Sen. Tina Smith of Minnesota announced Thursday she won't seek re-election in 2026, forcing the Democratic Party to defend another open seat in next year's midterms and making more difficult their goal of regaining the Senate majority.

"I’ve decided not to run for re-election to the Senate in 2026," Smith said in a social media post. "This job has been the honor of a lifetime. For the rest of my term, I’ll work as hard as I can for Minnesotans and our country. Thank you so much, Minnesota."

Smith was appointed to the Senate in 2018 to succeed former Sen. Al Franken after his resignation over sexual misconduct allegations. She won a special election later that year to serve out Franken's term and was re-elected in 2020 to a full six-year term.

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Senate Republicans vowed to try and flip Smith's seat in blue-leaning Minnesota.

"Minnesota is in play, and we play to win. Minnesotans deserve a senator who will fight for lower taxes, economic opportunity and safer communities," National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) Chair Sen. Tim Scott said in a statement to Fox News. 

But the Senate Democrats' campaign arm quickly pledged to keep the seat in party hands.

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"No Republican has won a Minnesota Senate race in over 20 years, and Democrats will continue to hold this seat in 2026," Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) spokesperson David Bergstein emphasized in a statement to Fox News.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, the top Democrat in the chamber, praised Smith as "a remarkable senator — smart, compassionate, and tireless in her commitment to Minnesota and the country."

"While I will deeply miss her leadership and friendship in the Senate, I have no doubt that her legacy of service will continue to inspire. We have a strong bench in Minnesota, and I’m confident that we’ll keep her seat blue," Schumer predicted.

Smith became the second Democrat in the Senate to announce she would forgo running for re-election in the midterms, following Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan, a key Midwestern battleground state.

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Senate Republicans enjoyed a favorable map in the 2024 cycle as they flipped four seats from blue to red and won a 53-47 majority in the chamber.

The party in power - which is clearly the Republicans right now - traditionally faces political headwinds in the midterm elections. And while an early read of the 2026 map shows the GOP will be forced to play defense in some states, they'll also go on offense in others.

Besides the open seat in Michigan, the GOP will target first-term Sen. Jon Ossoff in battleground Georgia and longtime Sen. Jeanne Shaheen in swing state New Hampshire.

Now the Democrats will have to pay attention to Minnesota, which the Cook Report, a top nonpartisan political handicapper, this week rated as "Likely Democrat," as it unveiled its first read on the battle for the Senate majority in the 2026 cycle.

However, Democrats aim to go on offense in blue-leaning Maine, where GOP Sen. Susan Collins is up for re-election, as well as in battleground North Carolina, where Republican Sen. Thom Tillis is also up in 2026.

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Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who served as Vice President Kamala Harris' running mate on the Democrats' 2024 national ticket, took to social media soon after Smith's news.

"Tina has always done the work to improve people’s lives: lowering the price of insulin, improving access to mental health services, passing historic climate legislation, and our party’s champion for reproductive freedom. Minnesotans will miss having her in the Senate," Walz wrote.

There is speculation Walz, who is eligible to run for re-election in 2026 for a third four-year term as Minnesota governor, may now have an interest in his state's open Senate seat.

Smith, in a video announcement she posted on social media, noted that Democrats "have a deep bench of political talent in Minnesota. A group of leaders that are more than ready to pick up the work and carry it forward. And I'm excited to make room for them to move forward."

Lt. Gov Peggy Flanagan moved toward launching a campaign, saying in a social media post, "I love Minnesota, and my intention is to run for United States Senate and continue to serve the people of this state. I’ll make a formal announcement later this month."

There's also speculation that Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, a member of the so-called Squad, may make a move to run for the Senate.

Fox News' Julia Johnson and Chad Pergram contributed to this report

Rep. John Larson, D-Conn., said in a statement on Tuesday that a complex partial seizure was ruled as the cause of the episode where he paused during a House floor speech on Monday.

While delivering his speech, the long-serving lawmaker abruptly stopped speaking for several seconds, before uttering a few words and then proceeding to stand silently for around 14 seconds. 

When he resumed speaking, his remarks were halting and punctuated with awkward pauses.

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After the incident occurred on Monday, Larson's office indicated in a statement that "he had what was likely an adverse reaction to a new medication and is having tests administered by the House Attending Physician out of an abundance of caution." The statement indicated that the lawmaker "later participated in multiple meetings in his office and was alert and engaged."

Then Larson's statement on Tuesday indicated that a complex partial seizure was ruled as the cause of the incident.

"Yesterday, at around noon, I experienced a medical incident on the House floor, when my speech momentarily paused. Following the incident, I saw the House Attending Physician, Dr. Monahan, who referred me for further evaluation. After a round of tests, it was determined that the cause of the brief pause in my speech was a complex partial seizure," the congressman explained.

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The 76-year-old lawmaker has been a House member for more than a quarter-century — he took office in 1999.

"Fifteen years ago, I had a heart valve replacement due to a variation in the shape of my aortic valve that I was born with. Sometimes, people with this condition can later develop symptoms such as the momentary change in speech or movement that was apparent yesterday," Larson continued. 

"The doctors have prescribed medication that, according to them, will greatly reduce the chance of this happening again. I will be able to resume an active schedule, including my duties as a Member of Congress, beginning tomorrow, when I plan to be present and voting on the House floor," he noted. 

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"I am grateful to Dr. Monahan and the staff, and I extend my deepest appreciation to my family, friends, colleagues, constituents, and everyone who reached out with their well wishes and offers of support. I am looking forward to getting back to work for the people of Connecticut’s First District." 

Sparks are expected to fly at Congress’ first Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) subcommittee meeting Wednesday, according to one Democratic lawmaker in the House of Representatives.

Democrats have blasted billionaire Elon Musk, who President Donald Trump tapped to lead DOGE, over the past week for trying to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse in federal spending and trim the more than 2-million-person federal workforce.

Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, told Axios that she plans to use the hearing to "clarify for the American people" why DOGE’s actions are "illegal" and why "Elon Musk has no official role to do this." 

"I think it's going to be a sh--show. I don't really anticipate anything productive coming out of this," Crockett said. "I don't anticipate that it's going to be nice. I anticipate full-on combat, because DOGE is clearly the devil right now."

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DOGE subcommittee chair Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., told the outlet she has "high hopes" that Republicans and Democrats will engage productively during the hearing, which she said will focus on "Medicaid improper payments."

"We're going to be talking about solutions, there are going to be big savings," she said, adding that she feels the issue is bipartisan.

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On Tuesday, Musk appeared with Trump in the Oval Office as the president prepared to sign an executive order concerning the billionaire’s work leading DOGE.

Musk, in some of his first public comments on leading DOGE, told reporters that there are some good people in the federal bureaucracy, but that they need to be accountable, and the budget deficit needs to be addressed.

He also pushed back against critics who have accused him of mounting a hostile takeover of the government, saying he wants to add "common-sense controls" to federal spending and that cutting government waste is not "draconian."

"The people voted for major government reform, and that’s what the people are going to get," Musk said. "That’s what democracy is all about."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Democrats face "few opportunities" to win back the Senate majority in next year's midterm elections, a top non-partisan political handicapper predicts.

While the Republicans are defending seats in 22 states in 2026 compared to just 13 for the Democrats, the Cook Report's first Senate ratings of the new election cycle point to a tough road ahead for the Democrats as they aim to recapture control of the chamber.

Senate Republicans enjoyed a very favorable map in the 2024 cycle as they flipped four seats from blue to red and stormed to a 53-47 majority in the new Congress, to go along with President Donald Trump's recapturing of the White House and the GOP's successful defense of their razor-thin House majority.

Cook Report Senate and governors editor Jessica Taylor, looking to new Senate battle, suggests that "the challenge for Democrats to net the four seats necessary to win back the majority looks herculean."

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The Cook Report rates two seats as toss-ups, and both are controlled by the Democrats.

They are in the battlegrounds of Michigan - where Democrat Sen. Gary Peters announced two weeks ago that he wouldn't seek re-election in 2026 - and Georgia - where Democrat Sen. Jon Ossoff faces a rough road to securing a second six-year term in the Senate.

Trump flipped Michigan in last November's election, while then-Rep. Elissa Slotkin narrowly edged Republican former Rep. Mike Rogers in the race to succeed longtime fellow Democrat Sen. Debbie Stabenow. Rogers is now seriously mulling a second straight bid for the Senate.

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In Georgia, which Trump also flipped after losing the state in his 2020 election loss to former President Biden, the Cook Report calls Ossoff "the most endangered incumbent overall."

State and national Republicans are urging popular Republican Gov. Brian Kemp - who is term-limited in 2026 - to challenge Ossoff.

The Cook Report rates the key New England swing state of New Hampshire as Lean Democrat. 

Longtime Democrat Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a former governor, has yet to announce if she'll seek another term in office. And while plugged in Democrats in the Granite State have told Fox News the past couple of months that they expected the now-78-year-old Shaheen to run for re-election, her recently announced sparse fundraising for the fourth quarter of last year took many politicos by surprise.

Former Republican Sen. Scott Brown, who served as ambassador to New Zealand during Trump's first term in the White House, is making moves towards launching a second run for the Senate in New Hampshire, a dozen years after narrowly losing to Shaheen.

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While no Republican held Senate seats are listed as toss-ups, two are rated by the Cook Report as Lean Republican.

They are Maine, where moderate GOP Sen. Susan Collins is running for re-election in a state Trump lost last November, and North Carolina, where Republican Sen. Thom Tillis is seeking another term in a state Trump narrowly carried last year.

While Cook lists both races as Lean Republican, Taylor notes that "the rating could change if Democrats recruit strong candidates."

Those Democratic candidates could possibly be former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, who finished his second term earlier this year, and Maine Gov. Janet Mills, who's term-limited in 2026.

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When it comes to potentially competitive races, the Cook Report rates Ohio as Likely Republican. GOP Gov. Mike DeWine last month named Lt. Jon Husted to fill the seat previously held by now-Vice President JD Vance. Husted is now running in 2026 to fill the final two years of Vance's term.

Once a key battleground state, Ohio has shifted to deep red in recent election cycles and its unclear if former longtime Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, who lost his re-election last year, will make another bid in 2026.

Cook also lists Minnesota - where Democrat Sen. Tina Smith is up for re-election next year - as a likely Democrat.

Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, the chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said last November that he'd "like to see 55," when asked in a Fox News Digital interview about how many seats he was aiming for in the 2026 midterms.

And this past weekend at the Senate GOP campaign committee's winter meeting, Scott reiterated that "we believe we can get to 55 or maybe even stretch for 56," according to sources attending the confab in Palm Beach, Florida.

The party in power - which this cycle is clearly the Republicans - traditionally faces electoral headwinds in the midterm elections.

But Taylor, pointing to recent polling, notes that the Democrats' "party brand is… deeply unpopular."

"Even if Democrats were able to defend every incumbent and open seat on their side and flip both those states, it would leave them two short of an outright majority. Additional targets are hard to find," Taylor emphasized.

House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., sent House Democrats a letter Monday announcing the formation of a rapid response team and litigation group to "push back against the far-right extremism" since President Donald Trump took office. 

In the "Dear Colleague" letter, Jeffries wrote, "I write with respect to our ongoing effort to push back against the far-right extremism that is being relentlessly unleashed on the American people."

Jeffries characterized the political landscape as "a multifaceted struggle to protect and defend everyday Americans from the harm being inflicted by this administration."

The letter states House Democrats have as a result officially established a Rapid Response Task Force and Litigation Working Group chaired by Colorado Democratic Rep. Joe Neguse. 

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Jeffries said that Democrats would continue to be "committed to driving down the high cost of living for everyday Americans." He criticized House Republicans for continuing to "launch far-right attacks on Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, public safety and the education of our children," saying the American people were "counting" on Democrats to stop them. 

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House, Jeffries' office and Neguse's office for comment but did not immediately hear back. 

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Jeffries responded to a Fox News inquiry about the task force, saying, "It's been an ongoing effort to push back against far-right extremism."

Jeffries told Fox that "not a single thing that [Republicans have] actually done is a matter of law right now" and said such actions suggest Republicans are "in disarray."

Jeffries, along with House Democrat colleagues, have unveiled efforts to resist the president's agenda since Trump took office in mid-January. 

Just last week, House Democrats announced legislation that seeks to secure the personal data of Americans amid the Department of Government Efficiency's (DOGE) spending sweep.

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The legislation, titled the Taxpayer Data Protection Act, was revealed Thursday to "shield the American people from this out-of-control power grab, permanently, and make sure that the financial, personal, medical, and confidential information of the American people is protected."

Elon Musk's DOGE team has spent the last several weeks identifying "wasteful" spending within various governmental agencies. 

DOGE became the target of various lawsuits in the weeks following its establishment. A federal New York judge on Saturday ruled to block DOGE officials from accessing personal data such as social security numbers and bank account numbers. 

Trump's Justice Department railed against the order, calling it an "anti-Constitutional" ruling. 

Vice President JD Vance also called the ruling unconstitutional on X, saying it was an example of judicial overreach.

"If a judge tried to tell a general how to conduct a military operation, that would be illegal. If a judge tried to command the attorney general in how to use her discretion as a prosecutor, that’s also illegal. Judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power," Vance wrote Sunday.

Fox News' Kelly Phares, Tyler Olson, Aubrie Spady, and Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report. 

Rep. John Larson, D-Ct., appeared to freeze mid-remarks on the House floor on Monday. In the middle of impassioned remarks aimed against President Donald Trump and his team, including Elon Musk, Larson took a long pause and when he resumed speaking his speed was noticeably slower. The lawmaker was also slurring his words.

Following the incident, Larson’s D.C. office put out a statement expressing the congressman’s gratitude to those who reached out and clarifying a possible reason for the lawmaker’s long pause.

"Congressman Larson appreciates the well wishes from everyone who has reached out. This afternoon, he had what was likely an adverse reaction to a new medication and is having tests administered by the House Attending Physician out of an abundance of caution," Larson’s office wrote in a statement.

 "He later participated in multiple meetings in his office and was alert and engaged. The Congressman remains in touch with his staff and in good spirits."

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The 76-year-old lawmaker’s office, however, did not provide details on what the medication was or why the congressman was purportedly taking it. Larson also reportedly skipped two House votes held on Monday night, according to Axios.

American voters have grown increasingly concerned over lawmakers’ ages. The issue of age in politics is not new, as former President Ronald Regan combated questions about his age when running for re-election in 1984. Reagan famously joked about the issue in a debate against former Vice President Walter Mondale.

"I want you to know that also I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent's youth and inexperience," Reagan joked during the debate, eliciting laughs from the audience and Mondale.

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However, the 2024 election brought age back into the spotlight as many questioned then-President Joe Biden’s cognitive abilities. When the president dropped out of the race in July 2024, some Democrats tried to flip the age question onto Trump, but this mostly fell flat.

Additionally, just days before Larson’s incident, Senator Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who will turn 83 later this month, left the Capitol in a wheelchair as a precautionary issue after falling twice.

"Senator McConnell is fine. The lingering effects of polio in his left leg will not disrupt his regular schedule of work," a spokesperson for the senator said in a statement.

FORMER GOP LEADER MCCONNELL FALLS WHILE EXITING SENATE CHAMBER AFTER TURNER CONFIRMATION VOTE

The average age of America’s lawmakers is changing, according to a report from the Pew Research Center. In January, Pew reported that the average age of voting members in the House and the median age in the Senate had dropped. The House’s median age went from 57.9 years in the 118th Congress to 57.5 years in the 119th, while the median age in the Senate went from 65.3 to 64.7 years.

Pew shows that the majority of the House in the 119th Congress is made up of Baby Boomers and Gen Xers, with the younger generation slowly outpacing the older one. Baby Boomers are no longer the largest generation in the House, now accounting for just 39% of the legislative body. Their numbers have also dropped in the Senate, despite Baby Boomers still making up a majority of the chamber.

Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., is the only Gen Z lawmaker in Congress. Members of Frost’s generation are not yet eligible to run for Senate, where the minimum age to serve is 30 years old.

House Speaker Mike Johnson poked fun at "flailing" Democrats on Sunday and vowed that the House of Representatives would be just as aggressive in pushing legislation as President Donald Trump has been with executive orders.

Johnson made the statement during an appearance on "Fox News Sunday" with host Shannon Bream. Johnson said House Republicans are working to compile the massive legislative package Trump has requested.

"We're going to secure the border, we're going to make sure that American communities are safe. We're going to get American energy dominance going again in the economy and restore common sense," Johnson said.

"But to do all that in one big bill takes a little bit of time. So we're working through that process very productively. We've been building on this for a year, Shannon. All through last year, we had our committees of jurisdiction working on the ideas to put it together," he added.

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"We were going to do a budget committee markup next week. We might push it a little bit further because the details really matter. Remember that I have the smallest margin in history, about a two vote margin currently. So I've got to make sure everyone agrees before we bring the project forward, that final product, and we've got a few more boxes to check, but we're getting very, very close," he continued.

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The budget bill process has not been without its share of in-fighting, however. Republican spending hawks are pushing leaders to include at least $2.5 trillion in spending cuts in the massive legislative package.

One GOP lawmaker said that tension bubbled up in a closed-door meeting last week with several "heated exchanges," with conservatives demanding a concrete plan and minimum spending cuts at significantly higher levels than what was initially proposed.

"I think there’s a lot of frustration right now," the lawmaker told Fox News Digital. "They’ve been trying to be inclusive, but not every open forum they’ve offered is giving members the ability to say, ‘I feel like people are listening to me,’ because I don’t know that’s the case right now."

Reps. Chip Roy, R-Texas, and Ralph Norman, R-S.C., two conservative members of the House Budget Committee, both told reporters they wanted to see the baseline for spending cuts set at roughly $2.5 trillion.

Fox News' Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.

Rep. Mary Miller, R-Ill., referred to Rep. Sarah McBride, D-Del. — who identifies as a transgender woman — as "Mr. McBride."

"The chair recognizes the gentleman from Delaware, Mr. McBride, for five minutes," Miller said in the House chamber on Thursday.

"Thank you, Madam Speaker," McBride replied, before proceeding to deliver a speech.

While McBride did not respond to Miller's comment, when Miller next recognized Rep. Nanette Barragán, D- Calif., to deliver a speech, Barragán began by saying, "Thank you, Mr. Speaker."

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Fox News Digital reached out to McBride's office to request a comment from the lawmaker on Friday — a spokesperson pointed to McBride's full floor speech, which is featured in a post on the @Rep_McBride X account. 

"This morning, I delivered my first speech on the floor of the house," the Feb. 6 tweet begins.

During the speech, the Democrat declared, "Piece by piece, department by department, the Trump administration is defunding critical federal services, purging employees, consolidating power, and cutting and gutting programs that Delawareans rely on. They are trying to decimate the federal government and sell it for parts to line the pockets of donors at the expense of working people."

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"They do not want to make government more efficient. They want to prove that government can't work, by making it not work," McBride asserted.

Miller, a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, declared in a post on X that she had "refused to deny biological reality" on the chamber floor.

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"President Trump restored biological truth in the federal government, and I refuse to perpetuate the lie that gender is open to our interpretation. It is not," the Republican added.

Democratic Rep. Al Green, the Houston, Texas, congressman who made three attempts to impeach President Donald Trump during his first term, initiated his first impeachment effort in 2025.

Green rose to address the House on Wednesday and said "ethnic cleansing in Gaza is not a joke, especially when it emanates from the President of the United States."

"And [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] should be ashamed, knowing the history of his people, to stand there and allow such things to be said."

Green went on to say his formal impeachment articles are for "dastardly deeds proposed and dastardly deeds done."

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Trump had announced Tuesday the U.S. would "take over" war-torn Gaza and allow Palestinians to relocate while it is being essentially repaired.

"I also rise to say that the impeachment movement is going to be a grass up movement, not a top down… I did it before, I laid the foundation for impeachment, and it was done. Nobody knows more about it than I," Green went on.

"And I know that it time for us to lay the foundation again. On some issues, it is better to stand alone than not stand at all on this issue. I stand alone. But I stand for justice."

Other Democrats appeared lukewarm to Green’s current bid.

"It’s not a focus of our caucus," said House Democratic Caucus Chair Peter Aguilar, D-Calif. 

Green’s previous attempts were separate from those successful impeachments forwarded by now-California Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff and others – which related to Trump’s 2019 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the 2021 Capitol riot.

One Green resolution centered on 2019 Trump tweets deriding members of the left-wing Squad, wherein the president remarked "they [should] go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came."

During a House Judiciary Committee hearing at the time of one of Green’s previous impeachment attempts, Republican staff posted a banner of the Democrat’s own words:

"I’m concerned that if we don’t impeach this president, he will get re-elected," Green had said.

Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins – then the panel’s ranking member – listed Green’s comments as one of several in remarks criticizing Democrats for trying to usurp the power of the voting booth through political maneuvering.

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"For Democrats, it has been and will always be, to paraphrase Lewis Carroll: ‘Sentence first, verdict later,’" Collins said at the time.

During the Obama administration, the late Rep. Walter Jones Jr., R-N.C., similarly repeatedly called for President Barack Obama’s impeachment over issues ranging from the use of drones to troop casualties in Syria.

Fox News Digital reached out to Green’s office and was told "it is a matter of time" when the articles would be filed.

Fox News' Chad Pergram and Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.

After Democrats lost in every swing state to President Donald Trump, some party members have been struggling with how to recapture voters, according to a recent report. 

"Twenty big cities, Aspen and Martha’s Vineyard—that’s what’s left of the Democratic Party," former congressional candidate Adam Frisch told The Wall Street Journal. "And I’m not exactly sure those 20 big cities are getting the best version of the Democratic Party."

Democrats have struggled to define a coherent message for voters after their loss to Trump, with some leaders in the party arguing that Democrats should focus on their economic messaging. 

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"I’m frustrated by the way in which we utilize identity to break ourselves apart," former Bernie Sanders' campaign advisor Faiz Shakir said. "Listen, I worked at the ACLU. I’m supportive of diversity, equity and all the rest," he said. "But we’re competing over the wrong thing when we should be joining together to fight together."

"I think the Democratic brand is hurting because people feel that you cannot, with conviction and integrity, tell me what you honestly feel about some hard issues," he said. 

The recently elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), Ken Martin, told party members that Democrats must lead the political battle to beat Trump. 

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"If it’s not us, who is it?" Martin told Democrats after winning his election for leader of the institutional Democratic Party. "Who’s going to be out there actually taking on Donald Trump? It has to be the Democratic Party. We have to get into this fight."

Martin's election is a sign that the Democratic Party leadership continues to focus its attention primarily on opposition to Trump, with Martin once having called for the president to be tried for treason. 

"We have one team, one team, the Democratic Party," Martin said following his victory. "The fight is for our values. The fight is for working people. The fight right now is against Donald Trump and the billionaires who bought this country."

Fox News' Hanna Panreck and Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report. 

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro hit back at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) on Friday, after the activist group sent a letter to the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club promising to send them a vegan "weather reveal cake" if they agreed to stop pulling Punxsutawney Phil out of his burrow for his Feb. 2 prognostication.

"Come and take it," Shapiro tweeted in response to a New York Post story on PETA's demand.

Manuel Bonder, a spokesman for Shapiro, told Fox News Digital the governor stands by his comments and said he will again make the trip to Gobbler's Knob in Jefferson County on Sunday to witness Phil's 138th meteorological prediction.

Shapiro has been on-hand for every Groundhog Day ceremony in Punxsutawney since taking office in 2023.

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PETA President Ingrid Newkirk told the Post that Phil is denied the traditional lifestyle of a groundhog "for a tired old gimmick."

Visitors to Punxsutawney year-round can visit Phil and his "wife," Phyllis, at the borough library. On this reporter's last visit to the area, the rodents had recently become proud parents to a new baby groundhog, as well.

While Groundhog Day is considered a national holiday and has even been popularized in the classic 1993 Bill Murray film of the same name, the day — and Phil himself — hold a special place in many Pennsylvanians' hearts.

In addition to the large ceremony in western PA, throughout the rest of the Commonwealth, many historically Pennsylvania German communities are home to a "Grundsau Lodsch" or Groundhog Lodge. 

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Each lodge holds an annual banquet or "Versommling" in honor of their totem – Phil – with "Lodsch Nummer Ains an de Lechau" (Lodge #1 on the Lehigh River) in Allentown hosting theirs annually on the February 2 holiday itself since 1934.

Nineteen other lodges based around the state have held "Versommlinge" for decades, as well. 

However, three — "#2, Schibbach" in Montgomery County, "#3, Temple U." in Philadelphia County and "#5, Bind Bush" in Schuylkill County — have gone defunct in recent years as the Pennsylvania German language and culture see a decline in younger generations.

A March 2024 Versommling for "Lodge #18 an de Forelle Grick" (on Trout Creek) in Slatington featured local beer on tap, a traditional Pennsylvania German supper, stories and riddles from lodge elders told in the Pennsylvania German language, and, of course, representations of Phil himself.

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Until recently, it was the custom of groundhog lodges to forbid English-speaking in favor of "Pennsilfaanisch," lest the violator toss a nickel in a donation jar on their table.

Other states' groundhogs have been less lucky than Phil, as then-New York Mayor Bill de Blasio infamously dropped Staten Island Chuck during a 2014 ceremony in West New Brighton. Chuck later died from internal injuries after appearing to land on his head.

With the importance Groundhog Day and Phil himself hold to Pennsylvania past-and-present, Bonder said Shapiro will continue to defend the groundhog and his tradition, and will be on hand for future wintertime prognostications in Punxsutawney.

FIRST ON FOX: The White House is blasting House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries after pledging to fight Republicans' agenda "in the streets."

"While President Trump remains focused on uniting our country and delivering the mandate set by the American people, the House Minority Leader, Hakeem Jeffries, incites violence calling for people to fight ‘in the streets’ against President Trump’s agenda," White House deputy press secretary Kush Desai told Fox News Digital.

"This unhinged violent rhetoric is dangerous. Leader Jeffries should immediately apologize."

Republicans are hammering Jeffries, D-N.Y., for his comments at a press conference in Brooklyn on Friday. 

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The Democratic leader appeared beside Congressional Black Caucus Chair Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., to criticize Trump's handling of the recent deadly aircraft collision in Washington, D.C., and his administration's policies freezing federal funding.

At one point, Jeffries was asked about Democratic New York City Mayor Eric Adams' lack of pushback against Trump, and whether it made him a "good fit" to lead the Big Apple.

Jeffries avoided weighing in directly on Adams, however, responding, "I'll have more to say about the future of the mayorship of the city of New York at the appropriate time."

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"Right now, we're going to keep focused on the need to look out for everyday New Yorkers and everyday Americans who are under assault by an extreme MAGA Republican agenda that is trying to cut taxes for billionaires, donors, and wealthy corporations and then stick New Yorkers and working class Americans across the country with the bill," Jeffries said.

"That's not acceptable. We are going to fight it legislatively. We are going to fight it in the courts. We're going to fight it in the streets."

When asked for clarification, Jeffries spokesperson Christie Stephenson told Fox News Digital, "The notion that Leader Jeffries supports violence is laughable. Republicans are the party that pardons violent felons who assault police officers. Democrats are the party of John Lewis and the right to petition the government peacefully."

She posted similar comments on X, where she signaled the comments were referring to "nonviolent protest."

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But GOP lawmakers immediately called on Jeffries to apologize, accusing him of using inflammatory language in an already-tense political environment.

"House Minority Leader [Jeffries] should promptly apologize for his use of inflammatory and extreme rhetoric. President Trump and the Republicans are focused on uniting the country; Jeffries needs to stop trying to divide it," House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., wrote on X.

Rep. Randy Feenstra, R-Iowa, did not mention Jeffries but said Americans were emphatically behind Trump's agenda.

"More than 77 million Americans — including patriotic Iowans I’m proud to represent — sent a clear mandate by electing President Trump and Republican majorities to Congress. They want secure borders, a strong economy, energy dominance, and safe communities," Feenstra told Fox News Digital.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., is being criticized by Republicans after pledging Democrats would fight President Donald Trump's agenda "in the streets."

"Right now, we're going to keep focus on the need to look out for everyday New Yorkers and everyday Americans who are under assault by an extreme MAGA Republican agenda that is trying to cut taxes for billionaires, donors, and wealthy corporations and then stick New Yorkers and working class Americans across the country with the bill," Jeffries said.

"That's not acceptable. We are going to fight it legislatively. We are going to fight it in the courts. We're going to fight it in the streets."

Republicans blasted Jeffries for his choice of words, accusing him of inflaming political tensions in an already-tense political climate.

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House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., immediately demanded that Jeffries apologize.

"House Minority Leader [Jeffries] should promptly apologize for his use of inflammatory and extreme rhetoric," Emmer wrote on X. "President Trump and the Republicans are focused on uniting the country; Jeffries needs to stop trying to divide it."

A senior White House official told Fox News, "Hakeem Jeffries must apologize for this disgraceful call to violence."

Jeffries spokesperson Christie Stephenson told Fox News Digital, "The notion that Leader Jeffries supports violence is laughable. Republicans are the party that pardons violent felons who assault police officers. Democrats are the party of John Lewis and the right to petition the government peacefully."

She also referred to the comments as promoting "nonviolent protest" on X.

KASH PATEL HAMMERS ‘GROTESQUE MISCHARACTERIZATIONS’ FROM DEMS AMID FIERY FBI CONFIRMATION HEARING

The House Democratic leader was holding a press conference in Brooklyn on Friday aimed at criticizing Trump’s federal funding freeze and his handling of the tragic aircraft collision in Washington, D.C., earlier this week.

Jeffries credited Democrats with stopping the Trump administration’s federal funding freeze.

"As was demonstrated this week, House Democrats, Senate Democrats, Democratic governors, and everyday Americans all across the country rose up in defiance as it relates to the illegal, unlawful, and extreme federal funding freeze that is part of the Republican rip-off agenda," Jeffries said. "We fought it, we stopped it, and we will never surrender."

The Trump administration’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued an order earlier this week pausing most federal funding while directing agencies to conduct thorough reviews of where taxpayer dollars are being spent.

The White House later clarified the memo to mean funding going toward progressive causes that Trump had explicitly blocked through executive orders. 

Nevertheless, it was still blocked by a federal judge, and hours later, the memo was rescinded.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the OMB memo was rescinded in light of the court order but clarified that funding blocks set up by Trump’s executive orders were still in effect.

Former colleagues of disgraced ex-Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., spoke about how the former senator betrayed his country and his own legacy, published in a report by The New York Times on Wednesday.

A judge sentenced Menendez to 11 years in prison on Wednesday, concluding his trial for a "long-running bribery and foreign influence scheme of rare gravity."

The sentence is the harshest ever handed down to a U.S. senator. Breaking down in tears, Menendez pleaded with U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein for mercy in a New York City courtroom. 

DEMOCRATIC SEN. BOB MENENDEZ GUILTY ON ALL CHARGES IN FEDERAL CORRUPTION TRIAL

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie gave a bleak retrospective of how the former N.J. senator will be remembered.

"At a time when our expectations continue to get lower and lower for people in public life, the thing Bob Menendez is going to be remembered for is lowering those standards even further," Christie told The Times, adding, "That’s a hell of an epitaph."

Christie went on to describe how Menendez broke the sacred trust between the public and their elected officials, ignoring an important trade-off required of politicians.

"When you’re in public office, you make a trade: You get influence in return for not getting money," said Christie. "If you believe that you can have influence and money as a public official at the same time, you’re probably going to go to jail."

The former N.J. governor believed that "Bob Menendez just concluded he could have both," adding, "And you can’t."

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Former Senator Robert Torricelli, D-N.J., who faced an ethics scandal of his own while in office, had a similar message on Menendez's betrayal of his country.

"I don’t think these can be judged as only part of a pattern of inappropriate conduct or even corruption," Torricelli said. "There was an element here of betrayal to the country and an action contrary to national interests that was almost unique in the history of the United States Congress."

Although there was no shortage of criticism from former colleagues of Menendez, some still loyal to him penned letters to Judge Stein, pleading for leniency in his sentencing. Henry J. Amoroso, a prominent lawyer and friend of Menendez, recalled a time when the former senator showed him compassion during a dinner celebrating the lawyer's 60th birthday. Amoroso had been struggling with a debilitating shoulder injury at the time of the dinner, which made cutting his steak a taxing challenge.

"During dinner, he obviously noticed I was struggling to cut my steak and without any hesitation and without bringing attention to himself, he gently leaned over with his own knife, grabbing my fork and cutting my steak for me while remaining completely engaged in conversation," Amoroso wrote.

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Menendez's only daughter, MSNBC anchor Alicia Menendez, also wrote a letter to Judge Stein. While the letter did ask the judge to show mercy on her father, as he had already lost his place in the Senate, and even had his name removed from a local elementary school, she did address the irreparable damage already done by the senator to his own legacy, as noted by The Times.

"A legacy of service 51 years in the making has been reduced to a punchline about gold bars," she wrote.

Fox News' Anders Hagstrom and Louis Casiano contributed to this report.

Kash Patel, Trump’s nominee to lead the FBI, ripped into "false accusations and grotesque mischaracterizations" from Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee at his confirmation hearing on Thursday.

Patel, a former public defender and DOJ official, was grilled by Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., who accused Patel of having called for FBI headquarters to be shut down. That came on the back of a number of barbs coming from Democrats on the Committee.

Patel fired back with a fiery response.

SPARKS EXPECTED TO FLY AT KASH PATEL'S CONFIRMATION HEARING TO LEAD FBI

"If the best attacks on me are going to be false accusations and grotesque mischaracterizations, the only thing this body is doing is defeating the credibility of the men and women at the FBI," he said.

"I stood with them here in this country, in every theater of war we have. I was on the ground in service of this nation. And any accusations leveled against me that I would somehow put political bias before the Constitution are grotesquely unfair," he said.

He then pointed to an endorsement by over 300,000 law enforcement officers to be the next head of the bureau.

"Let's ask them," he said.

Democrats had pointed to Patel’s record and a book, "Government Gangsters," released in 2023 that claimed that "deep state" government employees have politicized and weaponized the law enforcement agency – and explicitly called for the revamp of the FBI in a chapter dubbed "Overhauling the FBI."

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"Things are bad. There’s no denying it," he wrote in the book. "The FBI has gravely abused its power, threatening not only the rule of law, but the very foundations of self-government at the root of our democracy. But this isn’t the end of the story. Change is possible at the FBI and desperately needed." 

Patel received praise from Republicans on the Committee, with Chairman Chuck Grassley arguing he could help restore trust in the FBI.

"Public trust in the FBI is low," Grassley said in his opening remarks. "Only 41% of the American public thinks the FBI is doing a good job. This is the lowest rating in a century."

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Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-RI, however, cited several Republican figures who have opposed Patel’s nomination, including former National Security Advisor John Bolton who he said had claimed was "forced to hire him."

"Former CIA director Gina Haspel was reportedly threatening to resign rather than have this nominee serve under her," Whitehouse said.

"Former Attorney General Bill Barr said this nominee has virtually no experience that would qualify him to serve at the highest level of the world's preeminent law enforcement agency, end quote."

Patel later accused Whitehouse of using "partial quotations" in further criticisms about alleged intentions to "prosecute journalists" and his so-called ‘enemies list’ – a term Patel said he does not endorse.

Fox News’ Charles Creitz and Emma Colton contributed to this report.

A first-term House Democrat is attacking White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on X after she sought to clarify a White House memo rescinding an earlier policy statement on President Donald Trump's federal funding order.

"Karoline Leavitt is a Fake Christian, like so many in this Golden Calf administration," Rep. Dave Min, D-Calif., wrote on Wednesday.

It comes after the White House rescinded an Office of Management and Budget (OMB) memo that ordered the freeze of most federal grants and assistance, which was blocked by a federal judge on Tuesday.

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Leavitt posted on X that it was just the memo that had been rescinded, and that Trump's executive orders targeting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and other progressive spending priorities remained intact.

"This is NOT a rescission of the federal funding freeze. It is simply a rescission of the OMB memo. Why? To end any confusion created by the court's injunction," she wrote.

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"The President's EOs on federal funding remain in full force and effect, and will be rigorously implemented."

Min's comments were directed at Leavitt's aforementioned post.

Earlier, the California Democrat criticized Leavitt's comments at a White House press briefing in which she said, "DOGE and OMB also found that there was about to be 50 million taxpayer dollars that went out the door to fund condoms in Gaza. That is a preposterous waste of taxpayer dollars."

Min mocked the senior Trump aide, claiming she was making those remarks "while wearing a giant cross to let everyone know how pious and moral she is, even as she is so comfortable stating a bald-faced lie to hundreds of millions of people."

He told Fox News Digital in request for further comment, "As a person of faith, I find it appalling that this administration uses religion to advance an agenda while lying through their teeth about what they are doing – allowing children to go to bed hungry, depriving veterans of their earned healthcare, and slashing funding for the police and first responders."

Fox News Digital reached out to Leavitt for comment.

A judge sentenced disgraced former Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., to 11 years in prison on Wednesday, concluding his trial for a "long-running bribery and foreign influence scheme of rare gravity."

The sentence is the harshest ever handed down to a U.S. senator. Breaking down in tears, Menendez pleaded with U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein for mercy in a New York City courtroom. 

"I have lost everything," he said. "Other than family, I have lost everything I care about. Every day I am awake is punishment. I am far from a perfect man… in half-century of public service, I have done far more good than bad."

Before handing down his punishment, Stein said: "I take no pleasure in this sentence."

DEMOCRATIC SEN. BOB MENENDEZ GUILTY ON ALL CHARGES IN FEDERAL CORRUPTION TRIAL

"You are quite right about your work. You worked your way up to a senator, to the chair of foreign relations committee," Stein told Menendez. "You were successful, powerful, stood at the apex of our political system. All letters are proof. Somewhere along the way, you lost your way."

Defense attorney Adam Fee told Stein to give Menendez credit for his lifetime of public service, asking for a sentence of no more than eight years. 

"Despite his decades of service, he is now known more widely as ‘Gold Bar Bob,’" Fee said.

Prosecutors had requested a 15-year sentence for Menendez, 71, after he was convicted in July 2024 on 16 counts of bribery, extortion, conspiracy and obstruction of justice. He is the first U.S. senator in American history to be convicted of working as a foreign agent. His co-defendants, Wael Hana and Fred Daibes, were also sentenced to eight years and seven years, respectively.

"As proven at trial, the defendants engaged, for years, in a corruption and foreign influence scheme of stunning brazenness, breadth, and duration, resulting in exceptionally grave abuses of power at the highest levels of the Legislative Branch of the United States Government," prosecutors wrote.

Prior to the announcement of his sentence, Daibes, 67, tearfully told Stein the jury verdict had left him "borderline suicidal," and requested leniency so that he could care for his 30-year-old autistic son.

Hana told the judge, "I am an innocent man."

"I never bribed Senator Menendez or asked his office for influence," he said.

The judge, though, said the jury's verdict was "very, very substantial."

A third businessman pleaded guilty and testified against Menendez at a trial last year.

BOB MENENDEZ TO RESIGN FROM SENATE AMID DEMOCRATIC PRESSURE AFTER GUILTY VERDICT

Outside the courthouse, Menendez proclaimed his innocence, calling his prosecution a "witch hunt" by the Justice Department. 

"President Trump is right. This process is political and it's corrupted to the core. I hope President Trump cleans up the cesspool and restores integrity to the system," he said. 

Menendez's conviction came after a nine-week-long trial. The former Democratic lawmaker was accused of accepting gifts totaling more than $100,000 in gold bars as well as cash.

The disgraced Democrat was accused and convicted of participating in a yearslong bribery scheme involving the governments of Egypt and Qatar. Menendez’s wife, Nadine, who is set to go on trial on March 18, also allegedly participated in the scheme. She is accused of receiving paychecks for a job that did not exist.

The indictment against Menendez came after co-defendant Jose Uribe — who allegedly gifted Nadine a Mercedes convertible — accepted a plea deal and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. 

"Menendez, who swore an oath to represent the United States and the state of New Jersey, instead put his high office up for sale in exchange for this hoard of bribes," prosecutors wrote ahead of the sentencing.

Jamie Joseph, Rachel Wolf, Maria Paronich and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

A New Jersey mayor and other leading Democrats have blasted an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid on a worksite which they say resulted in undocumented residents as well as a U.S. citizen being "detained."

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka slammed the operation as an "egregious act" and a violation of the Fourth Amendment after agents reportedly swooped in to raid a business establishment "without producing a warrant."

Baraka said that one of those detained is a U.S. military veteran who "suffered the indignity of having the legitimacy of his military documentation questioned." 

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"This egregious act is in plain violation of the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees ‘the right of the people be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures….’" Baraka wrote in a statement.

"Newark will not stand by idly while people are being unlawfully terrorized," Barak said, adding that he is "ready and willing to defend and protect civil and human rights."

It is not clear if the U.S. citizen in the Newark case was taken into custody, with an ICE spokesperson telling Fox News that the U.S. citizen was asked to produce identification. 

"U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement may encounter U.S. citizens while conducting field work and may request identification to establish an individual’s identity as was the case during a targeted enforcement operation at a worksite today in Newark, New Jersey," an ICE spokesperson told Fox News in relation to Thursday’s Newark operation. "This is an active investigation, and, per ICE policy, we cannot discuss ongoing investigations."

ICE raids have ramped up across the country this week as President Donald Trump looks to clamp down on illegal immigration, a key campaign promise. Trump’s "border czar" Tom Homan has said ICE agents will focus on the "worst first, public safety threats first, but no one is off the table. If they're in the country illegally, they got a problem."

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New Jersey senators Cory Booker and Andy Kim joined Baraka in condemning the raid. 

"We are deeply concerned about the news of an ICE raid in Newark today. Our offices have reached out to the Department of Homeland Security to demand answers," the senators said in a joint statement.

"Actions like this one sow fear in all of our communities — and our broken immigration system requires solutions, not fear tactics. We will continue to work with Mayor Baraka and other local officials to gather more information to ensure all New Jerseyans are safe and their dignity and rights are protected."

Baraka, a progressive Democrat, has been mayor of Newark since 2014 and is running for New Jersey governor this year. He has called for a "progressive overhaul" of the blue state and his campaign agenda includes reparations, sanctuary state laws, baby bonds, and a universal basic income."

Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-N.J., also slammed the raid in a statement. 

"Already, Trump’s attacks on immigrant communities are hitting home and we will not back down," she said. "We will always fight for the dignity and rights of everyone in our district and across the country."

In the first days of the Trump administration, ICE has made more than 460 arrests of illegal immigrants, including those with criminal histories that include sexual assault, domestic violence and drugs and weapons crimes. Arrests took place across the U.S., including Illinois, Utah, California, Minnesota, New York, Florida and Maryland. 

Agents arrested nationals from a slew of countries, including Afghanistan, Angola, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Senegal and Venezuela.

Fox News’ Bill Melugin, Stephen Sorace and Adam Shaw contributed to this report.

Democratic Hawaii Sen. Mazie Hirono was the only lawmaker on the Senate's Veterans’ Affairs Committee to oppose the confirmation of President Donald Trump's nominee for secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, former GOP congressman from Georgia Doug Collins.

Amid the slew of confirmation hearings that have taken place, Hirono has been unafraid to poke and prod about nominees' sex lives, and at one point she accused Trump's defense secretary nominee, Pete Hegseth, of being willing to shoot at lawful protesters.

"Would you carry out such an order [to shoot protesters] from President Trump?" Hirono asked Hegseth during his hearing in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee, citing reports that the president asked former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper to shoot protesters in the leg during the 2020 riots in Washington, D.C., that ensued after the death of George Floyd.

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Hegseth tried to offer a response to Hirono's question, but the senator would not let him get a word in and instead answered the question for him, "You will shoot protesters in the leg," she asserted to Hegseth. "Moving on."

Hirono also has been unafraid to ask each of Trump's nominees she questioned throughout their confirmation hearings, including Collins, about unfounded allegations of sexual assault.

"As part of my responsibilities to ensure the fitness of nominees before any of the committees, I ask the following two questions," Hirono posited during the hearing for Trump's interior secretary nominee, Doug Burgum. "First is, since you became a legal adult have you ever made unwanted requests for sexual favors or committed any verbal or physical harassment or assault of a sexual nature? Have you ever faced discipline or entered into a settlement related to this kind of conduct?"

For Trump's attorney general nominee, Pam Bondi, Hirono asked the same questions about unfounded sexual allegations. She similarly answered her own questions as she did with Hegseth.

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Bondi, however, clapped back with criticism of her own during the senator's questioning, noting that Hirono refused to meet with her privately to discuss her concerns ahead of the public hearing.

"Sen. Hirono, I wish you had met with me. Had you met with me, we could have discussed many things and gotten to the meat [of your questions]," Bondi told Hirono as she was lobbing questions at the nominee. "You were the only one who refused to meet with me."

The House of Representatives has passed a bill that would penalize doctors who do not provide life-saving care to infants born alive after an abortion attempt.

All but one Democrat voted against the bill, which passed 217 to 204, with all Republicans in favor. One Democrat, Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, D-Texas, voted "present."

The bill directs health care practitioners to operate with the "same degree of professional skill, care, and diligence" for a baby born with a heartbeat after an abortion as during a normal birth. Doctors who run afoul of the rule would be fined or given up to five years behind bars.

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House GOP leaders lauded the bill, with Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., telling Fox News Digital, "Requiring medical care for babies born alive after a failed abortion isn’t controversial, it’s common sense."

"The fact that Democrats would rather support infanticide than vote in favor of this bill shows how extreme and out-of-touch their party has become," Emmer said.

Democrats have argued that the bill is redundant, given existing laws against infanticide and murder, and could imperil the lives of women seeking late-term abortions due to medical emergencies while unfairly penalizing doctors.

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"No one goes through pregnancy and all that comes with it…and then after eight or nine months of that is like ‘nah, I don’t want to do this,’" Rep. Sara Jacobs, D-Calif., said during debate on the bill, adding that late-term operations made up about 1% of abortions. "It is because of a serious fetal abnormality or the health of the mother."

She said the bill was "not based on science or reality."

Several Democrats who spoke out against the bill themselves went through emergency abortion procedures with a nonviable pregnancy.

Among them was Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez, D-N.M., who said the bill would allow women to "die on the operating table because doctors are scared of going to jail."

Republicans, meanwhile, argued the bill would stop babies from being "left to die in a closet, alone and discarded like medical waste," as Rep. Michelle Fischbach, R-Minn., said during debate.

"These precious babies, fellow Americans, deserve protection because they are alive," said Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas.

The vote comes after Democrats tanked the bill in the Senate earlier this week. The legislation failed to pass a procedural hurdle that needed 60 votes to allow for debate on its final passage.