House Democrats’ campaign arm takes sides in contentious primaries key to winning midterms

2026-05-04T19:13:37.253Z / CNN

By Patrick Svitek

17 min ago

PUBLISHED May 4, 2026, 3:13 PM ET

The dome of the US Capitol is visible in the early morning hours of April 2.

Andrew Harnik/Getty Images/File

The House Democratic campaign arm on Monday inflamed ongoing tensions over the influence of party leadership by taking sides in several competitive primaries for battleground House seats.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee waded in by announcing its latest round of “Red to Blue” candidates, a designation that is tantamount to an endorsement.

While Democrats are in a strong position to capture the House majority in November, the batch of endorsements shows that the DCCC is not willing to take chances on who the party nominates in some of the most competitive districts.

But Democrats are already squabbling over the involvement of party leaders, a debate that reached a climax last week when Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s preferred candidate in Maine, Gov. Janet Mills, suspended her campaign. Mills made way for veteran and oyster farmer Graham Platner, a progressive favorite, despite leadership concerns about his history of inflammatory online posts and a tattoo linked to Nazi imagery that he has had covered up.

“Somehow, Washington DC still hasn’t realized that in Maine we make our own decisions about who represents us,” said Jordan Wood, whose primary opponent, state Sen. Joe Baldacci, won the DCCC’s backing for an open seat in Maine’s 2nd District. Wood added that the primary will be decided by Maine residents and not a “broken and corrupt political establishment.”

In California’s 22nd Congressional District, where Republican Rep. David Valadao is seeking reelection, the DCCC backed moderate state Assemblymember Jasmeet Bains over Randy Villegas, a political newcomer. Villegas has raised more money than Bains and earned endorsements from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and other high-profile progressives.

“It is undemocratic to see DC elites putting their thumb on the scale in this race,” Villegas said in a statement.

The DCCC’s decision to get involved in California’s 22nd District proved especially controversial Monday. Villegas has emerged as a favorite of national progressive groups, and one of them, the Working Families Party, said in a statement that Democratic leaders had “hit the panic button” by signaling support for Bains.

In another notable intervention, the DCCC boosted former TV journalist Marlene Galán-Woods in Arizona’s 1st Congressional District, where there is an open seat. Her opponents include Amish Shah, a doctor who beat her in the 2024 primary for the seat and went on to lose the general election by 4 percentage points.

Asked about the criticism, a DCCC spokesperson pointed to an earlier statement from its chairwoman, Rep. Suzan DelBene of Washington state.

“These candidates will win because they are authentic, independent-minded leaders who are rooted in their communities, demonstrating they have what it takes to win and fight to make life more affordable for hardworking families,” DelBene said.

Republicans reveled in the fresh drama among Democrats.

“Their disastrous primaries have turned into a far-left free-for-all, and national Democrats stepping in will only deepen the chaos and alienate their far-left base,” Mike Marinella, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, said in a statement.

WATCH: Walz deputy lambasts Laken Riley Act in bid to keep Minnesota Senate seat blue

May 4, 2026 2:05pm EDT / Fox News

Flanagan is trailing Rep Angie Craig in the latest polling for the Democratic senatorial primary in Minnesota

By Charles Creitz

Walz deputy slams Laken Riley Act

Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan assailed the Laken Riley Act during a Stop Oligarchy Tour rally headlined by Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

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3 min

Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, second-in-command to Gov. Tim Walz in Minnesota, flamed the Laken Riley Act before a cheering crowd at a “Stop Oligarchy” rally headlined by socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., over the weekend.

Flanagan, who is trailing behind Rep. Angie Craig in the latest RealClearPolitics polling average for the Democratic senatorial primary, is seeking to succeed retiring Sen. Tina Smith, who also reportedly endorsed her at the Rochester rally.

Flanagan name-dropped Alex Pretti and Renee Good, two anti-ICE activists shot and killed in law enforcement-involved shootings earlier this year, as the Land of 10,000 Lakes descended into anti-immigration enforcement chaos.

“We’ve got to zoom out for a second and we have to talk about how we got here, because this also wasn’t an accident. Donald Trump ran on an agenda where we knew that ICE would be more powerful,” Flanagan said.

WALZ DEPUTY ERUPTS AT ICE AND FELLOW DEM, TORCHES LAKEN RILEY ACT IN FIERY TWEETSTORM AS SCANDALS PILE UP

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6388289984112

“This didn’t just sneak up on us. It wasn’t in the fine print. There were literally gigantic signs that said, mass deportees now. It was not a secret. And the very first vote in the second Trump administration that he brought forward was for the Laken Riley Act.”

Flanagan slammed the law, sponsored by Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., as a vessel to strip due process from immigrants and allow for indefinite detention of adults and children.

“It was the green light to give ICE unprecedented power to totally terrorize our communities,” Flanagan went on.

TIM WALZ COMPARES MINNESOTA ICE ACTIONS TO HOLOCAUST AND ANNE FRANK: ‘HIDING IN THEIR HOUSES’

She added that she sees a “straight line” from the Laken Riley Act vote in Congress to unrest in communities like Minneapolis; praising Smith and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., for voting against it.

She criticized Craig for being the only Minnesota Democrat in either chamber to vote for the Laken Riley Act, while Craig said just last week that she now regrets her vote for the law.

Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan speaks during a press conference in St. Paul, Minn., on June 25, 2022, joined by Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Sen. Tina Smith, Gov. Tim Walz, and Planned Parenthood North Central States CEO Sarah Stoesz following the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade.(Photo by Aaron Lavinsky/Star Tribune via Getty Images)

Writing in the Minnesota Star Tribune, Craig said she cast her vote at a time she felt her constituents — in the suburbs of Minneapolis and Mankato — largely agreed the Biden administration had “fumbled the immigration issue.”

DEMOCRAT IN KEY SENATE PRIMARY SAYS SHE ‘REGRETS’ VOTE ON LAKEN RILEY ACT, DRAWS GOP BACKLASH

But, Craig added that she believes Trump is going beyond the scope of law to carry out “sweeping immigration raids that have terrorized Minnesotans” and therefore regrets her vote.

At the “Stop Oligarchy” rally, Sanders and Flanagan were joined by Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, another key figure in the Minneapolis unrest.

The winner of the Flanagan-Craig bout will face the Republican nominee, as the GOP primary features former Houston Rockets forward Royce White and former NBC Sunday Night Football reporter Michele Tafoya.

Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan speaks at the United Center on the first day of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Ill., on Aug. 19, 2024.(Mike Segar/Reuters)

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While Walz chose Flanagan as his running mate, several outlets including the Minnesota Reformer have reported on an alleged rift between the two stemming back to the aftermath of the governor’s failed vice presidential bid — which that outlet noted prevented Flanagan from rising to the governorship through the line of succession.

Fox News Digital reached out to Flanagan for additional comment and to Walz for any response to his deputy’s remarks.

Charles Creitz is a reporter for Fox News Digital.

He joined Fox News in 2013 as a writer and production assistant.

Charles covers media, politics and culture for Fox News Digital.

Charles is a Pennsylvania native and graduated from Temple University with a B.A. in Broadcast Journalism. Story tips can be sent to charles.creitz@fox.com.

What the battle for Congress looks like six months before Election Day | CNN Politics

2026-05-04T17:32:34.750Z / CNN

What the battle for Congress looks like six months before Election Day

By Dana Bash, CNN

Published 1:32 PM EDT, Mon May 4, 2026

What the battle for Congress looks like six months before Election Day

Inside Politics

CNN’s Dana Bash and the “Inside Politics” panel analyze the political landscape with six months until the midterm elections. Manu Raju tells Bash about Republicans, “There is a big fear about Trump sinking their chances… The one thing that they are hopeful of is all this fight over redistricting” will limit the number of competitive races.

6:28 • Source: CNN

https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/04/politics/video/inside-politics-midterms-six-months-away

‘It just is what it is.’ Indiana GOP leader reflects on President Trump’s vow to come after him

2026-05-04T17:38:43.010Z / CNN Politics

By Dana Bash, CNN

Published 1:38 PM EDT, Mon May 4, 2026

‘It just is what it is.’ Indiana GOP leader reflects on President Trump’s vow to come after him

Inside Politics

Seven GOP state senators in Indiana refused Trump’s demands to redistrict last year. Tomorrow, some of them could lose their jobs to Trump-backed primary challengers. State Sen. Rodric Bray led the opposition to those new congressional lines. He joins Inside Politics and says he has “no regrets.”

6:05 • Source: CNN

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How much does a Met Gala ticket cost in 2026? Here’s a look at the invite-only event.

2026-05-04T14:57:00-0400 / CBS News

By

Updated on: May 4, 2026 / 2:59 PM EDT / CBS News

“Fashion’s biggest night” is also shaping up to be one of fashion’s most expensive nights, with tickets for the Met Gala on Monday night now in the six-figure range for the first time in the event’s nearly 80-year history.

The annual event, known for showcasing extravagant, sometimes outlandish red-carpet looks by celebrity attendees, celebrates the opening of the spring exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute. The theme of this year’s event is “fashion is art,” inspired by the forthcoming “Costume Art” exhibit, which explores the “relationship between clothing and the body beneath,” according to Vogue.

The exclusive event brings together famous figures from the worlds of sports, film, music and other domains. The latest gala is being sponsored by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his wife, Lauren Sánchez Bezos, who the Met has named as honorary chairs. This year’s official co-chairs are Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman, Venus Williams and Anna Wintour.

How much do Met Gala tickets cost?

Tickets to the Met Gala are not available for public sale — you have to be invited. For those who do get an invite, tickets to the 2026 Met Gala cost $100,000 each — that’s up from $75,000 last year. A table of 10 starts at $350,000.

Some celebrities could get a free ride to the event, as fashion design houses sometimes buy a table and cover the costs for a select number of people, a former attendee previously told CBS News.

Diana Ross at the Met Gala on May 5, 2025, where the theme was “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style.” Dimitrios Kambouris

Around 400 guests are expected to attend this year’s event.

What is the money for?

The proceeds from the gala support the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute. In 2025, the event raised $31 million, according to Vogue.

The Met did not respond to a request for comment about how much Bezos and Sanchez are contributing to the event. The Amazon founder, who also owns rocket company Blue Origin and the Washington Post, has a net worth of $286 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez at the 2024 Met Gala celebrating “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion” at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 06, 2024. Kevin Mazur/MG24

Bezos’s connection to the event has sparked backlash from the activist group Everyone Hates Elon, which posted an Instagram video of its members hacking subway display cases to post anti-billionaire messages.

Who isn’t attending?

Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist who ran on a platform of making the Big Apple more affordable, and his wife, Rama Duwaji, will be noticeably absent from the 2026 Met Gala. Former NYC mayors Eric Adams, Bill de Blasio and Mike Bloomberg all attended the event during their terms.

When did the Met Gala start?

The Met Gala, which started as a midnight supper club, dates back to 1948. But elaborate themed galas didn’t come along until 25 years later, with the “The World of Balenciaga” exhibit in 1973.

Since then, the Metropolitan Museum has honored the creative work of famous designers like Karl Lagerfeld, explored the influence of medieval art through its “Heavenly Bodies” exhibit and even delved into the anti-establishment mindset — not usually an idea on display at the gala — with an event centered on the punk movement.

Edited by Alain Sherter

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/what-to-know-before-the-2026-met-gala/

Democrats eye New York redistricting after Supreme Court decision

2026-05-04 7:30 PM UTC / Reuters

By Nolan D. McCaskill

May 4, 2026 7:30 PM UTC Updated 29 mins ago

节点运行失败

U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) delivers remarks at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s National Commemoration of the Days of Remembrance at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 14, 2026. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/File Photo

• Supreme Court ruling expected to spur partisan gerrymandering nationwide
• Republican-led states plan favorable maps; Democrats consider similar moves in New York
• New York redistricting would require voter and ​legislature approval

WASHINGTON, May 4 (Reuters) – The top Democrat in the ‌U.S. House of Representatives said on Monday he would press his home state of New York to redraw its congressional districts to yield more seats for his party, in response to ​a similar effort by Republicans elsewhere.

The announcement by House Democratic Leader Hakeem ​Jeffries indicated that a Supreme Court decision last week is likely to ⁠usher in a new era of nakedly partisan gerrymandering across the United States, as ​both parties press for advantages ahead of the November elections, in which control ​of Congress is at stake.

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Republican governors of Alabama, South Carolina, Tennessee and Louisiana have said they will try to push through maps more favorable to their party following the Supreme Court decision, which ​made it more difficult to challenge electoral maps as racially discriminatory under a ​landmark voting-rights law.

Jeffries said a fellow House Democrat, Joe Morelle, would meet with New York ‌state lawmakers ⁠on Tuesday to discuss a possible redistricting in that state as well.

Democrats hold 19 of the state’s 26 congressional seats. But a map would have to be approved by voters as well as the state legislature, which means it wouldn’t ​be in effect until ​the 2028 cycle ⁠at the earliest.

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“This is just the beginning,” Jeffries said in a statement. “Across the nation, we will sue, we will redraw ​and we will win. House Democrats will not allow a ​MAGA majority ⁠to be built on rigged maps and the dilution of Black voting strength.”

Ahead of the Supreme Court ruling, several Republican-led states had already redrawn their maps to maximize ⁠their partisan ​advantage, at the urging of President Donald Trump. ​Several Democratic-led states, including California and Virginia, have responded with new maps of their own.

Reporting by Nolan ​D. McCaskill; additional reporting by Joseph Ax; editing by Andy Sullivan and Alistair Bell

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

2 dead after driver plows into people in Leipzig, Germany

May 4, 2026 / 2:04 PM EDT / CBS/AP

A driver plowed into people in the center of the German city of Leipzig on Monday, killing two, police said.

Another two people were seriously injured and taken to hospitals, said Axel Schuh, the city’s fire service director. About 20 additional people were “affected,” he said, without offering details.

The incident happened in the Grimmaische Strasse, a street that leads into central Leipzig’s shopping area.

Mayor Burkhard Jung said police caught the suspect and that “it is under control.” The driver stopped the car himself and was in the vehicle at the time he was detained, according to police spokesperson Susanne Lübcke.

The suspect is a 33-year-old man and is a German citizen, police said. Authorities believe it was likely an isolated incident.

Authorities didn’t know of a motive, according to Jung.

Leipzig is located southwest of Berlin and has more than 630,000 inhabitants, making it one of the biggest cities in eastern Germany.

Rescue workers stand next to a damaged car that has crashed into several people in Leipzig, Germany, May 4, 2026. Sebastian Willnow/dpa via AP

Few other details were immediately available. Police said they would provide updates.

Trump keeps saying the quiet part out loud on changes to the 2026 election

May 4, 2026, 1:16 PM ET / CNN Politics

Analysis by Aaron Blake

President Donald Trump steps off Air Force One at Palm Beach International Airport on May 1 in Palm Beach, Florida.

Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images

President Donald Trump doesn’t need any invitation — or any evidence, really — to claim that an election is “rigged,” as he’s done many times over the last 11 years.

But just imagine for a second that, when his foes did something that Trump claimed amounted to rigging an election, they announced it by saying, “This is going to help us win elections!”

Because that’s what the president has now done, over and over again.

As he’s pushed a number of executive and legislative actions in recent months — from nixing the Senate filibuster, to requiring voter ID and proof of citizenship, to eliminating mail ballots — he’s repeatedly pitched them as ideas that will help Republicans win the 2026 midterm elections.

Related article Voters fill out ballots at a polling station in New York on November 5, 2024. Leonardo Munoz/AFP/Getty Images/File Trump and GOP push for aggressive voter roll purges up until Election Day, testing precedent 6 min read

And this brutalist political strategy is getting less subtle.

Trump’s latest missive came on Sunday, after the Supreme Court ruled last week that Louisiana’s congressional map is an unconstitutional gerrymander and further chipped away at the Voting Rights Act, potentially allowing Republicans to redraw maps in the South a lot more favorably for them. That could tilt the US House map toward the GOP for years to come.

Trump urged his side to act post-haste.

He called on states — even those that have already begun voting — to quickly change their maps for the 2026 election to supposedly comply with the Supreme Court ruling.

“That is more important than administrative convenience,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “The byproduct is that the Republicans will receive more than 20 House Seats in the upcoming Midterms!”

In this November 2024 photo, people arrive to vote at a polling station at St. David’s Baptist Church in the 9th Ward area of New Orleans.

SAandy Huffaker/AFP/Getty Images

The first thing to note is that what he’s pitching was not demanded by the Supreme Court. While its ruling further diminished the Voting Rights Act, it applies only to Louisiana’s map. It will take time to figure out how it might apply to other states. And it’s not at all clear how it would be legal for states to invalidate votes that have already been cast.

Trump’s is an extreme proposal, to say the least.

But it’s hardly the first time he has pitched such a desperate ploy by invoking midterm gains for the GOP. At a conference of Republican lawmakers in March, Trump told his party that passing his much-prized “SAVE America Act” — which would force people to show proof of citizenship to register to vote, among other changes — would “guarantee the midterms.”

Trump qualified that by saying, “I’m not doing it for this reason at all.”

And yet he keeps mentioning that reason.

In a late February speech in Georgia, he said that his voting changes would mean, “We’ll never lose a race. For 50 years, we won’t lose a race.”

Earlier that month, he told podcaster and former top FBI official Dan Bongino that Republicans should take over voting in specific jurisdictions.

“The Republicans should say — we should take over the voting in at least 15 places,” Trump said. “The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting.” His comments came less than a week after the FBI had searched an elections office in Fulton County, Georgia.

But notice that Trump didn’t say the federal government should take over the voting, but specifically that Republicans should do it. While the White House argued he’d been referring to the need for a national voter ID requirement, Trump later told reporters that “a state is an agent for the federal government” and that the GOP lawmakers standing behind him in the Oval Office “should do something about it” if a state “can’t run an election.”

In November, Trump said at a meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán that Republicans should eliminate the filibuster.

“And if we do it, we will never lose the midterms, and we will never lose the general election, because we will have produced so many different things for our people, for the people, for the country, that it would be impossible to lose an election,” he said.

And long before the Louisiana ruling, Trump bluntly pitched his mid-decade gerrymandering push as being about helping Republicans win elections.

He told CNBC at one point that in Texas, “We are entitled to five more seats.”

After the Texas map passed, he told Republicans that if they gerrymandered more GOP-leaning seats in other states and eliminated mail-in voting and paper ballots, it would erase Democrats’ chances.

State Representative Matt Morgan holds a map of the new proposed congressional districts in Texas during a legislative session in Austin, Texas, on August 20, 2025.

Sergio Flores/Reuters

“If we do these TWO things, we will pick up 100 more seats, and the CROOKED game of politics is over,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Both parties gerrymander for political benefit. But generally speaking, lawmakers don’t pitch it as being expressly about that. Trump, though, has shown no compunction about discussing new maps in raw political terms.

And to be clear, what he’s proposing — on gerrymandering, at least — isn’t a matter of fairness; it’s about tilting the House landscape in the GOP’s favor.

While gerrymandering has reduced the number of competitive US House districts, the maps in use have at least produced results that closely reflect the national popular vote. Over the last four elections, both parties have won shares of House seats that have been commensurate with their shares of the national two-party vote.

The mid-decade gerrymandering push didn’t exactly pan out how Trump and GOP leaders had envisioned, given Democrats’ success in fighting back. But now Trump wants to press the advantage in another way after the Supreme Court ruling.

His latest idea is an extremely desperate partisan power grab that would invalidate votes already cast.

But whatever it takes to win an election, it seems.

Schumer, Dems launch ‘free and fair’ elections task force as Trump’s SAVE America Act stumbles

May 4, 2026 12:47pm EDT / Fox News

The task force will seek out ‘election threats,’ including DOJ and DHS actions and militarization of law enforcement at polls

By Alex Miller, Fox News

Fight continues over voter ID laws as Trump ramps up pressure to pass SAVE Act
Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy discusses President Donald Trump’s push to pass the SAVE America Act on ‘Sunday Night in America.’

NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

Senate Democrats are launching a “free and fair” elections task force as Republicans struggle to move forward on voter ID and citizenship verification legislation.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and his caucus are set to join forces with the likes of former Attorney General Eric Holder, Marc Elias and others for the unit. Its creation came the same day as the Supreme Court’s Voting Rights Act ruling last week.

That decision will likely supercharge the redistricting arms race already underway in states across the country. The task force’s creation also comes as Republicans have failed to advance the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act.

‘NEW DEMOCRAT PARTY’: SENATE GOP SOUNDS OFF ON ‘EXTREME’ GRAHAM PLATNER AS SENATE RACE IN MAINE HEATS UP

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer speaks during a rally against the SAVE America Act outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on March 18, 2026.(Nathan Posner/Anadolu)

“Donald Trump and the Republicans realize that if the election were held fairly, that the likelihood is that they would lose, and we would win, that we would take back the House, take back the Senate,” Schumer said.

“So they are doing all kinds of nefarious things, some of them legal, some of them not so legal, to try and overturn a fair result in an election,” he continued.

Schumer described the task force’s mission as seeking out “election threats,” including actions at the administrative level by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS), attacks on the First Amendment, foreign threats and militarization of law enforcement at the polls.

REPUBLICANS FAIL TO ATTACH SAVE AMERICA ACT TO PARTY-LINE FUNDING PACKAGE

President Donald Trump is seen during an event in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington on April 23, 2026.(Associated Press)

Its inception is in response to what Democrats say is a “comprehensive effort” by President Donald Trump and his administration to undermine the upcoming election.

White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told Fox News Digital in a statement that Trump is “committed to ensuring that Americans have full confidence in the administration of elections, and that includes totally accurate and up-to-date voter rolls free of errors and unlawfully registered non-citizen voters.”

“The Civil Rights Act, National Voting Rights Act and Help America Vote Act all give the Department of Justice full authority to ensure states comply with federal election laws, which mandate accurate state voter rolls,” Jackson said.”This campaign pledge from the President is why millions of Americans sent him back to the White House.”

“The President has also urged Congress to pass the SAVE America Act and other legislative proposals that would establish a uniform standard of photo ID for voting, prohibit no-excuse mail-in voting, and end the practice of ballot harvesting. Noncitizens voting is a crime,” she continued. “Anyone breaking the law will be held accountable.”

Trump has strongly pushed Republicans to pass the SAVE America Act, which would create federal voter ID laws, require proof of citizenship to register to vote and share information on voter rolls with DHS. Democrats say the legislation would disenfranchise millions of Americans.

“Not passing the SAVE AMERICA ACT will lead to the worst results for a political party in the HISTORY of the United States Senate,” Trump said on Truth Social. “An Unrecoverable Death Wish!!! Likewise, the FILIBUSTER – TERMINATE IT NOW!!!”

SENATE GOP RAMS THROUGH BLUEPRINT TO BANKROLL ICE, BORDER PATROL THROUGH END OF TRUMP ERA

Voting booths are set up during a primary election.(iStock)

But Republicans aren’t unified behind the legislation. The SAVE America Act, or a version of it pushed by Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., failed last month when four Republicans joined Democrats to kill it.

He has also called on Republicans to nationalize elections, and DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin didn’t rule out sending federal immigration agents to polling places in the fall during his confirmation hearing earlier this year.

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It’s part of what Democrats charge is a concerted effort to tip the scales in the upcoming elections.

“Donald Trump doesn’t think he did too much in 2020 to steal the election,” Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said. “He thinks he did too little. And so that’s why you are seeing, already, a comprehensive effort to try to rig and steal the fall election.”

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

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6390997291112

Kentucky Derby-winning trainer Cherie DeVaux hopes more women will succeed in horse racing after historic win

May 4, 2026 / 12:40 PM EDT / CBS News

Cherie DeVaux reflected on her place in history over the weekend after becoming the first woman to train a Kentucky Derby winner with Golden Tempo’s come-from-behind victory at the Run for the Roses.

“I’ve always just said I’m a horse trainer that happens to be female,” DeVaux told CBS News on Monday.

Only 17 other women have trained horses who ran in the Derby, most recently in 2021. Now that one has made it to the winner’s circle, DeVaux hopes more will follow.

“It’s an honor, honestly, to just be that person that other women, young girls can look up to,” DeVaux said. “You know, we are underrepresented in the industry, and I’m not sure why, but hopefully that changes.”

Golden Tempo’s trainer Cherie DeVaux kisses the trophy after the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs, May 2, 2026, in Louisville, Kentucky. Matt Stone/USA Today Network via Imagn Images

DeVaux wasn’t always on a path that headed toward the winner’s circle at Churchill Downs, the Derby’s home. In college, she was pre-med and studied to become a physical therapist.

“I wanted to have a life that afforded horses ’cause they’re not cheap,” DeVaux said.

She said she’s ridden horses all her life, and eventually her career shifted to exercising and training horses.

“This kind of just happened, this wasn’t a linear journey,” she said.

She made the jump to training horses on her own eight years ago after meeting her husband.

“The first three years were really slow to get started, kind of like Golden Tempo,” DeVaux said, referring to the bay colt being in last place early on in the Derby before surging towards the finish line.

With the next leg of horse racing’s Triple Crown coming up with the Preakness on May 16, the Derby winner’s trainer said there’s only one vote that matters on whether Golden Tempo will enter the race.

“It’s up to him,” she said.

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/cherie-devaux-on-making-history-with-golden-tempos-kentucky-derby-win/