control of the Senate from the Democrats and the GOP holding onto its razor-thin majority in the House.
Jaime Harrison, the DNC chairman for the past four years, declined to seek another term steering the Democrats' national party committee. The DNC will vote for a new chair on Saturday, as they hold their annual winter meeting this year at National Harbor, Maryland, just outside of Washington, D.C.
FIRST ON FOX: AFTER 2024 ELECTION SETBACKS, DEMOCRATS EYE RURAL VOTERS
"Unlike the other party, that is demonizing diversity, we understand that diversity is our greatest strength," Harrison said at the start of the debate before bringing the candidates out.
Biden and many Democrats portrayed DEI efforts as a way to boost inclusion and representation for communities historically marginalized. However Trump and his supporters, on the 2024 campaign trail, repeatedly charged that such programs were discriminatory and called for restoring "merit-based" hiring.
DEMOCRATS' NEW SENATE CAMPAIGN CHAIR REVEALS KEYS TO WINNING BACK MAJORITY IN 2026
Since his inauguration on Jan. 20 and his return to power in the White House, Trump has signed a slew of sweeping executive orders and actions to end the federal government's involvement in DEI programs, reversing in some cases decades of hiring practices by the federal government. Trump's actions are also pushing large corporations in the private sector to abandon their diversity efforts.
At Thursday's showdown, there was plenty of focus on diversity and racism.
At one point, the candidates were asked for a show of hands about how many believed that racism and misogyny played a role in former Vice President Kamala Harris' defeat in the 2024 election to Trump.
All eight candidates running for DNC, as well as many people in the audience, raised their hands.
"That's good. You all pass," MSNBC host Jonathan Capehart, one of the moderators of the forum, quipped.
However, far from everyone in the party wants to see such issues dominate the discussion without the added inclusion of economic concerns such as inflation, which were top of mind at the ballot box in November.
DEMOCRATS' HOUSE CAMPAIGN CHAIR TELLS FOX NEWS HER PLAN TO WIN BACK MAJORITY
"The Democrats pathway to power runs directly through kitchen table economics and the notion we can fight for economic opportunity and ensuring everyone is treated with dignity and respect," said Democratic strategist Joe Caiazzo, a veteran of Sen. Bernie Sanders' 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns, who is attending the party's winter meeting.
Former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, considered one of the frontrunners in the DNC chair race, in speaking with reporters after the forum, pointed to the gains made by Trump and Republicans among diverse voters in the 2024 election and argued that the party did not spend enough time concentrating on "the kitchen table issues."
"Whether you're Hispanic, whether you're transgender, whether you're gay, whether you're straight, whether you're Black, whether you're White. Everybody needs to eat. And the people we lost in every segment were people who struggled the most to put food on their family's table. And they were the ones we lost across the board," O'Malley argued.
The protests, staged in waves, include calls for the DNC chair candidates to bring back the party's ban on corporate PAC and lobbyist donations that was in effect during former President Barack Obama's administration.
The youth-led, left-wing climate action organization known as the Sunrise Movement, said the first three protesters were affiliated with their group.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Another protester, who was not believed to be affiliated with the Sunrise Movement, as he was dragged out of the debate hall by security, yelled, "What will you do to get fossil fuel money out of Democratic politics? We are facing a climate emergency!"
Much of the audience, which consisted of many DNC voting members, appeared frustrated by the repeated interruptions.
"Protest the Republicans. Protest the people who are actually hurting you!" a member of the audience shouted out.
Environmental groups appear to be breaking with the Democratic Party after protesters disrupted a recent leadership meeting, which comes as the party attempts to regain its footing after suffering defeat in the 2024 presidential election.
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) held a candidate forum on Thursday evening in Washington, D.C., ahead of their upcoming election to determine who will lead the campaign arm into the next election cycle.
While the event was intended to showcase some of the party's potential new faces, it was interrupted by several protesters, including climate activists from the Sunrise Movement, a youth-led, left-wing climate action organization, who demanded the DNC establish a working election strategy for the party after the 2024 loss.
"What will you do to get fossil fuel money out of Democratic politics? We are facing a climate emergency!" Fox News Digital heard one protester shout.
AFTER STINGING ELECTION DEFEATS, DNC EYES RURAL VOTERS AS KEY TO 2026 MIDTERM SUCCESS
Other protesters made calls for the DNC chair candidates to bring back the party's ban on corporate PAC and lobbyist donations.
"To defeat Trump, the Democratic Party needs to loudly and proudly take a stand against billionaires and show voters that Democrats are the only party ready to fight for working people," Adah, an activist from the Sunrise Movement who made an interruption, said in a statement issued by Sunrise.
DNC HIRES FORMER HARRIS STAFFERS BEHIND @KAMALAHQ FOR SOCIAL MEDIA RESPONSES TO TRUMP
"That’s how we will win back young voters and working class voters and defeat Trump," Adah added.
About a dozen protesters interrupted and were kicked out of the event — the final meeting ahead of Saturday's DNC election.
The Democratic candidates and moderates grew frustrated with the protesters who were interrupting the event.
Jason Paul, a candidate running for DNC chair, said the protesters were "hijack[ing] the whole evening" and turning the event "into scream night."
"I’m surprised I haven’t seen more of it," former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley told reporters after the event. "They’re going to be on this planet a lot longer than I am, and if they stop caring passionately about the planet, then we have no hope at all. So it didn’t bother me."
Eight candidates are running to serve as chair of the DNC next cycle, including O'Malley, Wisconsin chair Ben Wikler, Minnesota chair Ken Martin, and former two-time Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson.
The DNC chair election will be held Saturday.
Former Rep. Mike Rogers is "strongly considering" a second straight Republican run for the Senate in the crucial battleground state of Michigan.
The announcement from Rogers comes two days after two-term Democratic Sen. Gary Peters announced he wouldn't seek re-election in the 2026 midterms, which will force the Democrats to defend a key swing state seat as they try to win back the Senate majority from the Republicans.
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.
The 61-year-old Rogers made his news in a social media statement released on Thursday in which he spotlighted his relationship with President Donald Trump and the "support" he has received from Michiganders.
GARY PETERS, DEMOCRATIC SENATOR FROM TRUMP STATE, WON'T SEEK RE-ELECTION
Rogers is a former FBI special agent who later served as chair of the House Intelligence Committee during his tenure in Congress. A one-time GOP Trump critic who mulled a White House run of his own in 2024, Rogers later became a strong supporter of the then-Republican presidential nominee and won his endorsement last year.
"I’ve spent the last two years traveling across Michigan with the support of President Trump and millions of voters," Rogers wrote in a social media post on Thursday. "What I learned more than anything is that hard-working Michiganders deserve strong and honest representation that will have President Trump’s back."
MEET THE REPUBLICAN SENATOR TASKED WITH DEFENDING THE GOP'S SENATE MAJORITY IN 2026
Pointing to his 2024 showing, Rogers noted that "since receiving more votes than any other Republican candidate that has ever run for Senate in Michigan, the tremendous outpouring of support and encouragement I've received since November proves that our mission to send a real fighter to the US Senate has just begun."
He added that he and his wife Kristi "are strongly considering joining the fight once again ― to be the ally that President Trump needs and the leader that Michigan deserves. Good news is coming soon."
Peters, a former House member first elected to the Senate in 2014, announced in a social media post that he would not seek re-election.
"Serving Michigan in the Congress has been the honor of my life. I'm forever grateful for the opportunity the people of my home state have given me," Peters, who steered the Senate Democrats campaign committee the past two elections cycles, said.
DEMOCRATS' NEW SENATE CAMPAIGN CHAIR REVEALS KEYS TO WINNING BACK MAJORITY IN 2026
Peters was one of three Democratic senators up for re-election in the 2026 midterms that the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) was planning to heavily target as they aim to expand their current 53-47 majority in the Senate. The other two Democrats are Sens. Jon Ossoff of Georgia and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire.
While Rogers is the first Republican to publicly make a move toward launching a 2026 Senate campaign in Michigan, GOP sources tell Fox News others who may consider running are Rep. John James -who's in his second term in the House and was the GOP Senate nominee in Michigan in 2018 and 2020 -, longtime Rep. Bill Huizenga, and former NFL head coach Tony Dungy.
Hours after Peters' announcement, there were developments in the race for the Democratic Senate nomination.
Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate who moved his residency from Indiana to Michigan a few years ago, signaled that he's mulling a Senate bid.
"Pete is exploring all of his options on how he can be helpful and continue to serve. He’s honored to be mentioned for this, and he’s taking a serious look," a source familiar told Fox News.
Meanwhile, Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan quickly took herself out of consideration.
WHO IS GARY PETERS? 7 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT THE MICHIGAN SENATOR
"Governor Whitmer is grateful for Senator Peters' service. She is proudly serving the people of Michigan as governor and is not running for this seat in the Senate," a spokesperson for her political action committee, Fight Like Hell PAC, said in a statement on Tuesday.
Responding to Peters's news, NRSC chair Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina argued in a statement earlier this week that "Gary Peters is reading the room. After spending years ignoring illegal immigration and destroying his state’s auto industry, Michigan is better off without him."
Scott emphasized that "we’re committed to giving them a fighter that will stand with President Trump to restore the economic prosperity and security of our country."
The rival Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee noted that "no Republican has won a Michigan Senate race in 30 years – including last cycle when Democrats won an open Senate seat even as Trump won the state."
And DSCC spokesman David Berstein also pledged that "Democrats will continue to hold this seat in 2026."
Peters, in his statement on Tuesday, pledged "although I will not be on the ballot next year, I will not just walk away. I plan to actively campaign to ensure we elect a dynamic Democratic candidate to be the next U.S. Senator from Michigan."
Senate Democrats faced an extremely difficult map in the 2024 cycle as they lost control of the majority. And while an early read of the 2026 map indicates they'll play defense in Michigan, Georgia, and New Hampshire, they may have a couple of opportunities to go on offense.
GOP Sen. Susan Collins of Maine is up for re-election in a reliably blue state. And Sen. Thom Tills of North Carolina is also up in 2026, in a battleground state Trump narrowly won this past November.
Fox News' Julia Johnson and Chris Pandolfo contributed to this report
Vice President JD Vance's political team, including two top advisors, is joining Vivek Ramaswamy's soon-to-be announced 2026 Ohio gubernatorial run, a source with knowledge confirmed to Fox News.
The news follows conversations between Ramaswamy and Vance, who until he stepped down earlier this month to assume the vice presidency was a senator from Ohio, added the operative, who asked to remain anonymous to speak more freely.
Ramaswamy, a multimillionaire biotech entrepreneur and former Republican presidential candidate, for weeks has been putting the pieces together to launch a gubernatorial campaign in the race to succeed GOP Gov. Mike DeWine of Ohio, who is term-limited and cannot seek re-election.
"Expect Vivek to announce his candidacy in mid-February," the source told Fox News.
RAMASWAMY DONE AT DOGE AS HE HEADS BACK ON CAMPAIGN TRAIL
Ramaswamy was among the contenders who challenged President Donald Trump for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination before dropping out of the race and becoming a top Trump ally and surrogate.
The two Vance advisors are Andy Surabian and Jai Chabria, who played major roles in Vance's 2022 Senate race and in his vice presidential campaign last summer and autumn, after Trump named the first-term senator as his running mate.
MUSK AND RAMASWAMY IGNITE MAGA WAR OVER SKILLED WORKER IMIMGRATION
The Ohio-based Chabria, a veteran in Buckeye State politics, is expected to serve as the Ramaswamy campaign's general consultant.
Surabian, who is also a top advisor to Donald Trump Jr., the president's eldest son and a top figure in the MAGA movement, will steer an outside political group allied with Ramaswamy.
Tony Fabrizio, the veteran Republican pollster who worked on Trump’s 2016 and 2024 campaigns, as well as Vance’s 2022 Senate campaign, is also on board, according to the source, as is Arthur Schwartz, another close ally to Vance and Donald Trump Jr.
Vance, who has known Ramaswamy since they both studied at Yale Law School, has put his imprint on Ohio politics since winning his 2022 Senate election in the one-time key battleground state that has shifted to the right over the past decade.
Vance endorsed now-Sen. Bernie Moreno ahead of his 2024 GOP Senate primary victory, and key members of Vance's political team steered Moreno's campaign.
"It should not come as a surprise that JD's top operatives are working with Vivek, given that JD and Vivek have had a longtime friendship," a source in Vance's political orbit told Fox News.
A longtime Ohio-based Republican operative, who asked for anonymity to speak more freely, said Vance is "sending a message" with this move.
He added that the advisors joining the Ramaswamy effort are "an all-star caliber campaign team."
CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS REPORTING ON VIVEK RAMASWAMY
Also part of that team, according to the source, are three veterans from Ramaswamy's White House campaign – Ben Yoho, Mike Biundo and Chris Grant.
Ramaswamy, who's now 39 years old, launched his presidential campaign in February 2023 and quickly saw his stock rise as he went from a long shot to a contender for the Republican nomination.
He campaigned on what he called an "America First 2.0" agenda and was one of Trump's biggest supporters in the field of rivals, calling Trump the "most successful president in our century."
Ramaswamy dropped his White House bid a year ago after a distant fourth-place finish in the Iowa caucuses and quickly endorsed Trump, becoming a top surrogate on the campaign trail.
Trump, in the days after his November presidential election victory, named Elon Musk, the world's richest person, along with Ramaswamy, to steer the Department of Government Efficiency initiative, which is better known by its acronym DOGE.
But last Monday, as Trump was inaugurated, the new administration announced that Ramaswamy was no longer serving at DOGE. Ramaswamy's exit appears to clear the way for Musk, Trump's top donor and key ally, to steer DOGE without having to share the limelight.
"It was my honor to help support the creation of DOGE. I’m confident that Elon & team will succeed in streamlining government. I’ll have more to say very soon about my future plans in Ohio. Most importantly, we’re all-in to help President Trump make America great again!," Ramaswamy wrote.
DeWine announced a week and a half ago that Lt. Gov. Jon Husted would fill the U.S. Senate seat that was held by Vance until he stepped down ahead of the Trump/Vance inauguration.
Before the Senate announcement, Husted had planned to run for governor in 2026 to succeed DeWine. Ramaswamy, for his part, had expressed interest in serving in the Senate.
DeWine's decision to choose Husted to fill the vacant Senate seat appeared to accelerate Ramaswamy's move toward launching a run for governor.
Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, a major Trump ally in the Senate, on Monday endorsed Ramswamy's all-but-certain gubernatorial bid.
"I’ve had the privilege of working closely with Vivek G. Ramaswamy, and he is totally focused on trying to save our country," Scott said in a social media post.
"Ohioans want a shakeup in Columbus just as much as in Washington, and Vivek Ramaswamy is the bold leader to bring that change," attorney and political commentator Mehek Cooke, who was in the running to be named to Vance’s Senate seat that ultimately went to Husted, shaking up the gubernatorial race, told Fox News Digital.
"Already gaining strong favor among Ohio conservatives, his high name ID and unwavering energy make him a formidable force for Governor. Much like President Trump, Vivek will bring a commitment to job creation, efficiency, and bold leadership. A businessman at heart, he knows how to drive economic growth, while as a father, he prioritizes merit over mediocrity for the future of Ohio’s children. With a powerful team led by seasoned strategists Vivek has the winning combination of grassroots support and strong fundraising to make Ohio economically vibrant and secure for all us."
The race for the GOP gubernatorial nomination could be competitive. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, 68, announced late last week his candidacy for governor.
"This is my heart, my home," Yost said in a Thursday press release announcing his candidacy. "I work for the people of Ohio, and I love my bosses. From the time I get up in the morning until I go to bed at night, I'm thinking about them and our future."
Yost is also bringing in campaign staff from the Trump world and announced that former Trump campaign official Justin Clark has joined the Yost campaign as a general consultant.
"Justin is nationally recognized for winning some of the most hotly contested races in the country," Amy Natoce, Yost campaign spokeswoman and senior advisor, told Fox News Digital. "As a longtime advisor to President Trump, he knows what it means to work with conservative America First candidates like Dave Yost. His experience is invaluable and we’re thrilled to have him on our team."
Ramaswamy's move to run for governor also comes a couple of weeks after he and Musk sparked a firestorm among Trump's hard core MAGA supporters over their support for H-1B temporary worker visas for highly skilled workers from foreign countries.
Ramaswamy's comments criticizing an American culture that he said "venerated mediocrity over excellence" received plenty of pushback from some leading voices on the right as well as some in Trump's political circle.
Ohio, which was once a top general election battleground, has shifted red over the past decade as Republicans have dominated statewide elections.
Login