California voters hand redistricting power back to Dems in move targeting Trump
California voters have passed a ballot initiative that will have a huge impact on next year’s battle for the U.S. House majority.
According to the Fox News Decision Desk, voters in California approved Proposition 50, which would dramatically alter the state’s congressional districts, putting the left-leaning state front and center in the high-stakes political fight over redistricting that pits President Donald Trump and the GOP against the Democrats.
“Donald Trump poked the bear. And the bear roared back,” two-term Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is seen as a likely 2028 Democratic presidential contender and who spearheaded the push to pass the proposition, said.
Approval of the ballot initiative in the nation’s most populous state will temporarily sidetrack California’s nonpartisan redistricting commission and return the power to draw the congressional maps to the Democrat-dominated legislature.
The effort in California, which could create five more Democratic-leaning congressional districts, aims to counter the passage in the reliable red state of Texas of a new map that aims to create up to five right-leaning House seats. Failure to approve what’s known as Proposition 50 would have been a stinging setback for Democrats.
OBAMA ENDORSES NEWSOM CALIFORNIA REDISTRICTING PROP 50
“If we lose here, we are going to have total Republican control in the House, the Senate and the White House for at least two more years,” Newsom emphasized in a recent fundraising appeal to supporters. “If we win here, we can put a check on Trump for his final two years.”
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The push by Trump and Republicans for a rare mid-decade redistricting is part of a broad effort by the GOP to pad its razor-thin House majority to keep control of the chamber in the 2026 midterms, when the party in power traditionally faces political headwinds and loses seats.
Trump and his political team are aiming to prevent what happened during his first term in the White House, when Democrats reclaimed the House majority in the 2018 midterm elections.
“California voters have sent a strong and clear message that they will not stand by while Republicans try to rig the 2026 election,” Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chair Rep. Suzan DelBene argued in a statement. “By overwhelmingly voting to pass Proposition 50, Californians are fighting back against the GOP’s disastrous record of raising costs and ripping away health care from millions, all to give tax breaks to the ultra-wealthy.”
But Rep. Richard Hudson, chair of the rival National Republican Congressional Committee, charged that “no matter how Democrats redraw the lines to satisfy Gavin Newsom’s power grab, they can’t redraw their record of failure, and that’s why they will fail to take the House majority. Even under this new map, Republicans have clear opportunities to flip seats because Californians are fed up with Democrat chaos.”
Missouri last month joined Texas as the second GOP-controlled state to pass congressional redistricting ahead of next year’s elections. The new map in Missouri is likely to give the GOP another right-leaning seat.
North Carolina’s Republican-controlled legislature also passed a new map likely to score another congressional seat for the GOP. Republican-controlled Indiana is on deck, with a special legislative session getting underway this week.
But, unlike those states, California voters needed to weigh in before giving redistricting power back to the legislature in Sacramento.
“Heaven help us if we lose,” Newsom said in a fundraising pitch. “This is an all-hands-on-deck moment for Democrats.”
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Proponents and opponents of Proposition 50 raised hundreds of millions of dollars, with much of the money being dished out to pay for a deluge of ads on both sides.
One of the two main groups countering Newsom and the Democrats labeled its effort “Stop Sacramento’s Power Grab.”
Getting into the fight was former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the last Republican governor of California.
During his tenure as governor, Schwarzenegger had a starring role in the passage of constitutional amendments in California in 2008 and 2010 that took the power to draw state legislative and congressional districts away from politicians and placed it in the hands of an independent commission.
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA VOTERS WEIGH IN ON PROP 50 REDISTRICTING FIGHT
“That’s what they want to do is take us backwards. This is why it is important for you to vote no on Prop 50,” Schwarzenegger said in an ad against Proposition 50. “Democracy — we’ve got to protect it, and we’ve got to go and fight for it.”
But as Election Day neared in California, supporters had raised dramatically more than opponents of the proposition, and public opinion polling indicated majority support for the proposition.
Even before Trump initiated his redistricting push, Ohio was under court order to redraw its maps. That could boost Republicans in a one-time battleground state that now leans right.
Republicans in GOP-dominated Florida are also mulling congressional redistricting. And Democrats in heavily blue Maryland are weighing a redistricting push, while the Democrat-controlled legislature in Virginia is already pushing redistricting.
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Other states considering altering maps are Democrat-dominated Illinois and red states Kansas and Nebraska.
Meanwhile, Democrats could possibly pick up a seat in Republican-dominated Utah due to a new, more competitive map, mandated by a judge.
Abbott threatens financial penalty for New York residents fleeing to Lone Star state
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said he will impose a steep tariff on New Yorkers moving to his state after voting on Election Day ends.
Abbott, a Republican, made the announcement Monday, a day before New Yorkers headed to the polls to choose a new mayor in what has been a closely watched race between Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani, a socialist, and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
“After the polls close tomorrow night, I will impose a 100% tariff on anyone moving to Texas from NYC,” Abbott posted on X.
Fox News Digital has reached out to Abbott’s office for comment.
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The power to impose tariffs falls under the federal government’s authority, not the states.
The NYC mayoral race is one of the most anticipated contests this year. President Donald Trump has endorsed Cuomo, who is running as an independent.
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On Monday, Trump said he would most likely halt federal funds — aside from the minimum required — to New York if Mamdani is elected.
“It can only get worse with a communist at the helm, and I don’t want to send, as president, good money after bad,” he wrote on Truth Social. “It is my obligation to run the nation, and it is my strong conviction that New York City will be a complete and total economic and social disaster should Mamdani win.”
Trump said he would rather see a Democrat with a record of success than Mamdani, a former state assemblyman.
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“He was nothing as an assemblyman, ranked at the bottom of the class, and as mayor of, potentially, again, the greatest city in the world, HE HAS NO CHANCE to bring it back to its former glory!” he added.
Harrowing video shows ‘catastrophic’ UPS plane disaster that killed at least 7
Dramatic video shows the terrifying moment a UPS plane loaded with fuel crashed at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport Tuesday, producing a massive and deadly fireball.
The video, taken from inside a vehicle on a nearby road, shows a huge plume of black and gray smoke towering into the sky, visible for miles.
The driver in the vehicle where the footage was filmed can be heard shouting in shock as flames billow and consume what remains of the aircraft on the runway and with another plane visible in front.
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The fireball expands rapidly, rippling through the air as emergency sirens wail faintly in the distance.
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Debris appears scattered across the tarmac as emergency crews rush toward the wreckage.
The person filming also shouts in terror as the video captures the scale of the disaster before news of the crash sent shock through the community.
According to the FAA, the plane crashed around 5:15 p.m. during takeoff, bound for Honolulu.
The crash killed at least seven people and injured at least 11 others.
SMALL AIRCRAFT PLUMMETS INTO GEORGIA NEIGHBORHOOD, LEAVES 3 INJURED
“UPS Flight 2976, carrying three crew members, crashed at about 5:14 p.m. ET onto the roof of the Kentucky Petroleum Recycling building after departing from SDF,” Gov. Andy Beshear said during a news conference Tuesday evening.
“At least two employees at nearby business Grade A Auto Parts are unaccounted for,” Beshear added, calling the incident “catastrophic.”
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Both the FAA and NTSB are investigating the cause of the accident.
Authorities issued a shelter-in-place order for nearby neighborhoods due to the heavy smoke and debris.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the Louisville Metro Police Department and Louisville Fire Department for comment.
AOC spills ‘tea’ on why Marjorie Taylor Greene suddenly turned against Trump
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., claimed Monday that President Donald Trump blocked Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., from running for Georgia’s Senate seat next year — a move she says prompted Greene’s ongoing “revenge tour” against the GOP.
Ocasio-Cortez made the comments during an Instagram livestream, telling her followers, “Here’s some tea for you. MTG, people are like, ‘Oh my God, she’s saying all these things, like, what’s gotten into her lately?’ ‘Oh, like, she’s bucking against Trump, she’s bucking against the administration.'”
“Marjorie Taylor Greene wanted to run for Senate in Georgia. She wanted to run for Senate earlier this year in the state of Georgia, she wanted to be the Republican nominee for Senate. So, she was gearing up for that statewide race, and Trump told her no,” she continued.
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“Trump said no, and the White House and Trump Land shut down Marjorie Taylor Greene’s personal ambitions to run for Senate — and she has been on a revenge tour ever since,” Ocasio-Cortez added.
Greene said in May she would not seek Georgia’s Senate seat next year, opting against a challenge to Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff. Republicans are targeting Ossoff’s seat as one of their best pickup opportunities in 2026.
“Even with a few good Republicans in the Senate, nothing changes,” Greene wrote on X at the time. “So no, Jon Ossoff isn’t the real problem. He’s just a vote. A pawn. No different than the Uniparty Republicans who skip key votes to attend fundraisers and let our agenda fail.”
In recent weeks, Greene has stepped up criticism of GOP leadership, taking aim at the party’s approach to health care and the ongoing government shutdown — even as Republicans control both Congress and the White House.
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She has also broken from her party on foreign policy, calling Israel’s military campaign in Gaza a “genocide” and “humanitarian crisis.”
On ABC’s “The View” Tuesday, Greene brushed off any suggestion that her criticism has strained her relationship with Trump.
“I do love him,” she said. “When I ran for Congress in 2020, I ran criticizing Republicans and Democrats equally, because I come from a working-class family.”
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Greene has warned that Republicans could lose control of the House if inflation and everyday costs don’t ease soon.
Last month, she told Semafor that she could not “see into the future, but I see Republicans losing the House if Americans are continuing to go paycheck to paycheck.”
“They’ll definitely be going into the midterms looking through the lens of their bank account,” she added.
Smoking banned for entire generation under sweeping new national law
Anyone living in the Maldives born after Jan. 1, 2007, may be affected by the first-ever generational smoking ban.
On Nov. 1, a new law — proposed by the country’s President Mohamed Muizzu earlier this year — took effect in the country, banning an entire generation from smoking, purchasing or using tobacco.
In a press release, the Ministry of Health called it a “historic milestone in the nation’s efforts to protect public health and promote a tobacco-free generation.”
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The ban applies to all forms of tobacco, and retailers are required to verify the age of users prior to any sale.
The Maldives also maintains a complete ban on the import, sale, distribution, possession and use of electronic cigarettes and vaping products, regardless of age.
“The Generational Ban on Tobacco reflects the Government’s strong commitment to protecting young people from the harms of tobacco,” the Ministry added in the statement.
The World Health Organization has called tobacco use an “epidemic” and “one of the biggest public health threats the world has ever faced.”
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The WHO’s data shows that tobacco use is responsible for over seven million deaths annually, as well as disability and long-term suffering from tobacco-related diseases.
“All forms of tobacco use are harmful, and there is no safe level of exposure to tobacco,” the agency states.
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The organization added that cigarette smoking is the most common form of tobacco use worldwide.
The Maldives is the first country to see a generational smoking ban come to fruition, although New Zealand proposed a ban that would have outlawed tobacco sales to those born after Jan. 1, 2009, starting in 2024.
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Before the ban could take effect, however, it was struck down in 2023.
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Britain is currently considering a similar law, the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, which, if passed, would prohibit anyone born after Jan. 1, 2009, from buying tobacco products or vapes.
Jolanda Jones torches Trump for AI video and SNAP funding pause: ‘Let me at him’
Texas Democrat Jolanda Jones slammed President Donald Trump for previously sharing an AI-generated video of him wearing a crown in a fighter jet over New York City, unloading what appeared to be feces on the protesters in the middle of a government shutdown.
Jones, a Texas state representative running for an open U.S. House seat in Houston after the death of Rep. Sylvester Turner in March, made the remarks while commenting on the uncertainty of funds for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) stemming from the government shutdown.
“Nothing illustrates more why we need leaders who are unafraid to fight Donald Trump than his shameful manipulation of food benefits for hungry people,” Jones said in a statement Monday to Fox News Digital. “What kind of a monster would allow children to go hungry to score political points? I’ll tell you exactly who: Donald Trump. No one will fight Trump harder than I will. Let me at him.”
Jones’ comments came after she told reporters Friday during a virtual press briefing previewing Tuesday’s election that a pause in SNAP funding would amount to a “death sentence for people,” while also commenting on Trump spending time and money to create AI-generated videos depicting him “crapping on people for exercising their First Amendment right to speak.”
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“He’s a troll,” she said Friday.
Trump shared the video Oct. 18 during the “No Kings” nationwide protests that organizers claim are in opposition to his authoritarian policies. The protests were held in major cities, including Washington, New York City and Los Angeles.
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The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
SNAP benefits were slated to run out of funding Saturday, potentially affecting 42 million Americans enrolled in the program. The program supports non- or low-income individuals or families to purchase groceries on a debit card.
However, two federal judges issued orders Friday demanding that the Trump administration continue to provide funding for SNAP and use emergency reserve funds to keep the program afloat. Still, it’s uncertain how the debit cards will be reloaded for beneficiaries after the rulings.
The Trump administration said Monday that it plans to pay half of its SNAP benefits in November. However, Trump said in a post Tuesday on social media that SNAP benefits would only be distributed “when the Radical Left Democrats open up government, which they can easily do, and not before!”
Even so, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday that while the Trump administration is following the court order, SNAP recipients should expect it to take “some time” for SNAP recipients to receive the contingency funds.
Meanwhile, Jones also said she is ready to take on Trump and would back impeaching the president.
“Our president should not be tearing the East Wing of the White House. He should be building affordable housing, and I will fight for that. … He has not met Jolanda Jones, and I’m ready to go at him, toe for toe, exactly what I’m ready to do,” she said Friday.
Jones is one of more than 15 candidates running in the special election for Texas’ 18th district in Houston. If candidates fail to receive a majority of votes, the top two contenders will face off in a runoff election.
Earlier in October, Jones told CNN she didn’t subscribe to former first lady Michelle Obama’s mantra that “when they go low, we go high.” Instead, Jones said she would strike back harder.
“If you hit me in my face, I’m not going to punch you back in your face,” Jones said in an interview with CNN’s “OutFront” on Oct. 22 as she made a throat-slashing gesture.
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“We can go back-and-forth, fighting each other’s faces,” Jones said. “You’ve got to hit hard enough where they won’t come back.”
Jones doubled down on her statements Friday, saying she “did not stutter” in her previous interview.
Jones’ campaign defended her previous statements and said her remarks were metaphorical.
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“The interviewer asked about the phrase, ‘When they go low, we go high.’ Representative Jones responded with a simple fighting metaphor — nothing more, nothing less,” a spokesperson for Jones’ campaign previously told Fox News Digital. “Anyone attempting to read more into it is mistaken.”
Mother pleads for son’s return as 19-year-old disappears on pedestrian walkway
Authorities are searching for a 19-year-old college student in South Carolina who went missing “minutes from his house” on Halloween but never made it home.
The Charleston Police Department said Owen Tillman Kenney was last seen walking onto the Ravenel Bridge pedestrian walkway just after 3 a.m. Police initially said Kenney was last seen wearing a Boston Celtics jersey but later said he was wearing a black hooded jacket, light-colored pants and black Nike sneakers with white soles. Officials added he is 6-foot-1 and 155 pounds. Kenney is a student at the College of Charleston.
His phone’s last location was recorded at the Ravenel Bridge, police said.
Kenney’s family said in a Facebook post that the college student was “minutes from his house but never made it home.” His family said the Boston Celtics jersey was part of Kenney’s costume and said he may have been wearing a black zip-up hoodie.
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“We want Owen to come home,” his mother wrote on Facebook.
A spokesperson for the College of Charleston told The Post and Courier that Kenney transferred to the institution in January and is a freshman from Tinton Falls, New Jersey.
The College of Charleston said in a Facebook post it’s working with authorities to locate Kenney. In a campus advisory, the college said there’s “no reason to believe that there is any danger to the campus community in relation to this case.”
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Kenney’s roommates told WCBD they tried tracking his phone, but it was dead when he disappeared.
Julie, a resident on a nearby street, told the outlet, “I was totally shocked.”
“I was walking my dog yesterday, and I saw some girls putting up this sign behind me,” she added. “And when I spoke with them, they didn’t even know the student. They had just heard and were concerned. So, I think everybody in the community is really concerned that this is such an unusual thing to happen.”
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Holland Cartmill, a student at the College of Charleston, said there’s a “really eerie” feeling on campus after Kenney’s disappearance.
“I’ve never seen anything like this before. It’s definitely scary. And I just really pray that this doesn’t happen again,” Cartmill said.
The Charleston Police Department said it’s working with the FBI and New Jersey State Police to locate Kenney.
Anyone with information about Kenney’s whereabouts is asked to contact the Charleston Police Department at 843-720-2422 or send a tip via www.charleston-sc.gov/tips.
Buckeyes claim top spot of playoff bracket as Hoosiers shock football world
The first College Football Playoff rankings have been released, and the reigning champions are atop the pack.
The Ohio State Buckeyes were ranked first when ESPN unveiled the projected 12-team bracket Tuesday night. The 2024 champions, who defeated Notre Dame in the championship game earlier this year, have been stellar with an 8-0 start to no one’s surprise.
But perhaps one of the best storylines this season comes from the No. 2 team in the rankings, the Indiana Hoosiers. Head coach Curt Cignetti’s group has been phenomenal to start the year, and they’re leading the Big Ten with a 9-0 record behind the play of Heisman candidate quarterback Fernando Mendoza.
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Rounding out the top four seeds, who will all get a bye in the first round of the CFP, are No. 3 Texas A&M and No. 4 Alabama.
The SEC is represented well in the debut rankings. Georgia comes in at No. 5, followed by Lane Kiffin’s Ole Miss Rebels at No. 6.
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Rounding out the top 10 are BYU, the No. 7 team that leads the Big 12 with a perfect 8-0 record; Texas Tech; Oregon; and the Fighting Irish at No. 10.
Notre Dame may have lost its first two games of the season, but the Irish have ripped off six straight wins as an at-large team. Their first two losses came against the Aggies and No. 18 Miami in their opener.
Speaking of the Hurricanes, they have the same number of losses as the Fighting Irish, but their recent overtime loss to SMU dropped them in the rankings.
Right on the cusp are Arch Manning and the Texas Longhorns at No. 11, especially given the team’s win over No. 16 Vanderbilt. The No. 12 Oklahoma Sooners are close as well.
Given that each Power Four conference will have a representative, Virginia, the leader in the ACC, comes in at No. 14. With all top 25 teams coming from a Power Four conference, the CFP committee had Memphis as the top team from the Group of Five.
However, this isn’t the same format as previous college football seasons because the committee is using a straight seeding model this time. The top four teams in the final ranking, no matter what conference they play in, will receive a first-round bye.
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With the current rankings, Memphis would face Georgia, Virginia would play Ole Miss, Notre Dame would travel to BYU and Oregon would take on Texas Tech.
Of course, this is just the first of many rankings to come. The bracket will be finalized Dec. 7, the day after conference championship games.
‘Pawn Stars’ legend reveals hidden culprit behind Vegas tourism slump
Tourism in Las Vegas continues to decline — with just over 3 million visitors in September, an 8.8% decrease from the same time last year, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCA).
Rick Harrison of the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop in Las Vegas told Fox News Digital in an interview that a lot of people “have been beating up on Vegas.”
But “it’s Vegas,” he said. “It is the entertainment capital of the world. I think we have more five-star restaurants than any city in the United States. There’s something for every price point.”
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Harrison added, “A lot of people are saying tourism is down in Las Vegas … because the prices are too expensive. And that might be part of it.”
September’s low visitor numbers are attributed to “slower midweek volumes,” according to the LVCA.
A famous tourist stop thanks to the show “Pawn Stars,” Harrison’s shop attracts about 1,200 visitors per day, he said.
“I’d say probably 40% to 50% of the people I get are international. But a big part of it is, we’re not getting the Asian tourists” right now, said Harrison.
He attributes that to “economic reasons in their country, not necessarily ours,” he said.
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This past July, there were 3,089,300 visitors compared to over 3.5 million at that same time last year, while occupancy on the Strip dropped 7% from 86.5% last year.
Harrison says businesses on the Strip need to be more upfront about their pricing.
“That’s what [ticks] people off — when you go to check out, and it was $149 a night. … You have the tax, the hotel tax, and you have a resort fee, and you have the parking fee and … and now it’s $300 a night or $400 a night.”
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“Be upfront with the prices, OK?” said Harrison.
“I’ve never had a surprise fee [for customers of] the pawn shop because if I did, I wouldn’t be in business long,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix is returning to the Vegas Strip later this month, from Nov. 20 to Nov. 22.
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Last year, reported attendance for race weekend was 306,000 people, according to F1 Destinations.
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Las Vegas Grand Prix corporate affairs senior vice president Lori Nelson-Kraft told the Las Vegas Sun in Nov. 2024, “The scale and scope and complexity of our different fan zones and activations and the live entertainment that’s fused together with the thrill of that one is really just creating a lot of excitement for our guests, and that’s what we’re seeing, and that’s what we’re hearing.”