DeSantis fraud crackdown drives nearly $1B spending plunge after providers billed impossible hours

2026-10-08T14:37:00-04:00 / Fox News

More than 220 providers were terminated after investigators found billing for more than 24 hours of services in a single day

By Charles Creitz Fox News

Published October 8, 2026 2:37pm EDT

RFK Jr. freezes $1 billion in Medicaid to California, Minnesota over fraud concerns

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. puts a $1 billion Medicaid freeze on California and Minnesota over suspected fraud. California Governor Gavin Newsom vehemently rejects these allegations, calling them ‘pure politics’ and blaming the Trump administration. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz’s approval plummeted 31 points after a fraud investigation, indicating the severe political risks for ignoring such issues.

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Florida’s sweeping Medicaid fraud crackdown has helped drive a nearly $1 billion reduction in projected annual spending on behavioral therapy services alone, according to state officials, after investigators uncovered suspicious billing practices.

Tallahassee’s internal crackdown — which included discoveries of providers billing Medicaid for more hours than there are in a day — comes amid heightened federal scrutiny of Medicaid fraud, including investigations and payment reviews involving Minnesota.

The DeSantis administration said its approach aims to stop suspicious Medicaid claims before taxpayer dollars are paid out rather than trying to recover improper payments afterward. The strategy mirrors a call from HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to move away from traditional “pay-and-chase” models.

“This year, we announced the most significant Medicaid integrity initiative in the history of our state, and today, I was proud to announce some of the results from these efforts,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said in a news release.

VANCE TURNS UP HEAT ON STATES WITH FEDERAL CASH THREAT OVER MEDICAID FRAUD CRACKDOWN

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks during a press conference on April 10, 2025, in Miami, Florida.(Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

More than 220 Medicaid providers have been terminated for fraud, waste or abuse, while more than 260 have faced payment restrictions or suspensions. The state has also referred more than 150 suspected fraud cases to the attorney general’s office over the past year.

Annual Medicaid spending on Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), a therapy commonly used for children with autism, had been projected to reach $3.86 billion but is now expected to total $2.88 billion in fiscal year 2026-27, according to the governor’s office. Officials attributed the nearly $980 million reduction to a combination of fraud enforcement, managed care and utilization management efforts.

Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) told Fox News Digital that its expanded monitoring uncovered providers billing Medicaid for services through every weekend and holiday for months, including instances in which providers billed for more than 24 hours of services in a single day.

“Protecting Medicaid means protecting the people it was created to serve,” AHCA Secretary Shevaun Harris said in a statement.

FRAUD EXPERT EXPOSES HOW HIDDEN NETWORKS DROVE MINNESOTA FRAUD, OTHER MAJOR SCAMS: ‘CRIMINAL ENTERPRISE’

Agency for Health Care Administration Secretary Shevaun Harris speaks during a news conference held at the Health Care District of Palm Beach County on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026, held to announce a state-wide crackdown on Medicaid fraud.(Amy Beth Bennett/Getty Images)

“For children, pregnant women, the disabled, and our seniors, it means making sure they have access to high-quality care while ensuring taxpayer dollars are not lost to fraud or abuse. AHCA will continue taking decisive action to strengthen program integrity, hold bad actors accountable and safeguard these critical services for Floridians,” she said.

Harris’ agency provided additional details on its crackdown to Fox News Digital, including how its new fraud-protection mechanisms work.

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Through a pilot program with identity-verification firm SentiLink, Florida is screening for stolen or fake identities and hidden ownership structures among Medicaid providers. Separately, the state has imposed enrollment moratoriums on certain high-risk provider categories.

AHCA also told Fox News Digital that it has issued more than 1,000 adverse decisions involving Medicaid provider enrollment or re-enrollment since January 2026, part of its effort to prevent suspicious providers from entering or remaining in the program.

The agency has conducted 400 site visits to providers since January, including providers in high-risk categories such as applied behavior analysis, medical equipment and adult day care.

“Medicaid fraud is a national problem, and it is growing more sophisticated everywhere,” AHCA told Fox News Digital.

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Video: Medicaid fraud allegations target critical autism services

“Florida is not waiting to be told what to do. We are building the model: prevent fraud at the front door, verify every provider, and follow the data. We welcome partnership with CMS and other states, because a fraudulent provider stopped in Florida is a scheme that does not move on to the next state.”

Born and raised in Allentown, Pennsylvania, worked in both the New York and Washington bureaus for Fox News since 2013.

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6401961421112
https://www.foxnews.com/video/6405237270112

Curtis Flowers, Mississippi man wrongfully convicted after being tried for the same killings 6 times, dies at 56

Updated on October 8, 2026 / 3:16 PM EDT / CBS News

Curtis Flowers, a Black man from Mississippi who was wrongfully convicted multiple times when he was tried six times for the same crime by the same prosecutor, has died. He was 56.

Flowers’ family confirmed that he died Wednesday at his home in Winona, Mississippi, attorney Rob McDuff told CBS News on Thursday.

No cause of death was given, said McDuff, who was part of Flowers’ legal team. CBS News has reached out to the coroner.

Flowers’ struggle with the justice system began in Winona, Mississippi, on a July morning in 1996, when the owner of Tardy Furniture, a bookkeeper, a delivery man and a 16-year-old were shot in the head execution-style.

Flowers briefly worked at the furniture store that summer, but he was let go after he stopped showing up after only three days. Police questioned him after the murders, but didn’t arrest him at the time. Flowers later moved to Texas to live with his sister, and he was arrested there in January 1997. He had no prior criminal history.

McDuff previously called Flowers’ case “unprecedented in the history of the American legal system.”

He told “60 Minutes” in 2021 that the first three convictions against Flowers were overturned “because of the prosecutor’s misrepresentation of the evidence to the jury and because of his discrimination in the selection of the jury.”

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The murder weapon was never found, and there was no DNA or fingerprints linking Flowers to the crime.

In the first trial, an all-White jury convicted him after just an hour of deliberation. Flowers, then 27, was sentenced to death.

His conviction was appealed and overturned. But he was tried five more times for the same crime by the same prosecutor. He had three more convictions overturned on appeal, in addition to two mistrials.

The prosecutor was District Attorney Doug Evans, who in 2010 finally got a conviction to stick in trial six, and Flowers returned to death row.

Then reporters at American Public Media’s podcast “In the Dark” looked into the case. Their investigation led witnesses, including one who said Flowers had confessed, to recant their stories.

“In the Dark” reporters and producers also analyzed decades of court data that revealed Evans had a history of excluding Black people from juries at a disproportionate rate. Across all of Flowers’ trials, 61 of the 72 jurors were White. All 61 voted to convict.

In 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Evans and the state of Mississippi had violated Flowers’ constitutional rights and overturned his conviction yet again. Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote that there was a “relentless, determined effort to rid the jury of Black individuals.” Six months later, Flowers was released on bail, leaving jail for the first time in 23 years.

“And I’m telling you, I felt like I was floating. I was just ready to go,” Flowers told CBS News in 2021.

Sharyn Alfonsi contributed to this report.

Mamdani addresses backlash of his October 7 comments

Updated 12:58 PM EDT, Thu October 8, 2026 / CNN Politics

Mamdani addresses backlash of his October 7 comments

Mayor Mamdani addresses the backlash he faced after he arrived at an October 7th memorial event in New York City following a statement he released denouncing what he called “the Israeli government’s devastating, ongoing genocide in Gaza”.

1:42 • Source: CNN

https://www.cnn.com/2026/10/08/politics/video/mamdani-addresses-backlash-october-7-comments

Judge appears skeptical of Trump’s White House press ban and other hearing takeaways

2026-10-08T19:30:02.394Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/10/08/politics/judge-skeptical-trump-administration-arguments-media-ban-takeaways

Over the course of an hour-plus hearing Thursday, US District Judge Timothy Kelly signaled skepticism about the Trump administration’s arguments for allowing President Donald Trump to ban CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House.

Kelly, who was appointed to the bench in Trump’s first term, did not announce his decision on the media outlet’s request for a long-term order that would maintain their access to the White House while their legal challenge plays out. But the judge repeatedly told Justice Department attorney defending the ban Thursday that he was bound by DC Circuit precedent – including the precedent that the administration was objecting to.

For now, the judge is extending for a few days his temporary restraining order that requires the White House to grant the journalists entry to its grounds while he works on his decision on whether to issue a preliminary injunction. He eventual preliminary injunction ruling – which will come Tuesday or sooner, he said – is likely to be appealed.

Kelly’s earlier ruling was focused on the due process claims brought by outlets, with the judge finding that the White House likely acted unconstitutionality when it banned the organizations without any advance notice.

Kelly returned to that issue again Thursday with government lawyer Michael Velchik. The case law around due process claims says that only in “hair on fire” situations can the government yank away a right it has granted a person without given them advanced notice, Kelly said, emphasizing a requirement to demonstrate an “urgent need” for taking immediate action.

The situation in this case, however, seemed “more attenuated,” Kelly said.

The judge also grilled Velchik on the gap between the rationale that Trump has repeatedly given for banning in outlets — Trump in public remarks has pointed to their history of negative coverage of him — and the national security justification that the Justice Department is leaning on in court filings.

Kelly said it was “unusual” that “the decision maker seems to have said …I am taking this action because ‘x’ and ‘y’,” and now the government is saying, “it’s ‘z’.”

“It just seems like that fact pattern is a hard one to find” looking at other relevant cases, Kelly said, calling it an “uphill climb” for the Justice Department.

Velchik argued that it’s “within the discretion of the president” to remove reporters or news outlets from the White House.

“CNN has been on notice for years” as Trump has long called the outlet “fake news,” he added.

The president, Velchik added, is concerned about accuracy. “Trump doesn’t mind negative press stories if he deserves them.”

While Kelly seemed somewhat open to the idea that the White House could ban reporters for national security reasons in some contexts, he appeared skeptical of how the administration was trying to use that justification in this case.

Kelly told the attorney for the news organizations that he was “struck” by the outlets’ arguments in their briefing that the First Amendment protects the publication of classified information.

He asked if the government could take action similar to Trump’s press ban in a scenario where a reporter published classified information that is shown to be “very harmful” to the national security.

Media attorney Ted Boutrous said drawing a line there “would be a very dangerous road to go down” and that a ban for publishing classified information would still be content-based, in violation of the First Amendment.

Kelly was also focused on whether the First Amendment would permit a ban on a news organization for publishing false information. His first line of questioning for Boutrous was about disentangling the White House’s allegations that outlets’ “reporting was false” versus the allegations that the coverage was “not positive for the president.”

Kelly asked whether those two concepts should be viewed the same way under First Amendment law – noting it was “very hard to pull apart” the claims.

Boutrous said both allegations would still amount to viewpoint discrimination. He said that even falsity was a “debatable” issue, particularly if a president claimed that “what you’re saying is false because I don’t like it.”

Kelly pushed on the distinction harder. It may be hard to establish objective falsity if one was reporting that “the vibes were bad” at an event, Kelly noted – a reference to one of the stories the White House cited to justify the ban.

But the judge asked about a journalist who reported the sky was red instead of blue. Boutrous said that scenario was a “closer call” and he emphasized that the stories cited in this case were not anything like that. The attorney warned of “unbridled discrimination” if the administration was able to just declare that a story was false.

When the Justice Department weighed in on the question, its attorney argued that banning an outlet because it published false stories would not qualify as illegal viewpoint discrimination. Velchik described a very broad view for what could count as falsity, pointing to reporting that failed to verify quotes before publishing them or that spliced statements from interviews. He said that the use of “anonymous sources” was a constitutionally permissible reason to block a news organization from the White House.

The news organizations had several lawyers present at the plaintiffs’ table, while Velchik was the only government attorney sitting on the defendants’ side. When the DOJ attorney first took the lectern, Kelly remarked on the asymmetry and noted in his courtroom that it usually ran in the opposite direction, with government attorneys outnumbering the number of lawyers on the other side.

“I am sure you will do a great job, nonetheless,” Kelly told Velchik.

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How Elon Musk got back in Trump’s orbit after nuclear fallout, insiders reveal: ‘Water under the bridge’

October 8, 2026 12:15pm EDT / Fox News

Trump and Musk have reconciled after a nasty falling out last year over government spending

Elon Musk arrives at President Donald Trump’s New Golden Age Summit at the Institute of Peace in Washington, D.C., where he is expected to be awarded the National Medal of Science. (Credit: Nicholas Ballasy for Fox News Digital)

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EXCLUSIVE: As Elon Musk prepares to receive a prestigious honor from President Donald Trump Thursday afternoon, several sources familiar with the pair’s relationship say the trillionaire is back in the administration’s fold after last year’s nasty blowup between the pair.

“Water under the bridge,” one former administration official told Fox News Digital when about to classify the falling out and subsequent rekindling of the pair’s relationship.

Musk had a meteoric rise within the MAGA movement during the 2024 presidential election and, after Trump was re-elected, joined the administration to lead massive federal government cuts under the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). During that time, he had a chummy relationship with Trump, who presented him with a ceremonial golden key to the White House during an Oval Office celebration.

In May 2025, Musk left the government after leading DOGE for four months. The CEO of Tesla, SpaceX and X (formerly Twitter) was reportedly at odds with Trump over the amount of government spending tied to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which he viewed as antithetical to DOGE’s effort to reduce wasteful spending in a bloated federal government.

President Donald Trump and Elon Musk attend a press conference in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., May 30, 2025.(Reuters/Nathan Howard)

NEW BOOK ON ELON MUSK EXAMINES THE BILLIONAIRE’S MIND, MOTIVATION AND MAKING LIFE MULTI-PLANETARY

On June 3, 2025, Musk took to the social media platform he owns to rail against the bill, describing it as a “disgusting abomination.”

“KILL THE BILL,” Musk wrote on X the following day.

Trump fired back in a social media post of his own, saying Musk had been “wearing thin” on him, and that Musk went “CRAZY” after Trump rolled back what the administration described as a Biden-era “backdoor electric vehicle mandate.”

Musk then claimed that Trump would not have won the 2024 election without his financial support and accused him of “ingratitude.” Through his America PAC, Musk helped fund the campaigns of Trump and other Republicans to the tune of nearly $300 million. Musk later accused Trump of being in the infamous Epstein files, though he never provided proof for the claim.

TRUMP SAYS MICHAEL COHEN WAS ‘WEAPONIZED’ BY MAINSTREAM MEDIA IN SURPRISE RADIO REUNION

At that point, a former White House official told Fox News Digital that Musk was completely removed from the White House fold.

“He wasn’t in the office at all,” the source said. Musk had previously occupied a space in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, alongside other White House staff.

President Donald Trump said he likes Elon Musk “a lot” after the pair faced a rift over the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.(Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

But, the former official said it’s in Trump’s nature to rekindle old relationships, regardless of how nasty the dustup.

In fact, Trump and his longtime personal attorney, Michael Cohen, just revived their old friendship in September, despite a major falling out and Cohen’s testimony against Trump during the 2024 “hush money” trial involving adult entertainer Stormy Daniels.

A third source familiar with the matter said Musk began getting back into Trump’s good graces earlier this year, while a current administration official disputed the characterization that Musk was fully out of the White House fold in the first place.

The administration official said that despite the fallout, Musk has been seen recently at the White House, in part because he’s making good on promises to financially support Republican candidates in the 2026 midterm elections.

WHAT’S ON THE MENU FOR TRUMP’S STATE DINNER WITH CHINA’S XI? ONE AMERICAN STAPLE IS NOTABLY MISSING

Elon Musk arrived in Beijing aboard Air Force One as part of President Donald Trump’s delegation for talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping.(Johannes Neudecker/picture alliance/Getty Images)

Musk has made several high-profile appearances at the White House in recent weeks. He was at the America.gov launch in late September, alongside engineers from the National Design Studio who built the AI-powered website. He appeared again during Trump’s state dinner with Chinese President Xi Jinping last month, and was seated at the president’s table.

Thursday afternoon, Trump is slated to award Musk the National Medal of Science, the nation’s top award for scientific and technological achievement, as first reported by Fox News Digital.

“The Trump administration is grateful for the contributions of these incredible leaders in science and technology. These recipients are helping ensure America keeps leading the world in innovation,” White House spokesperson Liz Huston told Fox News Digital regarding the award.

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Fox News Digital reached out to Musk and the White House for comment.

Fox News’ Ashley J. DiMella contributed to this report.

Peter D’Abrosca is a politics reporter at Fox News Digital.

David Jolly thinks he can be the first Democratic Governor of Florida this century

2026-10-08 1:09 PM EDT / CNN Politics

By Dana Bash, CNN

Published 1:09 PM EDT, Thu October 8, 2026

David Jolly thinks he can be the first Democratic Governor of Florida this century

Inside Politics

David Jolly joins “Inside Politics” on his bid to be the first Democratic governor of Florida in nearly 30 years. “While the right is litigating ideology, we’re litigating solutions. And those solutions are different in Florida than Iowa than other states. But it’s an opportunity Democrats haven’t had in a long time,” he tells Dana Bash.

3:08 • Source: CNN

Nicolas Maduro, wife face torture charge in new U.S. indictment

2026-10-08T12:06:00-0400 / CBS News

By Mark Osborne,
Updated on: October 8, 2026 / 12:07 PM EDT / CBS News

Deposed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, are now facing an additional charge of conspiracy to commit torture as federal prosecutors filed a superseding indictment in the Southern District of New York on Thursday.

“As alleged in the indictment, the Maduro regime subjected over a dozen American citizens to torture while held in custody of the Venezuelan government — including drugs, electrocution, sexual assault, and more,” FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement on social media. “They will now answer for their crimes.”

The couple were already facing a slew of charges, including narco-terrorism conspiracy; cocaine importation conspiracy; possession of machine guns and destructive devices; and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices.

The 30-page superseding indictment accuses the couple of overseeing a system of political repression that relied on Venezuela’s military, intelligence agencies and security forces to torture their opponents, silence dissidents and maintain power.

“To undermine Venezuelan democracy and entrench themselves in power, these same leaders presided over a system of repression that relied on violence against political opposition, arbitrary detention, and the torture of detainees, including United States citizens,” prosecutors wrote. “That torture included electric shock, asphyxiation, rape, forced nudity, prolonged isolation, starvation, punishment cells, and psychological torture, such as threats to harm and kill victims’ families, including children.”

Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, are seen in handcuffs after landing at a Manhattan helipad, escorted by heavily armed federal agents en route to a federal courthouse in Manhattan on Jan. 5, 2026. XNY/Star Max/GC Images

Maduro and Flores were indicted by a federal grand jury in January on charges stemming from what prosecutors said was his role in a scheme to import “thousands of tons” of cocaine into the United States and enrich themselves, their family and senior members of the Venezuelan government.

The U.S. military took the couple into custody in an overnight operation and brought them to the U.S. to face the charges. They have pleaded not guilty to the initial charges.

Prosecutors allege Maduro ordered political opponents detained and tortured, received regular updates on interrogations and instructed officials to intensify abuse. During one briefing about a defiant prisoner, Maduro allegedly told officials to “squeeze them harder.”

During political unrest in 2014, Maduro allegedly proposed abducting five to seven military officers suspected of disloyalty and extracting information through torture. According to the indictment, Flores agreed with the proposal.

The indictment also includes cases involving U.S. citizens subjected to electric shocks, drowning, severe beatings and other abuse while detained in Venezuela. One American arrested in 2022 was allegedly given injections that caused seizures.

A U.S. citizen detained in 2023 was severely beaten and tortured by Venezuelan intelligence officers, prosecutors said. One officer allegedly told the prisoner he had been kept alive because his U.S. citizenship made him useful in a potential prisoner exchange.

A woman walks past a mural reading “#Free Maduro and Cilia” during a demonstration in support of deposed Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in Caracas on Jan. 16, 2026. Pedro Mattey/AFP via Getty Images

At a bail hearing for Flores on Thursday, her lawyer asked for the arraignment on the new charge to be delayed since they just received the indictment that morning, which was allowed by the judge.

Flores’ lawyer argued she should be allowed release on bail with strict conditions due to health concerns related to her heart. The judge denied bail for Flores, noting she had access to “considerable funds” and calling the charges “serious allegations.”

The case against the couple was brought in the Southern District of New York, where Maduro and 14 others were first indicted in March 2020, during the first Trump administration.

Sarah N. Lynch, Jennifer Jacobs and Jacob Rosen contributed to this report.

The two most powerful Democrats in Congress have not responded to the NYC mayor’s controversial statement on Israel and Gaza

By Alex Miller Fox News

Published October 8, 2026 2:52pm EDT

Mamdani doubles down on accusations of Israeli ‘genocide’ after October 7 outrage

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani doubled down on his October 7 statement accusing Israel of carrying out a “genocide” in Gaza on Thursday.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has come under fire for his comments on the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, but two leading voices in New York politics have so far remained quiet.

Mamdani’s post on Wednesday briefly acknowledged Hamas’ blitz on Israel that left more than 1,100 Israelis dead and more than 250 others captured and held hostage by the terrorist organization. But the bulk of his statement spent time on criticizing Israel for its actions in Gaza in the three years since.

“The suffering did not begin nor end that day. It instead continued through the Israeli government’s devastating, ongoing genocide in Gaza, in which it has killed more than 74,000 Palestinians — including more than 21,000 children,” Mamdani said on X. “Even since the so-called ceasefire, more than 1,400 Palestinians have been killed.”

MAMDANI DOUBLES DOWN ON ANTI-ISRAEL OCT 7 STATEMENT AFTER BACKLASH

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., didn’t believe that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., nor House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., would be honest brokers in the upcoming DHS negotiations.(Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

“That suffering has intensified with every Israeli bomb dropped on ambulances waiting outside hospitals, every drone strike targeting a residential building or journalist, and every shipment of food aid turned away at a border crossing,” he continued. “Many New Yorkers are reckoning with this unbearable grief, and we mourn alongside them — all while knowing that our tax dollars fund these war crimes.”

Mamdani notably did not mention the Jewish community in New York City, which is home to nearly 1 million Jews, according to a 2023 study from the UJA-Federation of New York.

And while at least one New York Democrat, Rep. Dan Goldman, laid into Mamdani for his comments, neither Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer nor House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, the two most powerful Democrats in Congress, has reacted.

MAMDANI’S $30M PLAN TO FIGHT ANTISEMITISM INCLUDES INCREASED FUNDING FOR ANTI-ISRAEL GROUP

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6406449721112

“This is a reprehensible statement on the anniversary of the horrific terrorist attack by a Palestinian terrorist organization against innocent Israelis,” Goldman said on X. “In the guise of ‘grieving’ with those mourning that day, Mayor Mamdani asserts as fact hotly disputed allegations that he knows full well will offend and further upset those same people he pretends to grieve with.”

Neither Schumer nor Jeffries responded to requests for comment on Mamdani’s remarks. They put out their own statements on the Oct. 7 attack on Wednesday.

Schumer, who is Jewish, noted that the attack was the “single deadliest day in Jewish history since the Holocaust.” His support of Israel has become a wedge issue for some Senate Democrats, who have slowly pushed back against funding arms for Israel following three years of conflict in Gaza.

DEM SENATOR WHO DEMANDED SAUDI ACCOUNTABILITY OVER KHASHOGGI MEETS WITH CROWN PRINCE, PUSHES PALESTINIAN STATE

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks during a news conference at City Hall in New York City on Sept. 14, 2026.(Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images)

“Today, we reaffirm our commitment to the security of the Israeli people, to the aid and wellbeing of the Palestinian people and the recovery of the devastation in Gaza that the ensuing conflict brought, and to doubling down on efforts for a lasting peace resulting in two states where Israelis and Palestinians can live side by side in equal measures of peace, security, dignity, and mutual recognition,” Schumer said.

Jeffries was more aligned with Schumer’s left flank in his statement, while recognizing that “we are reminded of the painful reality that the Jewish people are in a constant struggle for survival, as has been the case for thousands of years.”

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“Throughout the past three years, considerable suffering has plagued the Middle East. The horrific death of Palestinian civilians, destruction of civil society and devastation in Gaza is reprehensible and can never be allowed to happen again,” Jeffries said.

“In order to end the vicious cycle of bloodshed, for the good of the Israeli and Palestinian people, American policy in the region must change dramatically,” he continued. “We must commit to the creation of an independent Palestinian state to provide dignity, respect and self-determination for the Palestinian people.”

Alex Miller is a writer for Fox News Digital covering the U.S. Senate.

The states that aren’t cooperating with Democrats’ Senate majority hopes

2026-10-08T18:40:19.013Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/10/08/politics/democrats-senate-majority-iowa

Democrats’ path to the Senate majority is improving. In fact, recent polls have shown the party leading in three states that President Donald Trump carried by double digits in 2024: Alaska, Ohio and Texas. Democrats need at least two of those to win the majority.

But even as it looks like they might clear that daunting threshold, other states are proving more difficult.

The polls in Iowa — which Trump also carried by double digits — have been closer than some surveys in Alaska, Ohio and Texas — including in new CNN polling released Thursday.

And even as Democrats look like they could win some pretty red states, they’re still struggling to lock down swing and even blue-leaning territory in Maine, Michigan and arguably New Hampshire. (There is also some question about Minnesota, but the data there is limited.)

The idea that, a month before the midterm election, Democrats would poll better in Ohio and Texas than in Maine and Michigan would’ve been called crazy a year ago. But that’s where we’re at.

So what do polls tell us about why that is? Let’s dig in.

The story here isn’t that Democrats are doing badly; it’s just that they’re not polling as well as they have in Alaska, Ohio and Texas — despite Trump having carried all of those states by similar margins in 2024.

Recent quality polls have Democrats winning Alaska by 7, Texas by 6 in a few polls, and Ohio by as much as 6 and 8 points.

But even as the new CNN polling showed a 6-point Democratic edge in Ohio, the CNN Iowa poll was neck-and-neck, with GOP Rep. Ashley Hinson at 45% and Democratic state Sen. Josh Turek at 43%. Other polls similarly show a pretty pure toss-up.

So why the difference?

The atmospherics don’t differ too much between Iowa and Ohio. In both states, the CNN polls show about three-quarters of likely voters said Trump’s policies have increased the cost of living, about 7 in 10 said gas prices have been at least a moderate hardship, and 55%-58% said tariffs have been bad for their states.

But Iowa appears somewhat less inclined to ditch Trump and the GOP. The president’s approval rating there (41%-42% in CNN and New York Times-Siena College polling) isn’t quite as low as in Ohio (36%-38%). And the CNN poll shows that 53% of likely voters in Iowa prefer GOP control of Congress, while 52% in Ohio prefer Democratic control.

Turek’s image numbers have also declined a bit. Fox News polling has shown the Iowa Democrat’s net image rating going from +18 in June (51% favorable to 33% unfavorable) to +8 in late September (48%-40%).

Also, Hinson appears to have done a good job rallying her base. While 66% of her voters in the CNN poll say their vote is mostly about voting for her rather than against her opponent, just 44% say the same of Ohio GOP Sen. Jon Husted.

Maine

This blue state might be Democrats’ biggest headache right now.

A recent New York Times poll showed Trump’s approval rating is more than 30 points underwater, but virtually every quality Senate poll is within the margin of error.

Some Democrats panicked when that Times poll showed GOP Sen. Susan Collins at 49% to Democratic former state Senate President Troy Jackson’s 46%.

The big problem for them is that voters just aren’t enamored of Jackson. His image was underwater in both Times (41% favorable to 49% unfavorable among likely voters) and Marist College (43%-47% among registered voters) polling.

And a CBS News-YouGov poll showed just 47% of Democrats and independents said they were glad he was the Democratic nominee, compared to 53% who preferred someone else.

The Times poll also showed likely voters said 51%-35% that the state was headed in the wrong direction. That was the worst of all the states where the Times has polled Senate races.

(And it would explain why Collins spent much of Tuesday’s debate attacking Maine’s Democratic leaders.)

Democrat Abdul El-Sayed led by 5 points among likely voters in the Times poll and 7 points among registered voters in a Marist poll. But other polls like a Fox News survey show a margin-of-error race.

It’s pretty clear the closeness of the race reflects at least some voter uncertainty about El-Sayed, a left-wing candidate whom many Democrats worried about nominating in the first place.

El-Sayed lags the Democratic nominee for governor, Secretary of State Joceyln Benson, consistently in polling. And his image ratings are usually only about even.

The Times poll showed 50% of likely voters said El-Sayed was the more extreme candidate in the race, compared to 36% who said the same of Republican former Rep. Mike Rogers. The Fox poll showed 52% of voters were concerned about El-Sayed being too liberal — about as many as the 54% who worried about Rogers being too close to Trump.

All of which helps explain why El-Sayed is getting the least crossover voters from Republicans of any Democratic nominee in a major Senate race, according to a recent CNN review. While other Democrats are getting as much as double-digit support from GOP voters, he’s in the low single digits, according to polling.

Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas has a lead over former GOP Sen. John E. Sununu in most recent quality polling. He led by 5 points in a Times poll and 8 points in a University of New Hampshire poll.

But Democrats will wish it weren’t even that close, given this is a state Kamala Harris carried in 2024.

Part of the reason it’s somewhat close is that Pappas’ image is only OK (43% favorable to 44% unfavorable in the Times poll).

Another is that GOP Gov. Kelly Ayotte is popular and primed for reelection at the top of the ticket. She led by 11 points in the Times poll.

And then there’s the name ID that comes with Sununu. It’s not just that he comes from a famous political family in New Hampshire; his brother Chris Sununu was a popular GOP governor until just last year.

There is even speculation that some people think John E. Sununu is the former governor, and that that’s helping him. The Cook Political Report recently cited that as a factor helping John E. Sununu, whose campaign signs don’t include his first name. And the Washington Post recently found that some New Hampshire residents thought Chris Sununu was the one running for Senate.

However, to the extent that confusion is a factor, it could be mitigated as voters are bombarded with more ads and start to pay more attention to who is actually on the ballot.